*Disclaimer* I don't own Tin Man,

The Beginning

Chapter Five: The Birthday Adventure

Ambrose brought Lavender down to the lab and showed her around with a proud smile as he walked behind her, his hands behind his back the whole time.

His new brown trench coat swayed down to his ankles behind him and he quite enjoyed the feeling. Lavender picked up a weird bronze invention and turned it in her hands. It was about the size of a bowling ball and had two knobs on it. "What's this?" She asked as she turned one of the knobs. Ambrose continued to smile proudly. "It's a TDESPHTL, a Tri-Dimensional Energy Stored Projected Holographic Time Loop. Its purpose is to capture memories that you don't want to forget by recording them with a vast memory base of nano-technology far more understanding than most people think although I'm not quite sure the machine is ready yet. There's still a few minor setbacks that I have to attend to...." He said as he took the small invention of his from her hands and placed it back on the shelf.

Lavender listened with a confused expression. "Wow you really are the smartest person in the OZ Ambrose...." She said with a confident smile as she started to walk around the lab. The desk was covered in around at least 15 or 16 books, some that had strange writings in them or were written in the picture language of the Ancients. Ambrose walked over and quickly closed all of them not bothering to mark the page they had been open to. "Uh personal notes...." He said poitning to the books.

The young princess just shrugged and continued walking around.

She walked over a machine big enough for a person to fit inside and ran her fingers over the glass. "And what about this one?" She asked walking around it. "That's a Borithial Hydro Dynamic Wandering Hyperdrive, very hard to explain...." Ambrose said not even bothering to look at the machine the princess was talking about as Moritanium and Chester both found their way into the lab. Chester seemed to have calmed down a little and was much sweeter than what he had been to the boys. The two dogs followed the young inventor and princess around the room as their master continued to explain what his machines were for.

"Hey genius!" Came his father's voice from a small intercom that was just above the door to the lab where the two friends had entered. "Your friends are starting to arrive, so come on upstairs and put your swim trunks on. Oh my young Majesty your father has brought your swim suit for you...." His father said before the intercom finally went silent. "Oh boy! Come on Oz, this is going to be so much fun...." Ambrose said as he took Lavender's hand and ran out the door and up the stairs back up in his room. "I have to change, if you want my mother will help you...." He said as his father met him in his room holding a pair of black swim trunks with red stripes down the sides and a red waist band. "Ready slugger?" Taylor asked holding his sons swim trunks.

Ambrose nodded excitedly and watched as Carry, who had just entered, lead Lavender from the room to get her swim suit on. "Take your shirts off...." Talyor said to his son after making sure that the door was shut and locked. Ambrose quickly unbuttoned his new trench coat and gently laid it on the bed as if he would rip it if he just tossed it onto the bed. Even though he was 12 Ambrose had been used to not really doing much for himself. His mother still dished up his food and laid his clothes out for him when she would wake him up for school in the morning. His father usually came in to say good-bye before going to work at the Tin Man Department. It was a mourning routine that Ambrose was quite used to and would probably be lost without it. Every morning was the same. His mother came in, laid his clothes out, woke him up by pulling him gently into a sitting position and pulling his pajama shirt off if he was wearing one and then put his socks on for him and kissed him on the cheek.

After his mother had done that his father would come in and grab whatever clothes his mother had picked out for their brilliant and intelligent son and put his shirt on and kissed him on the forehead telling him to have a good day at school to not let his ADD get the best of him. Ambrose would usually just nod as his father, every day as always, would hand him his pants, a belt and his black converse shoes, or brown steel-toed boots which every color Ambrose seemed to be wearing at the time. The young inventor was quite incoherent in the mornings until he had had a good hearty breakfast.

Ambrose did as he was told and unbuttoned his shirt. Taylor helped him take it off, and then lifted his arms above his head to take off the fading red and black striped shirt. Ambrose shivered a little at the breeze that came from the open window as his father handed him his swim trunks. "Don't take to long...." He said with a smile as he rubbed the boys head and walked out of the room. Ambrose closed the door and relocked it after his father left and quickly changed into his swim trunks. He grabbed his brown and yellow towel and walked out into the back yard glad to see that all his new friends were already there. "Hey guys!" He called as he threw his towel on the ground. His mother set the cake on the table and walked over laying her sons' towel out across the sand and watched as he dove head first into the crystal clear blue water. Lavender sat at the edge soaking her feet, she was a little embarrassed to admit that she couldn't swim.

