I close the door, lean against it. "Complicated. I need to tell you something."
Concern flashes across her features. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing's wrong. Just developments." I explain the task force, the multi-base coordination, the time commitments it will require. "I'll be traveling more. Not deployments, not long stretches, but regular trips to other installations. Days at a time, possibly."
She processes this, scientific mind working through implications. "How often?"
"Couple times a month, maybe. Depends on what we uncover."
"Okay." Simple, direct, accepting. "We'll make it work. Video calls, texts when you can. I know what you do, Holden. What youneed to do. I'm not going to ask you to choose between me and the mission."
"What if I want to choose you?"
"Then choose both." She stands, crossing to me. Her palms press against my cheeks, green eyes fierce with certainty. "Choose the work that matters and choose the woman who supports it. They're not mutually exclusive."
"I have something to ask you," I say, pulse picking up despite years of keeping calm under pressure. "And I need you to know I mean it. Completely, permanently, no reservations."
She searches my face, intelligence and intuition telling her this is significant. "What is it?"
"Come with me." I take her hand, lead her out of the office, through base command, to where my truck waits in the parking lot. She follows without questions, settling into the passenger seat while I drive us home.
The cottage glows in the late afternoon light when we arrive. I lead Fallon through the house and out the back door, down the weathered steps to our beach. The stretch of sand where I used to run alone, where I first saw her on her research boat, where we've built memories over the past months.
The sun hangs low over the water, painting everything gold and orange. Sunset approaches, the sky already streaked with pink and red.
"Holden?" Fallon's voice is soft. "What are we doing here?"
I pull the ring from my pocket. White gold band with an aquamarine stone that catches the light like sunlight through ocean water. Wave pattern etched into the metal on either side of the stone. Practical and beautiful and perfect, just like her.
"I've been thinking about forever," I say, taking her hand. The ring sits in my palm between us, catching the rays of light. "About what it means, what it looks like. And every versionI imagine has you in it. Every sunrise, every mission, every moment I want to share with someone—it's you. Always you."
Her eyes are bright with tears, hand trembling slightly in mine.
"I know I'm not easy. I know the work is dangerous and time-consuming and sometimes all-consuming. I know military life isn't what you planned when you moved across the country to escape your past." I hold her gaze, letting her see everything I feel. "But I'm asking anyway. Marry me, Fallon. Make this official. Build a life with me that's bigger than either of us alone."
"Yes." No hesitation, no doubt, just immediate certainty. "God, yes. I'll marry you."
I slide the ring onto her finger. Perfect fit, like I knew it would be.
She laughs, kisses me, tastes like coffee and salt and home. "Think we can do this? The whole forever thing?"
I look at the ocean. At the woman I pulled from the water six months ago. At the life we've built from nothing but determination and the decision to stop running from what scared us.
"Baby, I've been doing forever with you since the first time I saw you in a tide pool."
She grins. "Stalker."
"Your stalker."
Her ring catches the sunset light, wave pattern glinting gold and orange. Six months ago I was watching her from a distance. Now she's wearing my ring and planning to share my name. Funny how fast everything can change when you stop running from what scares you.
"Come on, Commander," she says, tugging my hand. "I've got sediment samples waiting and you've got a task force to organize. We can be disgustingly happy later."
"We're being disgustingly happy now."
"True." She grins up at me. "But later we can be disgustingly happy without clothes."
I laugh and follow her back toward the cottage, back to work, back to the life we're building. The ocean keeps its secrets. The threats keep coming. But I've got her hand in mine and a future I'm not afraid to claim.
