TITLE: I'll Cry if I want to
AUTHOR: Blodwyn
E-MAIL: blodwyn29@btopenworld.com
SUMMARY: It's Lorne's Birthday Party.
RATING: none, unless you find large red gifts scary
TIMELINE: Just Before "This Old Gang Of Mine"
DISTRIBUTION: Sure, just ask first.
SPOILERS: Hardly
DISCLAIMER: Don't own a Thing: not even the computer it's written on. Joss and Co are all Gods!
AUTHORS NOTE: for Julia – Happy Birthday Honey!
I'll Cry if I Want to
He stood there with his hand on the door handle and sighed.
"Oh, well. Best to get it over and done with," he whispered to himself.
Pasting a smile onto his face and holding his breath, he opened the door with a flourish.
"Happy Birthday!" the room cheered...
He nodded and smiled at each person as they greeted him.
'Keep smiling,' he thought.
The drinks were flowing and he spotted a few of his favourite customers amongst the crowd, along with those just there for the free food.
"Thank goodness I decided not to go with the free beer!" he grumbled to himself.
"So how old are you?" Cordelia asked from behind him.
It would be her to ask, she certainly wasn't shy about getting information.
"I loose count when transferring from Pylean to Earth years," he said, turning
to face her.
Cordy grinned and added,"Perhaps Fred can help you with the math," with a laugh.
Gunn slapped him on the shoulder with a, "Happy Birthday, man."
He would be grinning too.
"So, no date for your birthday?" Gunn enquired.
"But sweetie, then I wouldn't be able to admire all these lovely people
here," he said, waggling his eyebrows at Gunn suggestively, while trying
his best not to get angry, or heavens forbid, possibly cry even at the thought.
Gunn flinched back, as Cordelia laughed outrageously, dragging him away.
He glared at their parting backs, another hand slapped him on the shoulder with
a cheery, "Happy Birthday!"
He tried not to jump too much, and turned to greet Merl.
"I'm only here because of your birthday, if the bloodsucker shows I'm off," the
demon mumbled at him.
Lorne immediately started to look for Angel.
Aha, there he was, lurking in the corner as usual.
"Cordelia, Gunn, Angel... So where are...??" Lorne thought, counting in his head.
Wesley and Fred arrived, struggling through the door with a bright red box between them.
Lorne watched them carefully place the large box on the bar. He wandered over,
a genuine smile on his lips.
He had to admit, he was a little surprised.
"What's this?" he asked, raising his eyebrows at Wesley.
Wes looked confused for a minute - "A birthday gift," he paused, "It's a
tradition here on Earth that on a persons' birthday, we give them a gift."
"I know that, silly! But you didn't have to," He said, just sitting there with
that big box in front of him.
It looked so garish against his green skin that he was drawing a crowd. Angel, Cordelia and Gunn had joined them.
"Just open it!" Wesley was starting to get embarrassed by the attention the gift was causing.
In a fit of activity reminiscent of a 5 year old at Christmas, Lorne shredded the wrapping paper to reveal a plain brown box, he carefully lifted the lid and looked inside.
"OH! Wesley, sweetheart!" he exclaimed, putting the box on the bar he leapt up and threw his arms around Wesley, not caring who was watching.
"It's perfect! How did you know?!" he added.
Wes returned the embrace somewhat awkwardly.
"A good guess," he mumbled into Lorne's shoulder.
Lorne let Wesley go and pulled his gift from its box. He proudly held it up for all to see.
"This is just perfect, I've always wanted one of these," he said, pulling the leather coat on over his suit.
"Just like Angels'," Fred whispered as Lorne twirled in front of the crowd.
"Nothing like mine!" growled Angel.