Title: Say Yes
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Carl Hickman/Louis Daniel
Fandom: Crossing Lines
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 1,055
Disclaimer: This is entirely a product of my own imagination, and I make no profit from it. I do not own the lovely Carl Hickman or Louis Daniel, unfortunately, just borrowing them for a while. Please do not sue.

***

Carl glanced up at Louis, feeling nervous and jumpy.

He was disconcerted to find his boyfriend staring at him, a frown line between his brows. Louis could obviously tell that there was something on his mind.

He'd been asking himself all night if this was the right time to ask Louis to marry him; a part of him wanted to get down on his knees, pop the question, and get it over with.

But another part of him dreaded to hear Louis' answer. He was afraid that the man he loved would say no, that he wasn't ready for that kind of a commitment. After all, Louis had been married before, and though he was long over the pain of losing his wife, he might not be ready for marriage.

And this would be far different from his first marriage. This time, he would be married to a man, and people would view him differently than they always had because of it.

The team wouldn't give them a hard time about it. No, the people they worked with would accept them, and be happy that they had found joy with each other.

Other people, who didn't know them .... well, that was a different story.

But he shouldn't let that keep him from asking the man he loved to spend the rest of their lives together, united in legal marriage as well as in their hearts, a voice in the back of his mind argued.

It shouldn't be so hard to do this, Carl thought with a sigh. And he shouldn't have to feel so nervous, wondering what Louis was going to say, what his answer would be.

This should be easy to do. He should simply get down on his knees, take Louis' hand, ask the question, and present him with the beautiful engagement ring he'd bought. He should be able to hear the word "yes" from his lover's lips, look into those velvety dark eyes, and see all the love in the world residing there.

Instead, he had never felt so nervous about anything in his life. In fact, he felt a little sick, and he couldn't help thinking that this was much more difficult than he'd ever dreamed it could be.

"Carl, what is wrong?" Louis asked him, his voice breaking the silence. Carl could hear the worry in his boyfriend's tone; he hated that he was causing that kind of anxiety.

He slowly raised his head, trying to affect a nonchalant expression. But he knew that he probably looked anxious and worried himself, which, of course, was only going to make Louis worry more. And if he knew his boyfriend, Louis would press him for answers until he found out what the problem was.

He had to ask Louis now. This was the right time; he'd waited long enough. He was going to make this as romantic as he could, and hope that the answer would be what he wanted to hear.

Carl slipped out of his chair and moved to kneel beside Louis, looking up at his boyfriend. He knew that he probably looked anxious, but he couldn't help it.

"I have something to ask you," he whispered, his mouth dry, his throat tight.

His gaze met Louis', and suddenly, the words were tumbling out, words that he hadn't known were inside him, words that he'd thought he would never be able to say.

"Louis, I've loved you ever since we first met. I've never been as happy as I am now, and I want us to stay together for all of our lives," he began. "I want to be with you for eternity."

Reaching into his pocket, he removed the small velvet box, holding it up and opening it so that Louis could see the flash of the diamond ring inside as its facets caught the light. The words caught in his throat, but they came out without much of a hitch. "Louis Alain Daniel, will you marry me?"

Louis' dark eyes widened, and his mouth dropped open. Carl almost wanted to laugh; it was a phenomenon that he'd heard about, but never seen. Now he knew what it looked like.

"Yes," Louis whispered, his voice a mere thread of sound in the quiet that surrounded them. "Yes," he said again, his voice stronger this time. "Yes, my love, I will marry you."

Carl was sure that his heart was going to burst with happiness.

Yes. Louis had said yes. The man he loved more than life itself was going to marry him. Louis was going to be his husband. They would be married. Together. Forever.

Not that they wouldn't have been together if they had never gotten married, he told himself as he got to his feet. But this way, they would be legal. Married. It seemed too good to be true.

"You've just made me the happiest man in the world by saying yes," he murmured, taking the ring from its box and sliding it onto Louis' finger. Of course, it fit. He'd known Louis' ring size, and he'd been sure to have the ring sized for him. He had wanted his proposal to be perfect.

Maybe it hadn't been absolutely perfect in every way, due to his nervousness. But he'd popped the question, and he'd gotten the answer that he had most wanted.

"You've made me the happiest man in the universe by asking me," Louis answered, his dark eyes shining with unshed tears. Carl knew in his heart that they were happy tears.

He realized that he was blinking back happy tears of his own.

Married. He was going to be married to the man he loved. Their lives would be twined together irrevocably from here on out, for better or for worse.

It would be for the better, Carl told himself as he pulled Louis into his arms and their lips met in a sweet, tender kiss full of promise for their future. He would make sure of that.ant question of his life. And he hoped that the answer would be the one he most wanted to hear.

***