Chapter 9

Marry him? What in the hell is he talking about? We've already discussed this. "What?"

He picks me up from the dipped position I'm in and smiles at me like he's ten and just got a new bicycle. "Marry me."

I'm confused as hell, but I can't quite keep the grin off my face, and the overwhelming need to kiss his dimples comes over me, so I do. "I thought we'd already determined that I'd marry you. We've even set a date if I remember correctly." I turn my head and kiss the dimple on the other cheek.

"Ahh… yes. But the plan calls for bumping that up a bit," he says, still smiling, holding me close as I kiss him.

"Bumping it up, huh? To when?" And before he answers, I go ahead and plant a small kiss on his lips, just because I can't seem to get enough of those lips.

"An hour," he says, and kisses me back.

After the kiss, I start chuckling. "We're bumping it up an hour?"

"No, no, no. We're getting married in an hour." He looks at his watch and then back at me. "And a half."

"What?" I half yell. Oops.

"Marry me in an hour and a half," he says in a completely upbeat, no big deal voice with that ten year-old grin in place.

"That's the plan?" I screech out. I've got to get a hold of myself. This is a joke, right?

"That's the plan," he says nodding and smiling and dimpling. Dimpling? Is that even a word?

"But…"

"You said you trusted me."

"But…"

"Donna," he says, holding his hand up to interrupt me. "You said you trusted me. Has that changed?"

I shake my head back and forth several times. "No, but…"

He nods hard once. "No buts. We're trusting the plan, and this is the plan."

"The plan…" We have a plan?

"The Being Together For The Rest Of Our Lives Without Ruining Our Careers plan."

I'm starting to hyperventilate. "I… the… marr… I think I need to sit down."

"Ok," he says, laughing at me a little and leading me to the bed where I fall to my butt and sit looking up at him standing over me. I'm pretty sure one of us has lost our mind; I'm just not sure which one of us it is. I start taking deep breaths. "Better?" he asks.

"This plan…" I say, still a little out of breath.

"The Being Together For The Rest Of Our Lives Without Ruining Our Careers plan," he reminds me.

"Right. This is the planyou've come up with a day after attempting to annul our marriage that didn't actually exist."

"Yes. But we won't be annulling this one." How can he be so calm right now?

"W w w we won't…"

"No," he says shaking his head. "This one's a keeper."

"A keeper…" I can't really form sentences right now, so I just repeat what he says.

"Trust Donna, trust."

"But…"

He interrupts me with a joking voice. "We need to work on the trust issue, Donna. I'd imagine a lack of trust is a pretty big reason marriages don't work."

I don't think he's kidding. I've got to get a grip and talk some sense into him. "Might another reason be that one of the people resents the other one for ruining his career?"

"Well," he nods. "Possibly, but you're not going to ruin my career, and I'm not going to ruin yours. That's all part of the plan."

Again with the plan. "The BeingTogether For The Rest Of Our Lives Without Ruining Our Careers plan?"

"Yes, that's the one."

"I see." I stop talking and rub my face with my hand. "Well…not to sound untrusting…" I gesture towards him.

"Of course not."

"How exactly does this plan of yours work?" I ask casually. Get him to see the error in his plan. That's how to go about this.

"We get married in…" he looks at his watch. "An hour and twenty minutes."

Ok, it's official; he's the one who's lost his mind. "Go on…"

"And then we come back here and have lots and lots of wedding night sex."

"That's part of the plan?"

"A very important part of the plan," he says, wiggling his eyebrows at me. Admittedly, I like this part of the plan. I will not, however, be sidetracked. I glance behind me at the bed I'm sitting on, and suddenly, I'm sidetracked.

"Ok. And what comes after that?" I ask, still looking back towards the head of the bed. He chuckles at me.

"We talk to CJ and Toby about it tomorrow, then the four of us talk to Leo about it, and then CJ announces it at her early press briefing on Monday."

Well, this takes my attention away from the bed. "Which is where the ruining of the career comes in."

"That's where you're wrong."

I cross my arms over my chest and glare at him. "You're telling your future wife she's wrong?"

He looks at me with raised eyebrows. "Yes, but only this one time."

"And how exactly am I wrong?" I ask with my arms still crossed over my chest.

"Well, I can't be having an illicit affair with my wife. And she can't be a scandalous blonde if she's married."

"A scandalous blonde?" I yell.

"That's the only time I'm going to say that too," he says, weakly smiling at me.

"That's wise."

"Thank you, but you see my point…"

I shake my head at him. "Not really, no."

"We've known each other for six and a half years. There have never been reports of any inappropriate behavior between us. Then we get married, which makes any future behavior between us appropriate. Which, in turn, leaves us scandal free."

"Or… makes everyone start looking into our past for inappropriate behavior," I remind him.

He nods at me but rebuts my idea. "Perhaps, but looking into my past shows a one year relationship with…"

"Don't say her name," I interrupt.

"Uh… ok. But before her was a relationship with…"

"Don't say her name either," I interrupt again. I will not have their names come up at my proposal. Proposal? I'm not taking this seriously, am I? Am I? Oh no, I am. I'm as crazy as him.

