A Pitch Becomes a Proposal

They hold onto each other for as long as they can, until another officer walks up to them and clears his throat.

"Officers, we need you to go back to the precinct and fill out your paperwork, unless you need to go to the hospital or… something." Before Jamie or Eddie can say anything in response the officer backs away without making any eye contact.

Eddie pulls away and quickly wipes under her eyes. "I'm sorry," she tells him.

Jamie makes his trademark confused and surprised face. "What do you have to be sorry for? You saved my life and probably the lives of a lot of other people."

She just looks at him.

"I'm sorry for throwing myself at you. I know you… it wasn't pro… I'm just sorry for everything."

Jamie, wary of watching eyes, steps closer to his partner. "Hey, you have nothing to be sorry for. After we're done with the paperwork can we talk? I have something I need to say to you – in private."

She looks up at him. She heard him say he'd spend his five million on her, but she wrote it off as him comforting her. Now a tiny seed of hope is blossoming in her chest. She wants to tramp it down and can't, not with the way Jamie is looking at her.

"Okay," she replies.

They turn to get in a cruiser waiting to take them back to the 12th precinct. Their hands slightly overlap on the seat between them during the drive.

Jamie is waiting for Eddie to change. The paperwork and questions lasted a lot longer than he thought they would. Their shift had started at 6 am and its 10 am now. The youngest Reagan's stomach is in anxious knots and they're made even worse when he spots Eddie coming out of the changing room. He notices that she looks nervous too.

"Hey," she says quietly.

He swallows. "Hey. Do you want to go get breakfast or…?"

"Let's just go to my place. For once in my life I'm really not hungry." She starts walking away before he can respond. He follows.

"You'll have to drive though, I walked this morning," she says.

"Um, I actually took the train. Are you good to walk again?"

"Of course." They walk in silence for a few minutes, each stealing glances at the other out of the corner of their eyes.

Eddie finally wrangles her courage and takes his hand in hers. She holds her breath until she feels him squeeze her hand in response. He moves closer to her and they walk back to her place without saying a word.

She unlocks her door quickly and locks it again behind them.

Jamie pulls her over to her couch to sit down.

Jamie looks at her hard. "Will you just listen to me for a minute, I have a lot to say," he asks.

Eddie nods.

He takes a deep breath. "The day you got shot was one of the worst days of my life and even though I knew you were going to be fine I obsessed over it for days. I felt so guilty that I was happy you were safe when another officer was killed but at the same time I didn't feel guilty at all. I talked to Erin about how I felt and she asked me, 'if Eddie had been the one to die, would there be anything you would regret not telling her?' and there are so many things I would regret, the biggest of which is that I love you. I hate that we've wasted so much time not talking about how we feel. I know that it's my fault; I was the hesitant one because I was scared, but I'm not anymore and I think we owe it to ourselves to move forward and see where this," he trails a thumb along her cheekbone, "goes."

She catches his hand with her own. "Are you done? I think that's the most I've ever heard you say at once," she smirks.

He smiles back.

"No, I'm not done. Do you remember when that perp pushed you and I went crazy on him – about a year into our partnership?"

"Yeah, why?"

"That's when I knew I had feelings for you. Renzulli made me choose between a partnership and a relationship and you know what I picked. Erin was disappointed – she knew I was into you even then – and I didn't do anything about it. I regretted that decision sometimes, especially when we'd be out to dinner or at a bar and we could be ourselves out of uniform, but mostly I'm happy with what I chose.

"We got to know each other so well during all of our tours and I wouldn't change that for anything. I also didn't think you had feelings for me that early on, so I decided to put my feelings aside and get to be better friends with you. Then, last year when you admitted to being jealous of that girl, Tara, I should have jumped at the chance to be with you but it was like I froze. I'd wanted you for so long, had my feelings in a dusty box in my mind, and it was like I couldn't fathom you actually returning what I felt. The things I said just came out of me like I was a robot and I hated them."

It's Eddie's turn to put her fingers on Jamie's face.

