Seth knew exactly what they were doing. No matter how much he had begged them not to, they were going to throw him a birthday party.

A simple note he had found in the kitchen was one thing that made him suspicious immediately. Vanessa had written it, asking him to stop by to pick up the kids at the shop. There was nothing unusual about that, except for one thing. It was Sunday, the only day of the week Eeylops was closed. And it certainly looked like it from outside in the alley.

“Hello? Is anybody here?” Seth asked, now standing in the front of the shop with his wand lit. Other than the owls hooting in their cages, there was no response. All that could be seen were a bunch of owls, cages, and shelves of owl products. That was when his eyes fell upon the door of the back room. It was cracked open a few inches. Curious, Seth slowly stepped toward it. “Vanessa? … Grace? … Frankie?”

Sitting on his mother’s comfy lap, Frankie heard a voice come from somewhere inside the pretty birdie shop. He knew that voice. Frankie randomly moved his head around as he sucked on his little, pudgy thumb, trying to match the familiar voice with a face that he knew. The small three-month old baby was having a difficult time figuring out whose voice it was in the dark. It would have been so much easier if the lights were on.

Then the voice came again, this time a bit louder and clearer. And then he heard his name. Frankie quickly pulled his thumb out of his mouth and a huge smile, though no one could see it, appeared on his face. He then waved his arms about and hopped around on his mother’s lap.

“GAH!” he squealed excitedly. Papa was here!

Eep. Prehaps it was kind of bad that she was feeling a little excited, considering that he didn't even want a birthday party. But really, she was doing it more for their kids than for him, so it was good. Vannie rocked Frankie gently in her arms, as she watched her little girl play with a unicorn on the floor. Seth would be here soon. Soo....It was all going to be exciting.

The small woman held a finger to her mouth as she heard Seth talking in the other room. She wanted Gracie to be quite for a few more seconds, so Seth could work it out. Apparently Frankie had worked out who it was as well, for he looked excited. She beamed at her little boy, nodding. "Daddy's here." And boy did that kid knew it. Because well if Vannie hadn't been holding onto him carefully, he probably would've been on the floor.


Oooh. Gracie knew that voice. It was her daddy's voice. She dropped the pink uniforn she was holding, and looked up at mummy. Waiit. She couldn't go? The little girl pouted at her mother. She wanted to go see daddy! Grace watched her Mother carefully, waiting till her little brother distracted her, and then she was going to go running to Daddy. Hehe. Gracie was rather naughty like that. But she knew that her mother wouldn't care, it wasn't as if Seth would let her run out of the shop.

Oooh. There. Vannie looks distracted now. Gracie pushed up off the floor, onto her feet, and toddled towards the other room. "Daddy!" She giggled, waving her arms around. Up! Up!

Oh. Opps. Well, Gracie had kind of let Seth know that they were her enow. Ahh well. Vannie shook her head, standing up, so that she could greet her boyfriend, and see if he liked the surprise. She leaned against the door frame, and grinned at her. "Surprise?"

The birthday man couldn’t help but roll his eyes when random outbursts came from the kids. Leave it to Frankie to ruin the surprise factor in finding them all huddled away in the back room. But, of course, that was to be expected from a little monster like him. Grace, being the smart girl that she was, was able to control herself until after Frankie decided to give away their hiding place with his shriek.

“Hey there, princess!” Seth exclaimed, beaming down at the little girl in front of him. It didn’t take long for him to scoop her up in his arms and twirl her around. He had learned very quickly what Grace wanted whenever she waved her arms around while he was around. “So is this what you and mummy have been planning this whole time?”

When Vanessa spoke, he stopped for a moment and looked at her. “Despite the kids giving your hiding place away, it was a wonderful surprise,” he cheerfully said, inching forward for a quick kiss before Grace wanted him to start spinning her around again.

Now that the lights were on and he could see everything, Frankie kept on hopping around until his papa was in sight. However, he couldn’t really hop much now that his mummy had gotten up to stand by the door. Not that it mattered much. He could see the pretty birdies in the background and … papa twirling his sister around. The baby blinked. When was it going to be HIS turn?

