May 15th, 1985
Galen's original plan of taking Abby out for her birthday had been thwarted a little because he had been asked last-minute to work on the actual day. So he had changed plans so they would go out on Saturday, after her Quidditch match. And since the Wasps had won, Abby was in a great mood, which certainly worked out well for him since it was easier for him to hide his nerves.
"You didn't have to do this you know," Abby told Galen with a smile, nonetheless pleased that he had gone to a lot of trouble to celebrate her birthday.
"Yes, I absolutely did," Galen replied, grinning back before taking a sip of his drink. "We haven't gone out in a while, you know."
"I'm glad you did," Abby admitted, sipping her own drink. "And I guess we haven't, have we?"
"And really, what better time to do so than your birthday?"
"No better time," Abby agreed with a grin.
"I kind of wish we could have done this on your actual birthday. but-"
"It's okay," Abby assured him. "This is good. Now we get to celebrate my birthday and the game!"
And hopefully something else, Galen added silently. "Speaking of which, have I told you yet what an absolutely brilliant catch you made?"
Abby beamed. "It felt really great!"
"Even though I had to close my eyes for part of it, when you want into that dive with the other Seeker, I swore someone was going to get hurt-"
"Honestly, I thought so too," she admitted. "I was just hoping it wouldn't be me!"
"Yeah, I didn't exactly want you to spend any time with the Healers..."
"Especially for my birthday dinner!"
"Happy Birthday, here, have some broken bones!" Galen made a face. "Yeah, no."
"But I'm okay," she assured him with a smile. "No bruises even!"
"Miraculously!"
"I'm sorry you were worried," Abby said, reaching for his hand.
"It kind of goes with the territory, I guess!"
"Yeah, guess it does," she said, squeezing his hand.
"I'm getting used to it, though!"
"I try to be careful," she promised.
"I know, I know... You know it's difficult watching from the stands sometimes!"
"I'm really glad you're in the stands though," Abby beamed at him.
Galen sent her a smile back. "I wouldn't miss it for the world."
"My biggest fan," she giggled.
"A role I take very seriously."
"Good!" She said, giggling again. "It's a very important role!"
"Although I'm sure your Dad and Kate and your brothers are also pretty up there..."
"They definitely are," she agreed.
"And I can't get quite to the same level of cute in a Wasps shirt that Aaron can get," Galen said, grinning again.
"No, but I still think you're plenty cute!"
"Well. I'm flattered."
"Especially when you painted your face," she giggled.
"Ralden bet that I wouldn't, so naturally I had to prove him wrong!"
"Of course you did!"
"And I must say, I think I look pretty good in black and yellow," Galen said, grinning.
"You do," Abby returned his grin. "Maybe you should have been in Hufflepuff!"
"Well, I would have gotten to see you a lot more-"
"You would!" Abby giggled.
"But I think I've got a pretty good deal with that right now."
"You do sort of see me a lot now!"
"Things are pretty good, I have to say!"
"Things are fantastic now," Abby told him with a smile.
"And hopefully going to stay that way," Galen muttered.
"Hm?" Abby asked.
"Oh, nothing," Galen said quickly, finishing off what remained of his food.
"Any more plans for tonight?" Abby grinned at him, nudging her plate forward.
"...Actually, yes," Galen told her, feeling a little nervous again.
"Really?" Abby asked.
"I mean, plans that don't involve heading home and continuing our celebration there," he clarified, grinning.
"Are you going to tell me what they are?" Abby asked, smiling at him.
"I figured it might be better to show you..."
"Okay," Abby replied happily. "Anything you plan will be brilliant."
"Well, I'll just pay for this and then we than go?"
"Sure," Abby nodded. "Thank you," she told him sweetly.
"Hey, I'm not about to let the birthday girl pay for her own dinner out," Galen told her, grinning.
"It wouldn't be much of a birthday celebration then, would it?"
"Definitely not..." Galen tracked down their waiter to pay him, and then offered her his arm. "Ready for part two of the evening?"
"Ready," Abby said, giggling as she took his arm.
"Close your eyes and don't open them until I tell you to, okay?"
"Really?" Abby looked a little skeptical.
He grinned. "I just don't want you to see where we're going, that's all."
