We'll Meet Again ~Pre-War!Cooper Howard X Reader~

XIX

I sighed as I woke up in the middle of the night, I could hear something walking around outside the tent, I sat up a little, and looked over to see Cooper passed out. I lightly tapped his shoulder and he jolted awake. "Hey, you okay?" he asked softly as he rubbed his eyes and looked at his watch, "there's something outside" I whispered as he chuckled, "we are outside y'know" he sleepily said as I looked at him, "here..." he turned off the little lamp we had in the tent, rolled over onto his stomach and I watched as the moon showed the shadows outside, "if you watch, you'll be able to see the shadows of what animals are out there" he whispered as I rolled over onto my stomach and stared at the tent wall. I saw the Shadow of a mama deer and her fawn. 

The fawn was sniffing the tent, it jumped a little as what looked to be a fox ran across, the grass, rustling some twigs and dried leaves. "See? Just animals, it's all right" he whispered as he rolled over onto his side and I snuggled up to him, "okay...so maybe this is very romantic," I said as he chuckled, "better than shooting a gun," he said as I shrugged, "I wouldn't go that far," I said as he chuckled and kissed my forehead, "get some rest darlin'..." he whispered as we fell asleep. 

~Two Months later~

I hummed as I lay on the couch watching TV, my head in Cooper's lap as he a book, Janey was sitting on the floor playing with her dolls and I played with his hand absentmindedly. "Who the heck makes a gun, calls it the Fat-Man, and decides that it should shoot mini-nukes...that's a bit over-kill," I said as Cooper chuckled, "could you imagine shooting that thing in close quarters in combat?" he asked without looking away from the book in his other hand, "holy crap, you'd be dead before you have time to react," I said as he chuckled. I smiled as I looked at his hands, I placed my palm flat against his, and then I removed my hand from his and stared at it. "You have...attractive hands" I simply said as he laughed, "what?" he asked as he looked at me, "you heard me," I said looking back at the TV, I then pulled his arm closer to my mouth, looked up at him and saw he was lost in his book once more. I weighed the pros and cons as I stared at his arm, it was just asking for it, 'pro, it would be funny as fuck...con, he may get mad' I mentally said as I looked over at Janey who was smiling and nodding at me, she knew what I was thinking and he was encouraging me. 

I smiled and bit down on his arm. Cooper jumped, "ow!" he exclaimed as I laughed, "what...the hell was that for?" he asked as Janey laughed as well. "You have...no idea how long I was thinking about doing it..." I said in between laughs, "that was funny" Janey laughed as he chuckled, "All right you two...very funny...you bite hard" he said as I looked at him, and he chuckled, "That's different and you know it" he said as I giggled and went back to watching tv. I brought his arm up to my mouth again and he tense. I kissed where I bit him and sighed as I held onto his arm, I loved how safe he made me feel, and how he calmed the storm in my brain and soul. 

I let out another sigh and he looked at me. "You look comfortable," he said as I looked up at him and smiled, "I know I'm safe, I'm going to be comfy," I told him as his smile grew, "okay, are you comfy enough for Janey and me to ask you something?" he asked as I arched an eyebrow, "you wanna do it now Janey?" he asked as she grew a large smile and nodded. "All right, go get it...you know where you hid it right?" he asked again as she got up and ran to her room. "Do I need to be concerned?" I asked as he smiled and shook his head. "No, but you need to sit up," he said closing his book and placing it on the coffee table, he turned the TV off as I sat up. My legs crossed under me as I sat on the couch, he moved the coffee table a little as Janey ran back in, she was holding a little bag. 

"Now, this whole thing..." he said as he reached into the bag, "was her idea, I cannot take all the credit for it, she had me in here rehearsing the whole thing, and she acted like you which by the way...was the cutest thing ever," he said as he pulled something out of the bag and placed his hands behind his back. 'Oh shit...I knew we were serious...but I didn't know we were that serious...' I mentally said as he looked at Janey, "Do you wanna go first?" he asked her, she nodded and smiled. She pulled out a piece of paper, "These are things people have said about you, even my mom said something nice about you" She smiled, "The whole point of this paper, is to let you know how many people outside of Daddy and I love you" she gave me a large smile as she stood by her dad. "Mr. Tom and Ms. Sue both say that you are the nicest person they have ever met, Tom loves teaching you how to cook, and Ms. Sue said that she loves that you help around the diner without a second thought of being paid," she told me as I smiled. "Isabele says that you are the bestest friend she could've ever asked for, she's glad to be your sister and your trainer, and that she'll kick dads butt if he hurt you, she has the ability and knowledge," she said as I laughed, "Mr. Maclean," she said as I blinked a few times, "says that he is proud of the young woman you have become, he's glad you finally found someone to love, and that he'd liked to think that...your mom would be proud too," she said as I smiled.

"My mom said that she doesn't care how old you are, you love me as if I were your own, you treat me with respect and kindness, and you never overstep the boundaries of her being my mother and that's good enough for her to like you," she said as Cooper rolled his eyes, "so...now that's done..." she said as she folded the paper in half and handed it to me. "I'm not allowed to read Dad's part because he's gonna say it himself in a moment because now it's my turn," she said as she cleared her throat, "Y/n, you are amazing, I love you...and I'm glad that you can be like...my extra mom without actually being my stepmom. You love my dad, and that makes me happy that you chose to love my dad and me. You're the bestest person ever!" she said as she walked up to me and handed me a box, I opened it and saw a necklace that had a heart and two gemstones on both sides with something engraved in the middle. "It's your birthstone and my birthstone...it says Family doesn't end in blood," she said as I smiled, "it's beautiful," I said as she smiled, "can I put it on you?" she asked as I nodded, I pulled my hair up, held it with my hand, I leaned my head down, and she put the necklace on me. I smiled and kissed her on the cheek. 

She sat beside me, extremely excited as we looked at Cooper who looked nervous, "uh, honestly...there's a lot I wanna say..." he said as he cleared his throat, "and now that it's my turn I didn't expect to be this nervous" he chuckled, "dad, get it together man!" Janey said as I laughed. "Sassy..." he mumbled as I snorted. He cleared his throat again and mouthed something to himself. I knew he was psyching himself up, I had seen him do it before, and then he let out a slow exhale. "Okay, Y/n..." he stared as I smiled at him, "I don't have words to describe how you make me feel...which I suppose is a good thing, because it's exciting, it's like...a new adventure and that's what life is. An adventure, words cannot describe how happy I am that our adventures in life caused us to meet and that our adventures made sure to let us know that we were set on each other's paths when we met again in the hotdog line, and you got a plain hotdog" he said as I smiled, "strange, but it's one of the many things I love about you" he said as he walked closer, he got down on his knees and took my hands. "So, after practically begging my daughter to let me do this" he joked, "liar!" Janey said as I laughed, "Janey and I would like to know...if you will marry me" he said as he pulled out a ring.