Summary: Claire tells Owen he can't. Never tell Owen he can't do something.

Gift for Ame_Kage! Over at Ao3! Hope this is what you had in mind. 8D

Forbidden

Claire glared at him, her eyes narrowed. She looked seconds from exploding. And to be honest, she was. "You can't be serious!"

Owen shrugged. "I am."

Claire shook her head. "Well you can't!"

Owen smiled. "Yes I can."

"No." She shook her head. "You can't! I forbid it!"

Owen laughed loudly. "Forbid? You forbid me?"

She nodded her head. "Yes I do."

"You can't."

"I can't?"

Owen smiled again. "Everything's already set up. It's starts in an hour."

Her eyes widened.

"Plus Zach and Gray are arriving on the next ferry in like 10 minutes.:

Her mouth dropped open. "You invited my nephews?"

"Yep."

She sighed and shook her head. "I will never understand your relationship with them."

Owen looked away quickly. "It's not weird." He mumbled.

She rolled her eyes. "No, I guess not. You're practically a teenager yourself."

Owen wanted to glare at her or snap. But he didn't. He didn't want to give her any cause to think about how many times he'd sent tickets to the older of the brothers. Or how Zach never slept in his hotel room. Owen coughed and turned away from her. "Whatever. The party is going on as planned. And you're invited. You and Zara."

"You can't have a birthday party for your raptors!"

-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-

The ferry arrived on time and Owen was standing on the dock, waving like an idiot. He quickly ushered the brothers into the hotel to get Gray checked into his hotel room. Then Owen rushed them into his jeep and they were on their way to the raptor paddock. Gray gasped at Owen pulled the jeep to a stop.

There were balloons everywhere, in blue and orange. Streamers and ribbons and a giant sign that said happy birthday. The decorations where inside and outside the fences, along the walkway over head, and even in the parking lot. There wasn't any where to look where there wasn't a balloon. It was almost as ridiculous as Claire said it was.

Zach shook his head as he looked around. "This really is something."

Owen smiled brightly. "It's not every day my girls turn 5."

Zach squinted his eyes and pointed at the birthday sign. "There's a fish..." He shook his head slowly.

Gray ran towards the fence to get a better look at the decorations. All the balloons had fish on them. "Finding Dory!" He said with a laugh. "Echo's going to go crazy! Where are they?"

"Back in the small pen." Owen said. "Covered the fence around it. So they can't see the decorations."

Gray smiled. "That's so cool!" He turned towards Zach. "I told you it was a real birthday party! We should have bought them presents!"

Zach shook his head. "What do you buy a dinosaur? And try explaining that to mom or dad while you were packing."

Owen laughed and clapped Gray on the back. "It's alright. They don't need presents. Anything you gave them, they'd probably eat anyways."

Zach smiled. "So not a pet rabbit."

Owen shook his head. "Definetily not." He reached out and wrapped his arm around Zach's shoulders. Zach leaned against him for a moment before Owen grabbed Gray as well and pulled the brothers up the stairs to the catwalk. "Barry." He called out loudly. "Let them out."

"Okay." Came an answer.

Suddenly, the four raptors burst out. Blue was the first. She stopped in the middle and looked around. Then looked up at Owen and snorted and shook her head. Delta ran around, snapping at the streamers that were floating around as she ran past. Charlie stepped up behind Blue, looking around. Echo stopped and then let out a loud squeal. She ran towards the nearest balloon and jumped at it in delight. It popped under her claws and she jumped back. She looked up at Owen, looking a bit guilty.

Owen laughed. "It's fine, Echo. There's plenty. You can pop them."

Delta darted towards Echo and snapped at the balloons beside her. Echo screeched and knocked her away. The two started to fight and Blue ran over to snap at them.

"Okay, okay." Owen snapped loudly. "That's enough. Time for games."

"Games?" Gray asked.

Owen nodded and turned to Zach. "Wanna help?"

Zach nodded stiffly. "Inside?"

Owen smiled. "You did good the last time."

Gray started boucning. "Can I come too?"

Owen tilted his head. "Okay. Stick close to Zach."

"Claire's going to kill you." Barry said, walking towards them with a large box. He set the box down and stood back up.

"Which is why we're not going to tell her." Owen said. "She's not coming." Owen led the brother down to the fence. He hit the button on the door and stepped back. The brothers followed him in and he closed the door behind them.

The second the door closed, Echo rushed forward. She bumped against Zach and let out a squeak. Zach laughed and rubbed her nose. "Hey Echo." He said. The other raptors stepped closer and Gray ducked behind Zach. Echo tried to peek around him.

"Hi." Gray said softly.

"Hey!" Owen snapped. "Stop crowding the kid. He's a bit nervous." The raptors immediately stepped back. Owen looked up at Barry. "Ready?"

"Yeah." Moments later, Barry lowered a large, blue blob over the edge of the catwalk. He lowered it until it was eyelevel and then tied it off.

Zach shook his head as he stepped closer. "Is that a piñata?"

Owen smiled and nodded. It was large and shaped like Dory. He clapped his hands together. "Okay. This is how we're gonna do this." He pulled a blue piece of cloth out of his pocket. "This is a piñata. The game is to break it."

Delta rushed forward, snapping her jaws.

