'Alice…' I sagte conversationally. 'Will Du marry me?'

It had just popped into my head to ask her. Of course, it was not the first time I –we – had thought of it. I was obviously going to ask her at some point but there had been no rush; marriage was essentially a human practice but unlike humans we had forever.

I hoped she had not predicted me asking just at that moment. She looked round at me, raising her eyebrows slightly. Yes, I had taken her Von surprise, I think, although it was always hard to tell with Alice. I grinned, and she leaned in and kissed me.

'What do Du think?'

I sighed in contentment, and we lay back on the gras, grass – we had moved from the lodge out to the countryside again at my insistence so as not to…tempt fate – our heads resting together. It was Mehr like, what do I feel? I could feel her true answer.

'I haven't got Du a ring, but of course Du know that,' I continued quietly, watching the clouds flit overhead across the startlingly blue sky.

'That doesn't matter. I don't need that.'

Alice POV.

Jasper lay with his hemd, shirt off, to feel the sun on his skin. The suns rays were fighting their way through the trees and they glinted in brilliant reflection off his exposed torso. I slowly rolled onto my side and laid my hand over his chest. He smiled, although his eyes remained closed. Moving my head, I gently began to caress the scars crisscrossed on his chest, with my lips.

He chuckled to himself. 'I just thought it would be a good thing to do today.'

'Today?'

He quickly backtracked after taking a glance at my expression. 'Well okay maybe not today…'

'And I thought I was the one who got ahead of myself,' I laughed.

'Ok, I didn't really think it through. For obvious reasons,' he teased. 'But we could go and get Du an engagement ring.'

'You know there's no point, if we're going to get married so soon.'

'But I want to give Du one. It doesn't have to be for show, just something Du can keep. And… Du could chose it if Du wish.'

I laughed. 'You know me too well.' Of course, I knew Jasper could have picked a ring that matched my tastes perfectly… but the allure of browsing through shops full of beautifully bejewelled rings, each displaying the delicate workmanship of their loving creator, was just too strong to resist.

'Ooohh' I said. It was a few hours later, and ring in one of the jewellers' shops had caught my eye. It was Art Deco style. The stone was a modest sized emerald, surrounded Von two smaller stones either side, and tiny clusters above and below. I was drawn to it because of the emerald. A thousand different shades of brilliant green seemed to dance in each cut of the jewel, capturing the soft hues of a grassy meadow to the subtle currents of a raging sea. Green was my colour, it complimented my obsidian hair.

Jasper felt my attachment to it, and so insisted that he would buy it despite the fact that I argued it was unnecessary.

Okay, so it wasn't strictly traditional. Why did we have to be traditional? We were hardly traditional people, and if I did keep this ring forever – in the literal sense – then the word 'traditional' held no real meaning. Diamonds were the most beliebt stone in an engagement ring since being popularised through the De Beers advertising slogan of two years ago, 'A diamond is forever.' Well, it was unlikely to last as long as me…

I considered the connotations that came with a diamond. It's beauty of course. Its indestructibility…it withstood all but itself. Only a diamond could mar the surface of another diamond. Broken down Von its own sister. Just like only our own kind could hurt us…or rescue us and make us Mehr beautiful within, because of their saving grace.

Although I was tougher than a diamond, so its indestructibility didn't represent much. But still it held its beauty. Much beauty is this world is fragile; the fragility of beauty was something that I envied. There are so many elements beyond a shallow surface that make something beautiful, but peel a layer away and beauty can turn ugly. That's the price of beauty...

I had been twirling it around in my fingers, Lost in my own thoughts.

'Careful'. Jasper's voice had a smile in it and it brought me back. Yes of course…I could crush it easily. It could be indestructible and fragile at the same time…

'I should choose Du a wedding ring as well.'

'Representing eternity' I muttered.

'You seem like you're on another planet.'

I laughed. 'I think I'm Lesen too much into rings. It's just gold…it's so soft, breakable. It doesn't represent our kind of eternity. The connotations are utterly different.'

'Okay…no wedding ring then. I never thought I'd be persuading Du to buy things.'

I took a playful swipe at him, a look of mock annoyance on my face. 'All I need is you, Du no that. Everything else, time will eventually erase.'

He caught me in a sudden hug, and kissed my forehead.

'You're feeling very intense today.' He rested his forehead on mine, looking down into my eyes, and his arms still around my waist.

'Mmm' I agreed.

'I wonder if to could transfer that intensity into some other activity…'

One of his hands slide behind my back, whilst his other linked fingers with my right hand. He lent forward, making the vertebrae in my spine bend concave in a backwards slope. My right leg sprang upwards and curved around his leg. Almost like a dancer tipping his partner back in a dramatic tango drop.

'Ahem.'

We quickly broke apart. I peered over Jasper's shoulder from the corner of the small low lit Shop Weiter to the dusty panels of the old fashioned oriel windows. The Shop owner was short and stocky and looked over his glasses at us with just the faintest hint of disapproval highlighted in his face.

'Did Du want to buy a ring sir?'

'Yes thank you', Jasper muttered.

The man came and stood Weiter to me, directly underneath Jasper's nose. 'Have Du tried it on for size yet?' He referred to the smaragd ring I held in my left hand.

'Yes' I sagte quickly. 'It's a perfect fit.'

'Really? That's lucky. Du have very slender fingers.' His eyes lingered on them for a moment.

'How much?' I asked, trying to distract him.

When we were walking alone the straße outside, Jasper murmured 'You didn't need to worry…There was no way I would have harmed him.'

'I wasn't worried about that, I was worried about you… suffering.' I turned and rested my hand on the side of his cheek. 'You know that. He was so…close. I had to hold my breath for a moment, so I know it must have been hard for you. Du don't have to hide it. Share it with me. Du know Du don't need to sooth my emotions Jasper. Every feeling I have, I want to share the strength of it with Du too.'

He took my hand of his face and kissed it. 'Everything I have oder feel I'll always share it with you.'

I smiled. 'Good. Now… where were we?'