one day, like a light bulb...

December 2082 (mini-update) - Cameron Gibson is 31, Bella Bradshaw is 26.

*optional soundtrack: "It's You," by Pictures and Sound *

One day, like a light bulb, something finally flashes to clarity inside him. Cameron understands women?

No, probably not, but he does figure out a few things. Starting with this little pearl of wisdom he offers to a young friend. "No, kiddo," he says. "The girls don't like it when you pull their hair, I tried that once."

Bella meets him here at City Park after dropping Lila off at Mariah's house for the afternoon. They thought they'd recapture a minute or two of their youth, running around the city like they used to, being young and carefree and beautiful...

That is, if you're not counting the enormous, seven-month-pregnant belly!

He wants her to know how much he loves her. Because she's growing his second love child, and if this isn't devotion, then Cameron doesn't know what is.

He was about to show her how much he loves her in that photo booth, but then they spot Aunt Maddy walking up, so they don't. Bella doesn't want to embarrass her family any more than she already has. But doing it in the photo booth isn't what's special about this date - they do it in the photo booth all the time, so it's not exactly special. Or well, it is special to them, but not in an uncommon way.

Aunt Maddy always seems uneasy to see Bella, like she's expecting some big blunder to happen - Bella happens, like a foot in the mouth, like a flash rainstorm, Bella happens.

But Bella doesn't say anything wrong, not today anyway, but she does blunder a bit as Cameron laces his fingers through hers. He's never been a hand-holding kind of guy, but rather the ass-grabbing type. Now, that would have embarrassed Aunt Maddy for sure!

This date is special because Bella has one more thing left to try. If this doesn't get through to him, then she'll lose all hope. The thing is, he could very well assume she doesn't even want to get married. She is Bella Bradshaw, after all. She isn't even sure he knows she's stopped seeing other people. Even if it would be assumed, since he's been keeping her pretty pregnant lately, Bella knows you can't assume anything with Cameron, so this is one thing she will tell him.

She says, "I just thought you should know, because I don't know if you do. I'm not seeing anybody else, and I haven't been, for a while."

"Okay," he says. "I kind of figured that."

"Oh," she says, and then she just feels stupid because he's looking at her like he wonders if he should have wondered if she was seeing anyone else. Or maybe he's just thinking? Bella doesn't know if she's ever seen him think before.

And then, just as simply as if he were asking what she wanted for lunch, he says, "Hey, Bell, do you think we should get hitched?"

She can't actually believe what she heard. The shock of that alone brings her to a stop. Bella Bradshaw doesn't cry, so she doesn't know who she is anymore as she feels her throat start to swell and her eyes tear up, and he's looking at her like he said something wrong. She still hasn't said anything yet, and he's wondering if she actually heard him.

She did, oh she did!

He starts to babble. "I mean, because we've got this little family already," he says. "And since we're not seeing anybody else - I mean, I kind of already knew that. And... well, wait, you do actually like me, don't you?"

She wraps her arms around him. She engulfs him, like a storm.

"Yes, you fool," she says. "I like you! I love you. Yes, let's get hitched, you ridiculous man."

*****

notes: I had something planned for Bella - she wasn't sure if he even knew she wasn't seeing anyone else, so I thought maybe if she told him that (= steady relationship - they've always been uncommitted until now), then it might dawn on him...

But he actually beat me to it! It just took him a few years, lol. Maybe there is a light on upstairs after all :)

This actually happened while I was playing the Harris family - that's Zach in the beginning, pulling Devon Shaw's hair ;) But I wanted to split it off so it wouldn't detract from their update.

But sheesh, I told you, weddings up the ass!

*** outtake ***

I don't actually think Cameron would have had the foresight to buy a ring ahead of time, because he probably didn't actually realize it until he blurted it out of his mouth, so I didn't include it in the story. But for the game, anyway, it was a pretty spot to get engaged :)