Edwina had never actually celebrated her birthday.

What she had celebrated was surviving for another year.

She couldn't believe that this should change now.

But sure enough, Luise, Gabriel and Hastie seemed to be plotting.

Of course she wished for her questions to be answered, but she had a feeling that it would ruin the mood, so she didn't voice that desire.

Luise knew, because of course she knew. Edwina knew that for sure, especially when the German pulled her to the side three days before her birthday and said: "I know that you're dying to have your questions answered, but can you wait until after your and Henry's birthday? Neither of you wants to deal with the resulting stress on that most important day of the year. Trust me."

The brunette decided to follow that advice and leave it at that.

But she was so bored lately.

Henry's holidays were over and apparently he was greatly needed at the hospital he worked in. He worked in double shifts (mostly at night) and when he came home he was completely burned out.

Hastie was faring no better and he wasn't rested from a holiday like Henry was.

Luise was still looking for a good tutor and in the meanwhile, she took a few of her servants off work to teach her. But they still had duties to attend to and she had no friends to meet and no places she wanted to go to.

After being in survival mode for almost her whole life she just had forgot how to actually entertain herself. At the same time she missed running around, climbing basically everything that could be climbed. Sitting in front of the telly all day was just boring.

However, not only was she still on parole, she was also deathly afraid of messing up and losing the first real home and family she'd had in her entire life.

So she would go to the house library, fetch a few books and curl up in her room or the living room. Then she would either read the books or get distracted by a thought entering her mind. Cue inner monologue and inner conflicts.

But soon was her 21st birthday.

And she had no idea what she wanted.

So she asked Henry at the breakfast table, what they always did for his birthday (it would be his too after all).

Henry chuckled tiredly; he had just come back from a night shift, so for him this was his dinner.

"Well, most times I don't really get to celebrate it, because of my long working hours. So we celebrate it late. But if it falls on a day off, they throw me a party. I get presents, the mandatory birthday cake and we go out. When I was younger, we used to get drunk in the evening, but when you reach a certain age … well, the hangovers get worse the older you are. So nowadays we just go for walks or to the cinema. You know, just … boring stuff."

He sighed: "I feel old."

Edwina looked down guiltily. "I know I'm only twenty, but …"

"You feel old too?", Henry guessed.

She nodded.

He took her hand, which made her look up again. His expression was very serious.

"That's because you went through so many terrible things throughout your life, dear. You never had a chance to a good childhood."

She felt a sting in her eyes.

"But Edwina?"

"Hm?"

He smiled gently and her heart beat higher (why though?).

"You can be as childlike as you want around us. Of course we can't give you back all the years that were stolen from you. But we can help you learn how to enjoy the rest of your youth. What do you say to that?"

His words made her remember the foster family she had lived with, before running away. Her "father" had once caught her play with two of their porcelain animals and struck her in the face, breaking the figurines in the process. Then he had struck her again, for the porcelain he had broken.

However, just a few days ago, Luise had walked in on her playing with her new plush toys and Edwina had lapsed into a panic attack, thinking that she was going to be punished or mocked. But Luise had comforted and assured her, that everything was fine, no one was going to hurt her and that she could play with her new toys all she wanted – that was the purpose of toys after all and they were hers. And that one was never too old for having plush toys to play with.

Edwina's heart cracked from grief and swelled with joy at the same time.

Overwhelmed, she let out a wail, broke into tears and hugged the blond tightly.

"Thank you", she sobbed into his chest.

She felt his hands pet her shoulder and head comfortingly.

"Of course, dear", he cooed.

Luise was stuck in a dilemma:

She didn't know what she wanted to give Edwina for her birthday.

Henry had already taken the young brunette to the fun fair, she had a bunch of plushes, she had new clothes, painting tools, books and now Luise had now finally found new tutors for her.

But as she joined the quartet for breakfast, she had an idea.

"Edwina", she spoke, when she pulled the brunette aside afterwards, "Since tomorrow is your birthday, is there anything you want or would like to do?"

She could hear thoughts in Edwina's head, as the girl tried to decide on something.

Finally the brunette made up her mind and the choice didn't surprise Luise at all.

"I know it sounds lame, but … uhm …"

"Of course we can go to the British Museum", Luise assured her. "And after that to the mall? What do you say?"

The younger woman's beaming smile was answer enough.

On the morning of the 27th May, Edwina woke up early.

Of course, she always woke up early. But something had woken her up even earlier than usual.

When she looked out into the hallway, she saw the butler sneaking along the wall and hanging something onto Henry's doorknob.

