A/N: a lot happens, and this will come to an end within the next few chapters, so... yeah. I hope to start a little miniseries with Aya and the Mercer brothers before the film fic, so... Yeah...
Aya laughs and pushes Jack, holding one bag, and says, "You're very funny, Mercer. But my secret purchase is not your concern. And it certainly is not anything like handcuffs, despite your wildest fantasies I am sure are about me." He laughs and his face turns pink. "Oh shit... you're not... God, please tell me that you are not a virgin."
"Well, uh... I'd be lying," he answers, and Aya slaps his shoulder.
"After how hot you are?" Aya laughs. "Good God! And even Abby wants to hit that." He smiles, slightly familiar with her terminology for wanting to have sex. "You have to be joking, right? Please tell me you are. Please."
"I'm not," he says loudly. "And I won't point blank say it, Aya." She laughs again, heading up the steps of the Mercer household. "Hey, wait, a second. I have to go in first and check on how drunk the guys are, so you give me, say... five minutes?" She sighs.
"Take any longer and I'll break down the door," she says before sitting down in the chair on the porch and holding her bag in her lap. She puts a hand in her pocket. "Or maybe I could go drop by Pete's and give this to Jenna... Nah, not a good idea. It's late and his place is too far away... Did we really have to stay out so long? My feet hurt, Jackie."
Jack stops as he opens the door and grins. "You just called me Jackie."
"Did not."
"Did too."
"Did not."
"Did too."
"Did not."
"Did not."
"Did too."
"Ha!"
"Jack, shut up."
Jack still grins even as he obliges and goes inside. Aya takes out the only two purchases in her bag, a huge cookie with icing and a candle. She puts it in the icing and lights the candle. "Happy sixteen, my darling princess," is all she hears as she closes her eyes and blow it out. "Thanks, mom," she whispers before taking a bite out of it.
She finishes the cookie in five minutes, too which she grabs the spare key and opens the door. "Angel? Bobby? Jack? Jer?" She puts the key on the counter and goes toward the kitchen, the living room having been on. "Evelyn?" Aya pulls out a small knife from her back pocket. "It isn't funny guys, like seriously. Jesus, did I just say 'like'? Damn it, Angel!"
Aya peers inside the kitchen before jumping and screaming as Angel jumps out at her and the lights turn on. She leans forward, hands on her knees, as she tries to catch her breath before looking up and seeing streamers and balloons all over the kitchen. Her breath catches and tears fill her eyes for a brand new reason that she never thought to do so for. "What is this?" she whispers.
Bobby wraps his arm around her neck lazily, answering, "A birthday party, what else?"
"I've never had one..."
"And you were making fun of me for being a virgin?" Jack jokes, thinking she isn't serious this time. Angel lets his mouth drop.
"Holy shit, she isn't kidding... Had I known that I would've brought some beer," he says. Aya nods her head, not really listening as she looks at Evelyn, who smiles knowingly.
"I had the sneaking suspicion," she says at Aya's questioning look. "You didn't even tell us it was your birthday! I had to go back into your file that I kept that contains your birth certificate. I thought this would be a nice gift."
"No one has ever even bothered to look at the idea of a party, especially not for me. Only Eva has ever asked and I promised she could spend the day with me tomorrow since she has a soccer game tonight..." Aya actually feels the urge to hug her. "Why would you do this?"
"Birthdays are important," Jeremy says, cutting in. "Especially one that happens to fall on a Saturday, girl. Besides, every Mercer gets a party in this house, even for birthdays. Even at eighteen years old and they want a Toy Story themed party."
"Hey, c'mon man. I was drunk when I made that decision," Angel says and Aya can't help but laugh. She falls into her urge and wraps her arms around Evelyn for a brief second.
"Thanks... I'm actually starting to think you care." Aya chokes, wiping tears from her eyes. "God, this is so nice of you. All of you." She wipes more tears from her eyes as Bobby calls up the group hug. She growls at him but everyone else comes in anyway. "Okay, okay! No more, quit touching! Quit touching me, quit touching me, quittouchingme!"
