Numb3rs Fic: Ever After
Posted to numb3rs_het
Title: Ever After
Pairing/Characters: Don/Robin, Charlie/Amita, Alan, OCs
Rating: PG13
Spoilers: Seasons 1-4
Summary: Don decides he's ready to spend the rest of his life with Robin
Notes/Warnings: Read the disclaimer on my LJ
He needed to be sure.
With Kim it had been easy. Once they moved in together his thoughts naturally went to engagement rings, weddings, children.
But too many years had passed since that innocence had faded. Too many women he'd been with and yet never stayed with.
If there was any chance he was staying with Robin out of habit, fear, or maybe even just loneliness, he owed it to her not to take the next step.
If he was going to spend his life with her it had to be for one reason only.
Because he couldn't live without her.
+
Soul searching is unpleasant business, but Don took it on like a case, attacking it with gusto. He spent time alone, lost in anguished introspection, questioning his actions, motives, emotions. He went through his past, painful as it was, reliving every mistake wondering if he'd fail the same way in the future.
All of it was moot though.
He woke up one morning, rolled over in bed and saw Robin's face - peaceful and beautiful in sleep - and was overwhelmed by a rush of emotion flooding through him.
He knew.
He never wanted to wake up again without her.
For the first time in his life he could imagine waking up beside someone in his sixties, seventies, eighties... He could imagine himself waking to her sweet face, lined with age, hair gone gray over the years, still loving her as much as he did in that moment.
She woke, asking him sleepily what was wrong.
He just kissed her and sent her back to sleep with soothing words.
As she slept on, he started thinking about how much he could afford for a ring.
+
When Don first moved back home Charlie had given him some investment advice. He hadn't said anything at the time - possibly out of pride - but he had followed it and seen his portfolio blossom.
One call to his broker was enough to get it all cashed in: a portion of it now, the rest in the next couple of months when the time was right.
When his broker asked him why he was liquidating, Don told him it was time to buy a house.
The broker said real estate wasn't a good investment at this time.
Don told him it wasn't an investment - it was a home.
The broker gave him the name of a good real estate agent and wished him the best.
Then Don went to see his father.
It was hard to have this conversation, but his parents had always told him and Charlie that whenever they were ready to settle down they would give them a down payment for a house.
Of course back then one could buy a decent house for under 100,000 dollars.
In a halting voice, Don told his father that what he'd said about all his women being the same wasn't true - that Robin was different. After a while he realized he was rambling about her and his father was just smiling indulgently.
He patted Don on the knee and told him he'd talk to his financial planner about getting the house funds transferred into his name.
Don was glad he understood, even more glad that he said nothing to Charlie.
+
He needed intel - a spy.
He took Amita into his confidence, knowing she was already wishful thinking ring shopping herself. He'd caught her more than once mooning over a bridal magazine hidden behind a math journal while Charlie worked cluelessly mere feet away. He'd always winked conspiratorially at her and she'd put a finger to her lips in a playful attempt to keep her not so secret secret.
She came on board gladly, giving Don an impulsive hug of congratulations.
After that it wasn't hard to engineer double dates at the house, dragging Charlie into the kitchen to help him with cooking while the women relaxed in the living room long enough for Amita to show Robin pictures of rings she liked, drawing out Robin's preferences in the process.
If Robin suspected, Amita said she couldn't tell, but after a few rounds of this Robin had pointed out her dream ring in a Tiffany's ad, bemoaning the fact that even she couldn't afford it.
Don had been collecting baseball cards since he was a kid. They were a regular Hanukkah gift from his parents and Charlie for years and he'd purchased some highly prized ones in his twenties, more out of love than out of any thought of them increasing in value.
He asked Charlie's advice on selling them. Charlie told him he knew someone and took the box of them in for appraisal. The figure he brought back staggered Don. It wasn't enough for the ring, but it was more than enough to make the price reachable. He told Charlie to make the deal and just like that three decades worth of fond memories were gone.
He bought the ring.
+
The real estate agent was good, very good, and once Don had recovered from the amount his father had bestowed on him he'd had her find a restored Craftsman in Santa Monica, on the smaller side, but big enough for a small family and in a great location.
It had a huge tree in the backyard, a shaded porch and a cozy kitchen that felt like home.
He wandered around the house, envisioning furniture in it, family and friends relaxing there, drinking morning coffee across the breakfast table from Robin.
He asked the woman about setting up a second viewing and got her permission to view the house without her.
He'd always thought it would be hard to get his guts up - it had been with Kim - but now? He was impatient, knowing his Saturday afternoon appointment was coming.
And knowing what he planned for that day.
+
Robin met him there as he'd requested, asking why he brought her to an empty house.
