One More Rodeo | Dakota | AU

[Dakota King]

After she slapped Ash's shoulder, Dakota pulled her hand back as she covered her mouth. Ash wasn't dying. He wasn't here to give her bad news. No. This was a complete one-eighty than what she was expecting. But this was real. He was down on one knee in front of her with a ring. He wanted to marry her. But that meant a lot of sacrifice on both of their ends, but deep down, Dakota was pretty sure what her answer would be.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before she slowly nodded her head. She opened her eyes. lowered her hand, and smiled at Ash as a couple of tears streaked down her face. "Yes," she said softly as she nodded her head again. "Yes, Ash, yes." She laughed a bit to herself as she got off the couch so she could wrap herself up into his arms.

[Ashley Bates]

Ash waited for Dakota to come into his arms so that he could hold her, waited for her to accept his proposal and put an end to all the uncertainty. It wasn't easy and that span of time which couldn't have been more than a few seconds seemed to stretch out before him without end until she finally got over her frustration with him and spoke through the tears she was crying. It was the answer he had hoped for and when she repeated it seeming to add more weight to the statement his cautious smirk actually did turn into one of those rare smiles. He finally had his answer and it made this whole day with all its worry and waiting worth it.

Dakota stepped into his arms and he wrapped them around her. Now that it had actually happened he didn't really know what to say. He didn't even know if there was anything to say. Words couldn't adequately express what he was feeling so he decided not to mess things up by using them. Instead he just held her there, that smile still on his face, as he enjoyed the moment.

Eventually he did trust himself to speak and when he did he turned her face up to his and gently began wiping away her happy tears with his soft touch. "It was always you Dakota. Always you that I wanted. Even though you didn't know it at the time it was always you and now we'll actually get to start or lives together." He gave a single huff of a chuckle. "And you aren't even wearing the ring yet."

[Dakota King]

Dakota wrapped her arms around Ash as she rested her head on his shoulder. The tears were still there, but she was happy. She wasn't losing Ash, not in the slightest. But now he was hers and he wasn't going to be leaving her for a very long time. It seemed like forever as she was close to him before he moved her head so she looked at him. She smiled slightly as he wiped the tears off of her face. It was always her? Even if she didn't see it back at camp, she knew deep down inside it was always him too.

She laughed lightly and shook her head at the mention of the ring. "We can change that right now if you want," she said with a slightly bigger smile on her face as she looked at him.

[Ashley Bates]

This was how it was supposed to be. Dakota was supposed to be happy and laughing and excited about what was to come. Now that the hard part was over he could afford to be a little excited himself but there was still the matter of that little ring. Ash didn’t come all this way to do anything halfway and if they were going to do this they might as well do this right. Plus he just wanted to make sure this was official.

“I think we better.” He said as he gently extricated himself from Dakota’s arms. “I can’t think of many ways that you could be more beautiful than you are now but having my ring on your finger would definitely be one of them.” He had never put the box away and he brought it back into view now as he took the shiny engagement ring from inside. “Dakota, may I have your hand?”

[Dakota King]

Dakota wasn’t sure if she could feel happier than what she felt right now. Ash wasn’t dying. He was quite fine and he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her. Dakota didn’t know she could be this happy to cry, but here she was with the tears streaking down her face. She probably looked like a complete mess right then and there, but she was Ash’s mess and that’s all that seemed to matter at the moment.

She smiled a bit as she slowly nodded her head and extended her left hand to Ash. If they were going to do this engagement thing, they might as well do it right.

[Ashley Bates]

Now this was more like it. With Dakota's hand before him Ash had no trouble doing what he had come here to do in the first place. Bringing the small box back around so that she could see what was inside he plucked the engagement ring from inside and held it out to her before taking the offered hand in one of his and slipping the ring smoothly on her ring finger. He glanced up to catch her gaze and held her hand in his as he spoke. "It's a good fit. Almost a beautiful as you."

He watched her for a moment in that quiet, contemplative way that he had. She was still crying but even with those happy tears streaking down her face he still thought she was a sight to see and now she was going to be his. "I know it's a lot to take in but what do you think?"

[Dakota King]

Dakota looked down at her hand just as Ash put the ring on her finger and she couldn't help but feel butterflies flutter around in her stomach. Just like their first date. She smiled softly as she used her free hand to wipe the tears from her face. She was probably looking like a complete mess at the moment, but she was now Ash's mess and that almost made everything a little bit better. She looked up from her hand at Ash as he started talking to her. She couldn't help but chuckle a bit as she shook her head.

"Well, I'm not losing you for a while," she said as she beamed as Ash. "And I also think that this is a pretty prefect way to start my weekend."

[Ashley Bates]

That was true. Dakota wouldn't be losing him for a while and now that their little miscommunication issue was cleared up he saw no reason why they shouldn't enjoy this weekend to the fullest. He held her out from him still enjoying the sight of her happy and excited. Now that he was free of the worries that had plagued him on the ride into the city he was happy and releaved too. It was a good feeling and he was glad he had decided to finally take the plunge.

