Work Text:
Standing in the lobby waiting for the elevator, Nina glanced over the form in her hands, trying not to let herself visibly smile as she did. She wasn’t even sure why she had it, why today of all days. Sure, she knew from past conversations that she’d without a doubt need it someday, but in no world was that day today.
Even still, she couldn’t deny the flutter of both excitement and nerves that this simple piece of paper was causing.
A familiar voice suddenly beside her immediately made her snap out of her thoughts, although neither the happiness nor the nervousness she was feeling disappeared.
“Hey you. I’m surprised to see you above ground.”
“They do let us out of the basement on occasion. And actually I was coming to see you. Didn’t know if you were almost ready to head out and wanted to ride home together.”
“You know the answer to the second part of that is always gonna be yes. And as far as the first part goes, yeah, we’re done for the day. I was starting to pack up and realized I’d left my coat in the car. Which might’ve been my best decision of the day cuz it meant I got to run into you.” He nudged her arm with his, and even without looking, they both knew the other was smiling.
Somehow though, Scola picked up on her nervousness.
“You okay?”
“Mm-hmm. Why wouldn’t I be?” There was that tell in her voice that only he could consistently pick up on, some indication that something was… maybe not wrong, but definitely off.
“I don’t know. You just seem a little less ‘okay’ than usual.”
The elevator finally opened, and he followed her in, as focused on her as she was on trying to act like nothing was up.
Like she wasn’t currently thinking about how much she loved him and these entirely mundane moments they got to share. That and the way he could always tell when something was off with her and how he’d gotten better over the years at knowing when to push and when to just let her be. Their teasing banter and their sometimes annoying ability to turn anything into an argument on accident.
How she never wanted any of it to stop. She wanted this for the rest of her life. And she knew he wanted that too, they’d both discussed it and agreed on someday, but now that conversation seemed like ages ago, because it was, and someday suddenly felt way too far away and way too long of a wait, and-
“Marry me,” she blurted out.
“What?” he asked, laughing in disbelief because that was about the last reason he would’ve guessed for her nerves. Not to mention, there was no way he’d heard her correctly.
It was just wishful thinking or he was hallucinating or she was kidding or-
Or she was handing him a paper- some Bureau form he’d never seen before- with the words Change in Marital Status in bold across the top.
“Really?” He asked in shock, looking between the paper and her, knowing as soon as he saw the tears that were starting to form in her eyes and the nervous smile on her lips that this was real. That somehow out of all the possible ways they could’ve gotten engaged, this was how it was going to happen.
And suddenly he was entirely certain that there would never be a more romantic government form than FD-292.
Before she could even think about what she wanted to say or how she could remotely begin to make up for accidentally proposing when she hadn’t meant to just because apparently- for reasons unknown even to her- she couldn’t wait any longer, before she could do any of that, the words just started tumbling out.
“I want to be your wife and I want you to be my husband and I don’t- I didn’t mean to do this right now, I don’t know why I- this wasn’t romantic or anything and-“ She laughed. “-we’re in the elevator of all places. This isn’t-“
He cut off her nervous rambling with a kiss.
“This is perfect. Some of the best moments of my life have been in this elevator. You agreeing to dinner. Telling me you were pregnant.”
“I think that might’ve been the other elevator,” she said thoughtfully, with a smirk that he’d never get tired of seeing, and he couldn’t help but grin in return.
“You gonna argue or you gonna kiss me?”
“Tough choice,” she said, pretending to consider it. “You gonna answer the question?”
“Tough choice,” he teased back, before answering, “I do. I mean-“
“That’s the wrong-“
“Yeah, I realized that,” he said, laughing.
“I’ll take it as a yes,” she replied with a grin, welcoming the embrace he pulled her into.
They hugged in silence for a moment before Scola whispered, “Did this really just happen?”
Nina nodded against his shoulder, both her smile and her complete disbelief audible when she whispered back, “I can’t believe we’re engaged.”
“We really need to end up in the elevator together more often,” he joked as they separated a few moments later.
The briefest flicker of confusion crossed Nina’s features as she remembered where exactly they were. She looked away from him and to the elevator buttons on the wall. All of which were currently dark.
