E-Beth Ch. 04

It was a short walk to the labs. Steve kept us going at a pretty fast pace though, so I focused on keeping up with him in my three-inch pumps and didn't bother glancing around. But the instant he opened the door, I looked around in surprise and came to a dead stop.

It wasn't the lab setup I'd been expecting.

Instead, laid in a row across the main countertop were fourteen squat cylinders. They were made of clear glass, laboratory grade, and filled with a variety of substances. I turned to look at Steve in confusion, but he just smiled and pointed me over to the cylinders.

Curious, I stepped up to the countertop and briefly began examining them without touching them. The first one contained a lumpy, silverish rock. The second contained a violet-colored fluid. The third and fourth were purplish rocks, and so on. A couple of cylinders contained what looked like an empty vial each, stoppered to be airtight. One cylinder looked like it just had a piece of paper in it. And my analytical brain immediately started trying to identify each object.

Tungsten. The first lumpy, silverish rock was Tungsten. The violet-colored fluid looked like Iodine. But what was the point? What did the two things have in common? I went to the piece of paper, but it was an atomic symbol, the one for uranium, I thought. Well that made sense; Uranium was a controlled-substance, not easily found. But why the representation of it?

Only then did I notice the stickers on the sides of the cylinders. I turned around the one containing tungsten, and I was met with a perfect square printout of the Tungsten box from the Periodic Table of Elements. Upper left: the number 74. In the middle: the big block letter "W". And at the bottom: 183.85 atomic weight.

So that confirmed it for me. It WAS Tungsten.

The violet fluid was labeled Iodine. No biggie.

The next two purplish rocks were both Lithium. Only then did I notice that the "L" in the Lithium was emphasized with a black sharpie marker. The "i" was small and faint.

Tungsten... Iodine... Lithium... Lithium... Yttrium... Oxygen... Uranium... Magnesium... Argon... Rubidium... Rubidium... Yttrium... Magnesium... Helium. Again, with all of the two-lettered elements, only the first letter was emphasized with the permanent marker.

Only one of the two-lettered elements had the second letter emphasized, Helium's "e". Why would that one be different? And then suddenly I understood.

He couldn't. Not like this. Oh. My. *Gawd!*

"Holy shit!" I squealed, clapping both hands over my mouth.

Just then, Teddy walked up next to the counter, a broad smile on his face. I glanced at him briefly, and then hurriedly I spun all the cylinders to face the same direction, putting the labels facing outward:

W... I... L... L... Y... O... U... M... A... R... R... Y... M... e.

And then Teddy was at the end, kneeling on one knee.

A black velvet box was in his hand, opened up to show me a truly MASSIVE diamond ring.

My jaw dropped.

My left hand went forward.

My head started nodding up and down.

And then the ring was on my fourth finger.

*HOLY FUCKING SHIT!*

"Ohmigod..." I moaned, staring at the big, sparkling rock on my finger.

"I think she likes it," Stella giggled behind me.

I whirled around and saw that there were a good twenty people crowding into the lab behind me. Everyone from Alfred to Stella to Steve and even Edward Reed -- the freakin' CEO of the whole damn company -- was standing behind me, watching as Teddy stood up and took me into his arms. "Ohmigod," I gasped again.

"Will you marry me?" Teddy asked sweetly, now holding my hand and staring deeply at me with those gorgeous blue-gray eyes.

My jaw flapped but I nodded, "Yes. Yes!" I sputtered.

The room erupted in applause. Teddy grinned and kissed me tenderly, making me swoon as my legs gave out. He caught me easily, and turned it into a graceful dip just like in the movies. And the applause only got even higher, with a few whistles and catcalls thrown in for good measure.

But eventually Teddy stood me up, and rubbing his nose against mine, he sighed happily. "I love you, Elizabeth."