He didn't answer, but walked her through it, watching her take it all in, delighted in how she talked excitedly about it - pointing out all the features Don thought she'd like in it.
With a sigh she looked out over the backyard, agreeing it would be a great place for kids to play.
Strangely calm, he took her hand and kissed her palm, pressing her hand to his cheek contentedly.
She turned her eyes and looked at him quizzically.
This was the moment he'd waited for.
Now.
"I want to give you this house..." He waved a hand around the room. "...and make it a home with you. I want to give you this ring..." He pulled the blue Tiffany's box from his pocket and showed her the ring as she gasped in shock. "...as my promise I will always be there for you. And I want to give you my heart..." He moved her hand to rest over the center of his chest. "...because I love you, Robin. I will love you the rest of my life and want to spend what's left of that life making you happy. I know I'm not much of a prize, but I swear to do whatever it takes to be the best husband I can for you." He drew her closer, drawing her eyes from the ring to meet his. "Everything I have is yours, now and for ever after. Will you marry me?"
With trembling hands, Robin guided Don to place the ring on her finger.
"Yes," she said breathlessly, throwing her arms around his neck in a fit of joy. "Yes, yes, yes..."
Their kiss was the first in their new home. Don wouldn't let Robin call anyone with the news until he called the real estate agent and told them they'd take it.
+
Little Jake, all of five, answered the door on the first night of Hanukkah, letting in his Uncle Charlie and Aunt Amita, each carrying one of his twin cousins in a car seat.
He led them into the family room where Don was helping his little sister Elise finish wrapping a present, or more precisely letting the three-year-old think she was helping.
Warm greetings were exchanged as Robin came in from the kitchen with Alan, both carrying platters of appetizers for the coffee table.
After a leisurely dinner and a pleasant evening, the adults sat back with their coffee - Don with his arm around Robin, playing with her hair while Charlie and Amita gazed over at their infant daughters snoozing peacefully beside each other.
Jake and Elise played with their gifts on the floor until Charlie got Jake's attention, pulling a small envelope out of his pocket. He explained to the little boy about how some gifts were not toys to be played with, but special things to be kept safe and looked at only: precious things. After eliciting a solemn promise not to mess up his present, Charlie let him open it.
Jake whooped excitedly before remembering his manners and thanking his uncle with a boyish hug about the neck. He ran over to his parents to proudly show them his first baseball card.
Don blinked, unbelieving. He knew this card. He'd owned this card. One glance at his brother told him all he needed to know.
On their way out Charlie got a hug from Don as well, just as heartfelt, maybe more.
+
Jake was eighteen before Charlie gave him the last baseball card from the collection.
He left them in his father's care when he went away to college on a baseball scholarship.
Don promised to take good care of them. Jake said he knew he would, because he had before.
Genius brains really did run in the family. Jake had been smart enough to figure it out on his own.
Robin sat in Jake's abandoned room after they dropped him off at the UCLA dorms, a soft hum of teenage music seeping through the wall from Elise's room next door.
Don joined her wordlessly, kissing her graying temple.
They'd seen their son to manhood and in a couple more years they would have an empty nest - just the two of them.
He held her for a while then pulled away just long enough to draw a necklace from his pocket and drape it around her graceful neck.
He'd bought it for their twentieth anniversary, but giving it to her a couple of weeks early seemed right.
Her sweet kiss said she agreed.
+
The twins got their doctorates on the same day, not surprising since Aruna and Ariva did everything together.
Charlie and Amita beamed with pride in the audience and Don and Robin sat beside them with Alan, who wouldn't let anyone fuss over him, saying he could get to his seat fine without help, waving them off with his cane.
Jake had said he'd forgive his parents missing a home game just this once, with a wink in his crinkly-eyed smile, so like his father's. Jake's wife missed it too, but having a newborn was an excellent excuse.
Elise had called in from Europe despite the late hour, telling them to have the twins wake her up after the ceremony so she could congratulate them.
The party at Charlie and Amita's house was brief, given that the twins only stayed for an hour or so, anxious to go party with their friends for the rest of the night.
The rest of them stayed a bit longer, lingering over good wine and photo albums of the twins and Jake and Elise from their childhood.
Finally Don and Robin left, taking Alan with them and dropping him off at his condo.
When they got home Don sank gratefully into the couch, pulling Robin down with him, his old bones tired from the long day.
He kissed her then, her fingers curling contentedly into his salt and pepper hair as his arms tightened around her.
He pulled back to gaze at her for a moment, the same love shining in his eyes as decades earlier when he'd asked her to be his wife in this very same room.
"I'd marry you all over again," he said softly, brushing a strand of white hair behind her ear.
Robin smiled, serene and peaceful - still as beautiful as she was that day.
