O: Opportunity

Delbert never forgot their anniversary. He set about a million alarms, wrote it on every single calendar on the house, and counted down the days… until the morning of.

He fell out of bed rather suddenly, landing on his face, tangled in the sheets. After a few minutes of struggling, Delbert groaned and hoisted himself back up on the bed, his mind only half alert. Through the haze in his mind, he could tell Amelia was sitting on her side of the bed, staring at him. She never slept in and never simply lounged in bed… unless he gave her reason to. It was very odd that she was still in her pajamas.

"Good morning, love…" she smiled, chuckling softly. "Are you alright?"

"I...I'm fine." He yawned, falling face-first back into bed, smiling as he watched her settle next to him.

"Delbert, love… I've let you sleep an extra hour and a half…" she whispered, a gentle smile on her lips.

"And I do appreciate it…" he yawned, closing his eyes.

She was quiet for a while, and he sighed. He knew what her silence meant.

"Alright, alright I'm getting up…" He sighed, forcing himself to get up. "You know, you could have gotten up without me…"

He yawned, picking up the permanent marker on the nightstand and moving to the calendar on the wall to mark off the last day before their anniversary. Amelia smirked, wrapping her arms around him from behind, running her fingers through his fur.

"Perhaps I wanted to surprise you for once."

"As if you don't surprise me on a regular basis…" he chuckled, carelessly marking off the day on the calendar.

Amelia let out a squeal when he grabbed her and spun her in his arms, effectively pinning her between himself and the wall. The calendar made a light crunching sound as her back landed against it.

"Delbert...!" she whined, a bit uncharacteristically.

"Hm?" he grinned, placing a soft kiss on the tip of her nose.

Delbert had to admit, his confidence had grown significantly since he'd married this stubborn Felid captain. Three years ago, he would have never imagined being capable of even talking to a woman like Amelia, much less playfully pinning her. But he definitely didn't have a problem with his newfound confidence, and he knew she didn't either.

Delbert almost couldn't help himself when he ran his eyes over her face and saw the barely contained smirk on her lips. The next thing she knew, he was nuzzling her neck, relishing in the giggles and other various sounds she made. Lazily, he noticed the calendar behind her and looked at it over her shoulder, reading the little events as he went. Birthdays… Appointments… Halloween in a week or so...

He froze, suddenly aware of the writing on the day he had just crossed off.

"OCTOBER 22ND: 3RD ANNIVERSARY"

It was today. It was today, not tomorrow… and he hadn't noticed. He'd been right on the mark in past years… How could he have forgotten? Every other event in October had been meticulously marked and taken care of, there was no way he could have suddenly forgotten the exact date that he married to love of his life. Unless… How hard had he slept last night? What dreams had he had that caused him to forget? Perhaps his fall out of bed had jarred his mind. Maybe he had a concussion.

Amelia noticed the way he tensed against her, and leaned back to look him squarely in the eyes. She raised an eyebrow, silently crossing her arms as he took a step back from her. After three years of marriage, she had learned to read the 'children's book' that was her Delbert. But before she could ask what was the matter, he withdrew and took her hand.

"L-Let's...Let's go downstairs, hm?" he chuckled awkwardly.

Amelia opened her mouth to protest, but sighed and rolled her eyes as he led her out of the bedroom and down to the kitchen.

She knew it was their anniversary, mostly because Delbert wouldn't have let her forget it. It was quite impossible to forget something that was plastered on every calendar, written on multiple sticky notes in his observatory, and mentioned at some point during the day in the weeks leading up to it. Previous anniversaries had started with Delbert getting up long before her to serve her breakfast in bed, and so far, his unusual lack of excitement let her know he had more than likely forgotten.

"You've forgotten, haven't you?" she said softly when they reached the kitchen, a playful smirk on her face.

Delbert coughed uncomfortably, throwing his suddenly sweaty palms behind his back. He laughed stiffly, shrugging as he made his way to the stove, struggling to calmly set the pots and pans on it.

"O-Of course I didn't fo-forget! I always remember our...our anniversary." he turned back to her, forcing a smile.

"Yes, in past years you haven't forgotten." she tapped her chin thoughtfully as she leaned against the counter next to him, her smirk growing. "But your behavior has been more than a bit off this morning, leading me to the conclusion that, despite the measures you've taken, you have indeed forgotten that our 3rd wedding anniversary is today. Am I correct in assuming this?"

Delbert blinked and stared at her, his mind struggling to find something to say.

He could say he hadn't slept well the night before. But she would've known that was a lie, he'd fallen asleep before she had, and knowing how lightly she slept, any tossing and turning on his part would have woken her during the night and she would have brought it up already.

He could say he had a special surprise planned and that was why he was acting so strangely. But he had literally no time to throw something together, and if he made a frantic call to Sarah, Amelia would somehow figure out what was going on.

He sighed, his features relaxing as he realized that he couldn't lie to the gorgeous woman standing next to him... The truth was his only option.

"I'm...I'm sorry, Amelia. I r-really planned on...making today special for us. But I...I suppose I thought I had more time than I actually did…" he chuckled uncomfortably. "I actually t-thought it was t-tomorrow."

She was quiet for a moment, then leaned over and kissed him softly.

"There. That wasn't so hard, now was it? Now…" she crossed her arms, in mock seriousness. "It seems we have an dilemma."

"I-Indeed…" he said quietly, feeling a bit guilty.

"I suppose we will have to celebrate a little differently this year." she smirked, raising an eyebrow at him.

"D-Differently…?" he blushed heavily as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Yes. Not that I didn't enjoy the way we've celebrated in past years." she smiled, reaching up to gently scratch him behind the ear.

Delbert hummed with pleasure as she scratched, wrapping his arms around her middle. She was right. True, his original plans for their special day had been effectively ruined, but was that a bad thing?

Staring into the deep emerald eyes of his loving wife, seeing the playful smirk on her lips...he decided it was not. Dropping a soft kiss on her forehead, he decided he was not going to miss this golden opportunity to show Captain Amelia Doppler just how much he loved her.

A/N: Yet another mess XD But this one was fun to write, a little difficult because I changed the word halfway through… I hope it's still pretty good. I'm trying my darnedest to get this thing finished before the new year. Review please! Suggestions are always welcome!