"You proposed?" Dick's laughter was immature and insulting. "Why would you do that?"

"I love her."

"You're already living together, so that's like, nightly sex right?"

I glanced at Dick before taking him down in the game we were playing. "Yes, that's exactly what living with a woman is like. One big nonstop orgy."

"So then why propose? There's no point!"

I defeated Dick again and put the controller down. "The point is that I love her. I wanna spend the rest of my life with her."

"Switch controllers with me," Dick tossed me his. "This thing must be stuck."

After I'd beat him three more times, he suggested an easier game.

"Like what?"

"Mario Kart?"

"I gotta get home," I glanced at my watch. "Veronica will be home soon."

"See?" Dick laughed. "You're already whipped. Why put a ring on it?"

I slugged him in the shoulder on my way out the door.

Veronica wasn't home yet when I got there, and the texts I sent her went unanswered.

Not that I know exactly what I want to say to her.

Things have been so good for so long. I don't wanna set off her instincts to run. It took me a lot of time to get over the last time she took off. Despite what Jane says, I'm positive I couldn't do it again.

I was channel surfing when Veronica came home. Before I could say anything she said, "I reek of smoke and dirt and dead bodies."

"Oooh, such a turn on," I smirked at her and turned the TV off.

"Lemme just jump in the shower, and then….."

She was down the hall with the door closed before we could discuss what "and then" meant.

I waited on the bed for her, swearing that I wasn't going to yell. I hadn't talked to Jane about it yet, but I was sure that telling her I was hurt by her blowing off my proposal was the surest way to get her to take off.

So I'll stay calm(ish). I'll listen to what she has to say.

I had half of what I was going to say worked out when Veronica breezed into the room in one of my tee shirts.

"This bombing is insane," she took a pair of panties out of a drawer and pulled them on. "Every news outlet in the country is covering it. The crime scene is disgusting, ugh," she shivered and made a gagging face. "But I think there's real money in it for us. God knows we need it."

"Veronica," I began, but it was like she didn't even hear me.

She was walking around the room, pulling on pajama pants, putting on lotion, combing her hair out. She never stopped talking about the case, or her dad, or spring breakers. It was like she was talking about anything but us.

When she finally got in bed, lights turned out, facing away from me, I figured this was my opening. I wrapped an arm around her and kissed her cheek. "Veronica, we should-"

"Tomorrow," she muttered sleepily. "Exhausted. Love you."

She was asleep before I could say anything else.

The next morning I heard Veronica sneaking around. She was trying not to wake me, but the amusing thing is that for someone who goes incognito for a living, she has a hard time being quiet around the house.

I faked sleep while watching her dress, listening to her make coffee. I wanted to see if she was gonna come talk to me.

She didn't.

I caught her literally trying to sneak out the front door with her shoes in hand.

"Hey," she threw her chucks down and forced her feet into them. "I didn't mean to wake you."

"You didn't. Did you eat? I could make eggs, or-"

"I have to get to the office. I made coffee." she rushed over and planted a quick kiss on my lips. "I'll see you tonight."

"Don't forget we have Dick's movie thing," I reminded her.

She made a face. "The title of his future porno. Bye."

The door slammed shut and Pony stirred awake, looking at me like I'd done something terrible.

"Sorry girl," I knelt down and scratched her behind the ears. "Come on, I'll take you out."

But Pony refused to go. She yawned, turned away from me, plopped back on her bed and refused to get up again. When I abandoned trying to rouse her to get some coffee, I heard her snoring.

Jane wasn't at all surprised that Veronica had turned down the marriage proposal.

"Isn't that what you expected?" she asked, pen poised in hand to write down whatever I said.

"No, I expected…..a fight, I guess. A big discussion. But we haven't even talked about it."

"Why do you think that is?"

"Well she's got a big case right now. And I know she doesn't want to risk losing the money she could make upon solving it."

"Is she still refusing to let you cover the apartment? The car?"

"Yes."

"So maybe you should look at this as an opportunity to reevaluate your relationship."

"How do you mean?" I asked even though I knew exactly what she meant. She'd said it many times before.

"From what you've told me, Veronica is not the kind of woman that will let you support her completely. Perhaps she sees marriage as giving up all her independence."

"That's ridiculous."

"What is? My suggesting it or her thinking it?"

"Both, honestly."

"You must have some idea why she turned you down."

I had several, but I wasn't sure what I wanted to say. "She said it was about my parents, her parents."

"And this is something you discussed before?"

"Yeah, in the past. Not recently."

"Why do you think that is?"

We've already had this discussion. "I think it's because Veronica thought it was a one-and-done discussion. She said she didn't want to get married and I agreed so we're past that."

Jane scrawled some things down. "Except you're not."

"No, I'm not. I want to marry her."

"Is there a possibility," Jane began, and I knew where this was going, because we've had this talk before. "That maybe you should find someone who has the same long term goals as you do?"

"Veronica and I don't necessarily have different goals."

'Well, if you want to get married, and she doesn't, those are drastically different goals."

"Marriage was a plan, not a goal."

"Six of one," Jane allowed, "Half a dozen of the other."

"I just don't want to explode when we finally discuss it." I admitted after a few minutes.

"That's your first instinct, to explode?"

"It just seems like the easiest thing to do. Scream now and feel guilty later."

"We're almost out of time, but I want to remind you that a relationship is a compromise," she said it slowly to put emphasis on it. "If you can't compromise to make her happy, and if Veronica can't compromise to make you happy, there might not be a relationship enough to save. Think about that until our next session."

I agreed like I always did, but that isn't an option. I can't even picture my life without Veronica in it.