Author's Note: I own nothing

2 Surprises

Rook met Jen outside their rooms to head down to lunch together. There were quite a few dishes there that Rook had never seen, French cuisine, Jen explained. It was quite lovely and the two of them agreed to head for the slopes for a while. They would start on the smaller slope since Rook had never really interacted with snow before and would need some instruction.

The instructor turned out to be a blonde woman by the name of Natalie. She was French, from a town not too far from where they were now. She spoke English quite well, though Jen had figured out that, because of the Translation Matrix in the Omnitrix, she could understand practically any spoken language. Natalie was quite interested in the pair of them and when it became clear that Jen had some experience and didn't really need her help she focused on Rook.

"For someone who hasn't seen snow before you are quite well coordinated!" Natalie commented. Rook smiled, Jen nodded slightly stepping onto her board.

"No surprise there. He's a highly trained space cop." Natalie smiled at Rook winking at him.

"With a physique like that there's no surprise at all." Jen rolled her eyes at the instructor. Rook frowned slightly as though confused.

"I'm gonna head a bit higher up, we're meeting back at the lodge in about an hour." Rook frowned slightly but nodded, watching as Jen hopped on a ski lift up to one of the more advanced slopes. His attention was drawn back to Natalie as she skied directly in front of him.

"Let's try a few more advanced techniques." She winked as she said it and he frowned, uncertain why that statement was at all conspiratorial. At least that was what he'd understood winking to mean, maybe he was wrong? He'd have to ask Jen about it later.

Jen was kicking herself. People could flirt with Rook all they wanted. She had no claim over him, except that she was his work partner. She really shouldn't be feeling so jealous over the ski instructor flirting with him. But she couldn't deny that she had felt a twinge of jealousy when Natalie started flirting.

"No, you swore off dating Plumbers remember." She chastised herself as she hopped off the ski lift. A beep distracted her as she landed at the top of this slope. She had some trouble pulling her communicator out from under her shirt since it was also under the winter gear she was wearing but when she successfully extricated it she managed to answer the call.

"That took a bit, you ok Jen?" The voice of Pierce Wheels was a bit strained. Jen pulled her scarf down slightly and spoke.

"Yeah well even I have to wear coats in the mountains, I just have a bad habit of losing them." Pierce laughed and there was the sound of something being set down near him.

"We're almost ready for you two back at the lodge. Smart of you to get him out of the lodge while we set up." Jen rolled her eyes.

"Well yeah I also wanted him to play in the snow. Not get flirted at by the skiing instructor." Jen took a deep breath. "Did you guys bring the stuff?"

"We did." Pierce was stifling laughter. "Got everything you asked for. They're setting up the cake and food in the dining room. Max flew us over but Coop finally got the cloaking working past ten minutes, so Rook won't see the Rustbucket when you two get back. We should be done a bit early really. You should be able to come down sooner than we thought." Jen nodded.

"I'm on the higher slope I'll head your way once I get back down to where Rook is."

"Alright. See you two soon." Jen tucked her com unit back under her jacket and pulled her scarf back up. She pulled her goggles down and grinned as she began the long trip down the mountain, the air rushing past her. It really was just like being on a hoverboard, but very much colder. It was a rush, and she loved every second of it. Honestly part of why she did what she did was because she was something of an adrenaline junkie. Of course that wasn't information she shared with just anyone. In fact she had only ever shared it with one person, her one time fiancé, Ethan Valadis. He had passed away in a car wreck while she was off planet though. That had been over a year ago now, she mused as she raced down the mountainside. She and Rook had been partners for just a few months now, it was hard to believe everything they had gone through together. They had faced down one of her oldest enemies, Malware and seen him vanquished. But he was funny, even though sometimes it wasn't intentional, and he cared about her, not just because she was the wielder of the Omnitrix, but because she was just Jen. It was nice to have someone who watched her back. She shook her head as she turned her board sharply to avoid a tree.

She liked her partner, so what, she didn't have to act on that. Nothing ever said she had to tell him she liked him. Besides there was no way he was interested in her like that. She shook her head swerving just in time to miss a rock near the path. She made it down the mountainside in record time and boarded over to where Rook was skiing with the instructor.

"Hey Rook got a call from the lodge, we should head back." Rook nodded looking slightly relieved as they put up their gear and hopped on the ski gondola back down to the lodge lower down the mountain. Jen frowned. "You doing ok? You look a bit down. Mood wise I mean." Rook frowned slightly.

"I am a bit confused about something that happened with the instructor." Jen nodded, Rook was still pretty new to human interaction and hadn't been outside Bellwood much since being assigned as her partner. "She kept winking, but there was no joke, nothing that might have caused her to be conspiratorial." Jen laughed as a feeling of relief washed through her.

"Rook she was flirting with you." Jen stated outright, best not to beat around the bush here. He wasn't so good with inuendo after all. "She thought you were cute." The fur on Rook's face puffed up slightly, his species version of a blush. The Gondola stopped at the Lodge and Jen led Rook inside. She grinned as he raised an eyebrow at her.

"Jen is there something you are not telling me." Her grin widened.

"It's your birthday, there's somethings I can't tell you. But you need to close your eyes." Rook frowned but did as he was told letting Jen take his hand and lead him into the room. "Alright open them when I tell you to." He nodded. She released him for a moment and his ear twitched as though he was trying to hear what was happening. Jen glanced around and nodded. "Alright open them!" Rook opened his eyes and blinked.

"Surprise!" The gathered group called out. Jen stood at the head of a small cluster of Plumbers, all of whom Rook knew from the Bellwood base, including Pierce Wheels, Cooper Daniels, and Max Tennyson. Jen stepped forward.

"I did promise a semi traditional earth birthday experience." Jen stated pulling on a party hat. She handed one to Rook who grinned wide. He had never been to an Earth party before but this one had quite a few party games, a large cake, covered in candles and green frosting. They sang a song Rook had never heard before, and sang it rather badly which was apparently part of the tradition though he knew his partner to be at least somewhat musically inclined. Then he was presented with several presents. Max got him a new shirt, a bright green Hawaiian print that made Jen stifle laughter. Cooper gave him an upgraded Prototool, Pierce gave him a large book on Earth history, something they had talked about a bit while on breaks. Jen's gift though was his favorite.

"Ok so this will be moved back to Base after today, into your quarters but it's a linkup to a communication system halfway across the galaxy." Rook frowned but his eyes went wide as Jen flicked on the device, which looked a bit like a standing desk with a fixed monitor on the top. On the screen was his family, his mother, father, brother and sisters all of whom where back on Revonnah, literal worlds away. He got to have a lengthy conversation with them for the first time since he had been back home. When they finished Rook approached Jen who was talking to Pierce.

"How did you manage to convince my father to let a piece of technology into his house?" Jen laughed.

"I can't take full credit for that. Rook Shar and Young One did most of the legwork on that one." He smiled wide.

"Thank you, it means a great deal to me that I have an easy way to contact my family." Jen shrugged.

"No big deal. You're my friend, I want you to be happy." Rook smiled and opened his arms. Jen obliged him with a hug.