Emily's Birthday

Emily wished she could say that it was the sun shining in through her windows that morning that had woken her up. But in all reality, it was the fact that there were no longer any arms wrapped tightly around her, and the fact that the bed was now empty beside her.

Part of her thought she'd finally woken up from the prolonged dream that was the life she'd recently been living. A life that included her finally being happy, a life of her building a future with the love of her life and the woman who made everything in life worth it.

Part of her had always been expecting it, to wake up one day all alone. To realize that it had all been a figment of her imagination, a whole life she had dreams up one night when she went to bed. That she would wake up and everything that she'd always wanted would be just slightly out of reach again, close enough to always be there in her line of vision but far enough away that she'd never reach it.

It wasn't until she heard the sound of footsteps in the hallway leading to her bedroom did she tear herself away from what she thought was her true reality. And when she saw a familiar blonde walk through the door, did she finally start to breathe again. This was her reality.

"You're already up?" Alison asked, a slight annoyance in her voice, "God, I can't do anything to

surprise you."

"I woke up when you left the bed," Emily defended herself, her heart feeling lighter with every second that Ali was in her presence.

"Well, I wanted to get up early so that way I could wake you up and surprise you with breakfast in bed but clearly that plan is already out the window," Ali flopped down on the bed with a huff, placing the tray of food in between them.

"You don't have to surprise me with anything," Emily said, moving to grab one of Alison's hands in hers, checking to make sure she was still real, "You will always be the best present I'll ever get."

Ali couldn't help the smile that broke out on her face, "Happy birthday, beautiful," she said, leaning over to press a kiss to her girlfriend's lips. It was a sweet and short, but lingering kiss, filled with promises of more to come.

"Thank you, babe," Emily said, kissing Alison back. "So," she asked when she pulled away, "I heard something about breakfast."

Alison laughed as she reached over and fed Emily a bite of the pancakes that she had made. Alison had made Emily her favorite banana chocolate chip pancakes. And little did Alison know that this birthday breakfast would soon become a yearly tradition.

They spent the morning in bed, wrapped in each other's arms, sharing bites of breakfast between kisses. A few hours and many (many) celebrations later, their house was filled to the brim with all their friends and family who had gathered to celebrate Emily's birthday.

Alison had been planning this party for weeks, much to Emily's disapproval. If it was up to Emily, she'd just have takeout and a movie, but Alison had promised herself that, no matter what, she was always going to give Emily the best birthday she could. And to Alison, that meant that Emily should always be surrounded by the people she loves and who love her even more. And Emily would never admit it, but Alison was always right.

At half past 9pm, with the guests all pleasantly full from all the wonderful food that Alison had provided and all sharing in the same slight buzz of a few drinks in their system, Ali decided it was time to make toasts. Of course, she had Emily's mom go first, it was partly her day as well. Then came Hanna, Aria, and Spencer's toasts, which had all five the girls tearing up like they always did.

And before Alison knew it, it was her turn to get up in front of the small crowd and say her piece.

"Firstly," she started, "I wanted to thank you all for coming here tonight to help me in celebrating our beautiful Emily's birthday. I am so unbelievably thankful that she has all these amazing people around her at all times, who love and care for her unconditionally and in all the ways she deserves to be loved."

Alison paused briefly before continuing.

"I made a promise to myself a long time ago, that I would stop hiding. That I would stand up, and I would see myself for who I was. But I couldn't have done any of that, if it wasn't for the constant love and support of you, Emily. You have always loved me, even when I was at my absolute worst. And to this day, I still don't understand how you did. But I am thankful for it everyday because being able to wake up next to you everyday is a dream come true. You make me a better person everyday and a life without you is never one that I want to be apart of. So happy birthday, babe. I love you more than anything and I cannot wait to spend the rest of my life loving you."

Emily made her way over to Alison and kissed her soundly, the world becoming a blur around them. She whispered "I love you" against Alison's lips as she kissed her once again.

Another few hours had passed and soon, the guests were starting to wean out. Emily was making her rounds and saying her goodbyes when Emily's mom, Pam had found Alison in the dining room

cleaning up some plates.

"Hi," Alison said brightly, "are you heading out too?"

"In a few minutes. Can I help you with anything, sweetie?" Pam asked.

"No, I'm okay. I think I'm just gonna leave these for tomorrow," Ali said, linking arms with Pam and escorting her to the front door.

"I just wanted to say thank you, Alison. For everything. This party tonight was beautiful."

"I just want to make sure she always knows how loved she is," Alison said, tears prickling the edges of her eyes.

"And it is because of that that I know you're the one for her."

"I promised you that I'll always be here for her. I'm not going anywhere."

"I know, and I couldn't have picked a better person to love her than you," Pam said as she enveloped Alison in a hug,

"Thank you," Alison said as she pulled away, "for giving her to me."

"It was my pleasure," Pam said as Emily came up behind her to say goodbye.

Another hour later, they'd made it to their bedroom, discarded clothes everywhere. They laid wrapped up in each other's arms, a comfortable silence around them.

"Thank you," Emily spoke up.

"For what?" Alison asked as she drew small patterns on Emily's shoulder.

"For being my wildest dream. And for making it come true."

Alison pulled Emily to her once more, the promises of a long and happy life all floating in the air around them.