"Love ya too," Bobby says, and she smiles slightly, rolling her eyes.
"So, uh... what do you do at birthday parties?" Aya asks, feeling awkward suddenly as she does so. She shifts as everyone stares at each other before turning to her again.
"Normally you play games and stuff, but..." Bobby trails off.
"We didn't know what you like and Jack forgot to get the details," Angel says, putting it on the youngest other than Aya herself. "So, blame it on him that we have no games."
"But we do have cake. I remember you saying that you love chocolate cake and your prefer whip icing when we were watching an ad," Jeremy says. "Who's da man?" Aya laughs slightly and everyone feels themselves sweat slightly.
"Oh, God..." Jack whispers. "You've never had your own birthday cake!" Aya laughs sheepishly. "This is the most I've ever heard you laugh. Ha! I get it! You laugh when you're nervous."
"Hoe, shut up," she says. "Okay, what else? I don't really know what else you do at a birthday party."
"Eat cake and open presents is all we have. I don't think it's too late to go get some beer. Ever been drunk?"
"Tipsy, but not shitfaced," Aya replies. She looks at them. "What? Just because I partied in middle school doesn't mean I partied." Her hazel eyes rest on the cake in the middle of the table. "Gosh, guys... How much did this cost? I can pay you guys back. I mean-"
"Pay back for your own birthday party? Oh, hell no," Angel interrupts. "You are not going to pay us back for shit about this. Now sit down, eat ya damn cake, open ya damn presents, and have a damn good night. We tried to look to see if you had any friends, but... Jackie hasn't seen you interact with anyone." Aya shrugs, and stands offishly.
"Okay, so... Where do we start?" she asks. Bobby cheers before she's ushered into a chair by the four boys. "Okay..." A small box is thrust into her hands. "To Aya, from Jeremiah, your favorite. Hah, you're funny sweetheart. Pete is definitely my favorite out of all you idiots."
"Aya, open the damn box," Jeremy says, knowing that she's stalling as it doesn't surprise anyone that since she hasn't had her own party or her own cake that she hasn't had any presents of her own. Aya blows out a breath before pulling off the bow and opening the box. She takes out what's inside, and smiles as she sees that it is a digital camera.
"Oh, how in the hell did you know that I've had my eye on this?!" Aya squeals, half hugging him. "Oh, my God, thank you!"
"You're not that hard to read," Jeremy says, smiling back at this accomplishment. He sticks his tongue out at Bobby, who in turn flips him off. Aya smiles and thanks Bobby as he hands her another.
"To Aya, love, from Bobby, dear. Are you serious? I'm keeping the note, just saying," Aya says. She sees Bobby's look and sets to opening the box. She pulls out a shirt that has 'Princess' written in fancy lettering. "I actually like this shirt. And it's my size... Got something to tell me, Mercer?" She bumps shoulder with him before resting her head on his shoulder for a moment. "I seriously like it."
"Good." He pumps his fist, looking over at Jerry, who in turn shakes his head. "I'm glad you like it. I didn't know exactly what to get you, and since we know Jackie's been snooping, I decided to ask him for a size." Aya smiles at him, and takes the next gift from Angel. She notices that it's small and that he looks rather proud of himself.
"I swear to God that if this is jewelry, it's your ass," she says with a smile. "Just saying, babe." Aya opens it, seeing him just keep a smile. She takes out a key chain. "'Dream big and reach the stars'... That's deep, Angel." She pinches his side and laughs lightly when he jumps. He smiles as she pockets it, knowing to take that as a damn good sign.
"Here's mine," Jack says, handing it to her.
"To Ava... Thanks, Jack. From Jackie. I don't call you Jackie... Why is the I-E done in red and the rest in black?" She glares at him. "I did not call you Jackie out on the porch."
"Open your present and be happy," he says with an eye roll. "I want to see your face."
"It better not be anything expensive. I'll accept it from the other three, but not- holy shit. That's my birth stone." Aya takes out the necklace with one amethyst stone. "Wow... Okay, I don't accept jewelry from anyone, but I might make an exception for this... How much was this, because I know it was pretty penny." She looks at Jack, who says nothing. "You and I will talk about this later."
