Danny and Elise Ch. 10

"Well, like I said, speaking of home," Danny paused, still holding her hands. "I was wondering if you would want to move in with me?" his words uptilted at the end into a question. She felt kind of bad for it, but Elise couldn't help thinking how cute his current insecureness was. It was a side of him she had never really seen until tonight. She hoped he didn't notice her lips trembling in the dim light, trying to fight back a smile at his expense.

"I mean, we already spend so much time at each other's places. And we'll be moving in together eventually anyway. I just thought it might make sense. Plus then you wouldn't have to pay rent any more. You could save that money for a really nice wedding dress. Or whatever you want. I don't know..." Danny knew he was rambling and it was getting to him.

Elise couldn't stop the burst of laughter that escaped from her lips.

"What?" he asked.

"I'm sorry," she tried to stifle her laughter. "Baby, you don't have to make a case. You could have just stopped with, 'Will you move in with me?' and I still would have said 'yes'," she squeezed his hands quickly. "I've never seen you so nervous."

"I don't know if you've ever proposed to anyone, but the possibility of rejection is terrifying," he laughed nervously.

"You have to know I would never reject you," Elise looked at him seriously as she leaned in.

"I do now," Danny leaned in the rest of the way and kissed her. "So that's a 'yes' too?" he confirmed.

"Yes," she held his face between her hands playfully.

"Good. Because I need to learn all of your quirks and gross habits. To know what I'm getting myself into."

"You already know all of my quirks. God knows I have plenty. And I do not have any gross habits," Elise shoved him in the chest.

"I know, I know. I'm just teasing," Danny drew out, grabbing her hands again and kissed them.

"So, you said you had three questions. What's the third one?" Elise asked.

"Oh yah. I know you're not crazy about surprises, but can I ask you not to tell your parents right away about us being engaged? I have an idea..." Danny trailed off, waiting for her reaction.

"Oh, boy," she said sarcastically. "And what is that?" she did raise an eyebrow at him now.

"Let's plan a dinner for a couple of weekends from now. I have Guard training next weekend, but the one after should be fine. We'll invite both sets of our parents over and spring the news on them then. Kill two birds with one stone. What do you say?" Danny looked at her expectantly. He had clearly been thinking about this a lot. He had a plan in place.

"How long have you been planning this weekend?" she asked without answering his question first.

"Oh, I don't know. A few weeks? A month? Something like that," he let go of her hands and put an arm around her shoulders again, looking up at the sky, not a care in the world now, back to his usual self. "Why?" Danny asked, without looking away from the moon and stars.

"Because. You seem to have everything planned out already. It's just dawning on me what a Mr.Sneaky Pants you've been...You don't have our wedding planned out already too, do you?" Elise teased.

"God, no! I didn't want to jinx it by assuming you'd say 'yes'. Besides, I don't want you to go all Bridezilla on me." The moon was high and bright enough now that she could make out the smile even from his profile. Elise elbowed him in the ribs and joined him in looking up at the clear night sky.

"Ow," Danny rubbed the spot where she elbowed him with his free hand, laughing.

"Do you really think I would act like that?"

"No. I wouldn't marry someone like that anyways," he answered honestly, squeezing her shoulder.

"No, you wouldn't," Elise smiled to herself, leaning her head against his shoulder once more. They stood in silence for a long time, looking at the constellations together, the moment already perfect without more words. Elise felt extremely content. Danny broke the silence at last after who knew how long. Time seemed irrelevant at the moment.

"You never answered my last question."

She didn't answer right away, trying to remember what his last request even was to no avail.

"What was your last question?" she said apologetically.

"If you could wait two weeks to tell your parents," Danny laughed.

Elise thought about it. It's not like she saw them all the time in person, so that helped, but she was dying to tell someone.

"Can I at least tell Mary?" she asked inquisitively.

"Sure," he laughed again, pausing. "You can't stand it, can you?" Danny looked down at her. She simply shook her head in response. He was right. It was going to kill her to keep it a secret for just two short weeks.

"You promise not to tell?" he asked again. "I promise," she stuck her pinky out, which he took in his own, holding her to her word.

"Don't make me check your phone log," he kissed the side of her head.

"I promise!" Elise laughed.

"I'm just kidding anyways. I would never do that. I trust you," Danny took her ringed hand in his, fiddling with the ring lightly between two of his fingers.