New years came and past, celebrated with a trip to Wyoming and a series of highly illegal fireworks displays before everyone who had bothered to come (the girls, Deidara, Kisame, and Hidan) piled back into the car and drove back home, spending the night in the car in a Wal-Mart parking lot. For the next three days the fire deprived criminal went on about the display and tried to convince them to go for another, but found himself vetoed.

January passed without incident. The girls' vacations were over and it was back to the usual schedule until February rolled around. When Shelly was at school Sophie called everyone into the living room and stood before them like a teacher might, looking very serious.

"As of today," February fourth, "We had approximately six days until Shelly's birthday. Her family is having a party at her grandparents' house on that day, but we will have another party for her here, just us. So, any ideas?"

There was silence before Hidan spoke up.

"Why don't we just get the bitch a cake?" he asked, and then Tobi was wailing objections.

"We can't do that!" he cried, "Shelly-chan should get a party! A big one! We should throw her a surprise party!"

"Shut up, un! She'll hear you from the museum you're so loud," the blond glared at the masked man in annoyance and Sophie sighed, not sure what else she had been expecting.

It was still odd to hear the honorific attached to her friends name. Tobi was the only one that still used them by that point, the rest having adapted to the western style of speech. They didn't even have accents anymore, which was only a little bit surprising. According to Shelly it took eight weeks of complete exposure to learn a language, and they had had more than enough time to master it. They still slipped up sometimes though.

"Actually that's not a bad idea," they looked over at Yahiko who had a hand on his chin, looking thoughtful, "We could do it, but smaller than what I think Tobi is talking about. And Hidan is right, we'll need a cake. And presents too… does anyone else here have a birthday this month?"

"Mines next month," Kisame offered, but that was as close as any of them got. Sophie wouldn't have hers until the summer, and everyone else was at least a few month away. And so they started planning.


On the day of her birthday Shelly slept in, the dogs letting themselves out somehow. She didn't ask. From there she dragged herself through the process of getting dressed, thanked the calendar for having her birthday on a week end for the first time in years, and bundled up. She had grown up in the cold climate of the Rockies, and so didn't need to get overly dressed up, but it had snowed in the night and the snow nearly reached her thighs, making it only a bit colder than she expect.

"I'm headin out!" she shouted, and there were muffled replies from various areas of the house. The trek was quick on, just past the apartments and an rotting wooden wagon. Her grandparents house was older than hers, and wider as well. With two sitting room, two dining rooms, and five bedrooms, not to mention an antique store that lived on top of the garage and the work shop in the basement.

Shelly looked at the house and sighed, letting herself in and side stepping the frighteningly thin Margaret, the formerly stray cat her grandparents had taken in. That cat had been around for as long as the girl could remember, and had to be at least seventeen. She was a tough old girl, a long haired calico with a scar on her nose from the time she had lived with raccoons.

Shelly passed her, leaning down to pet the feline that no longer had the energy to run when she came over before she stepped into the living room to see her mom and dad on one couch, their two dogs there with them. Her sister was playing on her DS on a chair and Barbara and Pete, the old couple living in the house during the winter, had taken up residence in the love seat. Charlie, the king Charles spaniel her mom had found back in the second grade, looked up at her and scrambled to his feet, limping towards her.

She buried her hands in his thinning fur, talking to him and loving him as much as she could. Her parents stood up and pulled her into hugs.

She smiled at them and laughed with them, forgetting that the animals she had known her whole life wouldn't be around for much longer, forcing herself to forget that her parents wouldn't be around forever either. They were stupid thoughts, not at all thoughts for her birthday.

The door opened behind her and in walked BJ, still greying and smelling of cigarette smoke, just like she always did. Soon she was followed by Ginny and her husband, Donny, as well as her aunt and uncle Diana and Jerry. Jerry was looking worse for wear, leaning heavily on his cane while his leg spasmed at random intervals.

"Happy birthday Shelly," they all said at one point or another, and soon her second favorite uncle and third favorite cousins pulled in. Bruce, his wife Denise, and their daughters Stacy and Kayla. They were nice, but Kayla has always been a bit to stand off-ish for Shelly to feel entirely comfortable around. But she was still polite. Mostly.

