A/N: This chapter is a lot shorter than recent ones have been. But it didn't take many words for this chapter to get it's point across. In fact, it could be said it only took a single question. It's time for femslash!
Chapter 31: I ask you…
December 22, 2030
Newman-Woods Household
8:00 p.m.
Now that Piece of Cake had ended, Robin couldn't help but feel nervous for no real reason. The dinner she had reserved had hung over the entire day, and now it was finally here. Sometimes, it was a little hard to believe that it three years had already passed. All it took was to recall a memory in her mind and it came back just as vivid as if it had happened yesterday.
Earlier this year, Robin had started the project of shaping her future self in the form of a large bust. On that very same day, she and Juniper briefly reunited with their late mentor Constance Courte. During that conversation, Robin shared with the two of them her new goal in life, and Juniper answered this with her own way of supporting Robin, even if they couldn't officially work with each other.
It really struck Robin just then: Juniper is such a smart, kind, wonderful person. Even after the case of Athena's shooting, when Robin was at her very worst- Juniper stuck with her. In the months that followed, Robin shaped all her experiences and wants onto the bust.
Through it all, Juniper would talk to her, give Robin suggestions how to craft the bust, or just let her presence be a balm whenever Robin was frazzled. Slowly, this came to encompass the entirety their shared lives together. Robin had yet to actually finish the bust- as she told Juniper, she might never finish it.
What did happen is that Robin arrived at a conclusion- that she loved Juniper so, so much, that she wanted to be with her forever. Robin began learning how to do metal work for one purpose, and one purpose only. While learning a whole new craft took a while, the fruits of her labor where most certainly worth it. The ring Robin had made was currently sitting in the pocket of the dress she was putting on just for this occasion.
Tonight, at the dinner Robin had reserved almost an entire month ago, she would finally give it to Juniper, and ask her the most important question she would ever ask.
Soon enough both women had finished changing into their special clothing, and met up at the front door. Both of them couldn't help but briefly stare at each other.
Juniper had decided to let her hair down from it's pigtails for the occasion, and while she wore a pair of sunflower earrings she wore no make up. The dress she had picked was almost floor-length, was a bright yellow, had a colorful flower pattern on it's top half.
Robin, meanwhile, didn't do anything too special with her hair, but put on mascara and just a bit of lipstick. Around her neck was a gold heart-shaped pendant, a birthday present from Juniper. Robin's dress came to just above her knees, had a slight dip in its neckline, and was a deep, gorgeous red.
The first one to snap out of it was Robin. She opened the front door, then grabbed Juniper's hand. After locking up, Robin and Juniper made their way to their car, where Robin opened the passenger door.
"After you, my l-o-v-e," Robin said graciously. Smiling warmly and giggling, Juniper got into the car, and Robin got into the driver's seat, starting it up and heading out. This time it was Robin who knew exactly where they were headed, while Juniper could only sit there and wonder.
So despite playfully chastising Robin for this earlier, Juniper couldn't help but ask, "So where exactly are we going, Robin?"
"Somewhere that should remind you of home," Robin said coyly. Then her mood became a little more serious. "I know that sometimes you miss living in the forest."
"I really do. But living here is what's best for us and our jobs," Juniper said reassuringly, having accepted this fact a long time ago. "I guess that has something to do with where we're going."
"Uh huh. While planning for this dinner, I found this place," Robin said, keeping her eyes focused on the road. "And I hope it will remind you of being out in nature, just a little."
So they were going to an restaurant with a nature theme. That was just like Robin, always demonstrating her love with grand gestures, such as the trip to the Grand Canyon the previous year, or taking Juniper and her grandma out hiking for Juniper's birthday this year.
In return, Juniper demonstrated her own love in her own way, such as with the pendant Robin was currently wearing, or the art gallery she helped arranged earlier today. As their car once again passed through the streets of the city, Juniper found herself wishing they were already at their destination, wherever it was that they were headed.
December 22, 2030
The Little Door
8:30 p.m.
The mystery restaurant turned out to be called "The Little Door", and as was to be expected the small front door concealed a large, extravagant interior. They had just barely managed to make the reservation, and that was with Robin getting a little closer to the speed limit than she usually did.
"Oh thank goodness we managed to make it here in time," Robin said, sighing in relief. "If we missed it I don't know what I would have done."
"Not much has really gone like we planned it, has it," Juniper said, thinking back on the various unexpected happenings over the course of today. "But today's still been one of the best days I can remember."
"W-e-l-l, it's about to get even better!" Robin said, grinning.
A waiter approached the two of them before asking, "Are you Miss Newman?"
"I sure am!"
The waiter bowed respectfully. "I have prepared the Garden Patio for you and the esteemed Miss Woods exactly as requested. So if you'll both follow me…"
As the waiter guided the two of them, Robin heard the sound of running water and her grin got bigger. From the very beginning, she did everything in her power to make sure this would be how today would end. The three of the stopped before a pair of wooden doors, which the water opened. Juniper and Robin stepped through the doors- and the sight took Juniper's breath away.
