Playing With Fire

++++++++++



Kelly smiled as they pulled into the driveway of their Nashville home. She laughed softly as Carole and Stephen opened the front door. "Hey y'all," Kelly greeted as they all got out of the vehicle.



"Need any help with bags?" Stephen asked.



"No, I think we're good," Kelly replied, allowing him to pull her into a hug.



"Hi sweetie," Carole hugged her tightly as well. "How was the flight?" she took a step back, studying her carefully. "It went smoothly?"



"Yes ma'am," Kelly smiled. "Everything went perfect."



"Well, let's get y'all inside," Stephen took Kelly's suitcase from Carrie, making the country singer laugh.



"Yes," Carole agreed. "Dinner should just about be ready."



"You didn't have to cook," Kelly replied.



"Nonsense. Y'all have had a long couple months away, what better to come back to than a home cooked meal?"



"Nothing that I can think of," Jason agreed heartily.



Kelly rolled her eyes, as she followed Carole into the house, "Well, thank you. This was really sweet of you."



"It's no problem, dear," Carole assured. "Although I did have to go grocery shopping for a few basics...you don't cook much, do you?"



"Kelly can't cook, Mom," Carrie corrected.



"I can too cook," Kelly argued, turning to her girlfriend.



"Frozen waffles don't count," Ashley teased.



"I can bake," she pouted



"That's true," Carrie nodded, kissing her lightly. "You are a great baker, actually."



"Ha," Kelly stuck her tongue out at Ashley.



"You may be a great baker, but you still have to have the fire extinguisher in arm's reach just in case," Ashley countered.



"I've never burnt anything that badly," Kelly rolled her eyes.



Ashley looked at her pointedly before turning to bring her stuff to her room



"For the last time, I did not burn down that apartment!" Kelly called after her. She turned to Carrie. "I swear, I didn't."



"I know," Carrie giggled, kissing her once more. "Come on, let's go get you unpacked."



Kelly nodded, accepting her suitcase from Stephen with a smile before following Carrie to their room.



++++++++



Kelly pouted as she fell back onto the bed.



Carrie laughed softly, looking down at her, "What's wrong?"



"I ate too much," she put a hand on her stomach.



"And who's fault is that?"



"Your mom's. She made pie...that's not fair. I have no self-control when it comes to pie. It's kinda like you."



"Did you just compare me to a pie?" Carrie raised an eyebrow as she shrugged out of her jeans, putting on a pair of pajama pants.



"A very, very tasty pie," Kelly nodded.



Carrie thought for a moment, "I'm not sure how to take that."



"It's a compliment," Kelly assured.



Carrie laughed, helping her scoot further up the bed as she climbed on as well, straddling her legs, "So I bet your tummy hurts, huh?"



Kelly nodded, pouting once more.



Carrie smiled, raising up the Texan's shirt, revealing her stomach, "Have I ever told you how much I love your tummy?"



"Don't say tummy...you sound like my mom," Kellys scrunched her nose.



"Fair enough," Carrie laughed softly, smoothing her hands over her stomach.



Kelly's eyes closed at the contact, "You feel good."



"You're not so bad yourself," Carrie replied, scooting down so she could kiss her stomach lightly.



Kelly took a deep breath, relaxing, "So when do you want to talk to your parents?"



"I thought about doing it at dinner, but changed my mind."



"Yea, we just got back. It's not exactly fair to bombard them like that." Kelly opened her eyes to find Carrie hovering over her. "Hey beautiful."



Carrie smiled, leaning down to kiss her softly, "We'll tell them tomorrow. We'll take them out to lunch, and tell them there."



Kelly nodded, holding her gaze.



Carrie's smile widened, "I love you."



"I love you too."



"I've really missed this."



"This is gonna be fun," Kelly grinned, biting her bottom lip.



Carrie giggled, "We gotta keep it down, though. My parents are down the hall."



"Care, I'd take a vow of silence if that meant you'd stop talking and start kissing."



Carrie's eyes lit up as Kelly's hand tangled in her hair, pulling her down, crashing their lips together.



+++++++++



Kelly smiled as the hostess led her and Carrie's parents to their table.



"Did she tell you what time she would be done in the studio?" Carole asked as the three of them sat down.



