Robin found Roland and Henry playing a game in a red booth slightly faded with age at Granny's. "Gentlemen, how would you like to help me go on a little quest?"

"A quest?" they repeated as Roland rose excitedly from the booth. "What's the quest?"

Robin held his finger to his lips. "Before I tell you what the quest is, you have to promise that you won't tell Regina. We're picking out a surprise for her."

Once they had both been sworn to secrecy, he told them his plan. Henry's eyes shone. "Finally!" Robin knew that the boy had been waiting for this moment for years.

He chuckled. "Yes, finally. Will you help me?"

"YES!" both boys readily agreed, and Robin explained to Granny that he was taking the brothers before he led them out of the diner and down the street to their destination. Its windows displayed dozens of the small, bright object they had come to purchase, and Robin inwardly groaned. This may be an even more daunting task than he had initially imagined.

Over an hour later, he knew that his initial assessment had been correct. After an hour of a search that was both thorough and fruitless, they were no closer to succeeding in their quest. Nothing seemed exactly right to Robin- every one of the objects before them seemed either too simple for the occasion or too elaborate for Regina's taste.

Suddenly, he heard Roland breathe, "Ooh, shiny…" behind him. He turned and looked at the one Roland was pointing at. It was perfect. Small, yet brilliant in its perfection. Unique, just like the woman he loved.

He sighed with relief, features that had been taut with worry relaxing. "Roland, you did it!" he congratulated the boy. Purchase made, they exited the store. Now all Robin had to do was plan how to give his gift to her. Everything had to be perfect.

Regina was excited, but that would be no surprise to anyone who knew her. Robin had told her that he had a day full of surprises planned for her, and she had begged him for details, but he had remained tight-lipped on the subject. All he had told her was to prepare for anything, so given that the weather had finally warmed up enough to go to the beach (and more importantly, swim in the ocean), Regina had planned accordingly. She was wearing a bathing suit underneath a nicer outfit than she would typically wear to the beach, and had packed a towel and sunscreen, along with water, snacks and tennis shoes in case he had planned a longer, more active outing for them. She also had things with her that would enable her to shower, and a dress just in case the night would be fancier than she imagined. She doubted that would be the case, though. Like her, Robin was a very casual person, so the likelihood that she would need to dress up at any point in the day was slim.

She called out a farewell to Alice as she walked out the door, and thought about how different this day would've been if it had happened three years ago. She would still be living with her mother, for starters. She still couldn't believe the changes that had transpired in Cora in the three years since they had expelled the demon from her. She was much less prone to anger, significantly less controlling, and had allowed Regina the freedom to move in with Alice, a blessing that she was thankful for every day.

She grinned as she spotted Robin's car in front of her. Judging by his attire, she had been right in the selection of her attire that morning. He, too, was dressed in clothes that were casual enough that she suspected that her guess was right: they were likely going to the beach.

"Good morning, beautiful," he greeted her as she swung her bag into the car before her. "Ready to go?"

She nodded excitedly, kissing his cheek before he pulled away to put both hands on the wheel and start driving.

"Where are we going?" she asked as they pulled out of the apartment complex's parking lot.

"You'll see," Robin teased with a mischievous grin that only grew wider when Regina smacked him playfully on the arm. "What? Can't I surprise you without you trying to pry the details out of me with every passing minute?"

"At this point, you might as well tell me," she huffed.

"Not a chance," he replied, his grin continuing long after the conversation faded.

Eventually, she started recognizing landmarks, and it took everything in her not to let her inner child out, her excitement nearly too great to be contained. "I was right, we're going to the beach!" she exclaimed.

"Yes, we are," Robin laughed. "Now can you let me drive without jumping out of the car to get to the ocean faster?"

"Can you blame me?" Regina asked him, her impatience giving her voice an edge she knew Robin didn't deserve. "This is the first day it's been nice enough to go all year!"

"I know, which is why this is part of the plan for the day," Robin chuckled, his eyes twinkling.

"Part?" Regina questioned.

"Yes, there's a part two to our day that will commence tonight- you'll just have to wait and see what I have planned for us," Robin replied, his eyes twinkling as he parked and got out of the car, ready to begin their day together.

Their day was spent playing in the sun, sand between their toes and droplets of water covering their skin. Though both had vastly different ideas of the perfect beach day- when the weather was at its warmest, Robin preferred to walk on the boardwalk or collect seashells, while Regina's ideal day would forever be spent in the water- they managed to find the best of both worlds before night fell.

Robin's family was on holiday- or, as the Americans called it, on vacation- this week due to their graduation a few days before, so Robin had planned for them to get ready for their evening plans at the beach condo where they were staying.

He emerged dressed in khaki shorts and a blue shirt that he knew Regina would love.

"Nervous?" his mum asked as she walked up behind him.

He nodded. "What if-"

"Don't worry, Robin, everything will be fine," his mother said, hugging him. "Just take a deep breath."

He did as she instructed, but his worries still lingered. "That didn't help. What am I going to do if I lose her? I can't risk that, she's everything to me."

"You won't," she replied. "If you don't want your surprise to be ruined, you may want to stop talking. Here she is."

