Well, we headed inside to face chaos. Lots of chaos. Only this time, it wasn't bad chaos. It was quite the contrary.

You see, before I went outside, I didn't pay much attention to the décor. So, when I finally saw it, I was shell-shocked and more than a little scared.

There was paper and balloons and confetti and sparkly things everywhere. It was very overwhelming.

Now, because I am part cat would normally mean I would start jumping and leaping and playing with all the stuff. The human side won, however.

So I ended up walking calmly, albeit a bit twitchily, over to the carpet where Nudge, Angel, and Gazzy were sitting around the pile of presents expectantly.

I trotted over to join them, everyone else close behind. Iggy plopped down cross-legged and not landing on anyone. Max and Fang sat down more gracefully.

Dr. Martinez yelled, "We'll do this one a time, Angel first, GO!!!"

Well. I don't think Angel could've moved towards the presents faster than if a Velociraptor was after her. I wasn't exactly surprised. I mean, if you suddenly got a bunch of free presents that were all stacked neatly in a pile, and you didn't normally get a lot of stuff, this was awesome. Angel plucked one off the top, read the label, and chucked it at Max.

"Incoming!" I yowled. She shot me a half-amused glare as she caught it easily. Angel was now throwing presents to various people so fast you'd think they were on fire. I got hit on the head by one of mine. Iggy, having heard the impact, laughed and, ironically enough, got hit by one of his.

After the gifts were dealt (and bruises nursed), Angel picked up her first one and read the label out loud. "To Angel, from Fang," she read officially. Then paper flew, and she gasped as a shiny new camera was revealed. The audience oohed and aahed. The little blond-headed girl gently placed the precious camera out of harms way, yet still close to her, and grabbed for a second.

She read, "To Angel, from Nudge", and opened it. Twas… a dress. I don't think it'd fit Angel. It was extremely small, and I realized that this was for- "This'll be awesome on Celeste! Thanks Nudge! She needed a new outfit." Celeste was a stuffed angel bear with a halo and dress. Angel loved it.

I watched interestedly, but I don't feel like memorizing what exactly happened. I remember who got what, though, and paid attention when my present was being unwrapped.

Angel got what everyone is fairly sure about, but not completely sure because Gazzy won't tell us, a bunch of fireworks in a box. Funny thing was, Gazzy took this away after she looked at it and said mysteriously, "You'll see it again tonight." Yep, it was fireworks. Knowing Gazzy, it was likely to be spectacular.

Iggy and Gazzy had combined their gifts, so everyone got a bow of fireworks that the pair whisked away quickly. We all opened the big square packages right after Angel, regardless of order, and they were confiscated.

But after that, Angel ended up with a picture frame from Max. It was silver and very pretty. Then she opened mine. Her face lit up with understanding when she saw it, and her "Thanks Spark!" was sincere. Setting the frame and sketchbook aside, she turned her attention to Gazzy, who was next up.

Gazzy tore open his with a heck of a lot of enthusiasm. First was a gift from Angel. It was a bunch of toy cars. I didn't see much in them, but apparently he did. Fang had given him a book on the history of blowing stuff up. He looked pretty enthusiastic about reading… Iggy and him hadn't exchanged presents, seeing as they had been working on the fireworks together.

A bunch of shredded clothes with the words 'For your bombs' came from Nudge. That would be useful, seeing as you needed kindling to start a fire. As for the Nerf gun from me… well, let's just say that Gazzy got a diabolical look on his face when he saw this. Uh-oh. Max had given him a Nerf gun too. Double Uh-oh.

Oh, yes, and neither Dr. Martinez nor Ella had gotten us anything. We didn't mind. They were spending enough money on us as it was. Total and Aikla were nowhere to be seen.

Nudge had gotten a bunch of clothes from Iggy, Angel, Gazzy, and Max. I don't know their names, but Nudge seemed pretty excited about it. As for me and Fang, we were being different and gotten her stuff other than clothes. Although it was clothing related… Fang had gotten her approximately a bazillion fashion magazines. And then there was me giving Nudge a sketchbook for her own designs. She loved them both.

How did I know? Here's a snippet of what her response sounded like- "Ohmygosh!!!! Ohmygosh!!! Thankyou sooooooooooooooooooo much guys!!!!" and that went on. And on. And on.

Iggy had gone next, acquiring an audiobook from Fang, an MP3 player from Max, a few cooking utensils from Nudge, which would be useful, and a lock picking kit from Angel. Max was glaring at the lock picking kit as if it had done her a great personal wrong. What had the thing done?

Well, anyway, Iggy picked up my present, which was long and hard. He opened it to reveal- a stick.

I can explain. In the middle of the store, I had a brilliant idea for Iggy's present instead of an MP3. I thought a walking stick would be nice.

So, after I'd gone home, I'd eventually found a nice, long oak-wood stick that was thick and durable. It had a knobby top, which was cool. I'd taken it home, sanded it, wrapped it, and stuffed it under the bed.

"…Spark? You got me a stick?" Iggy asked, amused while feeling the stick.

"Yep!" I replied cheerfully while everyone else fought off giggles. "It can be used as a navigation tool and a weapon!" I moved his hand towards the knobby top so he could feel its hardness.

… It took a while for everyone to stop laughing at my gift, but when everyone did stop, it was my turn!

I plucked the first present off the top of my pile. It read "To Spark, From Angel". I ripped the paper open to reveal a neat little notebook. It came with a pen. When I shot a questioning look at Angel she smiled and said, "It's for you to write quotes and your stories in."

Well. This was useful. I opened it to the first page and found a place specifically for a quote. The rest of it was lined. This page had only a couple lines on it.

I decided that I needed a good quote to put in the front. I thought for a moment, and scribbled down something that Nuri had told me after I told him about the Institute. "Everyone has the potential to do good, and everyone has the potential to do evil. What we actually do is up to us."

Nudge cocked her head curiously as she gazed at what I had written. "Who said that?"

"Nuri," I replied softly, closing the notebook and setting it to the side.

I opened Nudge's gift to find a hat in a box. This hat was, I think, a fedora. It had slits for my ears, and could still disguise them.

Max had given me a book filled with animals and info on them. It would be useful for giving me new animals to transform into. Fang had given me a few tiny, perfect models of various animals. There was a tiger, and a wolf, an eagle and a Velociraptor. They were very pretty.

Fang was starting to unwrap his presents when I heard the doorbell ring. I sprang to my feet and yelled, "I'll get it!"

I trotted down the hall to the front door, where the noise had come from. I threw open the door to find- "Jeb!" I yowled happily. He smiled and stepped inside. I then noticed the person next to him. "Oh, Dylan's here too." I added unenthusiastically. He shot me a glare. Good to know that we think the same thing about each other.

Okay guys! I realized that the review count is at 45! Thanks so much for your support for this story! Can we see if we can get that number up to 50, maybe?