It had been four months since Christmas. It was late March and it was the day before Abby's birthday. The Sciuto house was as busy as ever. In early February they had their old farmhouse inspected for mold or other things that could be lingering, in preparation for the baby. Not only had they found mold under the tiles in two of the bathrooms, they had also found several building codes that were being broken in the back left corner of the house. That was where the baby's room was supposed to be. Not that it needs to be said, but there was major renovations going on in the house. Not to mention Charlie's finals for the semester.
The house was basically a war zone. Abby had come accustomed to climbing over the boxes of things that lined almost every room in the house. Four of the rooms in the house had been knocked out and they were being completely rebuilt. Another three rooms were being renovated, and the rest of the rooms were being upgraded in one way or another.
On this particular day Abby climbed over a box labeled "Books" into the kitchen and was greeted by a wave from her mother who was seated at the kitchen table, and a "Hey Abby" from Charlie who was at the stove frying a pan of bacon.
"Bacon?" Abby asked confused.
"Yup. Your mom just got up and wanted breakfast…" Charlie said with a grin.
"My birthday's tomorrow! You remembered right?" Abby asked with puppy dog eyes.
Charlie gave a glance to his sister. He knew it was Abby's birthday, he just wasn't sure if her mom was aware of it. She'd been really out of pretty much everything through out the pregnancy. "Of course Abby!" Charlie replied, not letting the doubt sneak into his voice.
"Good!" Abby smiled hopping down from her perch on the counter. Hi mom! Abby signed in her mother's direction.
Abby's mother acknowledged Abby's presence with a nod, but not much more.
"Well… I'm going to go find somewhere to do my homework…" Abby said trying to think of somewhere that might not be overtaken by boxes and furniture.
"Okay Abby, be careful!" Charlie called after her as she climbed over some boxes into the front hall.
Here you go. Charlie signed to his sister handing her a plate of bacon. His ASL had improved a lot since moving into the Sciuto household. He could hold most conversations without needing to check the dictionary, and when he ran into words he didn't know he could generally find them in the small pocket dictionary he kept on him. So… Gloria, you do know what tomorrow is right?
Charlie, I'm not in the mood for guessing games, if you have somewhere you need to go tomorrow just tell me. Abby's mom signed in reply.
Charlie sighed. This was what he was afraid of. The normally caring Gloria Abby knew and loved had fallen oblivious to one of Abby's favorite days of the year once again. It's Abby's birthday. Charlie signed.
His sister made a face. No, Abby's birthday's March 27th…" She signed in reply.
It's the 26th… Charlie replied shaking his head.
Making a good effort Gloria tried to stand up to check the calendar. When she failed, Charlie came over and helped her stand up. She made her way over to the calendar and shook her head as she came to the realization that Abby's birthday was indeed tomorrow. I don't believe it… She signed.
Gloria… It's okay. I'll take care of it. Charlie replied ushering her to sit down.
No, it's not okay. I'm not fit to be a mother again. I forgot my only child's birthday! If that doesn't say I'm not ready, I don't know what does! She started crying in her chair.
Hey, if anyone's fit to be a mom it's you. Abby loves you, and she doesn't know you didn't know until just now. I'll take care of some things, just go along with it. You've got enough to worry about. Charlie signed to his sister trying to comfort her.
Charlie, you're amazing. She replied.
And don't you forget it! I'm gonna go out now, anything you need? He asked.
No… and thanks.
No problem sis. And he was out the door.
Meanwhile Abby was sitting on an end table in the front hall with a book spread out in front of her. Normally she would have finished her daily reading assignment in a few minutes, but she was getting very distracted. I hope I get the Mary Poppins CD…I hope I get cake… and ice cream… and… lots of stuff! I really hope my mom makes the cake she always does, and French Toast… like every year. Abby was reminiscing on her past four birthdays. Each of them had been equally amazing. Abby was the center of her parents lives ever since she was born, and her birthday had always been a cause for celebration. This year she already knew would be different, her father was on business in Tokyo and wouldn't be there this year. Not only that, this would be Charlie's first time in the house for it. She had told him everything about her past birthdays that she could remember.
