AN: I plan to update this throughout the year on various important holidays. I wasn't quite ready for a full out sequel, so this, sparked by a conversation with Raina so let's all thank her, is the result. Oh and Evan? Remember to breathe.

When she wakes, he isn't there in bed beside her. She cranes her neck on the pillow to glance at the clock. It's only 8:15 and he managed to get up before her? Something isn't right here. In the five months they'd been living together since their engagement eight months ago, he had never woken up before her. They've always been opposites in that respect. He's the night owl and she's the morning bird.

Kate sits up and tosses back the covers, swinging her legs over the side of the bed. She pads out into the living room, wrapping her arms around herself. November is getting colder and colder and it's time to turn the heat up another notch on the thermostat. She moves to do that first, temporarily abandoning her search for her fiancé. She hears the furnace whir to life at the same time she feels two arms wrap around her torso from behind.

"How long have you been up?" she asks, sinking back against him. "It's before 10 on a Saturday. You feeling okay?"

"You were supposed to stay in bed for at least another 15 minutes," Rick grumbles into her ear. "It's very difficult to bring you your birthday breakfast in bed if you're not in it."

A smile tugs at her lips as she draws him in closer. "I can get back in it. As long as you're not forcing me to eat those stupid s'morelettes again."

She feels the warmth of his breath whoosh past her ear with his sigh. "It's your birthday, Kate. I know better."

She grins at that and spins in his grip to press a kiss to his lips.

"Happy Birthday, by the way," he says, keeping her close to him. "Ready for me to make up for all of the ones that I missed?"

"Why do I get the feeling this is going to be excessive?" Kate asks, poking him in the chest. If there's one thing she knows he inherited from his mother, it's his need for dramatic flair.

He nudges her back in the direction of their bedroom. "Just go back to bed so I can bring you your pancakes."

"This whole breakfast thing counts as one missed birthday, right?" she calls over her shoulder as she goes. "Because Rick, I really don't need -"

"I know what you need," he cuts her off, walking up behind her with a tray of food. "And I know what you want. Trust me on this one, Kate. I'm good at birthdays remember?"

She hums, sliding back under the covers and allowing him to place the tray across her lap.

"You go big for every holiday," she sighs, shaking her head. "Especially birthdays and Christmas."

"I like giving presents," Rick shrugs, slipping back into bed with her. "It's more fun now that I can actually afford things too."

"I don't need expensive things from you. The things you gave me when we were kids were just perfect," Kate tells him, cutting into her pancakes. "Are you just going to sit there and watch me eat?"

"I already ate," he confesses sheepishly, watching her enjoy her first couple of bites. "It smelled too good so I ate the first batch. But honestly, those stupid little trinkets I gave you, you actually liked them?"

"I still have them," she says, smiling around her fork. "I'll show you after I finish eating."

"You kept them? All of them?"

She laughs, nearly spilling her coffee with the force of it. "There's only eight of them. Sometimes I think you forget how long we've been together."

"But still -"

"You were a big part of my life, Rick. I didn't know if I'd ever see you again and I wanted to remember...all of it."

They fall into a comfortable silence as she continues eating. She still thinks about how lucky she is to have ended up back with her high school sweetheart, back with the guy who's been her best friend since she was ten years old. Especially when she thinks about how she created this secret stash of his trinkets after their breakup because she knew she would never want to forget. And she loves that now she never has to forget him.

"It's funny how fate works out, huh?" Rick asks, knowing what she's thinking. "We didn't know if we'd see each other again and now we're engaged and living together."

She takes another bite of pancake, chasing it down with another swallow of coffee.

"I've thanked fate before but I'll thank it again," she says, nudging him with her elbow.

He smiles at her, pushing himself up off of the bed. "Okay, I don't know if I can wait for you to finish eating to see these things. Where are they?" He pulls open the closet doors, let's his eyes roam over the shoe boxes. "Are they in one of those, or do they all actually contain shoes?"

She hums, swallowing the bite in her mouth. "It should be the one on the far right. The box from my old Chuck Taylor's."

He laughs at that, reaching for the box. "Do you still have those ratty old things? I miss them."

"They weren't ratty when I bought them at 13," Kate says defensively. "And no, I threw them out. One mud puddle too many."

