Chapter 40: Marie's Birthday

Elise hushed everyone in the dark living room. There were over twenty people packed into Elise, Marie, and Sarah's Portland, Oregon house waiting for Marie to come home. Elise had made sure she'd be gone for a while by gifting her with a trip to a spa. Several hours later, the party was ready to start, and the guest of honor had just pulled into the driveway. Marie walked up the drive and unlocked the front door. As her hand flipped the switch to turn on the living room lights everyone shouted at once, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!"

Marie startled and within two seconds flat had a can a pepper spray clenched in her right hand. However she calmed when she saw that it wasn't a home intruder. "Oh my goddess," she stated in shock. The other guests were talking and chuckling amongst each other at the look on Marie's face. "How did you…? When…?" She stuttered as she looked around, spotting Natasha Romanov punching Steve Rogers in the arm for something he said. Clint Barton grinned at his friends commenting that Steve deserved it. Tony Stark and Pepper Potts were next to them, Tony smirking at Steve's misfortune and Pepper smiling at Marie. The fairy vampire crew stood together, slightly apart from the others. Rosalie and Emmett had an arm around each other, while Alice was whispering something to Jasper who looked a little tense.

Their other housemate Sarah Williams stood near the front of the group with her boyfriend Goblin King behind her. Marie grimaced at him, but Sarah noticed and commented that she'd extracted a vow from him to behave. Behind Jareth was a group from Beacon Hills. Lydia, Scott, Kira, Stiles and Malia seemed to be fascinated by the people around them, especially the man with the fez who was arguing with another man in a WWII circa trench coat. The Doctor appeared to be telling Jack that he could not flirt with everyone here, while Jack kept trying to negotiate with how many he could flirt with. River Song stood next to them shaking her head fondly.

Sarah's relatives, the Halliwells, stood near the futon observing the others around them. Wyatt and Chris kept giggling at the faces the Goblin King was making at them. And the last guest, Marie's girlfriend Jessica Hamby, stood next to Elise in the front with a wide grin on her face.

"Been planning it for a month or so actually," Elise said answering the unspoken questions with a wide grin. "Took a bit to get everyone together."

"OHMYGODILOVEYOUELISE!" Marie rushed forward and hugged her friend. Elise let out a small "Oof!" as all the air was pushed from her lungs with Marie's hug. She chuckled a bit and hugged Marie back. "Love you too, Marie," she smiled.

Jessica came over then and tugged Marie away from Elise and into a hug of her own. The two hadn't seen each other in more than a month and Marie had tears of joy. "Okay! Let's get this party started!" Elise shouted and clicked a button on the handheld remote she was carrying. Upbeat music began to play on the stereo and the guests started to chat amongst themselves while lining up to grab some snacks and drinks. Sarah and Elise had bought a variety of unhealthy snack food as well as some veggie and fruit trays. There were also several pizzas waiting to be baked.

The party went until late that night. Slowly the guests started to disperse. The Halliwells were the first to go because Wyatt and Chris were well past their bedtime. The group from Beacon Hills also headed out a little early because they had a meeting with another wolf pack in the area. The Doctor, River, and Jack left as well, the Doctor saying something about visiting a planet full of creatures who communicated via body language and musical chirping from their wings rubbing together. The group of sparkly vampires from Forks left shortly after the Doctor, which was probably a good thing because Jasper looked like he might not be able to control himself much longer. Tony and Pepper had an early morning conference at Stark Industries the next day, so they'd left as well. Eventually it was only Natasha, Steve, Clint, Jessica, Sarah, Jareth, Elise, and Marie sitting around the low coffee table on the floor. Clint and Steve were munching on some cold pizza and Sarah was offering refills on drinks.

"OH! We should play the Marie drinking game!" Elise shouted, stumbling slightly as she rose to her feet.

"The what?" Marie asked, a confused look on her face.

"You know… the Maria song by Brooks and Dunn?" Elise busied herself by finding the song on her ipod and getting it ready to play.

"Oh! I know that song!" Sarah exclaimed leaning forward from her position in front of Jareth. "It's a country song from the 90s. I haven't heard of a drinking game for it though."

"Elise, you know I don't listen to country," Marie gave her a skeptical look.

Elise ignored Marie and proceeded to explain the game. "Basically take a shot of whatever you're drinking whenever they say Marie or Maria."

Sarah's eyes widened. "But they say it a lot!"

"I know, that's what makes it fun!" Elise smirked. "You guys up for it?"

The others nodded and even Marie sighed and gave Elise a go ahead look. "Okay, make sure your drinks are full! The song starts out slow, but by the end there's a lot of Maries going around!"

