A Merry Birthday
Six Years Later
"Okay the last of the balloons are inflated, and so far everything seems to be sorted out." Belle declared coming down from the step ladder after spending nearly twenty minutes in placing all the gold and red balloons up on the ceiling throughout the house.
Belle took another sip of her water bottle as she and Mary Margaret gathered the remaining party favours throughout the living room. David had been on the back yard setting up the bounce house at the same time watching his three year old son Neal who looked similar to his father expect with Mary Margaret's brown eyes playing on the sandbox not three feet away, while Ariel gathered all the treats indoors after telling David it would have been too cold for the kids to stay in the bounce house for a long period of time where his only response was this was all Mary Margaret and Belle's idea. Ariel rolled her eyes at the response not bothering to argue back and watched as her friends continued preparing the house for Bailey's sixth birthday. The party was set for another half hour in which Belle patiently waited several of the children to arrive before Ruby and Victor brought Bailey to the Nolan's house from the movies since the boy was lead to believe Belle would be working for most of the day therefore wouldn't suspect Belle had been planning a surprise party. The minute Bailey left the house earlier that morning, Ariel and Belle spared little time in getting everything ready. They decided their house was too small for a party of rowdy children from Bailey's soccer team and some of his friends from school so it was decided the party would take place at the Nolan house since they had the proper yard and Mary Margaret knew many of the parents on the soccer team which made the guarantee for invites much easier allowing Belle to set up the party while Ariel gathered all the presents hidden in the closet toward the main portion of the living room.
"When is Bae going to be here?" stated Emma, the oldest child of the Nolans. Belle looked at the five year old who already began to eat some of the cookies Ariel laid out.
"Soon little swan. Although I don't think your mother is going to be happy you are eating all the cookies right now." Winking back at the child causing Emma to look behind her and back at her aunt.
"Don't tell her." Emma whispered.
"I won't" Belle whispered back. "Go see to how your father is doing." Indicating for Emma to leave where the little girl got the message and went towards the back yard before Mary Margaret managed to see her.
Belle looked around proud of how much everyone was able to accomplish where she began to imagine at the surprise of Bailey when he would arrive. Interrupting Belle's thoughts came in the form of her cell phone ringing where she saw the caller and immediately placed her automated rejection text where she next received a voice message. "At some point you will have to call whoever it is back." she asked laughing at Belle's face when she started to blush throwing a nearby pillow towards Ariel in annoyance.
"No I don't because unless it's Ruby stating 'movie is over, we are heading back' then this phone has little priority for me over the next twenty-four hours." Belle pointed out the last of it where Ariel just looked back with a shrug.
"Suit yourself Frenchie, considering that boyfriend of yours would want to be here to celebrate Bailey's birthday."
Before Belle could make a point, Mary Margaret quickly arrived from the next room which caused the women to assume she had the power to teleport "What boyfriend? Belle have you been omitting something from us?" she asked in her calm school teacher voice that would get most of the fourth graders to easily comply with Mary Margaret allowing her to have the respect of many of the parents and her colleagues.
"There is no boyfriend, my adviser just texted me to wish Bae a happy birthday. Ariel just calls him my boyfriend because we've been spending too much time together in getting my manuscript started, as the job of any thesis adviser if you remember Ariel!" Belle stated defensively leaving her to blush as Mary Margaret began to look elsewhere.
"Whatever you say sweetie," Ariel shrugged the matter, rolling her eyes heading to the refrigerator getting the cake for Mary Margaret to finishing placing the icing.
Just as they were about to finish up, there was a tap on the window causing the girls to look up seeing a tall gentleman waving at them dressed out of a Victorian novel with a top hat and purple coat donning over his jeans and waistcoat.
"Hey, Jefferson glad you made it." Belle declared going up to him giving him a hug that made it a little difficult with the package Jefferson had been holding. "Jefferson this is Mary Margaret Nolan the co-host and my roommate Ariel Langelinie." Belle looked back at the girls who looked memorized at the new guest.
"A real pleasure ladies. Jefferson Carroll at your service" he kissed their hands causing Ariel to blush and Mary Margaret who looked back at David as he began to give the guest a death glare. "Belle, you never told me you had such breath-taking friends." Winking back at Ariel; followed by turning towards Mary Margaret who proudly pointed out her wedding ring causing Jefferson to lower his expression back to Ariel and Belle.
