"I don't think he'll propose anytime soon," Y/N tells Natasha as they exit The Hard Deck. The fighter pilot, better known by her callsign Phoenix, offered to give her a ride home once she finished the paperwork Penny had asked her to help with. Y/N's car was in the garage getting fixed. Jake made a subtle remark about her and Bradley not being married yet, and now she is second-guessing her and Bradley's marriage talks. "We've been together for five years. I'm sure if he wanted to be married, he would have asked by now."
"Have you two talked about tying the knot?" Natasha inquires, texting on her phone as they walk to her car.
"We've talked about it before, but that was a year ago. I assumed he was going to ask me then," She tells her best friend. "I'm beginning to question whether he actually wants to get married."
"Maybe you two should talk about it again," Natasha advises.
"And what if he doesn't want to?" Her stomach drops at the thought.
"Don't think that," Natasha says as they get into the car and start the drive to the house Y/N has shared with Bradley for the last three years. "Rooster loves you more than anything else in the world. Give him some time, or talk with him again."
"I'm sorry, you're right. I'm not sure why I let Jake get inside my head," She sighs, apologising.
"Jake has mastered the ability to get inside someone's head," the pilot dismisses her apology. "It's one of his flaws, but we still love him."
"You still love him," Y/N teases. Following their top-secret mission with Top Gun, Natasha and Jake began dating. Y/N believed they were meant to be together. Jake required a somebody who could bring him down to a level and confront him when he was behaving like a dick. Natasha was the best person to fill that position for him.
The remainder of the drive to Bradley and Y/N's house was filled with banter, talks about their relationships, and making plans for a double date the following weekend.
"Would you like to come inside for a little while?" Y/N inquires as Natasha pulls up in front of the little two-bedroom beach house.
Natasha politely declines her invitation, "I need to get back to Hangman."
As she steps out of the car, she smirks, "You and Jake enjoy the rest of your night."
"You, too," Natasha says as Y/N closes the car door.
As Natasha pulls away, Y/N waves good-bye. She walks up to the front door and opens it, finding it unlocked. She is a little puzzled by the dimmed lights and that Bradley is not sitting on the couch with a beer in his hand watching whatever is on tv. Instead, she discovers a trail of rose petals and hears soft music coming from the back deck.
She moves towards the back doors, following the trail of red petals, calling out to her boyfriend, "Bradley?"
"Out here, baby," she hears him respond.
When she exits through the back door, she is amazed to see candles illuminating the deck, rose petals strewn about, a romantic dinner prepared for two, and Bradley dressed in his finest Hawaiian shirt and a nice pair of jeans.
"Hi, beautiful," Bradley greets her as he walks up to her and pulls her into a kiss, drawing her out of her amazement.
"What's all this?" she wonders as he ends the kiss and leads her over to the little patio table set up with food, candles, flowers, and tableware. Bradley could be romantic on a regular basis; he just wasn't secretive about it. This time she had no clue about his plans for tonight.
"I wanted to do something nice for my lady," he says as he pulls out her chair for her. He pushes it back in once she sits down and then circles the table to take a seat. "We haven't done something like this in a while."
She can't help but smile, "We've never done anything like this."
They've enjoyed romantic dinners at home before, but nothing to this extent. Bradley has certainly gone all out for tonight, and she is loving every minute of it.
"You know what I mean," he replies as he pours champagne into two glasses. "I wanted to go all out tonight."
She smiles and looks lovingly at him, "I love it and I love you."
"I'm glad, and I love you too," he responds, leaning over and kissing her.
After dinner, Y/N assists Bradley with cleaning up the dishes despite his attempts to persuade her from doing so. Before putting the dishes in the dishwasher, she rinses them, then steps back outside on the deck. As she puts her hand to her mouth in awe at Bradley getting down on one knee with a stunning white gold and diamond ring nestled inside the ring box in his palm, her heart begins to race, so much love and happiness coursing through her body.
"I, uh... I don't really know where to begin," Bradley admits as she walks to stand in front of him, tears welling up in her eyes as her hand falls to her side. "I practiced what I would say so many times this week, and now that I'm actually doing it, I can't exactly remember what I was going to say," he adds as h e takes her left hand in the hand that's not holding the ring box and kisses it softly before looking up at her. His dark eyes met hers and had the same amount of love and happiness as she did, along with a touch of nervousness. "I want to spend the rest of my life with you, have children with you, and grow old with you. I want to spend the rest of our lives showing you how much I love, admire and appreciate you. And I know I should have done this a long time ago, but I wanted this moment to be perfect for you because you deserve it. So, will you do me the honor of marrying me and become Mrs. Bradley Bradshaw?"
She nods her head enthusiastically and sobs, unable to speak. As he stands up and gives her a passionate kiss, Bradley removes the ring from the box and places it on her finger.
"I love you so much," he says softly against her lips.
"I love you, too," she replies, kissing him once more as he lifts her up, wraps her legs around his waist, and carries her inside, kicking the back door shut behind him before heading towards their bedroom.
