Beautiful Dynamics

Didn't See That Coming

"Do you think he's okay?" I asked Brent while peeking out the blinds outwards at Raph's parked RV. "Don't worry your pretty head Princess, don't let your soft heart worry you too much." Brent's voice soothes me from the bathroom. I'd taken a shower already while he'd taken the time to go and speak with Andre and Daniel in the garage. The fake fight was still going to go down between him and Raph. "I feel bad. I didn't mean to get so deep with him, but I felt something was off in the woods. It was in his eyes, you know?" I asked, letting my chin rest on the ledge of the window. Brent didn't answer me. I turned to find him standing in the doorway of the bathroom, his hands clutching the top of the door frame. "I felt it too before he took on after you. I didn't want to push it, but I'm glad that you did. He has a lot of inner work to do. I'm glad we held off with him." Brent said while rotating his head around in attempt to loosen his neck. "How are you feeling?" I asked gently.

I was worried about him, he'd taken on so much stress. There was only one more day left till we had to be at my parents' for dinner, and he and I went back and forth on the idea of me even attending. We'd made the plan to escape to Ant's, and although it was still the plan. The others were starting to get anxious. Ant had gone to prepare his house for us, and refused to allow anyone to go with him. Said he was the least likely to be followed or targeted. That had been hours ago and Brent was showing clear signs of anxiety about the situation. "I'm okay Princess. Just stiff." Brent groaned, rubbing his own neck muscles. "You have your pain pills?" I asked in a soft voice so not to seem as though I was pushing him. He was stubborn. He was great at telling others when to care for themselves, but he would then allow himself to suffer physical pain for far too long.

Just the night before last, he convinced me to start taking my anxiety medications, and to take them regularly instead of when I felt like I couldn't stand the clawing feeling in my chest anymore.I had some paranoia about medication even before learning that my parents had kept my diagnosis from me. I would only take it when I couldn't bare it. But Brent encouraged me to do research and found anxiety medications weren't the devil. In some cases, anxiety medications helped a great deal. And holy s**t did it. I was able to communicate better verbally than before. It was still a struggle, but it wasn't nearly as painful as it used to be. With Brent caring for some of the basic needs I'd been struggling with, I felt less on edge. We'd talked about how I felt I was a burden, and how I wanted to be more independent. He agreed it would be good for me to list things I wanted to do once this whole thing with my mother was over. But for now, he felt it was best that I allowed him to support me till I felt confident and strong enough to start venturing out on my own. "I'll take them now, thank you for reminding me." He sighed while stepping back into the bathroom.

"I can't wait till this is all over." I sighed heavily, throwing myself back onto the bed, "I am so ready for this to be over." I whined. I closed my eyes while listening to Brent turn the water in the sink on. Probably to use the water to take the pills. "It has been quite the journey, but we're starting to get towards some answers. I can feel it." Brent said, his voice was closer and I opened my eyes to see him standing over me beside the bed. "Right now? Right now all I want is to make love to you." He says in a low, almost song-like whisper. I smile warmly up at him. "Yes please." I almost hum back up at him. "You know I miss you when you're only in the other room?" Brent asks me while letting himself fall onto the bed. "I can believe that because I feel the same way Daddy." I say sleepily. "Tired?" He asks me with a concerned look on his face, "Not too tired to please." I say with a grin. Brent chuckles. "That's my job." He replies while slipping his hand up the inside of my legs slowly and stopping right before reaching my thighs. "Open." He requests. I do as I'm told and let my legs separate. "Close your eyes," he tells me.

I closed my eyes, "Relax for me." Brent's voice was so gentle. The way we were with each other had started to change. The heat was there, it was always there. But something was different. It was a knowing. We'd chosen each other. It was after that night in the living room with all the others. We went to bed and had a very long talk. About how we felt that way we'd been with each other was so intense. That the constant need for physical gratification was because we'd been facing something substantially traumatic. We sat back and analyzed ourselves with one another, and decided we wanted to spend more time with one another. Slower. Although there was no doubt in my mind, Brent could have me seeing fireworks within minutes. He said that he wanted more time. I agreed. As badly as I wanted him all the time, there was more satisfaction in moments that felt like eternity. Brent's lips were on my neck, and I could feel his breath tackling my skin. "I love you." He says. His voice was filled with it. I could hear it was true. "I love you so much Victoria. And I think I have the answer to the issue at hand."

"Mmm?" I asked, soaking up the vibration of pure love radiating from him. "I need to take some more time. Move some things around, but how would you feel about marrying me?" My body freezes and I shoot up. My eyes went wide. Brent made no move to sit up and was smiling at me. "A-are you serious?" I was so shocked. My heart was practically about to come out of my mouth and start doing back flips on the bed. "I can't see myself with anybody else. If you marry me, your parents have zero rights to you and your medical or mental health. I hate to say it takes getting married to be safe, but you'd be under my protection. For life." Brent says, his hand slides across the bed and finds mine.

"We wouldn't have to do any of the things we've been planning. We could walk into that dinner and tell both your parents that you're married to me. That you've moved in with me, and that we are starting our life together. I can tell them that I had you taken care of by my psychiatrist. That we found your record and know your diagnosis. We can involve the police at that point. Tell them it's why I had you meet Rei. We wanted to have your records in order before getting married." Brent finishes giving my hand a squeeze. "What about Nyla?" I ask, completely breezing over the fact that the love of my life was asking me to be his literal wife. "We can take care of that after. I doubt she'd try to kill you while you're at your parents'. This is your choice. We can keep fighting the way we have, or we switch the game on to them. I'm here no matter what choice you make." Brent says, going to sit up to take my face in his hands. "I don't want you to be forced to marry me." I pout at him. Brent laughs, "Princess, no one can force me to do s**t. Are you kidding me? I wish this was under different circumstances, because I wanted to ask you to marry me before we'd even started dating. I've been in love with you since I met you." Brent finished and stood up to cross the bedroom to the closet.

I am left on the bed shaking my head in disbelief. "S-since you met me?" I asked, going to let my legs hang off the end of the bed. Brent reappears from the closet. In his hand was a small black velvet box. "Brent?" I placed my hand over my mouth. "I bought this the day after we met. I knew Victoria. I knew the moment you spoke to me in the halls of your father's property. I knew I'd met someone I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. I didn't know how I knew, but I went with my gut. I bought this and I've had it waiting for the right moment." I was speechless. My skin became covered in goosebumps. "I-if you need more time to think it over. I understand. I know this isn't some big showy proposal. I'd actually planned for one, but the first step was to get you to agree to be my girlfriend. Although I'd rather have skipped to wife right away, but beggers can't be choosers." Brent began to ramble nervously. His hands moved the small black box from one to the other. His eyes were searching my face, and I felt terrible because I was quite literally stuck in time, frozen solid. "I'll put it back. We can pretend this didn't happen. I'm sorry."

"No! I mean yes, but no, don't put it back. Yes. Yes, I will marry you. I mean, of course, I'll marry you! Duh! It's a no-brainer! I- I'm just in shock. I didn't even think you wanted marriage. I can't remember hearing you say anything about it." I said excitedly, trying to catch my breath between each sentence I was spewing out at rapid pace. Brent's face lit up, "Really?!" He shouted, he looked like a kid told he was tall enough to ride his favorite rollercoaster. "Yeah!" I squealed, jumping up from the bed. I practically flew towards him. Catching me, I'm swept off my feet and I wrap my legs around his waist. "Do you realize you proposed to me naked?" I giggle with my face pressed into his neck. "Sounds about right." Brent chuckles back.