I can't always get these things out in time but this chapter coincides with the five-month anniversary of Jailbird, and, as well as being the five-month birthday, it's the Mo birthday chapter! Enjoy!

"My birthday is tomorrow?" Mo asked. It was the same question he'd been asking all week actually, but this time his birthday was, in fact, tomorrow.

"Yeah!" Boyd cheered from the driver's seat.

"And then party tomorrow tomorrow?"

"Yes, your party is the day after tomorrow. Are you excited, Bug?" Louie turned to look at where Mo sat in the backseat, vibrating with excitement.

"Yeah! Tell me about the party!" The little boy demanded, another frequent question.

"Well, we're all going to put on our favorite clothes, and all of our friends and family are gonna come over and we're going to have hamburgers, cake, and ice cream and you're going to get presents."

"No presents tomorrow?"

"Your presents from me and daddy will come tomorrow and your presents from everyone else will come at the party."

Mo beamed.

"I hope I get a race car."

"We'll just have to see," Boyd said with a smile.

"And a kitty."

Boyd laughed then.

"Morio! We have a kitty! We have Mars!"

"He's boring. He doesn't PLAY!"

Louie giggled, "Hard to argue with that logic, dear."

"Louie." Boyd gave him a look before turning his attention back to the road.

"What?"

"We'll talk about it when we get home, love."

"Okay. You're going to bed when we get home, Mr. Bug."

"I'm not sleepy," Mo whined, although he'd been falling asleep at the movie they'd just gone to see, a showing of Nightmare Before Christmas in preparation for Halloween. Mo's birthday was 11 days before Halloween and he was almost as excited for that as he was for his birthday. Mo liked things that were creepy or unusual, that was Boyd's fault, for showing him weird cartoons and books. Now he liked anything mysterious and spooky and he had a long life ahead of him of wanting to date a vampire.

"If you go to bed faster, it'll be your birthday faster. And then we can have pancakes and open presents."

When they got him home they tucked him into bed with a sippy cup of water, a chapter from the Boxcar Children book they were reading him, and a firm hold on his favorite stuffed animal.

"Can't believe Huey got him his favorite plushie and it's that thing," Louie muttered when they were in their own room, the exhaustion beginning to show on his own face. As good as he'd gotten on his "new legs" it still took a lot out of him if he spent all day on them.

"I can't believe you almost promised our son a cat," Boyd said, helping Louie take off the Jailbird attachment as they got ready for bed.

"Getting another cat wouldn't be the worst thing in the world."

"Okay, yeah, but his birthday is tomorrow. If we're getting another pet we need time to prepare."

"We didn't prepare for Mars," Louie pointed out as the cat streaked past them, chasing a bug.

"Yeah, well, we didn't prepare for Mo either, but we're not Dewey, we can't go adopting every stray kid or cat we see."

"Next stray kid we see we'll send Dewey's way, gotcha. Or Uncle Donald. He used to be a real pro at adopting helpless children."

"I love your siblings and your niblings and our son, but I do not want six kids," Boyd said. He flopped down onto the bed next to Louie and immediately began to snuggle into him.

"Yeah, one kid and two cats are enough," Louie agreed.

"Compromise, we get a cat at Christmas. We'll take Mo to pick it out. It'll be our cat primarily so even if Mo gets bored of it we'll be good, responsible cat owners who don't just get rid of cats when they stop being cute."

"Cats are like babies, they never stop being cute."

"Lou, there are some ugly babies out there."

"You're lying. All babies are cute. Take our son, for instance, he's a baby and he's cute."

"He's three. And he's a special case."

"He's not three for a few more hours."

"Go to sleep. Then he'll be three."

Louie was awoken from a nightmare by the distinct sensation of a toddler crawling over him to invade their bed. He was actually overjoyed to have Mo in his arms now since his nightmare had involved losing the boy in the fight against Satoshi. Those nightmares had been a regular occurrence and he hadn't told Boyd about them yet.

But Mo was not satisfied just being held by his papa, putting his hand on Louie's face to fully wake him up.

"Papa. It's my birthday."

"It's also two in the morning. So we're gonna get some more sleep, birthday boy!"

"I wanna present," Mo sulked.

Boyd, who had shown no sign of being awake just moments ago, sprang up now.

"I know just the thing, Bug. If I let you have a present, will you go back to bed?"

"With you and papa?"

"Sure."

When Mo and Boyd came back Mo was decked out in Lightning McQueen PJs and he seemed very satisfied with his first present of the day. He wiggled in between papa and daddy, pressing his itty bitty face into Louie's side, and fell into a deep and restful sleep.

