It couldn't have been a better party. All of Cappie's friends were there, his KT brothers and his old high school friends. Many of Casey's ZBZ sisters were there as well. Wade had indeed shaved his moustache, so Calvin gave Rusty twenty bucks, which Rusty made a note to give back later. There was alcoholic and karaoke, a mixture Cappie thoroughly enjoyed. He noticed Rusty didn't touch his drink, but didn't say anything. The CRU gang stayed the latest of all the guests, reminiscing about college. "Hey, Ruse, do you remember that time we duck-tapped you to the wall?" Evan asked cruelly. Rusty just glared at him. Alana gasped.

"Uncle Evam did that to my Uncle Rustey? Uncle Evam is a meanie pants!" Alana shouted, her face angry. She didn't like her uncle being picked on. Cappie smiled.

"Don't worry, sweetheart. If my memory serves me right, your brother did put barn yard animals in their house as revenge." Cappie told his worried daughter with a chuckle. Casey smoothly changed the topic before Evan could say anything else.

"So, Dale, how's the research?" she asked, faking curiosity. It was one of the things Casey had gotten good at over the years, especially with having a four year old.

"It's coming along. Nothing like Mr. Nobel Prize Winner over here, but it's been sparking some interest." Dale answered modestly. Two things had changed about him since college. 1. He stopped pushing his beliefs onto everyone he met, thereby improving his social skills and 2. He became a lot more modest and humble. Rusty just blushed. "Speaking of research, did I hear you say you were taking a break from your work? What's with that?"

Rusty just stared at his cup. Ashleigh and Calvin exchanged a glance. "I'll be right back," he mumbled quickly. The pain was starting to come back, and he couldn't bear it in front of all his friends. The conversation turned to Evan's campaign and Calvin's newest fundraiser. Cappie excused himself and went to follow Rusty. Rusty went into the bathroom and left the door open. Cappie stayed in a position at the beginning of the hall where he could see Rusty perfectly. When Rusty began to cough Cappie almost walked away, but then something caught his eye. There was a huge spot of blood on the tissue Rusty had been using. This immediately alarmed Cappie and he made a note to talk to Beaver, who was now an expert on all things thanks to Wikipedia.

Rusty tool a plastic bag of pills out of his pocket and opened it. He took out four, twice his usual dosage. Rusty knew two wouldn't dull the pain anymore. He also knew that soon four wouldn't do the trick either. He took the pills and swallowed a bit of water.

Everyone eventually decided they had to go home around midnight. Cappie and Casey thanked all of them for coming and arranged for all of them to have brunch there in the morning. Ashleigh, Rusty, and Calvin all stayed to help clean up.

"Hey, Case, can I open my presents now?" Cappie nagged. His wife had made him not open the presents in front of their guests. He desperately wanted to see what he got.

"Go ahead," was her answer. Casey shook her head. Her husband was like a three year old on Christmas. Rusty and Alana went into the living room to help Cappie with his presents. He'd opened most of them by the time they'd sat down.

"Hey, Spitter, is the one yours?' Cappie asked excitedly. Rusty nodded. Cappie ripped open the bag only to find a small key. "A key? To what?" Cappie asked.

"Read the note," Rusty replied. He'd lied to Casey; the present was pricey, but they deserved it. Cappie dug through the bag until he found the note. It said:

Hey Cappie.

I know I told Casey I wouldn't get you a gift, but I lied. Take this key to the car dealership down the road and pick the car of your dreams. I already set up a tab, so don't worry about the price. I know it's a big gift, but the car you have is falling apart. Enjoy.

Signed

Spitter the Scientist

Cappie stared at the note in disbelief. "You didn't," he said to Rusty in shock. Rusty shrugged. "Case, come here!" Cappie shouted to his wife. She dropped what she was doing and went into the living room.

"What's wrong?" she asked Cappie, who looked awestruck. He handed her the note. She read and glared at her brother. "Rusty, this is way too big of a gift! We can't accept it!" she shouted at him.

"Think of it this way. I have so much money that I don't know how to spend, so if you don't get a new car, I might go spend my money on drugs and become an addict. So really, you guys are doing me a favor by taking this car." Rusty reasoned. He knew it was far-fetched, but he needed them to just take the gift. It would probably be the last birthday gift he ever gave. Rusty needed to know he did something to repay his sister and big brother before he died.

"Well, since you put it that way, thanks!" Cappie agreed. He knew Rusty just liked seeing everyone happy, and he had the money to do that. After all, they were all he had. No other friends besides the CRU gang, no girlfriend, no pets. Rusty lived a pretty lonely life.

Alana hopped into her uncle's lap. "Uncle Rustey, will you tell me a story before Mommy makes me go to bed?" she asked him with puppy dog eyes. She loved her uncle's stories more than any other stories. He told wild tales of a magical place called CRU where her parents and friends had all met.

