err... who am i? - Ha-ha! Yeah, if something like that happened to me, I may change my opinion too. XD Yep, his feeling for her is permanent. I'm glad you liked it and yep, poor Jeff. XD

lissysue85- Yep, he's down and she will soon be off to Egypt. Ha-ha, I'm glad you enjoyed that. XD

Little Miss Bump- Yep, happy Evie. XD And yes, things are not going to go well at all. They'll go well for about a day, but that's it. Ha-ha, I'm glad you liked that. Yep, over protective is right. And after what's going to happen later in this story, over protective is going to be an understatement. Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed it.

foxee-chik- I'm glad you like it and that you want to read more. As with the last story, I will update as often as I can.

Chapter Two-Happy Birthday!
August 13th, 2024

Evelyn yawned as she walked down the staircase towards the kitchen. Though it was late in the morning, she had been awoken at three in the morning when Katie had called her to tell her happy birthday. After hanging up the phone, she had gone back to sleep for a few more hours before getting out of bed and heading down to breakfast.

"Happy birthday Evie," Gordon greeted as she stepped off the stairs and headed towards the dining room table where her family all sat. The smell of pancakes and bacon filled the room as Evelyn smiled at her family as they greeted her in a similar fashion as Gordon. Gordon noticed how quiet she was and asked, "Late night?"

"No," she replied, rubbing the bridge of her nose as she sat down between him and Jeff. "Katie called me around three or so."

"I'm guessing she screamed," Jeff commented, filling up a glass of orange juice and handing to her. She took it with a grateful smile and nodded. "It's obvious why she decided to become a cheerleader."

"Katie's the hyper blond right?" Alan asked, taking a sip of his orange juice.

Scott scoffed and shook his head, "All of her friends are hyper sprout."

"They are no-" Evelyn began, but then looked thoughtful for a moment before nodding. "Okay, they are hyper. But most of them were also stright 'A' students."

"Happy birthday you two," Onaha greeted as she carried two plates of food and set them down onto the table. One had a pile of bacon on it while the other had plenty of pancakes on it, small brown specks visible in the pancakes. "Chocolate chip pancakes this morning."

"Sweet," the twins laughed in unison as they high fived each other before grabbing their fork and putting a few pancakes onto their plates. "Thanks Onaha!"

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"Happy birthday to you!" sang the inhabitants of the island, along with the visiting Lady Penelope and Parker as they gathered around the table set out on the deck, where Onaha had set the large cake she had made for the twins birthday. On the table around the cake was covered with gifts for each of the twins.

Gordon and Evelyn stood directly in front of the cake, on top of which were twenty two candles around the words 'Happy Birthday Gordon and Evelyn' written in white icing. Evelyn closed her eyes. When I go to Egypt, let me find adventure, she thought before opening her eyes and looking to Gordon beside her. He smiled and raised an eyebrow to ask if she was ready. She nodded and together to two took a deep breath and blew out all twenty two candles on the cake.

The crowd gathered around the twins cheered as all the candles were extinguished. As Onaha moved between them to cut the cake, Jeff took the two of them by the shoulders and led them to two of the deck chairs a few feet away and had them sit down. As Onaha distributed the pieces of cake, the group settled down around where the twins were seated to eat as the twins opened their gifts.

Evelyn sat down her slice of cake as Jeff handed both her and Gordon a gift off the table. She heard Gordon cheer beside her when he opened his gift but did not look up to see what it was as she had just finished pulling the paper off the gift to find it was the very first edition of the novel, The Mummy by Evelyn O'Connell. Of course she had her own copy of it up in her room that was extremely worn from the number of times she had read it. She looked up from the book and towards John, who nodded in confirmation that it was him that had gotten it for her.

She glanced over at her twin to see he had already opened three of his gifts and was working on his forth as Jeff handed her the next gift. By the bright pink wrapping paper, she knew immediately who it was from. Setting the book aside and taking a quick bite from her cake, she tore off the wrapping paper to find several pairs of kaki capri's along with several dark colored, loose fitting shirts.

"I actually bought that before the news of your trip to Egypt," Penelope commented from where she stood near the rear of the group, a small slice of cake in hand. Evelyn smiled at her before setting the box aside as Jeff handed her another. She glanced over at Gordon to see that he now had several books, new swim trunks, a prank kit, and a CD signed by his favorite band sitting beside him.

He glanced over at her as he began to open his next gift and smiled. Evelyn laughed as she began to open the next box, one that was much smaller than the last two had been. She tore off the paper and opened the small box that lie within and let out a gasp. Inside sat a pair of earrings with soft goose feathers dangling and identical to those seen on Amy in the movie Fly Away Home. She looked around those near her. "Who?"

