More than anything in the world

Disclaimer: None of these characters are mine and I am not making profit out of this piece of writing

Spoilers: slight spoilers for episode Voodoo Queen (second season)

Note: This is my first fanfic. Please R&R

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More than anything in the world

Marguerite lay in her bed in the treehouse, thinking what a terrible morning it was.

*I hate my birthday, its just a day for growing older.*she thought to her self.
*And anyway, no one here is going to care, they all have their own things to care about. Malone has Veronica, Veronica has Malone, and her parents, Challenger has his science experiments, and Roxton, Roxton of course is still mourning the loss of his precious Danielle, Voodoo priestess bitch. *

With this she rose and dressed her self.

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Marguerite, as usual, was the last to rise, and the others were all waiting for her entrance to begin breakfast.

"I guess I'll go wake sleeping beauty then" said Roxton finally, "wish me luck" he winked and he got up off his chair.

"No need" said Marguerite bitterly as she stomped out of her room, obviously in a bad mood.

Everyone else just looked at each other with raised eyebrows and sat down.

"Fruit, Marguerite?" asked Veronica carefully.

"No, I want some toast" she snapped.

"Marguerite" said Challenger.

"Jeez Marguerite, she was just trying to be nice, you needn't be so mean" said Roxton.

"Fine, why don't you all just take Veronica's side? Who cares about me anyway!"? Marguerite cried before running into her room sobbing.

Everybody was silent for a long time.

Finally Malone broke the silence. "Um, wow. I wonder what triggered that off."

"I have no idea" said Veronica, looking pointedly at Roxton "maybe it was stress. I mean, almost dying is pretty stressful".

Roxton said nothing, and just looked down in his lap. No one said anything.

"Well, I, uh, have some writing to do" said Malone, and hurried out of the tense room.

"Yes, I have lab work to do too" said Challenger, equally embarrassed.

"Do you want to talk?" Veronica asked Roxton.

"huh? Oh, ah, no. I'm, uh, I got to, well, I, oh never mind" and with this the embarrassed hunter walked out onto the balcony.

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Veronica knocked on Marguerites door. There was no answer so she walked in. she was shocked to see the beautiful brunette lying on here bed crying her eyes out and saying to herself "you shouldn't have expected anything, now look where it has got you, crying your eyes out and the others hating you. I should just forget my birthday all together next year"

Veronica cleared her throat and Marguerite sat up like she had been shot.
"What are you doing here!" she cried "get out!"
Veronica walked out and closed the door.
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"Look, I know why marguerite was in such a bad mood this morning" said Veronica to Malone, Roxton and Challenger "It's her birthday".

"That's no excuse for being rude and horrible to you" said Malone.

"Look, I know its not an excuse, but how would you feel if we forgot your birthday, and don't forget, this is how it feels for marguerite every year, her parents never did anything for her when she was a child, and we also completely forgot last year" pointed out Veronica.

"Well, I guess I would feel pretty bad..." said Roxton, "and we were pretty tough on her this morning. But how will we make it up to her?"

"I've thought of that" said Veronica "we'll give her a surprise party this afternoon. Malone can write her a card, Challenger can cook, and I can decorate"

"hey! What about me? I want to be part of this too" said Roxton.

"Um, well, Roxton, the thing is, you get to take her away from the treehouse for a few hours, so we are free to do our thing here" said Veronica, expecting some sort of argument in return, but looking defiantly into Roxton's face.

Roxton was going to reply with a cutting argument, but to Veronica's surprise, just sighed.

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Marguerite woke from a doze to the sound of knocking on her door. She raked her hands through her long hair and called "who is it?"

"Roxton" came the reply "We have to go hunting, we're out of meat".

"oh fine" she sighed, gathering up her gun and hat "if I must"

she walked out of her room, ignoring Roxton and the others, who were bent over Veronica and whispering. * Typical * she thought as she swept past them into the elevator, giving Roxton only a moment to jump in beside her before she sent it down. The lift was full of tension as it descended, and Roxton was only too glad to get out when it hit the bottom.

Marguerite let him take the lead, walking a few paces behind him, lost in her own thoughts.

*how appropriate * she thought to her self, trying to keep the tears in * I'm stuck hunting on my birthday. * looking at Roxton's back, noticing the tense muscles. * great, he doesn't want me here, he's still mad at me for snapping at Veronica, and still thinking about his precious Danielle, who wanted to kill me, she knew I was jealous. I didn't want to admit it when Roxton said it, because I was too proud, damn my pride, but I was jealous. Jealous because she had Roxton, and I had no one, while he was drooling over that cheap whore. *


Roxton walked ahead, only semi-conscious of the jungle that surrounded him, more lost in his own thoughts as he walked along, listening to Marguerites angry footfalls behind him

*great* he though she doesn't want to be here with me. *Not after everything that's happened. After me being with Danielle, then taunting her about being jealous, about her almost being killed. The worst thing is, when they were killing Danielle, I fought challenger and Malone, I don't know why, I was mainly captivated by her beauty I think, but I saw the hurt in Marguerites eyes after. I don't know why, but some of the time, I wanted marguerite to be jealous, so then I could know how she...

His train of thought was interrupted by a sniff and a choked sob from behind him. He turned to see marguerite with tears streaming down her face, trying to wipe them away.

"Marguerite, what's wrong? Why are you crying" he asked, hugging her close to him.

"As if you care" she whimpered "nobody cares about me"

"That's not true" he told her "I care about you, I care a lot, what makes you think that?"

"It's just that, that, you all forgot my birthday, and you were all picked on me at breakfast, and, and, it's just that, it hurt so much to see you with Danielle, and the way you were when you were around her, the way you looked at her, it hurt me. It really hurt me, and I was jealous, I wanted you to love me, not some Voodoo whore" she said, the words tumbling out one after another, while Roxton just listened, horrified at what he had done. Marguerite misinterpreted his silence. "and now that I have told you how I feel, you think I'm stupid, and you don't love me back" she cried, and broke down into fresh tears, trying to pull out of his grasp.

"Marguerite, Marguerite, its all right. I love you more than all the world. The thing with Danielle meant nothing to me, its you who I really love, because you're smart and witty, and independent. I don't think your stupid at all. I'm the stupid one, to have hurt you like that." He said, holding her close to him, while she cried onto his shoulder.

She looked up at him, with tears still on her cheeks "you love me?" she asked.

"More than anything in the world" he said kissing the tears of her cheeks.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him passionately on the mouth. "I love you too, John" she said.

"Now" he said "there is something of great importance that is waiting for us back at the treehouse" he said with a smile, taking her hand and walking back along the way they had come.

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Back at the treehouse everything was ready.

"where do you think they have got to?" asked veronica.

"Maybe Marguerite killed Roxton" joked Malone.

"Now, Now Malone, that isn't nice" reprimanded Challenger.

At that moment they heard the elevator coming up, and marguerite and Roxton stepped out.

"SURPRISE!!!" they all yelled "Happy Birthday, Marguerite!"

"Oh, thank you all so much" said marguerite said, close to tears, though they were happy tears. She hugged Veronica, Malone and Challenger, then went up and kissed Roxton on the mouth. "This has been the best birthday of my life!".

"Hey Veronica, do you think something happened out in the jungle?" asked Malone.

"I don't know, Malone, and I doubt we'll ever find out" she replied.