"Shhhh", he whispered, when he noticed that he had been noticed.

"Okay", she whispered back.

"Happy birthday", he formed with his lips.

"Thank you", she responded, still whispering.

Then he disappeared downstairs.

Edwina wondered, if Luise's household employees had "Be as low-key as possible and make sure to remain unseen and unheard" on their job description, because she never saw them (not even Sameer or Aoimoku, who seemed to be the heads of the staff) unless she actually looked out for them.

In fact, the only other employees apart from these two that she had met was the day nurse Marie (a lively Austrian, who looked a lot like Luise, only taller and chubbier) and Luise's driver Sean (a contagiously cheerful Irishman).

Edwina made note to get to know them; after all Luise had told her that most of them were her half-siblings. They had to be trustworthy people, otherwise the petite blonde wouldn't be employing them.

When the brunette wanted to close her door again, she noticed that something was dangling on her doorknob as well.

It was a birthday card.

When the young woman opened it, she found that the writing was written in Luise's forceful, artistic handwriting.

"Happy 21st birthday, sweetheart.

Dear Edwina.

We wish for you to finally have the love, happiness and warmth, which you were deprived of for far too long. You deserve all the good in the world and we will do our best to give it to you.

Love,

your crazy, messed-up new family.

(Henry told me to write that)"

Edwina's heart swelled.

No one has ever written me a birthday card before!

Oh, how she loved her crazy, messed-up new family.

"I see, you found the birthday card", Luise observed, when she came to have breakfast with Edwina and Gabriel (the three of them always were the first to get up).

Edwina's response was to jump up and glomping the older woman, making her gasp in surprise.

But once she got over her shock, the German laughed and hugged back.

A questioning glance at Gabriel and the fond smile she received in return confirmed that he had already received the same treatment from the young woman.

Hastie and Henry were yet to return from their night shift, but Luise knew that they would be received the same way, as soon as she saw them.

"I made breakfast", Gabriel spoke up from the table and pointed at the absolutely delectable plates he had prepared. Luise's mouth watered. Most of her servants were decent cooks or bakers, but Gabriel's cooking was always a hit.

I should have breakfast together with them more often, she thought.

Normally she had a slice of bread with bacon or cheese in her office, while she was working, as she was under time pressure. But today she had more time, because her first client had cancelled his appointment (normally short-term cancellations agitated her, but the man had told her that he was ill).

"Nice. I'm eating with you today."

Before the black-haired man could tell her how delighted he was, they heard steps and Henry and Hastie tumbled in, looking completely exhausted.

Gabriel jumped up to greet his husband.

"Good morning, sweetheart", he black-haired man cooed and kissed the other.

Henry kissed back. "Good morning, angel", he breathed.

"Happy birthday."

"Thank you", the blond sighed, "But I don't think I will be celebrating it much. I'm just so damn tired …"

"Me too", Hastie groaned, after giving a kiss to Luise. "Work was a fucking nightmare last night. Not enough personnel, which is why we had to work overtime, more patients than usual, our superiors were being pushy arseholes and we don't get paid nearly enough to deal with this crap. At this rate Henry and I will collapse, before we even reach the sixties."

Henry nodded weakly.

Luise sighed: "I told you a long time ago that you ought to quit and open your own surgery! Everybody knows that hospitals are an ungrateful working place."

Henry shook his head. "That'll just make things worse for the other people who work there. We're the best physicians who work there, they depend on us. You should have seen the pile of work I returned to, when I came back from my holiday. It would be irresponsible to quit."

Now Edwina piped up: "But you have to take care of yourselves too, right? Come on, look at yourselves! How long have you been awake?"

Hastie and Henry exchanged an awkward look.

That made Gabriel frown. "You haven't slept in two days, have you?"

"Probably", the hoary doctor shrugged.

"Well, that's stupid", Edwina commented, "People can't think straight, if they're sleep-deprived. Speaking from experience. I hardly ever had enough sleep, when I was a street rat. But you're not me, so have some food and go to bed."

The brunette's forcefulness made the doctors blink in surprise.

Then she turned to Henry. "Happy birthday, by the way."

"Thanks", he mumbled, "And happy birthday to you too. How does it feel to be twenty-one?"

Edwina chuckled: "Kinda weird. To be honest, I had never thought I would make it this far."

To be honest, I had never thought I would make it this far.

Gabriel felt his heart twist painfully. And from the looks, it seemed that the others felt no better. Henry even burst into tears, shocking the poor brunette.

