DISCLAIMER: I do not own the 39 clues or any characters associated with it!

Chapter 1: A pretty sweet 14th birthday

Dan awoke to the relaxing sound of rain pitter-pattering on his window. For the first time in months he'd gotten through the whole night without waking up. No nightmares. It must have been due to the fact that the hostages were finally safe from the Vespers. Finally, he thought, they were all home.

Wait a minute! They were all home! Dan let the truth finally sink in, after about a week of it actually happening.

"Amy hurry!" Dan yelled. "They're getting closer!"

"Dan, you go on! I'm alright! Go get the rest of them!" Amy shouted back, her voice only barely louder than the bombs exploding around them.

They had been planning the escape vigorously for months after they had finally found out the location where the Vespers were keeping their relatives as hostages. The result had been a foolproof blueprint of how they would rescue the hostages. Earlier today they had set out to execute the mission. They were finally going to have their family back!

"NATALIE! NATALIE WHERE ARE YOU?! NATALIE!" yelled Ian desperately, his voice cracking.

He, Amy, Hamilton, Madison, Ian, and Jonah had finally managed to recruit Reagan, Ted, Phoenix, Nellie, Fiske, and Alistair. All of whom looked tired and weak. But there was no sign of Natalie.

"NATALIE, COME ON! WHERE ARE YOU?" Ian was close to tears.

Where could she be? Dan thought.

Finally, he saw a movement up ahead. It was the small figure of a young girl with tan skin and dark hair. She was wearing a jumpsuit and she was crying. Tears were making clean streaks through the grime that covered her face. Dan wanted to cry out of relief and happiness. He ran over to her and pulled her out of the way right before a huge column fell on her. He helped her hastily move around falling debris in their quest to get to the group.

Natalie Kabra ran straight into Ian's arms. The reunion was really touching, but they seriously had to get a move on. He shouted at them to follow him, and they were off once again. Running through hallways filled with traps.

They almost fell into a huge pit that lead into a dark and smelly dungeon. If it wasn't for Phoenix stopping them right before they fell, they'd all be prisoners. So they carried on with the mission, hoping for the best.

"Ok we need to take a left here and then keep going straight until we pass a room marked 'Sydney 17'. Then we have to continue forward until we come to the next intersection, which we will turn left at again," explained Amy, holding a huge map. "They're probably going to throw more obstacles our way but we have to try our hardest to avoid them if we want to get out ali- TED WATCH OUT!"

Ted immediately ducked and grabbed Reagan's hand once he stood up, asking her to lead him.

"Ok, as I was saying, please be careful! We really do not need any casualties today. Please." She continued. "Alright, follow me."

They ducked from hanging axes and jumped over more pits. They deflected arrows and maneuvered through bullets. They would not let anything stop them. They would succeed. Dan saw a quick exchange between Amy and Ian, they were holding hands and clinging to each other as if their lives depended on it.

They made it out of the building with Ian shooting lethal darts at guards and Alistair hitting people with his cane. Hamilton was punching everything he could get ahold of and Madison was kicking guys in their soft spots, making them keel over into little balls.

They straggled through bushes and plants and made it into a clearing a mile away where two helicopters were waiting to take them to safety.

They had made it out! Natalie had passed out somewhere along the fight and Ian was carrying her, having since let go of Amy's hand. Dan carefully helped load her into the first helicopter and sat in the seat next to hers. Ian, Jonah, and Amy were tending to the wounds of Nellie, Fiske, and Phoenix. Dan knew that in the second helicopter, Hamilton and Madison were doing the same to Reagan, Ted, and Alistair.

Amy and Nellie were crying now and hugging each other so hard that it must have been painful. He didn't even think it was weird. He was doing the same to Fiske after they had taken off. He had really missed them all.

He settled into his seat and Natalie stirred.

"Dan?" she questioned, her voice coated in her smooth British accent. Her amber eyes slightly drooping.

"Yeah I'm here." He replied. "Do you want me to call Ian?"

Ian was sitting across from them with his eyes closed. Dan knew he wasn't sleeping though. He was a mess. But he was just on overload and he was trying to think.

"No, you don't need to do that. Let him rest," she whispered. She then proceeded to fall asleep. Dan knew that she must be exhausted- physically and emotionally. He didn't know what he would do if he was in her position. He was just so happy that she- and the rest of his family, of course- was back.

They ended up getting to the mansion at around three a.m. and went to sleep until noon the next day. Many of them were restless.

Hamilton and Madison had checked on Reagan at least five times throughout the night.

Ian spent the night on the sofa in Natalie's room, which ended up being a really great idea because she woke up screaming a few times and needed him so comfort her and help her go back to sleep.

Ned and Ted hadn't even bothered going to sleep and were in the kitchen when the rest of the family woke up.

The next few days after were spent with people shedding tears and sharing numerous hugs. Nobody would leave each other's side. It was as if everyone had been joined at the hips. But what could you expect after not seeing people you care about for months while they were being tortured?

Dan sighed.

He didn't really feel any older but he was mildly close to finishing the 8th grade and that excited him to the point of a big smile being plastering itself on his face. He didn't care that school didn't really end for another six months! It was soon enough. The mere thought of finishing school and going into summer vacation! But sadly, Dan would have time to dream about his beach plans later on, especially since it was currently freezing in Boston. Right now what he had to worry about was making Amy mad by trashing his house once a few of his distant relatives woke up.

At last, he would get to have some fun without his worries hanging on his shoulders.

His school was currently on break for the holidays. Christmas was just around the corner and then came New Years!

He glanced at his superheroes watch. It was 5:38 a.m. Five thirty eight. A.M. Dan never woke up this early. Ever. Wow, he must have gotten a really good nights sleep.

He shuffled into the bathroom and got ready. After he had brushed his teeth, taken a shower, and dressed himself in black jeans and a marvel shirt, he walked downstairs to fix himself breakfast, not suspecting anyone to be awake yet.

Little did he know that who he ran into when he got to the kitchen would be quite a surprise ending in an interesting breakfast with just him and his cousin, on his birthday morning.

A/N: I'd like to just point out that I don't know when Dan's real birthday is, or how the hostages were actually freed. This is just my imagination running wild, ok? Also, I'm assuming Dan is in eighth grade and please just bear with me for the purpose of this story. Please? This is the first story I've written on this website so yeah…

A special thanks to Lovely SOS for encouraging me to write and for giving me a few ideas! Everyone go check her out because she's amazing and her writing is top notch!

This story takes place after the whole Vesper situation, and although I don't know how it actually happened, or what happened afterwards, I present to you this story that my brain has spawned.

Reviews are appreciated because you know I worked really hard on this people! Yeah, if any of you has any ideas or subplots or something that you want to give me, I will gladly accept them!