Disclaimer: I own nothing Covenant. Just my OC's.

Chapter 6

A Box

Beep. Beep. Beeeep. I opened my eyes. "Damn I hate early mornings." I grumbled and Sarah groaned a response. "Me and you both..." I blinked a few times stood up. Stetching felt so good. I groggily went to the bathroom and came out, seeing Sarah sit up and grin at me. "Happy Birthday Matilda!" Realization struck me and my heart began beating painfully hard. "Oh, yeah..." I smiled and sat down beside her with a plop. She sighed and grabbed her purse, pulling out a small box. "I got this for you." I grinned and hugged her. "Thanks Sarah!" I giggled and opened the box, it was a round locket with an engraving on the front. It was a pentagram. It humored me as I laughed lightly. I opened it and there was a small picture of me and her on one side, and another picture of me and my parents on the other. My throat got tight as tears formed in my eyes.

"Its the best gift..." I choked out and she draped her arm around m shoulders. "I love ya girlie." I nodded and leaned my head on her shoulder. "I love ya too Aunt Sarah." She sighed and rubbed her face after a moment. "I feel so old for some reason....your all grown up!" She wiped tears from her own eyes before standing and stretching too. "I guess the guys will be coming over soon huh?" I shrugged and yawned, shaking off the last bit of sleep. "More than likely..." I walked over to my closet and began picking clothes out, reflecting on the previous day. They had taken me to that nice place in Salem, then to a movie. We had gotten all dressed up and at the end of the night, went our seperate ways. It had been nice. I pulled out a clean pair of blue jean shorts that came down to mid-thigh and a plain white tee shirt. I also got my under wear and a nice white bra and laid it out on my bed.

"I don't want to go home..." Sarah pouted. I took this opportunity to try and convience her to move down here. "You could always get a transfer..." I mentioned casually. She snorted, then got serious. "Thats actually not a bad idea, Caleb and Evelyn told me they'd help me get a job around here..." I lit up and nodded. "See? It's not a bad idea!" Her brown eyes glistened and she nodded. "I'll put in for a transfer, or my two weeks notice.." I yelped and jumped up and down, before hugging her tightly. OH MY GOD!!! This was awesome! "Thats so awesome Sarah!" She giggled and started putting her things into her suitcase, only after getting fresh clothes to change into. "I'm sick of being treated like shit there, plus I'd love being closer to you!" This was definitely making my day, and taking my mind of the queasy feeling of what would happen tonight.

A half hour later, Reid and Tyler burst through my door with a cupcake that had a single candle in it burning. "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!" They grinned and sang happy birthday to me. I blushed and grinned widely. "Oh, I love you guys!!!" I giggled and hugged them both. I blew my candle out and licked the icing off the candle before I took a bite of the sweet treat. "And these are for you!" Tyler piped up and handed me two large birthday bags, over flowing with the decorative paper. I grinned and thanked him. One was from him, other was from Reid. I opened Tyler's first. It was a pair of diamond ear rings and a gorgeous matching necklace. I gasped when I saw them and gently laid them down, to pull out the card and a framed picture of me and him goofing off. I was holding him up brodal style, smiling like an idiot while he was trying to look like a baby.

"Oh my god Baby Boy, this is hillarious!" I laughed along with them and handed Sarah the picture. She nodded and agreed. "Oh yeah...." I hugged Tyler again and sae the framed picture on my desk. Reid sat down next to me and looked excited. "Me next!" I giggled and opened his, before smirking widely. I pulled out a pair of leather fingerless gloves. They were made for a woman, but just as bad ass as Reid's. I grinned and tried them on, snug and perfect. "These are amazing!" He chuckled and motioned for me to continue. I pulled out a matching leather jacket that had the name 'Sweets' stitched across the shoulders in white writing. I squilled and hugged him. "Oh my god Reid!!" He laughed and hugged me tightly. "Glad you love em, oh there's a picture from me too in there." I made an 'o' with my mouth and pulled out his card and a framed picture from him. It was a big bigger than Tyler's but it nearly made me tear up.

It was me and him, un aware of a picture being taken. We were sitting on a set of steps, looked like at school. I smiled as my hazel eyes scanned it over. His head was leaning on my shoulder grinning and I was smiling, our arms intertwined. "Who took this?" I choked out....remembering that conversation. We had been talking about me being elected swim captain. "I did." Tyler grinned. "I secretly take pistures sometimes, without you even beign aware!" I giggled and kissed Reid's cheek. "I love it, thank you guys!" Reid and Tyler smiled and Sarah looked very happy. "This was wonderful you guys." She said happily and announced she was off to the showers. After she was gone, I got serious and told them about mine and Sarah's conversationt he night before.

"Wow, seems like everything is great then." Tyler said. I sighed and fingered the gloves. "I don't know about great Ty.." I let the fear shine through my eyes. "Im terrified." Both guys went to comfort me before my cell phone rang. I answered it. "Hello." "Happy birthday baby!" It was Caleb, I smiled. "Thank you Caleb." I tried to sound happy. "i'm on my way, I take it Reid and Tyler have already surprised you?" I giggled and smiled. "Oh yeah, they sure know how to make a girl feel loved." He chuckled and he sounded sneaky. "Well, Pogue and Chase took the day off and are following me. We'll be there in 10." I grinned wider and we said our usual 'I love you's' and hung up. I fell limp backwards onto my bed. "Today I have a feeling will be...." "Fucking awesome?" Reid finished for me. "You know it!" I said positively, as my eyes drifted to Sarah's suitcase, when my stomach clinched.

I wondered what that box would hold she was going to give me. I had a gut feeling it just might answer some questions about them and me. I took another deep breath and smiled at Sarah as she came back in and was quickly followed by Caleb and the other two Son's. I was showered with more gifts and pictures. "We decided that we'd all give you a framed picture of a special moment with each of us." Pogue said sweetly as I stared at his. It was shortly after we'd met. We were at Nicky's and I was dancing with him, grinning ear to ear. I set all four pictures on my desk and looked to Caleb, he was just smiling and looked slightly guilty. "Mine is for later Mati..." His voice trailed off and I grinned. "Okay." We all decided to go for lunch before Sarah had to go to the airport. Once we were all done and seeing Sarah off, she stopped and pulled the box out.

Her brown eyes looked serious and her blond kinky hair was whipping around in the summer breeze. She finally smiled and handed the weirdly locked wooden box to me. "I love you Matilda, I'll call you as soon as I touch down. Call me if anything happens okay?" I nodded and kissed her cheek and hugged her closer. "I'm scared." I breathed out and she sighed. "Don't be. Whatever is in that box doesn't decide who you are." I wiped tears away and watched her leave. After she was out of sight, I cleared my throat. I knew I had to open this box alone. A dark cloud felt like it was looming over me. "Hey guys..." I let out quietly. "Yeah Sweets?" Reid said, catching onto my serious tone. "I have to go and open this box okay? I mean...alone." I swallowed and they all looked kind of surprised. Caleb smiled, understanding me as always. "Okay baby. Call us when your ready to meet us at the Colony house tonight okay?" I nodded and hugged him. "See yall later." I smiled and got into the Judge.

My hazel eyes saw the clock. 4:56. I had almost 3 hours to go. I gulped and backed out, taking off towards the dorms...