"Holy shit, I'm sorry!", she cried in horror.

Luise intervened: "Don't beat yourself up, dear, you couldn't see that coming. Henry, Hastie, you can fill yourselves a plate and take it to your rooms. You need a good sleep."

"Sounds good", Henry sniffled, took a plate full of sandwiches and left.

Hastie gave Edwina a comforting pat on the shoulder. "Don't worry, this wasn't your fault. We're just so stressed and exhausted and in this state anything can make Henry cry. Sorry that your day started off so badly. You enjoy your twenty-first birthday. After all, it comes only once in your life."

Edwina smiled. "Will do. Oh, and before you go to bed!"

She gave him a tight hug, making everyone in the room smile.

Hastie grinned and hugged her back.

"Can you give Henry a hug from me too? And tell him that I love my crazy, messed-up family."

The hoary doctor laughed. "Alright. Have a nice birthday, Edwina."

Then he yawned, took his plate and went upstairs.

The other three looked at each other sadly.

"Well, that was a nice start to the day, was it?", Luise commented ironically.

Edwina shrugged. "Well, I'm used to worse. Still though, what did I do to make him cry?"

"You didn't do anything", Gabriel assured her. "Let's not talk about that any longer."

"I still want to know-"

"Can it wait until tomorrow?", Luise pleaded, "This is not a topic to discuss on your birthday."

Edwina looked beyond displeased, but said nothing.

Gabriel's heart made another painful twist, when she pressed her lips together in a frown – just the same way he once had.

Edwina was pleasantly surprised, when Gabriel told them that he would accompany them.

"I took a day off from office", he had explained, "And we're not having that many clients lately. So it's fine."

That made her really happy, because by now she could safely say that this man was her favourite lawyer in the world (and normally she hated lawyers – they had just all been so arrogant, unsupportive and had written her off as a lost case). Naturally he had received another bear hug.

Later they were on their way to the British museum and Luise's chauffeur, a cheerful Irishman, was singing merry songs in the front.

The museum was even bigger than Edwina had imagined.

There were so many cool artefacts, but she couldn't help but wonder how many of them were technically robbed or stolen from their respective countries.

"Most of them are. Nearly everything that doesn't come from England is basically stolen or a temporary loan¹", Luise answered the question and added: "All colonial powers oppress their colonies, rob and steal everything they deem good and pretty and show it off at their own home. Colonialism is fun like that. Needless to say, the native countries want their stuff back."

Edwina sighed.

Even though she was being tutored in history as well, she hadn't come as far as to the British Empire yet. It made sense though: why would India for example feel compelled to gift fancy stuff to a museum in a faraway country of their own volition, when they could keep it and proudly show it to their own public?

Despite that little sour moment, she had a fun time with the other two at the museum. They made a few photos, when the securities weren't looking and made stupid jokes and silly poses next to the statues.

"That was fun", Edwina stated afterwards, walking down the street arm in arm with her two companions. "Right now I-"

Suddenly her stomach made itself known by growling like a wolf.

Edwina blushed, when her two companions giggled.

Gabriel grinned. "You know what, I could use a spot of lunch too. And since we're going to the mall anyway, how about we look for a nice café or restaurant, while we're at it?"

"Sounds good", Luise agreed. "The meal is on me."

Once they arrived at the mall, they wasted no time in going to the next restaurant.

They got nothing big or fancy, just some fast food.

"Not bad", Luise commented, as she finished her chips. "Definitely better than the rubbish from McDonalds."

"True", Edwina agreed. Her plate was already empty, she was just waiting for the other two.

Gabriel was the last one to finish his lunch and afterwards they roamed the mall to see, if they could find something that caught their eyes.

"I'm going book shopping", Gabriel informed them. "Want to come along?"

Luise shook her head. "No, I'm buying new clothes. What do you want to do, Edwina?"

The brunette considered.

"I want to go with Luise", she decided.

Gabriel looked a bit disappointed, but Luise nodded. "Alright, dear. See you later, Gabriel!"

He waved goodbye and went to look for a bookshop.

"I'm surprised you want to accompany me to clothes shopping", the older woman remarked, as they strolled through the mall. "I would have expected you to find books more interesting."

Edwina blushed a little. "I'm just curious about the kind of clothes you wear."

Luise blinked in confusion. "But you know that, you see me every day! I always wear feminine, fancy clothes, unless I'm working out!"

Edwina blushed harder.

But before she was forced to explain herself, the blonde caught on. "Oohhh … well, in that case, come along, dearie. Perhaps we'll find something that catches your eyes." She sighed: "And hopefully something that fits us halfway. It's just so hard being as … vertically challenged as we are and then find adult clothes that fit."

