thecatinahat | (no subject)

Cougar still sighs when he has to get up out of the bed, away from her. It's the last thing he wants to do, but if she really wants to be married tomorrow, he'll need to find the perfect ring sometime today. He leans in again and kisses her again, a little harder when she says she'll get dinner from the Ortizes.

"I love you," he says, seriously, and lifts himself up in order to start getting his things together to buy the ring. He hasn't got much money, though, so he hopes she won't mind him digging into the tour funds.

"I know," she replies, pushing up on her elbows to watch him, smiling, slightly overcome by the fact that this man was hers. "I love you too."

He can take whatever money he wants. It's just money, they can always make more. Watching him more around the room, collecting his things, her smile widens. "Go, get out of here. Before I change my mind and make you come here and fuck me already, tattoos be damned."

Cougar tucks the money into his back pocket and slides a knife into his front (because if anyone thinks they're touching the money that he's using for her ring, they're going to be missing a few more parts than they were before). "Be here when I'm back," he says. "And think of something we can do that won't hurt your hips."

"I will," she promises, slithering off the bed and moving to rest her hands on his shoulders so she can kiss him before pushing him towards to door. "Go."

After Cougar finally leaves, Jake makes her way to the bathroom so she can take a brief shower, careful to keep the tattoos dry for as long as possible. After, she stares at herself in the foggy mirror, admiring the way those small little smudges look against her hip bones. In a few weeks, they'll be as perfectly integrated into her skin as the freckles that have cropped up across her face and shoulders.

Setting an alarm for her phone so she won't get distracted, she goes and sits, stark naked, at her laptop to get some work done while she air dries, happily losing herself in the coding she's working on for well over an hour before her chirping phone drags her out of it.

Food from the Ortiz family restaurant is always delicious, but usually slightly out of their price range. Jake tries to save going there for special occasions, really, but there's nothing more special than her engagement in her mind, which is why she suggested it in the first place. By the time Cougar comes home, she'll have laid out plates of steaming, fragrant food, all waiting for him, and she'd have changed into one of her nicer dresses (but not the white one). She can't help the restless feeling in her limbs, the butterflies trembling in her belly. She shouldn't be nervous, she's already agreed to marry him, but somehow, him coming home with a ring for her will make it even more real.

They're going to be married.

It takes him longer than he thinks it will to find the ring. At first, it's finding a store that he thinks he can haggle in and the shopkeeper will let him peruse at his own pace. Then, he comes to the epiphany that he doesn't actually know what he should be getting Jake other than a ring. Too many diamonds doesn't seem right, but he also wants it to sparkle a little -- Jake does like her shiny things.

He knows when he sees the sapphires that it's going to be those.

From there, it takes another half an hour to pick a ring and then another to get it sized, on top of that. He's probably long overdue by the time he has it in his pocket (a few thousand dollars gone, even after the haggling), but he has an engagement ring for her, and it makes it seem all that much more official. It's the first time in his life that marriage and a future has ever seemed truly real and he knows it could never be better than with Jake.

He lets himself back into the apartment, inhaling deeply and showing his pleasure at the aroma. "It smells incredible," he praises.

"Cougar." Jake feels like some kind of bad 50's sitcom stereotype, rushing to the door to kiss him when he comes in, but who can blame her?

She laughs, removing his hat and placing it on her own head. "I slaved over it for you," she teases. "Hours spent in front of the stove, just to get it the way you like."

Cougar snorts at the comment. "If you did, it would be a miracle," he promises, kissing her as he steadies the hat on her head, grinning because he always did like the way it looks on her. He eases back, hands on her elbows, and gives her a curious look. "Well? How do you want me to ask you?"

"Rude," she chides, tapping him on the nose with her finger.

Lifting her eyebrows at him, she gives him as innocent a look as she can manage. "Ask me what?" she asks, guileless. She's not supposed to know about the proposal ahead of time, Cougar, c'mon. And if he looks, he'll notice she's not wearing the fake ring, having tucked it away in her bag to return it to Clay at a later date. All she's got on is her sundress and the bracelet Cougar gave her all those months ago.

He tips his head to the side and gives her an impatient look, sliding his fingers over her forearm and down to her wrist in order to rub his thumb against the bone there. "You're wearing my bracelet," he murmurs softly, curling into her touch as his gaze slides to her very bare hands.

"You look very lovely," he praises, because he thinks he should start with all the honest truths she's owed.

"Technically, I think it's my bracelet," she points out with a little laugh, shaking her arm to make the charms jangle.

His praise has her smiling, a soft tinge of pink washing over her cheeks. You'd think, after all this time, she'd get more used to this sort of thing, but Jake would challenge anyone to get used to Cougar complimenting them in that quiet, sincere tone. "Thank you. You bought me everything I'm wearing."

"The charms were a present for you," Cougar explains, his eyes latched onto each one as he moves his thumb over them. "It's a message for you. That I love you," he murmurs. "That I want you. You were supposed to see and understand." He kisses one her cheeks, then the other, easing back as he smiles and keeps his hand over the ring.

"You could not speak Spanish," he points out. "Had to buy them."

