"Okay, listen up, you guys." Emma had her two children seated before her on the coffee table as she sat on the couch. "You remember your parts of the plan, right?"

"Yup!" they answered happily in unison.

"Are you sure?" Emma asked skeptically.

"Yes!"

"Okay, then. Awesome. Gimme ten!" Emma held up her hands to receive simultaneous high fives from Lucy and Henry. "Now remember the most important part…?"

"We know. Don't tell mommy," they recited, again in perfect unison.

Just then, they all heard the door close as said person entered the house. "Where is everybody?" Regina yelled to no one in particular.

"In the living room, babe!" Emma responded.

Regina entered the room wearing a bright smile upon seeing her family. "Hey, what are you three up to?"

"Nothing!" they all said a little too quickly. The two toddlers then both proceeded to hop off of the table and run from the room.

"Hey! I don't even get a proper hello?!" Regina called after them. "Where are they going?"

"Don't worry about them, babe," Emma said as she stood up to walk around the couch and meet Regina. "They're fine. How was your day, beautiful?" Emma asked as she placed her hands on Regina's hips and went in for a light kiss.

"Good. Thanks. I helped people find books and things...why are you calling me beautiful and our children running from the room at the sight of me? Is there something going on, dear?"

"No, no," Emma replied as she let go of Regina and turned away from her to make her back around the couch. "Why would you think that? Everything's cool. Everything's fine. Our children are fine. How was your day, babe?"

"You already said that our children are fine, Em. And you just asked me about my day less than a minute ago. Are you sure you're okay…?" Regina asked with a quirked brow.

"Yes, yes. Just come and sit down with me," Emma requested, patting the cushion next to her.

"Okay…"

Regina plopped down next to Emma. Emma naturally put her arm around Regina's waist and pulled her closer to her. Regina exhaled deeply as she rested her head on Emma's shoulder and closed her eyes.

"Long day?"

"Kinda. Almost every patron I helped seemed to have a short fuse today."

"How could they be mad when they get to look at your gorgeous face as you help them? I'll never understand that," Emma said, shaking her head.

"I don't know, dear. But I do know that I'm a little too tired to even think of what we're going to have for dinner tonight," Regina said with a sigh.

"Oh, don't worry. I got it covered, babe," Emma said as she placed a kiss to Regina's forehead.

"Really?" Regina responded, opening her eyes to look up at Emma, the surprise evident on her tired face.

"Yes. I've learned a thing or two from you since we've been together and I figured I'd take care of it since I got home first today."

"You're sweet," Regina replied as she reached across Emma to grab the remote. "So. What are we watching?"

"Whatever you want, babe."

Emma didn't catch the skeptical look that Regina gave her at her answer. Usually whoever turned the tv on first had control of the remote and over what they watched that evening. Especially because it was Monday night and usually Emma would have wanted to watch the Monday Night Football game, which was fine with Regina. She usually just read whatever book she had to that week for one of her book clubs as Emma enjoyed the game. But this evening, Emma was so lost in her thoughts she didn't even try to get the remote back from Regina.

After picking up Henry and Lucy from school, Emma had come home and surprised herself by deciding that tonight would be the night that she would propose to Regina. Why wait any longer? With her mom's help, she had found the perfect ring. And she really couldn't think of any other reasons to hold off any longer on proposing. She started her preparations right away. After she had picked out the perfect meal to cook that she was pretty confident she wouldn't ruin, she came up with a plan that involved her children and laid out the set up to them. At first they were a little confused, but as soon as she explained that she was doing what Uncle Jeff had done for Uncle August they immediately understood.

All of these thoughts and not messing up the plan until she could execute it were going through Emma's mind as Regina commented, "Wow. We almost never get to watch Supergirl when it's actually on. I'm excited. I don't know how well I'm going to deal with having to watch the commercials though." Regina pouted at her last comment.

Emma looked down just in time to see her adorable expression. "I know. We're so spoiled because we mostly DVR everything," she replied with a smile. Just then a timer went off in the kitchen. Regina whined when Emma made the motion to get up. "I'll be right back, babe," Emma chuckled. "You don't want our dinner to burn, do you?"