With that, she sat down again and picked up her drink, a red solo cup filled with lemon lime soda and vodka. Once everyone had their drinks ready, she hit the play button on the remote and the familiar strains of My Maria began to play. The group quickly discovered why this game was challenging as towards the end of the song Marie and Maria was repeated continuously. Finally, after forty shots, everyone set down what was left of their drink. "Holy crap! I forgot how many times they say that damn name!" Sarah commented leaning back against Jareth who wrapped an arm around her middle.

"I didn't think it was that bad," Steve commented with a shrug.

"That's because you can't get drunk," Clint grumbled.

"I thought it was fun," Natasha added, taking Steve's side.

"That's because you're a freaking Russian," Clint grumbled.

Everyone chuckled a little at that. "Oh my god, it's almost two in the morning," Marie said looking over at the clock on stereo.

"So? We ain't working tomorrow," Elise shrugged and almost tipped over, but Steve put a hand on her shoulder to steady her. She gave him a big smile, but her glazed over eyes clearly said she was very drunk.

"No, but my parents are flying in and I have to get them from the airport around noon," Marie complained.

"Okay, in that case it's time for bed," Jessica commented helping Marie to her feet. Being a vampire, Jessica was not able to get drunk easily and despite the forty shots they'd done for the Marie Game, she was still fairly steady. She and Marie waved good-bye to everyone as they headed upstairs to Marie's room.

Sarah stretched and yawned as well before taking Jareth's hand, bidding everyone a good night and heading upstairs as well. Elise was left with Natasha, Steve, and Clint. "You guys wanna spend the night? We've got some spare blankets and pillows in the linen closet," she offered to the three Avengers.

"No thanks, we already got a hotel room," Natasha said.

Elise nodded and slowly stood up, but almost fell back down when her feet didn't quite keep up with the rest of her body. Steve lent another helping hand to keep her upright. "I think we'll make sure you get to your room before we leave though," he said, a light blush crossing his cheeks.

Elise only giggled a little and held onto his arm tightly as they made their way upstairs to her bedroom. The young woman collapsed onto her bed, and Captain America made sure she didn't hit her head on the night stand. "Good night," he said quietly as Natasha threw a blanket over her. The three Avengers left quietly then, making sure to lock up the house.

The next morning, Jessica ended up driving Marie to meet her parents at the airport. Though Marie didn't usually get hangovers, her mouth still felt as dry as the Sahara, so Jessica took a detour through a Starbucks drive-thru and ordered her a large hot tea. Marie's parents already had their bags and were waiting by the time Jessica pulled up. Marie quickly introduced her parents to the redheaded vampire from Louisiana, though she didn't mention that Jessica was a vampire or her girlfriend. Marie's parents were very Catholic.

By the time they arrived back at the house, Sarah and Elise were up (both girls had taken the maximum amount of acetaminophen recommended on the bottle and had downed three glasses of water each) and had a late lunch cooking. Jareth had already disappeared, which was probably a good thing as his Fae heritage made him stand out a bit. Jessica stayed through lunch then left with a promise to come visit again soon. Marie showed her parents to her bedroom where they would be staying while visiting for their visit (Marie would be bunking in Elise's room).

Just as they all had finished settling in, there was a knock at the back door leading out to the patio. Marie's father, who happened to be closest, went to answer. However he stopped short upon seeing a man in a tweed jacket and wearing a fez. "Hello, is Marie or Elise about? I think I left my screwdriver here last night," the Doctor asked looking around.

"You… You're…" Marie's father stuttered clearly recognizing the man.

"Who is it, Dad?" Marie called out. "Oh shit," she muttered upon seeing the Doctor at the door. "Uh… I can explain," she said as her dad turned around to face her.

"Did you know the Doctor is at your back door?" he asked pointing behind him.

"Yeah, about that… oh crap. We're gonna need tea for this. Might as well come in, Doctor," Marie went to get her mom to explain the appearance of a fictional character as well.

"But…" the Doctor pointed back towards the gazebo in the backyard where his TARDIS was parked.

"Nah uh! You are the reason I have to explain why fiction isn't so very fictional! You are staying! Now sit down and have a damn cup of tea!" Marie pointed angrily at one of the chairs surrounding the kitchen table.

The Doctor's eyes widened slightly and he retracted his arm back inside. "Yes, ma'am," he replied as Marie continued upstairs to fetch her mom.

Elise and Sarah watched the whole thing from the living room, and wisely decided not to say anything but instead went to make the tea and prepare for a long and difficult conversation.