"Wait, are you two…." Asked Mary Margaret when she began pointing them out; leaving Jefferson and Belle to look at one another than at Mary Margaret then laughing.
"No" they said laughing in unison
"His daughter is Bae's friend at the school and Jefferson is basically my lifesaver in helping out with the parental activities if I can't be there."
It was that moment Ariel had a moment of clarity. "Oh you're Gracie's father." Talking back to a confused Mary Margaret, "A school friend of Bae's who sometimes comes over and stays until Belle takes her home, sweet little thing and rather cheeky."
"Cheeky is probably not the best way to describe it" pointing to a six year old brunette in curls and a dress resembling Alice in Wonderland who was seen introducing herself to Emma where Mary Margaret couldn't help at noticing the contrast at how her daughter looked causal in her jeans and red flannel shirt while Grace appeared to be so clean she had not wanted anyone to touch her for fear her dress would get soiled. "She's a good kid nonetheless. Mainly takes after her mother in terms of practicality which is why she left my crazy self." He laughed turning his attention to Belle, "Anyway, thanks Belle for the invite since I haven't had a chance to see much of you these past few weeks."
"Not a problem, you're welcome to stay here if you want, we could always use an extra hand." Belle looked at Mary Margaret and Ariel then back at Jefferson who seemed to have been staring back at her ginger friend then pondered looking back to Belle.
"Sure not a problem." He said allowing the girls to smile at one another in relief.
"So Jefferson, may I ask what you do?" asked David as he handed Jefferson a bottle of water."
Jefferson gave them a large grin winking back at Belle thrilled to see how uncomfortable David had looked placing his hands over his chest with a posing stare. "Sure, I'm a junior partner at Midas, Gold and Arendelle; although a senior position might be considered sometimes in the near future." It appeared David was impressed leaving the girls more calm but Mary Margaret knew a respectful occupation would not be enough for to get on David's good graces since his job in the NYPD caused him to have a tumultuous relationship with lawyers since many have to defend the people he would spend weeks to months putting behind bars. To Mary Margaret's surprise, as Jefferson mentioned his love for collecting baseball cards, David's barrier broke causing two men to bond over their love of baseball and even discussing about recent win at the World Series.
Belle and Mary Margaret left them taking Neal with her having him join Emma when the children began to arrive half an hour later consisting mainly of Emma and Bailey's teammates. To the delight of the adults, Emma and Grace behaved like proper hostesses as Emma introduced most of her friends to the small brunette while Neal began playing close by. The parents each greeting both the women but Mary Margaret was met with praise over her recent decisions at the PTA meeting and praising her for being a gracious hostess and Belle was given a few polite words which only occurred when Mary Margaret needed to correct several of the guests the party was for Bailey and not Emma. Belle knew she was not well liked amongst the parents from the soccer team mainly due to her age since many of them were older and conservative usually giving Belle a disdain or pity while showing respect for Mary Margaret due to how dedicated she was in her job as a teacher and as a mother with the fundraising and being in charge of the booster club which is probably why Bailey was allowed to associate with the children. She was grateful their disdain over her had not affected Bailey's friendships with the remaining children as many of the children appeared to have even accepted Grace with open arms.
"Don't let them get to you" Belle didn't realize what Mary Margaret had said but she could see her friend was concerned; "I could give you dirt on Mrs. Banks that would make a soap opera writer froth at the mouth. Then there is Mrs. Peabody who is so fake that it's a miracle that half of the booster club wants to do anything with her. Trust me when I said, that they are full of it that it sometimes shocks me how I don't burst out laughing from their two-faced flattery."
"I guess, although I think I would be more use to the soccer parents rather the headmistress at Bae's new school."
"Oh, is Bailey already having problems there?" Mary Margaret began to wonder what kind of issues would have occurred not even one month of being enrolled.
"Not really he's doing fine there; the teachers are delighted by him. I thought he would have gotten some troubles due to it being a private school but he seems to be adjusting well with even making a friend so far. The main problem comes from the head mistress the Mother Superior whose such a…." Belle looked around leaning closer to Mary Margaret "witch." She whispered to her ear giving causing the brunette to blush due to the shock. "You have no idea how grateful I am for Jefferson in helping me with the carpool issue, otherwise I would have gotten into bigger problems that might have started to affect him." The girls went to get the remaining appetizers from the kitchen into the back yard finding David, Jefferson and Ariel sitting together at ease with one another.
