Chapter Text
Ava bounces on her toes as she looks around. She hasn’t been this nervous since she first let herself into Bea’s house a year ago.
She is standing at Bea’s little clearing, a blanket spread out on what she now considers ‘their rock’. She had already laid out the picnic, an assortment of all of Bea’s favourite foods. She’s determined to make this special.
She’s going to ask Bea to marry her.
After she had decided to stay, to give a relationship with Bea a chance, it had taken less than a month before she moved from The Cat’s Cradle into Bea’s house. She had been spending more time there than anywhere else, so it just made sense.
She had already known by then that Bea was it for her, but living together solidified it. They have a certain flow together, a balance, that just makes things easy. Even their fights are generally resolved quickly and with an abundance of love.
Ava still travels, going to all of the surrounding towns, but now she has a home to return to and a beautiful woman by her side. Bea has joined her on a few of her trips, but for others has been forced to stay behind for business.
Ava has been planning this day for months, trying to make sure she got the location and the words just right. Returning to Bea’s favourite spot exactly a year to the day since being given the key to Bea’s house - and heart - struck her as the perfect romantic gesture.
She is anxiously pacing when she hears a faint rustling nearby, signifying Bea’s approach. She can’t help but smile a little, knowing that Bea could silently sneak up on her if she chose, but tries not to scare her unnecessarily.
“What’s all this?” Bea asks as she steps into the clearing, eyeing the spread with surprised delight.
Ava skips over and takes her hand, pulling her forward. “Well, it’s been a year since we’ve been together, so I wanted to do something special.”
“Of course. Happy anniversary, my love,” Bea says softly, stopping just before the rock and leaning down to kiss Ava.
“Happy anniversary, Bea,” Ava says, slightly breathless, once they break apart.
She leads Bea up onto the rock and shows her everything she’s laid out. They settle side by side, shoulders and thighs touching, and make small talk while they pick through the food.
Ava has to use everything in her to stop her leg jiggling with her anxiety, lest she gives something away or - more likely - she knocks one of the platters she’s set up. Eventually, she knows she can’t hold it in any more.
“Hey Bea?” she says, pulling Bea’s attention away from the cheese she was spreading on a cracker.
“Mmmm?”
She opens her mouth to say what she had rehearsed, but finds herself choking up. To cover it, she lunges forward and kisses Bea hard.
Bea is quick to reciprocate, kissing her back and slipping in a rather indecent amount of tongue. Ava leans into it with a soft noise in the back of her throat, whining slightly when Bea eventually breaks the kiss.
“Not that I’m complaining, but what was that for?” Bea smirks. When Ava just continues to sit there gaping, she raises an eyebrow, cat ears popping out of her hair. “Cat got your tongue?”
Ava huffs out a laugh before she can stop herself, and rolls her eyes. She was mostly used to the way Bea plays with her magic, only ever really using it to make a joke and draw a laugh out of her.
“Seriously though, are you ok?” Bea asks as the smirk transforms into concern and the ears disappear. “You’ve been acting odd since I got here, is there something you need to-”
“Marry me.”
Bea blinks at her. “Excuse me?”
Ava huffs and runs a hand through her hair. “Damn it, I had this whole speech planned out and I wanted it to be perfect because it’s what you deserve. But then you got here with your dumb beautiful face and I got so nervous and in my own head and now I can’t remember any of what I wanted to say. Except for please, Bea, marry me?”
Bea finally seems to realise what is going on and a wide, breathtaking smile spreads across her cheeks. “You beat me to it, it seems.”
This time it’s Ava’s turn to blink, confused.
Bea reaches into her pocket and pulls out a small box, opening it and turning it to show Ava the sparkling ring. “I’ve been carrying this around for the last six months, waiting for the right time” she admits. “Yes, Ava, of course I’ll marry you. I knew I would want to marry you as soon as you started talking to me in that alley, showing so much kindness even though to you I was just a cat. Every day since then has just continued to prove that you’re the one for me. I can’t imagine doing life with anyone else by my side.”
Ava can’t control the tears streaming down her face as she looks between Bea’s loving eyes and the ring in her hand. With a jolt, she realises she had left out one of the most important parts, and reaches into the picnic basket to pull out the ring box she had stashed.
Bea’s ring is simple but beautiful, much like the rest of her fashion choices. Ava takes it out of the box with shaking hands and slips it onto the finger that Bea holds out to her. Bea then removes Ava’s ring from the box and guides it onto her hand slowly, reverently, like she’s committing the moment to memory.
Ava pulls her into a kiss, much slower and gentler than earlier, but carrying so much love and passion.
Bea tucks a bit of hair behind Ava’s ear before gently caressing her cheek. “I can’t wait to make you my wife.”
Wife . Ava thinks she could definitely get used to that.