It took Louie a little longer to fall asleep, holding Mo securely and listening to him breathe, a lot on his mind. His inescapable fear of losing his son as well as the incredible fact that Mo had been living with them for half a year played over in his mind. All the fear and exhaustion and late nights were worth the chance to have that amazing little man in his life. As hard as things had been these past six months, he wouldn't change a thing.

Mo's third birthday was a much chiller occasion than the little boy probably imagined. He spent the day in his new pajamas, which was whimsical for a child, and he made the most of his new presents, a race track, a Cars-themed blanket, a couple of new books, and several new stuffed animals. They spent the day cuddled up in a cozy pillow fort, reading stories, watching Cars, and making Mo feel special. The little boy burrowed into his fort feeling like the king of the world while Boyd snuck off to do last-minute party prep and Louie stayed off his feet to preserve energy for the next day's festivities.

After a yummy pizza dinner, a bath, and one more story, Mo finally surrendered to sleep and Louie and Boyd did a few more little things to prepare.

"Are you ready for tomorrow?" Boyd asked.

"You mean for all of our friends and family coming to our house and eating our food and spoiling our son?"

"Yes."

"As ready as I'll ever be. Mo seemed really happy today. I hope tomorrow is just as good or even better."

"Just don't put too much pressure on yourself, Lou. It's okay if not everything goes perfect."

"Yeah, yeah."

"He's three. We want it to be special, obviously, but there's going to be a lot of birthdays."

Louie shifted in Boyd's arms and thought about his statement. He'd had so many nightmares about losing his son but tonight he borrowed Boyd's confidence that there would be many, many birthdays in the future. Tonight, he was at rest.

Mo slept in a little that morning while his daddies were up, bustling around with party prep. Balloons and banners and so much cake, none of which Louie and Boyd had made. They'd decided in a sneaky little two birds with one stone move to have a couple of different types of cake for the birthday, in the form of cakes and cupcakes, both to feed a lot of people and to test different flavors for their upcoming wedding.

When Mo woke up he was very excited.

"Papa! When does the party start?"

"Soon. Two hours. Let's get you some breakfast and then we'll get you ready for the party."

Mo beamed, "I wanna wear my heart glasses. The red ones."

"Okay, sounds good. I'll go find them and daddy will make you some breakfast."

A few hours and many tiny details later, the first guests arrived.

Donald, Daisy, Tara, Yuri, and Gyro all arrived at the same time, each ready to spoil Mo with hugs and kisses. Though it had taken him a little bit to get used to his massive family, Mo adored his grandparents.

He was especially excited to see Gyro, who had moved out recently to work on the mobility aids full time in his own lab.

"Grandad! Look at the balloons! They have Lightning McQueen on them!"

"That's really interesting, Mo," Gyro said, glancing around to see who was watching before picking Mo up and kissing him on his head. Mo was quickly stolen by Grandma Tara and cuddled close, his dark hair smoothed down by her soft hands.

"Oh, you're such a cutie aren't you? How was your birthday, buddy?"

"It was so good! We had pizza and I got new books and PJs! But I can't wear them to the party. Papa said so."

"Well you'll have to stay over at our house one night and show us," Yuri said.

"Stop trying to steal my son, dad," Boyd said with a laugh, coming over to greet his parents.

"It's not stealing. It's borrowing."

"This isn't a library, I'm not loaning out Morio." He was joking, but with an edge of seriousness. He didn't like the idea of his baby boy being around his older brother, he just didn't want to point that out now and bring down the mood.

"The house looks great," Donald commented, glancing around at all the racing-themed decorations.

"Thank you! It was all Louie."

"Where is Louie anyway?" Daisy asked.

"He's fighting Mars right now. Mars doesn't like staying in his carrier but we can't risk him getting out during the party."

"Mars is boring," Mo explained, "He doesn't party."

"Ah, I see," Donald nodded seriously, taking every word Mo said as law.

"I like to party," Mo, who had never been to a party, went on to say. He wiggled out of Tara's arms and stomped to show off his light-up shoes as if that was proof of his statement.

"I like to party too," Gyro, who had never been to a party, agreed.

Soon more people began to arrive, first Huey and his sprawling family and then others.

Scarlett, Emerald, and Azure swarmed their younger cousin with an off-key rendition of happy birthday and additional congratulations. Right now they only had Mo and Leo as younger cousins so they were always quick to try to be the cool older cousins, though Scarlett and Emerald were definitely doing it more for appearances.

When Emerald and Scarlett had run off to talk to Uncle Donald and Aunt Daisy, Azure stayed with Mo and listened to him ramble about his favorite stuffed animal.