"I see you two are now joined at the hip." Stated Mary Margaret witnessing David and Jefferson sitting close together, leaving to laugh at the idea she might have been witnessing a conspiracy. The two men looked at one another then back at Mary Margaret. "You are welcomed to join us on Friday Jefferson, Grace too as Emma could use another person in their adventure games."
"What's going on Friday?" Jefferson asked
"We have a little get-together at our house usually Mary Margaret beating us all in Monopoly." Mary Margaret looked at David with a proud grin causing him to smile back at her.
"Bring Grace along too since Emma have everyone do some kind of activity." said Mary Margaret finishing David's invitation.
"Sure, would love to come."
"Excellent" Ariel and Belle proclaimed in unison.
All of a sudden, Belle received a text from Ruby stating they were turning off the block. She and Mary Margaret began to quickly get David, Ariel and Jefferson to gather the guests into the living room while telling Neal to be quiet as the toddler still had some issues being in the dark but Mary Margaret didn't want to risk him crying so she took him from David and went upstairs for the time being as his room containing solar lamps leaving the bedroom to constantly be bright where it left some residue into the night. She also had needed to go upstairs to check on Belle's present hoping it had not destroyed the nursery.
Emma began giggling under the table next to Belle in which she started shushing the little girl immediately silencing her. They heard the door opened with Victor making point about how the place looked like a ghost town in which Bailey asked what was going on. When Ruby yelled where everyone had been, she indicated the signal allowing David to slowly turn on the lights causing everyone to jump from under the tables, chairs, sofas and closet.
"Surprise!" Everyone yelled taking the boy aback. Belle went up to Bailey giving him a hug as she mouthed out "Thank you" towards Ruby and Victor. "Happy birthday Bae, I hope you these two didn't hint anything." She looked at the couple as they looked away.
"No, Aunt Ruby was telling us we were going to get Emma. Everyone is here, thanks mom you're the best." Bailey tightly hugged his mother causing her to tear up; she wanted to always make sure the boy would never stop smiling no matter how overboard she went.
"Alright, everyone can go play on the bounce house. We will call everyone when we start playing the games." Declared David, he then looked at Ariel who was introducing Ruby and Victor to Jefferson. "Hey can you guys keep an eye on the kids for a second? I'm going to get Mary Margaret."
They turned at one another then back at David. "Sure" each shrugging as David headed off. Ariel showed Jefferson towards the backyard finding Belle talking to Ruby and Victor as they appeared to be laughing about something she had not been paying attention about.
"You look like you could use a spa day." Ariel's attention was drifted back to Jefferson who offered her a cup of what she had hoped was fruit punch.
"Thanks" she declared." She took a sip tasting a bit of vodka; she gave Jefferson a sour look scrunching her nose in disgust as he began laughing at her attempt of nearly twitching her tongue. "Are you crazy? This is a children's party."
"I'm sorry." He said still laughing taking her cup from her. "I accidentally gave you mine." He took his cup back from Ariel grabbing a sip and handing her the original cup. She drank it to find it to be of regular taste taking a deep breath.
"See I'm not a bad guy, although I have been known for going too far in pranks." He winked back at the redhead as she blushed. "You know, the way you just scrunched up your face contorted remind me of this cat I had as a kid who always got her way"
"Fine I forgive you." She looked back at the kids seeing them either at the house or playing on Emma's castle style jungle gym. "Grace appears to be enjoying herself. Does she play any sports?"
"I wanted to get her into soccer but the coach at the school thought she was too little for it so we have to wait another year which is why I installed a basketball court on our backyard to help her practice. Although she likes to do photography, where I have been planning on building her a studio and present it to her on her birthday."
"That is very sweet of you." She smiled back at him.
"Anything for my little princess," he then got into his pocket getting a vial of what might have been vodka putting it into her drink but she put her hand onto the lid preventing the liquid from going in. "I'm serious, you do look like you need to loosen up. Any troubles, kitten?" She hissed back stretching her hand at him to form claws causing Jefferson to laugh giving her a feign meow.
Ariel tried to appear as positive but she knew another minute with the charming stranger and she was sure to start crying. "Nothing that you need to worry about, although I don't think vodka is going to help me." She pouted heading inside the house leaving Jefferson stunned just as Mary Margaret and David arrived back not sure what they have seen. David went towards the grill to make the remaining food he had promised while Mary Margaret headed off to join the other adults who were too busy to have paid attention towards Ariel's mood change.
