You're Exactly What She Needs
Chapter 6
Schmidt walked into the high end jewelry store, still on a high from the flawless plan he and his son had executed earlier.
"Good afternoon, sir." An older woman approached him across the counter. She noticed the strangely infectious grin on his face and commented, "My, you look excited!"
"Thank you….Darlene." Schmidt replied, taking note of her nametag, "I need a ring-"
Darlene, seemingly the expert in this situation, cut him off there, "Oh I just knew it, you're ready to get that engagement ring!"
He laughed knowingly, "My youthful skin must have fooled you, Darlene, I'm actually married and have two kids."
"So you already have the diamond." she smiled.
"Luckily she said yes to that eight years ago." Schmidt exhaled, still very aware of the cosmic imbalance that must have occurred eight years ago for a woman like Cece to agree to marry him, "I'm here because I want a ring engraving."
Darlene clasped her hands together, "Oh how adorable."
Schmidt grinned, "It is, isn't it."
"So what is it that you want engraved on your wife's ring, sir?"
"Call me Schmidt." he confidently informed her, feeling strangely close to Darlene.
"That's what you want permanently etched inside the band?" the elder cringed.
"Oh no, heavens no" Schmidt retraced his steps, "I was just saying that you can call me Schmidt as we take this journey together."
"You're such a sweetheart." Darlene gushed, "Let me see this ring."
Schmidt handed over Cece's ring carefully, watching it like a hawk.
Noticing his apprehension, Darlene smiled, "Don't worry, I'm a professional. So how did you manage to wrangle it off of her?" she asked, inspecting and cleaning the silver band.
"A four-year old son who is as mischievous as his father." Schmidt replied honestly.
The woman laughed, "Your family sounds like it has quite the adventures."
"Oh we do." he told her, "Trust me, it's been that way since my wife and I first met."
"Love at first sight?"
If Schmidt were drinking a glass of water, he would have spit it out in Darlene's face, "Oh god no, she thought I was the worst person in the universe. And I don't blame her, I was leading contributor to the douchebag jar."
"The what?"
"Not important, Darlene. What matters is that it took us like five years before we got together for good. And at that point I just proposed, our timing had been so off that I just thought to hell with it."
"You proposed….?"
"I mean in those five years I white fanged her, almost got her pregnant, she almost married someone else, I broke my penis, she dated a hunky Australian and my old roommate, I dated a congresswoman and my old college girlfriend in an attempt to get her back and then dated them at the same time…."
"And despite all that…."
"I know, it's pathetic but she's the most incredible woman in the world." Schmidt breathed, remembering when Cece first walked into the loft with then new-roommate Jess., "I waited five years, and after eight years of marriage and two kids I already know that being with her for a lifetime isn't even enough."
Darlene knowingly stared at him, "That's not pathetic, Mr. Schmidt, that's love."
"Daddy!" Benjy cheered as his father ran into the house.
"What's up, buddy." Schmidt winked at his son, giving him a quick thumbs-up to indicate that the plan was complete. Benjy winked back and proceeded to play with his trains.
Schmidt then picked up Sydney from her play chair, "Hello my little love bug, daddy missed you today…."
"Schmidt is that you?" Cece walked over, putting earrings in.
"Yeah, sorry the office took a bit longer than expected." Schmidt said, turning to face her with Sydney snuggled tight against his chest.
Stressfully multitasking she said "My mom is going to be over in a few-"
"What?" Schmidt asked, noticing she stopped mid-sentence.
Cece had her hand to her face, trying to contain her laughter.
"What are you laugh-" he wondered until he felt a tug at his neck. Schmidt looked down to see his eight-month old contently chewing on his tie.
"Syd!" he cried out, laughing himself. If there was anything parenthood taught Schmidt, it was that even the most unfortunate and aggravating moments were priceless memories, "What are you doing to daddy's tie?"
"Ew, she's eating it!" Benjy mocked his sister and Cece laughed along with her son.
"You two are just jealous of the father-daughter bonding going on over here." Schmidt waved off his other two family members.
Cece brought Benjy into her arms as the boy bear-hugged his mom, "Oh Benjy and I get plenty of mother-son bonding without him eating my clothes, right buddy?"
"Right, mommy!" Benjy giggled and Schmidt rolled his eyes while trying to remove his tie from Sydney's strong grip.
All of a sudden, Mrs. Parekh powered through the door. Over the years, Schmidt had managed to somewhat fall within her good graces but the strong mother of his wife still scared him to death. Luckily over the years Mrs. Parekh had two reasons to be thankful for her son-in-law.
"Benjy, Sydney….how are you my darlings?" she cooed, approaching her wavy-haired grandson.
"Hi grandma." he nervously waved. Apparently, Schmidt's mini-me felt the indimidation of his mother's mother as well.