In hindsight, it's ridiculous that it took her so long to notice what Cougar was doing, but she's never claimed to be very perceptive, that's Cougar's job. "I'm sorry it took me so long to understand," she murmurs, her eyes closing as he kisses her cheeks.

"I'm working on it," she promises. Her progress may be slow, but she's better now than she used to be. Living immersed in a culture where most people don't speak any English has forced her comprehension to improve, if nothing else.

He doesn't know how a cat, then a heart, then a computer could have been seen as anything but a message and a come on, but then, he should have known that subtlety would never play with Jake. He gives her a fond smile as he eases in close and slides his hand down to her ass to grab hold, hitching her against his body.

"Say you want to be with me, only me, forever."

"This is my kind of proposal," she giggles, pressing herself close and draping her arms over his shoulders as he grabs her ass.

"I want to be with you, and only you," she promises obediently, smiling tenderly at him as she fiddles with the curling ends of his hair. "Forever."

He still can't believe she goes along with whatever he asks of her, because he knows he can be a difficult man and he tries to make up for it, but sometimes, it just doesn't work. He leans in to kiss her softly, sinking down to his knees. "Jaqueline," he starts, with a serious look as he stares up at her, shifting onto a single knee as if to do this perfectly. "You're the only person I could ever imagine being with. You're the only person who understands me and makes up my other half."

"I couldn't live without that and you're the only one I'd ever want to marry."

It's the most he's ever said, he thinks, and he'd been preparing for it since the jewellery store. He digs out the little sapphire ring, flanked by stones that make it look like a flower. "Marry me."

Sure, Cougar can be difficult, but then again, so can Jake. She's too loud, obnoxious, stubborn, doesn't take orders well, forgets her weapon in the field, and tends to get far too wrapped up in what she's doing to the detriment of her own well-being and the well-being of those around her.

But Cougar loves her anyway, and that makes up for just about anything.

She takes a deep breath as he settles on one knee in front of her, well aware this is just a formality, but finding herself swept up in it anyway. "Don't call me Jacqueline," she complains half-heartedly, unable to keep the smile off her face.

If she smiles any wider, she's going to sprain something in her face. Still, she makes a pretty good effort, her breath hitching a little when he pulls out the ring. "Oh, Cougs, it's beautiful," she breathes, holding out her hand so he can slide the ring onto it. "Yes. I will happily marry you."

He gets comfortable on his knee down here, the ring still held out until he can tenderly slide it on. "Jake," he says. "JJ," soon after, because it's still his preferred name for her. "JJ Alvarez," he says, with a grin because it's a way to keep her using Jensen as a name, too.

He slides to his feet and lifts that beringed hand in order to kiss it, brushing his lips over her knuckles before he ducks down to lift her into a honeymoon carry in his arms, bringing her to the bedroom.

Every now and then, the others try calling her JJ the way Cougar does, but she never lets them. It doesn't sound right with the hard unvoiced beginning, too harsh and strident. She much prefers it in Cougar's voice, all soft and lilting like that. She likes it even more preceding Alvarez.

When he sweeps her into his arms, she laughs, cradling her left hand to her chest so she can admire the sapphire surrounded by its tiny diamond petals.

"Carlito, the food!" she protests, still laughing, letting him carry her through their apartment.

He pretends to be indecisive, swiveling back and forth with her in his arms, grinning at her as he lets her down, sighing. "The food," he echoes, with a soft laugh as he leans in to kiss her. "I like when you call me Carlito. Makes me think of my family," he murmurs tenderly, bringing her back to the kitchen.

If it weren't for the fact that this is very expensive food, he'd just let it spoil. Still, it's very expensive, but also very good.

She's never laughed with someone as much as she laughs with Cougar, which might seem strange if you only saw his stoic outer face, but she knows better. The way he swings her back and forth in the hallways makes her shriek, clutching at his shoulders, her skirt and her hair swaying.

"You're my family now," she says, stroking her hands over his hair before leaning in to kiss him. "My Carlito."

He lifts her up in the air, quite high, before settling her back down upon the ground, darting in to kiss her. "I am yours," he agrees, his eyes bright as he reaches for a plate. "And you owe me a ring, now," he says coyly.

"I'll get you a ring in the morning," she promises, finally letting him go so that they can grab their food. It does smell delicious, and she's looking forward to eating, but she's looking forward to something else more. "Since I have a feeling I'm going to be too busy tonight to do much shopping."

He smiles, secure and happy in the knowledge that he will also have a ring to go along with hers, something that isn't chintzy and fake. He takes the food and sets it all on the table, popping some of it past his lips. "Did you think about what your hips will let us do?"

She nibbles more than anything else, an unusual action for her as she's far more likely to shovel food past her mouth at any given moment. It's just that she's so distracted by the ring on her finger that she can't focus too much on her food. She's becoming a magpie, just like he is.

"I have a few ideas," she allows, smirking.

"Yes? Good," Cougar replies, that mischievous glint impossible to put out from where it's sparkling in his eyes as he settles down into his chair at their table. "We will have to see if we can do them all before midnight."

He picks up a fork. "For when tomorrow starts and I can't see you."