Skip to content

Noah's Proposal to Jess (2039) Event

Noah’s proposal to Jess was the 2039 engagement of Noah Donelly and Jess Ross at their shared Baltimore home. Noah asked both Marisa Garcia and Caleb Ross for their blessing before proposing. Jess accepted, and the couple later married.

Overview

The proposal took place after Marisa’s initial treatment for Stage IIIC ovarian cancer, during a period of remission or clinical stability when she had regained enough energy to help Noah plan. Noah chose a private evening at home and arranged for Caleb to stay across the street at the Lee family home. Marisa, Luis Garcia, and Mateo Garcia remained together in Portland.

Background and Planning

Jess and Noah met as neighbors after both moved to Baltimore in March 2038. Noah was a pediatric neurologist, but he never served on Caleb’s treatment team because their personal relationship created a conflict of interest. Their friendship became romantic, and Jess and Caleb moved into Noah’s rowhouse several months after the relationship began.

Noah called Marisa in Portland to ask for her blessing. He also asked Caleb through drawings that represented Noah, Jess, and Caleb as a family. Caleb responded by calling Noah “Daaa,” the speech approximation he also used for his late biological father, Danny Ross.

Marisa’s involvement mattered because she was Jess’s chosen sister, someone whose judgment and joy Jess trusted. Noah wanted to join the relationships already central to Jess’s life, rather than ask her to leave them behind. He waited for Marisa’s stronger post-treatment period so she could participate in planning, even though fatigue and other treatment effects continued.

Caleb had first called Noah Dad at his twenty-second-birthday party on June 13, 2038. The drawings therefore invited him into the marriage decision and reaffirmed a father-son relationship he had already named. They gave him an accessible account of what Noah was asking, with room for his own response.

When Jess returned home after that conversation, Caleb greeted her with repeated calls of “Maaa,” then worked until he could say “Daaa.” He was visibly pleased and continued repeating both sounds, but Jess did not yet connect his excitement to Noah’s plan. Noah realized that he had explained the proposal without telling Caleb it was a secret and later admitted the oversight to Marisa, who laughed until she began coughing and told him, “That was your fault for letting Cal in and not telling him he was supposed to keep it quiet.”

Proposal

Noah arranged for Caleb to spend the evening at the Lee family home with his best friend, Minjae Lee. He prepared the backyard deck with fairy lights overhead, candles in mason jars, and arrangements of Jess’s favorite flowers. Their evening began with wine and time together on the couch before he brought her outside and asked her to marry him. She accepted.

The private setting let Jess remain in familiar surroundings, close to Cal and the people caring for him. Noah’s plan did not require a distant getaway or a public audience. Jess could accept the proposal within the household life they actually shared, with its equipment, care routines, and continuing connections to Danny and their chosen family.

After the proposal, Noah and Jess called Marisa, Luis, and Mateo in Portland to share the news. Mateo cried, clapped, and celebrated Noah’s permanent place in the family. Marisa asked whether Caleb had revealed the plan beforehand, prompting Noah to explain his conversation with Caleb and the repeated “Daaa.” Jess then understood what Caleb had been trying to tell her before the proposal.

Caleb remained asleep at the Lee family home through those initial calls. Jess later went across the street to tell the Lees. Nari Lee and Minh Tran told her that Caleb had fallen asleep repeating “Maaa” and “Daaa.”

Marisa shouted and laughed until she began coughing and Luis had to steady her. Still laughing, she told Jess, “Oh, Jessica. Finally, finally! You’re going to marry him. My sister’s getting married.”

Participants and Roles

Noah Donelly and Jess Ross

Noah planned the proposal and asked the two people whose approval mattered most to Jess. Jess accepted his proposal and later married him, taking the legal name Jessica Lee Donelly.

For Jess, accepting also meant believing that wanting personal happiness did not diminish her devotion to Caleb. Noah’s commitment included both of them and the ongoing work of their lives. Their marriage did not depend on a future in which illness, disability, or grief had first been removed.

Caleb Ross

Caleb gave his blessing through his response to Noah’s drawings. His use of “Daaa” acknowledged Noah’s growing paternal role. He remained at the Lee family home during the proposal and the initial calls afterward.

Marisa Garcia, Luis Garcia, and Mateo Garcia

Marisa gave Noah her blessing by phone from Portland. She, Luis, and Mateo were together at home when Noah and Jess called with the engagement news.

The Lee Family

The Lees cared for Caleb during the proposal evening. Their home stood across the street from Noah and Jess’s rowhouse, allowing Caleb to remain within his familiar support network.

Accessibility and Health Logistics

Holding the proposal at home kept Jess near Caleb, his equipment, and the people who regularly supported him. Caleb’s stay with the Lees provided privacy without requiring unfamiliar respite care or a distant venue. Noah’s drawings gave Caleb an accessible way to understand and respond to the family decision.

Immediate Aftermath

When Jess returned to the Lee home to pick Caleb up the next morning, he saw the ring, shouted “Maaa” and “Daaa,” clapped, and celebrated the engagement. After they returned to the rowhouse, Jess brought out the family photo album and showed him photographs of Danny. Caleb smiled and hummed at the photographs, then used “Daaa” for Danny as well as Noah.

Caleb later clarified the shared word by tapping Danny’s photograph and Noah’s chest in turn, repeating “Daaa” until Noah understood that Caleb recognized both men as his fathers. The family retained both paternal relationships without presenting Noah as Danny’s replacement.

Long-Term Consequences

Noah and Jess later married in Baltimore. Noah became Caleb’s stepfather as well as his chosen father, and Jess became Jessica Lee Donelly. Marisa traveled from Portland to serve as matron of honor, with Luis and Mateo also sharing the celebration. Her ovarian cancer recurred after the wedding.

The engagement was shared within the family and close support network, not staged for a public audience or announced as a social-media performance. It connected their shared household to the people in Baltimore and Portland who had helped sustain it.

Events Personal Milestones 2039 Events Noah Donelly Jess Ross