A Birthday Gift

Chapter 2: Birthday Breakfast

I do not own GI Joe. I own nothing but my imagination. Thanks to Little Lady Hawk for the help!

Conrad woke up to the delicious smell of breakfast cooking. His stomach growled in anticipation of real food. It was nice to know he would get out of bed on his birthday and be able to eat a home cooked meal-and not be the one to have to cook it. Horrified, he sat bolt upright. He realized the only person likely to be cooking him breakfast this morning was Shauna. He rolled his eyes heavenward, "No…please no." He shook his head and got up. There was no helping it. If she had made him breakfast he would have to eat it and smile about it.

He dressed quickly, hoping that she had just gotten started and he could somehow outmaneuver her and finish breakfast. "At least part of it would be fit to eat."

When he walked into the kitchen his fear was confirmed, Shauna was at the stove cooking sausage.

Shauna looked up and grinned as Conrad walked in the kitchen, "Happy Birthday."

He returned her smile, "Thanks. Breakfast smells good."

"Doesn't it? Coffee's hot. Mugs are in the far left cabinet by the doorway."

Conrad sat down with his coffee, trying to think of someway to get the spatula out of her hand. He was about to say something when her dad walked up from the basement with a package of eggs in his hands.

Patrick put the eggs down on the counter near the stove and took the spatula from his daughter, "Thank you Shauna."

"You're welcome. Do you need anything else?"

Patrick shook his head, "No, sit down and drink your coffee with Conrad.

Shauna sat down and turned to Conrad with a smirk, "Bet you thought you were going to have to endure my cooking and be nice about it."

Conrad cleared his throat, "The ah thought had crossed my mind."

Shauna picked up her coffee and took a sip, "Don't worry, Daddy didn't teach me how to cook."

"Thank God."

She laughed, "You should be thankful it's your birthday and you're going to get a home cooked meal instead of instant oatmeal."

"Ugg…don't worry, I'm more than grateful."

"Well lad, you can eat your breakfast and then decide if your grateful or not. Hold your plate out and tell me how much you want."

Breakfast was served, grace was said, and they all got down the business of eating breakfast.

Talk was mostly confined to asking to have this or that passed until they had all three finished. "Patrick, breakfast was wonderful I don't think I've enjoyed the meal as much in a long time."

"Your welcome lad. It's only me here now, with Shauna off doing army business and the boys with houses of their own, so I usually eat something quick before leaving. It's a treat to eat a full breakfast like this."

"Who's opening?"

"Derek."

The phone rang and Patrick got up to answer it, "Hello? Hello, Frank."

Their conversation was brief and Patrick returned to the table when he hung up the phone. "That was Frank. He'll be on his way over to swap cars in a few minutes. If there's any storm damage he'll pick up the supplies and send the Cambells over this afternoon with a crew."

"Do you need us to go outside and check?"

Patrick smiled, "As opposed to doing dishes?"

Shauna rolled her eyes, "I'll still do the dishes."

Her father chuckled and waved his hand in dismissal, "If you'll take Conrad and check the basement and make a circle around the house I'll do the dishes."

She put her coffee cup down with a thump and grabbed Conrad's hand, "We'll start in the basement."

She dragged Conrad down the basement stairs to the sound of her father's laughter. She turned and grinned at him when he stepped down behind her, "You'll have to come back to visit often, he's been practically spoiling me since you got here!"

"Happy to oblige."

They wandered around the basement looking for leaks or storm damage, passing a laundry area and den before coming to a training area that took up half of the basement, "I guess I should have expected to find something like this here but this, Shauna, is impressive." He took in a variety of martial art weapons mounted on the wall by the door. He wandered down and realized not only were the weapons items the O'Hara family would use in training but some were obviously part of a collection.

"Dad started the collection and we add to it little by little when something catches our eye. Part of the collection is displayed at the dojo but space is limited so most of it stays here."