"I hated them too. I never realized how much the friend zone sucked until that day, but I agree with you. I wouldn't change those first couple years either. I wasn't lying back then when I said you were the best friend I've ever had. Don't get me wrong, I have a lot of friends, friends I would do almost anything for, but none of them have ever gotten me the way you do. I think that's what happens when you put your lives on the line every day together."

"Probably, yeah. I'm sorry I didn't say any of this sooner."

Eddie smiles, "it's okay." She kisses him.

Jamie responds in kind, running his fingers through her hair. Eddie gets up on her knees and straddles his lap, making them both emit soft groans.

They kiss for while but before Jamie can shift Eddie onto the couch she breaks away, leaving them both breathing heavily.

"Do you want to move in together?" She asks, biting her lip in apprehension.

"What?" He says this not because he doesn't want too but because of the bizarre timing of her question.

"You're the one that said you didn't want to waste anymore time, right? I agree. I think if we'd started dating last year we probably would be living together now, so why not just make the jump? We're basically married anyway, we spend all our time together, and we bicker like people that have been together for fifty years. We've been partners for four years, we might as well just pretend we've been dating that long."

She's still in his lap, her fingers playing a dangerous game around the bottom of his t-shirt. His concentration barely exists but enough is present.

"Okay," he responds.

She pauses. "Okay what?"

"Let's pretend we've been dating four years." He gently moves Eddie back onto the couch, get's down on one knee, takes her hands in his own.

"What are you doing," she half laughs – still giddy from their kiss but also confused.

"I've made a lot of speeches tonight, but this is the most important one, so listen carefully." His eyes plead for her.

"Okay," she whispers with almost no sound.

"Eddie, you're my best friend and the best partner I could've asked for. I should have told you ages ago, way before today, that I love you. That I'm so in love with you it actually hurts sometimes. If you want to move in together than I want to take things a step further.

"Marry me? I know we're meant to last and I don't want to waste any more of our time. I'm not asking for religious reasons or anything like that, I just want to be with you and I want that in every way possible. So I'm asking you to be my girlfriend for a couple seconds, my fiancé for a few months, and my wife for the rest of our lives, if that's what you want."

Eddie has tears in her eyes which she hates, but as she searches his face for any kind of joke or ill meaning she can't find any and a few tears fall.

For fear of her voice cracking all she does is nod and nod vigorously.

"You're saying yes?" He asks bewildered – he knows proposing was a long shot.

"Yes," Eddie whispers before kissing him again. This time they waste no time.

Eddie stands up pulling Jamie toward her room. His shirt hits the floor on the way, followed by their shoes and Eddie's belt.

Jamie decides he should take charge and pushes Eddie onto the bed before climbing over her. His hands trace the top of her jeans while he places feather light kisses along her jaw, neck, and collarbone.

Eddie decides she definitely likes it when he's more assertive.

And as more clothes come off and their kisses become hungrier they both decide that this is something they should have been doing a long time ago.

A few hours later, the couple wakes from a short nap, Eddie's clock reads 1:37.

"Will you come to Sunday dinner with me tonight?" Jamie asks.

Eddie thinks the question over just to make Jamie squirm a little. She finally agrees.

"Don't you think you're family will freak though? I mean you're dad is the Commissioner, is he going to be mad that his son fell in love with his partner?" She can't completely hide the fear in her voice.

Jamie plays with a strand of her hair. He's wanted to touch it for a long time and now that he has he hasn't stopped. Eddie doesn't mind.

"You know, I've read every rule book and manual the NYPD has and I've never found a single rule about married cops not being able to be partners – that's not why I proposed just to let you know. They'll all be ecstatic, especially Erin. I haven't even introduced them to any girl I've seen since Sydney. I think they'll be relieved that I won't be dying alone. And dad won't be mad, he'll want us to get new partners but he can't exactly get around the fact that there aren't any rules about this. You have nothing to be worried about, I promise."

He leans toward Eddie and puts his lips to her ear. "We could take some precautions though, if you're interested."

She leans into his touch. "What do you have in mind?"

"Well, what if we made a promise to each other? Partner vows instead of wedding vows, at least for right now." Jamie says continuing to move his lips over her ear.

