Nesta's birthday had gone unremarked for the past two years, but Cassian was determined not to let it happen a third time. He hadn't even known when her birthday was until a few weeks ago when Feyre mentioned it. It was fitting, he supposed, for her birthday to land at the stroke of midnight on the Spring Equinox. Unpredictable, wild, powerful, the time when day and night were equal, when one small action could tip the balance, yes, it was fitting that his Nesta held that very power.

He'd made sure she hadn't seen him slip out of training this morning when they were barely into their warm-up. If she noticed, Azriel would cover for him, Cassian didn't care what exactly he said, just that Nesta didn't find him. He wasn't sure what exactly it was that led him here, to this forest abandoned workshop. He'd searched for the right wood, finally finding it a week ago, ebony, a deep rich brown with red undertones, lighter shades running through the wood.
It was almost finished, and just in time, tomorrow he was going to make sure that Nesta knew that she was important, the doubt in her eyes each time Cassian tried to convince her of that fact was proof enough that she needed this. Still, he wanted to give her his present first, the others could come later, after his surprise breakfast in bed.

The carving depicted Nesta, Gwyn and Emerie standing together, grinning in triumph as the passed through Blood Rite qualifier. Cassian was just finishing off the details of their leathers when Azriel stride in,

"I told her that Rhys wanted to run through one of his recent reports from Kier about the Darkbringers with you, if she asks, nothing's wrong, and he wanted to know how numbers compared to the legion," Cassian merely grunted in response, and Azriel leaned over to see the carving,

"Did you do that from scratch?" Another grunt, and Azriel took the hint, finding a chair to wait for Cassian to finish before bothering him again.

Cassian smoothed the wood over, polishing it so that he could do a final check, and held back a snarl when Azriel plucked it from his hand,

"How come I never knew you could do this?" He asked, whistling in appreciation at the near perfect rendition of the three females,

"You like it then?"

"Yes, and" he added before Cassian could ask, "Nesta will love it," Cassian ran a thumb over the carving again,

"I hope so."

Nesta padded out of the bedroom, following Cassian towards their living room and raised an eyebrow when he gestured for her to sit down. He didn't respond to the silent question, but disappeared behind the new bookshelf, reappearing moments later with something in his hand, Nesta couldn't see what.

"Happy Birthday, sweetheart," he murmured, and tears sprang to her eyes at the sight of the wood carving in her hands. She smiled,

"Thank you," she whispered, he'd spent hours and hours on this, for her, because he knew what it would mean to her.

"I wanted it to be special, your first birthday since we were mated," Nesta couldn't decide exactly what it was, his soft tone, the love shining through every word, the care he'd taken for her present, but the next thing she knew, tears were slipping down her face. She gingerly set the carving on the coffee table and crawled into Cassian's lap, at some point, he had become her safe place, her comfort, her home, and even now, she felt the need to be close to him. She needed that reassurance that this was real, not some fever dream, that she wasn't about the wake up in that dirty apartment again. This was real, he was real, she deserved this, she deserved to be cared for, cherished. Cassian dropped a kiss atop her head and she sighed happily, forever, she had forever to enjoy this feeling of being in his arms, the safety of having him close, forever.

"What did I do to deserve you?" She whispered, "It's perfect, you're perfect."