A/N: Hey everyone! Hope I didn't take too awful long to get out this chapter! It was a lot longer than I thought it would be (15 pages on word!) so it took a while to get it ready. Hope you enjoy it! Until 5! -Melody :)

Chapter 4

"Hold still, baby. I'm never going to get these curls in your hair if you keep moving."

"I want to go to my party!" Katrina begged. "Is it time yet?"

"It's not time for your party yet, sweetie."

"Well when will it be time for my party, Mommy?"

"Well, depends on when we get there, and at this rate, it's going to take a couple of hours to get your hair done," Alison said, still trying to curl the ends of her hair into little ringlets.

"Angel, her hair looks fine," Rafe said, walking into the bedroom. "Those curls are going to be out within ten minutes anyway."

"She wants curls. She's getting curls. It has to be perfect."

"Do you like my dress, Daddy?" Katrina had been waiting for what felt like forever to wear this dress. It was a satin pink dress her mother had bought for her a month ago from Wyndham's. She even had a matching bow in her hair.

Rafe knelt down and smiled at his daughter. "I love it, Princess! It makes you look like you're five years old!"

"Hey! I am five years old!" Katrina laughed.

"Oh! Well Happy Birthday then!"

Katrina rolled with laughter. Daddy always made her laugh.

Rafe gave her a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Okay, I think that'll have to do for now," Alison said, putting down the curling iron.

"Can I go play now?"

"Yeah, you can play. But don't mess that pretty dress of yours up!"

"'Kay!" Katrina ran out of the room.

Alison then grabbed her notebook from the dresser, looking over her to-do list for the day.

"Okay, let's see what else we have to do," she said. " I have to pick up the cake from the bakery, the party people are delivering that jumpy thing, Gus is bringing the pony, I've got to get the party favors for the kids ready…I'm forgetting something. Oh! The magician! I don't even remember how much we're supposed to pay him!"

"Alison, calm down."

"We have so much to do!"

Rafe put his hands on her shoulders, then bringing her to the bed to sit down with him. "Don't take this the wrong way, but you're beginning to sound a little bit like Lucy."

"I just want everything to be perfect."

"Angel, it's a five year old's birthday party. She'll love it no matter what. Everything is going to go fine."

"I hope so."

"It will. Hey," Rafe said, touching her chin and turning her face to his, making her look into his eyes. "What's really bothering you?"

"When I was a kid, Rafe, no one ever made a big deal out of my birthday. I mean, sure, I would get presents, but do you think my parents were ever there to watch me open them? Do you think they ever decided to go all out and throw me a birthday party and invite all of my friends from school? No. They didn't care. They were always too busy. Too busy taking some cruise in the Mediterranean or too busy laying on a beach in Aruba. They didn't give a damn about me. They still don't. And you know what? All of those presents they would give me? They were really nice gifts. Things that would make all of the other girls envious of me. But I didn't care about any of it. All I really wanted was for them to just be there."

"I'm sorry, Alison." Rafe ran his finger across her cheek, gently wiping away a tear.

"I want Katrina to have the childhood that I never had. I want her to be able to grow up and be able to look back and have all of these wonderful memories. That's why I want her birthday to be really special."

"Well you know what?"

"What?"

"You don't have to try so hard," Rafe whispered. "Katrina's already the luckiest little girl in the world. This party will be anything but a disappointment to her. She'll love it. I know it."

Alison's smile returned. "You're right. I should stop worrying about it."

"Is there anything I can help you with?"

"Well…it would help me out a lot if you go to the party store and pick up the balloons. The pink and white ones. All you have to do is pick them up. They've already put helium in them and everything."

"Not a problem."

"You say that now, but good luck getting them into the car."

Rafe laughed. "I'll go pick them up. I'll see you later." Rafe got up, kissing her as he left.

"Thank you."

"Mommy!" Katrina ran into the room.

"Yes?"

"Could you put my necklace on?"

Alison smiled. "Sure. Sit down."

Katrina sat down beside her mother on the bed as Alison carefully fastened the clasp of Katrina's necklace.

"Okay, there you go."

"Thanks!"

"Turn around. Let me see."

"Am I pretty, Mommy?"

"You are very pretty! In fact, you're so pretty, I'm going to take a picture." Alison grabbed the camera off of the dresser. "Stand up so I can see your dress."

Katrina stood up, happily modeling her new dress for the camera.

"Okay, say 'cheese'."

"Cheese!'

Alison snapped the picture. She couldn't wait to see it.

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"Lucy, thank you so much for helping me out," Alison said as she set some items down on a picnic table. "I don't think I could have done all of this by myself."

