Flames

"For the rest of my life", part 1

"Quit stopping yourself from smiling." Seth was grinning himself as he said it, mouth pressed to the back of Becky's neck as they sat curled up on the beach, looking out at the ocean. "You're allowed to be happy, you know."

Becky turned carefully in his lap and snuggled into his chest. Ever since he had proposed, aside from the brief moments when she composed herself enough to call her mother with the news, she had been giggling or smiling or both. Her delight had run the scales from an incredulous titter to gleeful laughter and the occasional self-deprecating chuckle; if she could be rendered hoarse by laughing alone, she wasn't going to be able to talk tomorrow. "I know. I just can't. . . ." And then she was dissolving into ecstatic giggles again, burying her face against his shoulder as her feet kicked happily. She had never been engaged before—never even really considered it a possibility, even in her longer relationships. "God, I can't even think. I don't know what I'm supposed to do."

Seth kissed her head and toyed with her hair. "You'll have to call Charlotte at some point so she doesn't kill us both. Same with Sasha and Bayley; I'll call Roman. We'll be seeing Finn soon enough. For now, though," he added, tilting her chin up so he could meet her gaze, "we can just enjoy the moment."

Reaching up, Becky kissed him, her laughter still bubbling out until the kiss deepened enough that she had to remember to breathe. When they had made their plans for Hawaii, she had assumed it was purely for Finn's upcoming wedding. "I love you so damn much," she murmured. "How long have you been planning this? I go through your luggage all the time. Not snooping for a ring or anything," she added quickly, turning around fully in his lap so she was straddling him. "But for your bracelets or . . . whatever. Where did you hide the ring?"

Seth just laughed. "Not telling, Irish. I need at least one hiding spot you don't know about. But I've been thinking about it for a while. A long while. I know some people are going to say it's too soon, but. . . ." He kissed her again, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her as close as he could. "If I didn't do it soon, I was worried I was going to lose the ring, but I didn't want to do it at Finn's wedding either, so. . . ."

Becky held her left hand up to the sun. "I love it. I love you more, obviously," she added, kissing him again. Between all the kissing and laughing and smiling, she would be amazed if she could move her jaw tomorrow. "It's beautiful. You can get me more jewellery any time," she quipped.

"Well, I shouldn't spoil the surprise, but I was planning on another ring next year; that's probably one we should pick out together, though." Seth reached up and threaded his fingers with hers. "Does this mean you'll stop coveting my belts now?"

"Never." Wrapping her arms around his neck, Becky kissed him so hard they toppled over into the sand, and they would have been in serious danger of doing more in open view on a beach than they should be when one of their phones rang. "That's yours," Becky said, reluctantly sliding off him as she caught her breath.

"Probably Finn." Seth was equally breathless as he reached for his fanny pack. "Making sure I didn't chicken out."

Becky lurched to her feet slowly. "I'll call Charlotte then, before I get the giggles again." She walked a little bit down the beach, watching Seth all the while. The smile on his face was wide and wondrous as he told Finn the news, and it made Becky fall in love with him all over again. It was a good thing she had all the necessary numbers programmed in her phone, because her thoughts were scattered to the winds; rather than feeling like she had butterflies in her stomach, they were in her head, flitting around and making her dizzy. "Hey, Char. Guess what?"

"YOU'RE ENGAGED!" It wasn't only Charlotte's voice hollering with such joy that Becky nearly dropped her phone to the sand; she could hear Bayley and Sasha there too. After some hoots and hollers and innuendo, though, Charlotte's voice rose above the rest. "As soon as you said you two were going to Hawaii, I thought—"

"Wait." Bayley's voice held an edge of worry. "He did propose, right? Otherwise we just kind of ruined everything. . . ."

"He did." Now they were all screaming and laughing, and Becky looked over to see Seth shaking his head at her, smiling all the while. "I have no idea how to be engaged, you guys, but I love him so much and—"

"Ring!" Sasha bellowed. "Send us a picture of the ring, bitch! We aren't all clustered around this phone for warmth, you know!"

"Hang on." Becky held out her left hand and tried to steady her right hand enough to take a decent picture. They had a few pictures they could use for a public announcement, but she knew her friends wouldn't share anything without her permission. "There."

The delighted shrieks turned to appreciative oohs and aahs. "I'm so happy for you, Becks." Charlotte's voice was only slightly subdued. "I know Bayley's the only one of us who will be able to say that on screen, but Sasha and I are both so stoked for you."

"And we're going to throw you the bachelorette party of the century," Sasha promised. "Legit."

"Don't they call them 'hen parties' in Ireland?" Bayley asked. "Does that mean we have to give you chickens for your bridal shower or something?"

Becky's giggles were coming back. "You guys are the best. Seriously. I love you so much. We'll get together and talk when I'm back, yeah?" When she glanced back, she saw Seth walking towards her. "Love you, bye!"

"Do you have ear drums left?" Seth asked, grinning as he wrapped his arms around her. Ever since he proposed, they had been touching each other almost constantly, as if they couldn't believe the other was real and still there. "I could hear Bayley from over there."

"We should make our last few calls and then I can post to Twitter," Becky suggested, going on tiptoe to kiss him. "And then we can enjoy our first sunset being engaged."

Seth raised an eyebrow. "Are we counting a bunch of new firsts now?" His family had already known he was planning to propose, so his calls had been much shorter, though no less delighted. Now they just had friends left to contact.

"Well, I was going to say we could go back to the hotel after the sunset for an early night in and engagement sex," Becky sighed, "but if you don't want to count stuff like that. . . ."

"No, no. I'm good. Just remember that you're not the best at math," Seth added with a wicked grin, pulling her back down to sit on the sand, "so maybe I should be keeping track. . . ."

Leaning back against him, Becky laughed. "You'll totally skew the numbers in your favour."

"Not always." Seth planted a kiss on her shoulder. "Now post to Twitter already so people can stop telling me 'put a ring on it' every ten seconds," he chuckled, "and don't forget what we agreed to."

"No reading the comments," Becky replied with a mock sigh. Even with their relationship no longer front and centre on RAW, there were still plenty of haters and naysayers who thought it was all a work and didn't hesitate to make sure Becky and Seth knew it. With Seth murmuring in her ear about what sort of firsts they could get up to tomorrow, she quickly readied her post and then held her phone up so he could preview it.

"Happiest day of my life," Seth read, voice catching a bit. "For the rest of my life. Only one heart emoji? Really?" Judging from his misty-eyed expression, though, the message had hit home.

Rolling her eyes, Becky added another heart after the ring emoji before posting the tweet with the picture. "I love that dorky smile so much." She zoomed in on their faces, both their expressions slightly dazed.

"It's not dorky." Seth tickled her until she set her phone on his fanny pack. "And besides, you look like you're about to twist your ankle."

"It's not my fault the rocks were shorter where I was standing." Then Becky chuckled. "I bet if we were in Florida—"

"Don't even start with Florida." Mindful of his fanny pack and her phone, Seth tackled her to the sand, their remaining phone calls forgotten. They would have to apologize to the friends and family members who found out about the engagement online or second-hand, but Becky knew that joyful days like this didn't happen often and she didn't want to waste any of it, not the first sunset or any moment they shared in the coming days.