As the name implied, the Garden Patio was was an open air room, with the source of the running water being revealed to be a fountain in a corner of the room. In another corner sat a pond with koi peacefully swimming around inside of it. There were many tables in the large room, but only a single table with two chairs was set up. A vase with a bouquet of winter roses sat on the table.
As Juniper and Robin looked around, they soaked in more details of the room: The vividly green ferns lining the room, the iron candelabras on the walls exuding soft candlelight, the stars and moonlight just visible beyond the confines of the dining room.
"Oh my goodness! All of this… is really for me?" Juniper asked when she could talk again.
"You and only you, Juniper!" Robin exclaimed, leading her girlfriend to the table. Well, Robin mentally agreed with Juniper's opinion of the room. When she had first lay eyes on pictures of this place when looking up restaurants, she knew it would be perfect place for this special date.
The two of them sat down across from each other at the table, and the waiter set menus in front of them.
Today was the day they officially celebrated as their anniversary, because three years ago to this day they had their very first date at Eldoon's noodle stand. But the only reason that date happened was because of something that happened the day before.
That's what was running through Robin's mind as she and Juniper waited for the food they ordered to arrive. That specific week was another one burned into both their memories, for good and for ill: the week that courtroom number four was bombed.
The event had shaken Robin to her very core. Were it not for Apollo, there was a good chance that Juniper would have died that day. Because of that- Robin could no longer hold the burgeoning feelings that had been developing inside her for a while. So two days after Juniper got her not guilty verdict for the bombing trial, on December 19th…
"You called me every day of that trial," Juniper said, recalling those same exact days. "And a couple days after the trial, you came over the my house."
"I absolutely had to see you. I just had to know you were okay!" Robin said intensely.
That day, Robin had gone over to Juniper's house, and the moment she lay eyes on Juniper she just couldn't help herself- she burst into tears and cried out at the top of her lungs,
"JJJJJJJJJUUUUUNNNNIIIIIPPPPEEERRRR! YOU'RE OKAY! I'm….. I'm so happy!"
"Hearing you react like that did make me sad, but also happier than I'd ever felt before," Juniper said, smiling gently. "Because I could hear it it your heart loud and clear. How much you care about me."
"I've always cared so, so much about you, Juniper," Robin said, returning the smile. "But at the time, I realized it was a lot more than that. I was falling in l-o-v-e with you!"
The waiter that had been serving them up until now approached their table, this time with the food they had ordered. Juniper had ordered a seven vegetable couscous, while Robin settled on some baked eggplant. For drinks, they had settled on sharing a bottle of sparkling wine, non-alcoholic so they could still get back home after the meal.
The conversation was tabled briefly so the two of them get dig into their food. As expected for such a fancy restaurant the food was delectable beyond compare. Robin started humming out of joy with each bite, and she had to restrain herself from discarding her table manners. Across from her, Juniper was eating her food slowly, so she could savor it as long as she could.
"You know, even after that I'm still a little hungry," Juniper said after they finished their meals.
"Well, then I'll order us some dessert!"
When the waiter came back for their empty meals Robin whispered into his ear. The waiter listened to her request without once changing his expression, and when Robin finished he simply nodded and left.
"The more days I spent with you after that October, so long ago," Juniper said, starting the conversation back up now that they were finished eating. "The more I started feeling something towards you, Robin. I didn't know exactly what at the time, especially since it felt like we were just getting to know each other all over again."
Robin certainly couldn't fault Juniper for that. Even she felt like she was learning all about herself, without the chains that had bound her for so long. The bonds between Robin and Juniper and Hugh shifted and changed during those days.
"But you gave shape to those feelings deep inside me," Juniper continued, grasping Robin's hands from across the table. "When you cried for me. When you opened yourself so completely to me, as you always have."
Juniper had spent a lot of time reassuring Robin that she was okay, thanks to Apollo, but Robin just couldn't get a handle on herself. Eventually she said, "I know you're okay! But… if something had happened to you, I don't know what I would have done. You're so sweet, and understanding, and seeing you everyday makes me feel so happy! If you had died I could never tell you-!"
Robin cut herself off then, but Juniper caught it. She asked Robin to finish the sentence, and Robin wasn't about to say nothing, or give a lie. So she looked Juniper in the eyes and said,
"Tell you just how much you m-e-a-n to me. You're my best friend, but you're so much more than that! Even after what I've done, you're still besides me. You've helped me understand so much about myself. I want to make you smile...I want to help you reach your dreams. Juniper….I really like you, and I want to be your girlfriend!"
"When you confessed, I found I wasn't really surprised," Juniper said. "I think I knew you felt that way. Just like when I thought it was Hugh, I didn't say anything, because I didn't really know if I wanted that. But when you confessed, I started remembering all kinds of things. From as far back as the first time you visited my home in the forest."