"Oh you're welcome! I've planned many a party. This has been a piece of cake."

"Speaking of cake…look at this!" Alison proudly opened the box she had just set down and revealed Katrina's birthday cake. The cake was covered in white frosting with pink icing all around. In the center was a brown horse. Above the horse, it had "Happy Birthday, Katrina!" in pink icing.

"Aww! That's the cutest little birthday cake I've ever seen!"

"She insisted on having a horse on it. It took a lot of brown frosting but I think I did a good job if I do say so myself."

"You did! Oh, she'll love it!"

"Yeah, I can't wait until she sees it. Hey, you don't think I could get in trouble for having a pony in the park, do you?"

Lucy shook her head. "Not if your grandmother has anything to say about it."

"I better make sure someone cleans up after that animal. It will not be me though!"

Lucy laughed.

"Mommy! Mommy!" Katrina came running over to her mother, tugging on her dress excitedly.

"What is it, baby?"

"Come look!" Katrina grabbed her mother's hand, leading her over to the object that had made her so excited.

"Where are your shoes, Katrina?" Alison asked, noticing that she was completely barefoot.

"Over here! Look! The moonbounce is here!" Katrina cheered, climbing into the huge inflatable tent made for jumping.

Rafe poked his head out. "What do you think?" he asked Alison with a laugh.

"It's a lot bigger than I thought it would be!"

"Come inside and jump, Mommy!"

"No baby, I better not."

"Daddy's in here!"

"Yes, and Daddy is about to get out before he breaks it," Rafe said, carefully getting out of the moonbounce. "But I see someone who'll want to jump with you!"

"Hey girls!" Alison said, watching Christina and Charlotte run over to the moonbounce.

"Hey!" Christina said, throwing off her shoes and climbing up with no problem.

Charlotte slipped her shoes off as well, but she struggled a little, trying to get up.

Rafe picked the child up, placing her inside. "There you go."

Within minutes, the three girls were inside, jumping and laughing around.

"Looks like that's going to be the big hit," Livvie said, walking over to Rafe and Alison.

"One of Katrina's friends from daycare had one of these at her birthday party. So she begged if she could have one too."

"Mama! Look!" Charlotte called out.

Livvie gave her daughter a wave. "I'll have to get one of those for Charlotte's next birthday."

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"Since when did our daughter make so many friends?" Rafe asked, amazed at how many more kids had arrived in the span of just a few minutes

"Our daughter is very popular," Alison said with a laugh. "She wanted to invite her whole class."

"You have to take turns now!" Katrina instructed as she made her friends get in a line. "Little ones in the front. Come here, Charlotte. You get to ride Cookie first."

"How come she gets to ride your pony first?" Katrina's friend Molly whined.

"Because she's the littlest, and little ones are supposed to go first, that's why."

"Ride pony! Ride pony!" Charlotte cheered, and then laughed as she was picked up and put on the animal.

"When will it be my turn?" Molly asked.

"You can go next. Then Cindy, you can go. If you don't want to wait, you can go jump for a while, and I'll call you when it's your turn."

"When do we get to have cake?" Cindy asked.

"After the magician comes."

Molly's eyes widened in surprise. "You have a magician coming?"

"Uh huh! He's gonna do magic tricks and everything!"

Molly and Cindy looked at each other and smiled. "Cool!" they said.

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"Happy birthday, Katrina."

Katrina turned around, seeing Danny hold a big pink box with a bow on it.

"WOW! Is that for me?"

"Yep! It's for your birthday!"

"Thanks!" Katrina took the present and set it on the picnic table with the others. She turned back, giving him a big smile.

"I have a birthday song for you."

"You do?"

"Yeah. A song just for you! You wanna hear it?"

"Yeah!"

"Okay! Here goes!" Danny said with a smile, beginning his song.

Happy Birthday to you,

You live in a zoo,

You look like a monkey,

And smell like one too!

Katrina frowned. Danny was her friend most of the time, but sometimes he acted like too much of a boy and he made her mad. She pointed her finger at him. "You better not sing that song to me again, Daniel Thornhart!" she said, mimicking the tone she had heard Danny's mother use a time or two.

"Or what?"

"Or you won't ride my pony! That's what!" Katrina put her hands on her hips. That would show him!

"I've already rode your pony before!"

"Oh yeah? Well then I'll tell!"

"Well then I gotta another song for you. You wanna hear it?"

"Okay, but not that other song!"

Danny smiled. "It's a different one. I promise."