I beamed right back at him. "I love you, too." Teddy loved me. He really, really loved me. And I loved *him* for it. So he wasn't wealthy. So he wasn't the most devastatingly handsome man I'd ever met. So he didn't have charm oozing out of his ears. He loved me. And that was all that mattered.

Turns out, I was wrong about one of those things.

Still clapping, CEO Edward Reed approached us, his arms open. He didn't hug me, not exactly. But he reached out and held my elbows with his hands, a warm smile on his face. "Congratulations, Elizabeth."

I smiled back and demurely replied, "Thank you."

Mr. Reed reached out to Teddy, patted his shoulder, and then he turned and walked away.

Once Mr. Reed left, the rest of the crowd moved in to give us their well-wishes and congratulations. But as they approached, I stared after the CEO, still a little in shock that he'd been there to witness Teddy proposing. "That was weird. Did he just happen to be passing by?"

Teddy's eyes flicked up to Mr. Reed's departing form. He took a deep breath and then gave me a look. And with an almost apologetic face, he said, "E-Beth, there's something I need to tell you."

****

"Ohmigod! You're getting married!" Amber squealed into the phone.

Just thinking about it made me do my little happy dance once again. Giggling uncontrollably, I turned and flopped backward across my bed. And then I proceeded to tell her the whole story, from Steve coming to fetch me out of my office to the fourteen cylinders in the lab to Teddy down on one knee. Amber oohed and ahhed appropriately, stoking my mood even higher.

"And ohmigod, you won't even *believe* this last part!" I gushed. "Get this, it turns out that Teddy is LOADED. He's like, richer than YOU."

"What?" Amber squawked. "I thought he was a stockroom clerk? Well, junior researcher. What?"

I giggled. "That was all some stupid cover. Teddy's full name is Edward Harrison *Reed*, Junior. His dad is the CEO of the company, and rather than let Teddy be put in as some nepotistic Vice President, his dad made him start at the bottom and *earn* the respect of the employees. Even now, Stella and I are like the only non-Director-level people to even know about it!"

"Holy crap!"

"I *know*!"

"Well... does it make a difference? I mean, you said 'yes' before he told you, right?"

"Of course, of course. I knew I loved him WAY before," I sighed dreamily. "But it IS some pretty nice icing on the cake."

*[DING-DONG!]*

"Oops. There's Teddy." I sat up straight and checked the clock. "We're going out tonight to celebrate the engagement."

"Sounds like fun. Wish I could be there."

"We'll celebrate later. I promise. Who knows, depending on how David and Teddy get along, we might ALL get to celebrate sometime." I giggled as images of a foursome popped into my head.

Amber laughed right along with me. She congratulated me again while I headed for the door. And I hung up just as I opened the door.

"Hey, baby..." Teddy bent at the knees and opened his arms just in time for me to leap at him. He lifted me as I wrapped my legs around his waist and then spun me around while I did my best to plaster my mouth over his.

I still had a few of my own insecurities. Having Teddy propose did wonders for reassuring me that I was a desirable babe. Having him so easily spin me around reassured me even more that I wasn't too fat or anything. And the way his paws squeezed my buttcheeks while he smothered his face in my cleavage was pretty nice as well.

I giggled as he finally set me down. And beaming at me, he asked, "Ready to go?"

I checked my watch again and raised my eyebrows. "Not quite yet."

Teddy frowned. "Why not?"

"Wait a minute..."

"Huh?"

"Waiiit..." I intoned, still staring at my watch. "Annnd...." I drawled, my finger waving in the air.

"Hi, guys!" Stella appeared behind Teddy, exactly at the time I told her to be here, and dressed for a night out.

Teddy turned around to our special friend and I moved myself against his side, wrapping my arm around his waist and hugging him tightly. "I introduce my beloved betrothed. Do you possess the desire to engage in a shared incident of coital bonding?"

Stella gawked at me in confusion. "Huh?"

I grinned. "Meet my fiancé. Wanna fuck us?"

I'd finally found my happiness.