The nerves were still there when he woke up, the feel of Éponine's hair brushing his chin rising him. He looked sleepily down at her, and smiled groggily at her. Her hair was disarrayed and she managed to be beautiful in such a state that would make other women cringe.

"Hey, Monsieur." She smirked at him, giggling as he pulled her into him even further, a joyful smile still plastered onto his face. He chuckled down at her, and looked her in the eyes.

"Good morning, beautiful." He said softly.

She laughed shortly and narrowed her eyes at him. "Why are you being so corny?"

He shrugged, a look of happy indifference on his face. "Have any plans for the day, 'Ponine?"

"Not yet, but I'm guessing you have something arranged?" She looked at him through her lashes.

"Perhaps." He leant down to kiss her quickly on the lips. When he pulled back, he looked into her brown eyes earnestly. He kissed her again, this time savouring the feeling. He pulled back and smiled.

"Now, go get dressed."

She reluctantly arose from the bed, turning to him as she did so. "Do I have to wear anything in particular?"

"No, not really. Anything you want is perfect."

She smiled speculatively at him, before walking over to the closet slowly (he didn't miss the deliberate way she swayed her hips seductively as she went).

"Enjolras, call me back as soon as you can. Today is the day, it needs to be done right."

"Enjolras, you have about four hours until it's going to be getting dark, we need to have a conversation about how this will work."

"We know that you're probably with Éponine right now, but we need to make sure you know what you're doing."

"Half an hour and the sky will be dark, we need you to answer."

"Enjolras, answer me right now, I need to make sure you don't screw this up."

Enjolras rolled his eyes at the voicemails left for him. Did they really have this little faith in him? He didn't need coaching, he was perfectly able. He had spent the day trying to give himself encouragement, he didn't need them two giving him ideas that it would fail. Besides, he was confident, it was going to be a smooth proposal, nothing would go wrong.

Well, that would happen if he could actually think of a way to get them to the park. Should he just ask her to go to the park randomly? Should he make up an excuse as to why they needed to go and sit under that exact tree?

They had been together all day. First, going to the café down the road, then going for a romantic dinner together at a restaurant near to their apartment. Now, however, as they were walking along the road, Enjolras had to think of a way to coax Éponine into the park. What could he say? Should he just come out with it and tell her they need to go to the park? What other reasons were there to go at this time of night? To make sure the wildlife was okay in the cold weather? To ensure there was no antisocial activity taking place? To check on the ducks? The ducks! Éponine loved the ducks.

"Ducks." He hasn't realised what he was doing until he had turned to her excitedly and exclaimed the word.

"What?" She said monotonously.

"Do you- we could- let's, I mean- you like the ducks." He stammered, the smile faltering on his face, as she looked tentatively at him.

"Yes. The ducks are nice." She said slowly, clearly trying to work out what he was talking about.

"Let's go and see them. At the park. Now."

"But it's getting dark-"

"Never mind that, you've got a big coat on, it's fine!" He grabbed her hand and set a faster pace for them as he dragged her in the direction of the park.

"Enjolras, you don't need to run, the ducks will still be there in ten minutes."

"Yes, but ducks fly south for the winter, Ep', wouldn't want to miss them." He didn't dare to look at her, knowing his idea would falter if he did.

He heard her sigh, but noticed her pick up her speed significantly.

They reached the park in record time, thanks to Enjolras' fast walking and motivational phrases. They walked through the mass of trees to get to the small duck pond, finding only three green ducks there.

"Nice." Éponine said, obviously a bit annoyed that they had almost ran there to see that.

"Wanna sit down?" He decided to just jump to the chase, all ideas as to how to initiate it gone. He had gotten her to the park, he had no other courses of action.

"What, here?" She asked, looking down at the cold, muddy floor.

"No, how about- uh, let's sit over there!" He didn't even give her time to look where he was pointing, already grabbing her hand again and taking her to the designated tree.

She almost stumbled as he sat down on the grass, looking at her through the moonlight. She sat down daintily beside him and looked around the park, breathing out and watching her breath in the cold.

Should he just do it? What was he supposed to do? Initiate conversation beforehand, or just go straight in for the proposal? He had never done this before- well, that was blatantly obvious, but he had expected to just know what to do. He should have asked Courfeyrac and Combeferre. Should he just pull the ring out and start the speech? The ring- oh, god. He scrambled around his coat, his hands worriedly checking for the small box, instantly relaxing as he felt it in his pocket, sighing assuredly.

