Happy Valentine's Day! I feel like the last few updates have been a little dark so Valentine's Day gave me a good opportunity to write something happier. This chapter is also a lot shorter than usual, mostly because I couldn't figure out any other way to make it longer. Enjoy Michael proposing to Amanda!

"Hey, babe, it's not that late yet, wanna go for a walk?" Michael asked, gesturing to the park at the end of the block.

Amanda's eyes brightened at his question. They had just gone out for dinner and neither of them were quite ready to end the night just yet. "Sure," she said. She wrapped her arm around his and nuzzled up against him. "This is nice. I feel like we haven't spent this much time together in forever…"

"Yeah, I've probably been working a bit more than I should lately," he chuckled as he led her into the park. In typical North Yankton fashion, it had snowed the previous night, leaving a thick layer of snow and ice over their small town. Despite all of the snow, the weather actually wasn't that cold. The stars shined above them, illuminating the snowflakes still falling from the trees. He looked up at the sky, not noticing that Amanda wasn't cuddling against his arm anymore.

The next thing he knew, a snowball hit him in the back of the head and his girlfriend ran off deeper into the park, laughing her ass off. "Oh, so it's gonna be like that?" he asked, frowning as he brushed the snow off of himself.

"Yeah, it is! You need to learn to have fun, darling!" she yelled.

"I know how to have fun…" he muttered to himself. He bent down to make his own snowball just as another snowball hit the spot where his head had been only a few seconds ago. A small smirk formed on his face at Amanda's muffled, "Damn it…" in the distance.

The snowball fight was a nice distraction from the ring that was practically burning a hole in his pocket. Throughout the night, he'd tried and failed to find a good time to propose to her, either because the timing wasn't right or because of his nervousness. It was rare for him to be nervous, but Amanda did that to him and tonight wasn't an exception.

It had been three weeks since she told him that she was pregnant. He had gone out to look for rings the day afterward, ironically using money he'd stolen from a jewelry store to buy a pretty impressive engagement ring, if he did say so himself. It'd be hard raising a kid with their lifestyles, but he was confident that they'd make it work. Michael knew that it was just a matter of time before they got married anyways, so why not do it sooner rather than later?

His moment of thinking was shattered by a call of, "Oh, Michael…" and a snowball hitting him directly in the back.

"I'm gonna get you for that!" he said as he turned around, tossing his own projectile at her. Much to his frustration and embarrassment, it missed.

"I thought you used to be good at football, babe?" Amanda asked in a faux innocent tone from behind her hiding spot.

"Yeah, not baseball or whatever the shit this is like!" Michael called back. He spotted her as she moved to a different spot, his snowball managing to hit her in the shoulder.

"Whatever helps you sleep at night, darling," she said with a giggle.

"I have to go easy on you, too!" he reminded her.

"'Oh no, my name is Michael and I can't accept that my girlfriend is kicking my ass in a snowball fight! I'm gonna use her pregnancy as an excuse so my fragile masculinity isn't hurt!'" she put on a deep voice in imitation of him. "Nice try, Michael."

Michael rolled his eyes as he got up to move, doing his best to stay behind the trees. He hesitantly stepped out into the open for a moment to grab a snowball, unaware of the slick ice beneath his feet.

They caught sight of each other and threw their snowballs at the same time. His barely grazed her arm while hers hit him square in the face. The force of the snowball combined with the slippery ice knocked him into his back into a snowbank.

Amanda immediately rushed over to him. "I'm sorry, Michael! I wasn't even aiming for your head! Shit, are you okay?"

"Yeah…the snow broke my fall," he muttered, sitting up. He wiped the snow away from his eyes, wincing at his stinging face. "You have a hell of a throwing arm, babe. Remind me not to fuck with you," he said, earning a small laugh from her. She offered him her hand but he refused. "I need to do something quick," he told her, reaching into his pocket.

Slowly, he got onto one knee and pulled the ring from his pocket. A confused expression formed on her face, not noticing the box in his hand. "I was gonna wait until our anniversary to do this, but I didn't wanna wait. Ah, you know that I'm not that great at this stuff, Mandy, but I'll try my best. Look, I'm crazy in love with you. You annoy the hell outta me sometimes, but you're the most beautiful, confident woman I've ever met. And I don't know why, but you chose me, of all guys. I can't say that it'll be perfect because it never will be, we are who we are...but we can try. So... Amanda," he took a deep breath, hands shaking as he opened the box, "will you-"

"Stop," she interrupted him, wiping away the tears of joy forming in her bright blue eyes. "Just for a second, before I say yes. I have some things I wanna tell you."

"Alright," he agreed quietly, shifting on his knee. The snow had soaked his hair and clothes at this point, but he didn't care. It was worth it.

"I know that I've said this a million times before, but please be careful. I don't wanna be a widow and a single mother at twenty-one," she said pleadingly.

"I promise you that I'll do whatever it takes to make sure that never happens. I know that I haven't been the most careful lately," he admitted, "but I swear that'll change."

She nodded, a satisfied look on her face. "One more thing. I want to leave this place someday, Michael. It's too damn cold and I wanna get as far away from this small town as I can. I want it to be just you, me, and our baby."

"I'd like that, too, darlin'. Maybe one day we can do that. Can I finish now?" he asked with a smirk. She just nodded, grinning down at him. "Will you marry me?"

"Yes, it took you long enough, you idiot!" she said with a laugh and wrapped him into a hug, lightly pressing a kiss to his lips. They only pulled away long enough for him to slip the ring onto her finger. "I love you, Michael," she whispered.

"I love you, too," he said and pulled her into the most passionate kiss he'd ever had in his life. Her hands ran up the back of his neck and tangled in his wet hair; his gently resting on her waist. The kiss allowed his worries about their future to disappear for a second. He only focused on the way the both of them smiled into the kiss, the taste of her sweet and warm lips against his. Despite their complications, he could still see that picket fence life with her, he knew that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her.