Today marked the three-year anniversary of their romantic relationship. But making up the foundation of that was another three years: the three years they had spent together as best friends.
All three of them- Hugh, Juniper, and Robin, had met on the same day during their first week at Themis Academy. Robin had met up with Hugh by chance, then challenged him to a debate. Hugh had accepted the challenge, and the two of them had gone looking for a mediator.
By chance, Robin spotted Juniper by herself in an isolated corner of a room with other judge course students, poring over some notes. Robin and Hugh went up to her, introduced themselves, and they were inseparable.
"Your enthusiasm….your joy….even your anger and sorrow," Juniper continued. "I realized even when you were forced to lie about yourself, I've always been close to you. The real you. So I looked inside of myself."
After she had confessed, all Robin could do was wait for what Juniper could say in response. Juniper's expression was one of contemplation, and a dash of uncertainty.
"Lately, I've been wondering to myself just how I feel about you," Juniper finally said. "You're such a sweet, joyful, passionate person, Robin. It makes me feel warm and confident inside, being around you. Watching you shout down Professor Means...then being the first to defend Athena from him. The way I feel about you...I think I feel the same way as you. So if you really want to be my girlfriend...maybe we could go on a date?"
That's how their first date at Eldoon's noodle stand had come to be, and the start of these past three years. From best friends, they had become girlfriends. Now, their current place in the conversation was the perfect place for Robin to finally do the one thing she'd been wanting to do all day.
"If you had just told me you just wanted to be friends, I wouldn't have minded," Robin began, separating her right hand from Juniper's. "As long as I could still be with you! But I just had to tell you how I felt. These past three years I've spent with you, I've spent them as your girlfriend. Now I want to be even more than that."
With her right hand, Robin grabbed the ring she'd made from her dress pocket in a clenched fist, then brought it out. Robin guided Juniper's left hand over the fist, then unclenched the fist.
Juniper's eyes immediately widened as her hand made contact with the ring.
"I want to be your wife….I want to spend the rest of my life with y-o-u!" Robin exclaimed. She moved Juniper's hand aside, finally revealing the ring: bright silver with a vine and sunflower pattern, which clasped the diamond at the top. "Will you marry me, Juniper?"
Juniper's eyes grew watery, but her smile was sincere. "Yes...yes, I will marry you, Robin!"
Juniper took the ring and slipped it onto the ring finger of her left hand, then dug around her purse.
"Actually, I got you something too. I didn't make this with my own hands like you did, but…."
Out of her purse Juniper took out a small box, and Robin instantly knew what was inside. Juniper opened the box and presented it to Robin: inside was likewise an engagement ring, except this one had a ruby as a gem.
"I was going to ask you to marry me too," Juniper said, actually sounding a little embarrassed. "But I guess you beat me to it…."
Robin took the ring from the box and slipped it onto her own ring finger, admiring it from every angle. Then everything that had just happened finally sunk it.
"Ohmygod we're actually engaged!" Robin declared at the top of her lungs. "I'm- I"M SO HAPPY!"
"This...this almost feels like a wonderful dream," Juniper said, a lot quieter but no less overjoyed.
"I can assure you both this is not a dream," someone said dryly.
Both women jumped in surprise, looking around- to find that the waiter had shown up as some point, carrying a large, white cake with him. The waiter looked quite amused at the reaction he had gotten.
"I have brought the dessert as requested," The waiter said, setting it on the table. "And once you fine ladies are finished, feel free to to peruse our menus again, or ask for the check if you're done."
Before Juniper or Robin could say anything, the waiter left again. With him gone the two of them decided to focus on eating the cake instead. As they did they couldn't keep their eyes off of each other, or the rings on their fingers.
After finishing the cake Robin called for the check. As the dinner was her idea, she also payed for it. Juniper wanted to protest, but Robin said to think of the dinner as her way of paying Juniper back for the art gallery they had attended earlier today.
On the way out of the restaurant they ran into the waiter that had been serving them all this time. Robin and Juniper both thanked him for his service throughout the meal, Robin in particular leaving him a generous tip.
"I'm just doing my job," The waiter answered humbly. "Many couples have passed through these doors during my tenure, and I aid in creating unforgettable moments for them. The many smiles I've observed are almost as valuable to me as my actual pay."
Robin giggled at this. "Maybe we'll come here again sometime."
"I'd certainly wouldn't mind that, Miss Newman. Though, it won't be Miss for much longer, will it?"
Juniper looked at the engagement ring again. They truly were engaged, which made Robin her fiancee. She and Robin would one day meet at the altar, to bind themselves to each other forever.
Already, Juniper couldn't wait for that day to come.
A/N: Now, a sane author would end this story here. If you readers haven't noticed by now, I'm very much insane and what even is pacing anyways? So just three parts left! Until then, this has been Orion Fowl, and thank you for visiting my Corner of Romance.