"How would we even come up with something like that?" Eddie runs her hand down his arm.

"Have you ever imagined how your wedding would be?"

"Of course I have, hasn't everyone?"

"Well think of what you imagined you would say. 'For better and for worse, in sickness and in health,' let's just apply those to our current situation. Something like, 'I'll be your cavalry and night watchman… no retreat, no surrender' just promises we can make to each other as partners in life and at work."

"Wow, Reagan, I didn't know you were so romantic." She pokes him in the side and makes him jolt. "I suppose I can come up with something, but I'm not telling you until we need to, deal?"

"Deal," he responds.

Eddie smiles to herself before leaning over Jamie. "What time does family dinner start again?"

"Four," he says while tracing her back.

"Good." Eddie puts her lips on his and they become distracted right up until 4:00.

Eddie and Jamie pull up outside Jamie's apartment. He carries her overnight bag while she has a large plate of leftovers in her hands.

"If we end up with leftovers every week, I think family dinner might be my new favorite thing," she says while he unlocks the door.

Jamie smirks. "I warned them that we'd need to start making extra portions when you were helping Erin take the plates away. Besides, neither of us is very good at cooking, so we should take whatever we can get."

"That's true; maybe you should take a cooking class." She puts the food in his fridge before turning to Jamie.

"I should take a cooking class? I think we should take one together. Imagine it, you kneading some dough, me sautéing some vegetables… it could be pretty romantic."

Eddie rests her chin in hand and leans over his island toward him. "If I have to take a cooking class, then I think we should take dancing lessons before we get married."

The look on Jamie's face makes Eddie laugh. She reaches out for him and he grabs her hand in his own.

"I don't think that's a fair trade, but I think I can sweeten your side if it can get me out of dancing."

"I'm listening."

Jamie looks down to softly kiss the knuckles on her left hand, "How about tomorrow we go to any jewelry store you want and I'll buy you whatever engagement ring you want – no limitations."

"Really, no limitations? So, if I pick out a ring and it ends up being $25,000 you'll still get it for me? Call me self-sabotaging but I know how much cops make in a year and neither of us could afford that."

"I would honestly find a way, but if you're that worried about it there is another option." Jamie reaches into a jean pocket and pulls out his mothers ring; he holds it out to Eddie.

"My dad gave this back to me today, he noticed you weren't wearing a ring and my mom wanted me to have hers for some reason, so he gave it back. I almost don't want you to have it; Sydney wore it and that didn't end well, but maybe we could take the diamond from it and put it in a new setting – any design you want."

Jamie gets a lopsided smile in return.

"I think I'd like that, even enough to consider cutting dance lessons," Eddie says. "But, can I wear this ring just for tonight?"

Instead of speaking, Jamie slips the ring onto her finger and kisses it again. "Have I told you that I love you?" He asks staring into Eddie's blue eyes.

She lets out a short breath, "only about a thousand times since this morning, but I honestly don't think I'll ever get sick of it." She cups his face in her hands and brings her lips millimeters from his.

"I love you, too, more than I've ever loved anyone. I hope you know that I don't need a fancy, expensive ring because I'd love you even if you gave me a ring from a 25 cent dispenser."

"I do know that, but I want you to have something that's yours, a ring you love and I selfishly want people to know you're mine."

"Boy Scout and caveman I see. As long as you don't start fights with every guy that looks at me, I think I can get over that slight possessiveness." Eddie smirks.

Jamie's thumbs brush the skin at her hips. "We already know how jealous you get when girls show an interest in me, so I think I'm allowed a little wiggle room."

Eddie slaps his arm, "shut up and kiss me, Reagan." He does.

* Since we don't exactly know the timeline of events in this episode, I just decided to make it happen in a day – it seemed like morning in the show to me. I love the idea of Jamie and Eddie being all over each other, but still keep that banter that makes us all love them as work partners – I mean, 4 years of pent up sexual tension would do a number on anyone. I can't wait for the next season and hopefully you guys like this little one-shot. Thanks for reading!