"Are you okay?" He heard Éponine say softly.

He turned to look at her, alarmed at the thought that she might have seen his panic. "What? Yes, yes, I'm fine." He shook his head quickly, giving her a short smile, his breathing quickening up.

"Enjolras, are you sure?" At his confused expression, she continued. "You've been acting weird this past week, and I don't understand why. When I asked the boys, they all said they hadn't seen you much, that you, Combeferre, and Courfeyrac had been spending a lot of time together. You've been really jumpy these past couple of days as well. It's like you're hiding something from me, could you just tell me what is wrong? Because you usually don't keep secrets from me for this long, and it's starting to worry me."

He looked at her astounded, taking her hands and saying softly to her, "No, there's nothing to worry about, Ep'."

"Then what is going on?" She said in a dejected voice, as though she had no idea what to say to him.

He took a deep breath in, and looked directly into her eyes. It was now or never.

"Okay, 'Ponine," he started, "this week has been kind of crazy. I've been really busy, and I know you have too, with work and such. And, yes, I haven't really had a lot of time to talk to Les Amis lately, well, besides those two." He breathed in, watching her nod encouragingly. "Well, I don't know how to do this, so I'm going to just say it like I feel it." Éponine looked almost scared now. "I love you. I love you more than anything or anyone I've ever met. And I sincerely hope you already knew that, since I've been trying to tell you that for the past couple of years. And, I know that you and I have been together for a long time- like, a really long time. And that's been fine with me, you know, we're not like Marius and Cosette, we don't like rushing into things. Hell, I loved you for two years before I finally had the guts to ask you out on a date.

"But, lately, I've begun wanting more." He saw Éponine breath in deeply. "Not physically- we've got that covered, trust me. Not emotionally- you've made me the happiest man alive just by being my girlfriend. But it's just that- I don't want you to just be my girlfriend anymore.

"I know I'm not one for social standings, and I don't care how other people see us and what they think, in fact, I'm totally against that. But it wouldn't be for everyone else. I want to be closer to you, tethered together, for us. I want you to be my wife, Éponine.

"And I swear, Ep', I swear down that I will try to be the best husband possible for you. I know I'm hard to put up with, and I know I'm difficult to love, but you did that. And that means more to me than anything else, that you managed to find a way to accept that I'm not perfect, that I'll never live up to be that fairytale prince most girls want. But I will try, 'Ponine, because to me you are a princess, and you deserve the very best.

"So, Éponine, I love you, please would you do me the absolute honour of becoming my wife?"

He examined her face intently, his eyes darting around ever aspect of her facial expressions, trying to gauge her reaction. She looked shocked, her mouth was contorted into a perfect 'O' shape, and he could swear he saw a glimmer of tears in her eyes. She stayed still for what felt like forever, looking as frozen as a statue. Then she tried to move her mouth, and she let out an unintelligible noise.

He chuckled slightly at her, swallowing hard, and looking at her with an expression of pure hope. "What?"

"Yes." She said simply, her face not changing from the shocked look.

"Yes?" He whispered excitedly.

She seemed to snap out of her trance, and her face changed to a grin as her eyes lit up and she jumped a bit. "Of course, Enjolras, yes!" She laughed happily at him.

She jumped on top of him, and he fell back, his shoulders hitting the cold ground, his arms wrapping around her delicate frame. They laughed together as he rolled on top of her, bracing his arms on either side of her. She laughed up at him, smiling that beautiful smile that he loved so much.

"The ring! Oh, I almost forgot the ring!" He reached into his cost pocket and opened the box, grasping the ring inside and pulling it in between their faces, letting her see the small band. "Do you like it?" He asked hopefully. He was pretty sure that someone had said this was an important part of the proposal, that if she didn't like it, she would reject him. She looked softly at the ring, and she smiled at him.

"Oh, Enjolras, it's beautiful." He smiled at her, slipping the ring onto her left hand gently.

"I love you." He whispered to her, gazing into her eyes.

"I love you, too." She said breathlessly back to him.

He leant down and kissed her, smiling into the kiss, his arms wrapping tightly around her, and he felt pure happiness.

I actually 'awwwwww'ed writing that, and I had to stop and collect myself for a minute

I don't own it