Shaeli Dawson

 'It's not what you think, he doesn't have anyone there. Ma's not even there... Not like this though, please..'

Through the markets she went in trying to find whatever she could. People were already rushing for the evening to get to their own celebrations making it scarce to say the least. As if it were a beacon of hope, she spots the Pandaren noodle cart and nearly sprints to the vendor. She nearly had to shove her way through to throw her coin down onto the counter to get the goods along with whatever tea cakes and sweets they may have made. As for an added bonus, the elderly bear gave her a bundle of sparklers and strings of fire crackers. 

"For the new year! Celebrate with prosperity and a full belly!" Just seeing the smiling Pandaren made her heart ache for a moment thinking of her own adopted family.

He paced. And paced some more. Sweat trickled down the back of his neck into his shirt collar and down between his eyes. The handkerchief he had been using to try to stem the tides was already drowning, forcing him to ring it out multiple times. 

‘She's going to run... she's going to say no and run like the desert,’ he thought, checking the twin ice buckets that held two bottles of the most expensive bourbon he could find. ‘What if she already suspects and took my supply request and left?! She might be halfway to iron forge by now for all I know!!’ 

The thief adjusted the blue crystal rose he had gotten her that sat in a thin vase between the bourbon, candle light for hundreds of candles around the room reflecting like golden suns within each petal. ‘Maybe I shouldn't... I don’t want to lose her... I cant lose her. Bloody woman is the best thing that ever happened to me!’

Turning to face the door, he swallowed and tried to fix his hair, that sodden handkerchief returning to his neck and brow.  ‘You don't know until you try. She doesn't come back you have your answer...’ The stone ring box paused I  his fingers, worry etching into the lines of his forehead. "Please come home..."

With the bags of food and supplies, she begins to make her way back to the apartment. Each step taken, she could swear her grip on them grew tight enough to damn near tear through them. Even as she got into the Trade District, she found herself stopping and turning around as if to go for the gate. 

'No! Don't you dare. It's not what you think! Everything is fine, maybe he just got sick or something? That has to be it. He's not going to take everything and leave. Just breathe, get home. He's there.' 

Straightening herself up again, she turns back around toward the apartment once more. As she ascends the stairs, she could feel her heart pounding against her chest. The ringing in her ears and pound of the organ making her deaf almost. Not even the good wishes from other patrons caught her attention. When she came to stand before the door, she takes another deep breath and juggles the bags in one arm to fumble with the door handle.

"Sorry for taking so long I-" she stops seeing the light in her apartment dimmed. Candles decorating the interior make her slowly lowers the bags onto the nearby table. "D-Declan?" Was it some odd cruel trap for her? Panic was already welling up inside of her as she closes the door behind her, but out of habit she locked the only exit in one motion. If he was in there, he at least couldn't escape.

Declan popped out of the kitchen, a final candle in his hand, freshly lit. Too fresh as the match he used burned straight to his fingers. "Shaeli-Owfuck!" He shook his hand to put out the match and stuck his burnt finger in his mouth, offering a nervous smile. With how much he was sweating,  the candlelight glittering over his most skin made him look almost crystal like himself. He set the candle down in a random place and hustled over to help with the bags. 

"You's came back!" The thief sounded relieved, though that cloud of worry never left his features. "I's uh...wanted t'surprise you wif'h a good new years treat... here." He simply took the bags and headed to the living room where the bourbon and the rose waited. The bags were set beneath the table for now as he turned to look at her. "Figured we's should ring it in right proper, aye? N'you's got back wif'hout a moment t'spare." He snatched the rose and offered it to her. "For you's. Nae stolen neif'her. Nof'hin t'night be nicked. I's paid for it all legal like. Hand to t'Gods I swears it." Now he was babbling, the tick of the clock charging towards midnight tugging his nerves. "And uh... got's somef'hin else too...."  

Her heart skipped a beat when hearing her name from the kitchen. Even with what little light the candles had to offer, she wasn't so blind as to not see all the sweating that had soaked him to the bone. What was going on? With his concern of her coming back, she begins to play every possible scenario down to the very worst in her mind. She tries her best to stay calm, but all of this started to feel beyond surreal for her. 

