Weird shit happened all the time in Vallo. Waking up in the past was new, but Sydney still had very distinct memories of Atlantis and children from the future showing up there. For all her casual unflappability, she would’ve preferred that right now. The worry of not going back weighed heavily on them both, but neither of them wanted to have a deep discussion about it. Unless there was alcohol involved.
What was nice was having Dol following her around within a foot. It was a familiar sound that she’d missed, even having other rescue dogs tripping her on a regular basis. He’d taken a few moments of readjustment, but the bond between them wasn’t something easily broken, and Dol was smart enough to just know.
“You know, I do not miss the days where the only things in our pantry is a bottle of gin, a can of refried beans and some pork rinds.” She paused in the doorway and leaned against it to just watch Jesse’s fine form ahead of her in the living room. “Whatcha doin?”
Jesse McCree had plans. He rarely bothered more than he was forced to by work or doing right by Syd or his friends, but this week he’d had plans. Waking up in the past had not been part of those plans. He usually rolled with the punches pretty well and he was trying to do just that.
But the ring box in his pocket made things a little tricky. He was worried if he set it down, it’d be left in the past if they abruptly got sent back. And if twenty year old him found a wedding ring, he’d probably just pawn it for cigar money.
Syd’s voice knocked him out of his thoughts, with the box in his hands like a goddamn idiot. Luckily his back was to her and he was able to fumble it back into his pocket as he turned around with a wide smile. “Me? Plannin’ a trip to the grocery store, it sounds like.” He swaggered towards her and peeked over her shoulder into the kitchen. “You sure there aren’t frozen burritos in the freezer?”
Syd’s eyes only stayed narrowed for a fraction of a second, before she easily leaned into his frame as it came in close. Her hand slipped around his waist and pulled him the rest of the way in. Shit going wonky for them at the worst time hadn’t done wonders for either of them in the stress department, and had them on a similar edge for a little while now. It made her second guess things, and have to stop and remind herself to chill more than once in the last two days.
“I am honestly not even going to check, I value my stomach far too much.” She leaned in to place a kiss on the side of his scruffy jawline. “I was thinking, takeout, gin, a mind-numbing movie, and then getting you out of your clothes,” Syd’s hand went down his side and over his belt, close to his pocket. “And a bath?”
Jesse had gotten that squint from her plenty of the years and it made him smirk now as he wrapped his arms around her shoulders. While she was listing off real good options, he followed up her cheek kiss with a few of his own, kissing a path along her jaw. It had no urgency to it, just the slow building heat of pressing in close and humming out his agreement to her plan--
--Until her hand brushed his pocket and he jumped back like he’d been stabbed in the ass.
“Iiiiii….shit, thought I saw a spider on the doorframe,” he lied unconvincingly, hands loosely held over his pockets. Was he wincing? He snorted, knowing damn well things were probably about to get dicey for Operation: Hide the Ring. “What were you--bath! Yeah, hell yeah. Takeout, a movie, and a bath sounds mighty fine, darlin.”
Now she knew something was up. She’d been into the kissing, leaning into him, getting distracted from earlier worries. Now she was looking at him like he’d gotten a spur in his boot, even as he tried to recover.
That didn’t stop her from making a quick glance to the doorframe over her, just in case. Nothing was there, and Jesse wasn’t usually one to be so jumpy, so Syd just huffed out a little breath and shook her head. She turned and headed back into the kitchen, still shaking her head as she walked away from him. “I’m gonna need to make drinks first if you’re going to keep acting weird. Vallo shit has never gotten to you this badly before.”
Jesse’s eyes shut briefly after she turned away, in a well shit kinda way. He rallied quickly enough, following her into the kitchen and pulling down the single bottle of gin from the cabinet they’d always kept the booze in.
“I mean, that’s fair,” he said sheepishly. He shuffled up beside her, slowly moving the bottle across the counter towards her and tipping his head to the side apologetically. “I’m real sorry. Just with the legal stuff and then this all at the same--”
Jesse cut off as he touched his own pocket and for a second, the slimline box felt like it was gone. He slapped his own hip and shot a look behind them the way they’d come. “Goddamn it,” he yelped as he looked around where he’d been standing before they came into the kitchen and even got down on his knees to peer under the couch.
She’d started to open her mouth to tell him it was okay, wrap another arm around him, abandon her alcohol in favor of a hug or something. The legal shit had been annoyingly long and drawn out than either of them had expected, but by the time they’d gotten even to the starting point, they were attached. Neither of them were good at slowing down on shit when they wanted something, and now they were being forced to jump hurdles.
… Maybe literal hurdles, with the way Jesse took off to the living room. Dol scrambled up from his place on the kitchen floor and went running after him, large paws echoing through the room as Syd laughed at how ridiculous they both looked. She grabbed the bottle of gin before following, priorities in check.
Dol was wedging his way under Jesse’s bent torso, licking his dad’s face and clearly helping him with whatever he had to do. Syd just stayed back and enjoyed the view of her boyfriend bent over. “Is it another spider?”
“Oh--ugh--thanks--pal,” Jesse gritted out between licks and head bumps and giant paws to his face. He’d missed this dog a little too much to hold it against him, so he just patted his big head and kept trying to dig around him. Syd’s question had him pausing though, to shoot an embarrassed grin back over his shoulder, one arm dug up under the couch.
“Look, I realize I’m caught out here, just give me a minute to--nope, that’s a flask. Bet I’ve been wonderin’ where that went.” He sighed and sat up, resting on his heels to look around some more. Dol leaned his considerable size against Jesse’s side, tipping him over. It worked out though as he spotted the ring box from his side and quickly reached out to cover it with a hand.
