Birthday Series 4- Newkirk
Summary: Men try and plan Newkirk's party.
…
Newkirk put on his coat. Today was his birthday, so he may as well just let the men plan for themselves. If they do decide to plan anything. He wasn't concerned about really. Well, maybe a little. He buttoned his coat. He'd stay out of their way, so they didn't have to try and hide it from him and panic every time he came around. He opened the barracks door. Carter was finishing his breakfast at the table, and the others were minding their own business. "I'm goin' out for some air." He told them and shut the door.
He stood outside and heard nothing inside. No one moved from what he could tell. He walked on.
Carter stood silently and peeked out the crack of the door. Newkirk was walking away. "Okay, coast is clear."
Everyone jumped up and grabbed their party gear. Hogan came out of his office. "He's gone?"
"Yeah." Carter confirmed taking out the party hats.
"Okay, uhm, where do we start with the party planning?" Hogan asked. He wasn't one to plan parties, he usually left it to Newkirk.
Everyone looked from one another. "We don't know. Peter usually handles it." Carter said shrugging.
Everyone agreed.
Hogan crossed his arms. "We need to get organized. What needs to be done?" He asked the men.
Carter thought. "The cake, which Lebeau is working on-"
"Yeah, but I'm not sure what kind of cake he likes." Lebeau said.
"What else does he like?" Hogan asked.
"Girls?" Kinch asked.
"We could get him a date tonight…" Lebeau offered.
Hogan considered this then shook his head.
"Money?" Carter asked.
"I'm broke I already lost all my money to him and still owe him a fair amount." Lebeau said and got agreements from the others.
"What else?" Hogan asked.
The men looked between them. They weren't sure. Those were the only two things he usually talked about. How could they have not learned much about him over the few years they've known him? They all stopped and looked around ashamed. They hardly knew anything about him. They knew he had a sister Mavis, he was interested in women and money. He was a pick pocket, traveled with a circus at one point… but other than that they didn't know a huge amount. What was his favorite color? Blue maybe? His favorite flavor? His hopes? His dreams?
"We've got to make this a good one!" Lebeau said determined to make it up to Newkirk.
"Yeah!" They all agreed.
"Carter, its your job to find out Newkirk's preferences of cake and so on. Just talk to him about his home and family and other such things." Hogan instructed. "But do so inconspicuously."
Carter nodded and waited to be dismissed.
"Lebeau you hang around near the two and listen in for a hint of the kind of cake to make." Hogan said giving the tasks out. "Kinch and I will handle the rest of the decorations and such."
Kinch, Lebeau, and Carter nodded.
"Alright men, let's get to work!" Hogan said dismissing the men. Carter left first and Lebeau followed at a distance.
Carter found Newkirk casually chatting with one of the guards. "Hey Newkirk!"
Newkirk turned and saw the young man coming toward him.
As Carter approached the Englander he tried to think of a reason he wanted to see him. "What're you up to?" That was a good start right?
"Nothin'." Newkirk offered no continuation of the conversation.
Great, now there was an awkward silence. "Uhm…" Carter looked at his feet. Newkirk wasn't picking up the hint was he?
He was actually, but he wanted to see how the men fended for themselves without a party planner, it would be interesting and a real surprise. Newkirk waited for Carter to come up with something. No doubt Carter was trying keep him busy.
Carter looked up. "Wanna go for a walk?"
Newkirk shrugged. "Okay, lead the way, mate." And so they walked, hands in their pockets.
As they walked Carter tried to think of something to say. He glanced behind him and saw Lebeau giving an ushering motion to get him to talk.
Carter shrugged then looked at Newkirk who turned and looked at him. "What is it?"
"Wanna talk?" Carter asked.
Newkirk looked at him then a small smile played on his lips. "Mate, you never ask if anyone wants to talk you just do."
Carter was usually one to talk a lot. "Well, I wont talk then, you talk!" Carter offered.
Newkirk looked at him from a side glance. "You want to listen to me babbling on?"
Carter nodded. "Yeah!"
Newkirk looked ahead again. "What do you want me to talk about?"
Carter shrugged trying to figure a way to get him to spill his favorite flavor. "I don't know, how about the best party you ever went to."
Newkirk knew what Carter was after. "Dunno there were plenty of them."
That didn't help Carter in the least. "Well there had to be one that stuck out."
Newkirk thought a bit. "Well a friend of mine had a bachelor's party. That was pretty crazy. Luckily the wedding wasn't the next day."
Carter wanted to hear why but he needed the flavor of cake. "What did you guys eat?"
Newkirk looked at him. "Eat? Make we drank the night away."
Carter sighed. This wasn't easy. "No cake?"
Newkirk smiled and shook his head.
"Would you have cake at your bachelor's party if you had one?" Carter asked.
Newkirk kept his smile. "Probably not."
"Awe, why not?" Carter asked excitedly.
Newkirk just walked on.
"Don't you like cake?" Carter asked worried that Newkirk might not like cake.
"I like cake." Newkirk said.
This was coming out perfectly for Carter. "What's your favorite?"
Newkirk was right. He knew what Carter was after. "I don't care." He knew that would bug Carter. But he really didn't overly care.
Carter's face turned sour. "I don't believe that. Everyone has some sort of preference!" Carter pressed.
Newkirk looked at him a cigarette between his lips. "You really want to know?"
"Yeah!" Carter wanted to know, not just because Lebeau was waiting but because he wanted to prove to Newkirk that everyone did have a preference.
Newkirk continued to look at him a mischievous smile on his face. "You REALLY want to know?"
"Yes!"
"I don't have a preference." Newkirk said looking ahead again.
Carter growled. "Awe come on!"
"I prefer pies."
