10: Snowed In: Heather and Alejandro

Heather glared at Alejandro as they both faced the living room window.

"You have got to be kidding me," she muttered.

It was their first day on vacation after a full year of being trapped in the city, and fate would have it that they were snowed in. The twenty-six year old business executive cursed under her breath and crossed her arms as her glare darkened. This was all her stupid boyfriend's fault. If he hadn't decided to rent a cottage in the middle of nowhere, none of this would have happened. She would be in their penthouse right now with a glass of chardonnay and her favourite soaps playing. Instead, she was freezing her butt off in the cramped hut as the snow continued to bury them.

Although both had grown since their days on "Total Drama", they still had that old edge to them that would never wear away, no matter how many times people tried. Alejandro wasn't any more delighted then she was though, she could tell by the way the corners of his eyes crinkled and his Adam's apple bobbed, but he kept it together, for now.

"Nothing to fret about mi amor, I'm sure it'll stop snowing soon," the multimillionaire reassured her.

Heather rolled her eyes and turned on her heel, causing her long black hair to hit his cheek. "Since when did you become Mr. Weather Man?" she sneered with little venom behind it. She was getting rusty. She used to be able to curdle dairy with her words. A committed relationship had softened her. Damn Alejandro and his charms!

The young woman grabbed a blanket off the couch and settled down with a book. At least if she was going to waste her week-long vacation, she could catch up on some reading.

Hours passed, and instead of busying himself like he normally would, Alejandro stayed at the window, watching, waiting for the snow to stop. Heather forgot all about him till her stomach gurgled and the last page in her book was turned. In Seattle, she would have rung for their maid to fetch a box of her favourite chocolates. Reality set in and the young woman sat up, staring at the log walls in frustration. 'I wonder if he bothered to put anything in the fridge before we got here.'

Heather honestly hadn't thought Alejandro would want to date her after everything on "Total Drama". After all, she did kick him down the path leading to a volcano so she would win the money. But he understood her competitive spirit, or so he claimed afterwards, and he willingly gave her his phone number for when she got home. She nearly ripped it to shreds right there, but her better sense kicked in and told her to keep it for later. She just might need it.

Well, she didn't really need it. One night, after a full two months of denying to herself she felt anything other than loathing for the man, she called him up when she was drunk. She couldn't recall what she said, but apparently it was enough to sway Alejandro to text her the next morning, asking if she would like to go on a date with him. She obliged, and so their love story blossomed, as sappy as that sounded.

Once they graduated, she moved to Europe for school, and that was tough, probably the worst few years of their relationship. They broke up many times, but whenever Heather came home, they found each other and the cycle started all over again. Now, they had steady careers, a home, two kittens, and everything they could really want. Both agreed kids were out of the question. Heather never wanted to be a mother and Alejandro had enough of tiny brats thanks to his brothers to cure him of any parental need. The one thing they didn't have though was a marriage licence.

Her ideal future never included a white wedding, so it didn't really matter to her. It did, however, matter a great deal to her very traditional parents who thought living with a man without a ring on her finger was a cardinal sin, next to a childless marriage of course. Heather knew well enough that a ring literally meant nothing to their relationship. She had weathered a lot already with him; he had been her first meaningful relationship. She wouldn't leave him just because he didn't propose.

As Heather rummaged through the fridge for something, she heard Alejandro mutter "I had it all planned out!"

She turned to the man with her head cocked to the side and stared at him. "What was that?"

Her boyfriend blinked, surprised she heard him, and tried to brush his comment aside. "You must be hearing things mi amor, I said nothing."

"Don't patronize me with your amor crap. We both know I'm a lot smarter than that. I wouldn't be the head of a national company if I wasn't. Now tell me what you meant."

Alejandro paused then gave a heavy sigh. "I wanted to come up here for the weekend because . . . I had something planned."

This intrigued Heather. "Like?" she probed.

"Like . . ." his voice dropped off at the end so she didn't catch what he said after.

"Alejandro, just tell me!" she exclaimed impatiently.

"I was going to propose, alright! I was going to take you into the woods where I would have set up a romantic dinner in a cave and in your glass of chardonnay I would have put the ring there and it was going to be perfect but then the damn snow started and now the whole thing is ruined!" He was out of breath by the end, and, after realizing what he just said, both stared at each other in shock.

Once what he said clicked, Heather made her way over to him slowly.

"You . . . were going to propose?"

Alejandro slowly nodded his head. "Yeah, is it any surprise?"

Heather, blushing now, shrugged. "A little. I just always assumed we weren't the conventional type."

He shrugged as he met her halfway. "No, we're not, but I'd like to think marriage isn't all that conventional. Two kids and a dog are," he pointed out, wrapping his dark arms around her waist.

"True, very true," she conceded and rested her heart overtop his erratically beating heart. Without her heels, she was only slightly shorter than him which was something she liked. "So, where's the ring?"

"Hmm?"

"The ring, where is it?"

Alejandro chuckled nervously and fished around in his pocket for it. "Now get down on one knee," she ordered.

"Are you seriously going to make me do that whole bit?"

Heather smirked. "If you're going to propose, you might as well do it right."

The young man bent on one knee with a sigh. "Now ask me," Heather urged.

"Heather mi amor, will you marry me?"

She nodded and stuck out her hand. "Yes!" Alejandro slipped the ring on her finger and got up to bestow his new fiancé with a kiss.

'The folks sure are going to be happy when they hear about this.'