Enjoy.

Chapter Thirty-six:

Jamie is up early to be prepared for her birthday party.

"Morning sweetie." Michelle greets with a cupcake with one candle in on top. "Happy birthday."

"Thank you Michelle." She greets happily. "This is going to be the best birthday ever." She hugs her.

"Oh really better than when I am going to adopt you." She jokes.

"Are you going to adopt me on my next birthday?" She is excited if that is going to happen.

"How did you know? You have ruin your present for next year." She giggles.

"Oh I thought never mind." She sulks.

"What's wrong?"

"I thought you were planning to adopt me sooner. Now I have to wait another year." She is disappointed about the wait time.

"So you have made your decision?" She inquires.

"I don't know. I just don't want to wait too long for a family to adopt me." She sits on her bed sad.

"Jamie-"

"Hello Jamie, happy birthday." Edge greets with her gift. He is dressed in Jamie's favourite colours. "Oh, what's wrong?" He sees she is upset. "No one should be sad on their birthday." He tells her.

Jamie perks up to hug Edge tight. "I am not sad, Edge. I am just waiting for my party it is too long to wait for it." She smiles.

"Don't worry we will plan a lot of activities to make the time past by quickly." He smiles as he glares at Michelle. He wants to know what she did to upset Jamie.

Michelle is taken back by Edge's protectiveness of Jamie. "Sweetie, how about you blow out your candle after you make a wish." Michelle changes the atmosphere.

"Wow, someone is special getting two wishes today." Edge acknowledges as he walks with her to the cupcake.

"Yup, I am special to have people who love me." She smiles back at Edge. This concerns Michelle that she will actually choose Edge over her.

"Okay, here we go." Michelle lights the candle. "Make a wish and blow out the candle." She says to Jamie. Jamie ponders on the perfect wish and blow out the candle.

"Yeah!" Edge and Michelle both cheer.

"What did you wish for?" Edge sarcastically asks.

"Mr. Adam, if I tell you my wish then it won't come true." She speaks.

"Yes Mr. Adam." Michelle jokes.

Edge glares at her again. "Oh really, I didn't know that." He jokes.

"You are funny, so what are doing first?"

"You should change your clothes unless your party is a pajama party." Michelle acknowledges.

"Right, Michelle will you help me with my dress?" She asks.

"Of course I will." She grins at Edge who rolls his eyes.

"That is my cue to leave the room. I will set up Monopoly for two."

"Mr. Adam, make it three Michelle is playing too, right?" She speaks with a pout at her to persuade her.

"I can't say no to that pout I am in." She pecks her cheek.

Edge puts on a small smile as he exits the bedroom. He, this time, is concern that Michelle is going to adopt Jamie and she will go with her.

Jamie comes out in her yellow and black strip dress. "There is my bumble bee."

"It fits perfect." She models her dress.

"I knew it would."

"And I have the perfect accessory for it." She takes the antenna hat from Michelle."

"I am now an actually bumble bee." She shows Edge the full outfit.

"You are, where did you get those?"

"Michelle gave it to me. I showed her my dress and she said that these will look perfect on me. What do you think?"

"I think she has great taste." He smiles at Michelle as she blushes a bit. "If you like them then you should wear them." He smiles.

"Are you sure?" Jamie asks just to make sure. She is testing if he really cares about her.

"Yes, this is your day you should dress in any way you want."

"I can dress in just a short skirt and a small tank top." She tests him again.

"No, you are too young for revealing clothes like that. You are not dressing too revealing if I have any say on it." He orders.

"Okay." She is happy that he showing that he cares for her. "I am the thimble, right?"

"As always. Michelle, do you know why she is always the thimble?"

"Her birth mom was a sewer. She will use it to sow her clothes. She gave one, a yellow one, to her on her last birthday before she died." She reveals.

"Well, that is good." He thought he would make her look bad with that information.

"I see you have the battleship, is there any significance for that piece?"

"No not really."

"Michelle does that is her piece when we played before." Jamie includes.

"Oh, what is the significance?"

"Jamie, do you want to do the honour?" She knows that Jamie always loves the story.