That had come in handy when Charlie went out to get things for her birthday. He returned a few hours later through the back door with several shopping bags full of… stuff. Everything from presents to decorations. He snuck through the back door and hid the bags in some boxes that he had preset among all the things sitting around the house. He had everything hidden as Abby walked into the hall he was in.
"Hey Abby!" Charlie said trying to hide the slightly open box.
"Hey… What are you doing back here…?" Abby asked confused.
"Looking for Hamlet…I could ask you the same thing…" Charlie countered.
"I was looking for you. Anna called, she wanted to know if I could sleepover tonight." Abby replied.
"Abby! Don't you want to be here tomorrow morning for your birthday!" Charlie replied in shock.
"Well… not really. It's not going to be the same, mom doesn't get up until like.. ten… it's just not going to be the same…" Abby replied becoming lost in her thoughts.
"Abby. I really think you'd be surprised. I think you should stay here. Why don't you invite Anna over here?" Charlie suggested.
"Mmk. I Guess I could do that. It'll make tomorrow morning a bit better…" Abby replied and she happily skipped to the phone.
About an hour later the doorbell to the Sciuto residence was ringing and there was a girl with red curls standing outside the front door accompanied by a bright lime green suitcase. Abby threw the door open to greet her best friend.
"Hey Anna!" Abby cried throwing her arms around her.
"Abby!" Anna replied. The two hadn't seen each other all week. Anna had been in Mexico on vacation with her parents. "I missed you so much!"
"Me too… when'd you get so tan?" Abby replied distracted by her generally milky skinned friends dark tan skin.
"Oh…I guess in Mexico… but come on! Tell me what happened this week!" Anna replied anxious to find out what she had missed over the past several days.
"Well… Becca failed the spelling quiz, and told the whole class how hard it was. Evan challenged Spencer to a burping contest… Spencer won, probably has something to do with all the paste he eats. A bird came into the gym during the spirit assembly, and Olivia tried to catch it…It pecked her head in…" Abby said outlining the highlights of the week.
"Aww! Poor Livi! I assume she's okay!" Anna replied intrigued.
"Oh yeah! She's fine! She even got a certificate from Ms. Chalk for being so brave."
About ten minutes later the girls were sitting on the front porch watching rain fall miserably from the sky. "Well what are we supposed to do now… We can't go anywhere and your house is basically a war zone…" Anna said, stopping as she saw she didn't need to explain what she meant.
"Hey girls!" Charlie said stepping onto the front porch. "What's up?"
"The sky…" Abby said
"Full of rain…" Anna continued.
"Yeah, you guys want to watch a movie?" Charlie asked in attempt to hide his excitement.
"A movie…" Abby started.
"Sure why not…" Anna replied.
"Okay right this way ladies." Charlie ushered them into the house, they walked across the house until they got to the door to the future playroom, in the left back corner of the house. "Here we are!" Charlie said.
"Oooh a door! Sherlock, this room isn't even finished yet! They just barely put up the walls!" Abby practically shouted into her uncle's face.
"You're right Watson…This is a door, but you don't know what's *behind* the door." Charlie replied and opened the door.
Opening the door revealed an old fashioned movie projector. Which was projecting a photo from Mary Poppins onto the screen hung from the ceiling. Two giant bean bags were sitting in the middle of the unfinished room, with two sleeping bags right next to them. In front of their bean bags there were two bowls of popcorn accompanied by several packages of candy.
Abby and Anna gasped.. "No… Way…" They said simultaneously as they jumped onto the beanbags and anxiously awaited the movie to start.
By the end of the movie both girls were sleeping soundly in the sleeping bags provided. Charlie walked in to find both of them fast asleep with smiles on their face. "Good night Abby…" Charlie whispered and he closed the door softly.
