Title: A Night In
Author: Emony
Rating: FRT
Disclaimer: The names of characters contained herein are the property of the copyright holder of "ER." No infringements of these copyrights are intended, and said characters are used here without permission.
Spoilers: Season 11 of the show.
Series: Tennis, A Night In, Lunch Break….
Summary: Neela and Ray have their usual Friday night, with a twist.
Dedicated to Ash for being a wonderful beta... also for giving me the ideas for this particular section and then getting me to actually write it... thanks, hon.
Nerves. Whoever thought that I, the great Ray Barnett would ever get nerves? Well, if anyone would cause them it would be her. The first time we kissed…well, there were strawberries and cream and tennis and denial and death on the mind, and well, it took a while for it to be real. But it is; it's more than that - for both of us. So why am I so nervous? Because she'll never go for it? But she might.
That first kiss, it's possible I was half way gone by then. What am I talking about, possible? I know I was half gone by then. It was the first time I ever knew she might possibly feel something too, even if it was the worst possible time to be thinking that.
When I first knew I loved her? For real? It kind of crept up on me; the little things. We'd been seeing each other for a few months when it finally hit me. And of course, it took another few months to say it, but she said it back… and still says it. So why am I nervous? It's been almost a year since we first admitted this was more than a secret fling.
Maybe everyone's nervous when it comes to this.
Neela sighed as her shift drifted on, and on. It was one of those days; the ER wasn't busy, but it was never ending - no gaps, just continual illness and injury. Jane had been in an odd mood all day. She wasn't being sarcastic or cutting or cynical, she was just hiding in plain sight. Something she hadn't done since she was a med student. This worried Neela; not that she'd had time to see if there was anything she could do about it.
On the other hand, Susan was in a good mood; all smiles and jokes. Sam had been in a good mood too, however her shift had ended two hours earlier, and Neela's just dragged on. She looked up from the hand of the three year old she was stitching and caught Luka looking over at her. She grinned and rolled her eyes, and he tried his hardest not to laugh as he dealt with his patient attempting to flirt with him.
The shift dragged on - possibly because all she could think of was getting home. Although home had been odd the last week or so - or rather, Ray had been odd. Well, odder than usual. She wasn't sure what was going on in the man's head, but he definitely wasn't quite himself. She was hoping he'd gotten it out of his system with his day off and would be back to normal by the time she got home
A smile came to her face as she remembered that it was Chinese Night. Every Friday night, they'd get takeout and watch films. It was a tradition; one they'd started before when they were just roomies, and she was glad it had continued. It was her turn to pick the films tonight, and she already had in mind what she wanted to watch; there were still one or two films in her DVD collection that they hadn't watched yet.
As her shift finally ended, she changed quickly and grabbed her stuff from her locker - almost knocking Luka over as she ran out the door.
"Whoa."
"Sorry, Luka. Have a nice night!"
Ray paced the floor, wondering what it was he still had to do; thinking over his afternoon's work. The evening was to go as it normally would - until it got to the right point. He smirked, nerves not getting in the way for the moment, almost relishing the idea of the look on her face when she saw what he had done.
He'd tidied the kitchen and done the washing up - of which there was a little more than there should have been. Having gotten the quantities wrong in the first batch, he was thankful he'd thought to buy more ingredients than he'd need. He'd really hit the big time when he'd found that web page with the recipe.
He'd phoned their usual order in, picked it up, and it was keeping warm in the oven. The TV was on and the DVD player was ready for whatever movie she was going to torture him with this week. He grinned. Nothing could be as bad as How To Lose a Guy in Ten Days.
He turned as he heard her key in the lock and grinned - then realising he still had on an apron, he quickly threw it off, hiding it behind the fridge. He turned just in time for Neela to walk through the door.
What the hell is he up to? Neela had come home to a slightly out of breath, grinning idiot of a boyfriend. A sure sign he was up to something, and that whatever it was, he either wasn't done yet or had only just finished as she'd walked in the door. Now, however, he was back to normal, more normal than he'd been in weeks. She had what she'd been wishing for during her shift, and now she was worried he was up to something? Make up your mind, girl.
He was laying out the food on plates and sorting out kitchen towels and cutlery whilst she got changed and found the evening's viewing. Settling for old comfy jeans and a hooded sweater, she hunted underneath her bed for the DVDs. Coming up with the two she was after, she headed back for the living room.