"Absolutely." Michelle sits down as Jamie sits on her lap. "The battleship is one of the transportation used by her father; he was a Navy Seal. He was a commander on a battleship headed for war. On the last trip he went on, the enemy blew up part of the ship as a warning. Her father made sure everyone was on another ship before he abandoned ship."

"That is very courageous of him."

"He didn't make it on a ship on time. When he got the last passenger off the ship, he signaled the ship to sail because the enemy was going to blow up the rest of the ship. He sacrificed himself with the ship. The other Navy Seals gave her a duplicate of the battleship for remembrance." Jamie story tells with Michelle tearing up.

"That is awful Michelle and here I am using it because I think it looks cool." He chuckles. Jamie and Michelle both chuckle as well.

"Let's play." Jamie offers.

"Let's play." Michelle wipes her tears as they start. She looks at Edge as he smiles happily.

"Daddy, hurry up I don't want to be late." Johnny orders. He is already in his party clothes with the help of Jeff. He is impatiently waiting for him so they can go to Lita's house to walk to the shelter.

"Why are in a rush. We still have two hours?" Jeff calls out from the bathroom.

"I don't want to be the last guests. Mostly everyone is there already." He reveals his reason for his pushiness.

"Okay, how about you check on your grandparents while I get ready?"

"Okay." He runs to Jeff's room. His parents are in his room while Jeff shares a bed with Jamie. Since they bought a king size they both fit. "Gran, are you two ready yet?" He opens the door to find they are not there. "Grandpa, are you two ready yet/" He inquires again. He doesn't realize that they are behind him.

"Did you knock, buddy?" His grandpa asks.

Johnny turns around to see them with crossed arms. "No, but daddy said to come check on you. I am sorry. I should have knocked in case you two weren't dress."

"That is right you don't want to see the 'celebration' in real life." His gran warns. Jeff did have to explain to his parents when Johnny explain his week to her.

"No, I don't ever want to see it again." He is disgusted.

"Good, now where is your father?"

"He is the bathroom taking forever." He huffs.

"I know the feeling when your grandpa and I have a party, he takes the longest because of her facial hair. It has too perfect." She giggles.

"It always looks perfect to me." Johnny examines it.

"Tell him that."

"I am going to check if our son is ready." He walks out a bit upset.

They are at the shelter. Jamie greets them a big hug. Unfortunately to Jamie's request, they are all sitting with Edge.

"Hello Michelle." Lita greets who is sitting beside Edge.

"Hello Lita. Jeff." She greets them. "Hello Mr. and Mrs. Dumas. Mr. and Mrs. Hardy."

"Hello Michelle." They greet back.

"I am going to grab us some drinks." Edge feels the awkward tension."

"Okay, sprite please." She requests.

"I thought he has an order." Lita sternly states.

"He got it waved off for the sake of Jamie's birthday. She wants him here. It is only for today and it will be back on tomorrow. Please don't cause a scene with him. This day is about Jamie." She concerned that the confrontation will ruin Jamie's party.

"For Jamie we will act civil towards him."

"He is here." Johnny acknowledge Edge's presence.

"I am giving him a second chance."

"Why, Michelle is going to adopt you." He reveals in case Michelle hasn't yet.

"I know, but someone is adopting me along with her."

"I know, but that person doesn't stand a chance." Joan states.

"He might because it is Mr. Adam."

"Who is that?" Joan questions puzzled.

"No way, he is not adopting you." Johnny knows fully well who it is.

"Who is it?"

"It is Edge."

"What? No, he can't Michelle is the only one."

"It is my decision. Michelle knows that I have a choice to make. She will accept it no matter what."

"We don't accept that." Johnny raises his voice a bit loud.

"Please stay out of it." Joan tells them. She doesn't want any input to persuade her decision.

"We will respect your decision." Joan accepts. "Johnny, let's get go give our jackets to mom and dad." She guides him to their table.

"I just worry about you. I don't want you to get hurt again. Whatever your decision is I will accept it somehow. Sorry for raising my voice." He says before letting Joan guide him. Jamie gives him a big smile to accept his explanation.