The rest of the party continued with Mary Margaret and Belle coordinating most of the games the children began playing along with Ariel and Ruby placing face paint on some of the guests since Halloween was coming up within a few weeks. Mary Margaret knew from personal experience how far Ariel would go in terms of makeover where she was not looking forward to most of the parents complaining, therefore suggested to ease on the designs. It had not mattered as most of the children wanted animals designs such as a whiskers or a dog's nose while one wanted to look like Spiderman. Emma and Bailey on the other hand defied Mary Margaret's rule and requested to look like the Joker and Harley Quinn where Ruby wanted personally help them in completing their look.
"How do we look" Bailey and Emma asked
"Like trouble." Belle pointed out as she and Ruby looked at one another in approval when seeing the kids who appeared to have gotten what they wanted leaving them to outdo everyone as they were frequently photographed. The kids were thrilled their dessert was ready to be eaten in the form of a large sheet ice cream cake decorated with Iron Man drawings containing six different candles of characters from The Avengers. Bailey began having trouble in blowing up the candles as his little mouth could only blow one leading Emma to help him in blowing the remaining candles which lead Emma to take the dab of the frosting and put it on the tip of her friend's nose causing everyone in the room to laugh.
As the other children were gathering to grab a piece, Bailey began to look at the tickets from his mother's purse in wondering how much they were. He wanted to get the Lego City Metropolis Box Set hanging on top of the other prizes in the main counter for some time now but he never had enough tickets as the games which gave him a better access to the prize were usually taken by the older kids resulting in either waiting in the lines or going to play on the other games.
Bailey heard a throat cleared turning around to find Grace carrying two plates, trying her best not to trip as the weight began to put her unease; the boy took his plate deciding to join Grace as she was scrolling on her camera. "What are you doing?" he asked.
"Trying to see if I can get a different filter that does cause the photo to be blurry due to the light." She took a photo of Emma and Bae using a lighter contrast that caused the photo to only show the subjects in a darker tone with everything around them black. They each nodded their heads as Graced deleted it to start over.
Bailey and Grace had known one another since the first day of school as they sat next to one another in class. Their closeness came from being part of the art program where Grace's love of photography gathered him to be constantly used as a subject while he was learning how to draw. Another factor had been Grace was too sweet where she had a fondness for adventure which immediately reminded Bailey of Emma where he was too happy they had been able to get along so well even though he having a hard time understanding Emma's mood as she and Grace would constantly whisper at one another then start giggling whenever Bailey wanted to know what was going on.
Girls are such a strange species.
"Do you play sports Grace?" asked Emma
"Just basketball." She could tell Emma looked at her as though she had not believed her since she was the only girl at the party wearing a dress since it was her preferred style despite her mother and Uncle Cyrus trying to state jeans would be more comfortable for her while Jefferson constantly encouraged the dresses to the point he would personally start designing them for her. "Do you play?"
"Not as much, mom gets worried I might accidentally hit Neal if I throw the ball too far."
"I've got a court at home, you are welcome to come over and play sometime." She offered her hand towards Emma who gave her out as they shook one another.
"Sure totally," Eating a piece of cake enjoying the taste of the strawberry filling on her mouth matching with the vanilla ice cream. Emma looked over Grace smiling back at her giggling at the residue frosting on her companion's mouth "You know Grace, you're alright."
"I thought the same for you." Grace smiled back at Emma leaving Bailey confused at how they acted and all he wanted was to sit down and finish his dessert.
Girls are such a strange species indeed.
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Shortly after the adults passed around the cake, the gifts were then presented with most of the presents being either actions figures of characters from Justice League while the rest were mainly gift cards to some of his favourite places. As Bailey began thanking everyone for the presents, it became apparent most of parents were arriving to take the children home as the adults had not noticed the party was nearly over which became a disappoint for the guests as they were still on a sugar rush and wanting to continue playing.
The adults began cleaning up when Belle gathered Bailey giving him a large dark blue package which he was not sure what to expect. The boy beamed as he ripped up the paper to find it was a wooden briefcase which contained a sophisticated art set even a small booklet.
"A proper artist needs to have the proper tools." Belle stated watching Bailey looking at the many colours from the set; he immediately hugged his mother crushing her legs.