Happy Birthday to you,

I went to the zoo,

I saw a big monkey,

And thought it was you!

"I'm tellin'!"

"It's not the same song! It's a different one!"

"Mrs. Eve! Mrs. Eve!" Katrina ran to Eve, tugging at her dress. "Danny sang a monkey song to me!"

Eve looked down at her son, her face not happy. She knew exactly the song she was referring to. He had sung it all morning. "Daniel Thornhart, did you sing that birthday song to Katrina?"

"It's just a joke! I don't really mean it!"

"Daniel. Answer me."

"Yes," he said timidly.

"Yes what?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Danny, Katrina's your friend. You don't sing songs like that to your friends. It hurts their feelings."

"But it was only a joke."

"It doesn't matter. If someone's feelings are hurt, the joke is over. Now I think you owe someone an apology."

Danny looked at Katrina, a smile no longer on his face. "I'm sorry, Katrina. I won't ever sing it again."

"Okay. I forgive you. Just as long as you don't ever sing it again. You wanna go jump in the moonbounce with me?"

Danny looked up to his mother. "Can I?"

"Yes, you can go play. But when we get home, no video games for the rest of the evening."

"All right." Danny ran off, Katrina following him.

"I got you in trouble!" Katrina said with a laugh.

And it was that day that Danny learned an important lesson. Teasing Katrina was never a good idea.

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Rafe sat at the picnic table, watching Alison pace back and forth by the bushes. She had been on her cell for several minutes now, making call after call.

Alison ended her call, then marched back over to the table.

Rafe stood up, seeing the worry on her face. "What's the matter?"

"It's times like these that I really, really, really wish you had your magic powers back! Just for like twenty minutes!"

"What's going on?"

"The magician called and had to cancel! He said he just found out that he has strep throat and he can't make it. You don't know any magic tricks, do you?"

"If I could make flowers and doves appear out of nowhere, believe me, I would."

"What are we going to do? Katrina's been asking for the last half hour when the magician is going to get here and I can't stall much longer! I've called every children's party act in town and of course they're all booked! What are we going to do?"

"Maybe I can help?" a voice said from behind them.

Rafe and Alison looked behind them, and to their surprise, they saw Ed, dressed from head to toe in a magician's costume.

"Ed! What are you doing here?" Rafe laughed.

"I heard you needed a magician. Why do you think I'm dressed like this? For fun?"

"Oh my gosh! Ed! I'm so happy to see you!" Alison said, running over to him and giving him a hug.

Ed laughed. "Well I couldn't let Katrina be disappointed by not having a magician! So I'm here. Well, let's stop wasting time. I've got a show to put on!"

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"Alright, children! Gather 'round!" Ed announced as the children sat down for the show. "I'm Ed the Magician, and I know a lot of magic tricks! Who wants to see some magic?"

"Me! Me! Me!" The children all said, raising their hands.

Ed entertained them with simple tricks at first, like making rainbow of colored scarves appear from out of his pockets and flowers from out of his sleeves. The children laughed and clapped at each trick, wondering how he did it.

"And now, I'll need a volunteer. Who wants to help me with my next trick?"

At once, all of the children raised their hands, begging for him to pick them.

"How about the birthday girl?" Ed said, pointing to Katrina and giving her a smile.

Katrina hopped up from her seat and ran over to the table. She was so excited he had picked her to help him with his magic trick!

"Come stand right here, little lady," Ed said, motioning her to stand beside him. "How are you?"

"Fine," Katrina answered.

"Are you having a fun birthday?"

"Yes."

"Well good! Are you ready to help me with my trick?"

"Uh huh!"

Ed took off his black top hat, showing it to the children. "Does everyone see my hat?"

"Yes!"

"It's not just an ordinary hat. It's a magic hat."

Ed held the hat upside down. He held it in front of Katrina. "Is there anything in my hat?"

Katrina looked inside it. "No."

"Are you sure?"

Katrina looked again. "Nope, there's nothing in there."

Ed showed the children his empty hat. "She's right. There's nothing inside my hat." Ed reached into his pocket, taking out a black scarf. He covered the hat with it. "I covered my hat with my scarf. Now, will you look under the scarf and tell me if you see anything inside?"

Katrina lifted up the scarf, but saw nothing. "No."

Ed scratched his head. "Hmm," he said aloud. "Oh, I know what I forgot to do." He smiled at Katrina. "We forgot to say the magic word. Do you know what the magic word is?"

Katrina shook her head no.

"It's 'abracadabra'. Can you say that for me?"

"Abracadabra!"

"Look under the scarf again."

