Disclaimer: I do not own Jane The Virgin. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.
*****
Jane Gloriana Villanueva had done this before. Arguably twice. Or at the very least once with a year long interruption. And yet, at the same time she had never done this, and she was desperately trying to stop herself from freaking out, and failing miserably. After all, this was a really, really big deal. This was asking Petra Solano to marry her. Another woman!
Jane was about to ask another woman to marry her, and it was just kind of overwhelming her. Which felt silly, as they had been dating for a year now, and therefore Jane should be well past being freaked out by the fact that she was doing this with a woman. And freaked out wasn't even the right word. It was way too harsh for what Jane was feeling, she just couldn't think of anything else, because again, this was such a big deal.
It was like a play Jane had rehearsed for her whole life, and in the end the performance had been almost perfect, and yet she found herself about to perform it again, this time in the other role. The role of the 'man', for a lack of a better term. The harder role. Her original role only really had one line, but now she somehow had to find the right words to express her love for Petra.
Perhaps more importantly she had to keep her speech down to a short chapter rather than an entire novel, and she had to get through it without breaking down and crying. Well, the latter was surely impossible, but the former was proving to be just as tricky, Jane rewriting the proposal over and over again, and yet nothing felt right.
She was also struggling with the how. She wanted to be romantic, but not clichΓ©. Or at least not too clichΓ©, because she may not be able to avoid it entirely, but it was important that it would be as tasteful as possible.
And more importantly that it wouldn't telegraph what she was planning to do, because Petra may not be as naturally romantic as Jane but through dating her she had been 'subjected', Petra's word not Jane's, to a lot of romantic movies, and Petra was super-smart and would see anything obvious coming from a mile. So Jane had to be sneaky, as well as romantic, which was a very hard combination to pull off.
That was why she had been so on edge during the week leading up to their one-year anniversary, only for something wonderful to happened. Petra accidentally provided her with a perfect chance to propose, and she surprised Jane with a wonderful dinner on top of the hotel with a backdrop of a gorgeous sunset.
It was a little cheesy and clichΓ©, but it was also so perfect, that Jane couldn't believe she hadn't thought of it herself. Luckily she had been carrying the engagement ring she had bought for Petra around in hopes for a moment like this, so all that Jane had to do now is relax and wait for the perfect moment. Now, if she could only think of the right words to say.
"Thanks again for this Petra." Jane beamed, "You really are just the sweetest."
Petra blushed, "It was the least I could do. After all, it's our anniversary."
"Yeah it is." Jane beamed again, raising a glass, "To us."
"To you." Petra said softly, clinking their glasses, admitting after taking a little sip, "And I'm so glad we're doing this. I, I just feel like we haven't been on the same page lately. You know?"
"I know." Jane smiled softly, and then when she saw a very familiar look on Petra's face she asked, "You weren't worried about me breaking up with you, were you?"
"No." Petra scoffed, and then when Jane gave her a look Petra admitted, "Maybe."
"Petra-" Jane started, before being quickly interrupted.
"Can you blame me? You've been acting weird for weeks." Petra pointed out.
"I know. And I'm sorry." Jane apologised, "I've just had a lot on my mind lately. I wanted to talk to you about that, actually."
"Me too." Petra said
"Well me first..." Jane began, unfortunately her mind went blank and she got scared, so she decided to buy herself some time by changing her mind, "Actually no, you go first."
"Are you sure?" Petra asked nervously.
"Yes." Jane smiled nervously, still desperately searching her brain for the right words which had eluded her for weeks.
"Fine." Petra took a deep breath, gently took hold of Jane's hand, and admitted, "This past year has easily been the best of my life. You've completed me in ways I didn't know was possible. Given me things I never knew I needed. Made me happier than I ever knew I could be. Jane, everything good about me, I learned from you-"
"That's not true." Jane insisted, interrupting Petra's rather sweet speech, "You're a good person Petra. Okay, you made some, questionable decisions in the past, but you're way too hard on yourself. You had a mother who did nothing but use you, which should have screwed you up forever, but you got over it and became a better mother than she ever was. And now? And now you have a real family. You have two beautiful children who adore you. Three if you include Mateo, and you should, because you have been so good with him and he loves you. And my family loves you-"
"Even your Mom?" Petra smiled softly.
"Yes." Jane smiled back, slowly realising this was turning into the perfect proposal, "Okay, it took her some time to come around, but she understands how important you are to me. And you are. Petra, you are so, so important to me."
"You're important to me too." Petra said softly, already embarrassing herself by tearing up, "I couldn't imagine my life without you in it. And I never want too."
"Me too." Jane admitted, also tearing up with a lot less shame, "I love you."
"I love you too." Petra said softly, "Which is why-"
"Which is why-" Jane said at the exact same time.