Conrad wandered down a little further and studied a series of photographs next to trophies, medals, and awards. It seemed all the O'Hara children were athletes. Her older brothers posed for a picture in their football uniforms; Shauna and her youngest brother Sean were pictured dressed in baseball and softball uniforms. Pictures of the children together or individually or with friends spread across the remainder of the wall. He wandered down further and found family shots of the Shauna, her brothers, and their families, muddy, grinning, and holding a baseball trophy triumphantly.

"We play baseball or football against the neighbors, the Campbells, every Sunday. On the 4th of July we have a baseball game and whoever wins gets to keep this trophy until the next 4th of July game is played. As you can tell by the empty shelf next to the picture, the Campbells currently hold the trophy. That's something we plan to remedy this coming summer."

He laughed at the good-natured competitive spirit and figured if her brothers were anything like her the Campbells didn't stand a chance of keeping the trophy.

"Come on, let's go check the back yard before Frank gets here."

She led him out a side door and into the backyard. It was a little chilly but the sun was warm so all in all it was what he would consider an extremely mild winter day.

They walked quietly down the slopping hill in the back and turned to check to roof when they reached the fence blocking off the yard from the creek.

"Nope, no damage. I didn't think there would be. The Campbells do good work and I'm sure Frank was up there helping them the last time the roof was replaced."

"I think someone's baseball washed up." Conrad pointed to a baseball on the other side of the gate.

"Wanna play catch?"

He grinned, surprised but more than willing, "Absolutely."

"Wait here, I'll go get a mitt."

Shauna rushed to the house and back, returning with the promised mitt, joining Conrad by the creek. "Do you want to pitch first or catch first? It's your birthday so I'll let you decide. Although I warn you, I've got a mean fast ball!"

"Then I'll pitch first, and you can catch."

"Okay then, I'll make sure I don't stand too far back."

"Hey, you're not the only who can play baseball."

"Well see." And their game began.

Frank parked his wife's car behind his SUV and climbed out. He walked to the edge of the drive and peered over the back fence. He smiled with a sigh of relief. The creek had flooded but it hadn't come close to reaching the fence. He knew they'd been right to move the fence so far back from the creek bank.

He heard laughter and Shauna came into view, holding a baseball mitt high in the air to catch the baseball that was flying toward her. He grinned. It was beyond good to have her home and for two glorious weeks, happy and whole, it didn't get much better than that.

He unlatched the gate and walked quickly but quietly down the cement stairs to the backyard, intending to sneak up on his baby sister. He walked swiftly down the yard, noting she was still close to the gate. He waited in the shadows of a huge magnolia tree they had used as a climbing tree as kids until she threw the ball back and then leaped out and though the gate, grabbing her up in his arms with a laugh.

She shrieked and laughed as Frank grabbed her and tossed her in the air like a child. As always, she fake struggled as he carried her to the edge of the creek but she wrapped her arms and legs around him like a monkey so he couldn't throw her in.

Frank struggled to pull her off, enjoying the childish tussle with his baby sister but he was laughing so hard it was impossible to pry more than one hand loose at a time.

"Franklin Patrick O'Hara, don't you dare even think about throwing me in that creek! The water is freezing cold and I'll get pneumonia!"

"You won't get pneumonia and the creek isn't frozen." He grinned and kept laughing, "It will be cold though!"

They kept it up for another minute, turning this way and that before they reached an unspoken agreement and she slide down until her feet touched the ground. Frank pulled her back close, hugging her to him with a sigh. "I'm glad you're home, Shauna."

She rested her head on his shoulder and sighed, "Me too." Her brother Frank was one of the things she missed the most about being stationed so far away from home.

Conrad stayed silent, watching amused from the sidelines. Shauna's play tussle with her older brother reminding him of his little sister Cassie and his heart tugged a little, impatient to be home. He was also a touch envious at how utterly relaxed she was with Frank. He had known they were close, she talked about him more than her other brothers, but he hadn't realized until just now how close. He gave them a moment to themselves and studied Frank. He was almost a head taller than she was, which would put Frank slightly over his own 6'2". He had sizable shoulders and Duke remembered Shauna saying he was involved in construction. Shauna had also told him Frank was an instructor at the family dojo and was her sparing partner when she was home.

