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"Perfect Timing"

Emma Swan was definitely not sulking at the harbour. She was simply... appreciating the sunset. Alone. A week after her meticulously planned proposal had gone spectacularly wrong, involving an escaped sheep, three fire hydrants, and somehow, inexplicably, Leroy ending up in the harbour.

The setting sun painted the water in shades of gold and pink, and Emma kicked at the wooden planks of the pier, hands stuffed in her leather jacket pockets where a certain ring box definitely wasn't anymore, because Regina had found it in the aftermath of the chaos. Not that Regina had said anything about finding it, but Emma knew. She could tell by the way Regina's eyes had softened, by the gentle kiss she'd pressed to Emma's temple as they'd helped fish Leroy out of the water.

"I thought I'd find you here."

Emma's heart did that familiar flip it always did at Regina's voice. She turned to see Regina approaching, looking unfairly beautiful in a deep blue dress that caught the evening light.

"Hey," Emma managed, trying for casual and probably missing by a mile. "I was just..."

"Sulking?" Regina's lips curved into that fond smile that was reserved just for her and Henry.

"I don't sulk," Emma protested weakly, but she couldn't help smiling as Regina stepped closer.

"Of course not, dear." Regina reached out, straightening the collar of Emma's jacket with practised ease. "You're simply brooding dramatically by the water at sunset."

Emma laughed despite herself. "When you put it that way, it does sound a bit melodramatic."

Music drifted across the harbour from Marco's restaurant, a slow, sweet melody that made Regina's eyes light up with something that looked suspiciously like mischief.

"Dance with me," Regina said, holding out her hand.

Emma blinked. "Here? Now?"

"No, next week in Granny's car park," Regina drawled, but her eyes were soft. "Yes, here. Now."

Emma took her hand, letting Regina pull her close as they began to sway to the distant music. The last rays of sunlight caught in Regina's hair, turning it almost auburn, and Emma's breath caught at how beautiful she was.

"You know," Regina said after a moment, her voice quiet but steady, "there's something rather poetic about this spot."

"Yeah?" Emma tried to focus on the conversation and not on how perfectly they fit together.

"Mmhm." Regina's hand was warm against Emma's back. "This is where you first came to Storybrooke. Where you first decided to stay."

Emma's heart began to beat faster. "Regina..."

"And now," Regina continued, pulling back just enough to meet Emma's eyes, "it's where I'm going to ask you to stay forever."

Emma stopped breathing as Regina reached into some hidden pocket of her dress and pulled out a ring box – not the one Emma had lost in the sheep incident, but a different one.

"Regina," Emma whispered, her voice catching.

"I had this whole speech planned," Regina said, her own voice wavering slightly as she opened the box. "About how you turned my world upside down from the moment you arrived. About how you gave me Henry, and then you gave me your heart, and somehow along the way you gave me myself back too."

Emma's vision blurred with tears as Regina sank gracefully to one knee, the ring catching the last light of sunset.

"But what I really want to say is this: Emma Swan, you absolute disaster of a woman, I love you. Every chaotic, beautiful, frustrating, perfect part of you. Even the part that somehow managed to involve a sheep in your proposal plan."

Emma laughed wetly. "In my defence, the sheep was not part of the original plan."

"I would hope not," Regina's smile was radiant. "But it was perfectly you, which is why I need to ask this now, before you can plan something else that inevitably involves farm animals or explosions or both."

She held up the ring – a delicate band of white gold with a stone that seemed to catch all the colours of the sunset.

"Emma Swan, will you marry me?"

Emma pulled Regina to her feet and kissed her, pouring everything she couldn't say into it. When they finally broke apart, both crying and laughing, Emma pressed her forehead to Regina's.

"Is that a yes?" Regina asked, her voice teasing even as tears slipped down her cheeks.

"Yes," Emma laughed. "Yes, you ridiculous woman. Of course it's yes."

The ring slid perfectly onto her finger, and as Regina pulled her into another kiss, the last rays of sunset painting them both in gold, Emma thought that maybe her failed proposal hadn't been such a disaster after all. Because this? This was perfect.

"Although," Emma murmured against Regina's lips, "I feel like I should point out that your proposal technically involved Leroy in the harbour too, since we're standing right where he fell in."

Regina pulled back to fix her with an arch look. "Dear, if you ever compare our engagement story to your sheep incident again, you're sleeping on the sofa for a week."

Emma just grinned and pulled her close again. "Worth it."