"We have one last thing," Evelyn says, taking a rectangular object from her bag. "It took a few strings, but I managed to get this." Aya accepts it, giving Evelyn weird looks as she pulls away the tissue paper. Aya opens the book and bites her lips, tears spilling over. "Oh, I think I did a better job than Jack, and that's only because I didn't pay near as much as he did." Evelyn winks at Aya.
"How did you find this? I thought it was destroyed," Aya says, wiping tears from her cheeks and reading the handwriting. She looks at the boys. "This is my mom's old diary from when she was a teenager to when I was about two years old. She used to read this to me in place of storybooks. I had whole pages memorized once, but now... I don't even remember her fish story."
"Damn, ma," Bobby whispers. "How did you get your hands on this?"
"I said I pulled a few strings. It was in the evidence locker of your mother's murder," she says nonchalantly, and Aya smiles at her again. "I hope that Andrea wouldn't mind."
"My mom? No way. If anything, she'd prefer it this way, especially with how old I am now. She said I couldn't hear a few pages for a while..." Aya closes the book and looks at Evelyn, keeping eye contact and giving her the warmest smile she could. "Thank you so much, Evelyn."
"Let me hear you call me 'mom' just once," Evelyn teases. Aya rolls her eye.
"Only once... Thank you so much, mom," she says. "Happy now?"
"Very," Evelyn admits, going back to her knitting. Aya laughs for a moment before yelping as the boys turn her around to her cake. She flushes pink as they sing to her, and she hides from them, even nipping Bobby's wrist when he tried to remove her hands from her face. She blows out the candles before hiding again.
"And you were making fun of me for being a virgin?" Jack comments jokingly. "You're so easily embarrassed when people do things for you."
"Shut up," she says, pushing him away by her shoulders. "So, what else do we do at the Mercer household on a birthday?" She accepts the piece of cake from Jeremy. "I mean, at any house really."
"Well, we let you pick a movie and everyone has to watch it. Of course, we gotta go get it first," Angel says. "So, any particular movies you've wanted to see over the last few years?" Aya thinks and shrugs.
"Not one that you'll want to see," she answers.
"Wait until it's Angel's birthday next week. We use it as the perfect opportunity to torture each other," Bobby says, trying to convince her to admit what she wants to see so that they can get a feel on the movies she likes. She thinks for a second longer before giving her answer.
"I want to see Day of the Dead for my birthday. I couldn't ever really see it," Aya says, shrugging when they all give her surprised looks. Aya watches as Bobby pulls out the movie from the bookshelf. "So, this is already costing you nothing. You guys have popcorn right? You can't watch a movie without popcorn or candy or soda."
"Are you stupid? Hell yeah we do," Angel says, pulling out a grocery bag of chocolate and grabbing a few bags of popcorn. "I hope you like Sprite." Aya smiles, feeling warm and welcome, even though she isn't supposed to do so. She brushes her hair out of her face, and lets Jeremy and Bobby get her out of her seat to drag her into the living room to sit down and get ready for the movie.
"This isn't my kind of movie, so I'll be going to bed," Evelyn says, going toward her bedroom. "I hope you've enjoyed your birthday, darling. And the rest of it too."
"Thanks, Evelyn," Aya whispers. "It does mean a lot to me. I hope to make this up to you soon." Evelyn nods her head, dismissing it immediately because she feels that it's unnecessary.
"Alright, alright! Here is to our zombie loving sister!"
Midway through the movie, Jack realizes just how busy everyone was over the day. Bobby is practically falling off his chair, Angel and Jeremy are both asleep on the floor, supporting each other with a bowl of popcorn between them that if you move it then they'll both fall. Aya is sitting with her knees up to her chest and her eyes drooping.
Jack pinches Aya in the side, and she jumps, nearly waking Bobby up, or more awake than he is now. "Not funny, Mercer," she says, putting her legs down and grabbing a blanket. "I'm awake, Jack, so chill out. I won't rest until I finish the movie."
"Good. I'd hate for you to miss the rest of this zombie movie," he mumbles, when it's actually because he doesn't want to be alone.
