Tears of Joy

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Sherlock followed Adelaide to her office and then helped "find" the missing papers, making sure not to give any hints that he was the one who'd hidden them in the first place. He pretended to search the office while Adelaide went and retrieved the paperwork from one of the labs, finding it on one of the lab benches that Perry had used earlier. She sighed in relief and then hurried back to the office, "Found them!! Ryan, here they are!"

"Oh, thank you! Now I can go get these approved tonight!" Ryan feigned surprise and took the pages from Adelaide's hands, "I'm sorry that I kind of ruined your date."

"It's alright. The papers needed to get approved by tomorrow so I am glad we found them." Adelaide replied.

Ryan nodded, "Well then, I'll head over and take care of these. Good night, guys!"

"Good Night, Ryan!" Adelaide called after her as Ryan left the room, sending Sherlock a wink of good luck. He responded with a curt nod before Adelaide turned to him, "Thank you for helping us search, darling."

"Not a problem, Love. Now, shall we take a look at the exhibit while we're here?"

Adelaide smiled, "Yeah, let's go." They looped arms and she locked the office before they headed to Hintze Hall.

He kept her close to him while he talked about the gallery of skeletons. It helped him keep his confidence up and Adelaide didn't mind his fascination, listening intently to him or sometimes commenting. Although she had to help direct a few of the guests to other exhibits or the gift shop, she managed to stay out of work mode the entire time.

Once they had seen the entire exhibit, Sherlock asked, "It's been a while since we've walked through the exhibits together. Are there any in particular that you enjoy?"

"Of course there are."

"Then why don't we look through those? We looked through the skills. Your turn to pick, Love."

She smiled and hummed, "Alright then. Umm... How about we just walking and see which ones stand out?"

While he had hoped she would have picked a specific exhibit, he didn't mind if they just walked around before he found the perfect spot to propose. He nodded, "Very well. Lead on." This earned a giggle from her and he smiled as she led him towards one of the exhibits.

He felt for the ring case a few times when Adelaide was distracted by one of the displays or helping a guest. She wasn't tipped off when he was checking his watch or mobile either. She doesn't suspect anything. So far, so good. He remarked.

They passed through the Volcano exhibit, enduring the museum's famous earthquake simulator, before coming to the Earth's Treasury exhibit.

By a stroke of luck, it was empty. Sherlock pretended to examine one of the granite specimens while Adelaide looked at the collection of colored moon rocks. Can't wait any longer. No one around. Perfect setting. He extracted the ring case from his pocket and inhaled before turning around, "Adelaide?"

"Yes, Sherlock?" She didn't turn around. He walked silently towards her and then spoke again.

"There's something you should know."

"And what's that, Darling?"

He took a short breath, "In my eyes, all these precious metals and rare stones combined could never match your value."

She turned around slowly, her cheeks lit with red, "Th-that's very sweet of you to say, Sherlock."

"I mean it, Angel. Nothing will ever hold a candle to you. You're beautiful inside and out. A-And I am eternally grateful that John messed up the contact number in my mobile because otherwise I never would have met you. We couldn't have become best friends, dated, or fallen in love. And I count myself incredibly lucky to have you as my girlfriend, Adelaide. Coming so far in our relationship has not been easy by any stretch. You could have left me after any one of the things that happened that tried to separate us. But yet you stayed with me even though you could have found another man who actually deserved you and whom you deserved as well..."

Everything clicked together in her mind and she knew that this wasn't just because they were in a room full of jewels. Adelaide replied with a smile, "Sherlock, I stayed with you because I love you. And while there are other men who probably wouldn't try to sneak organs into my cookie dough, I don't want them. I want you. You make me happy and I feel safe, respected and loved when I'm with you." He smiled gently. Her response gave him that extra boost he needed.

Sherlock took one small step, "Then I need a specific answer to the next question I have for you."

"O-Okay..?"

Finally he got down on one knee and revealed the ring case. Adelaide froze- blushing brightly as her hands came over her mouth. Sherlock managed to open the case without fumbling and then peered up into her eyes, "I love you more than anyone or anything else. I-I need you more than you realize and I want to share the rest of my life with you beside me... Adelaide, will you marry me?"

Adelaide nodded intently, teary eyed and grinning, "Yes, Sherlock!" He grinned and jumped up to embrace her, planting a passionate kiss on her lips. She hugged him tightly and deepened the kiss. When they pulled back enough for him to slide the engagement ring into her finger she noticed that he had tears in his eyes too, "Oh dear, we're both nearly crying."

"They're only happy tears, Lovey," He replied and they shared another deep kiss. When they separated for hair he took her left hand in both of his, bringing it up to kiss just above the newly placed ring, "Happy tears..."

There you go! I hope you enjoyed it! Love y'all!! ❤😘

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