For hours they were there, talking and catching up. Shelly told them about her classes and her friends and they told her about their lives and the lives of the family that hadn't been able to make it. Sophie came marching in an hour and a half in, shivering from the cold as she peeled off multiple layers of clothing.

"Hey," she greeted, and the welcome was returned. Shelly smiled, watching the girl that might as well have been adopted by her family. Well, she's the only one Shelly mused, groaning and biting back a smile when boxes were shoved at her. It wasn't much. She got rings from Ginny, a shirt from Diana, a box of ammo from Jerry, and a scarf from BJ. Bruce and his family gave her cards and cash, appreciated and easy to use. From her parents she got the best things. Her dad gave her the entire collection of her favorite book series, Starcrossed, something she had only mentioned in passing during their last visit. Her mom handed her a thickly wrapped box that revealed a new Ipod, something she had been sorely wishing for. Her old one didn't even hold a charge. Her sister forked over a new pair of boots and a small silver ring with blue 'gems' embedded in it.

The festivities continued on to cake and dinner until everything started winding down. Shelly could feel a headache coming on from so much attention directed to her. Maybe she should rethink her goal of being a teacher.

"Well," Bruce began, standing up, "We'd better head back before traffic gets too bad," he announced, and everyone in his branch stood as well. Shelly hugged the only member of her family that was actually taller.

"See you next time," she promised, and hugged her cousins and aunt as well. Then it was Jerry and Diana's turn.

"Alright kid, time for us to go too," he said, wobbling forward and wrapping one stiff arm around his niece. Her aunt, a tiny, thin woman hugged her as well.

"We'll see you later," she said, and the two went to the door.

"Be careful," she called, and then they were gone. Ginny and Donny stood up next and while she hugged her cousin she gave her husband, who she was on the fence about, a hand shake instead.

"I'll see you guys," she said, and they left as well.

Then there was the fanfare of her parents farewell, filled with procrastinating and words of love before they got back into the car and made the drive all the way up to Loveland. At last the two girls bid their farewells to Barbara and Pete before making the five minute walk back home. By the time they got there all Shelly could do was fall into bed.


Shelly was at work when Sophie recalled the meeting with the others, and the final plans were set. They started setting up decoration and getting everything ready. Sophie was in charge, with Nagato and Konan backing her like two shadows. Itachi and Kisame were put on cake duty, Deidara and Sasori were given Tobi as their assistant in decorating the living room(perhaps not the best decision ever) and Hidan, Kakuzu, Yahiko, and (to an extent) Zetsu were sent out to get presents, with Kakuzu in charge of what extra money Sophie had scraped together.

To put it simply, it was chaos. Every five minutes she had to break up a fight between artists, or answer a phone call from the bitching Hidan and the frugal Kakuzu, usually for something stupid like whether they could spend the extra dollar to get gum. And it turned out that neither the Uchiha nor the shark ninja had any experience baking, and Sophie had a talent for burning things but not creating that so that left her out.

In the end Konan had to go and make sure they didn't blow up the kitchen and Yahiko had to be trsted to keep the other two from killing something. Nagato had been sent away when it was clear he had a head ache and Sophie, who's backbone had been growing steadily lately, stepped between the artists and played devil's advocate.

In the end the gifts were mediocre, if not surprisingly thoughtful, the decorations clashed horribly and the cake was lopsided and strangely iced. It hurt to look at, but there was nothing to be done about it.

"This will have to do," Sophie stated, looking over the scene grimly. The clock on the wall ticked away quietly as their time grew short and everyone got ready. Or Sophie did. The boys didn't need to try to hide, they did it already, so it was just her stuck hiding behind the couch, and after a few minutes Tobi appeared by her side, swirling into existence.

"Frickin ninja," she grumbled, surprised when he appeared,

"Tobi has a question," he announced, and Sophie cocked her head to the side.

"Yeah?" she asked, and the masked man looked up at the ceiling.

"Why is Sophie-chan throwing a part for Shelly-chan if Shelly-chan already got one?"

"First off the honorifics aren't necessary. Second it's because why not? Shelly does a lot, why not do something for her too?"

She could hear him grin.

"Sophie-chan is so nice!"

The door knob started jiggling and they both stilled until it opened and in waltzed Shelly, ear bud hanging down. And then it was all noise.