"Okay, let's see. Oh, did I ever tell you about the might Mt. Vesuvius?' Rusty asked her. Alana shook her head. "Okay, well, in the kingdom of Kappa Tau Gamma, there was a might volcano called Mt. Vesuvius. It was created by a great king, Egyptian Joe, many years ago."

"Uncle Egyptian Joe?" Alana asked excitedly. Rusty nodded. She made a mental note to start calling King Uncle Egyptian Joe.

"Yes," Rusty answered with a laugh. "Every year, all the kingdoms of CRU would come together at Kappa Tau to celebrate the great Vesuvius. It was the of legendary party of CRU. Now, when I was only a newcomer to the kingdom, the volcano stopped erupting. Your dad, then the king of Kappa Tau, gave me the task of fixing it. Unfortunately, King Egyptian Joe hadn't left a very detailed instruction manual. So, with the help of your Uncle Dale and my very own princess, I stole a magical machine and put it in Vesuvius. The magical machine fixed the volcano and made it rain beer. And everyone partied all night."

"What's beer?" Alana asked curiously. It was in almost all of these stories and she'd heard her dad talk about it a few times.

"Beer is an adult drink and was the magical beverage of these kingdoms," Rusty answered cautiously. He knew Casey would kill him if he gave her the real definition of beer.

"Wait, what happened to your princess?" Alana asked. She saw that her question made her uncle sad and immediately felt bad. She had heard her parents talking about how her uncle had yet to find the one. She didn't know what that meant, but the way they talked made it sound like a bad thing.

"Well, we kissed under the rainfall of beer, but at the end of the story, she turned out to be an evil witch," Rusty replied jokingly. He still missed his first love sometimes. He had seen one of her articles in the New York Times, and he was glad she was doing well. Rusty didn't mind not finding his true love. He seen enough of them to know how messy they were.

"And what happened to Vesuvius?" Alana asked urgently. She had a bad feeling about the ending of this story just from the way her uncle hadn't told it immediately.

"Well, Vesuvius lived in peace most of the semester until some evil wizards rented Kappa Tau for a party. They trashed the house and destroyed Vesuvius. This nearly killed your Uncle Pickle. We laid Vesuvius to rest the proper way and said our goodbyes." Rusty told her sadly. He remembered that day vividly. Pickle had been inconsolable and they'd had three screenings of his favorite movie to comfort him.

"No!" Alana shouted. She hated when stories had sad endings.

"Don't worry. Vesuvius will be rebuilt one day, and for now, it just lives in our hearts." Rusty reassured her. He didn't say that it was going to be rebuilt sooner than expected.

Casey stood in the doorway, listening to her brother tell her daughter a story. Alana said her favorite stories were Uncle Rusty's and that he'd promised to make her a book filled with them. Casey never realized how exciting their college days had been until she heard Rusty talk about them. The ending to that story caught her attention. Rusty said it would rebuilt one day, and he sounded so sure of it, but Cappie had told her the new KTs had nearly no extra money to spare. Alana got up, gave her uncle a good night kiss, and skipped off to bed. Casey shook her head. "How do you do that?" she asked her brother. "Usually I have to drag her to bed."

Rusty shook his head. "I have no clue," he admitted. He had a feeling his sister was catching on, but tried to ignore it.

"So, how have you been?" Casey asked casually. She knew something was wrong, but didn't want to force the issue. That would just make Rusty snap.

"I've been better," Rusty answered honestly. He considered telling his sister about the cancer, the pain, but decided against. His answer was vague enough that it didn't go immediately in that direction.

"Why? What's wrong?" Casey asked worriedly. Her brother didn't look all that great, to tell the truth. She had seen his hand and you could clearly see his veins.

"I just have a lot of regrets, I guess," Rusty answered sadly. It wasn't a lie. He wasn't afraid to die, but he just had a lot of things he wished he could do or had done. He wished he had found his soul mate and had a family. He wished he could watch his niece grow up into a young woman. He wished he could see Dale's research win the acclaim Rusty knew it was going to get. It made him sad to think he'd never see any of those things.

"Why? You have a great life. You're rich, successful, and have friends that love you." Casey told him. She knew his regrets. Rusty was a hopeless romantic who never found his match. She knew he was proud of his accomplishments, but they couldn't fill the empty space he felt. Casey knew the only reason he had remained in Cyprus was that it was near CRU. Even Cappie was able to find a new home, but CRU was where Rusty belonged. Nowhere else could compare.

"Thanks, Case." Rusty replied. He knew he was a lucky guy, but there were some things he hadn't been blessed with. Rusty had started going to church, trying to find the faith Dale had. He needed to have faith that everyone would be okay when he died. Rusty had a plan, but he didn't know if it would work or not.

Ashleigh, Calvin, and Rusty didn't stay much longer. They left a little after two and went start to bed. Rusty stayed up until four working on his plan. He knew it would help his friends and family when he died, but he didn't know if the person he needed help from would do these tasks for him. Rusty hoped she would. Only she would understand why.