Pidge woke up to a wolf laying on her. "Kosmos..." She muttered sleepily, sitting up. He barked at her. "Okay, okay! I'm awake!"

Pidge groggily looked around. The first thing she saw was a clear vase on one of her shelves, full of the blue flowers from the night before. Lance kept his promise. She pulled herself out of bed.

Fighting back lightheadedness, she glanced around for her brother's glasses and put them on before quickly changing into her everyday clothes. As she brushed her hair, she noticed how long it had gotten. It wasn't super long, but just long enough to do a short braid in the back. Pidge decided to stick it in a small ponytail for the day.

Pidge then snagged her laptop and did a quick sweep of the castle's digital stability, a task she did every morning and night since the incident with Sendak a few years back when she was just a newbie. As soon as she finished, Kosmos started tugging on her sleeve. Pidge put her computer away and frowned at the space wolf. "What do you want?"

She was answered with Kosmos teleporting her to her door. "Okay, fine, I'll go." She opened the door and followed Kosmos out into the hall where a green string was trailing down the hall with a note that said, "Follow Me".

Curious, Pidge picked up the string, not noticing Kosmos running the opposite direction. Pidge followed the string down lit and unlit halls, all throughout the castle, lounge, training room, dining room, bridge, and countless other rooms, including a shortcut she didn't know about.

Sometimes the string would require her to climb up onto something high or use her bayard to jump across a hole. In the training room, someone had made a path with the string through the invisible maze.

Pidge's heart was racing faster and faster as she got more excited. Finally, she found herself at the door to the green lion's hangar, the string stopping at long last. Muffled yelps were coming from behind it, and lots of stifled laughter and shushing.

Pidge opened the door.

The room was pitch black.

Pidge flipped the light switch on and had to take a moment to register.

The first thing she saw was Lance pinned on the floor by Kosmos, and Keith just bursting out laughing. Then she noticed the surprise party.

The first thing she did was ask, "Who took the time to thread that string through the maze?"

"Well, we had some help from-" Hunk stopped himself. "Almost ruined the other surprise, whoops!"

The party was great. The cake suspiciously had a hint of ash in the taste, but she ignored that. When gift opening came around, Pidge noticed the others exchanging looks. The first few were pretty normal, some socks, a sweater, lens wipes (Pidge gave kudos to whoever sent those) and other miscellaneous things, including comfy slippers from Lance. Then, Lance spoke. "There is one last gift, Pidge. But you'll have to find it." He fiddled with his jacket. "All of us took forever to make it, with multiple failed tries, about fifty hundred manuals, and some spare parts we sorta... Borrowed from your 'collection'."

Pidge met his eyes. "Do I get a clue?"

"Well," Luna said, "A certain someone has it. But they're not one of us. They have a hiding place in this room."

Pidge's brain started working. That meant she hadn't seen the person yet today. But if they were hiding in the room, then they'd have to be in the Green Lion. But the only other person able to get in was...

Pidge jumped up and ran over to Green. Green dipped her head and opened her jaw to reveal someone she knew very well, holding something she thought she'd lost a long time ago.

Best birthday gift ever.