"Right. There's also your past relationships with… other men."

"It's ok to say their names."

He shakes his head at me. "No it's not. But regardless, I'm just saying that looking into our pasts only proves we haven't been together before now."

Good point. But… "People who start rumors like this aren't too concerned about the truth."

"You have a valid point."

"Gee, thanks," I deadpan.

"But… we are going to be open and honest and not hide anything. Someone says something incorrect; we simply provide the evidence to the contrary. Someone says, for instance, that we've been dating for years, we bring up the people we aren't saying by name. Someone says we've been sharing hotel rooms while away on business, we show receipts. We're covered."

"And what if people say I slept my way into the job? How are we going to prove that's incorrect?"

"Well, for one thing, I was dating…you know.. when I hired you. And for another, who's going to say that after six and a half years? And what politician would believe them if they did? Politicians know you; they'd never believe it. It's not like we're the picture of a torrid love affair. We're both single, we've both openly dated other people, we work incredibly well together, so well, in fact, that no one has ever questioned your qualifications. The sleeping together the whole time theory simply doesn't fly."

"People will say you knocked me up and that's why you're finally marrying me."

"Then you'll take a pregnancy test and we'll give the results to the press."

Damn, he's thought this through. "So, this is the plan."

"This is the plan."

"Why? Why now?"

He shrugs. "Because I just thought of it."

"Then why were we going to have yesterday's marriage annulled?"

"I'm glad you asked."

"You are?" I ask skeptically.

"Yes, because I'd like to explain."

"Well, by all means," I gesture to him. "Go ahead."

He begins pacing a little in front of me. "Had that marriage been legal, annulling it would have been the wise thing to do. Our marriage needs to be a conscience decision, not a drunken idiotic idea. We need pictures to release to the press, with us smiling and staring at each other like love sick fools, wearing rings and holding flowers and dressed like a bride and groom that made a decision and planned a wedding. Getting drunk and then accidentally getting married while you were wearing the black leather pants you were wearing the other night, as much as I like those pants, wouldn't have boded well for the Being Together For The Rest Of Our Lives Without Ruining Our Careers plan."

I nod along as he speaks, but when he's done, I've found the mistake in his logic. "I see. Of course, we haven't planned a wedding. You're aware of that, right?"

"Ahh… that's where you're wrong again."

"I'm wrong again? This is how you talk to the woman you're trying to convince to marry you?" I ask sternly.

"Misinformed?" he squeaks.

I give him an evil eye. "Better. How am I misinformed?"

"While you were out shopping and being girly with CJ today, I was planning our wedding."

"You planned our wedding." I ask with more than a hint of doubt to my voice.

"I did indeed," he says, obviously very proud of himself.

"And how did you do that?"

"Well, I arranged for a chapel, a real one, not a drive-thru. I also arranged for real flowers in said chapel, a photographer at said chapel, a justice of the peace, who will be bringing a marriage liscense and real certificate, a tuxedo for me, a limousine, a romantic re-proposal, and…" he drops to one knee in front of me and pulls a ring from his pocket, taking my hand and slipping it on my finger. "Wedding rings that are, in my opinion, a huge step up from our last."

I look at him in shock, and then down at my finger and…wow! A huge step up might be an understatement. This ring is incredible! It's platinum and has a gorgeous emerald cut diamond with smaller emerald and round cut diamonds going down the band, and it actually fits my finger correctly. Given a thousand choices, it's the exact one I would've chosen. "It's…" I start to say something, but I can't quite find the words, so I just stare at it, trying desperately not to be swayed by the plan and the planning of the wedding and the ring and his gorgeous eyes staring at me or the dimples appearing in that Lymanesque way of his.

"And…" he says, a bit smugly. "I've left you speechless. I'd say everything's arranged."

I bite my lip and stare at my hand in his. "But…"

"Trust, Donna. Trust."

"But why?" I whisper.

"Because it's the plan," he says quietly.

I look up at him and stare in his eyes. "But why?" I whisper again.

He nods at me and smiles. "I know what you're asking. Do I want to get married to you because it's the only way we can date?"

I nod and bite my lip so as not to cry. I can't help it; I'm a little scared here. "Is that why?" I ask quietly, looking back down at our hands.

He lifts my chin up with his other hand and smiles softly at me. "No. I want to get married to you because I'm madly, deeply, helplessly, hopelessly, desperately, insanely, and forever in love with you. The fact that it fits into a plan is just a plus."

Well, there goes all logic and reason out the window, and suddenly, I can't help smiling. I mean, how do you say no when a man says that to you? And I know I've asked this before, but why would you want to? "And you really think this plan will work?"

"I do or I wouldn't suggest it."

I nod. "Then I trust you."

He pulls me up from the bed and kisses me long and hard on the mouth. I'm never gonna get sick of that. "And you'll marry me? Tonight?" he asks once we part.

"Well," I say with a big smile on my face. "That's the plan."