Beth is heavily pregnant on maternity leave Rick comes back from a mission banged up Prompt "you're checking me out?"
Staring out the window of their bedroom, Beth twirled the emerald ring on her left hand. She was using the action to try dispel thoughts of planning her husband's funeral while shopping for baby clothes. Her mind always wandered when the JSA was gone too long, but at least she had them on comms under normal circumstances. Yolanda and Jenny insisted comm connection would most certainly breach the conditions of maternity leave.
She tried to think of the day he proposed with the ring 4 years ago. Rick had just sold a car he restored with Pats help. He told her it was for the small amount of student debt he'd be accrued during undergrad. His scholarship had covered about 80% of his tuition. After the sale, Rick claimed there was enough left over to take her on some special date. Now she knew he used it to buy the ring she had spoken about in passing when they were teens.
Excitement vibrated through her body when they had arrived at the river for the picnic date she had been asking for, for the last 3 weeks. Their schedules hadn't been lining up for almost 2 months with finals drawing near. Every date ended up being 2 stressed out students body doubling for 3 hours and kissing each other goodbye. Even though they would both be writing their last exams in a few days, they decided this date was necessary before the team started vying for their time.
"Baby, this is perfect." She squealed bouncing in the passenger seat as Rick put the car in park. He laughed at her excitement, intertwining their hands to try and ground her again.
"Good, we're both sacrificing some prime study time for this babe." He brought her hand up to his lips and placed a chaste kiss on it. She kept bouncing, too excited to spend time with her boyfriend to care how childish she may have looked.
"Shhh, be excited with me."
"I am." Rick got out and jogged around to open Beth's door. He bent down before she step out and kissed her. She squeaked then smiled, settling into his gentle greeting. "That's more like it." They weren't the overly touchy, but looking back now Beth could tell why Rick had been so affectionate all morning. It was his nervous tick and Beth never complained, with a boyfriend like Rick? Who would?
He lead her out of the car and the two started setting up their picnic at the river bank. Once everything had been laid out Rick took Beth's hands into his and held her gaze.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"Are you okay?" Beth giggled nervously. Rick's face never faltered, which made Beth even more nervous.
"You know I love you right?"
"After all these years? I would hope so!" She put her hands on his waist and shook him playfully. Still his face hadn't faltered, he cupped her cheeks in his hands.
"No Beth, that's not what I mean."
"Rick..." Beth struggled meeting his gaze now. "What's happening?" He kissed her forehead.