"I guess not," Regina huffed. "Hurry back. I was really comfy."

"Okay," Emma chuckled. "I will. Babe, you haven't even taken your coat off yet," she commented over her shoulder as she made her way toward the kitchen.

"I know. I guess I'm still just so tired," Regina called back before letting her head fall back dramatically onto the couch.

Emma actually surprised herself when she pulled the lasagnas out of the oven. She leaned closely over them to smell just how well her hard work had turned out. Suddenly she remembered something. "Oh shoot! I forgot to add the red pepper flakes! Man!" Just as she turned back from retrieving them and was about to put a little on top, she heard the doorbell ring. As soon as she heard it, she cursed as she remembered that she had invited Jane over to watch the football game with her earlier that day. "Dammit, Emma. You dummy!"

Just as she reentered the living room, Regina was walking in with Jane and, surprisingly, Maura in tow. "Hey guys. Maur, what are you doing here?"

"Hi, Emma. I just came to see the children and Regina. I didn't feel like sitting at home by myself while my fiancé abandoned me," she answered.

"Maura, I think that's the first time I've ever heard you use sarcasm," Regina said in a genuinely shocked tone as she took everyone's coats from them and added them to her own to put into the closet.

"Yeah, it's a rare event but I've definitely witnessed it before," Emma said with a chuckle.

"So where are the little ones?" Maura asked.

"Probably upstairs playing," Emma answered quickly. "Why don't you guys follow me? I'll walk you up."

"Okay…," Jane responded. She could tell that something was up with her friend but she had no idea what it could be. Hopefully nothing too serious as they had just talked to each other earlier in the day.

"Actually I think I'll stay down here with Regina," Maura said as she saw what was on the tv.

"You do love your Supergirl, Maur," Jane chuckled as she fell in step behind Emma as they made their way to the stairs.

Jane grabbed Emma's elbow when they reached the landing and made her turn to face her. "So what's up with you, Swan? Why are you acting all weird? And more importantly, why aren't we watching the pregame right now?"

"Glad to know that whatever is going on with me still doesn't beat the Pats in importance with you. Look, just… I'll explain everything once we're safe inside the kids' playroom," Emma said as she walked away from Jane.

"Hi, Aunt Jane!" Henry and Lucy got up and ran over to the brunette plowing into her legs and wrapping their arms around her.

"Hey, guys! How are my favorite niece and nephew doing?" Jane said as she crouched down to address them after unwrapping herself from their embraces.

"Good! We're helping mommy with a plan!" Henry answered.

"You are? And what exactly is that plan, bud?" Jane smirked and looked up at Emma who stood there grinning with her arms crossed.

"It's a secret!" Lucy answered. "Mama said we can't tell mommy, but we can tell you, Aunt Jane, right mama?" Lucy asked as she also looked up at Emma.

"Sure, sweetheart. Go ahead," Emma responded, uncrossing her arms.

Lucy then proceeded to lean in and whisper into Jane's ear. As the brunette listened, her expression changed dramatically. When Lucy was finally finished telling her secret Jane stood up with a giant smile on her face. "So you were going to propose to Regina tonight. Using the adorableness of your kids. Awesome plan, Swan," Jane punched Emma in the shoulder.

"Yup, I know. And I made her signature meal. Her lasagna recipe."

"Oh with the red pepper flakes!" Jane responded excitedly.

"Yeah. But it's all kinda ruined now that you and Maur are here," Emma said in a whiny voice.

"I mean, we could leave if you still wanna go through with it. It's cool," Jane replied.

"Nah. That would probably look weird and ruin it now," Emma huffed.

"Well, sorry Em. But I'm pretty sure you invited me over here before you got home and decided to propose to your woman, didn't you?" Jane asked with a knowing grin.

"Pretty much. Shut up with your stupid detective skills," Emma said childishly.

"Hey, don't be mad at me because you tried to be all spontaneous and romantic and it didn't work out for you," Jane chuckled.