The next morning Abby woke up to the smell of… What was that smell. It certainly wasn't waffles… pancakes maybe… but not quite. She shook Anna awake.
"Anna! Anna!" She cried excitedly.
"Hey Abby… happy birthday!" Anna replied half asleep.
"Can you smell that?" Abby questioned with wide eyes.
"Yeah… whatever it is… I hope it's our breakfast." Anna replied waking up slightly. "Come on lets go see!"
The two girls tore through the house and made their way to the now empty kitchen. "Hey! Where'd everyone go…" Abby wondered aloud. Glancing around she noticed that though the usually empty dining room was dark, the door was open. She made her way to the door and pushed it open. She flicked on the lights and was overwhelmed.
The dining room was decorated with red and black balloons and streamers. On the table there was a plate of what seemed to be really thin pancakes in the middle of the table. They were surrounded by all sorts of what appeared to be toppings for them. On the far end of the table there was a pile of presents wrapped in every color imaginable. Sitting at the table waiting for her were both Charlie and her mother.
"Happy Birthday!" Charlie shouted, as Abby's mother signed the same to her.
Abby was still breathless from the sight in front of her. "Uh… thanks…" she said distracted, soaking it all in.
"I made you crepes for breakfast Abby! They're basically sugary, thin pancakes. You can put all sorts of things on them." He explained the food she was eyeing.
"Sounds great!" she replied as she and Anna took their seats at the table. After stuffing themselves full of the best breakfast they'd ever had, Charlie spoke up.
"So… Are you interested in some presents Abby?" Charlie asked nonchalantly.
"ARE YOU KIDDING! YES PLEASE!" Abby replied.
"Okay Abby, here's one from grandma." He said handing her a green package with blue ribbon. She ripped it open to reveal a dark brown oak box with intricate carvings all over it. She gasped. Abby lifted the lid and up popped a ballerina dressed in a blue dress that was dancing to a song Abby knew by heart.
"Journey to the past!" She cried gasping. It was a song her grandma had sung to her all the time when she was little. Or at least, littler. It was one of her favorite memories of her grandma. She picked up a note that was clearly written in print. The note explained how she had found the box in Russia, and how she wanted Abby to have it. Abby listened to the song three times through before she was ready to move on to the next gift.
The next several gifts were books from various family members who had heard of Abby's newly acquired love of reading. Then came a red package from Charlie. Inside she found fifteen tee shirts. Each of them sporting something genuinely Abby. One a sparkly skull, another stating: "I'm right, you're wrong… Get over it" Abby giggled genuinely at each shirt and enveloped her uncle into a hug in thanks.
"Thank you Charlie… Thank you so much!" Abby said still giggling.
Abby, this last one's from me and your father. Abby's mother signed to her and handed her a package that looked like it was about the size of a toaster.
Abby ripped the paper off the box to reveal a cardboard box. "Oooh… A Box…" Abby said fake excitedly, until Charlie gave her a face that clearly said, 'don't even go there'. So she opened up the box to reveal several more boxes. These boxes, however had logos and pictures all over them. Abby started reading the labels aloud. "Battleship…Monkeys in a barrel…Monopoly…Smurfs…Silly Putty?" How much stuff is in here! She signed excitedly to her mother. As she pulled out several other toys including a slinky and a Mr. Potatohead.
Thanks mom! Abby signed as she dove into her mother's arms. Emotion suddenly overwhelmed her mother who had tears streaming down her face.
She signed a Thank You. To Charlie while Abby was still enveloped in a hug. Abby would never know exactly how she had the best fifth birthday in the history of all birthdays.
Author's Note: Okay so this chapter isn't my favorite, but it's what I came up with. I know someone wanted me to have a chapter about Abby telling her friends about the baby, however, I kept rewriting that chapter and It just didn't work. It was too much detail. I'm thinking of after I finish I'll post extras that go with the story. Thank you so much to all of you who review every chapter, you keep me writing! PLEASE KEEP IT UP!