After watching papa and Grace spin around for a while, Frankie got bored with what they were doing and started looking around. Nothing really caught his attention, until he saw his sister’s pink unicorn laying there on the floor just waiting for him to drool all over it. He looked at his mother, hopefully catching her attention, and then made grabby hands for the toy.

GIMME! GIMME!

Vanessa did have to smile as she watched Seth with Grace. It was true that she'd been a little bit scared of how he would be around the kids, he had definetly not seemed like the parent type, but he really had come on in the last few months. So much so that Vannie had even given up on stopping Grace refering to him as her daddy. She knew Seth didn't mind, and it certainly helped really. Vannie quite liked it too. Her Seth was a proper big daddy, even if it was a surprise to both of them. she wouldn't have changed it for anything though.

She grinned at him, leaning up on her tip toes to kiss him gently. "Happy birthday Seth." Vanessa was quite glad that he at least liked the surprise a little bit, because well she had worked hard, getting both of the kids dressing, and here without either of them wanting him. Vannie though that was quite a success, even if he hated the idea. "You'll get your presents later..." She assured him, before giggling. He'd like his presents.

Her attentionw as diverted though, from Seth to Frankie, as she felt him wriggling around. "Whats wrong frankie?" She cooed at him, before looking over at what he wanted. Gracie's toy. Haha. "....That's your sisters." Who was bound to want the toy once she'd given it to him. Holding him on her hip gently with one arm, she pulled her wand out of her dress pocket, and accioed the toy over, before handing the unicorn to him. Only her son would want to play with a girls toy.

Grace giggled as she was twirled around, and she wrapped her little arms around Seth's neck tightly. "No droppy." She giggled, shaking her head at him. Seth wouldn't drop her, her little brain knew that, but she did want to just back sure. Mommy would probably kill him if he dropped her anyway. And Gracie would be happy. "We has We has!" Birthday surprise for daddy hehe. Oooh. And her card. "I mwade you a caarrdd!" She giggled, fidgiting in his arms a little.

She glanced back at Vannie, and pouted. Frankie had her toy. "Mommy!" She cried, shaking her head. That wasn't fair! Why was Frankie playing with her toy, he shouldn've brought his own. "That's my wnicornn!" She pouted, kicking a little at Seth. She wanted her toy back. nowww!

“Have I ever dropped you before?” Seth asked the little girl in his arms. They both knew the answer to that question. He never would drop her, mostly because he knew that Vanessa would most likely kill him if he did. The man gave her a sweet smile and chuckled as he spun her around once more. “You made me a card? How sweet of you, Grace,” he told her, giving her a little peck on the forehead before giving the girl’s mother a kiss.

A little surprised that Grace hadn’t tried sticking her face in between him and Vanessa before their lips met, Seth rolled his eyes when Vanessa wished him a happy birthday. “Thanks,” he said with a smirk, pausing for a few seconds before continuing, “for reminding me how old I’m getting.” Then his eyebrows rose when she mentioned presents. “Oh?”

Suddenly the little girl in his arms was kicking toward her brother. “It’s alright, Grace. Just let him hold onto it for a little while. Frankie isn’t going to do anything to it.” Hopefully.

Frankie was almost on the verge of tears when his mummy told him that the toy was his sisters. Even though she hadn’t told him that he could not have it, he had a feeling that he was going to have to cry to get the pink horsie. And he would have started balling if he hadn’t seen his mother take out her wand. Good, he could save those tears for later.

The boy immediately grabbed the toy when it was handed over to him. He would have giggled to show how much he appreciated his mother for giving him his sister’s horsie, but he couldn’t risk it. Grace was here and would have started whining if she saw that he had her toy, whether she was in papa’s arms or not. Frankie was so going get away with holding his sister’s toy without her noticing … or not.

When Grace started pouting and kicking, Frankie opened his mouth and started nomming on the horsie’s horn. YUMMEH!

Uhh oh. Frankie looked like he was about to bawl his eyes out. Vanessa cringed as she quickly shoved the unicorn into his hands. She did not want him to start crying, because she had no idea how long it would take him to shut up, and then Seth's birthday party would be ruined, after all her hard, laboured wand waving. At least the little boy looked happy with the unicorn now. Maybe that could be the next thing she brought him, although it was immensly girly. She kind of hoped she could get a blue unicorn, make him a least look like he was boy. Waiit. He'd put it in his mouth. "Frankie...don't chew it." She eyed him carefully, but shrugged. She knew he wouldn't really listen to what she said. Grace would just have to put up with it.

