It had been a year since Fareeha had built up the courage to ask Angela on a date. A year since she decided potentially embarrassing herself was infinitely better than never being sure as to whether she was genuinely interested in her.

It had been the happiest year of her life. She'd never felt so in love, so loved before, and it was that seemingly endless pit of love for Angela that made her sit and eat the lovingly prepared breakfast-in-bed that her girlfriend had made for her.

As it turned out, years of eating ready-made meals and snack food did not make for a good cook, and Fareeha had spent more than a few days off over the past year trying to teach her how to prepare real food that was actually edible.

Today was the day that Angela had rose early and attempted to make a feast herself. The plate looked nice enough; the waffles were golden, the toast was brown, the eggs resembled eggs, it was just when Fareeha took the first bite did she realise that looking good and tasting good were two entirely different things.

Still, she soldiered on, determined to finish something that the love of her life had made her. At least until the fork was removed from her hand and the other woman helped herself to some of the food. She grimaced as she began to chew, making to grab a tissue so she could spit the food out.

"I'm sorry." She wiped her mouth after she spoke. "You didn't have to eat it if it tasted that bad."

Fareeha looked down at the plate before looking back at Angela. "You tried to cook something for me, without any help! I wanted to at least try and eat it." She moved the tray from her lap, balancing it on the bedside table so that she could pull Angela into her lap and run her hand through her hair.

Angela sighed and leaned into her touch, resting her head on her shoulder. Fareeha smirked as she noticed her glaring at the tray as though the breakfast she had made had personally wronged her. She nuzzled her head into her neck and kissed the flesh there. She could feel Angela relax at her touch and as much as she would have loved to have just spent the morning cuddling with her in bed, she was still hungry, and she doubted her girlfriend had had her own breakfast yet.

"You know, ya amar, McDonald's is only a five-minute drive away, and I know how much you love their breakfast menu." Angela's eyes lit up at the suggestion, and she bounced from Fareeha's lap to look at herself in the mirror and make herself more presentable before offering to drive them as an apology for her cooking.

Fareeha just smiled at her eagerness as she went to go and get ready, stopping just short of entering the bathroom. "Oh, and Angela? Happy anniversary."

The other woman smiled and glanced at her reflection in the mirror. "Happy anniversary, Fareeha."

Even after driving them both to the fast food restaurant, Angela still felt as though she needed to apologise for almost poisoning her girlfriend with her 'cooking'.

"Fareeha, just let me pay. It's the least I can do." She begged as the crew member tapped the screen on the register to calculate the grand total of their pancakes and double sausage mcmuffin meal, which was £15. The more she asked though, the more Fareeha refused to let her, but Angela held her position. She would not back down. She would pay, even if it-

"Hey, Angela, isn't that Jesse?" Fareeha pointed out the window behind her.

"Where?" She followed her finger, but she couldn't see anyone she recognised outside, much less a literal cowboy. She looked back just in time to see Fareeha tap her card against the scanner, a smug grin on her face. Angela pressed her face into her hands. "I can't believe I fell for that."

The younger woman just laughed and patted her on the shoulders, giving her a quick peck on the cheek. "You find a seat, I'll bring the food, okay?"

Angela grumbled a response and skulked off to a table in the corner of the establishment. She continued to glare at her girlfriend from her seat, the other woman just smiling and waving at her while she waited for the food. She shook her head and chuckled. How can I possibly even pretend to be mad at that dork?

After a few more minutes of waiting, Fareeha finally returned with the food. She'd explained the reason for the wait was because they had a trainee who was still getting used to the process. She had thanked them and made sure to give a disapproving stare at the manager who was clearly waiting to chew the poor kid out for being too slow.

"How heroic of you." Angela commented as she sipped at her mocha, knowing she would've done the very same. She was eyeing her hash brown as though it was a piece of gold, but she'd been burned before and wasn't about to subject herself to a week of the roof of her mouth being swollen. Of course, she had already burned her tongue on her drink instead, but she was doing well to pretend she had done no such thing.

Fareeha just responded by ripping off the end of the wrapper for the straw she had picked up and blowing the remaining paper off in Angela's direction, the wrapper hitting her square in the forehead. She giggled as she stabbed the straw through the lid of her milkshake.

"Why am I even with you?" Angela sighed, exasperated.

There was a glint in Fareeha's eyes and she cut up her pancakes with the flimsy plastic cutlery. "Because you're madly in love with me?"

Angela shrugged and hummed in response. She was right, she was in love with her, more so than she ever had been with anyone she'd previously been with. As big as a goof as Fareeha could be, Angela had to admit that she was incredibly cute about it.

Once they'd finished up their breakfast, they were stuck with the debate of what to do for the rest of their anniversary. They had already decided a few weeks ago to go for dinner together in the evening, but they hadn't planned what to do in the hours in between. Neither of them had to work today and after much deliberation, Fareeha came up with the idea to visit Alameda Gardens.

