What happens in Vegas ...
"Hey." said MJ, heading into the small living room "Anything goin on right now?"
Morrigan was surrounded by books, some open, some marked with folded sheets of paper. "My brain's complete and total refusal to research anything else," Morrigan said. "But that's about it."
"Well, lets go somewhere." said MJ "You too, Tina. Come on to the car."
"Like where?" Morrigan asked. She got up, looked for her purse and cell phone.
"Vegas>'' saod MJ "I called in for tomorro."
" ... Vegas?" Morrigan laughed. "Seriously?"
"Yeah." MJ said "So, go ahead and call in sick, if you want to go. Tina, we'll write a note for you in school."
Morrigan laughed again, and went to the bedroom to make a phone call. She returned with a smallish suitcase.
"Um... ok." Tina said. She shoved the clothes Morrigan and MJ bought for her into her backpack. "Why vegas?" she asked Morrigan.
"Why not?" Morrigan asked.
"I've never been there." said Tina, quietly.
"Ready?" asked MJ "Let's go."
"Neither have I," Morrigan admitted. "It's an adventure, right?"
"Yeah." Tina nodded "An adventure."
MJ headed out to the car. Something told him that now was the time to go to Vegas. If his job was that pissy about him missing a day, then they could fire him. He'd left a message so India would know where he was,and he had his cell phone with him.
Morrigan gave Tina's shoulder a squeeze and headed for the car. "You want the back seat to stretch out, or do you want shotgun?" she asked Tina.
"Back seat." said Tina "Because I'm just going to fall asleep."
MJ smiled at Morrigan, before starting to drive. He seemed to be in a pretty good mood. They really needed a vacation.
Morrigan settled in and fastened her seatbelt. "This is great," she said to MJ. "Awesome idea, hon."
"I was about to do another set of lesson plans, and prepare for the pop quiz next week." said MJ "And I realized that I have way the hell too much work to do right now. I've got Vito covering my gym class, and the sub can get the rest of my classes. OSI academy can... they'll find someone to replace me."
Morrigan smirked. " ... can kiss your ass?"
MJ smirked. "You're really hot."
"Nah, I'm just a bored research assistant."
"The love of my life." said MJ
The drive was pretty uneventful. MJ woke TIna up when they arrived at the hotel.
It was fully dark, by then, except for the glare of millions of kilowatts of electric lights.
"This is like another planet," Morrigan said.
Tina nodded "Wow..."
"We're staying in the Luxor." said MJ "Best rates I could find..." He referred to the hotel that looked like a pyramid.
Tina rubbed her arms, and looked over at the hotel
"We're staying in a damn pyramid?" Morrigan blinked. "How cool is that?"
"Is it safe?" asked Tina
"Yeah." MJ grinned "Don't worry, it's fine. Come on."
Morrigan followed along into the hotel, eyeing the crowds of tourists.
MJ headed to the desk, and talked for a few minutes. He nodded, glanced back at Morrigan and TIna, and talked for a few minutes more. About fifteen minutes later, he returned,
"Got rooms?"
"Yep." MJ grinned, smiling at Morigan, and not going anywhere
Morrigan said. " ... and ... ?"
"I love you." MJ smiled. He seemed pretty happy about something.
"Would you like me to get your bags?" asked a bellhop
"Uh ... sure," Morrigan said, feeling like she was missing something.
The bellhop collected the bags, and MJ handed him a tip. "Let's go get dinner." he suggested
"Okay. There are, like, a million restaurants here ... "
MJ nodded, and took Morrigan's hand. "Let's go to... this one. It's not too fancy, and it looks like it has good food."
Morrigan nodded. "Looks good to me." She headed inside, and minutes later, they were seated at a corner booth.
"Thanks for the trip." said Tina, quietly "This is pretty cool."
"Yeah ... time away from that place is a good thing," Morrigan agreed.
Tina nodded. "Yeah. Sunnydale sucks."
MJ ordered his food when the waiter arrived.
Tina ordered actual food- and grapes and toast.
Morrigan ordered steak and crab legs.
The waiter headed away, to return shortly later with drinks.
She had ordered a glass of wine, and took a sip and set the glass aside.
MJ grinned.
"Wine is made from grapes." said Tina
"Or it's at least grape-flavored, usually," Morrigan said.
"I thought they pressed grapes to make wine?" asked Tina "And they didn't ask you for ID."
"They're not really strict, here," Morrigan said. "That's kinda cool."
"How is the wine?" asked MJ, sipping his own drink.
"What if I wanted wine?" asked Tina "Could I just order it? You know I can make myself look older."
"It's pretty good," Morrigan said. She had another sip, and frowned. "Wait, I think there's something in it ... what the hell?" She tilted the glass, and a solitaire diamond in a gold setting broke the surface of the deep red liguid. "Holy shit, someone at the bar lost a ring in my glass!"
MJ grinned at Morrigan.
"Wha-" Tina stopped talking as she glanced at the grin. "Oh."
"No. Way." Morrigan's jaw dropped. "Is this what I think it is?"
"Yeah." MJ nodded, still grinning
"Yeah!" Morrigan fished out the ring, sloshing a few drops of wine on the tablecloth. "As in, yeah!"
"I was hoping for that answer." MJ smiled "We'll eat dinner... and well- we have plans after that."
"Vegas," Morrigan said. " ... damn."
"Is it okay?" asked MJ
"This is out of a bad movie." said Tina "Stuff will get really wacky, and at the end, everyone will have not learned a lesson."
"If we end up jumping out of an airplane dressed as Elvises, I may get annoyed," Morrigan said.
MJ shook his head. "They have someone who plans these things, and we have a suite tonight. Tina's got a room on the same floor."
"This is so cool," Morrigan said. She tacklehugged MJ.
MJ was tacklehugged.
Laughing, Morrigan kissed him and resettled. "I'm totally shocked. I had no idea you had this planned. My mom is going to shit a brick."
"Do you want to call her?" asked MJ "You can. You can do whatever you want."
"No, not at all," Morrigan said blissfully. She laughed again. "Are you sure you want this? I mean ... you planned it, so I'm sure you do, but ... wow."
"All I did was tell the lady at the jewelry store that I wanted a ring. I held onto it for a while, and then I planned this trip today. Not much planning."
"Plenty," Morrigan said.
"I love you." said MJ "And I want to be with you forever."
"I love you and I want that, too," Morrigan said.
"So, you going to put this on me?" she asked, holding up the ring.
MJ did so, smiling. "After dinner, we'll head to the chapel and start doing what we need to do. Tina, you're her maid of honor.
"But I'm not honorable, or a maid." said Tina
"You are honorable," Morrigan said. "That much, I'm sure of. And the 'maid' part is just a title."
"If you say so." said Tina.