C h a s i n g D r e a m s ➮ C a r r i s o n

• 5 •

It was true love when Harrison and Carrie learned to pitch to each other. She learned how to pitch baseballs and he learned how to pitch softballs.

That's exactly what the two of them were doing this morning in their Chicago home. They came home late last night after winning the series against Milwaukee and St. Louis. The Cubs went 4-2 on the road trip.

Carrie woke up Harrison after hearing the doorbell ring. She came upstairs with a long box and shook him awake.

"Five more minutes babe," he mumbled.

"Come on, get up."

"Just a little longer."

She wasn't going to take '5 more minutes' for an answer. Carrie slid her hands under the covers and pulled his legs. She kept pulling until he flopped on the floor. "Get up."

"Watch it now. Maddon's not going to be happy if you hurt me."

Carrie pulled him to his feet. "Suck it up tough guy."

Leaning against the bed was the box. "Check this out. My new bats came in today."

Harrison opened the box to reveal three brand new bats. "Let's go, you're going to pitch to me."

"Okay. Just let me get dressed."

⚾︎⚾︎⚾︎

A half hour later, the couple was in the batting cage they had in the basement. Carrie was facing the tough decision of which bat to try out first. Every year around this time, she got a new shipment of bats from her sponsor, Louisville Slugger.

Carrie loved those bats. Although they made a grass breaking sound when striking the ball, they were some of the best softball bats out there.

After graduating from Florida she and a bunch of other players attended the bat expo where companies like Louisville Slugger, Easton, Demarini, Rawlings, Worth, and Mizuno all had bats to try out. Carrie immediately made the switch from Easton to Louisville Slugger, in turn, hurting Easton a little bit since one of the best college softball players wasn't using their bats anymore.

She wasn't a big fan of Easton. And while attending Florida, she and Harrison were forced to use them since the schools softball and baseball programs had an equipment sponsorship with Easton. That meant they couldn't use any other brand.

While Harrison carried a few buckets of softballs behind the screen, Carrie debated on which one to use first. She had three options. The 2018 Xeno, or two 2018 LXT's. One was the factory grey and purple, while the other was custom painted to be Cubs colors. She chose the red, white, and blue one first.

Harrison threw a few warm up pitches. He learned to pitch softballs and all the different pitches, just as she did with baseballs. "Which way are you going first?"

"I'm going to slap first."

The entire batting cage was turf. Even the home plate and batters box. She crossed into the left handed batters box with the brand new bat in hand, and took her spot in the very back of the box.

The first pitch he threw was high. Then the next couple. She had to keep resetting herself. "Come on."

"I'm trying."

There was a reason he was so tired. And that was because he stayed up really late last night planning his surprise for her.

Harrison finally got himself dialed in. She began moving out of the box as the ball approached and swung down on the ball to pound it into the ground. On a field that ball would bounce high enough that she'd make it to first easily.

"I'm swinging away now."

After learning to slap, Carrie also learned to hit away from the left side just like he did. It made her so dangerous and unpredictable because teams didn't know if she was going to slap, hit away, or even drop a drag bunt down.

Once Carrie finished the first bucket, she switched to the right side and grabbed the other LXT. "Anything in particular?"

"Drop."

He began to throw her drop ball after drop ball as she worked on driving the dropping pitch instead of hitting on top of it.

"Screw now."

Throwing her a screwball was his favorite pitch. He loved seeing her catch the ball before it really broke inside and crush it for a solid hit.

She finished a second bucket and was onto a third. Now it was time for Harrison's surprise. "Here comes the weird ball."

"What's wrong with it?"

"You'll see."

Harrison hurried to pitch the ball before she could see what was on it. As it came in, he noticed her focus on what was wrong with the ball. She totally missed it and went to find it in the cluster of balls that formed from his wild pitches.

Carrie finally found it. The yellowish ball had black writing on it. He made his way over as she read what had been written on it.

Will you marry me?

One hand shot to cover her mother as she turned to face him. He was already down on one knee holding the ring. "Are you serious?"

"I'm serious."

"Carrie Fisher, will you marry me?"

Tears were now streaming down her cheeks as she nodded. "Yes."

Harrison slid the ring on her finger. He attempted to stand up, but was quickly helped up when she wrapped her arms around him and pulled him to his feet.

He picked her up and spun her around as they kissed. "I love you Harry."

"I love you too."