She stood in the doorway, watching him in his battered old jeans and sleeveless shirt. Ok, admit it, it's his arse you're watching. She grinned as he bent further over the coffee table until she realised he could see her in the reflection of the TV and knew exactly what she was up to. He was treated to a scowl as he stood back up waving an arm over the food as if he'd prepared it all from scratch.
"What are you torturing us with tonight, then?"
She treated him to a scowl again, keeping the boxes firmly behind her back - grinning on the inside, knowing fine well what her scowl did to him. She knew he would enjoy the films - even if he thought he wouldn't like the first one, the second one she would keep hidden knowing if he saw it was the first of the Die Hard films, he'd make her put it on first.
She moved to the DVD player and placed the disc in the tray. Moving back towards the sofa, she wondered why on earth she hadn't yet treated him to this film. It was the sort of film most men wouldn't give a second glance to, but when forced to watch it they would love it forever.
She sat back on the sofa next to Ray and picked up the plate he said was hers as the title screen came up,
"The Princess Bride? Seriously? You have this?"
Neela sighed and waited for the usual tirade of 'it's yet another girly movie, it's very 1980's, it's a fairy tale!' She was surprised by what she got.
"Don't look at me like that, Neela, this," he waved his fork at the screen, "is an awesome movie. And not just for kids or girls, either; it's great for adults, too."
He smirked at her as he pressed the play button on the remote.
Ray leaned over to the table to turn off the TV as the movie finished. They'd had a brilliant time watching The Princess Bride and he'd been delighted to know she was a fan; they'd laughed loudly and even quoted in some places.
"What are you turning the TV off for? Don't you want to watch the other one?"
He smiled at the woman he loved as she got even more confused.
"What are you up to, Ray?"
His face was the picture of innocence. "Who? Me?"
"Yes you, you idiot." She laughed.
"I'm getting dessert."
"Dessert?" She seemed shocked, but then she would be, normally they wouldn't have dessert as the Chinese filled them up.
"What, is it so inconceivable that we would have dessert?"
She grinned at his reminder of the film they'd just watched, and let him head back into the kitchen. He grabbed some beers from the fridge and made the last minute preparations to the finish off the meal.
She watched as he headed into the kitchen, smiling as he gave her another opportunity to watch his assets. Whatever he was planning, she hoped it wasn't like last time when they'd nearly had ended up red-faced back in the ER. She had a smile on her face when he wandered back in; looking so casual she knew he had to be up to something.
He had in one hand two beers and a bottle opener, and in the other a plate with two 'something's' on it. He sat back on the sofa, the look on his face so intense she almost didn't know what to do. He put the plate on the sofa in between them and looked up at her.
"Fortune cookies?"
"Yup. The one nearest you is yours."
She picked it up, holding it close to get a look. "Did you make them?"
"Yeah." He sounded nervous.
She grinned as she broke it, reaching for the piece of paper that fell onto the sofa. Two words looked back up to her.
Marry Me.
Oh God. Wow. Yes! Yes! Hold on, why is he still looking at me like that? Oh… I didn't say that out loud.
She laughed, then noticing his look she said to him, "I answered in my head, and then wondered why you were still looking at me like that."
He was still looking at her like that.
"What?" Oh. She answered with a soft smile, "Oh…yes."
He pulled a ring box out of the back pocket of his jeans and opened it, holding it out to her.
Wow, that's gorgeous… did he pick that out himself? Don't worry about that now Neela… take it off him or he'll take it back 'cause he'll think you've gone mad, girl.
She reached for the ring but he pulled the box back and took the ring out himself before reaching for her hand. She held it out for him; suddenly realising she was shaking all over. They stared into each others' eyes as he tried to get the ring on her finger, with little success. Laughing, he gave in and looked down, finally managing to slide it into place.
She brought her hand up to her face and inspected the ring; it looked like diamonds and sapphires.
"The diamonds are there because, well, what engagement ring is there without them? And the sapphires...well, I love it when you wear blue and now you'll wear it forever.
"I love you."
He reached for her. "I love you too," he almost breathed into her ear as she fell forward on top of him, crushing his fortune cookie as she kissed him for the first time as his fiancé. It didn't matter though - he hadn't put a fortune in his own; hers was forever tied to his now.
She sat up and broke into giggles.
"What?"
"Well that certainly explains your behaviour the last few weeks," she told him as she dragged him up off the sofa and headed towards his room.
He grinned. "What? You don't want to watch the other movie?"
End fic.