(---)
Fate looked around the very, very upscale jewelry store as she and Suzuka walked in. It had a cozy, though very upscale feel to it. "I'm not used to such places." She admitted, blushing slightly.
"Sorry." Suzuka giggled. "But this is the best place I know. Dad said he brought Mom here when he decided to propose to her."
"I see..."
"And Fate-chan, stop fidgeting. Alicia will be fine. Noel-san and Falin-san are very good at what they do."
The blond nodded, sighing heavily. "I know, I know that they're good. But... I don't like leaving my baby girl alone very often. I want her to know how much I love her at all times." It wasn't just that, she wanted her daughter to feel the same love that she had wanted from her first mother. She couldn't deny Alicia that.
Putting a hand on her shoulder, Suzuka shook her head. "Fate-chan, you have to let her have some breathing room. And she does love you, she knows that you love her too. I can see it in the way that she always is watching you, even when other people are holding her. She's always looking at her mother more than the person giving her attention."
Fate sighed again. She knew that was true, but more than anything, she wanted her daughter to know she loved her.
"Fate-chan." Suzuka patted Fate on the shoulder gently. "You're a wonderful mother, to Alicia and to Isamu and Sora. Don't worry so much." She smiled. "So, what made you decide to do this?"
"I love them both... I want to marry them both..." She smiled, her eyes misting up. "And, mostly, I want our children, all of them, to have a place that they can call home with a loving father and two mothers. And that's why I want to marry them both."
Suzuka laughed softly. "And let me guess, Nanoha-chan and Yuuno-kun were moving a little slow?"
"Maybe a little." Fate chuckled softly as they went to look for engagement rings. "I had to wait until they were both asleep to get measurements."
Suzuka blinked and chuckled softly. "Sounds like you, for some reason." She shook her head, signaling for a clerk to help them.
"Well, hello there." The clerk, a young man, put on his most radiant smile when he saw who his customers were--even if he had a girlfriend, he never missed a chance to seize up others. "What can I help you both with today?"
"I'm looking for two engagement rings." Fate said, smiling pleasantly at him, her red eyes were neutral to him, but friendly enough. "I know the sizes that I need, but I'm not sure exactly what to get them, just yet."
Seeing the look in Fate's eyes, the man wisely chose not to ask or comment. "Very well," he said with a friendly smile. "Follow me."
Suzuka let out a low whistle, impressed. "Way to go, Fate-chan," she murmured.
"I've had practice." She whispered to Suzuka softly, mentally smirking as she looked over the rings in front of her. "That's a lot of choices." She muttered softly, looking over each one carefully.
"My dad said it was pretty easy when he had to choose." Suzuka stepped closer, studying the rings curiously. "He said he just thought of what Mom was like, and picking one became easy."
Fate nodded and looked around, before stopping on a gold ring, a small, but bright, green gem in the middle that sparkled brightly as the light hit it at the right angle. Picking it up, she nodded and looked for another ring, before settling on a gold band with platinum edges to it. "Nanoha and Yuuno... These fit them." She said softly, smiling as she looked at them.
Suzuka smiled. "Very nice," she murmured. "Pretty, but simple. It fits them, Fate-chan."
"Think so?" Fate smiled at the purple-haired woman, who nodded at her. "Okay..." She held the rings to the man and pulled out a sheet of paper, handing it to him as well. "Here are their sizes."
"Alright, just sit tight, this might take a little while." He smiled at her softly.
As the man went to work, Suzuka chuckled. "I'm still impressed," she murmured. "You shut him down before he could even make a comment or ask why you had two lovers."
Fate blushed softly at the praise. "I don't like it when people hit on me. I have two people I'm very happy with, I'd rather not have any others." She said as the two of them made their way over to some chairs and sat down, waiting on the order.
"Bad experience?" It wouldn't surprise Suzuka to know Fate had been hit on by others, even if she was taken. She was very beautiful.
"I had to go undercover a few times and some men would always try to "spend the night" with me." Fate grumbled. Sure, they might have been good-looking, but they were all creeps.
"Ah..." There were plenty of good men out there, of course, but sometimes they were amazingly hard to find. "Yuuno-kun and Nanoha-chan musn't have been very happy about that."
"Most of it happened before we got together, so they don't really know." Fate shrugged and leaned back, sighing softly. "I had to get really good at developing a "you-might-be-very-good-looking-but-I-am-not-interested-in-you" look very fast." Some of those assignments had been hell.
Suzuka smiled and patted Fate's back gently. "It'll be okay..."
Fate nodded, smiling, she knew it would be, she just had to wait a bit more, and then... Well, she was actually extremely nervous. Not that they'd say no...
Who would she ask first?
"So, are you going to ask them both at the same time?" Suzuka asked.
Fate blinked a few times and looked at Suzuka, who was smiling sheepishly. "I... I hadn't thought of that. Thank you." She smiled at her long-time friend.
"Don't mention it." Suzuka smiled happily.
---
Yuuno didn't know whether he was relieved that the whole trip had been a laugh to Shiro or a little annoyed. Since he was generally a nice guy, and he liked staying in one piece, he decided he was relieved as he waved goodbye to his future father-in-law and headed back to Suzuka's house, saying every prayer he knew.
Still, it didn't take long for him to get to Suzuka's house, which he didn't know if he was grateful or not for. Taking a deep breath, he walked to the gates and pressed the call button.
"Hello?"
"It's me, Yuuno Scrya, I'm here to see Nanoha Takamachi and Fate Harlaown, are they in?"