Everything is going great. They all try to avoid Edge to not have any conflicts with him. Jamie is having a blast dancing with all her guest, especially with Michelle and Edge.

"How is your party so far?" Michelle asks as they dance.

"Perfect, everyone I care about is here. Thank you for making this happen." She hugs her.

"You are welcome." She hugs back.

"May I cut in?" Edge excuses.

"Certainly." Michelle moves away to have Edge have his time with Jamie.

"No, you two can both dance with me at the same time." She holds on to Michelle's hand.

"If it is okay with Mr. Adam." Michelle titters.

"You can't call me that only Jamie can. However, yes I don't mind." He agrees.

"Perfect." They all dance to the music.

A few songs later, Jamie excuses herself to the bathroom. She tells them to keep dancing until she gets back. It gets awkward for them until the music stops.

"Well thank you for the dance." Michelle politely appreciates.

"No problem." As they both leave, a slow song plays. "Umm…" Edge gets nervous.

"Michelle and Mr. Adam, where are you going?" Jamie comes back.

"It is a slow song we can't dance to this."

"Sure we can." She holds Michelle's hand and then Edge's hand. They sway to the music. "See we can dance to this song. At the end of the song, another slow song plays. "You two dance, I will be right back. You two dance until I come back." She let's go to get her camera. She turns back to see they are not dancing. "You two are not dancing."

"Jamie, I don't think-"

"Please." She pouts.

"Okay, are you ready Michelle?" Edge inquires.

"We can't upset the birthday girl." Michelle wraps her arms around Edge's neck as he wraps his arms around her waist.

"Perfect, stay dancing until I come back." She requests.

"She is one tough girl." Edge acknowledges.

"She knows what she wants." Michelle agrees.

"I am truly sorry about your father. My father was not as brave as yours was."

"He was one of a kind. He did everything for me even though he wasn't there a lot."

"Where was your mom?"

"She left us when I was five years old. I was put with my father's friends when he was away. I was taken care of and I want every child to feel that."

"That is very noble of you."

"When he died, I spend all my time at the house just looking through his valuables. All his friends and family came every day to make sure I was fed and cleaned up a bit. I know people like that exist, but I also know bad people do to. I want the bad people to not have a chance to hurt a child, but you can't always do that."

"You are achieving that with this shelter. You are making sure each child tries to have the best home they can have. When I found out you were in charge, I knew you were the one that called the police. Those are situations that protect children from bad people."

"You consider yourself I bad person?"

"In some ways yes, we all make bad choices. I think there are no bad people just people that made bad choices." He speaks out his theory.

"Well, you have showed me you are a good person. Maybe you should show it to other people to."

"I think I am too far off to show them that."

"It is never too late." She lays her head on his shoulder.

"Smile." Jamie takes a picture.

"Jamie." They both speak out at the same time.

"What, it is a memory of my party." She says innocently.

"How about one of the three us?" Edge takes the camera to have a picture of the three of them."

After the dance, it is time for the presents. All the children gather around to see what Jamie got. During that time, Lita pulls Michelle aside.

"Do you know what you are doing?"

"What do you mean?"

"With Edge, you two are getting close."

"We are just having fun. I am accepting him because he is important to Jamie. He is also the other person who wants to adopt Jamie."

"What, now I see why you two are so chummy. You are keeping you are enemies closer."

"Right." She agrees moving her pupils side to side.

"That's great."

After the presents, Edge disappears for a bit.

"Where is Mr. Adam?" Jamie asks at her birthday cake.

"I will go find him." Michelle offers. She knocks on the bathroom to see if he is there he isn't. Afterwards, she goes to Jamie's room to see if he is there he isn't as well, but she sees a beige envelope there. This reminds her of the envelope Lita and Jeff in the mail. She can't believe that he would give it to her, a child. She double checks that it is a video and not just papers or clothes. She does feel like it is indeed a video DVD. She goes to her office to call Child Services. When she enters, she sees Edge there with papers in her hand.

"Edge, what are you doing?" She sternly calls out.

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