Fareeha was in the middle of a strange dream involving Winston and a bowl of spaghetti when she was woken up by something bouncing on the bed.

"Wake up, Fareeha." The person called as they shook her in an attempt to rouse her.

Reluctantly, she cracked one eye open and was greeted by the sight of her girlfriend looming over her. "What do you want?" She asked, none too happy to have been woken from such an…interesting dream.

"To give you your card and present! It's your birthday today, remember?" The blonde woman reached behind her to grab the card and present, thrusting them both into Fareeha's hands as she groggily sat up.

"Oh right, I'm 35 now."

"Yep, you are officially an old lady." Angela teased as Fareeha opened the envelope, pausing as the statement sunk in.

"…you are 40." She glanced at Angela, who simply shrugged before gesturing for Fareeha to continue opening the card. The front of it was rather generic, but when she read the inside, Fareeha had a hard time holding back tears.

To Fareeha

Wow, I can't believe you're 35! You are so old! (Although I'm sure you'll remind me I'm 5 years older.). I love you so so much, and you mean everything to me, even after 3 years of dating.
Happy Birthday, schatz

Love you always,

Angela.

Below her name, Angela had put more kisses than Fareeha could be bothered to count, but she was certain she would match the amount later. She placed the card on her bedside table and wrapped Angela in a warm hug, nuzzling into her neck and saying her thanks.

She let go and turned her attention to the small present she had also been given and began to unwrap it, the task proving difficult as someone had apparently decided nothing less than an entire roll of tape should be used when wrapping a gift. Eventually, the dark blue paper gave way and Fareeha's heart found its way into her throat.

What the paper concealed was a small, velvet box. She looked over at Angela who simply smiled at her while she opened it with shaking hands, hoping beyond hope that her guess of what was inside was wrong.

When she saw pendant of two birds, one enamelled in blue with the other one in yellow, she was equal parts elated and disappointed that it wasn't a ring.

"Do you like it?" Angela asked, her smile dropping from her face when Fareeha didn't do anything other than stare at the jewellery.

The Egyptian quickly snapped out of it, pulling the necklace from the box and undoing the clasp. "I love it, Angela." She tried to put it on, the swiss woman shuffling behind her to help do up the necklace when Fareeha started struggling. "Honestly, I thought you were asking me to marry you or something.". Fareeha bit her tongue hard enough to bleed the moment the words came out of her mouth.

"Yes, well I wasn't." Angela's voice was quiet. "Not yet, anyway."

It was early afternoon when Fareeha ventured over to the base to visit everyone, having spent the entire morning at home with Angela. When she was younger, she hated not living her birthday to the full, but as she got older and started working with the army, Helix Security and eventually Overwatch, she found that hiding for half the day meant that when she did emerge, less people were around to pounce on her.

As such, when she entered the common room, she was only greeted by three people: Lena, Emily and Amélie.

"Happy birthday, luv!" Lena chirped as she blinked over to the kettle to make Fareeha a drink while the Egyptian herself sat across from the brit's girlfriend's, the other two women wishing her the same before she thanked the three of them.

Lena blinked back with Fareeha's tea and placed it in front of her. "You have a stack of cards on the coffee table." She gestured at the neat pile. "But you aren't allowed to open them until the party later!".

Fareeha smiled as she sipped at her tea. She wasn't one for parties, but when she said she wasn't really planning on having one, everyone on the base had decided to throw her a surprise party. The only reason it was no longer a surprise was because of the time Angela came home exhausted and mumbled something about it.

As much as Fareeha had said she'd pretend she never heard it, the Swiss woman still put herself in the line of fire by telling everyone that she had accidently told her.

"So…" Amélie leaned forward and rested her chin on her hand. "Have you asked her yet?"

"Do you think I would've come to the base if I had?" Fareeha looked off to the side, staring at the floor. "I decided last night that I'll wait until the party is underway. I'll take her outside, ask, and then we'll either both come back in ecstatic, or Angela will come back in while I run off to Antarctica to live with the penguins."