"Ah, Yuuno-kun! It's me, Falin, just a moment." He smiled as the gate opened up.
"Thanks, Falin." He said as he walked past the gate and towards the house.
The younger maid came out to greet him, giving him a friendly smile. "You're just in luck, they came back only a few minutes ago."
Yuuno laughed sheepishly. "Mom said I always had the strangest timing."
Falin laughed at that. "Well, they were asking about you, but you should be safe for awhile since Fate-chan's fussing over Alicia."
Yuuno blinked at her as she took his jacket and led him to Fate and Nanoha. "Did something happen to Alicia?"
Falin shook her head. "Other than leaving her with us for a couple of hourse, no." She smiled as recognition dawned in Yuuno's eyes. "I take it that she gets worried often?"
Yuuno nodded, smiling softly. "She hates leaving Alicia alone, it's pretty hard on her, I think. She just wants to be around her children at all times."
Falin chuckled. "I'm far from offended, Yuuno-kun, and neither is my sister. We've done this before. We know how mothers can be." She gave him a friendly smile.
"I see..."
"Though you would probably appreciate having the two of them alone for what you want to ask, right?"
"How did..."
She pointed at his hands, where he was holding the ring boxes. "You may want to hide those a little better if you're going for a surprise." She smiled and leaned closer to him. "They'll love them." She whispered. "Just don't lose your nerve."
Yuuno swallowed. Hard. "Thank you."
Falin smiled, pulling back as Nanoha and Fate came into the room. "I did nothing," she said innocently when she saw the looks she was getting.
"You were awfully close to him." Nanoha said, her eyes slightly narrowed.
"I was fixing his collar." Holding back laughter, Falin gently toyed with Yuuno's shirt collar. "There. All straight." She patted him lightly on the shoulder, humor gleaming in her eyes.
"Thanks, Falin." Yuuno smiled as she nodded and left the room silently.
The three looked at each other nervously, all of them holding something in their hands as they tried to collect their thoughts now that they were together.
Who should I ask first?
What if they don't like the rings?
I've never been in such a situation before, what do I do?
Should I go first? Last? I can't stand this.
Those were the thoughts that crashed through all three of their heads at the same time.
"Yuuno-kun, Fate-chan..."
"Fate, Nanoha..."
"Nanoha, Yuuno..."
"Will you marry me?" The three said at the same time, blinking as they realized that they had the boxes in their hands and open, revealing the rings to each other.
From outside the door, Falin couldn't contain herself any longer and collapsed into soft giggles, thankfully keeping quiet enough so she wasn't heard by the nervous trio.
"What happened?" Arisa hissed as she and Suzuka stood in the living room. "Did they...?"
Falin nodded, grinning. "At the exact same time."
Suzuka and Arisa both started to giggled hard. "Oh... Oh wow, that's priceless!" Suzuka said with a laugh.
Looking up from where she was giving the three infants attention, Noel smiled softly. For some reason, she really wasn't surprised. Looking back down, she smiled and tapped each baby very lightly on the nose. "Well, it seems your mommies and daddy just did a very silly thing together. If you find someone that you like in the future, you shouldn't try to hide it, otherwise they'll never know how you feel."
It was weird, it was almost like all three were hanging on every word she spoke. Oh well, they couldn't understand her after all.
"So..." Suzuka giggled. "How do you think they'll react?"
Arisa smirked. "Wait for it..."
Back in the room, the three were staring at each other, before there was a collective sigh of relief from each of them.
"You know..." Yuuno started, chuckling softly as the situation crashed down on him.
"...We really are..." Fate continued, laughing slightly.
"A bunch of idiots, huh?" Nanoha finished, giggling. "We all wanted to surprise the others and we all got rings... Fate-chan... Yuuno-kun..."
"Nanoha..." They both smiled at her.
"I think," Fate smiled at them both. "I think this means yes?"
The two of them nodded. "I think the real question here is... When should we have the wedding?" Yuuno asked them both softly.
"Well, you know..." Nanoha smiled. "We're on Earth right now... and it wouldn't be too hard for Lindy-san to bring Vivio down... with Chrono-kun and Amy-san, and everyone else."
Fate nodded. "Mom's been saying she wants to visit Japan again. She hasn't had a chance to since Hayate asked her for help."
Yuuno scratched his head slightly. "I hate to bring this up, but... Don't these things take some time to plan and everything? And, who would we find that would be willing to be a priest for us?"
"I know someone!" Suzuka all but sang it from outside the closed door.
Nanoha groaned, why was she not surprised. "Alright, come on... In?" She blinked as Suzuka, Falin and Arisa practically burst through the door. "Now, Suzuka-chan, who do you know?"
Suzuka grinned. "An old family friend. He's done a lot of marriages for our circle of people, and he's very open to the times and all kinds of couples."
"That's good." Fate smiled at them. "The question I have is, when are we going to have the wedding? I think Nanoha would want her brother and sister there for it, and they're gone for a month."
Nanoha frowned. "I haven't heard from Onii-chan and Onee-chan for awhile now, actually."
Yuuno chuckled softly. "They've only been gone a couple of days, Nanoha. They'll be fine." At least he hoped so, they could take care of themselves, but if there was magic involved, well, he just hoped that it was only a rumor.
"Besides, if anything happened we would've heard about it by now," Fate said, trying to soothe the brunette.
Nanoha sighed and nodded, before smiling. "Well, then... Arisa-chan, Suzuka-chan... Will you do us the honors and help us get this wedding planned out?"
The two nodded in agreement with her.