Wait, what?

Addie was taken aback from Arrow's inquiry. As though it seemed he were grilling her about the facts of her love life with Matty. Surely he realised that the trailing off voice that he was gone, that Matty wasn't going to be involved with a marriage any longer.

She snickered out of place at this thought. Arrow would likely question that internally, but Addie didn't honestly care about that at the moment. "End of the story is that the Ministry didn't offer up any resolutions or answers regarding what happened with Matty. So, uh....Marmy and I made due. I found a new job versus going into the Ministry myself. Until I met you.... I didn't go really for another guy. I couldn't really. Sure, flings happened but it was never real. Not like you. You and Matty are the only guys I've fallen for."

Standing up again, she moved away once more, walking towards the kitchen. A glint of light hit her eye, causing her to stop. Wh-wh....at? What was THAT? She kneeled down and saw the ring soon enough. Her hand plucked it up, fingers running against the band.

"Uh.....Arrow?"

Listening to Addie talk had Arrow's jealousy all but disappearing.  He knew that she liked him, but wasn't really sure that it was real. Now he was totally sure and it kind of freaked him out a little.  "I'm sorry I looked at the pictures, I wasn't really paying attention to them, just wanted to clean them up for you after your crazy pooch knocked the box over."

He stood up from the couch and followed her towards the kitchen, stopping when she bent to pick something up off the floor.  He panicked when he noticed what was between her fingers and then she asked, "Uh.....Arrow?". It was like all the breath just left his body in one motion. The first thing he did was touch his chest, usually that was where the chain he kept the ring on was resting, but it wasn't there.

Then he remembered.  The chain had broken earlier in the day and he'd slipped the ring into his pocket before he went over to Addie's place. He'd been meaning to get a new chain for awhile, but just forgot about it.  It must of fallen out of his pocket when he was playing with Addie's dog.

"I can explain..." he began lamely and hoped that she wouldn't think it meant anything...

She wasn't mad, far from it. About the ring, that is. Confusion and curiousity would be the more appropriate feelings that she currently felt about finding the ring. Who knew? Maybe it was just a memento from his own past. Maybe it was a promise ring, though Addie doubted that option for the most part. That final maybe stayed within the confines of her head as she turned around to say something further.

But his wish to explain and that look on his face quasi confirmed that final maybe. Hm. Walking up to her extremely good looking Irishman (he looked especially so when as vulnerable as this - no rug and tug look, more so a genuine, warm even as he knew more than she did at this point look), Addie smiled warmly at him as she extended her hand, presenting the ring back to Arrow.

"Go-ahead. I'm all ears, love."

Arrow took a deep breath and gently took the ring from Addie and held it in his hand between two fingers and looked at her, "It was my mother's." he said softly. 

He backed up from her a fraction so that he could gather his thoughts and tell her about the ring that he kept with him at all times after he'd found it in his family vault when he and Addie had returned from an impromptu vacation.  He didn't think anything of it and wasn't really sure why he kept it on him, especially since he wasn't one to wear a lot of jewelry.

"This ring," he said as he lightly tapped her on the nose with it, "was purchased by my father when he turned 16, before he met my mother." He remembered the story as if his father was telling it to him right now. "He'd found it in a random shop when he was visiting some friends and he just felt like he had to buy it, like it was calling out to him." 

"He met my mother two years later and after their fourth date, he gave her this ring, telling her it was just a promise that he'd always be faithful." He smiled, no trace of his usual smirk, just a pure smile.  "When I turned 16, he gave me the ring, but I had placed it in the family vault and forgot about it."

Taking another breath, he continued, but this time he walked away from her, making a turn around the couch while he continued telling her about the ring.  "If you remember, while we were on the beach, there was no ring on a chain around my neck." he began to get slightly flustered because this was the first time in his life that he was going to do something like this and he hoped that it wouldn't blow up in his face, mostly the reason he'd walked away from her.

"I visited my vault after we got back and found the ring.  It's been on a chain around my neck since then." He stopped by the side of the couch, "The chain broke this morning and I had the ring in my pocket.  My father would say that it meant something - the chain breaking today." 

Arrow closed the distance between himself and Addie slowly, "So, I'm going with it."

When he was directly in front of her, about a foot between them, he said, "You are an amazing person, someone who has turned my world upside down and then flipped it sideways.  Everything is different now.  We both have a past, and I accept that, but I think this ring, now belongs to you, my promise..."

"My promise that I'll always be faithful..." he trailed of, not looking at her, but at the ring in his hand.  His voice had gotten soft again, completely unsure of what he was doing, but knowing it felt right at least. 

Language Warning

Addie stood there listening to everything that Arrow had to say, being patient and attentive. And yet... she was humbled, baffled, honoured, and frankly, scared shitless just a bit about it all. His words made her recollect about when Matty gave similiar promises and vows - that had ended in heartbreak at its finest, hadn't it?

She calmed and steadied her ever pacing brain and smiled as he finished his promise to her. Faithfulness. He'd never really been one to mention faithfulness to their own relationship in the past, eh? But now.....Arrow was quite the opposite.

He was curious about this. Completely so.

Leaning upward as her feet rose slightly off the floor, Addie placed lips against his for a tender, sweetened moment before pulling away with nothing but happiness swelling within the confines of her heart. "Arrow, darling... this. I am utterly touched by everything you've said to me. This is unexpected and more than this, meaningful." She pecked his nose in retribution for the ring against hers. "I love you and I would be honoured to wear this ring you've offered."

It was almost like his heart stopped after he finished talking.  He wasn't sure it was going to go over well, what he'd said to her.  But it turned out he didn't have to be scared of what she'd think or say.  He tried to listen to what she was saying, but truthfully he didn't hear anything she said until ..

"I love you,"

and then he unconsciously tuned the rest of her words out.  They'd skirted around those words for quite awhile now, he didn't really know her reasons behind not saying it out right, but he was just afraid that if he said it before her, things would change.  Now that he heard her say it first it made him think and he realized things had already changed... and for the better.

He had felt her kiss him before she said it, but he was in shock of what he had just done that he didn't really react to it.  As she lightly kissed his nose he focused on her face, and heard those three little words.

Shaking his head lightly he came back to himself and almost found himself at a loss for words, but his brain did the talking for him.  Taking the ring, he placed it on her right hand's ring finger, and then held both hands in his as he looked her in the eyes.

"I love you." he whispered and he leaned forward to seal his promise with a kiss.[1]

1.	Okay, I don't have a romantic bone in my body and even I think my last line is corny.