Scott, whose mouth was currently full of cake, raised the fork in his hand to tell her that he had gotten them. Evelyn smiled towards her eldest brother before pulling the first of the two earrings out of the box and removing the back to it before inserting it into her pierced ear. She then repeated the process with the second earring before setting the small box aside as her father handed her yet another small box. She opened it to reveal a crystal necklace similar to Tin-Tins. Evelyn looked towards the Malayan girl and smiled. "Since you were always saying that you liked mine we thought you would like one of your own."

"Thanks Tin-Tin, Kyrano, Onaha," Evelyn replied as she smiled over at the family. She then took another bite of her cake before accepting another box from her father. She opened the long, rectangular box and let out a gasp at the painting inside. Virgil had painted yet another stunning portrait of Egypt. Though this one showed the Temple of Horus along with Abu Simbel. Scattered across the orange sunset in the background were faded hieroglyphs. Evelyn looked towards Virgil, her mouth still open from the stunning beauty of the painting. "Virge, it's incredible!"

"Well show it to us Evie!" Alan called from where he sat. Evelyn laughed and lifted up the painting so everyone around her could see it. She heard a few gasps and Gordon yell, "Dang Virgil!" She peeked around the painting to look at her older brother and smiled as Virgil looked down at him cake, his cheeks tinged pink.

"This one is going right above my bed," she stated as she gently set the painting down beside her, facing up. She then accepted the final box on the table from her father, one that was quite large and rather heavy. She opened it to find a dark blue flight suit and helmet, similar in style to the silver one she wore while flying back in Boston.

"The idea was originally Alan's. So while he bought the flight suit, I bought the craft," Jeff explained from where he stood beside her when she had looked up from the box in confusion. "The Brains and Fermat customized it once it got here."

Evelyn's jaw dropped as she understood what they were talking about. "No way! You got me one!"

Jeff nodded as he smiled at Evelyn. She stood up from the chair and wrapped her arms around her father as she squealed, "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"

"But," Jeff began once she released the tight hold she had on him and had sat back down on the chair. "You can't go up until tomorrow. Okay?"

"I think I can live with that," she replied, biting her lip to keep from screaming in excitement. First she finds out she's going to Egypt, then John surprises her by coming down, and then they by her an ultra light of her own. This is defiantly in the category of best birthday ever, she thought as she looked over at Gordon beside her. Her smile grew when she saw him smiling at her.

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Evelyn smiled as she stepped back to admire her handy work. The painting that Virgil had given her earlier that evening now hung an up on the wall above her bed. The party had ended about half an hour earlier. Not long after Lady Penelope and Parker had left the island and all the islands inhabitants had gone to get ready for bed.

A knock sounded on the door of her bedroom. Evelyn turned her head toward it and called, "Come in!"

A few seconds later the knob turned and Gordon pushed the door open and entered his twin's room. He closed the door behind him before walking over to stand beside her as she looked at the painting. "I think that's his best work yet."

"I like the one he did of Scott and Alan better," she replied. The painting in question had been painted four years prior, two weeks after the Hood had tried to kill them. They had found the oldest and youngest brothers asleep in Alan's bed, where Virgil promptly took a picture and painted it the next day. The painting now hung in their father's room while the picture had been duplicated and now copies of it sat in both Scott and Alan's room.

"True," Gordon agreed, looking at the painting for another minute before pulling a small box out of his pocket and handing it to Evelyn. "Happy birthday Evie."

Evelyn smiled and took the box from him before going to her desk and picking up the folded piece of paper that sat on it and handing it to Gordon."Happy Birthday Gordy."

As he read the note, Evelyn opened up the small box and gaped at what lie inside. On the end of a long, silver chain hung two small pendants. One was a goose and the other a dolphin. She lifted the necklace out of the box and smiled at it before putting it over her head. Once around her neck, the two pendants settled high on her chest.

Smiling one last time at the necklace around her neck, Evelyn looked up to see Gordon smiling at her as he held the note in his hand. "I love your gift Evie."

"But I didn't buy you anything," she replied, fingering the pendants around her neck.

"No," he began, pulling her into a hug. "But you did agree to pull pranks with me for a month."

Evelyn laughed as she pulled away to smile at him. "I'm glad you liked it. And I love yours. I'll wear it all the time when I go to Egypt."

"Then when you get home-" he began.

"I'll help you pull whatever pranks you want," she finished. She then hugged him tightly once more. "Love ya Gordy."

Gordon returned the hug just as tightly and whispered, "Love you Evie."