The young inventor swam under water for 15 minutes before finally coming up. He laughed as the other boys all came up for breath, their chests heaving quickly. Raynz noticed that Ambrose was calm as he came from the water, but before he could ask he was pulled back in by one of his friends. Walking over to the princess Ambrose moved his now soaking and dripping curls away from his forehead and sat next to her. "What's wrong? Can't swim?" He asked before looking around the lake. Lavender looked at ground and slowly shook her head. "I'm sorry, here I'll help you. I want to show you something...." He said standing up and holding his hand out to the young princess. She slowly looked up and took Ambrose' hand, the same warmth as before filled her fingertips. As she stood up she shivered as a cold loving chill ran down her spine. "You promise not to let me drown?" She asked with a friendly smile as he handed her a pair of diving goggles. Ambrose smiled back as he lead her deeper into the water. "Me let you drown? Never...." He said as he turned around so his back was facing her once they were up to their waists in the lake. Lavender wrapped her arms around his neck and held on tightly closing her eyes as she felt Ambrose dive underwater. As soon as she felt her face go under she opened her eyes and looked around.

There were under water flowers and fish of every color swimming everywhere. This is no ordinary lake. She thought as she looked around wrapping her arms further around Ambrose' shoulders. Ambrose swam a little deeper and finally stopped when he came to a small trench. Lavender tapped him hard on the chest and shook her head when she saw Ambrose look back at her. She pointed toward the surface and then to her mouth indicating that she needed oxygen and couldn't hold her breath any longer. Ambrose turned around onto his back and looked up to the surface before grabbing her face gently and kissed her breathing into her mouth. At once, what seemed as a whole tank of oxygen filled the young girls lungs. She blushed under water as Ambrose pulled away and then turned back around to finish swimming into the small underwater cave.

Once they left the enterance it was completely dark as they swam for about one more minute, Ambrose turning every 20 seconds to refill Lavender's lungs with oxygen as he continued swimming. Once they were out of the cave, a flash of purple and green lights filled the water giving it a gentle warm glow. Ambrose once again swam to the surface and swam to shore of a hidden cave with Lavender still on his back until he reached the ground. She quickly grabbed the ledge and let go of Ambrose as he helped her out of the water. "Where are we?" She asked looking around the cave. The young inventor looked around and shrugged his shoulders even though he knew perfectly well where they were. "We're under the lake, well actually if you want to get technical, we're under the lab, house whichever you wanna call it...." He said looking around.

Lavender smiled as she looked around. "Where are the lights coming from?" She asked looking up at the ceiling of the dark cave, but there was no lights to be seen. "The birds, they glow in the dark and they're just normal birds in the sunlight. It started out as an experiment. I made a male and female, next thing I know they're making a nest for three eggs and it just kept going...." He said once again putting his hands behind his back as a glowing beautiful purple bird flew around his head. "You made these?" Lavender asked as a green bird landed on her shoulder casting her face in a jade glow. "Well not all of them, only two. They kept reproducing...." Ambrose smiled proudly as a purple glowing bird landed on his head. "How do you know which one's which?" She asked petting the tiny animal gently on her shoulder. "Purple are females, so the males are the green ones...."

As she continued to look around at the glowing birds, intrigued by them she noticed they all seemed to crowd around something squaking angrily. "What's in this cave exactly, besides birds?" She asked looking around. "It's a mine for Bicarium and Moritanium. Those are real crystals in the walls...." He said pointing to the crystals that caused the light from the birds to bounce off them and reflect into the water. "Wow...." The young princess muttered as the bird flew away. "We better get going Ambrose, I don't want you to miss your party...." She said as an embarrassed smile creeped over her lips. Ambrose nodded and once again dove into the water. He swam back to the ledge and turned as Lavender slowly got down into the lake. She quickly wrapped her arms once again around his shoulders, laying her hands on his chest as she put the goggles back on and closed her eyes tightly as she felt the water come over her. Ambrose repeated the same steps as he did while swimming into the cave, turning every 20 or 30 seconds to fill Lavender's lungs with air.