"Why wouldn't come back?" she asks while trying to chuckle after. She wasn't going to admit nearly bolting for the gate down the round.  "Besides this is my place first!" 

Taking the crystal rose in hand, she blinks a few times to take in the craftsmanship of the trinket. Slowly she rotates it to allow the glow of the candles to touch the petals. His mention of actually paying for it all made her pause to look up at him. The babbling only added to her suspicion and worry as if it were a precursor for something far worse.

"Well was worried you'd find Kat or somef'hin n'go for drinks... knowin' she nae be fond oh m'self." He grinned. It was a flimsy excuse but it was all his head could think of. A hand dove into his pocket as he glanced at the clock and took a breath, digging out the crystal ring box and fumbling with it. Outside it looked like a regular, boring rock. But within were the small blue and purple Crystals that held the ring.

 Tick.....Tick....Tick... 

Declan stood, watching Shaeli as he waited, feeling like the clock was deliberately taking its sweet time. "Shaeli... i's uh..." he started, glancing to the clock again.

3...2...1. 

It finally chimed midnight and the world outside the small apartment erupted with cheers, whizzpoppers, fireworks and celebration. Declan inhaled and stepped closer to her, sweating more now. His shirt stuck to him and his hair had started frizzing. "Gots n'adventure for us bof'h, aye? One i's can only go on wif'h yourself. No one else. " he licked his lips again and shaking, got down on one knee, praying to every God he could remember that Shaeli didn't bolt. "Would you's, Shaeli... uh... share t'greatest, possibly deadliest adventure o'our lives.... wif'h m'dumbass self... n'Marry me?"

"Love you's, Shaeli."

The sound of the celebration outside causes the Jeweler to jump at the first loud bang of a firework. The different colors seeping into the windows of her apartment combining with the candlelight. Everything seemed to happen quickly as she stands there before him all while still clutching the rose in her hand. The very second he drops to one knee, everything else seems to fade away as she focuses solely on him. Eyes widen as the question fumbles out of his lips and her own falling open. 

‘Oh gods she looks like  deer in lamplight... please don’t bolt, please don’t bolt, please don’t bolt!... Did I lock the window??’ ran through his mind as he gulped in a breath and held it, watching her jaw fall open. She froze, her legs were numb at this point as her knees had locked in place. While her mind was telling her to run to the farthest reaches of Azeroth, her body denied it. Her gaze shoots down to the box with the crystal interior and what lay nestled inside of it. As she tries to compel herself to move forward just enough for her legs to give out on her. Her arms wrapping around him and about knocks him onto his back. She starts to feel woozy as the blood starts rushing through her again. 

"Y-ye..I-uhm..Yes!" she blurts out. What fear she held turned into excitement and sheer joy as she presses her lips firmly to his. All of that worrying for nothing, all that fear bottling up that he wanted to leave her after all this time vanished.

‘Did she say yes? I heard a yes... she didn’t run!!’ All that sweating and worrying was for nothing, his next words muffled out by the sudden press of her lips to his as he decided to fall the rest of the way to his back, pulling her with him.

"Y'didn'nae run!" He grinned, the expression so filled with joy it hurt his cheeks, but he didn’t care. "I's even put a cow skull in t'hallway t'stop you's just in case." The thief chuckled, holding the ring up for her. "Try it on, Luv." ‘ Thank you whatever Gods chose fit to watch over this tonight!’ he sang in his head, nearly wriggling with joy.

"No I didn't!" she grins from ear to ear at the thought. Though his comment with the cow skull did get him a quick sock to the shoulder before holding the ring up. Now able to get a better look at it, she noticed the gems that were set in the white gold band. The peridot that was close to her eyes and the sapphire for his. She slides it onto her finger and it felt odd at first to see another band on it. Her mind going back to the one hidden under her pedant soon comes to mind making her chuckle.

"Well, we're not drunk this time and I'll be remembering it!" Her hands rest on his chest slowly sliding up to either side of his neck. There was no wiping the smile away from her lips anytime soon even if her cheeks hurt. With her forehead pressed to his, she closes her eyes.

"I love you, Declan."