Now that the case was over and the adrenaline wearing off, the pain of her injuries was really starting to hit her. Which is why she hadn't resisted when Dawn showed up to drive her home after Derek had called her when they left Lockport, suggesting that Emily probably shouldn't be driving in her condition and Dawn had agreed, considering her history of concussions.
"Did the doctors in Lockport give you any painkillers?" Dawn asked as Emily hobbled to the couch and gingerly settled upon it.
"They said over-the-counter should suffice," she said grimly because she was really fucking sore.
Dawn emerged from the kitchen with a glass of water and a bottle of Ibuprofen, dropping two pills in her hand and watching to ensure that Emily actually took them, stubborn as she was when it came to admitting she was in pain. "Why don't you go to bed," she suggested. "You look like you could really use a good night's sleep..."
Emily groaned softly as she rose from the couch. "I think I need a shower first – I feel all dusty and sweaty." She moved to stand again, she nearly stumbled as she attempted to rise, groaning at the strain on her bruised muscles.
"Something wrong?" Dawn asked gently, reaching out to steady her.
She grimaced, but shook her head, reluctant to admit to needing help, even if she knew that there was no shame in it. Then, seeming to think better of her stubbornness, requested, "Would you mind running a bath for me?"
Dawn understood her well enough that that was a request for help – or, at least, as much of a request as she would ever put into words, loathe as she was to ever admit to being less than fully capable.
Once Emily was settled in the bathtub, Dawn went in search of clean towels and pyjamas for Emily to dress in when she was finished.
Digging around in the back of her pyjama drawer in search of a matching pair, her hand closed around an unfamiliar out of place object. Brow lifting in confusion, she pulled the item from it's hiding place. Her mouth fell open slightly as she laid eyes on a velvet ring box...
Almost as if in a stupor, she carried the box into the bathroom. "Hey, Em?" she asked, voice coming out raspy as if from disuse.
"Something wrong?" Emily asked.
Dawn said nothing, simply holding out the box for Emily to see.
Emily blanched. "Oh! Dawn..." she attempted to speak, but words seemed to fail her just then. "It's not..."
"Not an engagement ring?" Dawn finished for her.
She winced. "Okay, well, technically yes." At Dawn's raised brow, she rushed to supply, "But it's not what it looks like."
She didn't seem convinced.
"It's a family heirloom, from my father's grandmother – it's not like I went out and purchased an engagement ring without consulting you. But I knew that one day I'd want to propose, so I hid it because I wanted you to be surprised."
She nodded, looking distinctly astonished. "Well, mission accomplished," she said wryly.
Emily chewed at her lip anxiously. "Are you upset?"
A beat.
"How I could I be?" she said at length.
"It's okay if you are," Emily insisted. "I mean...we haven't really discussed it very much. I don't even know if you want to get married again after Charlie...let alone to me."
She sighed softly. "Em..."
Emily rushed to insist, "It's okay if you don't – I mean, I've got more baggage than an airline, so I'd understand if you didn't want..."
"Em," Dawn repeated, more urgently this time.
She trailed off, looking at Dawn rather like a deer in the headlights.
"I'd be crazy not to want to marry you," she said gently. "I guess I'm just a little surprised. I mean, when Charlie proposed, he didn't even have the ring – then he picked out this God-awful tacky thing that I would never in a million years have chosen for myself." She shook her head, realizing she was getting off-track. "I guess what I'm trying to say is that part of me is afraid of how much I want this because I don't exactly have a great track record with marriage."
Emily nodded her understanding. "I get that. Really, I do. But that doesn't bother me. Because if things had worked between you and Charlie, I wouldn't be here right now, with you."
Dawn's smile was perhaps a little watery, though she was trying very hard to maintain control of her emotions. "So, shall I return this box to its hiding place?"
She shrugged. "Or you could put the ring on..." she suggested, almost off-handedly.
"What?" she asked, brow arching up her forehead.
"You could wear it," she repeated.
"Are... Are you proposing to me right now?" Dawn asked, if possible even more stunned than before.
She shrugged again. "I guess?" She let out a shaky sigh, steeling her nerves. "I can't exactly get down on one knee because every part of my body hurts, but I would really like to marry you one day, so – if you want to – I want you to wear the ring."
For a few moments, Dawn seemed frozen, barely even breathing because finding the ring and actually being proposed to were two very different things. At length, she nodded slowly. "Yes," she whispered, cleared her throat, repeated, "Yes. I'll marry you."
"Really?" She seemed stunned, as if she'd anticipated a negative reaction.
"Of course," she insisted. Then, she dropped to her knees so she was on Emily's level, and leaned in to kiss her.
When she pulled away for air, Emily was smiling brightly. "Sorry it wasn't exactly the most romantic of settings," she apologized. "But at least neither one of us has vomit on us..."
Laughing, Dawn said, "See? It's already more romantic than the last proposal I received."
"Good," Emily said. "Because, God willing, this will be the last proposal you ever get."
Kissing her again, Dawn murmured against her lips, "I know you're sore, but what do you say I get in the bath with you...?"