Once they were back in the lake and had swam to shore, Lavender crawled onto the beach and laid down in the highly shallow water gasping for air as Ambrose sat next to her. Raynz took his chance and walked up to Ambrose and playfully kicked him on the back. Ambrose turned and looked at him shielding his eyes from the sun. "How'd you do that?" The young scientist asked crossing his arms. "I didn't do anything...." Ambrose replied as he stood up. "You were berathing underwater and you knew just where we were...." Raynz said back as he looked at Ambrose who bit his lower lip. "If I tell you you'll make fun of me...." He said as Lavender, after catching her breath, also stood up taking Ambrose' hand and giving it a light squeeze glad that Raynz hadn't noticed. "No! I promise I won't...." The young alchemist said giving Ambrose an You-Have-My-Word expression. Ambrose sighed and ran his fingers of his free hand through his sopping wet hair. "I can breathe and see underwater, don't know how though so don't ask...." He said glaring at Raynz who just smiled. "That is so cool, I wish I could...." The boy said in amusement.

"Ambrose present time!" His mother called as she brought wrapped gifts out to the table despite it already being full of gifts from his friends. Glad to have the attention turn to something else Ambrose, still holding Lavender's hand ran over and sat down. "No Ambrose you sit here in the middle. Everyone else sit around him in the chairs...." Carry said as she watched everyone take a seat. Lavender sat down pulling her chair up next to Ambrose in the center and watched with a smile. "Go on Ambrose...." She said wringing her hands together. "You'll get mine last...." She said confidentally. "Alright if you say so...." Ambrose said in an excited voice as his mother handed him a box wrapped in silver wrapping paper. "This is from your father...." She said setting the box on her sons lap. Ambrose smiled at his dad and quickly ripped the wrapping paper away. "OH BOY!" He shouted as he dropped the box and hugged his father. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" The young boy said excitedly not realizing that he was repeating himself as his mother picked up the box. "I knew you'd like it...." Taylor said as his son picked up another present from one of the other boys. "Thanks Truck this is really cool...." He said with an excited smile as he ripped the red wrapping paper away and holding up a clear box full of moritanium crystals. "Do you know what they are?" Truck's younger brother asked smiling. Truck put his face in his hands and moaned. "Ignore my brother, I do...." He said with a smile as he looked back at Ambrose. "Duh! They're Moritanium crystals very rare...." Ambrose replied as he set the clear box down on top of the present his father had given him and picked up the present from Raynz which was wrapped in brown paper. He shook it next to his ear and smiled as he tried to think of what it was before ripping the paper away. "Cool!" He said holding up a small wooden box that had confusing looking puzzles drawn around it. Ambrose opened the box and pulled out the metal bars and stared at them for a minute. "I'm gonna have a challenge with these, but I could use a good challenge. Thanks Raynz...." Ambrose said looking down at the metal puzzle with a confused expression. Rayns smiled and shrugged his shoulders before noticing Ambrose do the same.

"My turn!" Lavender shouted after Ambrose had opened all his presents. "But you have to come out to the front with me, my presents to big to bring in the house...." She said rubbing her hands together. Ambrose smiled and stood up not bothering if Lavender took his hand and led him back toward the house and in the door with everyone following behind them. Lavender turned and stopped. "Wait, I want it to be a surprise, Mr. Avery would be as so kind to cover his eyes for me...." She asked turning to look at Ambrose' father who gave her a light bow and did as she asked. The young excited girl walked toward the door not even bothering to guide Ambrose since this was in fact his home and he knew it by heart. Once they reached the door Lavender opened it and once again took her best friends hands and led him onto the porch. "Ready?" She asked giving his hands a gentle loving squeeze. Ambrose nodded still blinded by his father's hands. "Ok...." She said as he brought the tiny horse over after untying him. Taylor moved his hands. Ambrose opened his eyes and blinked a few times as he got used to the suns again before noticing the tiny black horse. "He's for me?" He asked walking up and nuzzling the horse' nose gently against his forehead. "Yep, all yours...." The princess said with a smile as she ran her fingers through the tiny horses mane. "Wow, I got the perfect name for you. I'll call you.... Artax...." The birthday boy said petting the tiny horse gently.

As the suns started to set, Ambrose' friends all left. They were going to say good-bye but Ambrose and Lavender were no where to be found. After the cake and ice cream Ambrose had taken Lavender up to his room even though he knew his parents wouldn't approve. The two friends had just sat and talked and without noticing had fallen asleep on the bed holding hands. Taylor walked in and picked up the princess gently prying her hand from his sons grip since he wasn't awake. He carried her from the room and down stairs where the king stood in the door waiting for her. "She's asleep...." Taylor whispered to the king as he gently put the young princess in her father's arms.