When the door to the conference room clicked shut, it left Antonia and Aiden looking challengingly into one another's eyes. She crossed her arms over her chest and watched as he shook his head at her, his eyebrow lifted as he waited for her to speak.
"Well?" She asked, tipping her head, she watched as he shook his head just slightly. "Okay, so that's your answer." She said, reaching for the door handle, he grabbed her hand.
"No, no." He shook his head. "You can't just ask that question like you're asking me to pass you a pen. That's an important question."
"And you've declined." She said, nodding. "I understand, it was unexpected and you're not ready. That's fine." She said, keeping the hurt from her voice, he could see in her eyes that she was deflecting.
"I didn't give you an answer." He replied, the tone of his voice showing his frustration.
"You paused, and you shook your head. Your non-answer was good enough to be an answer. I rescind my offer." She said, shrugging, she reached for the door handle again, and was once again thwarted.
"Antonia." He said, taking her hand in his, he watched her stern, stoic expression and held it for as long as he could before she started to pull her hand away. "I asked you first."
"You were being flippant." She said, lifting her eyebrow, she pulled her hand back and crossed her arms over her chest again. "It's fine. I can handle your rejection."
"I didn't reject you!" He exclaimed, lowering his voice as he looked around to see that there were several eyes on them. "I didn't reject you. Why are we having this conversation right here?"
"Because I asked you to marry me, and you…"
"Shut up, yes. Okay?" He said as he reached for the door handle.
"Shut up, yes what?" She asked, grabbing his hand this time, she tilted her head with a slight smile.
"Shut up, yes I'll marry you…someday, probably not today though. Okay?" He asked, pulling his hand from hers.
"You are a true romantic, Aiden Michael Fitzgerald." She said as she turned and reached for the door handle.
"And you make my head want to explode, Antonia Tex Brennan-Booth." He muttered playfully as they walked back into the room together.
As soon as they stepped into the room, they got a warm sense of greeting as Mary smiled at their entrance. Melody waved happily from her chair, beckoning Antonia to sit beside her. She sat beside the little girl, and could feel Aiden standing behind her as Melody climbed into her lap. "Melody had a lot of wonderful things to say about you both." Mary said with a smile, glancing to Ace as he nodded in affirmation. "I spoke with Agent Harding here, as well as my supervisor, and we agreed that under the circumstances, and considering that you both must go through a rigorous screening process concerning your jobs, that placement in the care of you both would be reasonable and in the best interest of Melody here. There are some forms here, that I will need you to sign." She said, sliding the papers across to them, Antonia looked up at Aiden and he picked them up and quickly scanned them for a moment. "I will forward the rest of the paperwork here shortly, and we will schedule a home visit in the next day or so. It is the second of July today, and Wednesday is a holiday, so it may not occur until Thursday, if that is sufficient."
"That's fine." Aiden replied, setting the papers down on the table, he signed his name and handed the pen over to Antonia, who scanned the papers quickly and signed her name, slipped the papers to Mary and looked up at him and smiled as Melody watched them both.
"I understand that your mother and father are certified foster parents." Mary said, watching as Antonia looked to Mary and nodded her head. "They will be a great asset in the coming weeks for both of you."
"My mother is always more than willing to offer her advice and knowledge in every aspect of my life." Antonia said with a smile.
"Thank you so much, Ms. Martin." Aiden said, reaching across the table to shake her hand, as Antonia did the same. Mary walked around the table and crouched down by Melody.
"It was very nice to meet you, Melody." She signed to the little girl. "I hope there is a lot of happiness in your future." She said, touching the little girl's cheek.
"Thank you." She signed, smiling politely at Mary as she said goodbye to Harding, and quietly left the room.
There were several moments of silence as Aiden sat beside Antonia, and glanced to Ace. "So." Ace said, leaning on the table slightly, his finger tapped on the table top as he looked up at the other two adults. "Engaged, huh?"
"Yes." Antonia replied.
"Sort of." Aiden said, glancing to her as he looked back at Ace.
