Author's Note: Sorry I'm going so slowly, and sorry the chapters are so short. I'm having problems deciding what's going to happen once I get out of the books. Keep those reviews coming, though! ^_^

Once again, that height gap was a problem. Butler got down to his knees and winced. It really was the pits being an old man. Holly looked straight across at him, and he realized that men were supposed to kneel when proposing. It was tradition to be below the women. Crap. How was he going to get any lower to the ground than he already was? He supposed he could squat, but that seemed a little gauche. He decided to sit back on his feet. Something popped.

"On the plus side," said Holly scathingly, looking down her nose at him, "you probably qualify for reduced-price movie tickets now."

Butler sighed and mentally counted to ten before reaching into his pocket and removing a tiny velvet box. "I," he began, and gave up. He opened the box and held it out to the astonished elf.

"When did you get this?" she breathed.

"Last year," he said quietly, "after Artemis's father was found."

A grin slowly spread across her face. "Why?"

"I don't know," Butler admitted.

She slid off the vanity to join him on the floor. Placing her hands on his shoulders, she said, "Domovoi Butler, are you telling me that you did something impulsive, illogical, and rather silly, all for me?"

"Maybe," he replied evasively.

She plucked the bauble from its fuzzy nest. "A diamond ring that would blind a dwarf. And you were the one who said you wouldn't marry me."

"I said I would. I just couldn't."

"You did say you would."

"So will you?"

"Hmm?"

"Holly! Will you marry me?"

She looked at him, surprised. "Of course."

"Good."

"Yes."

Conversation was necessarily halted for the next several minutes. After she'd come up for air, Holly inquired as to Master Artemis's awareness of the situation.

Smiling mischievously, Butler shook his head. "Another impulsive, illogical, and rather silly action. I haven't thought this out at all. Have you?"

"Nope," Holly answered, giggling. "I don't know where we'll live, or how we'll manage it," he went on, looking mildly perturbed.

"Oh, don't worry about it now," Holly advised, "everything will work out. Just picture the look on his face when he finds out you proposed shirtless to an elf on his bathroom floor."

Right then, Butler thought later, was the moment that he had felt absolutely happiest. In a life so wrapped around someone else's, he had a moment of sheer bliss only for himself, and inside he knew that his fiancée was right: everything would work out.