"You mean it's impossible", Edwina grumbled.

"Yep. But you know what: I have a seamstress. If we find something for us, I'll just ask her to fit it."

"And if we find nothing?"

"We'll go home empty-handed. Or I can show you some of my clothes, when we go home!"

That made the brunette stutter. "Uh – huh? I – I … Luise, I can't, they're your clothes!"

The older woman laughed: "Yes, I know! And that's why I can do with them what I want. Don't worry, I'm a rich woman, I can afford whatever I w– ohhh, look at that jewellery!"

Edwina giggled, when her companion was distracted by a jewel shop.

Should have guessed, that Luise likes diamonds and stuff.

But she couldn't help but be curious and joined her to have a closer look.

When she looked at all the necklaces, bracelets, rings and earrings of pearls, precious metals and priceless gemstones and at how they shone in the light … she felt a lump in her throat.

She remembered all the times she had stared at the fancy jewellery, when she had been homeless. How she had just looked at the pretty things and wished desperately that she could have the money for something like that … until a security worker had asked her (more or less politely) to leave.

"They're so pretty!", Luise cried in delight. "Come on, let's buy some!"

"You buy them!", Edwina corrected, "You're the one with the money. I couldn't even afford those, if I sold my soul."

The German laughed sheepishly. "Sorry. I didn't mean to awaken bad memories."

"It's fine. I'm an ex-criminal, that's inevitable." Edwina chuckled. "I wonder how much I could have bought, if I had succeeded in stealing your wallet three years ago!"

Luise laughed: "Certainly something. I'm foolish enough to always carry a lot of money on me."

Edwina would have agreed on the foolishness, but she had seen that Luise was more than capable of defending herself against robbers.

"I will buy jewellery for the two of us!", the blonde decided. "And at home, we will find an outfit for you!"

"Uhh-"

"I'm not taking no for an answer!"

Edwina laughed. "Alright, alright. Whatever you want, mum."

The older woman's eyes sparkled with affection. "Watch out, I might just call you 'my daughter'!"

The younger one laughed fondly.

Oh, how she loved her four old, but crazy new friends.

Half an hour later they left the jeweller's shop and were laughing and chatting merrily.

"… And then I rammed my cane into his foot", Luise finished her tale.

Edwina cackled: "His face must have been hilarious!"

"It was!", the blonde laughed, "You should have seen how he hobbled around in pain and sputtered the worst profanities in front of the hosts– oh, Scheiße²!"

"What's wrong?", the brunette asked worriedly.

"My wallet! I forgot it at the jeweller's! Can you wait here, I'll be back in a minute."

Then Luise ran back into the direction from whence they had come.

Edwina shrugged, sat down on a nearby bench and waited.

Two minutes later Luise still wasn't back and Edwina began to wonder, if she shouldn't go back and check-

Alright, that's ridiculous. It's just two minutes, no need to get paranoid, she chastised herself.

Suddenly she heard childish sobs and crying.

When Edwina looked around, she spied a little boy, standing next to a huge pot plant and bawling his eyes out.

Something about it made her heart crack and so she went over.

"Hey there, kid", she spoke gently, making the boy wince in surprise.

"Don't be scared, I don't want to hurt you!", she assured him. "Now, why are you crying? Where are your mummy and daddy?"

"I don't know!", the child sobbed, "I can't find them! I want my mummy and daddy! Where are mummy and daddy?"

His forlorn wails broke Edwina's heart. She crouched down in front of him and handed him a paper tissue.

"Hey now, little man", she cooed, "Don't cry. We'll find your mummy and daddy. I'm sure they're really worried and are looking for you too."

Now that she took a closer look, her heart nearly stopped.

The boy couldn't be older than six.

He had wild dark brown hair and acid green eyes, just like her. But unlike her, he had rosy cheeks, seemed healthy and well-fed, was wearing nice clothes and clutched a plush dinosaur in his arms.

He wiped his eyes with the paper tissue and took a look at her.

His eyes widened in surprise and he immediately stopped crying.

"Hey! You look just like me!", he exclaimed.

Edwina grinned lopsidedly: "Yeah, I guess I do."

Then she saw the information stand and had an idea.

"Hey", she said to the boy. "Do you see that nice lady at the stand over there?"

The boy nodded.

"Good. You and I will now go over there and ask her for help. I'm sure she can help us find your parents."

"Daddy said I shouldn't talk to strangers", the child objected.