“We didn’t-“ Scola started, realizing the same thing as she had.
“Next time we’re gonna have a major life milestone in the elevator we should probably remember to pick a floor first,” she said with a laugh, hitting the button for the 27th floor before returning to his side and taking his hand.
“You know,” he said after a second, as Nina rested her head against his shoulder. “If I’d known you were gonna propose, I would’ve brought your ring.”
“You already bought me a ring?” she asked, her smile clear in her voice.
“Mm-hmm. Might’ve had it for a while now.” With a sheepish grin he added, “I maybe went out and bought it the first time you were out of town after we’d talked about what you’d like in a ring.”
“How’d I end up with such an amazing boyfriend?”
“Fiancé,” he corrected. “Because yes, of course I’ll marry you.”
She turned to kiss him again, not caring that the elevator was coming to a stop, but before she could entirely eliminate what little space remained between them, the elevator doors opened.
And unfortunately for them, they immediately had an audience to pick up on the much less than professional distance between them.
“Oh, get a room you two,” OA teased.
“An elevator’s almost a room,” Maggie pointed out with the same lighthearted tone. “Although you guys didn’t strike me as the make out at work types.”
Scola rolled his eyes and Nina just shook her head, neither of them able to hide the smiles that even their coworkers’ teasing couldn’t dim.
“We weren’t making out,” Nina said as she stepped off the elevator, still holding Scola’s hand.
“Yeah, but I can’t help it if I want to kiss my fiancée.”
It took the other two a second to realize, but when they did-
“Your fiancée?”
“You guys got engaged?”
“Mm-hmm.”
“We did.”
“Congratulations!” both Maggie and OA exclaimed, as they gave the other two hugs.
“When did this happen?”
“Um, like 27 floors ago?”
“You guys got engaged right now?”
They couldn’t help but chuckle at the other two’s surprise because, yeah, they were aware of how ridiculous it seemed.
Even if it was perfect at the same time.
“Yeah, we did.”
“Scola, you were gone for like five minutes and you managed to get engaged?”
“I think we all knew it was gonna happen eventually. Today just ended up being the lucky day.”
“Right place at the right time,” Nina added with a smile in his direction.
“He get you a ring?” Maggie asked, noticing Nina’s bare left hand.
“It’s at home,” Scola answered.
“You have a ring, but you proposed without it?”
“Actually, Nina proposed.”
“Yeah, I didn’t exactly plan to, but it… kinda just happened,” she admitted, blushing softly.
“That’s how all the best proposals go,” Maggie said with a knowing smile. Turning her teasing on her partner, she added, “You’ll understand someday.”
“I’ll- what? How’d I catch a stray in this?”
“It’ll all make sense when you’re older,” Maggie continued, patronizingly patting him on the arm, her grin and OA’s amused expression both confirming the teasing was harmless. “You’ll figure it out. Probably.”
The elevator returned from whatever floor it had been called to during their conversation and Maggie and OA got on, neither of them missing a beat in their banter, the kind that only old married couples and, evidently, special agent pairings could manage.
They both said another congratulations before the elevator doors closed and left the newly engaged agents by themselves.
“You ready to go home?” Nina asked, giving Scola’s hand a squeeze.
“I think we need to go fill out this form.”
“We can’t fill it out until we’re actually married,” she pointed out with a laugh.
“And yet you had it ready to go.”
“I was looking for another form and found it and… I dunno, something told me to print it. We would’ve needed it eventually.”
“I’m glad you did. But I think you’re gonna have to print another copy cuz we’re framing this one.”
Nina laughed again. “No, we are not.”
“Uh-uh, we are saving this and keeping it forever. It’s not everyday you propose to me.”
“I still can’t believe I did that.”
“I’m so glad you did.” As if to prove his point, he leaned in and kissed her.
“C’mon,” he said once they’d separated, and this time he was the one that squeezed her hand. “Let’s go home.”
She smiled and leaned into his side, his arm naturally finding its place around her. The two of them started down the hall, taking their first steps toward the rest of their life together (or, at the very least, their first engaged steps toward Scola’s desk).