Disclaimer: I own nothing. I do not own That '70s Show or any of it's characters. I do not own the song the story is named after nor do I own the dialogue that this story was based off of. I own nothing!
Author's Note: Hi everyone! How are you? Hope you're doing well, getting ready for Thanksgiving, bundling up against the cold, whatever you're doing I hope you're doing well! Today I have for you a short little story that I wrote up just the other night for my Red and Kitty tumblr blog. It was supposed to be shorter but you know how long my stuff can be. I really liked writing it and several people on tumblr seemed to like it as well as some fellow Red and Kitty fans from here who helped convince me to post the story up here too. Big thank you to Marla's Lost and TvFanaticDayDreamer! And special thanks to all the tumblr users who liked, reblogged and even commented on the story! I decided to post it up today because it does sort of have a Thanksgiving theme laced into it, it was based off the conversation in season 7 where Red shares that Kitty's Special Yams are one of the top three reasons he married her. I went with it and came up with this 'mini' story. Now I'm still debating about adding more so be sure to read the ending Author's Note. Thanks for stopping by to read, I hope you like reading it, please review if you have the time, I'd love to hear from you! Thanks for the support, hope you like and please, Enjoy!
KITTY: There's no point in me even making my Special Yams.
RED: What? Kitty, I love those yams. They're among the top three reasons why I married you.
KITTY: Well I can't make them if I'm sad.
The Girl That I Marry
1953
Red Forman was seated in the living room of his parents' home, staring at the contents of a small blue velvet box that he held in his hands. He was so focused on the item, lost in the thoughts the little item had created in his mind, he didn't realize his younger brother step into the room.
Marty was making his way to the front door when he looked over his brother's shoulders and what he saw made him stop walking and raise his brows with great interest.
"Ooh an engagement ring? For who?" he asked, deciding that leaving the house could wait a little longer.
Startled by his brother's presence Red jumped slightly as he closed the jewelry box and pulled it closer to his chest before he glared at Marty. "For the mailman. Who do you think it's for, you moron?"
He was too excited about this prospect to feel insulted and Marty sat down beside Red on the couch. "You're gonna propose to Kitty?"
"I'm thinking about it," answered Red, not looking Marty in the eye.
"What's stopping you?"
"Nothing's stopping me," Red barked back, now looking at Marty so that he could see the angry frown he wore. "I said I'm thinking about it."
"But you're not doing it," pointed out the younger man. He could tell his brother was feeling torn and he wanted to help, he placed a comforting hand on Red's shoulder. "Come on Big Brother, you can tell me."
Red continued to frown as he looked at Marty but when he shifted his eyes back to the ring box and his mind drifted to the girl he wanted to give the box to, his scowl softened.
He looked back over at Marty, his face looked tired. "Ma won't be happy if I do it."
"Yeah," nodded Marty, he knew how much their mother liked Kitty but he didn't think that should stop Red. "But a lot of things make Mom unhappy these days. She's still unhappy about me not eating meat but I haven't let that stop me."
Staring back at the young man beside him, Red didn't want to tell his brother that he wasn't too happy about him not eating meat either—it just didn't seem right or healthy. He also didn't want to explain that it wasn't really their mother's unhappiness that concerned him. He hoped one day Bernice Forman would warm up to Kitty and see why it was she meant so much to him, but if she never did and instead continued to hold such a hateful grudge against her, Red wasn't sure he wanted to put Kitty through that.
"Kitty could say no," Red shared the second key thought that ran through his mind, keeping him from popping the big question.
Marty merely grinned, "I bet she says yes."
Giving his brother a faint smile, his form of a silent thank you, Red shook his head. "I just don't know if I'm doing the right thing," he said putting more emphasis on each word.
"I never saw myself as a guy who would get married," he explained, he'd always imagined him staying in the Navy. His ideal days would be spent traveling the world and fighting off Commies but that was all before he had met Kitty. "What Kitty and I have going right now is really…really good. Me doing this damn proposal thing could ruin all of that."
"Or you could be initiating the start of something filled with magical, blissful, beautiful happiness," commented Marty as he smiled a slightly tearful smile. He wanted his brother to be happy and he was a hopeless romantic.
"Jeeze, you just had to go all girly and mushy didn't you?" Red grimaced and grumbled. "We were having a good talk!"
"Sorry," Marty apologized but he wasn't letting his older brother scare him away that fast; he still wanted to help. "Red, you know what I do when I'm torn about doing something?"
Red's face was emotionless as he stared back at Marty, "Sit in your room and cry while writing poetry?"
"After that," he smiled as he played along with Red's comment instead of fighting it. "I try to list three reasons for why I should do something and if I can come up with three really good reasons without having to think too much about them, then that means I should do it. If I have a little more trouble, then maybe I should take a little more time before I do what I had planned on doing. Why don't you give it a try?"
"No."
"It might help."
"It might not," Red fired back.
Marty kept pressing, "Come on…"
"Alright fine!" Red finally gave in, if only to get his brother out of his hair.
"Great!" Grinned Marty, "Okay, The Top Three Reasons to Propose and Marry Kitty. What's reason number one?"
"Alight," Red started to say then cleared his throat uncomfortably. "I guess the first reason would be, because I love her."
"Aww!" cooed a very loud Marty.
The cry appeared to outrage Red and he quickly stood up onto his face. "That's it! I'm done. I knew this was dumb idea!"
"No, Red, wait!" Marty called out as he grabbed ahold of Red's arm in attempt to keep him from stomping out of the room. "I'm sorry that was my fault. I awed, now I know not to and I won't I promise," he said sounding sincere enough to get his brother back into his seat. "Now come on, you've got your first reason what about reason number two?
"Well," sighed Red, he thought of several reasons why marrying Kitty would be a good thing but one in particular made him smile. "Kitty makes these yams that taste good, real good. She calls them her Special Yams and it's her own recipe. She made them for Thanksgiving over at her parents' house and they were like nothing I've ever had before."
Normally he wouldn't say tasty yams were a good reason but the look on his brother's face told him otherwise so Marty just nodded his head. "Okay, you've got love and yams. What's reasons number three?"
Marty didn't even have to ask the question. Red knew his third reason and it may have been the most important one of all.
Red gazed at the ring box in his hand, "I can't imagine spending the rest of my life with anyone else but Kitty."
A sort of squeak sound was heard and Red looked up to see his brother covering his mouth with his hand, not doubt holding an 'aw' he promised not to say. Red smirked and stood up, this time with less anger, he even clapped his hand on Marty's shoulder.
"Thanks Marty," he said before patting the shoulder and then grabbed his coat as he headed out the front door.
He was done thinking. He was doing. There was nothing left to think about, he knew asking Kitty to marry him was not only the right thing but the thing that he wanted to do.
Now he could only hope that Kitty would feel the same way and say yes.
Author's Note: So what did you think? Yay? Nay? A mix of the two? Be sure to let me know in a review!
Okay, so like I mentioned before I'm not sure if this is the end of the story if I should do a second chapter. This was the original ending and I think it could stand alone like this because we know what happens when Red proposes and Kitty says yes. BUT I was wondering if you all would like to read the proposal and a little more RK fluff in a second chapter. I'm really torn about what to do…maybe I should take Marty's advice in this story, or I could just wait to hear from you all!
Also just in case anyone is interested, my Red and Kitty tumblr blog is under the following name: that70sshowgoldencouple
Until next time, thanks for reading, hope you liked, please review and lemme know what you think, stay tuned, take care, and have nice day!