Louie sidled up to Huey as they watched the scene.

"Azure and Mo seem to be getting along great," Huey said.

"Yeah, I think Mo really looks up to Azure and Raph."

"You know, we could watch Mo overnight sometime if you and Boyd wanted to have a date night. You guys definitely deserve it."

"I'll keep that in mind."

Mo was making his stuffed animal fly now, to Azure's feigned amusement.

"He really likes that toy I got him, huh?" Huey said with a grin.

"I blame you, Hue."

"For what?"

"Mo is too little to say the word adventure but he can pronounce Cthulhu perfectly."

"He's not even calling it Kool-aid anymore? Come on, that's funny," Huey chuckled.

"I just thought that my son's favorite toy would be something other than a Lovecraftian horror. We got him like five cute new stuffed animals for his birthday and he doesn't like any of them more than Cthulhu."

"What can I say? I'm just the coolest uncle."

"One of these days I'm gonna get Scarlett that car and then I'll be the coolest uncle."

"What's all this talk of being the coolest uncle? 'Cause I'm pretty sure it's me," Dewey said, coming up behind his brothers and throwing his arms around them.

"Mo likes me more, though," Huey said.

"What-"

"Boys, we're definitely not going to argue about who my son likes more on his birthday."

"Fair enough," Dewey agreed.

Louie felt a tug on his shirt and he turned around to face Mikey.

"Uncle Louie? Where's Mars?"

"Mars has to stay in his carrier today, he gets a little antsy when there are a lot of people around."

Mikey sulked for a bit but then ran off to play with Azure, DJ, Leo, and Mo.

Mo was in heaven, currently, being fawned on by all of his really cool cousins. He liked talking to Azure and he really liked playing with Leo, except when Leo brought his sharks because those scared him. But Leo didn't have any sharks today, and Mikey and DJ were also playing with him and Raph was watching them while he talked to Scarlett and Emerald so Mo felt very important.

Mo ran off and got the party hats from daddy and then began passing them around to his cousins.

He stopped when he got to DJ, looking at the last hat and then her party dress and nodding.

"This is your princess hat. You gotta wear it. My friend Paige is a princess too. I think she'll be here soon. She gave me this necklace."

DJ nodded as he showed off his plastic bead necklace and then put on the hat, giving Mo a little twirl and beaming when he clapped.

"This is a very good hat, Prince Mo."

"I'm a Princess too," Mo said with a foot stomp, "I'm a vampire detective princess. It's my Halloween costume."

"Oh, I'm sorry, Princess Mo. You know, you can be anything you want to be?"

Mo nodded. "Yes. That's why I'm a vampire detective princess." She couldn't argue with that logic.

Mo ran off with Leo after that, explaining to his cousin that he was his best friend because Paige already had a best friend. Leo was okay with that. He liked Mo. Mo was weird and weird was fun. Plus, Leo didn't always have the easiest time connecting to his classmates so it was nice that he had this new built-in best friend who was definitely going to learn to like sharks eventually. Sharks were basically underwater vampires, after all.

As the kids ran around and more guests streamed in, Louie chatted with Gosalyn and Violet about his mobility aids, with Gyro chiming in a couple of times with the full details.

"We need to come up with a good name for it," Louie said, "I keep thinking of it as the Jailbird project and I don't want to be tied to that forever."

"You're always going to have to live with your past mistakes," Gosalyn said sympathetically, "But you're doing good things now. You're a Freebird."

"Yeah, I thought of that one. I'm not using that one. Shi keeps comparing me to Ariel but I don't want to get sued by Disney for that comparison, either. So we're still brainstorming."

"Well, if we think of anything, we'll let you know," Gosalyn said.

"You should ask the niblings," Violet suggested, "They're super creative and I know they'd love to help you."

Louie smiled, "I think I'll do that, thanks Vi, thanks Gos."

He was about to go check on his son and the niblings when he felt someone slip an arm around his neck. He turned to look at Shi and then his head snapped back to the ring shoved in his face.

He let out a squeal, "Omg, omg, really?"

"Yeah! May proposed last week, but I wanted to wait until I could show you in person."

He wrapped his arms around her and they hugged tightly.

"I'm so happy for you. I'll do whatever you need for your wedding, as long as you wait until after mine."

"Hm, I think we can do that. What do you think, May?"

"You're lucky I didn't propose at your wedding," May said.

"I appreciate that."

"I'm going to propose at your wedding," June said.

"You're not even dating anyone," Louie pointed out.

"I have five months until the wedding," June said with a shrug, grinning and crossing their arms.

"You're going to find a person that you love enough to propose to in five months? That's kind of fast, June."