"Whoa there." Owen stepped in to intercept her. He pushed her back. "No, no, no. Not like that."

Delta snorted and stepped back.

"You're blindfolded so you can't see." Owen explained. "Then you swing a bat at it and try to break it while you can't see. You guys... are gonna try to whack it with your tails. So... get in line."

Echo darted in front of Blue. Blue snapped at her but let the youngest raptor take the first turn. Owen stepped up to her and shook his head. "Echo! You have to hold still." The raptor was wiggling from top to bottom. But after a few struggling minutes, Owen got the blindfold on. Echo snorted and shook her head. "Echo, you're fine." Owen said, stepping closer to her. He put his hands on her side. "Here, step forward." Owen guided Echo closer to the giant blue Dory. And then he stepped away, smiling. "Okay. Try to break it.

Echo leaned forward, stretched her neck out. She touched it gently with the tip of her nose.

"Tail, Echo."

She breathed out and nodded. Then she spun around and tried to hit the pinata. But she missed. everyone laughed. "Try again." Owen said.

Echo's second try clipped Dory's tail. And then it was Blue's turn. Blue missed both times. Delta missed the piñata and his the string so hard it snapped. The piñata landed on the ground but it didn't break. Owen quickly hung it back and it was Charlie's turn. Charile put a small hole in the side but nothing fell out. They started over and on Blue's second turn, something black fell out.

Zach stepped closer and looked down at it. "What is that?"

"A dead rat." Owen asnwered.

Zach stepped out of the way as Blue rushed at it again. He looked at Owen and shook his head. "You filled the piñata with dead rats?"

Owen shrugged. "It's for the raptors. What else was I supposed to put in it? Candy?"

Blue let out a squeal and tore off the blindfold. Owen stepped back and motioned for the brothers to follow. They watched as the raptors all pounced on the piñata. They pulled it off again and then fought over it and ripped it to pieces.

After they finished with the piñata, Owen pulled out a large cardboard picture of Nemo, missing his tiny fin. They spent an hour playing pin the fin on Nemo. The raptors were blindfolded and held the fin pin's in their teeth. Then the brothers and even Owen took turns. They tried to get Barry to join in. But the man still hadn't ventured into the fence. He smiled and shook his head. Gray got the closest and was deemed the winner.

And then Owen rolled in a large cake. Zach smiled and shook his head as he stared down at the very large raptor shaped and iced cake. "You baked them a cake?" He reached out, like he was going to touch the icing.

Owen's eyes widened and he quickly slapped Zach's hand away. "No tasting."

"I wasn't gonna mess it up!" Zach snapped.

"It's uh... just for the raptors." Owen mumbled.

Zach rolled his eyes. "I don't even want to know how you came up with a cake recipe for them."

Owen laughed and pulled out a small box of matches. He lit the candles and stepped back. "Time to sing..."

"OWEN GRADY!"

Owen, the brothers, and the raptors all ducked down immediately, hearing her voice. Then they all craned their necks and Claire was plastered to the fence. Her eyes were wide and her face just as red as her hair.

"Uh..." Owen recovered first and scratched at the back of his neck. "Claire... you came..."

"What are they doing in there?!" She snapped.

Owen glanced around. "Uh... we were getting ready to sing happy birthday... and blow out candles..."

Zach straightened up and pulled Gray with him. "It's a birthday party, aunt Claire."

Gray nodded. "There was a piñata and pin the fin on Nemo, like pin the tail on the donkey." He explained.

Owen nodded. "I wanted to do a bouncy house... but I figured with claws..." He shrugged.

"That is not what I meant!" Claire snapped. "Get them out of there NOW!"

"Aw! But aunt Claire!" Gray whined. "I've never been allowed in here before! Zach always..."

"Gray!" Zach grabbed Gray and pulled him back.

"You've been in there before?" She looked at Owen. "You are dead."

"Uh..." Owen backed up slowly. "Okay. I vote we all stay in here. Forever. Then she can't kill any of us."

"Owen, NOW!"

In the end, Owen and the brothers left the cage. They sang happy birthday to the girls from the safety of the catwalk. And then the raptors fought over the cake. Claire got a call from Zara and had to leave. She left more death threats in the air as she climbed into her car. The second she left, Owen and the brothers were back inside the cage, cleaning up the popped balloons and torn streamers.

Owen let out a sigh as he leaned back against the pile of raptors snoring behind him. They were still sticky but they tired themselves out running away and playing hide and seek and tag with Gray. Claire hadn't called or come back. Barry had offered to drop Gray off at the hotel. And Owen and Zach were left alone with the raptors.

Zach smiled down at Owen as he walked over to them. "You look tired." Owen nodded. Then reached up and pulled Zack down with him. Zach wrinkled his nose and pushed Owen's hands away. "You're sticky!"

Owen smiled and laughed. "Just have to shower.

Zach rolled his eyes and scrambled away from him.

"Hey." Owen followed him, standing up and reaching out to grab Zach's hand. "Thanks for coming. You and Gray. They really had fun with you."

Zach glanced at the sleeping pile of raptors and nodded. "Yeah. We had fun too." He turned and pulled Owen with him. "Come on. Better get you into that shower."

-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-

Author's Notes: Hope you liked it! 8D