Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story? 2

Helpless

"This is the one," Newt said, and she grinned at him.

"Great! I'll bag this up for you," Claire said, and began wrapping up the ring. Newt and Credence left the shop, grinning from ear to ear.

"Now, for the proposal,"

Raven was singing in the garden when Credence and Newt came home, tending to her beautiful plants.

"Hello," She stood up from where she was kneeling as she saw them approaching. "You two look like you had fun." She brushed off her hands on her shirt, before bringing Credence into a hug and kissing Newt on his cheek. She then noticed the bag he was carrying.

"What have you got there, Newt?" Raven asked, going to grab the bag, but Newt was quick to take it out of her grasp.

"A surprise," He said, passing the bag to Credence.

"Oh, a surprise! I'll just have to wait to see what it is, won't I?" Raven teased, before looking down at herself. "I'll go get cleaned up, and then we can discuss this surprise over lunch."

Raven never did ask about the surprise, it had seemed to slip her mind. Newt kept the ring carefully hidden in the inside pocket of his jacket. Credence thought that Newt's jacket was a horrible hiding place, and thought that Raven probably already knew about the ring already. He constantly tried to convince Newt to hide the ring somewhere else but to no avail.

A month had passed since Newt and Credence went shopping for the ring. Newt was waiting for the perfect moment to propose to the love of his life, but it seemed like that moment never came.

"Come on, just ask her! Do it now!" The ring seemed to whisper to Newt every time he brushed his fingers against the box.

"Not yet," Newt would whisper back, and refocused on what he was doing.

One summer afternoon, Raven was washing dishes in the kitchen. Her hair was up in a messy bun, a chopstick holding it together. She absentmindedly hummed a tune that soon progressed into singing. Newt, who was in the garden tending to the Bowtruckles, heard the voice of an angel calling out to him. He waved goodbye to the creatures, and wondered inside, listening to Raven's voice.

"You sing beautifully," He said, leaning against the door frame. Raven put the dish she was washing into the drying rack and turned to look at Newt.

"Take a picture, it lasts longer." She said, before gesturing to the dishes. "Are you going to help me, or just stand there?"

"I don't know, I have a pretty good view from here."

"Down boy," She threw a dish towel at him. Newt slung it over his shoulder, and walked over to the sink and began to dry the wet dishes. Raven started to hum again as the pair fell into a rhythm.

Then, the first splash happened. Raven dropped the sponge back into the sink as she went to grab another dirty dish, and water sprayed over the top of the sink, making watermarks on Newt's shirt. He turned to her, open mouthed.

"Newt, I'm so-" Raven didn't get to finish her sentence as she too was splashed by the water. She yelped and glared at Newt, who quickly raised his arms in defence. She cupped her hands, getting as much water as she could in them. Raven flung her arms over to Newt, showering him in the warm soapy water. Newt retaliated by throwing more water at her. They flung more and more water at each other until the sink was bare and the pair's clothes were soaked. Water that had missed its target made splatter patterns on the floor.

Newt held is arms up, and Raven walked into them, shivering as a breeze went through the house.

"Truce?" He asked into her hair.