"Yeah...I know. Alright guys, Operation Ring is gonna have to be put on hold for a little bit," Emma said, looking down at her children.

Henry and Lucy both groaned loudly before they stomped out of the room.

"Hey! Don't go down the stairs like that or your mother is going to ask you why you're so angry!"

"Em, I think you yelling that after them might ruin the future surprise more than they will," Jane said with a chuckle as she walked past Emma and left the room.

"Whatever," Emma responded as she followed her out. "I'm just so bummed, dude. It was gonna be so cute. You know, Regina's lasagna was the first meal that we all made together?"

"Well I gotta admit that is pretty cute. But don't fret, it'll go to good use," Jane said as the she loudly patted her stomach. "I had to skip lunch today."


"So did you happen to notice that our children were pouting throughout most of dinner?" Regina asked quietly as she looked over at Henry and Lucy who were now sitting contentedly on Maura and Jane's laps as they all continued to watch the DVR recording of Supergirl. A compromise had been made that they would turn to the football game after the superhero show was over.

"No, babe, I didn't. What do you mean?" Emma asked in an evasive tone.

Regina immediately picked up on this but decided to let it go. She leaned more into Emma as they were all squeezed together on the couch. "Hmmm. Maybe I just imagined it then. But they seemed way quieter than usual. Especially considering we have company over. I'm surprised they didn't talk Maura and Jane's ears off about what they did in school today."

"Yeah, I don't know…," Emma responded distractedly. Regina focused back on the television screen and realized that Emma was probably no longer listening to her as she saw her girlfriend's favorite character, Alex Danvers, on the screen.


Regina had put the children to bed and then decided to go to bed herself and read a little before going to sleep instead of rejoining Emma since she figured she had Jane and Maura to keep her company. The game ended a little while later and Emma came into the room pulling her shirt up and over her head as she closed the door behind her. She threw her shirt into the hamper before making her way over to the bed and flopping down on it face first still wearing the rest of her clothes.

"I take it they lost?" Regina asked with a small chuckle.

"Yeah. To a field goal with three seconds left. Nothing they could do," Emma said sadly into the mattress.

Regina put her bookmark in place and gently shut her book before placing it on her nightstand. She leaned forward towards Emma. "Want me to make you feel a little better?" she asked seductively.

"What do you have in mind?" Emma asked as she lifted her head and smiled.


Regina struggled to reach over and turn off her lamp as Emma had fallen asleep on her. She didn't want to wake her but she couldn't sleep with the light on. She shimmied the upper half of her body over just enough so that she could reach the lamp. As soon as she had succeeded in doing so she relaxed back into her original position. Her next problem was that she was now cold and although most of Emma's naked body was covering hers, she still wanted to cover them both with their comforter. As she made the motion to reach down for it, Emma stirred and groggily said, "What are you doing, Gina?" She hadn't even bothered to open her eyes.

"I'm sorry, love. I'm just kinda cold. But I couldn't reach the covers because this gorgeous blonde is sleeping on me."

"Well, you'd think she'd be enough to keep you warm at night," Emma responded.

"She is but her body can't cover my body as well as my comforter can," Regina replied.

"Wanna bet?" Emma then completely surprised Regina by shifting her entire body so that she was laying directly on top of the brunette.

Regina wrapped her arms around Emma lower back as Emma wrapped hers around Regina's neck. And then proceeded to lay her head on her shoulder after giving it a kiss and closing her eyes again. "Is that better?"

"Sure," Regina chuckled deeply.

"Stop laughing. I'm trying to sleep here," Emma said softly, trying to stifle a yawn.

"Okay, Em. Good night, then."

"Night, babe," Emma said sleepily. She made one last movement to pull their comforter up to cover them and then was sound asleep again almost immediately.

