This is Fire

Puzzles and a big ask

CARINA POV
You're never too old to act young. Maya has recently been going on her path to discover things she's missed in her life, it's mostly consisted of crappy food and shitty TV but recently it's been puzzles and Lego. The whole Lego thing was something quite random, she'd heard me complain about some flowers dying. She wanted a solution, of course Maya Bishop wanted a conclusion. And we found one, Lego. Within 3 days, I had a plastic bouquet of flowers on our dining room table.

I guess Maya's love of puzzles only grew when our brothers met each other. We didn't realise that by them meeting, it would turn them into a force to be reckoned with. That's an overreaction. They hit it off instantly, and all it took was a puzzle. For the last month, a puzzle had taken residency on our dining table. A 4000-part puzzle which sparked joy in the three people I care most about. It was meant to be a dinner between the four of us, instead it was me nursing a beer and the others concentrating on the puzzle. Concentrating silently, I might add!

"How was work Mason?" I questioned about three times throughout the puzzle solving hours, I'd been shushed a few times by everyone. It wasn't until Maya turned to me that she realised she was in deep shit, it was quite funny to be honest. I'd spent hours wondering what I could do, I couldn't leave the house or make noise. I tried watching the TV muted but the remote was too loud, trying to do research just resulted in being told my keyboard was too loud. It had been hours of me going through my phone, playing games or texting Gabri to fill the time. It had been hours of me drinking several bottles of wine and observing the three puzzle lovers work together. By the time it was 9pm, the puzzle was complete. The three of them had let out a large sigh of release and I was called over; they were disappointed in my reaction to say the least. It's a puzzle... wow.

"Can I talk now?" I asked in a rude tone. All three looked shellshocked at my question, Maya looked terrified as I'm sure she started to realise she was the main 'shusher'. She wasn't so much in trouble, but it was fun to mess with her. Whilst keeping my eyes locked onto Maya's, the guys suddenly exclaimed "ooohhhh someone's in trouble" in a sing-song type of tone.

"You too are cooking and cleaning" I order both with a pointed finger, they both instantly stood and got to work. To say I was surprised was an understatement.

"I've got a surprise for you, I don't know if you'll like it but come with me" she whispered and grabbed my hand, leading me slowly to our bedroom.

MAYA POV
With the puzzle completed, honestly, I was on cloud 9. Carina was feigning annoyance, and she didn't think I knew it. Playing my cards right, tonight could be a lot of fun. For a while though, I've been holding onto something. Something that her brother had given me, and I was sworn to secrecy. To Carina, I'd never talked to Andrew. But to Andrew, we'd been speaking weekly. He'd come to the station and hide in my bunk if she'd surprise me at work. I'd had this surprise for a few weeks now, maybe a month or two. But I'm not someone who can plan a surprise, it's felt like a hot potato burning through my brain. So, I convinced her to follow me to our bedroom.

"Okay, there's two parts to this surprise and I hope you'll at least listen to it all before you react, okay?" I ask her and she nods nervously.

"I know we've talked about kids in the past and marriage, and it's been plaguing my brain. You want both and I'm not sure what I can give you, I didn't know if I could give you everything you'd ever want. With therapy, I've struggled to unlearn behaviours and know my triggers. You've been my number 1 supporter as I've learnt to grow. The last few months, I have been getting to know your brother. He's come to the station, and we've met up weekly. At some point, I talked to him about our future, and it was a long conversation. There was one thing he said I needed to do, one thing to hopefully convince you that I am your forever person. And that one thing belonged to your mama, the beautiful person I never got to meet. He'd told me a story about when you grieved, how you looked for one specific heirloom but could never find it, Andrew had it.

We'd talked about a surprise; the candles and roses would have been perfect. But with my lack of imagination and stress of just keeping something from you, I couldn't take it anymore. I wanted to give you something that signified your mama and the good parts of your childhood, and your future." I finished my speech, already seeing that she had understood where it was going. She gasped at points, specifically when learning that I'd talked to her brother about our future. I think learning that, just cemented that I do see a future, that I am in for the long haul.

"Will you marry me, Carina?" I whispered, feeling too emotional to trust my voice. I presented her with a vintage ring box, one that she instantly recognised and took out of my hands.

"Before you answer, I have another question. Can I ask it now or after?" I ask, nervously awaiting for an answer for either question.

"Yes" she said after a few seconds.

"Yes, to the first or second question?" I ask for clarification, and she looks at me with a dopey smile on her face.

"First question, bella" she whispers and I all but jump on top of her, throwing the box to the head of our bed as I plant kisses all over her face.

-

I didn't ask my second question, lost in the emotions of my fiancée. We'd escaped our room afraid that our brothers could hear or walk into something that would be scarring for all of us. She'd held my hand as we walked out, trails of tears still rolling down her face. The ring had fit her perfectly as if it was made for her all these years.

"She said yes?" Andrew asked as soon as we made it known we were here. I nodded and Carina cried more. He pulled Mason over to us and we hugged. We hugged until there was tears running down all of our faces, until the tears dried and midnight had passed.