Authors Note: So we all know why this was written... Happy birthday to my beautiful and amazing soulmate, Lee. Another year has come and you're just getting older and wiser. Much love to you and I hope you and your friends will do something wild!

He had forgotten.

It was a simple but true fact that had been apparent to her since the minute she had got out of bed twelve hours previously and had found his side empty. She had first thought that maybe he was in the kitchen making her breakfast in bed but there was no scent coming from his signature disk of bacon and eggs with 'Poor Man Pancakes'*. She wasn't even being greeted by the usually welcoming smell of coffee in her perfectly timed machine. Upon investigation, she found the kitchen empty and someone had unplugged her coffee machine meaning she'd had to settle for instant if she was going to make it to work on time.

No flowers or chocolates or even a card graced her desk that morning – apart from a small note from her secretary wishing her a happy birthday which did lift her mood slightly – and she felt angry.

How could he have forgotten her birthday?

It was her fiftieth for god's sake. She had been making a big deal out of not wanting a big deal since her last birthday knowing that if Jackie had anything to do with it then it would be an extravagant affair that people would feel forced to enjoy. Despite that, even the members of his team hadn't stopped by her office with cards, gifts or even well wishes. Looking over at the board that kept her up to date with all her teams she saw that there was no big case on for them that could have caused such a distraction.

She was just to the point of working herself up to a meltdown when there was a timid knock at the door. "Come in," she tried to call out calmly but knew that her voice had croaked slightly.

A fresh faced WPC popped her head round the door and smiled nervously. "Excuse me, ma'am, but DCI Burke asked for me to give you this note as soon as it was six so..." she held the note out and Karen reached out for it. The WPC just bowed her head and slipped back out again.

The note was pure Burke; simple and to the point.

"McIntyre's 1830 in the VIP Lounge"

No dress code, no explanation, no nothing. With a sigh, she reached for the standby little black dress that always hung in her office and headed towards her adjoining bathroom so that she could get ready.

By the time she had reached McIntyre's paranoia had hit. Had Burke remembered her birthday? Or was this a last minute kind of plan that he had managed to plan seeing as the bar owner was a member of their family? She knew it was wrong to second guess him because no matter what, Burke had attempted to make things special with her and that was all that counted in the end.

As always, Ralph let her in through the VIP entrance so she could bypass the waiting queue even this early in the night, and she waved to the three pretty barmaids that were getting ready for the mobs that would enter as soon as Ralph decided they had waited enough.

Stepping into the VIP lounge, Karen paused at the door as she took in all the gold decorations. Gold balloons, tablecloths, white rose centrepieces covered in gold dust, gold candles flickering around them. However, it was Burke standing in the centre of the lounge holding two flutes with champagne that really caught her attention. "Robbie was the decorating committee and he got mixed up between 50th birthday and anniversary," he said as an explanation to the overload of gold around them. "I didn't have the heart to tell him that he was an idiot."

"It's lovely," she said with a small smile as she walked towards him, tears filling her eyes as she found herself laughing. "I'm such a bitch. I thought you'd forgotten and I've been hating you all day but to know that you had all this..."

"Shush," he whispered as he silenced with her a small kiss. "We knew it would drive you mad even though you were pretty insistent you didn't want to celebrate it."

"I didn't..."

"Shush," he repeated. "Karen, fifty years ago, you were born and I am eternally grateful to your parents as you're amazing, strong, beautiful and even more importantly, the woman I love. In the last fifty years, you've been wandering aimlessly but I'm praying that in me you've found something worth keeping so I ask of you..." He put the champagne flute down and dug into his pocket where he pulled out a small velvet box, "would you do me the pleasure of spending the next fifty years of your life with me?" Opening the box to reveal a beautiful diamond ring, he took it and held it out to her. She was speechless but she knew the answer with all her heart so she nodded.

There was an eruption of sound around them as the rest of the party started to appear out of nowhere. Burke's team all running towards them to wish their happy birthday wishes at long last as well as their congratulations. Karen clung onto Burke, her gaze never straying from her beautiful ring for longer than a second before she pressed a kiss to Burke's cheek as he spoke to Ewan. How could she have ever doubted him? He never forgot such things. It was what made him as amazing as he was. She knew from this day on, she would never doubt her husband-to-be (she loved calling him that already!) again.

"You look like your deep in thought?" Burke said to her and she flashed him a bright smile.

"I was just thinking that if we make it to fifty years there's no way Robbie is decorating again," causing everyone to burst out laughing apart from Robbie that let out an insulted 'hey' before starting to laugh himself. She couldn't help but think that this was her best birthday to date.

*Poor Man Pancakes are simply what my grannie called eggy bread/French toast