Chapter 39

Two days after the press conference.

"Karen, sweetheart, I have something important to tell you, can you turn that off for a while?" Fitz said regarding the TV show as he sat by her on the couch in the family room. He waited for her to turn off the TV to continue. "I'm going to ask Olivia to marry me."

Karen shrugged. "Will I still get to keep my own room?"

Fitz cocked his head, taken aback by the question. Of all the questions he had thought she would ask… "Of course, sweetheart." He supposed that since she had been uprooted from Santa Barbara to Santa Monica just a week and a half ago, she was afraid to move yet again. "Olivia likes this house, I think we will stay here for a long long time."

He reached over to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. "Sweetheart, there will be some changes in our lives, that much I can promise you. Nothing ever stays the same, does it?"

Karen shrugged again. "Of course not, daddy," she replied as if she thought the question was much too silly.

"How about your new puppy, the one you've been dreaming of, do you think it will stay little forever?"

Karen sighed. "Of course not, daddy," she replied, rolling her eyes in a disbelieving fashion as if she couldn't understand why her daddy would ask such a silly question.

"Okay, so what I'm trying to say is that change is part of life, so some things will necessarily change, like let's say, each one of us gets older on their birthdays. It never fails to happen, too bad for old folks like me," he clicked his tongue in mock disappointment trying to get a smile out of her. He continued only when she did smile. " But I tell you one thing, there is one thing that will never change…" he paused to make sure he had his daughter's absolute attention. "And you what that is?"

Karen pursed her lips, her expression thoughtful. "You, daddy, you will always be my daddy."

Fitz smiled at his child. She was so smart. "Yes, K, I will always be your dad...and my love for you will never ever change...no matter what happens no matter what you do, no matter what changes in our lives...whether you still believe in the tooth fairy or not," at this, Karen flashed her prettiest smile, she looked the cutest with her two front teeth missing, by the way. "My love for you will never change no matter what, always and forever," he added the last sentence with a slight wink, certain that somehow his words sounded like the lyrics of a song from a Disney movie, Frozen perhaps? It hadn't been intentional except that he desperately wanted to speak to her heart and Karen was such a huge fan of Disney. He wanted for never to be even the slightest doubt of the special place that she held in his heart.

"Will you and Olivia have babies?" Karen asked with a little apprehension. "And will be taken away too?"

Aha. So this was the source of Karen's insecurities. It had been hard to explain Aaron's situation to Karen. In the end, he opted for telling her the truth in the simplest of terms as possible. But of course, it was still a very difficult situation for a child to understand.

"I know change can be hard sometimes and we really don't know what the future holds. But there's no need to worry. What happened with Aaron won't happen again."

"Will you and Olivia be having a baby?" Karen persisted.

Fitz smiled to himself. He couldn't very well deny it when asked, could he? "Yes, we will…"

Karen smiled a little. "Everyone I know has a little brother or sister. So I guess I won't be the odd one out anymore," she said matter of factly.

"Well, I'm sure you'll be the best big sister ever," Fitz said with a smile that reached his eyes and all the corners of his heart. And with that he pulled her closer to him in an affectionate embrace.

They sat in silence for a little while, just enjoying each other, until Karen spoke again.

"Daddy?"

"Huh? What is it?"

"There is one thing I do want…"

Fitz cocked his head. Maybe she wanted a special toy or another new pet?

"I want to be the flower girl…"

Fitz smiled widely. "Of course, we'll ask Olivia but I'm sure she'll be delighted."

"Really? Even though I'm too old?"

Fitz let out a laugh. "You... old?" He laughed again.

"Well, yes, most flower girls are under seven years old...and I'm eight," she said with a solemn expression which Fitz thought was so funny. However, he tried his best to repress yet another chuckle, as he didn't his daughter to think he was not taking her concerns seriously. "Guess what little missy, we gotta start packing for Mexico. Plus, we'll stop by Zales first," he went on in an upbeat tone, "I'm hoping you will help me choose the engagement ring. He was really hoping that Karen would be delighted with the fact that he was asking her opinion.

"Hmm…yeah, daddy, " she smiled candidly, " I was thinking maybe we can stop by the pet store too? Maybe we can pick up a cute little kitten and surprise Olivia…wouldn't that be nice?"

"Very clever, young lady," he replied in a playful voice.

"No, really, having a kitten can be very useful.

"Yeah, and how is that?

Karen pursed her lips and adopted a far away look. Then, suddenly her eyes brightened as though a light bulb had turned on in her head. "Well…We could put the engagement ring around kitty's collar, put kitty in a box and give it to Olivia as a present," she grinned, very proud of herself, the pink gap on her gums where her two front teeth had once been as wide can be.

Fitz chuckled. Well, that was certainly an original way to propose. The truth was that he'd been debating in his head whether he should go for something original, or whether he ought to stick with a traditional marriage proposal.

A/N: I know, I know, I'm bad. Please don't shoot me!

I know I said this was this chapter was going to be the big reveal, but you know, I was revising this part and I couldn't resist asking your opinion.

1) Any votes for the kitty proposal?

2) Any votes for a traditional down on one knee marriage proposal?