Disclaimer: Not mine. Surprise, surprise.
A/N: It's happy! Yeah, my friends were all on me to write some happy fic, so here it is. And another may be on the way shortly. Hopefully tomorrow.
"Happy birthday!" they chorus as I walk into the squad room.
"Oh, guys. Must you remind me of my age?"
"Hell yeah," Fin replies with an evil grin.
"You guys have any idea how much I hate birthdays?"
"No, and we don't want to know, either." Elliot tries to get out of hearing my explanation, but just for this, I think I'll torture them all a bit.
"You know why... because it reminds me of how damn old I am. How much older I am than all of you. And believe me, I don't need an annual reminder. In fact-"
"John!" they say and I'm amazed at their uniformity.
"You guys should try out for a choir or something, because your timing is great." They all shoot me looks of death, but I just smile and we laugh a bit at that. "So where's the cake?"
"We didn't get one. Figured you wanted to keep that skinny ass of yours," Fin replies with a straight face.
"Birthday? Without cake? And you're always complainin' about my ass. Just break out the cake already." I look at them all expectantly but they return the look just as easily. "You're joking, right?"
"John, my office." I realize suddenly Cragen wasn't around and head to his door, where he stands. My shoulders are slumped, playing the dejected little boy. As I get closer, Cragen stands aside and I'm met with the glorious sight of a large cake.
"Cake!" I turn around and their straight faces shatter into laughter. "That's just wrong, keeping the cake from the birthday boy. I mean, would you really like to see me cry? I tell you, it's not a pretty sight. Actually, I've had one of my wives-"
"Eat the goddamn cake already!" Fin yells at me.
I hold up my hands, smiling. "Fine, fine. Eat I will. But when there's no cake left and you want some, just remember, you told me to eat." I turn around and Cragen hands me a hefty piece. "Oh, c'mon. You can all have a piece, you dirty scoundrels."
They crowd round and soon everyone is eating cake and laughing. I get a slew of individual 'happy birthdays' and by the time I'm finished with my cake, I'm on automatic 'thank you' mode.As I make my way home that night, after a round of drinks forced upon me, I think back on the day. It's been one of the best days I've had for awhile, and one of the best birthdays as well.
And then it hits me, when I'm at the squad, with all of them, I'm at home, with my family.