"She said around eleven-thirty, so she should be here soon," Kelly replied, looking around. "This is a really nice restaurant. You said this is the one y'all took her to when she first moved here?"



"Right after she bought her house," Stephen corrected.



"They have vegan stuff?"



"Yea, they have a vegan menu."



"Cool," Kelly nodded. "So she likes it here?"



"It's where we always come to eat now whenever we come to visit."



"Cool," Kelly nodded again.



"Kelly, relax, dear," Carole smiled.



"I'm trying," she laughed softly. "It's just not working."



"There she is," Stephen smiled, standing as Carrie walked to their table.



"Hey," she hugged her parents before turning to Kelly who was smiling. "Hey you," she kissed her lightly. She could see the hint of nerves in her eyes. She kissed her once more, smiling gently, "Don't bail on me now."



"I'd never bail on you," Kelly whispered.



Carrie beamed, stroking her cheek affectionately before sitting in the chair that her dad was holding out for her, "I didn't make y'all wait long, did I?"



"No, you're right on time," Carole assured. "Let's find something to eat, shall we?"



+++++++++



Kelly felt Carrie's hand on her knee as the country singer tried to calm her enough so that her leg would stop shaking. She watched as Carrie put her fork down.



"Our dessert should've been here by now," Stephen noted.



"We just put the order in five minutes ago," Carole reminded.



"Mom...Dad..." Carrie took a deep breath, getting their attention. "There's something I need to tell you."



"Are you pregnant?" Stephen frowned.



Carrie laughed, "Why is that your natural reaction everytime I saw we need to talk?"



"Well, I figure we get the worse case scenario out of the way first, so nothing else will be as bad."



"Me being pregnant is a worse case scenario?"



"Something tells me, Kelly might have a problem with you getting pregnant without her knowing," he smiled. "That might need a little explaining."



Carrie shook her head, rolling her eyes, "No, Dad, I'm not pregnant."



"No indecent pictures getting spread around the internet?"



"No, Dad, no pictures."



Kelly took a shaky breath before standing suddenly, "I need to go to the bathroom."



Carrie looked at her worriedly, starting to stand.



"No, it's ok," Kelly assured, swallowing hard as she motioned for her to sit back down. "I seriously just need to go. I'll be right back."



Carrie nodded, watching cautiously as the Texan walked away quickly.



"She's been like that all morning," Carole explained. "She really loves you, Carrie."



"Yea," Carrie agreed, feeling her stomach twist nervously. "Maybe I should go check on her."



"She's fine," Stephen patted her hand. "She's a big girl. She knows what she's doing."



Carrie offered a soft laugh.



"So what did you want to talk about Care Bear?"



"Um, well, you know...maybe we should wait for Kelly to come back," Carrie replied, her brows furrowing as her mother smiled at something behind her.



"What?"



"She really loves you, sweetheart."



Carrie raised a confused eyebrow as she turned around to find Kelly behind her on one knee, ring in hand, "Kell? What's going on?"



Kelly smiled, "I, um...I had this big speech planned, you know? I was actually supposed to do this in Ireland for your birthday. You have Jay to thank for screwing that up--he lost the ring."



"Baby?" Carrie glanced at her parents anxiously.



"And then you had to go and just blurt it out one night in bed, and totally steal my thunder," she laughed softly. "And you don't have to worry about telling your parents because I already told them when I asked for their permission when they flew out to Europe."



Carrie could feel herself tearing up.



"I love you, Care, with all of my heart, and I know it's taken me a while to get here, and I know you've always been the one to take the first step and then have to wait for me to catch up, and this time I wanted to be the one to take the first step, but you just couldn't wait, could you?" Kelly smiled.



"I'm sorry?"



"I guess I can forgive you," Kelly teased as she reached out, taking her hand, "So, I know that it's silly for me to have been nervous about this since we're already engaged, but I don't know, I couldn't help it. I just...I love you, and you mean everything to me, and I promise to take care of you, and I...I so should've stuck to the original speech because this is really crappy, but...will you marry me?"



Carrie nodded excitedly, wiping a stray tear away as she smiled broadly, while Kelly slid the ring onto her finger.



Kelly brought her hand to her lips, kissing the back of it softly.



Carrie reached down, pulling her back up to her feet, pressing their lips together firmly.