Katrina lifted the scarf, but again, saw nothing. "There's nothing in there."

"No? Oh! We forgot one more thing! How old are you?"

"I'm five years old!" Katrina answered happily.

"Five! That's the magic number then! What I want you to do, Katrina, is to move your hand in a circle over my hat five times. Like this." Ed demonstrated. "Can you do that?"

"Yes."

"Okay, let's all count with her," Ed said.

Katrina moved her hand in circles over the hat.

"One. Two. Three. Four. Five."

"Now say the magic word!" Ed said.

"Abracadabra!" Katrina said.

"Look under the scarf."

Katrina lifted the scarf, and to her surprise, she saw a white bunny inside. "A bunny!"

"And that's what we call 'magic'!" Ed said with a laugh, picking up the small white bunny.

The children all hopped up from their seats, gathering around the bunny, all wanting to pet him.

"What's his name?" Danny asked.

"Charlie," Ed answered.

"How did he get into your hat?" Christina asked.

"Magic!"

"Is he a magic bunny like the Easter Bunny?" Katrina asked.

"You could say that," he said with a wink.

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Afterwards, the children all flocked to the moonbounce again, except Katrina. She noticed her parents talking to "Ed the Magician". They were talking and laughing as if they knew each other. She decided to go over there to see what was up.

"Mommy! Daddy! Do you know the magician!"

Rafe picked up Katrina, putting her in his lap. "Yes, we do, Princess."

"I'm actually an old friend of your parents," Ed told her.

Katrina smiled. "How old are you? Are you like, a hundred?"

Ed rolled with laughter.

"Katrina," Alison warned.

"Princess, he means that he's known us a long time."

Ed continued to laugh. "Actually, I guess I am pretty old!" He winked at Katrina. "I've been wanting to meet you for a long time. I've heard a lot about you."

"Well you could have just come to our house. I was there."

Ed laughed. "Well, the thing is, I live kind of far away."

"Do you have to take a plane to get to your house?"

"Well...something like that."

"Hey! How do you do that trick with the bunny?"

"Oh, I can't tell you. A good magician never reveals his secrets."

"Well can you do it again? That bunny's so cute!"

"You mean, like this?" Ed reached into his hat and pulled out a small, white rabbit.

"Wow! I wanna hold him! I wanna hold him!"

Ed handed over the bunny and Katrina held him close to her. "Aww! Hi, bunny! Can I keep him?"

"Afraid the bunny has to stay with Ed, Princess."

"Because he has to keep him for his magic tricks?"

"Right."

Katrina looked up at Ed as she handed him back the rabbit. "Well tell him to tell the Easter Bunny that I said hello!"

Ed laughed. "Will do."

"Katrina! You can't catch us!" shouted a few of Katrina's friends, wanting her to play tag with them.

"Oh I gotta go! Hey, magician man, you can come visit us anytime! But we're moving into a new house soon so make sure you get the right one!"

"If I'm ever in town, I promise I'll drop by," Ed said with a smile.

"Okay. Bye!" Katrina hopped off her father's lap and ran to catch up with her friends.

"She's a beautiful little girl," Ed said, watching her run off.

"Thank you," Alison said.

"She wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you, Ed," Rafe said.

"Oh I doubt that. I've told you before, and I'll tell you again. You and Alison found your way to each other. I had nothing to do with it. I may have given you a nudge, but you two would have ended up together no matter what I did."

"Well thanks just the same," Rafe said.

"You're welcome. Well, I really better get going."

"Oh no, can't you stay? You could have some cake!" Alison offered.

"I'd love to, but I really can't stay."

"We understand," Rafe said. "It was really good seeing you again, Ed."

"It was good seeing you too."

"And thanks for helping out with the party!" Alison added. "Katrina's invitation goes for me too. Come by anytime."

"I will. See you later."

With that, Ed walked away, slowing fading into thin air.

"Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!" Katrina ran to her mother, grinning from ear to ear.

"What sweetie?"

"Is it time for cake? Please say yes!"

Alison laughed. "Yes! It's time for cake!"

"Hey, where did the magician man go?"

"He had to go now."

"Oh too bad! He's gonna miss out on some good cake!" Katrina said.

Alison laughed. "Well maybe we'll see him again one day."

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"Make a wish, sweetie!" Alison said, watching as Katrina blew all of her candles out in one breath.

Everyone began to clap and cheer.

"What did you wish for, Princess?"

"Can't tell you! Or it won't come true!"

Rafe laughed.

Alison began to cut the cake and Livvie helped by passing it out.