She watched her daughter as she started whining. "You....little madam need to start learning how to share." She had no intentions of taking the toy from Frankie, because one he would also start whining, and she did not want that at all. "You can have it back later." When they got home maybe? And she'd brought her barbie with her anyway, so it wasn't like the little girl didn't have something else to play with? "How about you play with barbie instead?" Yeah...distract the girl that ought to work.

Vannie smirked at him, laughing. "Yeah...twenty two is so old Seth." But really it did feel old. They had two kids, that really did make Vannie feel old, and she wasn't even 22 yet. Oh dear, her birthday was going to be interesting. "mhmm....there at home." Because she had kind of forgotten them.

Grace was not happy. Not happy at all. Her mother had given her toy away. That was not fair in the slighest. She would've gone and poked her mommy, if she hadn't been in daddy's arms, and she rather liked being held by her daddy. She was tempted, to start the water works, that was bound to make her the centre of attention agian, and she liked it. "But it's mine." She pouted at Seth, lying her head on his shoulder. She kind of didnt care about the toy any more to be honest, she was just kicking up a fuss.

But she did gasp when her little brother put her toy into his mouth. Eww. That was totally gross. "Mommy!" She exclaimed, frowning this time. He was going to eat her unicorn. "He's going to eat my toy!" And then she'd have no unicorns left at all. Her brother was mean!

And the little monster put the unicorn in his mouth only seconds after he had told Grace that he wouldn’t do anything to it. But Grace was overreacting about the whole situation. Even though the poor unicorn was going to be covered in baby drool, they would at least be able to get rid of that with a quick flick of a wand. It’d be good as new once Frankie was done chewing on it in no time at all.

“I know. Just wait. In a few more months, you’ll understand how old twenty-two really is,” Seth said with a wink. “Oh, I do hope those presents aren’t scattered around the house. I don’t think my old, fragile body would be able to handle it. Too many chairs to look under, stairs to climb, and Merlin knows what else I’d have to do to find them all.”

Then Seth felt the little girl’s head fall onto his shoulder. Poor Grace. “Don’t worry, Grace. Frankie will give it back when he is done with it. We’ll clean up the unicorn so it’ll be like he never had it. Okay?”

Don’t chew it? Frankie blinked at mummy as he took another nom on the horsie’s horn. What else was he supposed to do with the toy? Anyway, it was not as if he was hurting it any. The horsie wasn’t crying out in pain, so that had to mean his sister’s toy enjoyed being drooled all over. But, apparently, Grace had a problem with that. Such a silly sister he had.

Frankie clapped his hand against the one that was holding the yummy horn he was nomming on. No one was taking away the pretty horsie even though his sister wanted it back. Then a thought popped into his little brain after he noticed that Grace did not look happy at all. Maybe she wanted to nom on it, too? It was rather tasty for a toy.

All of a sudden Frankie threw the horsie at his sister, the horn covered in drool hitting her face. “Hehe!”

Vannie did have to giggle as she watched her little boy chew on Gracie's toy. She had a feeling that he was going to do that, but it didn't make it any less funny. It also seemed that it frustrated Grace, which she probably shouldn't have found so funny. "It's okay babygirl." Vannie smiled at her little one, ruffling her hair with her spare hand. "Frankie isn't going to break it." And if he she could easily fix it with a wave of her wand. That what was so epic about them all being lovely and magical. hehe. "And.....I'll buy you another one later." That was sure to make her behave.

Vannie shook her head, grinning at him. "But you'll always be older than me Seth." Always, and that was just how Vannie liked it. She burst out in a little fit of giggle at what he said next. "Yeah...fragile." That was totally not true, and they both knew it. "They're all in a nice pile by the bed." She explained with a smile. Because she had a feeling he would not really want to go hunting for presents. They were both lazy like that.