How quickly that woman could go in and out of sleep was still something that completely astonished Regina. Just then the moonlight caught on something and the glint of it caught Regina's eye. From her current position, she could vaguely make out what looked to be a small open box and then Regina had to physically stop herself from gasping out loud. It was definitely an engagement ring. All of a sudden the memory of something falling out of Emma's pocket during the impromptu lovemaking session came back to her. She could recall hearing a small thud as she threw Emma's pants away from the bed but thought nothing of it because she only had one goal in mind at the time. And nothing was going to stop her from reaching it.

Even more suddenly all of the events of the past evening started to make sense. Something had been going on since the moment that she had walked in the door. Her children being evasive and then moody at dinner. Emma being nervous and escorting Jane upstairs to say hello to the children. Even Emma making her lasagna for her. She was setting up the evening in order to propose to her. The icing on the cake was when right before she had put her children to bed and they were brushing their teeth she had gone to her room to grab something and on her way back she had stopped when she heard them attempting to whisper to each other about their dismay with having to hold off on Operation Ring. Once again, she had to stop herself from physically reacting and laughing at what could only have been Emma's name for their plan. She most likely had picked something that simple for their children's sakes but it was pretty adorable in Regina's opinion.

But how had she not seen the ring bulging out of Emma's pocket all night? And how had it not fallen out sooner? Regina looked for the haphazardly tossed jeans and realized that Emma was wearing her cargo pants that day. Apparently Regina was so tired that night that she hadn't even noticed that Emma was wearing them instead of her usual skinny jeans. Emma had bought a few pairs of them and begun to wear them pretty frequently to work lately because she liked how much of the stuff she used to have to wear on her duty belt that she could now easily fit into her numerous pockets. Luckily, Emma had a shift that would require her to get up earlier than Regina the next morning so Regina would just pretend as if she never saw the ring, and hopefully, Emma would notice it right away in the morning and put it away for safe keeping until she got the opportunity to propose to Regina again.


Unfortunately, the rest of the week went by with Emma being unable to propose to Regina. Mostly due to work and other obligations, Emma wasn't able to set up the situation again. She was so bummed about it that she told anyone that would listen to her about her proposal woes. It was Sunday, and yet again, everyone was gathered for family dinner. She sat in the family room with Zelena, Jefferson, August and Henry Mills.

"So you didn't get the chance to ask her again all week?" August asked. "I sorry, Em, that sucks. Although maybe it's karma for you ruining my chance to get to ask Jeff to marry me before he did," August said with a wink and a grin.

"Don't listen to him, Em. I say don't force it. The right moment'll come around. And it'll be perfect. Trust me," Jefferson chimed in.

"Yeah….I really hope so. The ring is so perfect, you guys! I know she's gonna love it. That is, if I can actually give it to her."

"Well what are your new game plans, mija?" Henry asked.

"Right now, I still don't really have any, Dad."

"I say you don't plan it out, Em. Just be spontaneous. Like Jeff said, you'll know it when you feel it. It worked out that way from Robby and me," Zelena stated.

"Yeah, I guess you're right, Z. I-"

"So Em, made any good arrests lately?" Jefferson asked way louder than was necessary.

"If I did, I'm sure you've heard them all by now since I've been partnered up with August for the past month or so… Why did you just yell that, Jeff? You do know we're inside and I sitting like ten feet away from you right now-Oh, hey babe! When did you get there?" Emma asked as she noticed Regina leaning in the doorway, wearing her coat. "What's up? You going outside?"

"Yes. Wanna come with me?" she asked.

"Sure. This game's pretty much a blowout anyway," Emma answered as she stood up from her seat.

"I wonder what that's about," Zelena questioned as the couple walked away from the room. "It's freezing outside. I don't know how Robin's out there playing with the kids right now," she stated as she went back to watching the game.


Regina took Emma's gloved hand as they walked outside. She led her away from where Robin and the children were playing tag. Surprisingly, Cora was also in on their game. She was currently "it" and having some trouble catching any of her younger and faster family members.

Emma looked up as she both saw and felt the light flurry of snow that had begun to fall. She was just regretting not putting on her beanie and turning towards Regina to say as much to her when she noticed that her girlfriend was bent down on one knee. Emma didn't even notice when Regina had let go of her hand and had stopped walking in stride with her.