She shifted her focus to Sydney, who was giggling off a high of playing with her father.
Schmidt handed his daughter over to her, "Here you go, Mrs. Parekh, she's so excited to play with grandma tonight."
Cece nervously scanned the room and Schmidt gave her a look so she spoke up, "Okay, honey are you ready to go?"
"I have to um….change my tie." he grumbled, "It's all wet."
"What?" Mrs. Parekh heard from across the room, bouncing her granddaughter on her lap.
"Um, we're going to a Mexican restaurant so it's too dry a climate for an aqua-colored pallate." Schmidt recited on the fly, looking down at his blue tie, "I'm gonna….dress it down, maybe incorporate some darker reds."
His mother-in-law looked at him like he was growing another head. "Alright, well, everything is settled here, you two can be off whenever you determine appropriate wardrobe choices."
"Great." Schmidt nodded, and retreated to his room.
Cece followed him and shut their door, "Oh my god." she started laughing.
"Oh my god." He groaned, covering his face with his hands. "Your mom thinks I'm the strangest person in the entire universe."
Still giggling, Cece let her forearms drape lightly around his shoulders, "Schmidt, I love you, I love our crazy family, and nothing my mother says about you means anything to me."
"I know." he stubbornly said, "But come on you can't blame her, I'm an idiot."
"You're the only idiot I want to spend my anniversary with." Cece reasoned with him, leaning in to peck his lips, "I love you."
Feeling reassured, he decided to shake it off, knowing the gift he was going to give her later, "I love you, too."
"Good." Cece suddenly shifted nervously, "Because there's something I need to tell you."
Schmidt's face dropped.
"I lost my wedding ring." she spit out.
"You what?" he replied, he hadn't even thought about the fact that him taking her ring meant that she wouldn't have it.
"Yeah, I guess I put it on the sink when I was washing dishes and it must have fell in, I am so ashamed and I feel so stupid."
"Honey, relax." he rubbed his hands down her arms, "It's fine, remember when mine flew out the window?"
"It was a coin spinning contest, Schmidt, you didn't have to use your ring to beat him."
"Benjy was too good and I ran out of quarters, you know that."
Cece smiled, loving the fact that her husband brought up his unfortunate ring incident to make her feel better. "Thank you for being so understanding, it sucks that it happened on our anniversary."
"We'll get you a new one tomorrow." he assured her, "Now let's get going."
After a great mexican dinner, Schmidt led Cece out on the sidewalk as they walked along the shoreline, "Can you believe it's been eight years?" he asked her.
Cece shook her head, allowing the cool sea air to clear her thoughts, "No. When I walked into the loft for the first time, I was dead set on a life plan. No dating, no marriage, no kids, no love, just parties, models, and fun."
She looked at her husband and fell in love again at his sweet smile, "Thank god Jess answered that Craigslist ad."
Cece took their intertwined hands and pulled his arm around hers so that it was resting on her shoulder, "Can I tell you something?" he asked her.
"Of course, babe." Cece replied, taking a look at her phone to check the time. She froze the lock screen that was a photo of Schmidt, Benjy and Sydney all asleep on the couch.
"I was the one who stole your ring."
"You what...how?" she tried to process it.
"Well Benjy helped a little." Schmidt fondly remembered.
"I was so worried about it, you idiot!" she playfully hit him, stopping their walk to face him, "Why?"
"Because you, Cece, are the most incredible woman on the face of this earth. My life….." he searched for the right words, " Became truly meaningful only when you entered it. We've had such an adventure just to get to this point and it means the world to me that you've agreed to stick with me through the rest of it."
"Schmidt…" she whispered, truly touched by his words.
"You deserve a lot better than me, that's pretty clear." he laughed, "But since I'm what you got, you deserve to know exactly how I feel about you for as long as you wear our ring."
He pulled out the box and revealed her wedding band. The moonlight shimmered the silver and it gleamed like the love they shared. Cece picked it up and read the inscription, carefully carved into the ring,
With you, a lifetime isn't even enough.
"Oh, Schmidt." Cece cried as she put her wedding ring right back where it belonged. It felt familiar, but the new meaning surged through her hand and circuited around the rest of her body. Looking up into his dark green eyes she managed to speak, "I….I love you so much."
They met with a kiss, each pouring a lifetime of love and commitment to each other into it.
"I love you too, Cece. I always will."
"I know, babe." she rested her head on his chest.
"Let's go home, huh?" he suggested, reeling from the total victory of his anniversary gift.
"I need to talk to your son for tricking me into taking my ring off." Cece laughed.
"He's a trickster just like his daddy, what's not to love!"
Cece rolled her eyes playfully. She had her hands full but couldn't have been happier about it.
A/N: Just some more Schmece + kids nonsense for you guys. Hope you enjoyed because despite all the good things that are happening on New Girl we can never have enough Schmece!