Woohoo! Chapter 4! I honestly love writing for this story :D I hope you all are enjoying it as well!

And special thanks to guest JOHNHAMMOND1993 for the suggestion of Bertrum; I will keep that in mind my friend! :D

So without further ado, here is Chapter 4 - Sammy's Birthday! :D


Chapter 4 - Sammy's Birthday

Sammy Lawrence was not a fan of surprises. Had never been; the last time he had been surprised was when Susie gave him a private party between the two of them, and that was something he only pretended to be surprised for, as to not hurt his fiancee's feelings.

So in other words - he hated surprises.

He also hated people getting worked up over his birthday; he didn't see the bug deal about it. He had turned one year older, it was like they were celebrating the fact that he was one year closer to dying... on the bright side, however, it meant he was one year closer to retiring and enjoying his remaining days with his wonderful wife, Susie.

The thought of them sitting on the porch of a beach house, holding hands and smiling at one another, made him smile and chuckle a bit.

"Hey'a... Lawrence?"

Happiness faded from Sammy's face, and it was replaced with his usual scowl. "Yes Franks?"

"I can't find my stupid keys again!" Wally exclaimed. "Could ya lend a hand for a sec?"

Sammy sighed, trying to swallow the urge to punch Wally in the face, "Sure... where did you last see them?"

"That's the thing, I think they disappeared about thirty minutes ago," said the janitor.

Sammy sighed. "Well then... this should be fun."

"Let's hope!" Wally exclaimed. "I don't wanna be bored!"

Sammy and Wally walked down a flight of stairs, dug through a few waste bins, and then...

Entered a pitch black room.

"Dammit Franks, what kinda bullshit are you pulling?" asked Sammy, looking anywhere for the light switch.

As he turned it on however...

"SURPRISE!"

His fellow coworkers jumped out at him, and there was a table with a cake that said "HAPPY BIRTHDAY SAMMY!", along with gift boxes and balloons.

"There's the birthday boy!" Joey said. "Thirty seven years old, eh?"

Sammy however, was fuming at the seams... his coworkers knew damn well he hated surprise parties.

There was only one sentence he could mutter without blowing a fuse.

"Where's... Shawn?"

Suddenly, footsteps were heard coming down the adjacent hall. The door to said hallway was open as well...

"LIKE A BOOOOOOOSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!"

Shawn jumped through the door, and slammed his body into the table. Things went flying everywhere, the cake smashed into pieces and covered the toyman's back, and the presents were mushed.

"Worth it," he cringed.

"Whoa..." Sammy muttered.

"Y'know what, screw it," Joey said, letting Shawn be helped up by Lacie and Thomas, then throwing a match into it all. The fire quickly caught, and Joey lit a cigarette with it.

"Want one?" he asked Sammy, handing it to him.

Sammy accepted, and was confused as to whether he should be happy or ecstatic Shawn just did this.

"We're gonna all go to the bar tonight," Jack smiled. "This was just a set up, there is now surprise party."

Sammy was...truly happy at that moment.

"We're sorry for... causing you to think that," Allison said.

"Here's to hoping we get into a bar fight," Norman said, raising a glass of water.

"Oh boy..." Henry muttered.

"This should be fun," Thomas chuckled.

"Someone please put that out before we all die," Grant said, gesturing to the fire.

"I'll get the extinguisher," Lacie grumbled.

"WORTH IT!" Shawn screamed.


Sammy pulled up to the bar where he was told to meet the gang at eight o' clock on the dot, "Freddy's Drinks and Pizza". It was an odd name for a bar, but he wasn't complaining - the place did have top-tier pizza after all.

"Hey Sammy!" Henry called from the door. "C'mon in man!"

Sammy smirked at his coworker's antics, and walked over to where he was standing. Deep deep down, he really did enjoy Henry's company. Aside from Susie (obviously), he was one of the few coworkers the songwriter could probably spend a full day with.

"How you doing Henry?" Sammy asked, smiling.

"Just fine!" Henry smiled. "Oh, and also, Linda's here too!"

"Awesome," Sammy smiled. "Now, I believe that Brandy bottle is callin' my name."

A few minutes later, Joey and Grant walked over to where the two were seated. "Hey Lawrence! Whaddya think of tonight?"

"This is... honestly a really nice treat y'all," said Sammy.

"Glad ya like it Lawrence!" Joey said. "Now, I'll go open a tab! Drinks are all free!"

"How'd ya do that?" asked Grant.

"Oh, I know a guy..." Joey chuckled. Everyone began to look suspicious, so he immediately told them that the bar owner was a friend of his who owed him a solid.

"Hey...where's Franks and Polk?" asked Grant.

"Ask Ally, she was the last one to see em," said Joey.

Suddenly, the stage pianist got up to the center mic. "Well, what a fine crowd we have here tonight! And its especially appropriate that you all are in fancy clothing tonight... because we got a special treat for y'all. Please welcome the jazzy workshop sax and trombone duo, Golden Boy and The Projectionist!"

Everyone applauded as the two jazz artists took the stage...

