Agnes 19

Author's Note: Sorry I have not updated this one in a bit—I've been easily distracted by other stories I'm writing. If you have not checked out Wing Yee Birthdays or Perp-Loving Cop-Hater, please do. This one is a shorter chapter because the next one will be longish.

Let me know what you think!

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"That one?" Don asked Agnes as they looked into the display case.

She nodded and he looked up and smiled at the salesperson who was a few feet away.

In truth, he had thought of making this trip by himself, pick up some clothes for Liz that suited the climate, and this purchase, but when he saw Agnes at breakfast this morning, she seemed to want to join him too. He agreed, knowing it would take both their minds off her diagnosis and Liz's arrival which wasn't without risk.

The salesperson joined them.

"Can I help you with something?" She asked with the Nordic lilt to her English.

"Can you tell us about that one?" Ressler asked her as he pointed to the ring.

"Beautiful choice," she said as she removed the ring from the display case. "It is 10K white gold and the designer uses actual lava stones found in Iceland for the pattern of the design, replicating it in gold through precise castings. The rough and uneven surface of the ring forms a beautiful connection with the gemstone at the centre of it. And the stone is Olivine, one of only a few precious gemstones found in Iceland. It's also the gemstone for August."

"Your birthday is in August," Ressler smiled down at Agnes.

She nodded.

"Did you know that was your birthday stone?" He asked her.

She shook her head in the negative. "I just think it's pretty."

Ressler chuckled. "Well, it is. You have great taste."

He picked up the ring and looked at it carefully. It was not a traditional engagement ring, but they had never been a traditional couple. It seemed like it was fate that Agnes' birthstone was from Iceland and she had chosen that ring without knowing that. He also liked that the ring was designed based on etchings so that made it very unique as well.

"We'll take it," Ressler said as he handed it back to the woman carefully and reached for his wallet.

"Does it need to be re-sized?" The saleswoman asked.

Ressler thought for a moment—he had no clear idea what size her finger was.

"I think we'll have to see once she puts it on," he said with a smile as he handed her the fake credit card he carried with his fake name on it.

"Very good," the salesperson said before she walked away with the ring.

"I'm glad you came," Ressler said to Agnes. "I would never have noticed that one, but mummy is going to love it."

"Mummy will!" Agnes cheered. "And then you two will get married."

"We will, I'm not sure when or where…" Ressler struggled to explain.

"Here!" Agnes said.

"In Iceland?" Ressler asked her. "Yeah, maybe if mummy is okay with that we can come back and…"

"Not now?" Agnes asked.

"No sweetie," Ressler said as he crouched down before her. "Mummy and I are using different names right now, right Olivia?"

He winked at her and she smiled.

"When mummy and I get married, it will be with our real ones, okay?" Ressler asked her.

"Okay," she nodded.

"But if mummy says yes…"

"When mummy says yes," Agnes corrected him.

Ressler chuckled.

"When mummy says yes, that's a promise we've made to each other, to get married," he said with a smile. "So, no matter how long it takes for that to happen, a promise is a promise, deal?"

"Deal," she nodded.

The woman returned a few minutes later with his card, a boxed ring and a receipt.

"What's the occasion?" The woman asked.

"Engagement," he smiled at her.

"How very un-American," she chuckled. "Icelandic people never get engaged with diamonds."

"Really?" Ressler asked.

"Usually, another gemstone or just a band or nothing at all, just a promise," she smiled at him. "Most Americans…it's all about these huge diamonds…"

Ressler chuckled. "Well, Iceland must be rubbing off on us."

She smiled and he left with Agnes and was joined by Bianca outside as they walked to another store.

"Bianca, I just need to get Liz some tights and a sweater and between my clothes and hers she should be okay," Ressler said, knowing he wasn't even sure how long she was staying in Iceland.

She nodded and waited outside another store he went into with Agnes.

He and Agnes found her some fitted tights in small, a couple of plain wool sweaters, and some long johns with reindeers on them.

"Do you think that's good?" Ressler asked Agnes as he looked down at the pile.

"She needs a jacket," Agnes said.

"Right," Ressler said as he looked around and found some women's jackets with a removeable liner. "What colour?"

Agnes seemed to think for a while as she looked at the red, blue, green, and grey ones in front of her.

"I think mummy would like the blue," Agnes said as she pointed.

"Blue it is," Ressler smiled as he put the rest back.

"Mummy likes to wear your shirts," Agnes said as she watched him looking at a women's flannel shirt.

"She does, does she?" Ressler asked her.

"She hides them," Agnes smiled at him, revealing the secret. "In a bag in her closet."

He furrowed his brow, he had not been able to find a couple of shirts about 10 months ago…

"Which of my shirts?" Ressler asked her.

"The fuzzy ones like that one," Agnes said as she touched the flannel shirt he had been looking at. "One is blue and the other is kind of pink."

Ressler chuckled and nodded. "Yeah, I wondered where those shirts were."

He wasn't going to ask Agnes about a pair of his boxers and a sweater of his that had also mysteriously gone missing as well.

"Maybe she needs her own shirt?" Ressler asked her as he looked back at the flannel women's shirt.

Agnes shook her head in the negative. "No, she just likes yours. You have lots of fuzzy shirts, can't you share?"

Ressler smirked at her. "Of course, I can sweetie."

They walked to the cashier and paid for Liz's weather-appropriate clothes and were back getting in the car with Bianca and driving back home ten minutes later.

"How long is she staying?" Bianca asked as the Suzuki bounced along the road.

"No idea," Ressler said as he looked down at Agnes, he hoped for her sake, in particular, it was more than a day. "Any word?"

"Nothing yet," Bianca said, carefully watching her words.

It was almost noon and her appointment at the hospital in Reykjavik was at 2pm.

"I guess we're meeting them there," Ressler said as they bounced along.

His phone buzzed in his back pocket and he took it out to look.

We're here at your place. You think greeting cards are overpriced.

"Mummy's here," Ressler said as he showed the text to Agnes and she started to get excited and look out the window. "Sweetie it'll be another 15 minutes or more before we're home."

Ressler started to type his reply.

We're just coming in from Reykjavik with some warmer clothes for you. Be about another 15. You want to whack people with flying pans like Rapunzel.

Ressler looked at Agnes looking out the window wanting her mother. The cast on her broken bone had been her breaking point, she needed her mom, desperately.

"And you can't say anything to mummy about the ring," Ressler said to Agnes. "I get to surprise her with that, deal?"

Agnes nodded her head, and they shook hands.

"Because who is proposing?" Don asked.

"You!" Agnes cheered.

"And until mummy shows you the ring on her finger, you zip it," Ressler said.

Agnes fake zipped her lips together and giggled.

"Happy to see mummy?" Ressler asked Agnes.

She nodded her head vehemently and he smiled at her enthusiasm.

"So am I sweetie," Ressler said with a sigh.

To be continued…