“You know, I had a plan for once. I just want to put that out there,” he sighed.
Syd could’ve helped him, saved him from the giant dog, but it was too enjoyable of a show to stop Dol from literally climbing on top of Jesse. She’d missed him too, and the sight was a welcome reprieve from stress and anxiety.
She did set the bottle of gin down on a nearby table, and walked over slowly so she could stand over them at the same time as Dol settled on Jesse’s prone chest. He laid his head down, clearly comfortable with how things had turned out, and not at all concerned with the fact that the cowboy had one arm under the sofa.
Syd grinned down at them both, unable to stop herself from looking down at both of them full of love. “A plan for what? Want some help there, or have you got this under control?”
Jesse rolled his eyes up at her, affection and nerves rolling around in his gut. They talked about this kind of thing. It wasn’t like he was one of them bastards who put a question up on the marquee at a baseball game or whatever. He’d just wanted to be dressed nice and not covered in dog slobber.
But then their lives had always been a little weird. He liked it that way.
Gently easing Dol off of him, Jesse rolled to one knee in front of her and shoved hair of his forehead with a sweep of one hand. As he lifted the ring box in the other hand, he smiled up at her in his soft, off-kilter way.
“I had a plan for asking if you wanted to make this whole til death do us part thing finally official.” He opened the box to reveal a white gold double-banded engagement ring with a vivid purple stone. “But to be fair, I didn’t plan for you and I think that worked out pretty goddamn great, so...I love ya, Syd. I wanna spend the rest of my life with you and our family and a houseful of music and food and dogs. Whadduya say?”
“Oh shit.”
It wasn’t the exclamation of yes like all of the movies and famous proposals out there. She’d already made a little noise when he shifted to one knee, and the grin that had fallen away with confusion was blossoming back out. Suddenly, the last few days made a lot more sense. They’d already agreed - months before - that just jumping down to city hall for a quickie wedding just to expedite an adoption process wasn’t the road they wanted to go down.
This, though, felt weirdly perfect for them. Stuck in the past, everything going wrong, and somehow there was still a dog involved.
She was still bad at the sappy shit, though, and reached out softly for him, hand to side of his face, before letting it touch the ring. “Oh, okay.” Her voice was as soft as the touch, and with that she snapped out of it and backtracked a little. “I mean- no, wait, yes. Can I have a do-over?”
Jesse laughed, a wide grin forming as she touched his face. He turned his face in towards her hand and kissed her palm. “You can have all the do-overs you want, darlin. But I think oh, okay is definitely what I’m telling our kid you said.”
Pushing up quick to his feet, he pulled her into a hug and lifted her off the ground into a kiss. He was smiling a bit too hard to make it very steamy but that was probably for the best. When he broke off, he looked like he’d just remembered something again.
“Shit, what did I do with it now…” The ring box had fallen to the floor as he’d jumped up so he quickly crouched down to pick it back up again and pulled the ring out of it, holding it out for her hand. “Laugh in a sec, okay just put it on please.”
It was too late, Syd was already laughing even as she held her hand out. Pretty much from the moment they’d broken away from the kiss, she’d had it bubbling under the surface. She did pull herself away just enough so she could look down at the little piece of jewelry that had caused him so much trouble today, and grinned again. “You did good.”
She wrapped her free arm around his neck and stayed plastered to him so she could easily reach in for another kiss. “At least if we have to do this all over again because we don’t remember coming back here, it’s bound to go smoother a second time.”
Embarrassment didn’t tend to stick on Jesse for long, thankfully. Especially not when the payoff was so damned good. He grinned warmly and wrapped his arms back around her, pressing his face first into her neck and then meeting her halfway for a kiss.
“I don’t know, darlin,” he huffed, feeling Dol wedge his large body between their legs. “Kinda feels like smooth is overrated. I really hope I don’t forget this.” He lifted a hand and brushed his knuckles over her cheek before he lifted his eyebrows dramatically. “That said, I do have a nice suit waiting at home and a plan to dance on a moonlit rooftop decorated with dream lights from your pal Lynch.” His hands moved to her hips and he danced her around in a lazy circle. “And I know you’ve been saving that new little dress of yours for a special occasion.”
Sydney smiled against his skin and let herself be easily moved around, hindered only slightly by the hundred pound black lump between them. One hand dropped down to Dol’s head easily, smoothing a little pet there lovingly before it was back on Jesse. “It wouldn’t be us if it went off without a hitch.”
The idea of the rooftop, and his plan, made her face flush a little. Jesse had certainly brought out the big guns over the years of their relationship, surprising her when she least expected it but most needed it. But she still never really expected that romantic streak, since both of them were fairly laid-back about it in the inbetween. “That romantic softie.” Too bad he was a teenager right now, she might’ve bugged him for a little surprise of her own in return. “We can use the rooftop to celebrate when court happens?” Because there was no way she was thinking anything but optimistic as far as that went.
She grinned up at him and waggled her eyebrows. “In the meantime, I have brand new matching underwear and a bottle of gin?”
Relaxed joy was already settling firmly back into place in Jesse’s expression and body language. Now that the stress of this was out of the way, he could set the adoption stress back into the corner of his mind for a minute. Vallo liked throwing them curveballs. This was just a curveball. They’d be home soon enough.
In the meantime…
Jesse smiled, slow and heated. “Well now. That might be the best plan I have ever heard.” Without further warning, he bent over and slung her over his shoulder with the ease of someone who’d definitely pulled this trick before. He held her thighs with one arm, grabbed up the gin with his free hand, and headed for the bedroom.
“Don’t kick me, alright? This is the gold star engagement package here.”