Rose stretched the next morning before she opened her eyes and smiled. Bruce was smiling at her, propped up on his hand. He reached out and stroked her hair, kissing her forehead, and then her lips.
"Good morning, Bruce." Rose whispered.
Bruce grinned. "Happy Birthday, Rose."
Rose smiled. "25, and still hella hot."
Bruce chuckled. "Well aren't you the modest one?"
"Oh yeah." Rose answered, shrugging and giggling. "I have tons of self confidence, and Alex has this huge party planned for me."
Bruce smiled. "That she does. So why didn't you take the day off?"
Rose shrugged. "Cause I'm sleeping with my boss, and I know he'll let me off easy while I'm at work today, so why not get paid to laze around today?"
"You know, no one gives you enough smart points." Bruce said, leaning in.
Rose kissed him softly. "Don't I know it?"
Rose kissed him one more time and then got up, opening up a drawer while in her pajamas. Bruce got up too, and then he got dressed and they headed into the office after Alfred made them breakfast. After working a little, Rose went back to the house and heard laughing.
"Wow, Tony, I've really missed your company." Willoughby told him.
Rose gasped, and hurried into the living room. "Tony?!?"
Standing before her was Tony Stark of Stark Industries. Rose and Tony had known each other for a very, very long time—they'd even dated for long enough to get engaged, but Rose had left him at the altar. She hadn't been sure she wanted to settle down at that point. Once upon a time, Rose had been smart, driven, mature—then Bruce came into the picture and Rose wanted to be with him so she started acting like the super models he ran around with. Tony was her High School Sweetheart, and for some reason, she felt like she had to be herself around him—her true self.
"You know, last time I saw you, you were—" Rose began.
"—dressed in a tux and left at the altar by the woman I was in love with." Tony finished for her.
Rose blushed. "Right…that was when we last saw each other, huh?"
Tony smiled. "And now you're dating another billionaire."
"Oh you know me…I only go for people with money." Rose joked.
Tony laughed. "Rose, I think we all know you better than that—at least who you used to be better than that."
Rose nodded. "Yeah, I got really shallow."
Tony smiled. "Yes you did, but who can blame you? Men of money don't normally go for women of smarts."
Rose looked at the floor. "You did. You were an absolutely fabulous man, and I left you staring at your shoes while I ran down the aisle."
Tony shrugged. "You were scared, Rose. I mean what real relationships had we had before each other?"
"None." Rose answered. "But after each other? Well you've had way more than me, but either way—we've grown."
"And now you're getting married. Wow. Do I get to meet him? And Happy Birthday, Rosie." Tony said.
Rose smiled at him lovingly. "Thanks Tony-Boo-Boo. You can meet him at the party tonight."
Alexis sampled some of the homemade frosting and grinned.
"Oh my God, Willoughby—this is fantastic." Alexis told him. "I mean really."
"Alfred made it." Willoughby announced.
Alfred looked up and smiled. "Rose ate a whole container of some once."
"Well it doesn't taste gross like store-bought frosting." Alexis said merrily. "She's going to love this cake."
Alfred smiled. "Well Willoughby made the cake. Bruce thought it would be better if both of us helped out."
"Well duh—I told him how much she loves both of you." Alexis told them. "I am the brains of this party operation."
The boys laughed, and then Alexis walked out into the living room and stood there, gaping.
"Well, well, well—the Meckenzies definitely got hot." Tony said.
Alexis went over and hugged him in her confusion.
"Tony Stark? Wow. Never thought I'd see you again. Wait…what exactly are you doing here?" Alexis asked.
Tony laughed. "Like I'd miss Rosie's birthday!"
"To be honest, I haven't heard from you since I took off, but I'm glad you're here. Wait…if Alex didn't invite you then…who did?" Rose asked, Willoughby coming into the room. "Willoughby! Did you invite my ex fiancé even though you knew that my present fiancé would be coming, and he's the jealous type?"
Willoughby laughed. "Please, Rose, as much as we all love Tony, I'm smarter than that."
"Is anybody home?" April asked, coming in the door.
"April." Rose said. "April did it."
"Figures." Alexis replied.
April came into the room and smiled. "Tony!"
"Wow you guys look so much better than you did in High School." Tony said.
"You're more attractive too, Tony-Boo-Boo." Rose told him, patting his arm. "Eva doesn't have braces anymore and April's over her acne."
April rolled her eyes. "Anyway…where's Pepper?"
"She's going to be here in like…10 minutes." Rose said beaming after checking her watch.
"Once upon a time you two were inseparable." Alexis recollected.
Rose nodded. "Yeah…before Bruce…when's my party again?"
Alexis noticed the cover-up, because Rose didn't want Tony to know that she'd taken a turn on the ditsy side to snag Bruce, and she'd succeeded. Tony was one of the only men that ever truly loved her when she was intelligent. Everyone thought she was going to marry him, and only Alexis and Willoughby knew that Rose had lied about bring a virgin—Tony Stark had been her first.
"We're doing this all at the place where Bruce holds his Galas right?" Tony asked, and the girls nodded. "I've always wanted to meet Bruce Wayne."