Vannie's eyes widened as she watched her son, through the unicorn straight at his sister. "Franklin!" Vanessa shook her head, giving her son an almost glare. "You do not though things at your big sister. That is not on!" And now Grace was crying, and Vannie was ugh. She shrugged at seth, before turning around, and placing Frankie into the carry seat. Yup. She had to deal with a crying two year old now. Fun.
The little woman walked back over to Seth, motioning for him to pass Grace over. "Come here baby."


"But I want it noww!!" Gracie pouted, clinging to her daddy. Frankie was alway stealing her stuff. It was totally not fair. Although...he seemed to notice that she wanted it back, but he kept eating it. "Mommy!" Gracie screeched, nearly loooking like she was going to cry. She wanted her favourite toy back!

Oooh. Frankie looked like he was going to give it back to her now, so that meant she could play with it. But....he threw it at her. And it hit her right in the middle of her head. "Ouchh!" The little girl called out, little tears running down her cheeks. "Mommy!" She reached out from daddy, waving her hands in Vannie's direction. She wanted her Mommy.

“Isn’t that how it’s supposed to go anyway?” Seth asked Vanessa. No matter what he did, he’d always be older than her by about three months. He didn’t mind that much. She would be having her own birthday soon, so the tables would be turned. Heh. “Good. They’re right where I like ‘em,” he commented with a smirk. “Now I’ll be able to go straight to bed after they’re all open.” Yeah, right.

Everything that happened next went by in a blur. One second Frankie was chewing on Grace’s unicorn and the next the toy was by his feet. Grace was crying now, and he tried to calm her down by patting her little head and telling her that she was alright. Whatever he tried to do didn’t work. He was relieved when Vannie took Grace. She at least knew what to do.

Umm … this was kind of awkward. So Seth just stared at the caged owl over there on the table.

Why did he have to be put in the carry seat? He didn’t do anything wrong. Frankie, since he was such a good boy, had given his sister’s horsie back to her so she could nom on it and see how yummy it tasted. But why was she crying? Yeah, the pretty horsie hit her in the head, but it wasn’t really that hard. It was really soft … and wet.

Since Grace was crying and everything, it gave Frankie the chance to look for his sister’s dollie from where he sat. He couldn’t find it anywhere, so it must have been on the big people table. The boy sighed. Sitting in a seat was no fun without something to nom on. As his mummy hadn’t strapped him in, he slowly pushed himself off the seat and rolled onto the floor. Now all he needed to do was crawl over to horsie.

Or he could just lay there on his back and wait for someone to pick him up. That was okay with him, too.

"Thought so." Vanessa smirked at him, she had quite enjoyed buying him those presents, although it had been quite hard wrapping them without him seeing, he was just to darned nosy for his own good. "Sure..." Vanessa giggled, as she smiled at him. She did hope he would like his presents, because well it wouldn't be very nice if he didn't like them, and he would be very ungrateful, and she would cry, and then his birthdaay would be ruined. So yeah. He better well like the presents.

"Don't cry babygirl." Vannie sighed, as she rocked her little girl gently, trying to calm her down a little. She probably would be successful, but she still was a little annoyed at her little boy. That wasn't cool. Thankfully the little girl was calming down a little, even though she was still clinging to her. "Frankie didn't mean it....he's only little sweetheart." She rubbed Gracie's little back, looking up to see where Seth was. Oh. He was staring at some owl. Yeah. Seth was a perfect father wasn't he. But she couldn't deny that he did try his best.

Still holding her little girl, she glanced back at her little boy, and laughed. Frankie now happened to be out of his carry seat, and on the floor, looking like he was trying to get towards the toy again. Yeah...he was like his father. "Seth...." She giggled, bending down and placing Grace back onto the floor, before wandering over to him. "Did you bring the camera?" Probably not, which would be typical.

Oh Gracie was really upset. Her brother had hurted her head. She clung to her mummy a little with one hand, as she used to the other to rub her head. "I don't like Frankieeee." She exclaimed shaking her head. She really did not like people that hit her. She liked getting a cuddle from her mother though, it made her feel better, but she did pout when she was put back on the floor. She wanted to be held. But at least now she could play with her horse again.

She turned around, eyeing Frankie on the floor, and quickly toddled over to her horsey and picked it up, before toddling over to her brother, and sitting on the floor next to him. "This is mwine....not yours." She explained to him, before banging it around on the floor, like it was moving around. "Mommy will bwuy you one too!" And then they could play together. hehe.