And were revealed to be Wally and Norman, clothed in solid black suits, shades, and hats.

"What a fine evening we have here," smiled Norman, speaking softly into the mic. "And I'm proud to say that there's a man here who I can call my friend, and not just my coworker."

"And he's got a birthday today... so we're dedicating this first song to him," Wally smiled. "Play the 'Sammy Jam' fellas."

Sammy's mouth had dropped. It really hadn't; it was more of a normal gasp radius. But for him, that was a BIG mouth drop. Everyone else who worked with the two were shocked out of their mind, and Allison was pretty sure she was about to pass out.

"Damn," Thomas chuckled. "That's what I call entertainment..."

"I just knew there was something special about those two," smiled Jack.

"You boys know where Flynn got off to?" asked Lacie, coming up to the two with a full bottle of whiskey in her hand.

"Yeah, the hospital," Thomas said.

"Poor fella cracked his back and broke a few other bones from the jump," Jack sighed.

"Damn," Lacie muttered.

Sammy, however, was just swept up in all that was happening before him...

If it weren't for the fact that he and Susie had gotten engaged on his birthday, this would be his favorite one yet.

The rest of the night consisted of dancing, jazz music, and above all...

The upcoming bar fight.

"Hey you," a random dude said, walking over to Allison. "You look like you need a man to spend the night with... how about you come home with me?"

"What the hell? Ew, no!" she gasped.

"And besides," Wally said, running over from out of nowhere and shocking both of the two, still clothed in his jazz music garb, "she's my friend. Back off pal."

"You think I care because you're famous?" the guy snorted.

"Hold up Goldie," said Norman, walking over. He then began to chug the bottle of alcohol down swiftly, then wiped his face. "Now watch this."

He then smashed the bottle over the dude's head, and began to scream. "REMEMBER WHO YA FRIENDS ARE! NOW, LETS FIGHT BITCHES!"

"FOR SHAWN!" Lacie screamed, grabbing a chair. However, when she swung it, she knocked out Jack. "Whoops... Sorry bout that Fain."

"Oh, its quite alright," Jack said, before passing out.

And then it all was a ruckus. Drinks, people, chairs, and a stuffed giraffe flew everywhere across the bar. Sammy, Henry, and Linda, however, calmly sat at the actual bar, having a drink.

"So, how's your all's day been?" asked Sammy, downing a shot.

"Eh, pretty good," Linda said. "Sugar?"

"I'd say its been fun," shrugged Henry. "Oh, happy birthday Sammy."

"Thanks ol' pal," smiled the composer.

And with that, the three toasted to the pretty good day, as Grant's rarely-heard war cry echoed throughout the bar.


"You all really didn't have to do this," smiled Sammy. He was currently in the backseat of his car, but Linda and Henry were driving him back to his house.

"Well, we felt like you deserved it," Linda smiled.

"And plus, we're pretty sure we're getting the next week off anyway," Henry said, turning down a street. "Half of the employees that attended are now hospitalized, Wally and Norman are suing that guy who attempted to pick up Allison, and Grant will probably wake up with a really bad headache."

Sammy chuckled. "Y'know... I know I can come across as cold and unnerving, but in all seriousness, you're a great friend Henry. I'm sorry if I don't always show it, but I really appreciate you and Joey for organizing this. Thank you."

"No problem!" Henry said. "But everyone had a hand in it..."

"It had that 'Henry Bayless Seal of Effort' though," Sammy said, smirking.

"We'll have to get that as a trademark," Linda laughed.

A few minutes later, the car pulled up at Sammy's secluded house in a far-away place. He and Susie bought it because it was the nicest one for both atmosphere, looks, and it was just a good damn deal. And no neighbors either!

"You take care Sammy," Linda said. "Happy birthday!"

"Happy birthday man," said Henry, smiling. "Tell Susie we said hi!"

"Will do," smiled Sammy. "Thank you both. Have a wonderful night."

The two smiled at him, told him goodbye, and drove off.

As Sammy entered the house, however, he noticed it was candle-lit instead of lit by light...

And Susie was sitting in the middle of the kitchen, with a lovely looking dinner prepared for just the two. And she had on her favorite turquoise dress, which was also Sammy's favorite dress of hers.

"Hello darling," she smiled sweetly. "Did you have fun?"

"Y-Yes, most certainly," he said. "What about you?"

"Eh, same old same old," she shrugged. "Acting can be kinda boring... but how was your day?"

"Pretty eventful," he chuckled, laughing a bit. "Shawn broke his back, Joey might have accidentally killed someone, but I'm actually 100% certain he's just paranoid, and half of my crew is in the hospital. Some guy tried to hit on Allison... and, oh, get this-Franks and Polk have jazz band alter egos called 'Golden Boy' and 'The Projectionist'!"

Susie was laughing quite a bit at this. "Wow! You certainly had fun today!"

Sammy smiled warmly at his wife.

"Yes... yes I did."


And for now, that's all folks! :D I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I think it may be my favorite one yet lol.

Next chapter, the staff will be having a Halloween party! and they'll also be having a power outage! XD

See you guys soon! :D