February…

Regina kept turning around in her seat to fuss with Lettie's blanket. They were driving along the coast with Emma's window slightly open to enjoy the crisp, fresh air but Regina worried every time Lettie kicked the blanket so her feet were uncovered.

"I think she's just doing it now for the attention," Henry told his mom's.

"Perhaps we should close the window," Regina suggested.

"Regina, she's fine. Don't worry."

Lettie had experienced her first cold over the winter holidays and Regina had gone into super-mom mode worrying over every little detail from her temperature rising one degree on the thermometer to her adorable little sneezes.

"What if…"

"Regina, do you want me to pull over so you can sit in the back with Lettie?" Emma asked, suspecting that her girlfriend had brought a thermometer to check their daughter's temperature.

Regina hesitated, but eventually shook her head. "No."

Emma turned her head for a moment to smile at her, "she's got her big brother looking after her."

"True," Regina smiled back at her.

"So who have you invited today?"

"We're going for a meal, the four of us and your parents. I told you that."

Emma just rolled her eyes, "then why did Leroy just pass us?"

"How am I supposed to know what he gets up to when he's not occupying a cell at the station?"

Emma frowned, remembering when the restaurant had called to confirm the numbers for her party. She didn't know who the other people were that Regina or her mother had chosen to invite, but she had been a little disappointed when she realised her small family meal was turning into a larger party.

Regina took out her cell, sending a text message to Snow to ask why the dwarf hadn't followed their plan. Guests were supposed to arrive before them, or if they were running late they had been instructed to use the back roads to avoid Emma spotting them.

The restaurant was one of the most isolated in town, but with the best views of the ocean. Regina had booked the entire upper floor for Emma's birthday celebrations, planning the event with a little input from Snow – during the last year or so of birthday parties she had discovered choosing something for Snow to do was better than Snow deciding for herself.

By the time they pulled up to the car park, Lettie was asleep and Henry had tucked the blanket around her feet. Emma began removing Lettie from the car while Henry and Regina entered the restaurant ahead of them. Mostly Regina just wanted to see if Snow had made any changes to their plans, but also it was to check everyone was ready to wish Emma a happy birthday when she entered. Regina smiled in relief when everything looked fine.

"I've been to the kitchen," Snow whispered to her, "the cakes look perfect."

"Thank you."

"Here she comes," Henry nudged David who was distracted, talking to Archie.

"Happy birthday!"

Emma plastered a smile on her face and moved into the room to greet everyone, as David came to take Lettie from her. A waitress came to take their food orders, so Snow asked everyone to take a seat at the U-shaped table – there were name cards so everyone would know where to sit.

As the meal progressed, Emma began to relax and she listened to the wild stories passed up from the guests. Regina slipped a hand onto Emma's knee as they waited for the dessert to arrive, then leaned in to whisper to her.

"I'm sorry about the surprise, all these people. I wanted this to be special, and all these people are your friends so I wanted them to be here."

"It's okay. I'm enjoying the party now."

"Really?"

Emma smiled and leaned in to kiss her, "yes. I'm happy."

The servers returned, bearing a cupcake for each of the guests, with a single candle on Emma's one. Regina took a deep breath, before turning and gently tapping her wineglass with a spoon to get everyone's attention. When everyone had stopped talking and was looking towards them, she stood up and raised her glass.

"As you know, today is Emma's birthday. We are all here, as her friends and family, to wish her another year of happiness. I feel very lucky to have Emma sharing my life and that is why," Regina placed her wineglass back on the table, then turned to Emma before kneeling down and pulling a ring from her pocket, "I want to share the rest of my life with you. Emma Swan, will you marry me?"

Emma looked genuinely shocked. It would have amused Regina at any other time, but this was an important moment and she was counting it in heartbeats while she waited for an answer.

"Yes," Emma's reply was almost a whisper, then she smiled and her voice rose, "of course. Yes!"

Regina slipped the ring onto Emma's finger and kissed her, to the sound of applause from the rest of the room.

Later, Emma would ask how she had managed to keep it a secret. Regina would explain that she knew the only way Emma wouldn't figure it out was if she fed her other little secrets about the party, and if she didn't tell anyone else - even Henry. She only wanted to propose if Emma was enjoying the party, so it would be part of a happy memory.

For now they were just ready to enjoy the party. To spend time with those they loved and to celebrate their engagement.

THE END.

AN: Final chapter - didn't want to declare that in the opening of the chapter – 1) because sometimes the writing can take off and become split into more chapters and 2) because I wanted it to be a surprise. This story took a lot longer to complete than expected, what with life and other new stories cropping up. I hope you enjoyed it! J Also, managed to finish a story before midnight on xmas eve, restarting an old tradition which has been hard to keep more recently, so yay for that.