While he was staring at the owl, Seth couldn’t help put wonder what all Vanessa could have gotten him. He had tried looking everywhere in the house, under every nook and cranny, for his presents over the past week, but he ended up being unsuccessful. But it was rather difficult trying to find them with having to go to work every day. Plus Grace, being the mommy’s girl that she was, would have tattled if she had caught him searching for his gifts.

“Huh? What?” he asked, obviously completely clueless to what was happening. Did Frankie make a mess in his pants again? If he had to change that kid’s diaper one more time today … oh, she was asking about the camera. “Oh. Umm … no, I didn’t. Sorry. I wasn’t aware that the birthday man was the one that had to carry a camera with him everywhere he went for the day.” Seth then glanced down at his son and laughed at the expression on Frankie’s face.

There was only one thing that could mean: Frankie was up to something.

But he wanted the horsie! From where he lay on the floor, Frankie stretched out his arm as faaar as he possibly could. His attempt to get the pink blob ended up being a complete fail. His arms were just too little, and the horsie was just too far away. The baby closed his eyes for a moment and sighed. He was going to have to try to roll his way over to the toy.

And that was exactly what little Frankie did. He rolled and rolled and rolled until he was close enough to grab the horsie and shove the yummy horn right into his mouth. Grace was going to be so mad at him, but mummy was too busy trying to make her not cry anymore (that was his job!). A naughty smile appeared on his face and he reached for his sister’s toy … only so it would be taken from him before he could even put a finger on it.

Grace had taken the pretty horsie! Frankie, knowing that everyone was looking at him, opened his mouth and started to cry. He wanted that horsie!

Oh. So he hadn't brought the camera. Vanessa just gave him a look before giggling. "Maybe I should've left that on the note too..." But she was sure she had a camera somewhere in her huggee back of stuff, because well her kids needed a lot of stuff. She grinned at Seth, before moving over to her bag, and starting to take stuff out of it. Dummy. Bottle. Beaker. Another bottler. Another Beaker. Although she had no idea why she had two of each. A change of clothes for both the kids....ANND the camera. Epic. Now she could take a picture of the kids.

Although when she turned back to them. They weren't playing nicely anymore. And Frankie was opening his mouth. And ugh crying. Nuu. Frankie couldn't cry, because he took well ages to shut up. Attention seeker. Meh. She sighed, thrusting the camera at Seth (who had better not drop it) and going to pick her little boy up. "Shhs." She rocked Frankie, as she glanced at Grace. Pfft. Why did they both make each other cry. "Don't cry sweetheart." There was no need for it, they couldn't have sibling hate yet, he wasn't even 6 months old yet.

Uh oh. Frankie was crying. That was a bad thing. A crying Frankie always gave Gracie had a headache. But oooh. Mommy was comng over. Maybe she would taking annoying little brother away so that she could keep playing horsie. As he brother was taken off the floor, she glanced up, with big wide eyes. It was totally not her fault that Frankie had decided to cry. She was playing with her own toy afterall, nothing wrog with that. And with her deciding that was true, she started to bang it against the floor again. Hmm. crazy child.

Oh. That was where he recognised the man from! The news paper. So really, he wasn't any better than them if he could go to Azabakan. Finn decided to not say that though, because well Ethan Truebridge was of age, and Finn was not. That was bound to not end very well.

Fighting was immature. Finlay had to bite his tongue to stop him from saying anything. That was totally Jimmy fault, because he had punched him first....so yeah. He was blaming Jimmy. "I'll take that into consideration next time." He nodded. No more fighting got it.

Oh. They were going to the office now. Finn did smirk as he watched the man push James along. Well Jimmy was sure to love that. Finn followed behind though, quite looking forward to this. Especially if the shopkeeper was anything like that other one was.

Vanessa had been just taking a quick look at the books when she heard a knock on the door. Did a customer want her so badly. She was a bit shocked though, when she looked up to find her old teacher from school leading two lads into the office. She hadn't see Ethan Truebridge since she had graduated....obviously. So this did feel a little weird.

