2014 was a year filled with fabulous, fictional love. There were weddings and near misses, proposals and first kisses. Let’s take a look back at the some of the romances this year that left us swooning.
April and Jackson elope – ‘Grey’s Anatomy’
Jackson didn’t show up to his best friend’s wedding planning to ruin her big day, but after he stood up (and sat down… and stood up again…) to declare his love, the rest was history. April had a minor panic attack in their getaway car, but after airing out their concerns on a desolate mountain road, all it took was a look and a promise to decide that they would finally turn their ‘will-they-won’t-they’ friendship into ‘meant-to-be.’
Henry has grown accustomed to Eliza’s face – ‘Selfie’
The show that taught us to never settle for Plus-One status and always be our own VIP also brought us the fresh reminder that John Cho is actually pretty sexy when he’s not playing a killer demon zombie. In one of our favorite moments of the first season, he rides off on a majestic steed bathed in moonlight to make up with his fair lady, and Eliza for the first time realizes that she’s finally got her signal.
And while you’re swooning, go ahead and take a gander at the next episode where Eliza helps Henry get his game on. (The man knows a trick or two about wooing the ladies.) Now if only these two could get the chance to dance all night…
Danny and Riley share an almost-kiss in their treehouse – ‘Baby Daddy’
We’ve always known that Danny’s loved Riley since the moment she climbed into their treehouse as kids, but that she’s been pining over his brother for years. At the close of season 3, Riley and Ben are finally together after multiple seasons of missed chances and will-they-won’t-they’s, but it isn’t until Danny declares that he’s jetting off to Paris with his girlfriend that Riley realizes she just might be having feelings for her best friend. But she finally has everything she wants, doesn’t she? And Danny would never steal his brother’s girl…? Their almost-kiss in the season finale left us swooning, and after that cliffhanger, only season 4 will tell!
Steroline cuddles under the stars – ‘The Vampire Diaries’
These two have seen each other through thick and thin, and as platonic confidants, were often the only person the other could trust to be both brutally honest and faithfully loyal. The designated Mary Sue’s of their vampire friends, others count on them to remind everyone what the right choice is, but Stefan and Caroline count on each other to bring out that spark of humanity that keeps them grounded. Always seeing the best in each other, even through the bad times, until recently, their friendship has been easy, breezy, and dramz-free — a welcome departure from so many of the other angsty vamp love stories. Can you really blame her for having a thing for Stefan?
Rafael kisses Jane – ‘Jane the Virgin’
Maybe it’s all the baby hormones flooding our system, but we love watching these two fall in love. As a teen waitress and a millionaire playboy, five years ago Jane and Rafael shared a first kiss and a grilled cheese to remember. Their instant connection left them with some crazy chemistry, and now thrown together with a baby on the way, they’ve found that they bring out the best in one another. He believes she can be brave, and she believes he can be good, and despite the telenovela antics Jane the Virgin is grounded in, the heart of the show is revealed through the raw, realistic emotions that always shine through. “What if it’s meant to be?” Jane might be terrified of the answer, but we can’t wait to find out.
Barry confesses his love to Iris – ‘The Flash’
After realizing the Man in Yellow’s left him living his life in fear, Barry shocks us all with his Christmas confession to Iris. He doesn’t reveal that he’s the superhero she’s been swooning over for months, no, instead he makes himself vulnerable, confessing the secret he’s worked so hard to hide. He loves her now, and he always has, and right before he lets it all out, he hugs her once, just in case it’s the last time, because he knows that no matter what happens, things will never be the same. It’s heartbreaking and brave, and in the moment, a little too much for Iris to take in. But don’t give up hope yet, Barry! Fifty years of comics continuity decree she’ll come around.
Meryl and Maks’ freestyle – ‘Dancing with the Stars’
Carrie Ann Inaba called it, everyone: after pulling off a dance like that, these two should get married. The only real-life couple we shipped this year, Meryl and Maks brought their sizzling chemistry to the dance floor and left us swooning all season long, but their emotional freestyle in the season finale of Dancing with the Stars was the culmination of a weeks-long love story. Watching her flop around the dance floor like a beautiful little rag doll, in that moment within the competition, the dance felt so raw and real. Even Brandy was left sobbing in the stands!