"Oh my God," Emma whispered.

"I have a confession to make, Emma," Regina began. "I know that you had originally planned on proposing to me on Monday but that you missed your chance. But I have to admit that I'm also kind of happy that you did because it gave me the chance to do this."

Emma didn't know what to say or do but she felt her eyes fill with tears as she continued to listen to Regina.

"After Daniel, it was really hard for me to imagine meeting anyone who would be good enough to have a life with Lucy and me. But thank God I was wrong. Emma, you and Henry have made me the happiest that I think I can ever be and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Both of you. So Emma Swan, will you continue to make me the happiest woman on Earth and be my wife?" Regina finally pulled a ring out her pocket and held it up for Emma.

"Yes, Gina, yes! I'll marry you!" Emma ignored the ring and grabbed both sides of Regina's face as she gave her a passionate kiss before pulling her to her feet to hug her tightly.

"Here," Regina said as Emma finally let her go. She removed her glove and slid the unique ring onto Emma's finger.

"Babe, this is beautiful. Where did you get this?" Emma asked as she held out her finger to admire her new ring.

"It was my grandmother's actually. My mom gave it to me when I was a teenager. It isn't exactly my style but I remembered that I had it once I decided that I wanted to propose to you. And I thought that it was perfectly you," Regina said with a smile.

"Well it is perfect. Thank you," Emma said as she placed a sweet and gentle kiss on Regina's lips.

"It's funny that my mom gave it to me then. I guess she knew even before I did that I was possibly going to propose to someone one day instead of getting proposed to."

"And dammit woman, you beat me to it! You're still going to wear the ring I got you though, right?" Emma asked as she looped her arm thru Regina's and began to lead them back towards the house.

"Of course, dear! It did look perfect for me and so beautiful even in the pale moonlight."

"Oohhh, so that's how you found out. Okay, that makes sense now. I kind of figured there was no way you didn't see that laying there when I saw it the next morning. But then I figured I'd be proposing some other time that week so it didn't really matter. What made you do it here today, babe?"

"I don't know. It just felt right and I really liked Jeff's idea about how he was originally going to propose to August here," Regina stated as she reached for the door to open it for Emma. The tag players were all back in the house by then. Everyone else were gathered in the kitchen as the fiancés walked back in.

Zelena almost immediately noticed the ring on Emma's fingers. "OH. MY. GOD. ARE YOU TWO ENGAGED NOW?!" she screeched as she ran over to take Emma's hand to inspect her new ring. "Wait, I thought you were going to propose to Gina," Zelena stated genuinely confused.

"That's the beauty of being in a gay relationship, Z. It doesn't matter who proposes to who. I think it's more fun that way," Jeff commented from across the room.

"She beat me to it!" Emma responded proudly. "So who won the bet?" Emma asked with a grin.

"What bet? Em, what are you talking about?" Regina asked but she was looking around the room at all of the other adults when she did so. They all immediately stopped in their tracks and looked down at Regina's question.

"Yeah, so when I asked Dad for his permission to ask you to marry me he said that I didn't even have to do that and how everyone had placed bets on when we would be getting engaged," Emma responded.

"Okay," Regina chuckled. "That actually seems about right with this family. Wait, but were the bets about when we would be getting married or when we would be getting engaged, dear? Because if you're in on this bet we can wait to get married so we can make the most money that we can," Regina whispered conspiratorially to Emma.

Though Zelena heard her as she was still standing right in front of them. "Nope! Gina's trying to cheat everyone!" she announced to the rest of the room.

"It's on both so we can still make a little money off of the getting married part," Emma whispered back to Regina.

They walked farther into the room and accepted hugs and congratulations from everyone. Before Cora could even suggest a double wedding Regina shot her down. But she couldn't stop her from talking her ear off about their future wedding plans. Emma just agreed with whatever Cora was suggesting because she had a bigger problem on her hands. Who would she pick to be her best woman? Ruby or Jane?