"Really?" Now they were getting somewhere. "What's your favorite?"
"Banana and snake pie." Newkirk said with a smirk on his lips.
Carter frowned. "I'm serious!"
Newkirk laughed lightly. "I like cheese cake myself." Newkirk gave in. It would make them happy.
"Cheese cake?" Carter asked with a smile.
"Yeah. Happy now, mate?" Newkirk asked looking at the young man.
"Yeah." Carter looked ahead. They were silent again. Carter knew Lebeau was gone after hearing the answer.
Newkirk knew as well. He'd known from the beginning that Lebeau was behind them. He was just teasing them.
Carter was quiet and thoughtful.
Was that all he wanted? Newkirk looked ahead a bit disappointed.
"Tell me about when you were growing up." Carter said casually.
Newkirk looked over at him. "It's pretty borin' mate."
"I bet it's more interesting than my childhood. Plus you're from England, growing up in England is probably more interesting than growing up in the states." Carter argued.
"Nah, it might seem like it would be interesting but its all the same no matter where you are." Newkirk said. Childhood conversations always bored him.
"I don't think that's true." Carter said looking at Newkirk who was silent. Carter sighed and looked ahead again thinking the conversation was over.
Newkirk was thinking. Thinking of something to tell him from his childhood, but nothing came to mind.
"Tell me about that bachelor party then." Carter said hopeful.
Newkirk was touched that Carter was interested. He smiled and looked ahead. "Well, when we woke up the next morning we didn't remember anything that happened the night before. We wound up in France actually and were passed out in a big fancy suite."
"Really?" Carter asked. "Well, that's not good."
"Yeah, turns we drove cross country to get to the station and avoided the check points, for SOME reason. Then took the train into France. We spent all our money on more booze and the suite. We had no way of getting back. Our car was back in England and we were a mess! We were in quite a sticky wicket."
"Really?" Carter's eye's bugged out. "How did you get back?"
"Well, turns out the groom wasn't with us. We ended up leaving him behind back in England. He got drunk and passed out on the couch at his apartment. We left and had our little adventure. We panicked and thought maybe we lost him somewhere in France. We called his fiancé to tell her what happened and to get help getting back. We thought for sure she was going to kill us. But instead she laughed at us. I owe her a lot though. She really bailed us out. She came down herself to get us. She's great. She's a really good friend of mine. She's like the older sister I never had." Newkirk had the biggest smile on his face as he thought about his experience. Then realizing he was still walking with Carter he snapped back to reality. He figured he probably bored Carter to death. He wiped the smile off his face.
Carter saw this. "What's the matter?"
Newkirk looked at him. "Aw nothin', I just hope I didn't bore you."
"Is that what you think?" Carter asked incredulous. "Don't be silly! I thought it was a great story. You had a lot of adventures didn't you?"
Newkirk smiled again. "I guess so."
"So what did she say about you guys getting into trouble?" Carter asked eagerly.
"She drove up to the suite. We'd been kicked out since we ran out of money and couldn't stay there any more. We opened the doors, got in and the first thing she said was, 'I hope you boys learned a lesson.' Then she went on driving and wanting to hear our big adventure. Not that we remembered it. I still don't." Newkirk said laughing.
Carter shook his head. "What did the groom say?"
"He wondered where we went." Newkirk said simply a smile still playing on his lips.
"What's her name?" Carter asked kindly.
Newkirk looked at him with a thoughtful smile, "Mina."
Carter smiled softly. Newkirk went on telling more stories about his friends. Most of them he got into some sort of trouble and Mina bailed him out every time.
"Sounds to me like you owe Mina a lot." Carter said. They were sitting on a bench now. They'd been talking for hours. Well, Newkirk had been and Carter listening the whole time, enjoying every story.
Kinch opened the barracks door and saw the two sitting on the bench. He looked back into the barracks, smiled, then went to get those two. "Hey you two get into the barracks. It's getting nippy out."
It was time. Newkirk knew it was time for his party. He stood and with Carter, followed Kinch into the barracks. However before Newkirk could even look, two gloved hands were over his eyes. Carter no doubt.
Newkirk smiled and let himself be led into the barracks. He heard the door shut behind him and felt his coat being taken off of him. He heard people moving around him as though positioning themselves around him. They didn't have it outside, no doubt, because it was getting colder and it was supposed to rain, that would make anyone sick.
Carter removed his hands after a moment and when Newkirk opened his eyes he didn't know what to say.
"Surprise!" Everyone called out as he looked around. He couldn't believe his eyes. The whole barracks was done over to look like a London themed party, no doubt they rummaged through his stuff and called London for the stuff ahead of time. There in the center of the table was the cheese cake and the party seats and punch. Turns out Schultz had pass that day and picked the stuff up for them on short notice. Lucky break.
Newkirk didn't know what to say, but his smile was evident on his face.
Everyone saw it and was happy that they pleased him.
Newkirk looked around and thanked each and every one of them. He turned to Carter. "Mate, I changed me mind."
Carter didn't understand. "About what?"
"The best party I ever went to, of course." He patted the younger man on the back.
Everyone cheered and they began to sing to him. He was nudged to the table and given the knife to cut the cake. He looked around and smiled before cutting the cake. "Oh and Carter, Lebeau, I don't actually have a favorite cake flavor. I like snake and banana pie myself!"
They all knew he was joking and they all laughed.
Luckily Lebeau was able to get Schultz to go into town and get the ingredients for the cake. Luckily they didn't need any snakes or bananas.
It was indeed the best party that Peter had every had. He'd never been happier. All he had wanted for his birthday was for his friends to remember. He was so happy that they tried so hard and that was all he wanted for his birthday.
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