Jim's Folly

Ooh, wasn't that FUN?!

*laughs hysterically and waves her arms madly* Man, oh man do I LOVE what I've done to you ALL! This is so much fun! Am I sadistic? No…

(Angel, you don't hate me THAT much, do you? TWO days?)

Chapter 28

Raven blinked several times.

"Excuse me?" she asked timidly. The rain soaking her didn't seem like a big deal anymore.

Jim frowned. "You heard me. Will you marry me?"

Tears burned her eyes and she realized the sincerity in his voice. He loved her. He wanted her to be with him forever. Someone actually cared…

A lone tear left a hot trail down her cheek. Jim cupped her face in one hand and frowned.

"I love you, Raven. I can't imagine life without you…so please, tell me you'll be my wife?"

Raven licked her lips nervously. What about Andrew? What about Simon? What about… She couldn't begin to describe the feelings she felt inside.

She wanted to give Jim the life he deserved. She wanted him to experience the love he needed to thrive. She knew she wasn't the one who could give him that.

"I would love to tell you that, Jim…but…"

He heard the denial in her voice and his heart sank. He was going to get rejected. His hand dropped from her face and he blinked, waiting for her to continue. His heart was beating rapidly. What was she saying?

"I just…can't give you…the love you deserve." Her voice was choked by a sob. "I can't be your wife, Jim." Another pause. "I'm sorry…I'm so sorry," she added, losing herself in her sobs. Jim took a deep, shuddery breath. He wasn't sure how to take this.

Instead, he took her into his arms.

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Raven had declined Jim's request two weeks before and now she wished she hadn't. He'd decided it was best, then, if he left and returned once a year for visits.

Raven didn't know why she'd said no.

She did, but she didn't. She'd made a stupid, stupid mistake.

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It was on Raven's twenty seventh birthday that Jim returned to her, ready again, to give it one more shot.

"Raven?" His voice was static-filled over the phone and Raven had to listen hard to hear him. He was in another galaxy all together.

"Yeah?" she asked.

Jim, in the Determination's stateroom, took a deep breath. "I'm going to ask you one more time, Raven, and then I'll leave you alone for the rest of your life."

She frowned. What was he talking about?

"I've been thinking about us…how much of a mistake it was for me to leave. I needed to get away, though…I thought you hated me, I thought….Ray, I thought a lot of things.

"But now I know…and I've called to ask you one more time to consider being my wife."

Raven was quiet for a very long time.

Glancing at her surroundings, she decided there wasn't any easy way to say no.

"Jim…I'll give you that chance to ask me again…but you have to do it on one condition," she proposed. Jim's heart fluttered.

"So you will?"

"I'll think about it. But listen, you have to come back home to ask me. If you come home…there is a good chance, Jim…"

She heard the smile in his voice. "I'll see you in awhile, Ray."

He told her he loved her and hung up the phone.

Bursting out onto the deck, he hollered at his crew, "She said MAYBE!"

Some cheers rose from the crew. Many laughed. "Still hung on that girl, Hawkins?"

Jim turned to a sour-faced former-pirate and grinned. "I'll never un-hang myself, Spearhead!"

The pirate grinned and winked. "There's a good lad." He crossed his arms. "So are we turnin' around, or what?"

Jim smiled widely.

"Let's get this ship turned 'round!"

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