Sure enough, Regina was standing in the doorway. Her eyes grew wide with admiration when she entered the room, but Robin was sure her reaction was nothing compared to his at the sight of her.

His breath caught in his throat. She was wearing a red dress that fell just past her knees that shimmered when she moved. Her hair fell down her back, part of it held back by a barrette in the shape of a red flower- which type, he would never know. He silently thanked Alice, who, being informed of Robin's plans for the evening, had likely guided Regina's clothing choices for the second portion of their day together.

When she reached him, he kissed her, a kiss that was gentle, but no less passionate than a kiss borne of raw desire. He hoped that his kiss conveyed every message he intended to relay verbally later in the evening: that he loved her and would always be there for her.

When they parted, their foreheads touching, his mother, who stood behind him, cleared her throat.

Regina's cheeks flushed adorably with embarrassment as she pulled away from him. She glanced over at his mother, apologizing profusely.

But true to form, his mother waved her off. "You're in love. It's only natural that you'd greet him that way, especially with how well-dressed you both are tonight."

"Yeah, where are we going that justifies you being so dressed up?" Regina inquired, turning toward him with a quizzical brow raised.

He grinned, loving every moment of keeping her in the dark. "You'll see."

When they arrived at their destination a few minutes later, she squealed with excitement. She turned to him a minute later, a frown marring her beautiful features. 'Are you sure? It's so expensive, and we have Disney coming up…"

"Positive," he replied, unable to keep the smile off of his face. Little did she know what he had in store for her later that evening- the cost of their meal would be nothing in comparison to that.

They walked hand in hand to the hostess stand, where he told the hostess his name and that he had made a reservation.

"Of course, right this way Mr. Locksley," she said, leading them to a table right on the restaurant's sandy beach which overlooked the bay. Strands of lights crossed over their heads, while lanterns lit each table. Children ran along the shore, while adults sat back to watch, margaritas and daiquiris in hand.

"Are you ready to tell me why our plans today were a surprise yet?" Regina asked as their waiter took their menus away.

"After dinner," he informed her, and as he knew she would, she pouted. "Relax, it'll be worth it, I promise."

His words seemed to mollify her, and they ate their dinner talking of their adventures that day. As they talked, he ran through what he was going to say later in his head. Everything about the night needed to be perfect, flawless. Especially what he said.

Once they had paid the check, Robin led Regina back to the car. "Where to now? Are you going to tell me?" she asked.

He chuckled. "You'll see. You trust me, right?"

He could practically see the memories of battles fought together flash in her mind just before she answered softly, "Always."

They pulled up to the lot that would lead them to their destination, and Regina turned to him. "The beach? But we were just here- and I've already showered, and more importantly, it's never safe to swim at sunset."

"I have something a little different planned this time," he promised. "Come on."

They walked a path they had walked many times before, down to the water and along the shoreline as they walked toward the rocky area where they had had many conversations over the years. The sun set over the water as they walked, reds, blues, pinks, and oranges illuminating the sky in a dazzling rainbow Robin knew he would never be able to adequately capture in a photograph.

When they reached their destination, Robin turned to the brunette beauty beside him, heart hammering in his chest knowing what he was about to do. He took the hand he hadn't already been holding in his, and their fingers intertwined of their own accord. "Do you remember what happened here a few years ago, on the day we met?" he asked her.

Her smile was as radiant as the sun. "Of course- that night, and especially that conversation, changed my life forever."

He inwardly cheered- that was exactly what he was hoping she'd say. "Mine too, because that was the day I met you. Because of that, I thought that this was the perfect location for another life-altering event."

"What are you-" her head, which had been bent toward their joined hands, shot up sharply, and the remainder of the sentence seemed to die in her throat, a smile slowly spreading on her face as he knelt on the sand before her.

"Robin? What's going on?" she breathed.

He swallowed hard, then began the speech he had rehearsed over and over- he only hoped that it was good enough. "From the moment we met, I knew that I wanted to know more about the stunningly beautiful girl that Will and I accidentally collided with the first day of orientation. But it wasn't until our conversation that night, in this spot, that the connection that I felt between us solidified, and it's only grown stronger with each passing day. I love you, Regina, you have the most resilient heart of anyone I've ever met, which is one of the many wonderful things about you that makes you far more beautiful than you can ever imagine." He fumbled in his pocket, extracting the little black box that he had had there all night and opened it to reveal the ring he had chosen for her. It was simple, yet elegant, silver with a lone aquamarine gem instead of the traditional diamond. Despite its simplicity, as Roland had pointed out when they first saw it in the store, it seemed to shine with its own light. "You're stunning, in every way, and I promise to love you forever- will you marry me?"

She had started smiling the second he started speaking. With his last words, she was nodding, and he stood as he slid the ring on her finger and pulled her into an embrace.

She kissed him more passionately than she had ever kissed him before, and his joy was overflowing so much that he couldn't resist lifting her and spinning them in a circle. When he set her back on the sand, she asked, "What now?"

"Now, we start the rest of our lives together," Robin told her, grinning as he led her to celebrate with their family and friends. No matter what happened in the days to come, he was thankful that he would have his Regina beside him through it all.

And that concludes this story! Thank you all for reading this and for your support throughout this story- and thanks to hopefulfeathers for betaing this for me! Let me know what you think!