"Well I'm honored that my trinkets took up residence in their shoe box. I know how much you loved those shoes."

"I just hadn't discovered boots yet," she laughs, finishing up the last of her pancakes and placing the tray on the floor. She cradles the still warm coffee mug into her chest and scoots closer to Rick on the bed as he opens the lid. The scarf he gave her for her 18th is sitting right on top and she pulls it out and wraps it around her neck. She half expects the scent of her favorite perfume from high school to be lingering on it, but the fabric smells more musty than anything else.

"We have to go in backwards chronological order now," Rick says, rummaging around for her 17th birthday gift. He pulls out the ring with her birthstone, a topaz, set in it. "I still can't believe I gave you a promise ring."

"Why?" she asks taking it out of his hand and sliding it on next to her engagement ring. "We're actually getting married. There may have been some hiccups in the middle, but we're keeping the promise we made at 17."

"And it's such a cheap ring too," he says shaking his head. "Didn't it turn your finger green that summer?"

"I told you," she starts, reaching over to kiss his cheek. "I don't need expensive."

He gives her a little half smile before pulling out the lucky purple rabbit foot keychain he gave her when she turned 16. Little did he know at the time that it would end up on the key ring to her Harley instead of one belonging to a car.

"I should put this back with the keys to my bike," Kate laughs. "They've been boring and naked looking ever since I took it off."

"Why'd you take it off in the first place?"

"I was trying to get over you," she says softly, running her index finger across the faux fur. "Didn't need the constant reminder of what I'd lost."

He turns and places a kiss to her temple before plunging his hand back into the box. His hands wrap around the book he gave her for her 15th. The spine is even more worn down than he remembers it being when he last saw it.

"Did you still read this every November?" he asks, holding it up to her.

"I missed a few years, but yeah pretty much. I guess sometimes I needed more than your own books to tether me. It definitely goes against my whole trying to get over you method, but I've told you how I used your books to get me through my mother's death. This was just another book, another tradition, that helped."

"Kate-"

She puts her coffee mug down on the bedside table, and cups his face in her hands. "I know, babe. I know."

Rick turns his head to kiss the inside of her palm before she drops her hands away and digs out the charm bracelet he bought for her 14th.

"That was the first present I actually ever bought by myself for someone. I remember being pretty damn proud of it."

She laughs, rubbing her thumb over the four-leaf clover charm. "I always loved the sound the charms made when they bounced together as I moved my wrist."

"Oh I remember that. I used to catch you twisting your wrist back and forth just to hear them jingle. It was even more entertaining when our history teacher caught you doing it in class."

Kate nudges him with her shoulder and watches him dig back into the box to pull out the gift from her 13th. It's a rock shaped like a heart he'd found out on the beach in Long Island the summer before.

"I was so embarrassed to give you this," Rick recalls, rubbing the smooth stone between his fingers. "I didn't have money to actually get you something worthwhile, so didn't I tape this to your favorite candy bar or something?"

She nods. "Sorry, I threw away the wrapper after I ate it. But I love this rock. We didn't know what love was at 13, but I like to pretend that this birthday was the first time you ever tried to tell me that you loved me. It sat on my desk for years. Even came with me to college."

"You're such a sap," he laughs, dropping the rock into her outstretched hand.

"You're worse than I am, writer boy. Go reread your dedication for Nikki Heat."

"If you thought the first one was bad," Rick laughs. "Wait until you read what I have planned for book two."

She rolls her eyes and pulls out the tiny pot that once held a flower in it back when she was 12. She kept it alive as long as she could, but like most flowers, it didn't last. She's not entirely sure what made her keep the empty pot after the flower had died. Maybe she had intended to plant something new. But to be honest it had been tossed somewhere forgotten, and she hadn't found it until she was packing for college. The memories associated with it had instantly moved it into her keep pile and now she's happy to say that she still has it.

Rick reaches in after her and pulls out the oversized bouncy ball from her 11th. The first present he'd ever given her, and the one they probably got the most use out of as kids.

"Do you remember what our bounce and catch record was on this thing?" he asks, twirling the purple, blue, and white rubber between his fingers. "Did we ever hit 100?"

