Thank you to everybody who read or reviewed the last conversation. You are fabulous.

This is another one of those chapters where we break away from our usual format. Of course, we had to for this.

Day 223: Will You Be My Forever?

"I'm so happy to see you. It's been way too long." Ben said as soon as he pops up on the screen. He was dressed in his preferred button-down with Demora on his lap with a teddy bear purse. According to the scenario that Jim slipped to him, the ring was in the purse. He just had to come up with a way at the 15-minute mark to get Ben to open the purse. Easy or so he hopes.

"113 days," Hikaru replied to his boyfriend.

"If you counted the hours, I would've been really impressed." Then Ben smiled at him. This was when he noticed that Liz and Katie bear were also in the room. "It would've been less if I got to talk to you during the Peter thing. Unfortunately, something came up."

"In the form of Mr. Jones being a D. I. C. K." Yes, Hikaru spelled out the word because he didn't want his daughter's vocabulary to be 90% curse words.

"That is true, but I'm still here." Hikaru was still slightly surprised he really was here. A part of him was expecting something to go wrong, so he wouldn't be able to propose today. But here he was, and he was a complete nervous wreck. Nyota was with him just outside of camera range, being his emotional support and cheerleader. He threw up twice this morning.

"Thankfully so. I guess no emergency trips to the lawyers today?" He joked, and Nyota was shaking her head off to the side. Also, she may have called him an idiot in Federation standard sign language (FSSL). He's familiar with the language because of one of his cousins.

"That would be because my former father-in-law Is currently incarcerated for violating the restraining order again." At Ben's words, Nyota called him a moron in FSSL

"Fuck! What happened?" So much for trying to avoid curse words in front of the kids.

"Shot out the windows of Zoe's apartment. Thankfully she was staying at my new apartment at the time." Because this was the second attempt. Ben probably didn't even know that he knew.

"Yes, I heard you got Starfleet housing. I'm sure Liz and Kevin are taking advantage of your proximity to utilize your babysitting services."

"Of course, I am," Liz remarked from the back. "We need all the help we can get with Winona staying in London until Rebecca and Carol get there. When will that happen?"

"Three weeks," Hikaru responded.

"Lovely,"

"I'm okay being their babysitter for the round-the-clock security detail."

"Sue's mom must love you. I can't wait until you're safely on Yorktown millions of light-years away."

"She really loves her granddaughter, and I do take care of her a lot. I'm going to miss her when I'm on Yorktown. Despite missing her so much, however, I really do want to get off the planet sooner rather than later. The whole situation with Mr. Jones is making me very uneasy." And Hikaru understood that because all this was making him very uneasy.

"I want you off-planet as well right now. I said that in my last letter to you, but I'm not sure if you got it yet."

"Not yet."

"I am not surprised. And don't worry about baby D. Who knows, maybe she'll be moving there with you?"

"That's right. Sue is applying for Yorktown."

"Or my sister decides that since she's going to be working out of Yorktown soon anyway, Desi can come with you early."

"I doubt that, Liz. I know Sue likes me, but I don't think it is at 'custody of her daughter' levels yet." Ben replied.

"You're the second back up," Liz yells from behind.

"Wait, what?" Ben sounded slightly shocked as he spoke.

"Yep, you are right after mom, but before any of Sulu's sisters or parents," Liz explained.

"Wait, really? I know Sue talked about the possibility, but she never mentioned anything else after you and Kevin agreed to take care of her."

"Yep," Liz smiled. "Although you did say she would prefer if one of you put a ring on it before signing custody of D over. I suggest maybe doing that sooner rather than later." Thank God he muted the microphone on his end. Otherwise, Ben would have heard Nyota laughing ridiculously hard at Liz's words. Maybe he should have done this alone. Perhaps Hikaru should've brought Pav or maybe not because he is still a very brokenhearted teenager.

"You know you could always wait in the hallway with your boyfriend, who is probably being interrogated by your mom right now. I personally would love to know why you were at a jewelry store yesterday. If anybody is going to be getting married anytime soon, it would probably be you." And now Nyota is laughing even harder. Even Hikaru is trying hard not to smirk.

