The warm Tennessee heat wrapped around him and hugged him tightly.  The sweat was pouring off of his face and down into the neck of his t-shirt.  His feet pounded rhythmically on the pavement as he ran with no real destination in mind, just a need to move.  His breath puffed in and out as he focused to maintain a regular breathing pattern and his arms pumped up and down with the motion of his legs.

Running had always been therapeutic for Justin.  He found that his mind became clearer and his focus sharper as he worked out his aggression and frustration.  It was a different focus than he got when he was performing.  When he was dancing and singing he had the moves and words to think about.  When he was running he didn’t have to think about anything or he could think about everything.

Today he was thinking about Georgia.

She was spending the day in Memphis with his mother and Lisa.  The girls were having a day out of shopping and pampering.  Lynn had booked them appointments for manicures and pedicures and all sorts of other girly things, she thought it would help Gia relax and forget some of her troubles.

Justin had still been in bed when the girls left for the day.  Gia had kissed him goodbye and he had pretended to still be sleeping.  He wasn’t sure why he didn’t want to say goodbye, but he wasn’t able to bring himself to roll over and look at her big blue eyes before she took off for the day.

Hence the reason for the excessive running.

There was a lot going through his head.  One thought in particular that scared him slightly.  As he was holding Gia last night and running his hands through her hair a thought passed through his mind and now he couldn’t really think of anything else.  He wanted to marry her.

Thinking about it now made him feel slightly off.  There had never been another relationship in his life where he had reached this point on his own.  Usually the girl he was with started the conversations and he went along with them, mostly.  It wasn’t that he hadn’t loved his other girlfriends, he had just never felt ready to settle down before.  He and Gia had never talked about marriage, not even before things went down hill.  They had both been content to be with each other and that was it.  She had never even made a joke about marriage before, so he was really surprised when the thought made it into his head on his own.

 With everything that had happened in the last few months Justin was even more surprised that he was feeling so strongly about marrying Gia.  Normally, all of the problems that the two of them had faced would be enough to push him in another direction.  Justin was a man that had been raised to work through things until they were resolved, but he was also of the school of thought that there was an amount of effort that could be considered too much.

His pace slowed slightly and he rested his hands above his head as he attempted to catch his breath.

Despite the problems that he and Gia had faced in the past, he couldn’t imagine spending the rest of his life with anyone else.  It was starting to freak him out.

Although he had been in serious relationships in the past, he had never been at this place mentally.  It was scaring him, and yet, it felt good too.  He knew that this would change his life and he wouldn’t be able to live the bachelor lifestyle that he and his friends enjoyed.  But he was strangely OK with that. 

He was starting to imagine what it would be like to marry Georgia.  He could see them working through the problems they were facing now and then moving on to plan a beautiful wedding.  He could picture her in that white dress meeting him at the end of the aisle. 

He was starting to feel like an emotional woman.

It hit him last night, after he had talked with Paul that he wanted to support Georgia and watch her grow and gain back her happiness.  He wanted to stand beside her through whatever she would face, and he wanted her next to him for the rest of his life. 

He loved her.

Justin walked the rest of the way back to the house with a smile on his face.  He had made a lot of decisions in his life before, but he had never been as sure about anything as he was about this. 

He was also aware that he was going to get a lot of shit from all of his buddies and that his street cred would drop drastically, but he was oddly Ok with that. 

Justin let himself into the kitchen and grabbed a glass of water.  It was silent in the house and Justin enjoyed the moment to himself.  His life was filled with constant action and commotion; it was nice to be able to relax, especially in his childhood home.

After taking a quick shower, Justin grabbed his phone and dialed his best friend.

“Hey Trace…I’m good, man.  I need you to do me a favor…”

~*~

It had been a long two weeks and Gia was glad to finally be home.  She missed her apartment, she missed her dog, and she missed the familiarity of LA. 

She flopped down on her bed and let out a large sigh.  Frankie jumped up next to her and cuddled close to his owner.  Morgan had done a great job of taking care of him while Gia was gone, but he loved his master and he was glad she was back.

Justin entered into her line of sight and she heard the thud of her suitcase drop to the floor.  A second later the bed shifted as Justin plopped down next to her on the bed.  It was a tight squeeze with the three of them, but Gia didn’t mind at all.

“Home sweet home.”  She mumbled, too exhausted to give it much energy.

“Speaking of homes…”  Justin sat up and propped his head on his hand while looking down at his girlfriend.  “I’ve been doing some thinking.”

Georgia shifted so she could look him in the eyes and she waited for him to continue.

“I know that we wanted to take things slowly,” he licked his lips and sucked in a breath, “but I was thinking that you should move back in with me.”