"I think we came close a few times, but I don't ever remember actually getting there."

"I do recall a couple of times of us just getting bored with it and me trying to put the game on pause, saying okay we haven't dropped it so next time we can pick right back up at 50 or wherever and you wouldn't let me."

She shrugs, starting to pile the items back into the box. "My parents were lawyers what do you expect?"

"That didn't stop you from breaking so many of their rules later in life," he accuses with a smirk.

"Yeah, but at 11 I was still a good kid."

"So what happened?" he asks, bouncing the ball off of the side of their dresser.

"We've been through this," she returns with an eye roll. "You happened."

"Me? You can't blame me. We were friends throughout this supposed 'good kid' phase of yours. I blame puberty."

She shakes her head, unwrapping the scarf from around her neck and slipping the promise ring back off of her finger. She puts them back in the shoebox too and reaches for the lid.

"Well anyway," Rick starts, taking the box from her and putting it back up in its place in the closet. "I can't believe you kept all of that."

"You trying to say that you didn't keep anything I gave you?"

"Not what I'm saying at all," he says, joining her on the bed once again. "It's just... an empty flower pot? A rock? You're not exactly the pack rat type, Kate."

"I told you," she starts, fiddling with her engagement ring. "I just wanted to remember everything. And the years I spent with you - they're my best memories."

Rick tugs on her hand so he can lace their fingers together. "They're mine too. And may we have many more years of those memories to come."

"Rick, where are you taking me?" Kate asks as she trails behind him down the Manhattan sidewalk. "You've done enough for me already today and it's getting even colder out as the sun sets."

"Hang on, we're almost there," he tells her, slowing down his pace so she catches up to him, and slipping his arm through hers when she gets to his side.

Her head falls to his shoulder as they reach a red and white striped storefront.

"Chelsea's?" she asks, reading the sign. "More food? I'm already stuffed."

"It's dessert," he tells her, nudging her forward. "Trust me on this, okay? And it's the last surprise, I promise."

The small bakery is quiet inside with only a few patrons scattered around the shop. She's surprised that the bakery is even open this late when most pride themselves on opening at the crack of dawn. The woman at the counter recognizes Rick and nods to him when she sees him before disappearing into the back.

"What did you do?" Kate asks, finally separating from his side to investigate the treats sitting in the display.

"As you know, the wedding is six months out, and I figured what day is better to try out a bunch of cakes than a birthday?"

She looks back over at him from over her shoulder. "We're doing our cake testing? Tonight?"

"We don't have to get it from here if we can't agree on one, but this place comes highly recommended by Alexis."

She smiles and curls back into his side. "Look at that. You found a way to make my birthday about both of us."

He laughs as the woman from the counter wheels out a cart with their cake samples. "I think you already did that earlier when we looked through that box of mementos."

Kate just shakes her head and moves to pick up a fork. "Okay, which one are we trying first?"

"What happened to being stuffed?" Rick teases, joining her on the other side of the cart. "But I think that white chocolate raspberry looks like a winner."

"Always room for cake," she smirks, digging into the cake of his suggestion. She pauses, a look of confusion passing across her face. "Why is this piece so hard?"

"Okay, so call it a two part final surprise."

She narrows her eyes at him before ditching to the fork to dig into the pastry with her fingers. She pulls out a jewelry box and shoots him another look.

"I missed my chance to propose with cake," Rick says, laughing at her facial expression. "Just open it."

She does, pulling out a gold and diamond bracelet with the word "always" engraved on the inside.

"Rick," she breathes.

"I know 'always' was sort of an inside joke to us when we were kids, but now I figured it meant a lot more."

Kate slips it onto her wrist, admiring the way the jewels catch the light. "It's beautiful. I love it." She moves to join him on his side of the cart and wraps him up in her arms. "Thank you. For the bracelet. For today. For everything."

He kisses the top of her head and squeezes her back. "Happy Birthday, Kate. And here's to many more with me by your side."

"There you go again, making it all about you," she laughs, shoving at him lightly as she pulls away. "Prepare for payback on your birthday."

"I'll hold you to it," he says, picking up a fork and scooping up the remnants of the white chocolate raspberry. "Now try this cake. I already think it's the perfect one."