Chapter Eleven: Sixth Month Anniversary
The next morning, Natalia and Ryan had a quick breakfast, said goodbye to Uncle Ron who was staying in today and they left for work. After shift, Ryan dropped Natalia off at her place. They would carpool every day to work with each of them driving on alternate days. When they had days off together, they would spend it with each other, visit Uncle Ron as well as Natalia's family and even babysat the North kids. Six months later, Ryan planned a special dinner at his place for him and Natalia to celebrate their sixth month anniversary.
He was planning to ask Natalia to move in with him. It was his day off and Natalia was coming over for dinner after she finished work. Ryan had decided on cooking jacket potatoes and honey lemon chicken with roasted broccoli. He also made a blueberry pie for dessert. When he was finished cooking, Ryan went to take a shower. As he was entering the bedroom after his shower, he heard the front door open and Natalia call out to him. Before he could go tell her that he just came out of the shower, she opened his bedroom door. "Hey babe," Natalia greeted him and pecked him on the lips. "You look great," says Ryan, indicating to Natalia's dress. "Thank you. I was going to come here right after work, but I decided to go home and freshen up. I bought this dress last week when I went shopping with Calleigh." While she was saying all this, Ryan had been changing his clothes.
When Ryan was finished changing, they went downstairs and before entering the kitchen area, he placed his hands over Natalia's eyes and said, "It's a surprise dinner." Ryan guided Natalia to the kitchen table where, before he went to shower, he had dimmed the lights in the room and placed the candles on the table along with the food, plates, eating utensils, glasses, and a bottle of wine. He removed his hands and said, "Happy Anniversary." Natalia reacted, "Aww, babe, this is so sweet. No one's ever done something like this for me before." Ryan responds, "You deserve this." Natalia replies, "Thank you," she hugs Ryan and kisses him, then whispers, "I love you." Ryan responds, "I love you too." After he says this, Natalia pulls him in for another kiss. Ryan helps her into her seat and lights the candles, then takes his seat.
They eat dinner while Natalia asks Ryan about his day and she tells him about all the paperwork she had to do since they didn't have any cases. When they were finished with dinner, Ryan brought out the pie and cut two slices, one for each of them. When they were finished with dessert, Ryan spoke up, "Hey Talia, I have something to ask you. Do you want to move in together?" She asks, "Are you serious about this?" Ryan answers, "Yes." Natalia goes over to him, sits sideways on his lap, and wraps her arms around his shoulders, telling him, "Then that's a yes." She kisses him passionately and then they get up to clean up.
After cleaning up, they decided to go out on the balcony to use Ryan's telescope. They used the telescope for half an hour and then decided to gaze at the stars while Ryan pointed out various constellations in the sky as they cuddled on the recliner on his balcony and drank the remaining wine from dinner. They fell asleep outside and Ryan awoke after midnight, he shook Natalia awake and told her that they should go inside. She says, "Ok, but you have to carry me because I'm practically asleep." Ryan got up and lifted Natalia up with one arm around her back and the other under her knees. Natalia wrapped both arms around Ryan's shoulders and snuggled her head into his neck. As he goes to put Natalia down on his bed, she begins kissing his neck and pulls him down on top of her. Ryan inquires, "I thought you were practically asleep?" Natalia replies, "Not anymore. Are we going to continue this or are you going to ask more questions?" She rolls them over so that she is on top of Ryan and his response to her question is to take off her dress.