An epic surprise in the making at the world's largest aquarium.

MONDAY, MARCH THIRD (rilla's birthday)

  • 6pm | Chuck picks up Rilla from work in a Black Car and whisks her to Aria to meet friends for dinner

  • 6:30pm | Dinner begins at Table 9, the secret table in the wine cellar. An incredible dinner ensues.

  • 9:30pm | Driving home, Rilla doesn't feel well.

  • 10:30pm | First puke (1 of 6). Food poisoning?

  • 10:31pm - 6am | Yes. (The irony: Fish!)

TUESDAY, MARCH FORTH! (annual holiday to "march forth" on your dreams)

  • 6am | Rilla: "I'm way too sick to do anything today." Chuck: "Do what?"

  • 6:01am | Chuck fetches cool water, pills, fans, etc. to help Rilla rally. Searches for rosary beads even though he isn't Catholic.

  • 6:30am | Chuck: "I'm driving you in today. You can rest in the passenger seat." Rilla weakly agrees.

  • 7:30am | The duo arrive at Cobb Energy Center for the 2nd Annual Global Purpose Summit, where Rilla is to deliver a short presentation. She is due on stage just after Ghandi's grandson, Arun Ghandi, and just before Bernice King, daughter of MLK. No pressure. Rilla is full-on green.

  • 10:30am | She did it! Chuck drives Rilla to SunTrust Tower to attempt a work day. Rilla's hue improves to chartreuse.

  • 4pm | Guests arrive and gather at the Georgia Aquarium. Krista Massey, friend extraordinaire, funnels folks to a holding room.

  • 4:25pm | Chuck stuck in all-10-lanes-stopped traffic on the connector because of an accident. Krista calls in a celestial favor and at the last minute - quite literally - the brake lights subside and traffic begins moving. Disaster averted. Thank God.

  • 4:30pm | Chuck, driving up to the curb, calls Rilla to come down to go to a "good bye party" at the aquarium, to be thrown by her former team. Rilla finds the whole thing unnecessary and isn't feeling it.

  • 4:45pm | The duo arrive at the aquarium parking garage while Chuck is covertly texting their position to Krista. Krista says: "You need to delay 4 minutes." Chuck suggests Rilla change clothes in the car, so that happens.

  • 4:49pm | The duo walk to the main entrance and are met by the CMO of the Georgia Aquarium, who asks to show Rilla some updates to the SunTrust Exhibit. Chuck excuses himself to visit the restroom, though what he was really doing was getting last minute instructions from Krista. Krista radios for the divers to get into the water.

  • 4:55pm | Chuck rejoins Rilla and they walk into the Ocean Voyager Aquarium. No one is there. She is told that the team is feeding the beluga whales and will be joining shortly.

  • 4:56pm | Rilla notices two divers with bright lights swimming toward the glass; one of them is holding a black fish looking thing. Chuck and Rilla approach the glass. Chuck: "Do you know these divers? Do you think this is part of your going away party?"

  • 4:57pm | The divers stop right in front of the duo. One of them flips the black fish over to reveal a sign. On it is written the first line of Christopher Marlowe's poem The Passionate Shepherd to His Love. (English majors.. oh gawd) "Come live with me and be my love." Rilla looks puzzled; she was expecting maybe "Good luck and thanks for being a great CMO!" Chuck hands her a small piece of paper that says "And we will all the pleasures prove." (the second line of the poem) Rilla recognizes suddenly what's going on. Chuck pops the question. Rilla says yes.

  • 4:58pm | Music starts playing from loudspeaker. Rilla recognizes it as the song she had written for Chuck by Bob Sima. It's called Miere. She's thrilled the aquarium has the recording. Thrill turns to mind blown when Bob walks into the room singing the song live, followed by 50 of their closest friends.

  • 5:00pm | The duo party and visit with friends for a couple of hours. Mission accomplished! Oh, and the food poisoning issue seems resolved.