"Okay," Abby said, trusting him as she closed her eyes.
Galen guided her outside and took a couple of deep breaths before Apparating them both to the beach near his mother's house. "...Okay, open your eyes," he said, wondering if she would remember this place, as they hadn't been back in a while.
Abby opened her eyes and blinked a few times. "...the beach?"
"Well, it's a nice night for a walk, and I was kind of tired of the city."
She smiled, looking around. "Is this- your mum's house is up that way, isn't it?"
Galen nodded and pointed to a house a little ways ahead of them. "It's actually that red one right over there," he replied.
Abby grinned. "Are you taking me to visit your mum for my birthday?" She joked with a giggle.
He laughed a bit at that. "While I'm sure she would love to see you, no, that's actually not the point of this."
"Good," Abby said, squeezing his arm. "Not that I wouldn't want to see your mum-"
"We'll see her in a few days," Galen told her as they continued to walk.
"Family dinner?" Abby guessed.
"...If you don't mind?"
Abby shook her head. "Sounds good to me!"
"Mum wanted to have one to celebrate Ren and Brielle's birthday, but this is the only time that everyone was free at the same time, so-"
"Sounds like fun," Abby replied, squeezing his arm again and looking up at the sky. "This is a really nice night."
Galen was silently thankful that the weather had held so far, and he only needed it to go a little while longer and then it could do whatever it wanted. "And we pretty much have the places to ourselves," he added, holding her close.
"Which is also nice," Abby said, still looking up. "Look how pretty the stars are!"
"Yeah, they're really beautiful," Galen murmured, though he wasn't looking at the stars when he said it.
Abby glanced over and blushed when she realised he wasn't looking at the sky. "Galen," she murmured, nudging him.
"What?" He asked innocently, smiling at her.
"You're not looking at the stars!"
"...Sure I am!"
Abby shook her head before laying it on Galen's shoulder, just enjoying the night and the walk with him.
They walked for a little bit longer, until Galen realised that he had to do what he had planned before it got too dark. "So. I didn't tell you this earlier, but I do still have one more present for you-"
"You didn't have to do that," Abby insisted.
"Trust me, yes I did," he replied, laughing a little. He hoped she couldn't tell just how nervous he suddenly was.
Abby smiled. "Okay, if you say so!"
"I was originally going to wait until the summer to give you this, but then I realised that I actually didn't really want to wait anymore and figured your birthday would be a perfect time to-" Galen paused, and brought them both to a stop. "You- you know I love you, right?"
Abby looked a little confused but she smiled at him nonetheless. "And I love you," she replied.
"And you know what we talked about before, the- the maybe getting married someday thing?" Galen ventured.
She nodded. "Yeah, we did..."
Galen took another deep breath before continuing. He took her hands in his and then got down on one knee in front of her. "What do you say to making things official, then? Will you? Marry me, I mean?"
Abby gasped, speechless for a moment. "Yes!" She finally managed. "Galen, yes!" Abby repeated, beaming at him.
"Oh, thank Merlin." he replied, laughing a little, feeling completely and utterly relieved.
Abby pulled him up and hugged him tightly. "I would love to marry you," she murmured.
"That's what I was counting on." Galen replied, holding her close for a few moments before pulling back so he could kiss her. "...Oh! I should also probably give you this-" he muttered, fumbling around in his pockets for where he had hidden the ring.
"Hm?" Abby blinked. "You didn't-"
Galen grinned at her. "I'm not going to propose to you and not get you a ring," he said, finally locating it and holding it out.
Abby giggled. "Galen!"
"I mean, had this been spontaneous, or something, I might not have had one, but since this was planned, I had some time-" He reached for her hand and slipped it on her finger.
"It's beautiful," Abby said, staring at her hand.
"You like it, then?" Galen asked hopefully.
"I love it," she told him with a kiss.
"Good, because I wasn't sure-" Galen made a note to thank Renata for help with that later.
"It's perfect!" Abby insisted.
Galen knew it would be a while before the smile was gone off of his face. "So, um, you're probably wondering why I brought you here for this..."
Abby smiled at him. "This is where you asked me to be your girlfriend," she told him.
"So you do remember," he replied, obviously pleased.
"Of course I do!" Abby said, moving her arms back around his neck. "I can't forget that."