"Mommy, I want the piece with the horsy's face!" Katrina said.

"Okay."

"I want some cake!" Charlotte shouted.

"You need to say 'please', Charlotte," her mother told her.

"I please want some cake!"

Livvie laughed, putting the plate in front of her and watching her stuff a forkful into her mouth. As she did, she managed to get a huge glob of white frosting all over her chin.

Katrina laughed. "Charlotte, you look like Santa Clause!"

Everyone agreed that the cake was delicious, and that Charlotte was the messiest eater.

As soon as Katrina finished her cake, there was only one more thing left to do. Something she had been waiting to do ever since the party started, but her mother had said not until after the cake. And that was open presents!

"Oh please can I open my presents now? Please!"

"Don't you want to wait until everyone finishes eating their cake?"

"Well I finished eating mine! Please, Mommy?"

Alison looked to Rafe and smiled. "Okay, you can go open them."

"YAY!"

Katrina ran over to the picnic table with all of her presents on it. The other children gathered around, oooing and ahhing over each new toy Katrina unwrapped.

"Katrina, you forgot one!" Christina said, noticing a circular object loosely wrapped in tissue paper.

"Ooo! Let me see!"

"It's big! I think I know what it is!" Christina handed the present over to Katrina.

It didn't take long for Katrina to unwrap it. "A hula-hoop! Ooo!" Katrina stepped inside the pink hula-hoop, spinning it around a few times until it ultimately fell to the ground. She tried again, laughing as she tried to make it spin around longer.

"Let me show you!" Christina said, taking the hula-hoop and showing Katrina how.

Katrina loved all of her presents, but her absolute favorite present was the one she was about to get.

"Happy Birthday, Lil Spunky!"

Katrina turned around, her eyes widening as she saw Jamal walk over to her with a very cool pink bike!

"A bike! A bike! OOO!" Katrina hopped on, holding on to the handles. "It's so pretty!"

"She is a beauty! Check this out. You have a basket in the front so you can carry, well, whatever. You have the tassels for decoration on the bars. And the two wheels in the back are the training wheels. That way you don't have to worry about falling off."

"This is so cool! Thanks, Uncle J.!" Katrina wasted no time, giving the bike a test ride.

"You're welcome, Lil Spunky."

Katrina looked up at her parents and smiled. "This is the bestest birthday party ever!"

Rafe turned to Alison and smiled. "See? I told you she would love it? Didn't I?"

Alison smiled back at him. "Yes, you do."

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"Well, I managed to find some room for all of Katrina's new toys in the garage," Rafe said, walking into the living room. "The ones that wouldn't fit in her closet at least."

"Shh," Alison said.

"What?"

"Come here," Alison whispered.

Rafe walked over to Alison and looked to where she was pointed. There was Katrina, fast asleep on the couch.

"Always a sign that she had a very exciting day," Rafe whispered.

"I went to the kitchen to clean things up and after a while, I noticed it had gotten awfully quiet. I came out to the living room and there she was. Look at her, Rafe. She's so beautiful. Our beautiful little girl."

"I can't believe she's five years old today. It seems like only yesterday I was holding her in my arms and she was just a little baby."

"I know. You remember the day she was born? I remember it was Easter Sunday."

"Yeah. And Kevin was dressed up in that big bunny costume."

Alison laughed. "Oh yeah! I remember that!"

"Alison?"

"Yeah?"

"How did she grow up so fast?"

Alison smiled. "Don't worry. You've still got a good thirteen years to go."

"They'll go quick. We should get her to bed." Rafe started towards her, but Alison took hold of his arm.

"Oh let me."

"Are you sure you can carry her? I don't want you to wear yourself out."

"She's not heavy for me," she said, carefully picking the sleeping child up. Katrina made a soft mumble and opened her eyes, but closed her eyes again as her mother carried her out of the room.

A while later, Alison came to the bedroom, seeing Rafe getting ready for bed.

"Is she still asleep?" Rafe asked.

"Yep. Do you know how hard it is to put a nightgown on a sleeping five-year-old?"

"I imagine it was very hard."

Alison laughed. "Well she's sleeping. I'm sure she'll stay that way for hours."

Rafe grinned. "Hours?"

"Uh huh." Alison flashed him a smile, knowing what was on his mind.

"Maybe we should go to bed too," Rafe said, pulling the bed covers down.

"Hmm, maybe," Alison said, sitting down on the bed.

Rafe grinned. "You do realize that when I say go to bed, I don't mean to sleep?"

Alison smiled back at him, and together, they fell on the bed, kissing each other.