Edwina smiled. "You're talking to me."

"Yeah, but you look like me, so it's okay!"

The young woman was pretty sure that this wasn't what his father had taught him, but she began to explain: "It doesn't matter what I look like, okay? But talking to that lady is fine. She is there to help people. That's her job."

The boy seemed to consider. Then he nodded his consent and Edwina took his hand and went over to the information with him.

The lady looked a bit confused, when Edwina told her that the kiddo was looking for his parents.

"Don't you mean you two are looking for your parents?", she queried.

Edwina shook her hand. "No. I know what this looks like, but we're not siblings. I've never seen this kid in my life."

Now that was one sad excuse for a lie.

But the boy nodded in agreement. "Yeah. I don't know this girl either", he confirmed. Much to Edwina's relief, because the information clerk obviously hadn't believed her. But there was no way a small child could be lying, so the clerk didn't question it any further.

"Well then, young man. Won't you tell me your name?", she asked kindly.

The boy nodded eagerly. "I'm Raphael!", he told her with a smile.

Edwina's heart shattered into even smaller pieces. That was the name she had given-

The clerk nodded and bent over her microphone to make an announcement.

"The parents of little Raphael are requested to come to the information, where their son is waiting for them."

Within less than five minutes, a man and woman, both carrying huge bags and looking absolutely out of themselves came to the information.

"Excuse me, ma'am", the man panted, "We're looking for our son-"

"MUMMY! DADDY!"

Little Raphael dashed over to them and his mother promptly scooped him up in her arms, sobbing hysterically, and covered his face in kisses.

"My Raphy, my baby, you're okay, my little man, I was so worried-"

The child cuddled into her and cried happily.

The father wiped his eyes and turned to the clerk. "Thank you so much, ma'am, we were so worried-"

"Thank this young lady here", the clerk told him and pointed at Edwina, "She was the one who found him and brought him here."

The brunette blushed awkwardly.

The parents stared at her, flabbergasted.

The little one bubbled innocently: "She's very nice and she looks like me and she gave me a paper tissue, because I was crying and she brought me here-"

"Do we know you, Miss?", the mother wanted to know.

Edwina shook her head. "No. If I'd met you, I'd remember."

Well, at least that's not a lie.

The parents looked at each other suspiciously (making Edwina super uncomfortable), but the father finally said: "Anyway, thank you for your help, Miss …"

"Not important", Edwina cut him off, "You're welcome, take care, keep a better eye on your kid from now on, I gotta go and find my friends, have a nice day!"

Then she ran off, unable to handle being around the child any longer.

She needed a while to find Luise and Gabriel, but when she found them, they seemed almost as relieved as the boy's parents had been earlier.

"Oh thank Heavens, there you are!", Gabriel cried out and gave her a brief hug. "Luise couldn't find you and called me on the phone."

Luise nodded and gave her a hug of her own. "Jesus, I told you to wait there! I was so worried – Edwina, what's wrong?", she asked, when she saw the brunette's miserable expression.

"I want to go home", the younger woman rasped.

They called Luise's chauffeur and rode home.

But Edwina looked so down that Gabriel couldn't take it anymore.

"What happened?", he wanted to know, when they were half-way home, "What made you so upset on your birthday?"

To his horror she promptly burst into tears.

"Edwina! Sweetheart, what's wrong?!"

Wait, did I just call her-

"Nothing", the young woman sobbed. "I just met my son."

Gabriel gaped at her.

Her son? Edwina had a child?!

Suddenly he remembered a couple with a small child, who had looked as if they had gone through a lot of stress earlier.

The child had looked just like her, but … he couldn't have been younger than five!

When realisation hit him, his heart shattered into a thousand pieces.

He took the distraught woman in his arms, hugged her tightly and tried not to cry himself.

She wailed into his shoulder and he rubbed her head and back gently.

Oh, the poor sweetheart. She must be hurting so much.

Luise spoke up from Edwina's left: "Edwina, if you want to talk about it-"

"Later", Edwina whimpered, "Or … maybe better tomorrow. Don't wanna … fuck up mine and Henry's birthday."

"Alright", the older woman nodded and stroked Edwina's head. "Here, dearie. Have a handkerchief."

"Thanks", the younger one sniffled, took it, dried her tears and blew her nose.

She had five minutes to calm down, before they arrived at home.


1) That's probably not accurate, so feel free to correct me. I've been to the British Museum only once and that was ages ago. I do know, however, that it's the case for many of the major museums in Berlin.

2) German: Oh, shit!