Frank looked up then and the smile vanished instantly from his face only to be replaced with a look of suspicion and outright distrust. "Who the hell is this?"

Shauna stepped away with a grimace, "Frank! Be nice. This is Conrad Hauser, he's a friend of mine."

"What's he doing here?" Frank stepped back towards her in what Conrad recognized was a classic big brother protecting his little sister stance.

"He's on his way home to St. Louis. His flight got cancelled last night so he crashed here."

Frank grunted, "How'd he get here?"

Shauna rolled her eyes, "I went and got him."

Frank turned back towards Shauna with a look of horror on his face, "You drove all the way to the airport in the storm last night?"

"Yes." She drew the word out so it sounded more like two words than one, "Don't worry, your car is fine."

"I'm not worried about my damn car. I'm worried about you!" He put his arms on her as if to check for injury but she crossed her arms in front of her chest and glared at him, "Don't pull the overprotective brother thing on me now. I'm fine."

"But you hate driving in the rain! You're terrified of storms!"

She flushed, embarrassed, "I USED to be BOTHERED by storms but I grew out of that a long time go!"

"Yeah right!"

"Frank! You're embarrassing me!"

"But..!" his words died off as she put her hands on her hips and let out a litany of Irish curses.

Conrad had learned enough Galeic from Shauna to know she was seriously telling her brother off and held out his hand toward Frank in a gesture of peace. The very last thing he wanted to do was cause trouble between her and her brother when she had been such a good friend. "Hi, Conrad Hauser. It's nice to meet you." He purposely left off the 'Shauna talks about you all the time' line not wanting to leave Frank an opening for another argument.

Frank sighed and accepted Conrad's outstretched hand with an odd smile and gripped his hand hard enough to feels bones popping. What surprised him was that Conrad returned the grip with an equal amount of strength. They stood there locked in "polite" combat until Shauna threw up her hands and walked back towards the house.

"Men!" She turned and stalked back up the hill, leaving Conrad and Frank to follow or not depending upon how long they stayed locked in combat. They both released at the same time, Frank knowing if he held on much longer Conrad would have bruises on his hand and Shauna would tear into him again, Conrad letting go because he knew he wasn't a threat to Shauna and because he didn't want to ostracize someone who was so important to her.

The screen door slammed shut behind Shauna, breaking though some of the tension in the air. Frank knew they needed to follow or their dad would come out to see what had put her in such a huff. He held his hand out, gesturing for Conrad to go through the gate first. Conrad scooped up the ball and mitts and walked through the gate. Frank followed, closing and locking it behind him.

Conrad spoke first, "Shauna tells me you teach at the dojo and that you're in construction."

"No, I'm a restoration architect. The Campbell's are in construction, Little James restarted his father's business when he got out of school; we just share an office." Realizing how rude that sounded so close to the house he amended his statement, "But I do help out now and again when they're working on a restoration project and we are sponsoring a Habitat House. It's the third one we've helped build."

"I helped build a few cabins for ranch hands when I was visiting my father's family in Texas."

"When was that?"

"I was fifteen at the time."

"Hmm." Frank looked at him appraisingly, as if saying if he built houses he couldn't be all bad.

"My little sister was five."

"Ten years younger? Wow, Shauna's eight and I consider that a pretty big age gap."

"It is. Cassie's at school now, trying to decide if she wants to major in Veterinarian medicine or get an agricultural degree. Either way she plans on returning home to help out with the farm."

Frank followed Conrad up the stairs and closed the stair gate behind him. "What do you farm?"

"Mostly corn and cows."

Conrad opened the screen door and held it open for Frank as they walked in the kitchen.

Patrick looked up from the morning paper, "Mornin' Frank, I was wondering when the two of you would come up. Ya got yer sister in a rare temper. Ye'd do well to make up with her before she gets too mad."

"I'm going."

"Conrad, you can sit down and have a cup of coffee with me. If we're lucky they'll work it out peacefully and they'll join us. If not, well, if not you'd do well to enjoy as much of your coffee as ya can before they get too loud."