Once they arrived, they walked, hand-in-hand, around the botanical gardens, enjoying the sights, sounds and each other's company. Angela was rambling on about something to do with her nanotechnology, and while Fareeha couldn't even pretend to understand a word she was saying, she still found it endearing to hear the doctor talk so passionately about her work.

They were about to turn down the pathway when they noticed that area of the gardens had been cut off. Squinting, Fareeha could make out a woman in white and a man in a tuxedo, a gathering of equally well-dressed people behind them. She turned to look at her girlfriend who sighed before smiling at the happy couple, tugging at Fareeha's hand and pulling them off in a different direction, now remaining silent as they walked.

It was only when they managed to find a large pond and sit down on the wall nearby did Angela speak again.

"Would you want to do that?" Her voice was low, barely above a whisper.

"Do what?" Fareeha rested a hand on the other woman's lower back, rubbing small circles into it. She knew full well what Angela was referring to, but she wanted to hear it from her properly.

"You know…" Angela gestured back behind them, in the general direction of the wedding that was currently happening. "Get married?"

The blush on her pale face was hard to miss, as was the hope and anxiety in her voice. Fareeha thought on her answer for a second, a second that was too long, given the way Angela's face began to drop. The Egyptian hurried to answer at the sight, not fully thinking through how her response would be taken before the words left her mouth. "I don't know."

"Oh."

Fareeha could see the way Angela's heart dropped, and her own followed suit at the sight. "I mean, I never really thought about getting married and pretty much decided that it probably wouldn't be for me anyway but I mean if you want to then I wouldn't say no. In fact, in the future, I'd say yes in every language I know just because of how much I'd mean yes but not yet because we've only been together a-"

Angela leaned forward and kissed her to silence her. "I didn't mean now. I just wanted to know for future reference." Her voice was lighter now, the anxiety of before gone. She kissed her again, this time deeper as her hand cupped her face and Fareeha felt her thumb tracing over her tattoo.

When they broke apart, Fareeha felt the need to summarise what she was attempting to say. "The point is I love you, Angela, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you, but I don't want to make any huge commitments this early on."

"I can understand that, and for the record, I feel the same way, liebe."

They silently decided to not bring up the marriage talk again for a long time.

They'd barely made it to the wine bar in time for the reservation after the hours they lost in the garden talking. After Angela had successfully died and been resurrected by the whole 'Do you want to get married?' thing, they'd discussed a random selection of future theoretical events. Nothing too intense, just about whether they should move out and what type of house they'd like and potential future vacations.

As they were led to their table, the waiter grumbled about how they were about to cancel their reservation for a different couple that had been waiting for half an hour. Angela pretended not to hear him and happily took her seat across from Fareeha.

They both perused the menus they were given, but still selected the same meals they had every time they came here: Spaghetti and meatballs for Angela, and a vegetarian burger for Fareeha. It was the same anywhere they ate, at least since she'd let Fareeha convince her to try koshari whilst they were on a mission in Egypt. That taught her to never take culinary suggestions from the Egyptian ever again, especially since all she did was laugh at her reaction (Angela had to admit that, in hindsight, it was delicious and her reaction hilarious, but she was never going to tell Fareeha that).

When their plates were set in front of them, Fareeha smirked at Angela. Against her better judgement, she asked what she could possibly be smirking at.

"Oh, I was just thinking about how it's been a whole year since I first saw your vacuum impression." Fareeha giggled as she made a start at her food, letting out a yelp when Angela kicked her under the table. "That wasn't very nice, ya amar."

"Because what you said was so polite." Angela did her best to appear disinterested as she began to dig into her food. "Not that it matters, I'll make you make up for it later, and if you're a good girl, I might do something to show you I forgive you." She punctuated her last word with a dangerous grin, knowing she'd successfully shut the younger woman up with the way her eyes almost appeared to bulge out of her head at the threat.

For once, Fareeha almost matched Angela for speed in eating, clearly suddenly more intent on getting out of there and back to base; specifically, their room. Angela paid the bill as Fareeha went to wait outside.

They still had their pleasant stroll home and bantered back and forth. It was one of Angela's favourite things about their relationship, the fact they could joke around each other so easily, but even the light-hearted teasing didn't stop them skilfully avoiding everyone in the base that could potentially have slowed them down in their journey to their room, slamming the door shut once they reached their destination.

Fareeha happily allowed herself to be pulled into Angela's arms once she returned to the bed from the shower. She had considered throwing on a pair of pyjama's, but seeing as Angela hadn't bothered, she didn't see the point.

After a day of full activity (and a night of even more fun activity), she was already feeling tired, but Angela's steady heartbeat into her ear was lulling her closer to sleep. The slowing breathing above her was a good indication that her girlfriend wasn't far off herself.

She thought Angela had fallen asleep until she spoke up. "Happy anniversary. I love you, Fareeha."

"Happy anniversary. I love you too, Angela."

A/N: and with that we are halfway through!