"And I'd say yes."
=
Title: Ever After
Pairing/Characters: Don/Robin, Charlie/Amita, Alan, OCs
Rating: PG13
Spoilers: Seasons 1-4
Summary: Don decides he's ready to spend the rest of his life with Robin
Notes/Warnings: Read the disclaimer on my LJ
He needed to be sure.
With Kim it had been easy. Once they moved in together his thoughts naturally went to engagement rings, weddings, children.
But too many years had passed since that innocence had faded. Too many women he'd been with and yet never stayed with.
If there was any chance he was staying with Robin out of habit, fear, or maybe even just loneliness, he owed it to her not to take the next step.
If he was going to spend his life with her it had to be for one reason only.
Because he couldn't live without her.
+
Soul searching is unpleasant business, but Don took it on like a case, attacking it with gusto. He spent time alone, lost in anguished introspection, questioning his actions, motives, emotions. He went through his past, painful as it was, reliving every mistake wondering if he'd fail the same way in the future.
All of it was moot though.
He woke up one morning, rolled over in bed and saw Robin's face - peaceful and beautiful in sleep - and was overwhelmed by a rush of emotion flooding through him.
He knew.
He never wanted to wake up again without her.
For the first time in his life he could imagine waking up beside someone in his sixties, seventies, eighties... He could imagine himself waking to her sweet face, lined with age, hair gone gray over the years, still loving her as much as he did in that moment.
She woke, asking him sleepily what was wrong.
He just kissed her and sent her back to sleep with soothing words.
As she slept on, he started thinking about how much he could afford for a ring.
+
When Don first moved back home Charlie had given him some investment advice. He hadn't said anything at the time - possibly out of pride - but he had followed it and seen his portfolio blossom.
One call to his broker was enough to get it all cashed in: a portion of it now, the rest in the next couple of months when the time was right.
When his broker asked him why he was liquidating, Don told him it was time to buy a house.
The broker said real estate wasn't a good investment at this time.
Don told him it wasn't an investment - it was a home.
The broker gave him the name of a good real estate agent and wished him the best.
Then Don went to see his father.
It was hard to have this conversation, but his parents had always told him and Charlie that whenever they were ready to settle down they would give them a down payment for a house.
Of course back then one could buy a decent house for under 100,000 dollars.
In a halting voice, Don told his father that what he'd said about all his women being the same wasn't true - that Robin was different. After a while he realized he was rambling about her and his father was just smiling indulgently.
He patted Don on the knee and told him he'd talk to his financial planner about getting the house funds transferred into his name.
Don was glad he understood, even more glad that he said nothing to Charlie.
+
He needed intel - a spy.
He took Amita into his confidence, knowing she was already wishful thinking ring shopping herself. He'd caught her more than once mooning over a bridal magazine hidden behind a math journal while Charlie worked cluelessly mere feet away. He'd always winked conspiratorially at her and she'd put a finger to her lips in a playful attempt to keep her not so secret secret.
She came on board gladly, giving Don an impulsive hug of congratulations.
After that it wasn't hard to engineer double dates at the house, dragging Charlie into the kitchen to help him with cooking while the women relaxed in the living room long enough for Amita to show Robin pictures of rings she liked, drawing out Robin's preferences in the process.
If Robin suspected, Amita said she couldn't tell, but after a few rounds of this Robin had pointed out her dream ring in a Tiffany's ad, bemoaning the fact that even she couldn't afford it.
Don had been collecting baseball cards since he was a kid. They were a regular Hanukkah gift from his parents and Charlie for years and he'd purchased some highly prized ones in his twenties, more out of love than out of any thought of them increasing in value.
He asked Charlie's advice on selling them. Charlie told him he knew someone and took the box of them in for appraisal. The figure he brought back staggered Don. It wasn't enough for the ring, but it was more than enough to make the price reachable. He told Charlie to make the deal and just like that three decades worth of fond memories were gone.
He bought the ring.
+
The real estate agent was good, very good, and once Don had recovered from the amount his father had bestowed on him he'd had her find a restored Craftsman in Santa Monica, on the smaller side, but big enough for a small family and in a great location.
It had a huge tree in the backyard, a shaded porch and a cozy kitchen that felt like home.
He wandered around the house, envisioning furniture in it, family and friends relaxing there, drinking morning coffee across the breakfast table from Robin.
He asked the woman about setting up a second viewing and got her permission to view the house without her.
He'd always thought it would be hard to get his guts up - it had been with Kim - but now? He was impatient, knowing his Saturday afternoon appointment was coming.
And knowing what he planned for that day.
+
Robin met him there as he'd requested, asking why he brought her to an empty house.