Eva sighed as she set her bags down at Clark's. She was wishing she knew what to tell April, but she had no idea. She had told Clark not to tell her, but when he'd taken off rather quickly and was nowhere to be found, Eva knew she'd been squealed on. She sighed a bit as she unpacked her bags in the guest room, and looked anxiously at her phone. Why hadn't April called to yell at her? Why hadn't Rose called to see if she'd gotten there all right? Why hadn't Clark called to tell her he was off and he'd be back later?
Something was wrong, but all of those thoughts were pushed out of her head when her bite started to itch. She scratched it a little bit, and then looked at it—it was definitely infected. She wasn't feeling too good, so she pushed her clothes off of her bed, and laid on it, curling up and falling asleep. When she woke up, she remembered that she was supposed to head out to go and see Rose for her birthday. Amazingly enough, she looked at the spot where she had been bitten, and all was healed.
"Great…I am going to turn into a freak." Eva said dismally. "This just makes my life sooooooo awesome."
Eva heaved a heavy sigh and then she walked out into the main room and looked at Clark as Clark wrapped Rose's birthday present. Eva didn't have time to pussy-foot around, so she stood in front of him and stared him down until he looked directly at her.
"Yes, Eva?" Clark asked her.
"Look, I know you're Superman, so when you're done wrapping that, I need you to fly us over to the mansion. Please, and thank you." Eva told him in one breath.
Clark stared at her, stunned. "You know?"
Eva nodded as she shrugged. "We all know about all of you."
"You guys thought you had the right to go around sharing our secrets?" Clark asked her, dumbfounded.
Eva sighed. "Clark? I adore you, I do…but you need to wrap faster and then fly us over to the mansion."
Clark raised an eyebrow and then pushed his glasses back up onto his nose. "You're suddenly a little pushy, Eva."
"Look, I just need to be there for Rose!" Eva said in exasperation and headed back to her room to get dressed.
When she was done, Clark flew them over and the first person Eva saw while she was adjusting to the head rush was Tony. Eva squealed a little in excitement, and then hugged Tony fiercely. She wasn't going to lie—Tony had always been her favorite of Rose's love interests. He was the only one who really saw her for who she truly was.
"What in the world are you doing here, Tony?" Eva asked, kissing his cheek. "You look so mature! Wait a minute…how many dates did you bring to your ex fiancé's birthday party?"
Tony rolled his eyes. "Give me some credit, Eva."
Eva laughed. "I did…so what's the answer to the question?"
"Eva!" Pepper exclaimed.
Eve squealed again and then hugged Pepper and then Rose who was excited as well right next to her.
"Pepper! Oh my god, you look fantastic!" Eva said.
"You two! I have to admit I was kind of surprised Tony and I got invited…I mean the last time we were all together was—" Pepper began.
"—was the day I left Tony at the alter. God…people really need to stop throwing that in my face." Rose said dismally. "Bruce!"
April was beyond angry at everything and everyone at that particular moment. She was outside by herself while Rose made all the introductions with Bruce, and she smiled when Clark came outside to see her. It was about time that he showed up to talk to her. With everything that was going down, she really needed her boyfriend.
"There's my man." April said happily, kissing him and then frowning when he didn't return it. "What's wrong?"
"Did you seriously tell Eva my secret?" Clark asked her, and then sighed when she looked confused. "You know…my super secret?"
April swallowed. "Yes…but in my defense, once Rose accidentally let it slip about Bruce, it was obvious! Then I thought out loud and didn't mean to, and it all just came out! It's not like I walked up to her going, 'Hey Eva, Clark's really Superman'!"
Clark took a deep breath. "I entrusted you with that secret, April."
"Clark…it's not like I'm going to go around blabbing it to anyone." April told him.
"April—I'm sorry. This may be a bad time, but I need to know…did you invite Tony?" Rose asked.
"Yes." April said with a sigh. "Yes I did. You know what? This has been a really shitty couple days for me! Eva breaks up with her boyfriend and moves in with my boyfriend and no one tells me! She's my little sister, and she told you!"
Rose ran her fingers through her hair. "In my defense, Peter called the house and told me what was up. I was worried about her, called Clark to give him a heads up, and then called Eva to make sure she was okay. I wanted her safe and sound because your little sister or not, she's my family too."
"You seriously invited Tony to make Rose's birthday bad?" Clark asked.
April swallowed. "In a fit of anger and confusion…I invited Logan too."
"WHAT?!" Rose asked in a harsh whisper. "Are you fucking insane?!"
"Apparently." April said. "I'm so sorry—it was all one big misunderstanding and I was really upset and I do really retarded things when I'm upset."
"I forgive you…but I need to go get Willoughby to hide the knives before Logan shows." Rose said, and hurried into the house.
April nodded and then turned to Clark and looked him over. Clark wasn't looking too happy—in fact he looked kind of sad. April reached out to stroke his cheek, but he pulled away and shook his head. In one swift, nervous movement, he pushed his glasses up on his nose and swallowed.
"April?" Clark asked her.
April didn't like the tone in his voice. "What is it, Clark? I'm really sorry that I went off on you about Eva—I'm just scared that I'm losing her. Nobody tells me anything around here anymore and I'm losing my touch at the station, and Donovan's giving me a hard time and Kiara's fucking insane and—"
"—we need to break up." Clark told her, cutting her off.
April swallowed. "What?"
Clark nodded and looked her in the eye. "I'm done."