"Thanks mom, this is the best present ever!" Bailey proclaimed as all the adults were looking at him happy to see Belle relaxed over the success of the party.
"I want one too." Emma asked going over to David pulling on his shirt to get the attention.
"Maybe for Christmas," Emma was still not satisfied. She looked back at the happy placing a pout as she sat down waited for everyone to finish up and leave. It's not fair. Emma's pouting rather than cause Mary Margaret and David embarrassment were mainly ignored as everyone else thought Emma's behaviour was her usual adorable self-due to her goal in upstaging Bailey. Grace giggled at Emma's expense leading the little girl to look at her with death the last of the children had left, Jefferson and Grace took off reminding Belle about Bailey staying over at his apartment in Chelsea for the next few afternoons in order for the kids to get their projects ready for the school's Open House scheduled the following week.
"Thank you so much for helping me with this party." Stated Belle to Mary Margaret and David who were beginning to blush at the praise Belle began to give them.
"It's no trouble" said Mary Margaret as she looked at David.
"No really, it gave me a reason to use the grill during the off season and the kids got to have fun." David hugged Belle along with Bailey who was already exhausted from the day. They all said their goodbyes with the Nolans heading back inside, Victor drove off while Belle, Ruby and Ariel drove back to their apartment near Washington Square which they were thankful would not get cramped with the all the new toys.
After Bailey turned three, the girls began to agree it was time for Bailey to get his own room where Belle moved into Ariel's bedroom as her room was the only one large enough to accommodate two queen size beds. Most of Belle's belongings were in plastic wardrobes she bought where they didn't take up much space where they each tried to adjust to sleeping difficulties as their schedules became nearly different where Belle remained in the living room during the nights she needed to study. Most of the problems in their sleeping arrangements came whenever Ariel's fiancé; a handsome, charmless businessman from Boston named Eric would stay over. During those days, Belle would either stay over in Ruby's room usually sleeping on her bed or on the floor leaving Belle a near grouchy mess the following morning in which at least three cups of coffee was the only way she would generate back to her cheerful self occasionally giving Ariel a long feral stare where Ruby made occasional remarks leaving Ariel to get the message resulting in a compromise where the next time Eric made a trip to Manhattan, he would stay in a hotel to make everyone else's lives easier.
The girls decided to flip a coin over who would take a shower first when Ruby decided she would head to bed with Ariel and Belle taking turns on showering. Ariel was the first one to go in allowing Belle to see what Bailey was up to finding him looking over the different presents he got.
"Did you have a good time?" she asked interrupting his sorting.
"It was a great day, thank you mom." He hugged her tightly nearly knocking Belle out.
"That's good. Before I forget, we're still going to the store tomorrow for your costumes." Jefferson had invited Belle and Bailey to a Halloween party at his apartment where he extended the invitation to the rest of the group in which they all look uncomfortable at the idea of going until Jefferson promised them a free bar and twice the candy for the kids which sold Mary Margaret. He nodded hearing Ariel left the shower causing him to go next. Belle quickly reminded the boy she would tuck him after he was finished then she headed to the living room plopping down on the couch when she received a text message.
Like the other text messages, she ignored this one throwing her phone onto the couch with Ariel sneaking in.
"No secret meeting between lovers in the middle of the night to discuss the plans of eloping?" she winked back at Belle who placed her hand towards Ariel's face.
"Not what you think…also Mary Margaret said she thought you were crying. What happened? Ariel looked at Belle confused when she figured out what her friend was talking about.
Ariel immediately flinched, "Oh don't worry about it; just the dramas of life, plus my eyes sometimes get dry." She quickly got up handing Belle the remote control. "I'm actually tired now; I'll leave the door open for you so you won't wake me up."
"Okay got it, night." Belle quickly focused on the channel surfing which left paying little attention towards Ariel until she threw a pillow.
Belle already heard the a door shutting which left to get up the couch heading into Bailey's bedroom to find him huddled in bed dressed in his Iron Man pajamas next to the stuffed lion Belle gave him as a toddler.
"Did you brush your teeth?" she asked.
"Yes mommy and even flossed." showing his teeth to her where Belle looked with a serious expression until she quickly grabbed Bailey and started tickling him where he began to tickle back on her waists. She quickly placed him into bed giving a kiss to the boy and one to the toy.
"Sweet dreams mommy."
"Sweet dreams to you Bae."
Next Chapter: Gold and Belle dates do not go the way they planned