_-^-_ Chapter II: Proposals _-^-_

~ 6 hours before ~

The steering wheel spun to the right in the grip of well-tanned hands as the light that hung from the thick metal chord turned green. Cars flowed behind him and over took him speeding forward. He had never understood that strange urge. The one that asks the subject to go faster than the ones that are already going too fast. Nothing for him to worry about, he had more important things on his mind.

He turned onto a suburban house lined street in his dark gray '89 Firebird and sped by house after house in a blur of motion until he came to a gray home with a big red door. He pulled onto the side of the curb and parked the vehicle. He flowed out of the car and onto the sidewalk. He navigated the sidewalk maze and approached the big red door of the Garnet's home.

Before he even had a chance to raise his hand and ring the small luminous button that would ring the doorbell, the large red door swung open and released what at first look appeared to be blur of brown and lilac. The man was thrown back by the force and almost fell back onto the lawn behind him. But somehow he remained standing and regained his balance.

The brown and lilac blur was actually a human girl. She had jumped into his arms and now was wrapping him in a passionate kiss. They both broke away breathlessly and she got down hugging him around the middle so tightly that he thought she would crack a few ribs. He held her against him and laid his head atop hers just reveling in the feel of her presence.

She pulled away from him and shot him a look of annoyance, "Aidan Paige, How long have you been back?" the girl said.

Aidan looked down at his watch, "One hour and thirteen minutes ago," he recited.

"Where the hell have you been?"

"My mom made me unpack."

"Well I guess I can forgive you since I'm so glad to see you again."

"Chloe, I have only been gone for two weeks and don't give me that look. You know I had to go, my dad had to go for business and he wouldn't let me out of it remember."

"Yeah, but it's hurt me not to be with you for that long," Chloe said hugging him again and tighter.

"It's hurt me too beautiful," Aidan said kissing the top of her head.

"Well, if it's not the Silver Cowboy himself," said a voice coming from the door.

"Hey, Mr. Garnet nice to see you again," Aidan said, leading Chloe up to her door and shaking his hand.

"Nice to see you too son," spoke Mr. Garnet returning the handshake.

He led the couple into their home and shut the door. They walked to the dining room and Mr. Garnet handed Aidan a hot cup of coffee.

"So what have you been up to my boy?" Mr. Garnet said cheerfully.

"Oh nothing much," Aidan said, "went to Washington DC with the family because dad had business there. Saw the sites, did the whole tourist thing."

"How is you're dad by the way?"

"Oh, he's fine. Working all the time and he can never seem to secure a place in a different town."

"Are you sure that your family should move? I mean with all the work you all put into that house over there."

"Well, I know it took a while to get it all fixed up but still. Lecho de Muerte ha been scraping the bottom of the barrel for quite some time and it isn't getting any better. It would be best for all of us to just get out of here while we can."

As Aidan was saying all of this, he held Chloe's hand in his left hand while his right hand was nervously fiddling with a small cloth encased box that was held in his right jean pocket.

"Hello there Aidan," said a female voice coming from the doorway of the dining room.

"Hi Mrs. Garnet," Aidan said shaking her hand as well.

"Aidan was just telling us how he and his family went to see Washington DC," Mr. Garnet piped up.

"Well what were you doing there," Mrs. Garnet said trying to make conversation.

All three Garnet's and Aidan spent the next 45 minutes chatting happily along about Washington and just things in general. Chloe's parents had always liked Aidan because of his work ethic. They were from the Midwest and respected him. They thought that he was a good fit for their daughter who was somewhat lazy and kicked back while Aidan seemed to take responsibility for things but was a little kicked back. They thought that they balanced each other out.

After they had steadily run out of subjects to discuss, Aidan knew that he couldn't stall any longer.

"It was nice of you to come by and see us," Mrs. Garnet said with a smile.

"Actually, I came here for another reason as well," Aidan said nervously.

All three Garnets looked at him with puzzled looks etched on their faces.

"The big reason I came was. . .," Aidan closed his eyes and took a deep breath that captured the taste of Chloe's fruity perfume. He then let it out with a long sigh.

He opened his eyes and stared at Chloe who looked cutely puzzled. Her cloudy blue eyes looking right back at him with brunette hair tucked behind her ears. Her smooth skin the color of alabaster that contrasted to the lilac of her blouse. He looked at this beautiful 18-year-old woman that sat in front of his face and knew that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her.

Shakily, Aidan got down on one knee in front Chloe. Her and her mother both gasped while Chloe's father just widened his eyes to frightening size. Aidan pulled the cloth-encased box from his jeans pocket and opened it in front of Chloe.

The ring was a white gold band that held a single diamond. The diamond was the shape of the heart that Aidan wished to give to her. Chloe gasped yet again at the sight of the precious stone. Her eyes looked from the ring to her love's face. His light-brown hair that fell to mid-ear shadowed his eyes that she knew to be a dark brown. His strong chin and jar bone turned up to her face, as was his scar that ran from under hit right eye to his ear. He looked so vulnerable at this moment.

"You know what I'm going to ask, but tradition dictates that I ask it anyway. Chloe Garnet, will you marry me and be my wife through sickness and in health for as long as we both shall live?" Aidan recited from days of practice.

Chloe looked from her love's face and looked to her parents with hope on her face. They looked back at her, awoken from their trance. They smiled at her and nodded. Chloe smiled at looked back to Aidan, tears beginning to cloud her vision.

"Yes, of course!" Chloe said bursting with excitement.

Aidan smiled from ear to ear and got up from the ground capturing his new fiancée in a tight hug releasing all of his tension. She hugged him back with just as much intensity. Aidan let her go and leaned his face down to her hers and wrapped her lips with his giving a kiss as if he would never do so again.

They pulled apart and Aidan removed the ring from its box and slipped onto her right ring finger. Chloe looked up at Aidan and smiled just as big as he. Their eyes looked at each other with deep love that could never be broken. Little did Aidan and Chloe know that that night their eternal bliss would be cut short when the crow came for a visit.

_-^-_ Disclaimer: I do not own any of the rights to The Crow, James O'Barr does. _-^-_