"Jesus, Jack, what the hell are you doing?" he asked, giving him a friendly hit on the arm.
Jack moved around Boone to the counter and put away the things he'd just got out. "You're not cooking tonight."
"What?" Boone asked. "Why are you home so early?"
Jack smiled at him again and put an arm around him, pulling him closer. "Happy birthday."
Boone found himself smiling. He thought Jack had forgotten about his birthday, which he'd actually been a little glad about. He hated birthdays, he hated being the centre of attention, he never liked a fuss made over him. But now that Jack had said those two stupid words he found himself quite excited.
Jack pulled something out of his pocket and placed it in Boone's hand. "Here."
Boone looked at it. It was a Hershey's chocolate kisses bar. He looked back at Jack. "Did you buy my birthday present from a gas station?"
"No," Jack said, sounding a little offended. "I went to Walmart," he added, a little quieter.
"Walmart?" Boone asked. "Jack, Walmart sells everything, all you could come up with was a chocolate bar?"
"I got you some other stuff too," Jack said. "Like candy hearts."
"How old do you think I am?" Boone asked.
"They're romantic," Jack said.
"Yeah, if you're twelve," Boone replied.
"Look, okay, time kind of got away from me and I didn't get a chance to get you a real present," Jack admitted.
"Shannon had to remind you it was my birthday, didn't she?" Boone smirked.
"Hey, I remembered on my own," Jack said.
"When?" Boone asked.
"Well, yesterday," Jack admitted. "I'm gonna take you shopping for a real gift though."
"I don't care, Jack, I don't want a stupid gift," Boone told him.
"Well tough, cos you're getting one," Jack stated. Boone smiled at him. "Where's the kid?"
"He's upstairs," Boone replied.
"Well, he's sleeping at Shannon's tonight so that I can have you all to myself," Jack told him.
"Okay, I like that plan," Boone said, leaning in closer to him.
"But first you should go make yourself more presentable cos I'm taking you out," Jack said.
"You are?" Boone asked, cursing how disappointed that came out.
"You don't wanna go out?" Jack asked.
"Well, I mean... I liked the part where we were alone in the house," Boone said.
"We can't do that all night," Jack stated. "We have to eat."
"We could get a takeout," Boone suggested.
Jack nodded. "Yeah, okay, sounds good."
"You don't mind?" Boone asked.
"That sounds far more attractive than sitting in some restaurant," Jack said. "What do you want to have?"
Boone thought for a second. "Chinese."
"Okay, we'll go take Noah round to Shannon's and then we'll grab some food on the way back and after that I'm sure we could think of something to entertain ourselves with," Jack said, pulling Boone in for a kiss.
"My cow's head came off," Noah announced.
Boone and Jack pulled away from each other and looked at Noah who was standing in the doorway with a damaged plastic cow.
"What happened?" Boone asked.
Noah shrugged. "Just came off."
Boone and Jack exchanged a look.
"Did you pull it?" Boone asked. "Or drop it? Or stand on it?"
"No," Noah said.
"Are you sure?" Boone asked.
"It's broken," Noah stated.
"Yeah, it is," Boone agreed.
"Can you fix it?" Noah asked.
"I don't know, I'll have a look at it later," Boone replied.
"Hey, Noah, come here a sec," Jack requested. Noah ran over as Jack bent down. "How would you like to stay at Aunt Shannon's tonight?"
"No," Noah replied.
"You can play with Snoop," Jack told him.
"Can I?" Noah asked, getting excited.
"You know, if we go real soon, I bet Shannon'll let you take him on a walk too," Jack said.
"Let's go now," Noah said, pulling at Jack's hand.
"Okay, slow down," Jack said, scooping Noah into his arms and picking him up, placing him on his hip. "We have to go pack some things for you first."
"Like what?" Noah asked.
"Like your pyjamas and your toothbrush," Jack said. "Come on, let's go take a look," he said, heading for the stairs.
Jack and Noah were gone so long that Boone was about to go look for them when he heard Noah running down the stairs. He came into the room with his bag in one hand and a card in the other. He held the card up to Boone.
"For you," he said.
Boone smiled at him and leant down to take it off him. "Thank you, Noah," he said and then looked at Jack who was stood in the doorway smiling at him. He gave him a smile back and ripped open the envelope. Inside was a card that said 'Happy Birthday Daddy' on the front and Noah had written his own name inside it in red crayon. Boone gave him a kiss on the cheek and then gave him a hug. "Thank you," he said again.
"Can we go see Snoop now?" Noah asked.
Boone smiled at him. "Yeah, we can go now."
Noah ran out of the room in the direction of the front door. Boone walked up to Jack and gave him a kiss.
"Thank you," he said.
Jack shrugged. "It was from Noah," he said. "I'll give you something later."
oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO
"Happy birthday," Shannon said, thrusting a present and card into Boone's hands and giving him a kiss on the cheek.
"Thanks, Shan," Boone said. He opened up the present and found a book with artistic photographs from tropical locations.
"Kind of makes you homesick, doesn't it?" Shannon commented. "If you can call it 'home'sick."
"Brings back memories," Boone agreed, flicking through the pages. "Thanks." He opened the envelope and inside was what looked to be a handmade card. It was different materials put together to make an island in the middle of the sea. "Wow, this is really nice, where did you get it?"
"Oh, I made it," Shannon told him.
Boone looked at her. "You made this?"
"Yes," Shannon replied. "Why are you so surprised?"
"Because it's gorgeous, Shannon," Boone told her. "The colours and the different layers. This is really beautiful."
"Well, thanks," Shannon said. "I just used stuff from Zara's craft box. We always keep bits of material and stuff like that. I was bored so I figured I'd try something out."
Boone gazed at the card. "It's awesome."
"Come on, you ready to go?" Jack asked.
"Look at this, Jack," Boone said, holding the card up to Jack.
"Will you drop it?" Shannon asked. "It's a stupid card."
"I cannot believe you made this," Boone said.
"Thanks," Shannon replied sarcastically.
"It looks really professional," Boone said. "Are you sure you made it?" he asked, turning it over to look at the back.
"Okay, enough, go be a birthday boy, I'm sure you have some treats to look forward to when you get home," Shannon said, attempting to usher them out.
"Yeah, I have candy hearts," Boone told her.
"What are you? Twelve?" Shannon asked.
"That's what I said," Boone replied.
"We're leaving," Jack announced. "Noah, we're going."
"Bye," Noah said, not moving away from Snoop.
"Don't I get a hug?" Jack asked him.
"I'm hugging Snoop," Noah replied.
"It's nice to know I'm ranked so highly in his mind," Jack commented. "We'll see you tomorrow," he called to Noah.
"Bye, Noah," Boone called.
"Bye," Noah called back with a half-hearted wave.
"You need to get that kid a pet," Shannon told them.
"Yeah, now we're really leaving," Boone said, heading for the door and pulling Jack with him.
"Have a nice evening, guys," Shannon called after them with a smile.