"Penny, babe."
When she heard the unusually serious tone in her boyfriend's voice, Penelope Garcia furrowed her carefully drawn-in eyebrows and sat up to look Shane Wyeth in the eye. The pair was lounging on a soft, dark blanket under a shady tree in the middle of a San Fransisco Park, and a picnic basket sat empty a few feet away beside Penelope's lacy parasol. The picnic had been all Shane's idea, but Penny had found herself enjoying it much more than she expected. It was a beautiful day outside, the food was great, and much to her relief, there were no bugs anywhere to be found.
"What's up?" She asked with a small albeit slightly concerned smile, wrapping a dark curl around her finger absentmindedly as she spoke.
"God, I love you," Shane said with a cocky grin, but Penelope noticed that he was playing with the hem of his flannel shirt in a way that was distinctly uncharacteristic. "You're my queen," he added, "always."
Penelope's dark lips curled into a smile at the compliment, but her carefully painted mouth quickly dropped open in shock when she realized that her mentor, confidant, and lover was kneeling in front of her and opening a small black box that he must've been hiding in the back pocket of his favorite jeans.
"Marry me, Penny," Shane said softly, "please." Penelope's eyes were locked on the ring he'd revealed as he spoke - a thick silver band with a huge black diamond in the middle. It certainly wasn't the ring she'd grown up dreaming about; young Penelope had been a girly-girl who had pictured a beautiful, classic engagement ring and a beautiful, classic wedding, but it seemed undeniably perfect for a girl like the Black Queen, and she figured it was probably the type of engagement ring Shane had imagined himself buying someday. Surely, any woman he'd ever love would be the type to use dark lipstick, carry a lacy parasol, and wear a black diamond engagement ring.
"Oh," Penelope breathed, her voice almost silent in shock and confusion. Did she want to marry Shane? She certainly loved him, she absolutely needed him, but was this the life she wanted forever - hacking with Shane, dying her blonde hair black every few weeks, and hiding from the law? After a pause that probably wasn't as long as it felt, she realized that Shane was still kneeling hopefully beside her on the blanket. She knew she needed to say something, so Penelope took a deep breath and said quietly, "Yes."