The next time she sees him in a tie, it's months later.

He went to have dinner by himself with his parents. It was supposed to be fine.

She's wearing the ring a nurse found in his coat pocket when she was searching for identification, his blood type, whatever. She doesn't care about it when he's laying in a hospital gown and bloody and pale.

He was in the car with his dad, driving, and maybe he always had a car crash smile to begin with. They started to argue, and when Lon'qu said he was gonna ask Robin to marry him, a car came out of nowhere.

He's unconscious with what they think is just a concussion. Ronkuu has glass fragmented in his chest from where the windshield cracked. She and Ke'ri are waiting to hear from anyone that'll tell them how the surgery is going.

She decides she hates hospitals. She really does.

::::::::::::::::::::::::

About a week later, they're both home, both perfectly fine except so tired and so sorry.

They skirt around each other timidly and are overly polite to each other, and Ke'ri's just so done with both Ronkuu and Lon'qu that she kicks them out.

Her mom baked and brought over a ton of cookies she eats with Ke'ri now, and she's only vaguely worried her apparent future mother-in-law is going to ask her weird questions about her and Lon'qu and their life and future children's educations.

"He hasn't really asked yet," she tells her, pouring more milk in her glass. "He hasn't said anything about the ring either."

"Men in this family aren't romantic," Ke'ri shrugs, too used to it by now. Except the way she's smiling is thoughtful and reminiscent and she doesn't believe herself when she thinks back on Ronkuu.

"Lon'qu can be," she almost feels the need to justify, but then there it is - that look on Ke'ri's face.

She looks torn between curiosity and better not wanting to know, and it's.. it's all Robin can do to not grin like a lovestruck fool. It's so different than she ever thought it'd be.

She stares out the glass door to the backyard like she's seeing years ago, a little more than eleven, and there's so much she thought would be so.. so not like this that it makes her giggle and cackle like a crazy person, just oddly amazed and awed and so damned lucky here in the world that's been set for her.

Ke'ri stands after a minute of smiling at her chortles, leaning down to kiss the crown of her head. "I can't wait 'till you're legally one of us, not just a hostage," she teases. Because she knows everything, too, she's opening the front door when Lon'qu and Ronku pull up the drive in the Myrmidon.

They're laughing and shoving at each other like kids, but then Ronkuu and Ke'ri are kissing on the lawn like teenagers while Lon'qu sorta grimaces, closes the door behind him.

"Robin?" he calls, following his nose to the smell of cookies in the kitchen and exhaling happily when he catches sight of her at the table. "Hey."

"How'd it go," she wants to know, straightening up higher in her chair so she's hugging his waist when he steps into grabbing range.

"He was gonna take me fishing before we decided that was stupid." The corner of his mouth quirks up. "It was pretty good."

He smiles, a moot point since his lies of omission in the name of silence are just as bad, but his face is still in stitches, and his smile is so bright, and it's instinct to curl her fingers through his and follow him up, always up, the stairs to his room. "I wanted to ask you something, if now's okay."

The engagement ring on her left hand suddenly feels heavy and purposeful, and she tries to school her face, compose her expression. She's technically already agreed to marry him unspokenly, so this - fine, just fine. Perfect. "Now's okay," she assures him, nestling into his chest and wrapping her leg around both of his.

He pulls her closer to him, rests his chin atop her head. "I was going to ask you about the ring," he confesses after a minute of just holding onto each other.

She opens her eyes, feels her eyelashes dust against his neck tenderly. She tries to breathe, letting herself be soothed by his rhythmic fingertips slipping up the side of her shirt and ghosting featherlight touches into the waning dips of her ribs. "What about it?"

"You like it?" he mumbles, trying to fight his nervousness. He just kisses her forehead again.

"I like you," she grins, can't help it with how happy she feels, how right this is. "Might even love you," she quips like she doesn't tell him at every turn. There's so much of it pouring out of her, and all he does is yawn through his big, dopey grin.

He catches hold of her hand and twines their fingers together tight, tries to balance on the bed the seconds he's standing and she's giggling away so he won't crush her if he falls. He drops to one knee on the bed because really, by now it's about time they do marry each other. "I already know you'll say yes."

"Do you?" she challenges, arching an eyebrow.

He gives her that look she knows all too well, the one that's half-annoyed and half-in-love and both parts right here, right now, and he lifts her left hand, kisses her knuckle just above the lone solitary diamond marking her his in one more way that's a lot more elegant than a necklace of his teeth bitten into her neck or one of his old shirts hanging nearly to her knees.

It's the easiest, freest thing in the world to say yes. So she does. It sounds a lot like forever, tastes a lot like all their life, a laugh in his throat, her palms in his hands.

His brown eyes are closed, and she's drinking him in, every part of his soul she can't touch with her fingers. "How about tomorrow?" she wonders, only partially serious.

"We should elope, shouldn't we?" he grins, and he laughs, and she giggles into his neck.

Their life is tomorrow.

And it's perfect.

And so the curtains close on His Brown Eyes and the end of this Lon'qu and Robin's story. I hope you all loved this story as I loved writing it. Your feedback has meant the world to me and I appreciate it so much! I'd like to thank each and everyone of you for reading, favoriting, following, or reviewing. I'm hard at work on my next fic (another Awakening one)and I have a few one-shots planned in the future and I hope you'll give those a read too! Signing off for the last time on this fic,

Worlds In My Head