"So, how much was it?" she asks. "I mean, I don't care much when it's five dollars, but that wasn't five Washingtons." Jack shrugs and hands her his popcorn bowl. "Thanks... You've barely touched it. Are you sick, idiot?" Jack backs away as she holds a hand toward him.
"Oh, my God... what happened?" she whispers, concern and fear tightening up her chest. "Did someone threaten you? God, I should have known that this would happen."
"No one did anything, Aya," Jack says. "It's completely fine. I just don't like being touched sometimes." Aya nods, turning her attention back to the movie for a while longer. Aya reaches her hand up and feels his forehead.
"You're sweating."
"Am not."
"Jack." Aya sighs before turning toward the television again. "Fine. Don't let me help." She sits back and finishes the movie before going upstairs to her room. She closes the door, taking her little bag and beginning to put all of her new things in a place where she can keep up with them before feeling the necklace at her throat.
She grabs the diary of her mother's and opens it to the first page. Aya remembers back when her uncle lived with them before his accident and she used to have time for jokes and colorful words and ideas. On that one page, written when Andrea was fifteen, Aya learns that her mother had crazy ideas from the very beginning. She laughs at one idea/joke of crossing a goat and a goose.
Her door creaks open, and Jack enters her room. She looks at him with a confused expression, especially when he sits next to her and curls up on her pillow. "Read to me?"
"Eh?"
"Read to me? Please, Aya?" Jack whispers. "I'm almost begging here." Aya sighs, placing the a marker there before moving toward Jack. She pushes some of his hair farther up, placing her hand against his forehead and feels him shiver from the cold of her hand.
"You're hot as hell," she whispers, getting up and heading toward the bathroom for a wash cloth.
He chuckles. "So you've told me," he says back. Aya smiles at his attempt at humor before looking back.
"I'll be back in a minute. Don't get up, alright?" she orders him. He nods, turning back over and shivering again. Aya returns a minute later with ice in the wash cloth. She pulls him over, placing it against his head. He smiles at her. "Still wanna hear about my mother?" He nods.
"I can't sleep," he says. "Might as well learn about where you get so much of who you are from." Aya nods her head, keeping him close as she read page after page of her mother's handwriting. She constantly got more ice and opened a window, trying to cool him down as much as she could.
She gets up from her bed as she finally gets him to go to sleep, going towards her window before she sees a light from under her bed. She crawls under and grabs her phone, opening the anonymous message she is sure comes from Mark.
It isn't.
"'I see Jack Mercer is your favorite, Jenna... or maybe I should call you Aya?'" Aya opens the attachment, showing a picture of her from no more than an hour ago with the lamp on and Jack is lying on her pillows, laughing at a suggestion Andrea made in her writing. She looks out the window before grabbing her duffel bag.
She calls Pete. "Pete, don't trust Abby. Gunner told me not to, and he went to extremes to get a message to Jenna. Be careful until I come back?"
"What?"
"Be careful and don't trust Abby. I'm going to disappear for a while, alright? Don't track my phone and tell Evelyn not to worry. Do I need to text it?"
"Please do."
"See you, Pete.. Hopefully." She hangs up and types it out before sending the message to Pete. She grabs a few tank tops without designs and several pairs of jeans, getting her spare pair of contact lens. Jack stirs when she zips up her duffel bag.
"Aya?"
"Go to sleep, Jackie," she whispers. She sits down next to him, shushing him as he begins to protest. "I'll come back soon. I promise. I just can't be around for now. But I will come back for you and Bobby and Angel and Jeremy..."
"Where are you going?" Jack asks, and Aya can tell he doesn't fully understand.
"Somewhere you can't follow me. I'm going to leave a note for Evelyn. It will contain one of my mom's old remedies and a personal note so she doesn't worry."
"Mkay..." Jack lays his head back down as Aya puts the aforementioned note next to the bed on the nightstand. She grabs her stuffed lion and writes a note for Jack at the bottom.
Don't worry. Gone for now. Blood coming. Be careful. Check in before the week is over.
Aya
P.S. Jack, take care of my darling Luna.