"Prof..." No. He wasn't her teacher anymore she didnt have to say that. "Mr Truebridge?" She was a bit surprised, and stood up. "Is everything okay?"

This Truebridge guy was strong.

James stayed quiet though his eyebrows went up at the sight of the little bit of a thing in the office. She was like... in miniature or something.

Jimmy glanced at Finn and waggled his eyebrows.

"Good." Ethan answered after a long, stern look. Yes he would be checking up on that this term. There had better not be a next time.

"Ah. Vannie. It is still professor." He informed her, offering a polite sort of nod almost as if he were simply popping by to catch up and not dragging one teenager, with the other walking in front, in to see her.

"I'm not sure about okay. These two were fighting in your shop. Theres a bit of carnage out there, but... I suppose I arrived in time. In any case. Finlay," He nodded towards Finlay, "And James here," He nodded at James, who he still had a grip on, "Are going to apologise to you, and take whatever punishment you deem fit."


He let go of the boy but jabbed him between the shoulderblades.

"Mind your manners." He glanced at the other one, Finlay. "You too."

Vanessa eyed the two boys that were with Ethan carefully. The one looked...rather bruised up, and the healer in Vannie did get a bit worried. Although she did wonder why one earth he was bruised. Oh. That would be why. She disregarded him still being a professor (which was nice) when he mentioned that the two boys had been fighting in her shop. Fighting in her shop really? Were these boys like 5 or something? Well....if they were they were very tall for 5 years old.

The small women shook her head. "Does my shop look like a boxing ring to you?" She asked, not looking impressed. She did move around them though, and take a look at the shop. Maybe she should make them pay for the damage, although she had a feeling that it wasn't going to stop them from fighting in the future. "I think..." She mused, coming back around to face them....although they both were quite taller than her. "You can go clean up whatever mess you've made." Because well she didn't want a messy shop. "And then you can clean all the owl cages out." Because it was a bit of a messy job, and she was glad to not have to do it.

She then turned back to Ethan, and smiled at her. "Thank you....for intervening when you did." Because well it could've been alot worse.

Well....this woman was kind of nice looking, athlough she was very small. Like really really small. It was quite amusing, he glanced over at Jimmy, and smirked. Yeah. This was kind of worth it. Although....he wasn't too sure about the punishment? They had to clean. That was kind of....embarrassing if anyone else walked in. He did have a feeling though, that it could've been much worse. Oh yeah. They had to apologise. "I'm sorry..." He smiled at her. That would work right? Because he was cute, and she would love him. "and...I hope we didn't cause any lasting damage." Yeah right.

Where OH WHERE was Vannie at?

It wasn't everyday that Reese went into this stinky store but she was going to make an exception today because she wanted to see her buddy! Though, with her awesome luckiness, she couldn't find Vannie anywhere. She had trailed around the store, looking high and low for her friend, until the brunette decided that she might just be in the back room.

She instantly made her way towards the door, and thankfully it was unlocked so she had no trouble opening it.

"Vannie?" She called out. "VANNIE?"

Yawwnn. Today was going sooo slow, which was rather annoying for Vannie, because she had a dress fitting in the afternoon, and just wanted to close up the shop. Unfortunately it was only 10 in the morning, and she had a few more hours till she could escape. Luckily it did give her time to be able to do a stock check, which while rather boring, was important, especially seeing as summer had just passed.

But then she heard her name, and Vannie recognised the voice. "Reese?" Vanessa put down her quill, and looked up to see her friend standing in the doorway. Eeep. She hadn't seen Reese for ages. The stock check was forgotten now, as she small woman, stood up and approached her friend. "I haven't seen you for ages!" Eeep. Excited.

Reese had heard Vannie's voice before she had actually seen her. Even so, she got super excited that she had finally found her... or heard her. Same thing. A large smile crossed over her face when Vannie appeared and when she began to approach her, the woman tackled her friend into a hug.

This woman had missed her midget friend. That was for certain!

"I know!" She exclaimed. The last time her and Vannie had a good conversation was at... her wedding? Gosh, that had to be wrong! It couldn't have been THAT long ago. "I'm sorry I haven't stayed in touch with you. How have things been? How's Grace?"