Kelly giggled as they broke apart, "Not in front of the parents."



Carrie laughed, kissing her again, "I love you."



"I love you too," Kelly replied, watching as Carrie's hands wrapped around the back of her neck, unhooking her necklace for her.



Carrie slid the engagement ring off of the chain, taking Kelly's hand, placing the ring back on her finger, "No more hiding."



"I think we're way past the hiding stage," Kelly laughed, looking around the restaurant where all eyes were on the two of them.



"Well, screw it all then," Carrie pulled her back to her, kissing her firmly.



Kelly wrapped her arms around her, holding her close even after they broke apart. She rested their foreheads together, smiling, "I'm so happy right now."



"And it's all because of me, right?" Carrie grinned.



"It's all because of you," Kelly nodded, kissing her sweetly before they turned to the Oklahoma native's parents.



"Ok, ok," Carole smiled enthusiastically, waving them over. "Let me see the rings."



++++++++



"You realize you have some explaining to do, right?" Carrie smiled as Kelly curled up on her lap on the back patio.



Kelly's eyes closed as she rested her head on the country singer's shoulder, "How just all around warm and fuzzy do you feel right now?"



Carrie laughed softly, turning to kiss her forehead, "I feel very warm and fuzzy."



"Me too," Kelly nodded.



"You didn't tell anybody you were going to propose?"



"Just your mom and dad."



"Why?"



"It was going to be a huge surprise, and I didn't want to take the chance of ruining it."



"But you said Jason lost the ring."



"He lost the little travel bag I had put the ring in...he didn't know it was a ring. Poor thing, he was so confused when I flipped on him about it," Kelly smiled. "Turns out he had left it on my dresser over here. That's why I had to wait till we got back."



"You almost seemed hesitant when I asked."



"Because you totally caught me off guard. I knew that I was ready, but I needed to make sure that you were too. I didn't want you to rush into it if you werent. And I may have thought about saying no for a split second just so I could be the one to propose to you, but I figured that would probably be the dumbest thing ever. I also realized that I couldn't wait to become engaged to you, and it didn't matter who did the proposing, as long as someone did it."



Carrie hugged her closely, "The ring's beautiful by the way."



"Thanks. I picked it out myself. I almost thought about asking Ashley for help, but she would've totally given it away, and plus, I figured I know you better than her anyway, so I know what you would like."



"Well, I love it, especially since you picked it out yourself."



"You realize that by this time tomorrow everyone in the country will know that we're engaged, right?"



"Yea."



"You know, I don't mind at all."



"Me either."



"You were right, no more hiding. I'm going to parade you around whenever and wherever I want to."



"Ditto," Carrie nodded.



Kelly snuggled into her neck.



"Have you thought about your mom?"



"She's gonna flip."



"You're ok?"



"Let her flip," she replied. "At this point, I feel like she's acting like a little kid throwing a tantrum because she isn't getting her way. I have you, Care, and I'm engaged to you, and we are going to have an amazing life together, and that's the only I thing I care about."



Carrie smiled, "I can't believe you were going to propose first."



"Who would've thought, right?"



Carrie held her tightly, "Would it be too corny if I said I'm so proud of you?"



Kelly laughed lightly, "A little bit, yea."



"Well, you know what I mean. Tell me when."



"When what?"



"When you knew you were ready."



"I don't know...it was just...it was just a normal day, you know? Nothing special or anything particularly romantic or whatever. We were driving somewhere, I don't remember where, and you did the cutest thing. I guess you didn't like the song or whatever, but you knew better than to just outright change my station, so you reached over to hold my hand, and on the way hit the button to change to station. I glanced at you out the corner of my eye, and you had the most adorable grin on your face," she smiled. "Like you had just gotten away with something so outrageous. And it...I don't know, I just felt it, like I just knew..."



"I remember that because Ashley was sitting in the back, and she started fussing when you didn't say anything to me about it because you never let anyone change the station."



Kelly shrugged, "I didn't mind when you did it."



"And that's how you knew?"



"That's how I knew," she nodded, her cheek resting against the base of the country singer's neck. "Silly, right?"



"I don't think so. I think it's perfect."



Kelly's smile widened, "I love you."



"I love you too," Carrie kissed the top of her head.