Emily shook her head, reaching out to cup her hands over Fareeha's, the contact tearing her gaze from the floor and into Emily's green eyes as she spoke with sincerity. "You won't have to run off. I'm sure she'll say yes. Everyone is."

Emily rapidly took her hands back at the sound of the door opening, Fareeha turning to see Angela stumbling in with her arms full of party supplies. She waddled over to the table with them and went to place them down. Obviously, she saw the card stack and threw them on the sofa instead before sitting at the kitchen island next to Fareeha.

"Afternoon." She smiled. "I see you're looking well Amélie. Have you been taking your medication?"

"I have. I'll need to collect some more next week."

Angela clapped her hands together. "Excellent. I'll have to do a physical – don't scowl, it's for your own good- but if everything is going well, I might be able to lower your dosage." She smiled at the still ever so slightly tinted blue woman before she turned to look at Fareeha. "And it's good to see you again too, schatz. Now, if you could please leave the room, we have to decorate. I think your mother wants you."

"And I love you too, Angela." She stood, put her now empty mug in the dishwasher and made to leave, bidding the other three women goodbyes.

As it turned out, it wasn't just Ana who wanted to see Fareeha, but Sam, her father, as well.

"'Ree, it's good to see you. You've really grown!" Sam said.

"It's good to see you too, Dad." Fareeha wanted to hug him, but video calling technology could only allow a person to do so much.

"So how is my beautiful daughter on her birthday?"

"I'm fine, Dad. I'm having a great day so far. It's so good to talk to you." She smiled, realising only now how much she missed hearing his voice.

Sam leaned back in his chair, clasping his hands together. "I'm glad to hear that. And how is your still beautiful mother doing?"

Ana chuckled next to Fareeha on the sofa, closing her eye as she shook her head. "You aren't winning me back that easily, Sam, but I'm doing okay." She opened her eye to look at Fareeha and smirk. "Our daughter is lying, by the way. She's a nervous wreck, but she doesn't want anyone to know."

"Mum!"

"Ah, is it to do with that Angela woman? She's written to me about her a lot, and if they're as close as they seem, I can guess why."

"Dad!"

Not caring about the fact Fareeha was now a beacon of embarrassment, Ana continued to talk as if she wasn't there. "You guess correctly. Today's the big day, isn't it, Fareeha?"

The younger woman buried her face in her hands. "Please stop."

She looked up at the screen when her father began to laugh. "We're only teasing, 'Ree, your mother already told me about your plan and for what it's worth, I'm happy for you."

Fareeha felt the blush on her face begin to tone it down and as much as she wanted to berate her mother, she knew that she could always do that later. "Thanks Dad, that means a lot to hear.".

The horrendous embarrassment gave way after that, and the conversation very quickly became one revolving around catching up, with Sam apologising about not being there but promising that he would come to see her soon.

To make up for it, he left briefly only to return with a cupcake that had a single, lit candle placed in the centre. He sang Happy Birthday to her, Ana joining in as well, before blowing the candle out for her.

When the call ended, as much as Fareeha found herself missing her father more, she felt infinitely better having spoken to him.

The evening rolled around far too quickly after that. Fareeha had visited multiple friends during the day, and it was the same with all of them: Wish her happy birthday, then immediately ask her about her plan to propose later.

She'd ran into Angela a few times, but hadn't seen her much in the final hour leading up to the party, mostly because the Egyptian had spent the majority of that time in the bathroom, wetting her face and giving herself a pep talk in the mirror.

Even with everyone assuring her that Angela would 100% say yes, she was still worried that she'd be left heartbroken and £500 out on a ring that she'd be stuck with.

"You will be fine. All you have to do is get down on one knee, say "Angela, will you marry me?", put the ring on her finger when she says yes then bam, engaged." She told herself, putting as much confidence in her voice as possible, holding eye contact with her reflection for a full 5 seconds before she turned to the side and placed a hand on her forehead. "But what if she says no? Then I'll look like a needy idiot and I'll have to leave. Ya Allah, this is worse than when I asked her on a date!"

