Standing: Chapter 3

                                    

                                          


                          
        
                          
     JOHN     
                          
      "Hey, Grace?" I pop my head in her room and try to keep from smiling.
      "Yeah?"
      "Want to go for a ride?" I ask. I'm as giddy as a 5 year old inside, but I don't show it. I have just proposed, and Michael is about to.
      "Where?"
      "Surpises are fun." 
      "John, if you are taking me to Timbuktu, I'd like to know first."
      "I promise it's not Timbuktu, or anywhere near that far away."
      "Fine." We head out to the truck and hop in.
     "Hold on a minute," I say, jumping back out of the truck. I pull out the old toy radio and speak into it. "In position. Operation Gray Proposal is good to go."
                          
     "10-4 Sergeant John." Michael responds. I laugh at the memory of us playing soldiers when we were little, when I was known Sergeant.
      "We ready now?" Grace asks as I slip back behind the wheel.
      "Ready."
     "How'd it go this morning?"
     "I don't have the ring on me anymore." I grin as we pull out onto the main road. She gives me a playful punch on the arm.          
     "Oh, John. I can't believe you are two years younger than me and getting married before me." 'Oh the irony,' I think. "Where are we going?"
     "Here." I say as I pull up beside the woods.
     "John, you've got to be kidding me. We are in the middle of no where at some random spot in the woods when we have woods at home."
     "It's not some random spot. Follow me."
     "Jooo-hn." She moans.
      "Just a light jog, but it's not some random spot." She chases me as I lead her toward the old pit from when she came back. I pretend to trip and roll into the pit. "Ahh, help!"
                          
        "John! John, where are you? What happened?" She's seriously concerned, so I laugh.
        "Down here. I just fell in a hole."
        "This is a pit... This is where we met when I helped Michael escape, isn't it? Why are we here?" She jumps down to stand beside me as I hear the Versi truck come to a stop. "John, someone's here."
      "Yeah."
       "What's going on?"
      "Well, what's going on is Operation Gray Proposal." Michael says from the mouth of the pit. Anna is standing next to him.
      "What the heck? John's already proposed. The ring is on her finger, Michael. Look."
                          
      GRACE     
                          
     "Yeah, I know, Gray. I know." He emphasizes the Gray as he jumps down in the pit, and I realize what is happening. A gasp escapes my mouth as he kneels in front of me. "Oh, so, you got it now?" I nod and he continues. "Was John's and my mission successful?" He pulls out a ring and stands up. 
     "John! You knew when I said that." I remember what I had said on the way here and laugh at myself. He laughs too.
     "It took so much to keep from spoiling it. I didn't spoil the mission, but was it successful?" I turn back to Michael.
     "Successful mission, Captain Michael." I grin like a giddy toddler and hug him. I never would have imagined this the last time we were standing here. I hadn't seen him in three years, and all I cared about was getting home. I never imagined we'd fall in love.
     "Do I need to leave and get the leaves?" John laughs as Michael kisses me on the cheek.
      "No." Michael smiles.