Hmm. To be honest Vannie wasn't even sure whether Reese knew she'd had another baby. That was really bad, considering how close they had been in the school. But Reese was her now, so maybe she could tell her. Hehe. She was sure that would be exciting....and she knew she had a picture of Frankie around here somewhere. Maybe it was on the counter. She'd have to go a look in a minute.

"Things have been really good." Vannie had to resist the temptation to glance down at the engagement ring. She had been doing it a lot lately, just to make sure that it was there, but it was definitely still there, and she was definitely getting married, which was very exciting. "Grace is perfect." Her daughter was soo perfect.

"I have a little boy now too." Her perfect little son. hehe. She really di dhave a perfect family now.

Was it really all that surprising that Torin was being sneaky and a ninja right now? Because that was what he was so doing in following Reese right now.

Which wasn't that hard, 'cause she was pregnant, and pregnant women were slow. Everyone knew that.

He wanted to know why she was heading off into the back room, when that wasn't really a place she should be. She had to be up to shifty things in order to be doing THAT. Shifty things were things that she shouldn't be doing, things that he would catch her doing and rub in her face. Maybe blackmail her with too.

So he headed into the back room after her, using all his spy skills to their fullest.

Was that...

No, it couldn't be.

Oh yes, it was.

"Vanessa Alexus Corbette. HOW long have you been engaged?!" Reese placed her hands upon her hips as she gazed down at the ring that Vannie was wearing for a few more seconds, then she looked up at her friend. She, of all people, should have known this woman was getting married! Or so she thought... or maybe she did know and just forgot because of everything thing that has been happening lately. But how could she forget something like this?! No, she wouldn't forget something like this so Vannie must have just forgotten to tell her, that's all.

Taking her mind off Vannie's engagement, she tuned herself back into the previous topic they were discussing. "I'm glad to hear that," she replied. "I need to come by your house and see Grace sometime soon. I miss her and her adorableness." Yup, she did!

Yet, another shocking surprise. "You got to be kidding me? I'm so out of the loop, Vannie. I didn't know you had a son," she said. "What's his name? How old is he?" She really needed to keep in touch with her friend more often because it was just horrible when she didn't know any of these things!

When Reese heard footsteps, she turned around to see if someone had joined them in the room. At first, she didn't spot anybody until she noticed some tall, brunette headed person that seemed to be trying to hide from them. It was Torin Kane. She shook her head, smiling a little bit as she did so, and then turned back towards Vannie. "Vannie, have you heard the gossip about Torin Kane?"

Because, you know, it wasn't like he was around or anything to hear this...

Vanessa giggled when Reese noticed her ring. Heh. she hadn't had to even attempt to show it off today. Reese was very observant. "Well..." Vanessa began, but then she squealed a little bit. Mann....she was so excited. "About 2 and a half months." Vannie mused, with a big smile. Seth had asked her on her birthday, which had been that long ago. So. "Seth asked me just out of the blue." Vans had nodded been expecting it at all. It had been a total shock. But she really could not wait. It was going to be amazing, she knew it. And then they could go on a nice honey moon. Man....Vannie could really do with a holiday. February couldn't come fast enough. "I would've told you....if you were around more." Vanessa smirked for a second, but then smiled. She was constantly smiling these days.

Hmmm. Vannie wondered if Reese even knew about Seth if she didn't know about Frankie. But she knew now, so it didn't really matter. "He's called Frankie, and he'll be one in March." The year had gone really fast, she couldn't actually believe it really. It also meant that Grace was getting older too, which was really odd.

Wait....Gossi[p about Torin? "I haven't seen Torin in months." Like ages. Which was bad seeing as they had used to be really close. "I know he broke up with Brody again though...." Although she wasn't too sure how she knew about that... "Why?"

WHOA.

Torin was sorta glad that he had followed Reese now. He just found out something rather amazing. Vannie was getting married. He wasn't sure why it was amazing when he hadn't talked to her in ages, but she was still his friend. And he had found her hot once upon a time as well, seeing as he used to have a crush on her.

He shifted himself into hiding position better when he thought that Reese had seen him, but... it turned out that she didn't when her gaze turned back to Vannie. Good. He hadn't been spotted.

Wait.... What gossip about him?


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