"Sort of?" Ace laughed. "You were pretty damned convincing there a few minutes ago." He said, watching as Antonia shook her head. "She was the one that looked surprised when you said it, and now you're only 'sort of' engaged?"
"Well there's no ring." Aiden shrugged.
"Yet." Antonia said, watching as Ace shook his head and laughed.
"Your mother is going to kill you." He said to Antonia. "And her father…" Ace laughed. "Her father going to kill you." He laughed, pointing at Aiden as he stood up.
"Don't say anything to them, Ace." Antonia said, watching as her mother's partner laughed to himself, stretching his back a little. "I'm serious."
"I'm way too excited to see their reactions to let this slip out. Just make sure I'm there when you tell them." Ace said, watching as Antonia glared at him. He sighed and smiled, turning serious for a moment, he leaned on the table slightly and looked them in the eye. "Listen." He said, watching both of their attention on him, he shrugged. "I think what you guys are doing here for Melody is really great, okay. Don't think for a minute that I don't." He said. "She's very lucky to have you both behind her as her support system. I just like picking on you guys, it's too easy."
"I know that Mom isn't going to feel that way." She said, looking to Aiden, he seemed surprised.
"No, no." Ace shook his head. "She'll be fine with it. I mean, it's not like she has a choice in the matter, and you two are adults. You can both make adult decisions." Ace nodded. "I'll talk to her about it too. I was a foster kid, you know? I would have been extremely lucky to have people that cared about me half as much as you guys already care about this one here." He said, giving them a solemn nod.
"I didn't know you were a foster child." Aiden said, watching as Antonia avoided eye contact for a moment.
"So was Temperance." He said softly. "It's probably one of the few things we have in common." Ace said with a sigh. "Listen, I'm going to go put a call in to see how negotiations are going with this whole ransom thing, and check on the squints to see if they found anything with what we do have. You guys get this whole thing straightened out, and we'll move forward with the case, okay Toni?"
"You got it." Antonia said, nodding her head. "Ace. Thanks for your help."
"No problem." He smiled. "She just needs to know that she's safe." He said, waving to Melody.
"Bye, Ape." She smiled, as she signed to him. He narrowed his eyes and shook his head as he turned and left the room.
"Okay." Antonia said as she stood up with Melody in her arms, she faced Aiden. "I really should get some work done today." She said softly, watching as he nodded with a smile, she seemed a bit overwhelmed.
"I'll take Melody with me." He nodded, "I have to pick Fiona and Anna up on Thursday at the airport, so I already got her a car seat. Your shadow here can use that until we can get her own."
Antonia nodded, and carefully handed her over to Aiden, who held her for a moment as she smiled to the little girl. "Bean is going to take you home with him, is that okay?"
"Where are you going?" Melody signed, a look of concern on her face as she watched Antonia.
"I am staying here. I have to do some work. I promise I will come home soon." She signed, saying the words, she was looking at Aiden as she spoke.
"We will get some things for the apartment, and see you for dinner?" He asked, watching her brow furrow slightly. "What's wrong?"
"Grace wanted to meet for dinner." She said with a sigh.
"Then we'll have them over. Tell Jack and Grace to come to our place. I'll make dinner." He said, smiling at her as she shook her head. "What?" He laughed.
"Our place." She said, shaking her head, moving close to him, she felt his hand on her waist as she leaned into him tenderly. "I love you." She whispered.
"I love you." He said, kissing her nose. "Get some work done so you can come home and get some rest."
"I'll only be an hour or two, it's almost 5." She said softly, she looked Melody, who had settled her head on Aiden's shoulder, watching the two of them.
"Ant?" She signed, shifting slightly in Aiden's arms, she watched as Antonia tipped her head, her eyes on the little girl's. "I love you."
"I love you, Melody. Be good for Bean." She said, winking as he shook his head and laughed.
"I need a better nickname." He laughed, leaning in to kiss Antonia again.
"Nah, I like that one. It's very fitting." She said, giving the little girl a tickle, they made their way out of the conference room, and were on their way.