"Stevie, where the hell is Miranda?" Gary ran into the shop in his chef's outfit, looking stressed out and flustered.

"She's upstairs, why?" Stevie responded quietly, full of confusion, but Gary didn't actually stop to respond. As soon as he heard Stevie's response, he dashed right by her toward the stairs that led to Miranda's flat. He dashed up them two at a time, and after nearly tripping on the last stair, he ran down the corridor to the very end door, where her flat was situated. He didn't even halt for a moment before raising his hand and knocking upon the door loudly and franticly.

"Miranda, come on, open up!" Gary shouted, rapping on the door faster and harder and more urgently than he did before. He was anxious for her to actually welcome him in, and he knew he couldn't wait much longer to actually get inside and to spill his feelings to her and get the one thing that he had been worrying and stressing over for days now. Despite how it had been literally only a couple of days since everything had built up to the brim, Gary knew that he wouldn't be able to handle it for much longer; he was actually struggling to even handle it for a couple more minutes. It was killing him inside, because he just wanted everything out in the open and to know what Miranda's response would be.

Before long, though, the door swung open and he was greeted by a very flustered looking Miranda. She was sporting a bright red, shiny face and the joggers and baggy t-shirt look. "Gary, you haven't exactly got the best timing, I just started-" her sentence was cut short by Gary, who had stepped into the flat and had wrapped his arms around Miranda, crushing his lips to hers instantly; though it was only a brief kiss – so brief that Miranda didn't actually get the chance to respond. He pushed her inside softly, and after getting fully inside, he shut the door behind himself. He approached her, slowly, his nerves beginning to get the better of him – but he knew that he couldn't leave this flat without telling everything how it was; he refused to leave without telling her the truth. The thing was, he hadn't actually planned how to say what he wanted to say; and his thoughts were jumbled. Perhaps, he wondered to himself, he should come back when he was actually somewhat decided on what to say and how to say it? He cursed himself inwardly straight after this thought had crossed his mind, and he told himself that no, he wasn't leaving here without telling her.

"Gary?" Miranda asked, a confused look etched upon her features. Gary shook his head slowly and chuckled nervously, bringing his right hand up to rub at the back of his neck awkwardly, noting just how sweaty he was getting from worrying.

"Miranda, look, I need to talk to you. And I know you've got things going on and you're busy but can they just wait for five minutes? I've wanted to tell you this for a couple of days but you've constantly been busy in the shop and you haven't been by the restaurant and-" he cut himself off, taking a deep breath after the seemingly never ending sentence. "I just want to get this off my chest. Sit." He mused, pointing to the wooden chair that sat in front of the desk. She obliged instantly, and Gary crossed the room to stand in front of her.

Now he knew what he had to do, but would he be able to do it properly? He had a few things running through his mind, but in reality, he hadn't actually planned it out. He knew that he'd never get her out anywhere - without it all going tits up – long enough to actually get it out then, and to have a proper setting. So, this was all he had – and he would have to make do. But, despite worrying that this wasn't the right way to do it, he was worried that he would chicken out and make some story up for what he wanted to talk to her about. With a sigh, he took one more step towards her, making the gap between the two minimal.

"See, Miranda… The thing is." He took a sharp breath inward, trying to calm his nerves a little – though to no avail. But he knew, nerves or no nerves, that he would be able to get through this – he would be able to say what was on his mind, because he knew that he would feel better afterward, opposed to having it bother him every minute of every day. He exhaled and began to speak again, a little louder and with more confidence.

"I've been in love with you for a few years now. And we've been dating for little over a year, and I can honestly say that I have never been happier. You make me feel so happy – even on the dullest days, you make the sun shine. You make every day brighter, and you make my heart swell with love and happiness every time I see you."

He breathed deeply once more to attempt to calm himself down and to stop the tears that were pricking in his eyes from rolling down from his ever reddening cheeks, before continuing.

"I couldn't handle letting you go now, and I genuinely have no intention of doing so. I love you more than life itself, Miranda. I love you more than I have ever, and will ever, love anyone or anything. I can think of no better person to be in love with, and I there is no way that my love for you will ever falter, even remotely so."

He smiled to her then, and slowly extended his arm to take her hand in his, leaning down briefly to give it a soft kiss, his eyes fluttering closed as he did so. After lifting his head, he paused for a longer moment to look into her eyes and read her emotions; and once he saw her large smile, he couldn't help but mirror it.

"You are so beautiful, and so cheerful, and you're so amazing. To me, my love, you are perfect – nothing less than perfect. No matter what anyone says, or no matter what happens, you will always be my definition of perfect. You are absolutely phenomenal, Miranda, and that's why-"

He promptly stopped talking and slowly lowered himself down onto one knee, and almost instantly he heard an audible gasp from Miranda. He couldn't help but chuckle softly, but it was only brief; for his mind was focused on what he was doing. He quickly lowered his hand to his pocket and he pulled out a small box, of which he popped open, revealing a silver ring with a large diamond in the centre and two smaller ones around it, and then three quarters of the band was filled with small diamonds, and on the inside was their anniversary engraved. He looked back up to her after eyeing the ring for a moment, and a bright grin covered his features, small dimples dinting his cheeks slightly.

"Miranda, will you marry me?" He asked the question in a soft tone (the tone full of love and adoration for the beautiful woman before him), his eyes wide and hopeful, the smile never faltering (not even as nerves panged in his stomach.)

Miranda's hands were clasped over her mouth, and her body was upright and trembling slightly – both from nerves and excitement – and she briefly nodded, before dropping her hands and whispering:

"I'd be honoured, yes." She whispered to him softly, and he stood up instantly, grabbed the ring out of the box, discarded the box somewhere on the floor, and took her hand in his and slipped the ring onto her ring finger, before raising her hand to his lips and kissing her ring finger softly where the ring now lay, before taking her hand in his and pulling her up slowly, into a tight, firm embrace. He heard Miranda whisper a tearful, shaky "yes". Gary, by this point, was still grinning, but his eyes were brimming with tears – happy tears, of course – and soon enough, he ended the embrace and pulled away from her, taking both of her hands in his and leaning into her and giving her lips a soft, passionate kiss, his eyes flittering closed for a brief moment, before he ended the kiss to just look into her eyes, holding her hands as tight as humanly possible, silently telling her that he was never going to let her go.

He was never going to let this beautiful, amazing, perfect woman fall. Never. He was never going to let her go. He was always going to love her, and he was content with it being that way. He loved her with all of his heart, and more. In fact, he loved her more and more every day – and it was getting to the point where he was beginning to wonder just how he could love her more, but every day, he still found himself falling for her all over again.

"I love you, Mrs Preston." He whispered to her, which earned a girlish squeak from Miranda.

"I love you, Mr Preston." She responded smoothly, leaning in once more to press a soft kiss to his lips, of which, lasted for a fair few minutes…

A/N: I hope you guys liked this one! It was requested of me to do a proper proposal from Gary, so here it is. If you have any fics you'd like to see, just let me know in your review or via PM. Please review, my lovely readers! xo