"And I was probably just as nervous then as I was now," Galen said, laughing a little.
"You were nervous this time?" Abby asked.
"I was practically shaking!" Galen told her. "I have been for most of the night!"
Abby hugged him tightly. "No reason for you to be nervous now."
"No, I guess not," Galen told her, laughing.
She kissed his cheek. "I love you so much!"
"I love you, too," he replied. "And hey, I guess we can break our good news to everyone at once when we go to dinner," he realised. "Well, on my side, anyway."
"We could technically tell your mum right now," she realised.
"We could," Galen said slowly. "I don't know if she's home, though."
"I was joking," Abby told Galen, giggling. "Unless you really want to!"
"I think I want to enjoy this just with us for a couple of days first..."
"I like that too," Abby said, kissing him again.
Galen kissed her back and then picked her up and swung her around. "...We're getting married," he said, grinning.
"We're getting married!" Abby echoed, giggling and clinging to him.
"And I meant what I said about it before-whatever you want to do, I'm game."
"Even if I said we should run away and get married tonight?" Abby teased him.
"Even then," Galen told her, grinning.
"Really?"
"Of course! But you do realise that we would have a lot of people upset that they weren't there for it," he added.
"I know," Abby replied. "And I want a dress! And my daddy to give me away," she told him.
"And I want you to have those things, too."
"So not tonight," she said. "But I'm really glad that you would be willing."
"I just want you to be happy," Galen told her.
"Then I think you're doing the best job ever," Abby told him.
Galen just grinned and kissed her again. "What do you say we head on home?"
"I think that's a good plan," she said with another kiss.
"Shall we, then?" he asked, offering her his arm again.
"Yes," Abby said, looping her arm through his.
Galen quickly checked to make sure there weren't any Muggles around before he brought them back to their flat.
"This has been the best birthday yet," Abby told him with a smile as she put her purse down inside the flat.
"That's kind of what I was going for, yeah," Galen said, laughing a little.
She hugged him tightly. "Thank you."
"It's going to be difficult to top this next year, isn't it?" he joked.
"Maybe next year, I'll be your wife," Abby replied giggling.
Grinning, Galen kept her close. "That would obviously depend on when you want to get married."
"When do you want to get married?" Abby asked.
"Well, I don't want to wait too long, I don't think," Galen told her.
Abby shook her head. "Me either. And if we're just doing something simple it should be easy to pull together!"
"Relatively, I think," Galen agreed.
"July maybe?" Abby suggested.
"July... Like, two months from now, July?" Galen asked.
"The season will be over," Abby reasoned.
"It will," Galen agreed. "...Love, if we can get what we want together in two months, July sounds great."
"Yeah?"
"Why not? It's not like we have to worry about trying to find somewhere to live, or anything."
"That's true," Abby grinned, clinging to him.
"I mean, things are stable with us, we could definitely pull this off-"
"You really want to?"
"I just want to marry you," Galen told her. "The 'when' doesn't really bother me."
Abby beamed. "I love you!"
"As long as you're happy with how things go, then it's fine by me, too," he assured her.
"I'm marrying you! As long as you're there and my family, I'll be happy!"
"Is that what we're going to do, then? Just family? Maybe a couple of close friends, or something?"
"What do you want to do? Abby asked him.
"I think that's the best way to keep it simple," he replied.
She kissed his cheek. "Our families and a few close friends!"
"Sounds perfect to me!"
Abby looked back at her ring. "I still can't believe this!"
He grinned at her again. "It does still feel a bit surreal, doesn't it?"
"Definitely," Abby agreed, kissing his cheek.
"But the best thing is that it actually isn't!"
"You might have to remind me tomorrow, okay?" Abby teased.
"I think I could handle that," Galen assured her, laughing a little.
"Good," Abby said, kissing him again. "Any more plans for tonight?"
"Not ones that involve leaving this flat..."
"Glad to hear that," Abby said with a grin, nudging him closer to their room.
"I figured we would need to celebrate a little more-"
"Just the two of us," Abby agreed.
"Exactly," Galen agreed, before picking her up into his arms.
Abby giggled and held on to him tightly. "Happy birthday to me!"
"Happy Birthday," he echoed, grinning as he brought them both into their room.