"Nope. Already working with my legal team to make sure that it doesn't need to happen."

"Although you would if need be," Ben said just as Liz got a text.

"You know what, I think me and K are going to step out so you too can talk. Let's let daddy have fun with his boyfriend, but not too much fun because this is official communications, and I'm leaving at least one other kid in the room." Liz tried to get up from the seat, but Katie bear started screaming.

"Okay, she doesn't want to leave, so you get two kids. I'll be back in a few minutes with Kevin and snacks. Maybe she'll stop screaming if there are snacks." Liz said as she left the room. According to the scenario, she was going to get the champagne for the toast. That means he has about five minutes to get to the proposal. No pressure at all.

"I adore her, but she is ridiculous sometimes," Ben said once Liz was gone. He now had a girl on each knee.

"And now you live in the same building," Hikaru remarked.

"Just for a couple of months. And with me starting the accelerated class late, it's good to have Liz and Kevin close by. We've been doing playgroup/study sessions together with Zoe watching the kids while we study."

"That seems like it would be interesting or chaotic."

"Chaotic, but everything usually is."

"So true. So how are you really holding up?"

"Glad that the judge and Shawn won't let him anywhere near my daughter. Upset that he really doesn't care that much what the judge says. Glad to be somewhere safe for the moment. I wish I could be somewhere even further away sooner rather than later, but it is what it is. Also, the judge approved me moving to the Yorktown Starbase, so my career change is a go." Hikaru couldn't help but smile.

"I knew that would make you happy."

"I'm very happy about it considering the last I heard, you were still thinking about it. What did the partner say about you leaving?"

"It was mixed. A few people are sad to see me go. Others are shocked that I didn't leave sooner. I think they were always expecting it with me being a Starfleet spouse. Honestly, I was always expecting it."

"Because being medical means that you could always take a position on ship as a contractor." Hikaru decided this was not the moment to mention that it was even more common after Vulcan because Starfleet needed the bodies.

"Which is something I'm not opposed to considering I'm willing to move to go to Yorktown. Honestly, I was considering doing that, but Zack didn't want me to do it, and in the end, he was right. Then our kid ended up an orphan and with the evil family."

"Not entirely evil. Zoe is apparently a goddess who watches your daughter so you can do a crash Starfleet medical contractors' courses. Also, I don't think you hate your mother-in-law anymore now that you understand where she's coming from."

"Yes, but I'm still frustrated with her. We're doing a lot of family therapy right now. Although I am at the point where I am okay with her going with me to Yorktown. Although I wish we had a buffer."

"Just remember Sue is trying to get a Yorktown assignment. That way, she can be your buffer." Hikaru told his boyfriend.

"Is that more likely to happen because of her mom or less likely?"

"More likely, but because you're there, I feel like this is one big family reunification plan on her part. I expect to get transferred there at some point."

"Possibly," Ben said, and Sulu realized he only had another minute to get to the proposal. He wasn't sure how to segue into that. That's when Hikaru noticed baby D trying to eat her purse. For once he's not upset about that.

"Hey, you should probably get the teddy bear purse away from Desi. I think she's using it as a teething ring right now." At his words, Ben quickly took the purse away from the little girl.

"Teddy bear purses are not food." Ben chided.

Hikaru was just thankful he didn't throw it far away. That would have been bad. Now he just had to get his boyfriend to open the purse.

"Unless there's candy inside of the teddy bear purse." He joked. "I feel like hiding chocolate in there is something that Lizzy would do."

"Not Liz, but that is definitely something Kevin would do. Okay, let's see if Uncle Kevin gave you chocolate even though I said not to. If there's a Hershey bar in here, I'm eating it." Hikaru smirked at his words.

"Not a Hershey bar?" He asked after a moment of silence

"Nope, men's engagement ring. I guess maybe Liz is going to propose and put the ring in there." In front of him, Nyota called his boyfriend an "oblivious moron" in FSSL. Hikaru realizes at that moment, he was going to need to make things a little more evident for his boyfriend.

