Choosing Life

Chapter Forty Nine

Ryan smiled softly as he curled up with CJ; his back resting against the bark of the tree they were under as the remnants of their picnic date sat in the sun. There was not really any rhyme or reason as to why they were under the tree...okay that was a lie.

There was no rhyme or reason that CJ knew. As far as the blonde knew, the only reason they were there was because they hadn't been able to spend as much time together now that they were both working and Ryan had such crazy hours as a member of the ROAR team's coaching staff.

However, Ryan knew exactly why they were out there. The ring box in his pocket felt like an anchor and at the same time...Ryan knew there was no other spot where he wanted to ask the biggest question of his life than the spot where CJ had kissed him for the first time.

The ring was relatively simple, with a golden band and yellow stones that almost seemed to match CJ's hair trailing down the side; stopping midway and a lone large stone in the center. It had taken a few months of overtime but Ryan wasn't just going to have Lord Hades give him the ring.

Pirates didn't do that. VKs didn't do that. If they were going to get something, they were going to earn it...even if Ryan also knew that Lord Hades had gone and given the money to Henry for him to give back to Ryan via Rea ratting out her father.

"You're quiet," CJ said, pulling Ryan out of his thoughts. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah," Ryan nodded as he looked over at her and gave her a small smile. "Just thinking."

"Care to share with the class?" CJ teased and Ryan chuckled and shook his head.

CJ smiled softly and scooted closer to him. "It's been so long since I had you braid my hair, think you've lost your touch?"

"Oh I doubt it," Ryan said with a small smile as he began to do just that. While braiding hair would always remind him of his sister, Ryan found that it didn't hurt as much when he would do it for CJ after Kristy's death. And now, after so many years had gone by, Ryan was happy he was able to think about Kristy without wanting to curl up into a ball and have the world pass him by. "You know what this reminds me of?"

"I think I can guess but why don't you tell me?" CJ told him, a small smile pulling at her lips.

Ryan couldn't help but smile at the memory. "The day we had our first kiss."

"And here I thought you were going to say it reminded you of the day Mal finally turned Freddy into an ex-person," CJ teased.

"Hey, it just so happened that day happened to have both events happen," Ryan chuckled and gently kissed her cheek before finishing up the braid. Once his hand was no longer occupied by the task at hand, he smiled as he could still feel the ring box in his pocket.

"We've come a long way from being the kids who used tot plot ways off of the Lost Revenge, huh?"

CJ turned so that she was looking at him and smiled. "Yeah...we've been through a lot haven't we?"

Some of it for the better, CJ thought as she thought about her current relationship with her brother. The CJ who used to try to sneak off of The Lost Revenge to try to prove herself to the crew that she was old enough to assist with Face Offs would have never imagined she'd get to the point where Harry would willingly spend time with her, let alone give Ryan the 'shovel talk' after they had hit their one year anniversary.

He had claimed that he didn't want to scare Ryan off too fast, and that the fact that he had made it a year with all the insanity being with a Hook sibling brought proved to Harry that Ryan was in it for the long haul. Hence why it had been the perfect time to give Ryan the 'shovel talk' as people in Auradon called it.