She frantically began pacing the room, slowly regretting that she ever told anyone about her plans. If she'd never said anything, she could let today pass by and no one would be none the wiser, but she had told people and now she felt obligated to go through with it.

Her panicking was cut short when the bathroom door opened, a rather shaken looking Angela walking in then stopping when she saw Fareeha. Instantly, Fareeha's girlfriend instincts took over and she asked her if she was alright.

"I'm fine, Fareeha. I uh…tripped! Yes, I tripped on the way to the bathroom and nearly fell. You know what that moment of potentially falling feels like ha." Angela explained. In any other situation, Fareeha wouldn't have bought it, but she was far too nervous to question Angela over her blatant lie. "Everyone's waiting for you, you should go to the common room."

As much as Fareeha would normally have wanted to stay and chat for as long as possible, being in Angela's presence was enough to make the stress significantly worse and so she slowly left the bathroom and all but sprinted towards the common room, trying to create as much distance between her and Angela as possible.

She almost ended up sprinting into the door, only just having the presence of mind to open it before she ran face first into it. She'd barely taken a step into the room when she was bombarded by all her friends saying, "Happy birthday!" at once.

Fareeha knew she was meant to react, but all she could do was stand there like a deer in headlights, at least until Aleks walked over and wrapped her in a hug so strong she was certain she could feel her bones creaking from the pressure.

As the Russian let go, she leaned in to whisper in Fareeha's ear. "Stop worrying, everything will be fine.". She patted her on the back and gently pushed her towards the rest of the party goers before she left the room, Mei close behind her.

Fareeha focused on the now, relying on it to help her get through thanking everyone for coming. The more people she spoke to, the calmer she felt, especially when she stopped for a small talk with Satya, the Indian woman having one of the most calming influences Fareeha had ever known.

She ended up feeling suitably relaxed when Aleks and Mei finally returned with Angela in tow. In order to keep herself from freaking out again, she greeted her girlfriend and immediately went to tackling the cards that had been piling up since yesterday.

Some of them were goofy, some of them were sweet, some were a combination of the two, but each one made Fareeha smile and feel loved by her friends. Unfortunately, she got to the end of the pile far too quickly, but instead of allowing the stress to overcome her again, she steeled herself and stood, taking long strides over to Angela who stood across the table from Fareeha.

"Angela, can I talk to you outside for a minute?" She grabbed her hand the moment the blonde woman nodded, pleasantly surprised that her hand didn't feel as cold and clammy in Angela's as she had expected to.

She led her through the glass doors and walked her to the cliff that overlooked the ocean, holding both of her hands as she turned to face her, willing herself to stop shaking.

Fareeha was about to open her mouth when Angela spoke before her. "Fareeha, I have something I wanted to give you."

The Egyptian woman let go of her hands, watching as Angela went to reach into her jackets pocket. As much as Fareeha wanted to see what it was, she quickly placed a hand on her upper arm. "Wait, I have something I wanted to give you first."

Angela stopped all her movement, eyes meeting Fareeha's as she slowly pulled her hand from her pocket, not having removed whatever Fareeha's gift was. "Me? But it's your birthday, and I really really want to give you this.".

Fareeha could feel her stomach doing summersaults, her knees getting weak. As much as she had dreamed of proposing to Angela, she really wanted this over and done with. "Okay, here's the plan. We close our eyes, hold out the present, count to three, then open our eyes.".

Angela nodded before she closed her eyes, Fareeha taking that as her queue to close her own and get on one knee and grab the ring box from her pocket, grimacing at how much she could hear her clothes shuffling against themselves.

"Ready?" She asked.

"Ready." Angela replied quietly.

"3…2…1..."

When Fareeha opened her eyes, she expected to be looking up at Angela, not still eye level with her.

And then she saw why.

The Swiss woman was also on one knee, her arms outstretched in front of her. In her hands was a jewellery box that contained a single ring adorned with yellow and blue topaz, much like the one in Fareeha's hands.

They both stared at the rings and then each other, tears and grins forming as they gently removed the rings from each box and placed it on each other's ring fingers.

They had their answer.