There was silence as he waited for Gia to respond.  He couldn’t read the look on her face and it was starting to worry him a little.  Georgia, on the other hand, was thinking over the words he had just said and trying to figure out what she wanted.

“Do you think we’re ready for that?”  She picked at a loose string on the bed spread, her eyes downcast.

“I think that we’ve made a lot of progress and I think that I’m ready.  It’s up to you, Peaches.  It depends on how you feel about it.  I know you wanted space and to feel like you had your own life, but I think we could still manage that if you moved back into my place.”  He paused to let that sink in.  “Plus, Frankie would have a lot more room to run around and he’d have company.  You know that Buckley and Brennan love it when Frankie comes to visit.”

Georgia laughed.  “You had to bring the dogs into it.”  She smiled up and Justin before pushing him so he rolled back over onto his back.  She scooted over and climbed on top of his lanky frame before lowering herself so her body was flush with his.

“Are you trying to take my mind off of the question with sex?”  He felt her chest shake with laughter as she buried her face into his neck.

“No.  I want to move back in with you.  Give me a couple of weeks though, I want to have plenty of time to get everything together and I want to have a few more sessions with Emma too.”

“You don’t have to move in with me if you’re not ready, Peaches.  I won’t be completely devastated if you say no.”  OK, so he was lying, but he didn’t want to pressure her.

“No, no…I’m ready.”  She kissed his neck and continued up his jaw line, placing small kisses as she moved.  “I just don’t feel like packing yet.”

Justin’s laughed was stifled by her lips crashing into his.  He grabbed onto her hips and rolled the two of them over causing Frankie to go flying off the side of the bed with a thump.  The couple stopped to see the dog staring up at them with a not-so-amused look on his face before he stood and left the room.

Justin chuckled and bent down to capture Gia’s lips again.  “I’m kinda glad he left.  I don’t know if I could’ve concentrated knowing I was being watched.”

A giggle erupted from the girl beneath him and his grin widened.  He would never get tired of that laugh.

~*~

Justin slammed the car door shut and picked up the last couple of bags from Gia’s apartment.  He came around the front of the truck and spotted Gia holding onto Frankie’s leash and slinging a backpack over her shoulder.

They had spent the entire day moving all of her things from her apartment into his house.  Gia had spent the week packing up her place and finding a buyer.  It had been three weeks since Justin had mentioned his wanting her to move back in with them, and Georgia felt really ready. 

She shuffled her feet toward Justin and the couple made their way to the door. He reached for the handle and found it to be locked.

“Peaches, can you get the spare key from the gnome’s nose?”  He turned to see her rolling her eyes at him.

“Jut, are you telling me that we’re locked out?  Where is your key?”

“I don’t know, Georgia, somewhere.  But these bags are heavy and I don’t want to look.  Can you just grab it please?”

“Shit, Justin, you don’t have to snap at me, OK?  I’m tired too.  I’ve been moving shit all day too.  If you hadn’t forgotten the damn key we wouldn’t be standing out here like idiots.”

“Christ, Georgia.  Just get the fucking key from the gnome.”  He growled at her and she noticed a strange look on his face so she held her hands up in defeat.

“Fine…fine.”  Dropping Frankie’s leash and the bag on her shoulder she made her way over to the gnome next to the front steps.  She bent down and stuck her finger up the nose of the porcelain figure and felt the coldness of metal touching her skin, but it wasn’t the texture she was expecting.

Pulling her finger out and toward her face she gasped when she saw the ring instead of finding the house key.  Gia stood and turned to find Justin standing close behind her, a look of determination and nervousness on his face.  She watched as he dropped down to his knee and took her hands in his.

“Peaches…Georgia,” He licked his lips and stared up into her blue eyes. “I know that we have been through so much in the past few months, but it has only made my love for you stronger.  The time I spent without you opened my eyes to the fact that I never want us to be apart like that again.”

Georgia had lost her ability to stand and she found herself dropping to the ground and becoming level with Justin.

“I want to spend the rest of my life loving you, and I want to make you happy for the rest of yours.  Will you do me the honor of letting me be your husband?”

Tears had silently started to roll down her cheeks and it took a second for her to find her voice.  She nodded emphatically and trembled when he placed the diamond on her ring finger.

“Is that a yes?”  He smiled at her.

“That’s a hell yes.”  She laughed and wiped at her eyes.  He kissed her hard on the mouth and then stood up from the ground, taking her with him.  He lifted her into his arms and took the few steps to the door.  It opened with ease and she gave him a shocked look before smacking him lightly on the shoulder.  Justin grinned at her and kicked the front door closed with his foot.

As he brought Georgia further into the house he couldn’t help but notice how her eyes sparkled with happiness.

Her grey eyes had turned back to their brilliant blue.