As it were, they did work it out peacefully and joined their father and Conrad at the table for coffee. They were chatting comfortably, except for Frank who still didn't completely like the idea of Conrad being here but wasn't about to be rude to the man in front of his father, when the phone rang again.

"I'll get it, it's probably Manny."

"Manny? Hey, how's it going?"

She murmured a moment listening to Manny and replied, "Great, can you have the Baron ready in about an hour and a half? Great! Thanks Manny, see you then!"

She hung up and turned to Conrad, "That was Manny, the guy who takes care of my plane. The weather is clear to St. Louis and Manny filed a flight plan. If we leave in the next hour and a half I can probably have you home in time for a late lunch."

"That's great! I'll call mom. Do you still want stay tonight?"

"Of course! Steak and homemade birthday cake, who can resist that?"

Conrad laughed as he went down the hall.

"You're not leaving are you?" Frank asked

"Just for tonight."

Frank sputtered, "Just for tonight! You're on vacation! Take him back to Hartsfield and let him catch a commercial flight!"

Patrick intervened before another argument could break out, "Conrad invited her to have dinner with his family tonight. It would be best if she stayed with them and came back in the morning."

"Frank, it's his birthday!" she pleaded, "I'll be back in time for lunch or dinner at the latest. I'll come over and have dinner at your house, play with the kids and then we can just hang out."

Frank sighed, "It's not like I have a choice is it?"

She smiled and hugged his arm, "No, but I'd like it better if you didn't put up a stink about it."

"Fine, I'll drive you out there. And dinner tomorrow night, right?"

"Right. Now, I need to go pack my duffle."

A few minutes later Shauna and Conrad were ready to go.

"I'll drive and I'll pick you up tomorrow."

Shauna smiled, "You sure? I thought you needed to head out to a site."

"It can wait."

Patrick walked them to the door, "Conrad, I hope you'll come back and stay longer before your leave is over."

Conrad glanced over at Shauna and she nodded her head, "I'd be honored Patrick."

"Fine, come Saturday afternoon, come to church with the family Sunday. We'll have lunch after church, you can meet everyone else and go back with Shauna on Monday."

"Thank you, Patrick, I'll look forward to it."

"So will I lad." He clapped Conrad on the back and leaned in to kiss Shauna on the check, "call when you get settled lass."

"I will."

"Frank, drive safely."

Frank nodded, still stunned that Conrad was allowed to call Patrick O'Hara by his first name. He shook his head slowly realizing what his father was about.

They got to the airport and Shauna went to check in with Manny, leaving Conrad alone with Frank.

"So, you've been friends with Shauna a long time, haven't you."

"Yes." Conrad wondered where Frank was going with this.

"And you care about her."

"Well, yeah, she's my best friend, of course I care about her." Conrad tried not to be too insulted by Frank's question. Did he care about her? What kind of question was that?

"And she cares about you."

"Yes. She does, very much." Was Frank jealous? He tried to picture Cassie coming home with a friend from college. He would probably be jealous if she spent time with her friend while he was there.

"Right. And you're 'friends'."

"I said that, yes."

"So you don't have any other feelings toward her?" Frank was cut off by Shauna's arrival

"We're all set. Thanks Frank!" She leaned up and gave him a tight hug, which he returned, lifting her off her feet. "Frank!"

"Hurry home."

"It's only one night. I'll see you tomorrow. Don't forget to tell Carolina that I'm coming over."

"I won't. Safe trip, Shauna." He waved as she went back to the plane.

Frank glared at Conrad as he shook the man's hand, "Saved by the bell."

"See you in a couple of weeks."

Frank watched him get in the plane with Shauna. "Oh you will." Frank pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and called his brother Brian, "Round up Sean and meet me at Riley's for lunch."

"Sure, what's up?"

"A friend followed Shauna home last night."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, I think dad is determined the guy's going to be it."

"It?"

"It. You know, 'it'. As in Shauna's future husband."