timed to May 28th

[weary_head]

The Winchester was empty.

Dean had wandered past its silent tables before, snuck in after hours in search of pie, but it wasn't after hours. It was seven p.m. on a Friday night, a prime dinner hour on a prime dinner night, and yet Dean stood alone in the doorway, pulling fitfully at the sleeves of his suit.

He'd worn the suit before. It was his favorite, and judging by the way Angua looked at him when he was in it, he looked handsom in it, so Dean couldn't understand why the collar seemed so tight now, or why the jacket seemed so hot. The lights of the Winchester were turned down low and intimate, emitting no heat for him to blame, and the breeze through the windows was fresh and sweet. Touching his hand to the flush on his neck, Dean swore quietly, taking another cool sip of water before he returned to the door.

Any time now, he'd see Angua on the path. She'd be beautiful, because she always was, and the sight of her would stop his breath, because it always did. It was strange to think on now when Dean felt so close to gasping into a paper bag, but he knew, as soon as he saw her everything would fall into place.

He'd begun working at the clinic more than a year ago. This last week he'd gone back to school. He had a best friend and a hobby that didn't involve a gun, he had a little girl who he looked on as a daughter, he had a dog and a home and a life that could be shared someone. Maybe Dean had a long, long way to go towards perfect, but he'd worked hard to be the kind of man a woman like Angua deserved. He loved her. Compared to the life he'd known, the island was still and safe, and there was time, and there was no one to take it away from him.

Leaning his shoulder against the door, Dean watched the path for a sudden spill of long blond hair. He loved her, he could have this, and it was time.

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[loaded-wolf.livejournal.com]

Angua met Dean's look with her own slack, open-mouthed expression. She finally tore her eyes away, and smiled, delighted, at the little cake. "How adorable," she said.

She waited, spoon poised, for Dean to sit.

[weary-head.livejournal.com]

Dean blinked and shook himself, hastily moving to the other side of the table. Honestly, this part...he wasn't sure how it was supposed to work. What if she ate the ring? What if she chewed on it and hurt herself? But everyone did this in the movies. It must turn out okay, so Dean sat back, pulling his napkin back over his waist, and picked up his own spoon. His tongue made a nervous pass over his lips.

"Dig in."

[loaded-wolf.livejournal.com]

Angua broke a piece of cake off and used every memory from etiquette class to daintily eat it. She licked the remaining chocolate syrup from her spoon. "MMmm...wow, this is really good!"

At her second pass her spoon caught on something, clinking hard against the plate when it wouldn't go through the cake. Angua blinked. "Um." She dragged the object out of the cake with her spoon. She picked it up and her mouth opened in surprise as she realized what it was.

There was a ring in her cake.

"Dean?" she said, searching his eyes.

[weary-head.livejournal.com]

He thought he'd probably stumble. He thought his napkin would catch, or his foot would kick the table, or something else clumsy and unromantic, but the truth was, getting from his side of the table to Angua's was as easy as taking a breath.

He plucked the ring from her fingers, dropping onto a knee and taking her hands in his, the diamond circlet curled around his pinkie. "So here's the thing. I lived my whole life never expecting anything good to happen to me. I had good things, sure, I had Sam and I had Bobby and my dad, but I figured that was it, and that nothing else would ever come.

"There wasn't time for it. And I told myself there wasn't need for it, almost until I believed it. And then I came here."

Dean would've have been horrified at the way his eyes stung in that moment if he'd noticed, but he only swallowed and continued.

"Everything was different. I slowed down. I stayed in one place, and I got...I got to start picking things for me. Because I wanted them, and they made me happy. I got to start dreaming again, of what kind of life I'd like to have if I could choose it, and I started reaching for it, and I got it. I know my family's safe, I have a job where I get to stop things bleeding rather than makin'em start. I have friends, I have kids I love to look after. And I've got you." Dean squeezed her hand.

"And I want to keep you for as long as you'll have me. So, Angua, I've got a question to ask you."

[loaded-wolf.livejournal.com]

Angua wasn't exactly familiar with proposals, in fact, she wouldn't have guessed how one would go about it at all, so this was unexpected. It was so full of emotion it made her heart race and her eyes tear up. She could only stare down at Dean. There was probably a stupid expression on her face, her hand loose in his.

"A question," she repeated.

[weary-head.livejournal.com]

"Yeah," said Dean, pulling the ring off of his pinkie and holding it out to her, diamond up. "I think the only thing that could make my life any more perfect than it already is would be if I could find a smart, sexy, funny, tough, gorgeous woman crazy enough to be my wife." Dean's voice cracked around the word, fear and hope and honest yearning clogging up his throat. "So my question is, Angua von Uberwald, will you marry me?"

[loaded-wolf.livejournal.com]

Angua nodded, and burst into tears. She was so moved she didn't even try to stop them, not even wipe them away.

"Of course," she said, and, "yes."

She slid out of her chair to wrap her arms around Dean, pulling him into a fierce hug. Five years with Carrot, and she hadn't thought-- no matter how she'd tried she never could imagine herself as his wife. She never thought what they had had a chance of surviving. But with Dean she couldn't see how there was anything else, or anyone, for her.

Dean had helped her in so many ways, she'd never been as happy as she was here, with him and the life they'd made on this strange little island. "I don't ever want to leave you, Dean. I won't."

[weary-head.livejournal.com]

The embrace knocked more than a few tears from Dean's eyes, but he paid them no mind, stroking his fingers through Angua's hair again and again as she held him. After a while he pulled her up onto his knee, lifting one of her hands to slide the ring home. "Won't ever leave you either," he said in a rough voice. "I promise. And I'm gonna be good for you, Angua."

[loaded-wolf.livejournal.com]

Angua gazed down at the ring, pulling her eyes up to Dean's with a watery smile. "You are, Dean, already." She sucked in a tiny breath and wiped at her eyes. "You're the best thing that ever happened to me. It would make me so happy to be your wife. I can't believe it," she said softly, smiling down at the ring in open wonder.

[weary-head.livejournal.com]

"Well, better start," said Dean, tugging her closer with an arm wrapped around her waist. Perched on his knee, he had to lift his chin to kiss her, her long hair tickling at his cheek the whole while. It felt amazing. "'Cause I'm not anxious for a long engagement."

[loaded-wolf.livejournal.com]

Angua smiled against his mouth, wrapping her arms back around him. "I'd marry you right now if I could," she murmured, cupping his face in one hand and leaning in to kiss him again.

[weary-head.livejournal.com]

Dean grinned against the warm press of her mouth, holding her like she might somehow get away from him again. "Even though I called you crazy?"

[loaded-wolf.livejournal.com]

"I don't mind being that kind of crazy." Angua stroked her fingers along Dean's jaw, her thumb across his cheekbone, trying to commit the way he looked at that moment to memory. "But I think your dessert's about to go to waste," she said with a faint smirk.