He didn't answer, but walked her through it, watching her take it all in, delighted in how she talked excitedly about it - pointing out all the features Don thought she'd like in it.
With a sigh she looked out over the backyard, agreeing it would be a great place for kids to play.
Strangely calm, he took her hand and kissed her palm, pressing her hand to his cheek contentedly.
She turned her eyes and looked at him quizzically.
This was the moment he'd waited for.
Now.
"I want to give you this house..." He waved a hand around the room. "...and make it a home with you. I want to give you this ring..." He pulled the blue Tiffany's box from his pocket and showed her the ring as she gasped in shock. "...as my promise I will always be there for you. And I want to give you my heart..." He moved her hand to rest over the center of his chest. "...because I love you, Robin. I will love you the rest of my life and want to spend what's left of that life making you happy. I know I'm not much of a prize, but I swear to do whatever it takes to be the best husband I can for you." He drew her closer, drawing her eyes from the ring to meet his. "Everything I have is yours, now and for ever after. Will you marry me?"
With trembling hands, Robin guided Don to place the ring on her finger.
"Yes," she said breathlessly, throwing her arms around his neck in a fit of joy. "Yes, yes, yes..."
Their kiss was the first in their new home. Don wouldn't let Robin call anyone with the news until he called the real estate agent and told them they'd take it.
+
Little Jake, all of five, answered the door on the first night of Hanukkah, letting in his Uncle Charlie and Aunt Amita, each carrying one of his twin cousins in a car seat.
He led them into the family room where Don was helping his little sister Elise finish wrapping a present, or more precisely letting the three-year-old think she was helping.
Warm greetings were exchanged as Robin came in from the kitchen with Alan, both carrying platters of appetizers for the coffee table.
After a leisurely dinner and a pleasant evening, the adults sat back with their coffee - Don with his arm around Robin, playing with her hair while Charlie and Amita gazed over at their infant daughters snoozing peacefully beside each other.
Jake and Elise played with their gifts on the floor until Charlie got Jake's attention, pulling a small envelope out of his pocket. He explained to the little boy about how some gifts were not toys to be played with, but special things to be kept safe and looked at only: precious things. After eliciting a solemn promise not to mess up his present, Charlie let him open it.
Jake whooped excitedly before remembering his manners and thanking his uncle with a boyish hug about the neck. He ran over to his parents to proudly show them his first baseball card.
Don blinked, unbelieving. He knew this card. He'd owned this card. One glance at his brother told him all he needed to know.
On their way out Charlie got a hug from Don as well, just as heartfelt, maybe more.
+
Jake was eighteen before Charlie gave him the last baseball card from the collection.
He left them in his father's care when he went away to college on a baseball scholarship.
Don promised to take good care of them. Jake said he knew he would, because he had before.
Genius brains really did run in the family. Jake had been smart enough to figure it out on his own.
Robin sat in Jake's abandoned room after they dropped him off at the UCLA dorms, a soft hum of teenage music seeping through the wall from Elise's room next door.
Don joined her wordlessly, kissing her graying temple.
They'd seen their son to manhood and in a couple more years they would have an empty nest - just the two of them.
He held her for a while then pulled away just long enough to draw a necklace from his pocket and drape it around her graceful neck.
He'd bought it for their twentieth anniversary, but giving it to her a couple of weeks early seemed right.
Her sweet kiss said she agreed.
+
The twins got their doctorates on the same day, not surprising since Aruna and Ariva did everything together.
Charlie and Amita beamed with pride in the audience and Don and Robin sat beside them with Alan, who wouldn't let anyone fuss over him, saying he could get to his seat fine without help, waving them off with his cane.
Jake had said he'd forgive his parents missing a home game just this once, with a wink in his crinkly-eyed smile, so like his father's. Jake's wife missed it too, but having a newborn was an excellent excuse.
Elise had called in from Europe despite the late hour, telling them to have the twins wake her up after the ceremony so she could congratulate them.
The party at Charlie and Amita's house was brief, given that the twins only stayed for an hour or so, anxious to go party with their friends for the rest of the night.
The rest of them stayed a bit longer, lingering over good wine and photo albums of the twins and Jake and Elise from their childhood.
Finally Don and Robin left, taking Alan with them and dropping him off at his condo.
When they got home Don sank gratefully into the couch, pulling Robin down with him, his old bones tired from the long day.
He kissed her then, her fingers curling contentedly into his salt and pepper hair as his arms tightened around her.
He pulled back to gaze at her for a moment, the same love shining in his eyes as decades earlier when he'd asked her to be his wife in this very same room.
"I'd marry you all over again," he said softly, brushing a strand of white hair behind her ear.
Robin smiled, serene and peaceful - still as beautiful as she was that day.
"And I'd say yes."
=