"That's possible. However, I think it's more logical that due to the fact I am thousands of light-years away on a remote Starfleet base that I asked my daughter's aunt to pick up an engagement ring for me. Everything I could have got here was ridiculous. There's no actual selection here."

"I know. That's where my first engagement ring came from. It was two sizes too big and involved 'synthetic' rubies. I still loved it." He knew Ben still had the ring. He stopped wearing it long before he even met Hikaru, but he kept it in a jewelry box on his dresser. He was okay with that.

"Then it's a good thing that I went with another option for your second engagement ring. I'm pretty sure I saw a ring just like it at Starfleet Mart this morning."

"I wouldn't even be surprised. They probably buy in bulk. This is a very nice ring and in my size, too." Ben said, slipping it on his hand, probably to keep it away from the babies. They really were in the 'put everything in their mouth' phase. It was a little scary.

"Liz told me Winona helped with that," Hikaru told Ben.

"I knew she wasn't just getting me a souvenir from London. I mean, what type of souvenir requires you to know ring size."

"I didn't want to ask you outright for your ring size because I wanted this to be somewhat of a surprise," Hikaru explained.

"I am surprised and thankful that I managed to get the ring away from them before one of our children ate the thing."

"I am too. You know I love all three of you. I consider little Katie bear as much my daughter as Desi. I want us to be a family. Ben, I adore everything about you. I love you so much. You are a wonderful human being, one of the best I've ever met. You're a wonderful father to both of our daughters. You are also one of the gentlest and kindest human beings ever. I know that I want to spend the rest of my life with you."

"You are making me cry." Ben was starting to tear up.

"That's okay, so am I. So, is this a yes, you'll marry me?"

"Yes, I will marry you. Besides, I thought we were already engaged to be engaged. I was just holding out for the ring."

"But, I thought it was Zoe that wanted me to put a ring on it." Hikaru joked.

"Actually, we both wanted a ring." Called a very vibrant young woman who quickly ran over to Katie bear.

"I assume that you're the infamous Zoe?" Hikaru asked.

"Yes. I am your future sister-in-law. Excellent taste, Ben. This one is cute and has exquisite taste in jewelry."

"Or excellent taste when it comes to choosing people to get jewelry for him," Kevin remarked as he walked into the room with Liz and both of his sisters. His nieces were there too, carrying the flowers. Liz had happy engagement balloons in her hands with his sisters caring in the champagne and roses. Thankfully, no birds.

"Or at the very least knew not to buy an engagement ring at Starfleet Mart," Ben remarked.

"My brother loved you; he just hated shopping. He also forgot to consult me, but see this one knows better. Now let us toast." Zoe said as she grabbed a flute of champagne from the tray his oldest sister was carrying. Of course, she had the champagne ready to go.

"I don't have champagne on my side." He remarked just as the door to the conference room opened. Jim walked in, holding a tray. Pav, Spock, and Leonard were with him.

"You do now.

"I'm not surprised at all," Hikaru stated as he grabbed a flute of champagne. He is surprised it was glass. Apparently, Jim broke out the diplomatic reception glassware.

"The scenario that was sent to us yesterday stated to have champagne ready for a toast. I may have conveniently deleted that line before sending it to you."

"Of course, you did." He hears Nyota remark as she rolls her eyes.

"Be glad that I like you. I was saving this bottle for a special occasion. Thankfully for you, we decided not to open it on our wedding anniversary."

"I am so flattered." Hikaru snarked.

"I really like this one." Here Zoe says as she places an arm around Ben.

"I do, too," Ben remarked.

"Now that everybody has either champagne or ginger ale," apparently the nieces and his sister had ginger ale. He would have to ask about that later. "let us raise our glass to Ben and Hikaru." Zoe said with her glass held high. "May your future be wonderful and full of joy."

To be continued

Since we met Ben Sulu in Star Trek Beyond, I really wanted to explore how they got to that point. I always knew I would be writing this eventually.