Coming into the show, Meryl and Maks were two champions in their own right, but together, they made each other stronger, and proved hypnotizing to watch; her calming presence broke down his grizzly bear barriers, and his confidence let her feisty, fighting spirit shine.
On page 2: seven more romantic moments from 2014, from smooching superheroes to flying gynecologists!
Avery proposes to Juliette – ‘Nashville’
Our hearts swelled at the beginning of this year when the two kindred spirits finally admitted their feelings for each other. And while both started off in season 1 as selfish people who couldn’t make genuine connections with others, they changed each other through their friendship, growing together until they became the sweetest, most giving relationship on the show. They respect each other’s talents and see the beauty in what others find difficult to understand; they’re better together and they know it.
Their breakup at the beginning of this year left us heartbroken as they each regressed into the people they had tried to leave behind, but after agreeing to put aside their differences to make the best family for their baby, their undeniable chemistry and never-ending support for one another brought them back together once again. That fake-out was cruel, Nashville writers! But what we thought was the final breakup once and for all turned into the just the beginning.
Mitchel and Cam’s Wedding – ‘Modern Family’
After four tries and eight years, Cam and Mitch finally got hitched! And while the couple itself was, of course, perfectly sweet on their big day, it was the way their family banded together to support them that brought tears to our eyes, from Lily as a Disney Princess flower girl, to Claire as Best Man. But it was Jay that really came through for Mitchel and Cam in the end, pulling strings to secure his country club as a wedding venue, and proudly insisting to walk his son down the aisle.
Baby-Batman and Kiddie-Catwoman’s first kiss – ‘Gotham’
“You think too much, kid,” Selina Kyle insists, and just like a that, a breath of fresh air swept through the gothic and gloomy Wayne Manor. Her charm caught Bruce by surprise, and after months of self-imposed seclusion, she became the first person to really make him smile again. As two children lost amidst the chaos of Gotham, their budding relationship is above all, sweet, and on a show that revels in the dark and dangerous, her devilish-angel antics have mixed well with his straight-laced attitude to liven up the show. So, after teasing him for weeks with the promise of a kiss, the bagel-tossing and building-hopping came to an end as she swept in through Bruce Wayne’s window, stealing a charming first kiss.
Hook gives up his ship for Emma – ‘Once Upon a Time’
We always knew Hook was suave and sexy, but ‘selfless’ was an adjective we’d never have ascribed. That’s why we were knocked off our feet when after months of declaring his unwavering love for Emma, he finally proved it by revealing he traded the Jolly Roger – the thing he most loved, and a piece of his identity – for the chance to save Emma’s memories months before. It was a hero’s move, and his months’ of silence on the matter proved that despite his pirating nature, he could be a quiet, humble kind of hero at that.
Mindy and Danny make-out on the plane – ‘The Mindy Project’
Yay, turbulence! The thought of dropping out of the sky stuck inside a giant metal box forces us all to contemplate what we really want out of life! Danny finally realized he wanted to go all-in with Mindy, shocking us all with a hot and heavy make-out sesh in the airplane bathroom. It was unexpected – for both us and Mindy – and the surprise made it all the sweeter.
Sheldon says, ‘I love you’ to Amy – ‘The Big Bang Theory’
Relationship milestones make Sheldon nervous, so when the pressure of doing the hanky panky at prom gets to be too much for him, he ends up hiding in his room. But Amy’s nervous about another relationship milestone, and as she begins to tell him she loves him, he beats her to the punch line. It’s difficult for Sheldon to come to terms with intangible feelings, so his maturity in supporting Amy is romantic in that it feels like the culmination of his growth in their relationship – he’s learning to put her before himself.
Oliver and Felicity kiss and break up – ‘Arrow’
Here’s looking at you, kid. Sometimes, the ones that make us feel the most are the ones that get away, and though it ended almost as soon as it began, reverberations of their feelings for each other promise to only build to something more.