"You'd know about moving fast, Mr. I'm-Going-To-Propose-Exactly-One-Year-Later."

"Touché."

"Where's the birthday man?" Shiloh asked.

"He's in the living room with his cousins and I think Paige and Brooke and Craig just arrived."

"Who's Paige?" Shiloh asked.

"His best friend. Well, Leo is his best friend but I think he wants Paige to be his best friend too."

"Oh my gosh, he has a me?" Shiloh beamed.

"Paige is nicer than you."

"Mo is cooler than you," Shiloh retorted.

"Wow, you come here, on the day of my son's third birthday, and straight-up murder me."

"Someone had to do it."

"Papa!" Mo called through the house, "Cake now?"

Louie followed the voice into the living room, noticing that Leo and Paige were chatting about Halloween costumes and that Craig and Brooke had snuck a private moment in the corner. It was starting to get crowded in here, as Webby and Lena had arrived after Shiloh but before Craig and Brooke. Fenton, Drake, and Launchpad showed up a little after that, presents tucked under their arms. There were only two people on the guest list who hadn't shown up, but Louie didn't fully expect them to.

"Not now, buddy. We're going to have hamburgers soon and then we can eat cake, and then we can do presents. Why don't you hand out some more party hats while I go check on the food?" Mo was satisfied with that and Louie ducked outside, where they'd hired someone to man the grill.

Soon everyone was fed, happy birthday had been sung for the third time today, and cake was being distributed but Boyd was beginning to notice that Mo's energy had dipped a little, and not just because he was full and content. It seemed, with all the buzzing and talking and attention on him, the little guy's social battery was draining fast. So when Mo had picked out what cake he wanted, a chocolate cupcake with a Lightning McQueen ring on it, it was unsurprising that he made off with it immediately, hiding in the closet in his room.

"I'll go check on him," Boyd said, offering Louie a reassuring smile and leaving their guests to chatter and devour cake.

Mo liked his closet. He'd put a pillow and some stuffies and a blanket in there and it was a dark, quiet place for him to calm down when everything got to be a little much. He focused intently on eating his cupcake and pretended not to notice when daddy came and sat outside the door.

"Papa and I were talking, and we think we might get a new kitty for Christmas. That's in two months, sound good?"

"Okay," Mo mumbled, not really feeling it.

"Are you sleepy, Bug? Do you wanna take a nap?"

"No."

"Just need to be alone for a bit?"

"Yeah."

"That's okay too. You can come outside when you're ready."

"Is the party over?"

"Do you want it to be?"

Mo kicked off his light-up shoes.

"Yeah. No more party."

"I'll let everyone know. That's okay too, Bug. We don't want you to feel bad."

"It was a good party," Mo decided, "but not anymore."

Boyd nodded, though Mo couldn't see from where he sat, "Sounds good. It will just be me and papa when you come out."

Boyd knew that Louie might be a little surprised by the dramatically quick ending of the party, but Mo's comfort was the most important thing, and most people understood. The younger kids were a bit bummed, but adults and kids alike were sent home with goodie bags and the promise that Mo would be filmed opening up all of his presents, which brought spirits up. Donald was the last to leave, making sure Louie and Boyd didn't need help cleaning up afterwards, and then Mo's Birthday Bonanza was officially over.

"We still have so much cake," Boyd commented as Louie flopped down on the couch, tired from so much running around all day.

"Which is crazy, since we gave away so much cake. Lena took like a dozen cupcakes and we still have so much cake."

"You and Mo are going to be sugar high forever."

"We have a lot of party favors left, too. What should we do with those? We don't need candy and cake."

"We'll give them away to trick-or-treaters."

"You're a genius. That's why they gave you the doctorate."

"That's not why they gave me a doctorate."

Louie glanced at the colorful stack of presents, pretty individually but an eyesore altogether.

"He got so many presents."

"Well, we know a lot of people."

"Aunt Goldie and Uncle Scrooge didn't even show up."

"Yeah, but they always forget your birthday, did you really expect them to remember Mo's?"

"Well, Mo is more important than me."

Boyd frowned a little, "You know, you're both equally important to me, right?" That was a lie and they both knew it. As much as Boyd loved his son and tried to be impartial, Louie would always be a little more important to Boyd than Mo.

"Daddy? Papa?" Mo's voice called, much quieter than it had been earlier.

"Hey, Bug! Do you want to hang out with us in the living room? Everyone else is gone," Boyd called back. The place was a mess but that was tomorrow's problem.

Mo came out of his room, hugging a book before holding it out to Boyd.

"Book please." Louie pulled Mo into his lap and Boyd began to read, all three feeling at rest once more.