"We should celebrate. I'll have to get someone to cover for me back at the ranch but I don't want to waste spending a few days with you." He said as his mind started turning to what was next for them. "It's been a while since our schedules have matched up so we might as well take advantage of it and besides, it looks like we are going to have a lot of things to figure out going forward." Ash didn't know about what all went into a wedding. If it was up to him he would have made it official right now or as close to now as it took for them to get all the necessary papers together and find a judge to do the deed. He wasn't one for fancy get togethers either although he could suffer through them for Dakota's sake. Still, all of that they could figure out later. Right now he just wanted to enjoy the moment.

[Dakota King]

Dakota's eyes widened a bit as Ash said he was going to take a few days off just to be with her. For a moment, she wondered if he would be okay, but she knew that he would be. It was such a long time since they spent any good quality time with one another and she was just missing his company in more ways than one. "If you can find a replacement, then I wouldn't mind the company or a few days. It's better than what I had planned anyway and that was sleeping."

Her mind was already going through wedding plans, but she knew that she had time and right now she wanted to spend that with Ash. Her siblings would want to know about their engagement and she could only guess half of their reactions. She smiled at Ash as she tilted her head to the side. "So, do you want to grab food or something to kick start our own celebration?"

[Ashley Bates]

Ash nodded. He was pretty sure he could convince one of the guys to take up the slack for him for a few days. It wasn’t like it was anything that he hadn’t done for any number of them on several occasions. This though. This was important and right now treating his lady right was his top priority. “I definitely wouldn’t mind. It’s been too long since we’ve had some time together but hopefully we will be about changing that now.” He looked at her again and nodded. This was definitely worth it and damn the consequences of missing a few days.

He could see she was already thinking about the possibilities of a wedding and that was good but hopefully they would be able to forget about that for a few minutes. Tonight was about them and this was long overdue. Tonight they were going to make up for some lost time. “Food would be good.” He said with a dry chuckle. “I don’t think I’ve eaten more than two bites since the idea first came into my head and now that it’s over I’m starving. If you know of a good place we can go out or we can have something delivered. Not like I would argue about a night with you all to myself.”

[Dakota King]

Dakota smiled as she looked at Ash as he nodded his head. He had that look of determination that she always admired about him, but he needed to loosen up a bit. It was a time of celebration after all. And it looked like they really needed that food. Dakota barely found time to eat with her schedule at work and Ash admitted he was too nervous to eat. So food was her main priority at that moment.

"I'll order us something," she said with a wink. "I don't think we don't want to leave here after all that's happened today. That'll give us some time to ourselves before food gets here." She nodded her head to herself before she grabbed the phone and dialed up their favorite place to place an order for delivery.

[Ashley Bates]

Dakota knew him all too well and she knew that he would rather stay in than go out and deal with the city nightlife. Thankfully the little wink that she gave him told him that she was thinking the same thing too. That was good because a lot had happened for the both of them today and it would be nice for them to get the chance to just spend some time alone with each other. They could relax, unwind...and just have more fun together than they would with the distraction of others.

“Sounds like a pretty good plan Kota.” He smiled at her as he used the pet name he had for her. Ash watched as she called for food and took a seat on the couch as he waited. It was fun getting to admire her like this when she wasn’t really paying attention. She was so beautiful especially when she wasn’t trying and it had been a while since he had gotten the opportunity to enjoy her like this. He guessed now she would just have to get used to it.

“Now where were we?” He said after she had placed their order and put away her phone. “Something about a celebration for two I think.” He slipped his arms around her and pulled her a little closer. “You know I don’t think we’ve even properly said hello yet. Pretty embarrassing considering that we are getting hitched and all.”

[Dakota King]

The phone call was a rather quick one. Dakota had called the restaurant dozens of times in the past that she practically had their order memorized. So it wasn't long before she hung up the phone and was about to tell Ash it would be here in about thirty when he slipped his arms around her and pulled her closer. She giggled a bit as she wrapped her arms around his neck as she tilted her head to the side. "That is pretty embarrassing," she agreed as she nodded her head. "We're already doing this engaged thing wrong and I think we need to fix it asap."

She smiled a bit as she leaned in to give Ash a soft, quick kiss. She barely pull away from his lips as she muttered, "Hey Ash. I missed you."

[Ashley Bates]

The kiss was short and sweet but it was very welcome. It had been a while and he the fact they had gotten this far without even so much as a simple peck was a testament to how distracted he had been and how worried she was. Now though, maybe they could get back to the way things were supposed to be, starting with greeting each other properly. "I've missed you too. It's been too long since I've seen you. Far too long. Hopefully now we can remedy that now."

He wasn't sure if she had considered all of the possibilities of what this all meant yet but they could figure all that out together if there was anything. Right now he was still enjoying the newness of it all. "I bet you never saw me as a family man and to be honest I guess I never really thought of it myself." He said with a dry chuckle and then ran his fingers through her hair. "You will make a beautiful bride however. That will be something to see."

[Dakota King]

"I hope we can remedy that now," Dakota said with a slight giggle. "I mean... you put a ring on it, so that means we have to see each other more, you know?" And honestly, Dakota thought about stepping away from her life in the emergency room, but never had a good excuse to do a complete job switch. Well, this was a pretty good excuse in her opinion.

When he talked about her being a beautiful bride, however, Dakota laughed as she shook her head. "I always thought you could be a family man," she said as she smiled at Ash softly. "It's probably something you didn't realize, but it's something I know that's deep inside of you."