This is Prompt No. 50-Birdhouse

"Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!" someone shouted, startling Mitchie and Shane out of a perfectly good sleep. Miraculously, Shania failed to wake up, though Mitchie momentarily wondered if she had gone deaf to miss this wake up call. The person responsible for the rude awakening proceeded to strike themselves mark after mark on Mitchie's black list as they shook her into a state of semi-wakefulness.

"Caitlyn," Mitchie growled, but the threatening tone she was aiming for was lost as she yawned halfway through the growl.

"Get up!" Caitlyn insisted, trying to shake Mitchie again.

Shane groaned and rolled over so that his body was pressed up against Mitchie's, allowing him to bury his face in her neck. "Mitchie's right," he said sleepily. "Go away, Caitlyn."

"No," Caitlyn responded stubbornly and then yanked the covers off the sleeping couple.

Mitchie immediately curled into a ball, trying to shut out the cold around her, or keep in all the warmth she could, or both. "Caitlyn," she growled again, and this time her sister-in-law's name came out just as menacing as she intended it to. "We're recovering from a mission. Go away."

Caitlyn rolled her eyes and shook her head. "You've been home for almost two months, Mitch. Plus, I have a perfectly good reason for coming to get you up."

Shane snorted, now slightly more than half awake. "It'd better be really good," he mumbled.

"As a matter of fact, it is," Caitlyn said, smirk on her face, "or have you forgotten your wife's birthday already?"

Mitchie's eyes popped open in surprise. "Today's my birthday?" she asked, shocked.

Caitlyn nodded. "Yes," she said as though talking to a five-year-old. "If you don't get up, you'll waste the day away, and I know for a fact that Shane at least has something special for you."

Mitchie turned over to look at Shane, who was trying to rouse himself from his sleep-hazed state. "Really?" she asked.

He nodded and snuggled back into the crook of her neck. "Yup," he said sleepily. "We'll get up soon enough, Caity," he told his sister-in-law. "Wake us up at a decent hour, though," he ordered, knowing Caitlyn's love for getting up extremely early on special days.

Caitlyn tried not to laugh as she said, "Uh, Shane? It's ten in the morning."

Mitchie's eyes popped open. "What?" she cried, vaulting out of bed at a rate that made her slightly dizzy. She flew to the cradle by the fireplace and peered into it, exclaiming, "You must be famished, my little darling!"

Shania, however, simply waved her arms around and gave a little gurgle. Caitlyn shook her head as she watched Mitchie nurse and Shane climb sleepily out of bed. "How is it that you two have one of the best babies I've ever heard of? She's only cried a handful of times when you guys were gone, and I've heard her cry twice since you guys came back."

Mitchie shrugged as she rocked her daughter. "We're blessed," she said simply.

Caitlyn, without thinking, said, "I hope I'm that blessed."

Mitchie's head snapped up and a look of shock, and then excitement crossed her face. "What did you just say?" she asked.

Caitlyn colored. "Nothing," she said. "It's nothing."

"Oh it's something alright," Mitchie said, hoisting Shania up onto her hip and coming to stand in front of her sister-in-law. "You're pregnant, aren't you?"

Caitlyn blushed and then nodded. Immediately, Mitchie was hugging her as tightly as she could without hurting Shania. "Congratulations, Caity," Shane said, giving Caitlyn's arm a squeeze once Mitchie had let go.

"Thanks," Caitlyn said softly, embarrassed by the attention that was resting on her. "Now come on, or you'll really be late."

Mitchie rolled her eyes at the change of subject and then handed Shania to Shane so that she could slip into the other room to get dressed. Once attired in her favorite dress, Mitchie emerged and made a motion towards the door. "Shall we go?" she asked.

Caitlyn nodded and eagerly slipped out the door. Shane passed Mitchie and asked, knowing smirk on his face, "That discussion isn't over, is it?"

"Absolutely not," she replied with a smirk of her own.

No more was said about either the party or Caitlyn's good news, and the walk to the conference room was rather quiet until Mitchie pushed through the doors. "Surprise!!" Nate, Jason, and the general called out as she stepped into the room. "Happy birthday!"

Mitchie grinned widely. "Thank you!" she cried.

The family settled in for a day of celebration, each member taking turns holding Shania, who waved her little fists each time she changed loving hands. At one point in the day, Mitchie heard Caitlyn lean over to Nate and whisper, "They know," in his ear.

The way she said those two words made the knowledge sound like a bad thing, but Nate just looked at her curiously. "So?" he asked. "You didn't think you could hide it from them forever, did you?"

Caitlyn glared at him. "You are no help at all," she told him, and he didn't argue.

Jason was the first to clap his hands and announce, "Time for presents!"

Mitchie tried to protest, explaining that she didn't want anything, but they refused to listen as they placed the three gifts in front of her. She opened the one from the general first, tearing the paper off the box only to find a slip of paper nestled inside. When she took it out and read it silently, her eyebrows pulled together in a frown.

"I might not have explained myself properly," the general apologized. "I'm not very good with fashions and such. The note was supposed to explain that my gift to you is a new dress. Take Caitlyn with you some day and get yourself whatever kind of dress you'd like."

Mitchie smiled, finally understanding the note. "Thank you so much," she said sincerely. "That's very generous of you." The general shrugged, embarrassed now by the attention, and waved his hand to signal for Mitchie to move on to the next present.

This one, from Nate and Caitlyn, was carefully wrapped in many layers of rags. When Mitchie finally removed the last layer of rags, her eyes widened. There in front of her was the most delicate dagger she had ever seen. Silver hilt and inlayed with sapphires, her birthstone for September, the dagger glittered as Mitchie rotated it in the light of the lamps. "Thank you," she breathed. "It's gorgeous!"

Nate smiled and Caitlyn nodded, having recovered from her earlier disgruntlement. "We thought you'd like to take that along on any further missions. It looks a little better than those other daggers you've been carrying around."

Mitchie smiled and placed the dagger safely back in its layers of rags just as Jason said, "Mine next!"

Mitchie grinned at his excitement and reached for the last package. She unwrapped it slowly and pulled out an interesting contraption that looked like a miniature house. She twisted it around by the little rope loop attached to the roof, not exactly sure what it was. "Thank you?" she said, but her curiosity made the statement come out as more of a question.

Jason grinned. "It's a birdhouse, you know, for birds."

Realization dawned on Mitchie and she smiled broadly, asking Jason teasingly, "Because it's so beautiful, do I charge room and board?"

Jason laughed. "Only if you want to be paid in birdseed!"

Everyone laughed, and Mitchie examined the house once again. "Thank you very much," she said sincerely. "Did you make this on your own?"

Jason nodded. "Yes," he said, and then shot a teasing glare at Shane, who was happily rocking Shania. "Someone wouldn't help me build it, so I had to build it all by myself."

Mitchie tried to stifle her laughter. "Well you did a wonderful job," she told him honestly. She bit her lip as she realized something. "Where exactly do I put it?" she asked him, knowing that there were no birds down in the base.

Jason looked at Shane and smiled. "Oh I have a feeling you'll find someplace to put it."

Shane stood up and said, "That would be my cue to steal my wife away so that she can receive her present from me." He smiled at his family and then said, "Thank you all so much for the wonderful day."

Nate nodded. "See you later," he told Mitchie. "We'll want to hear all about it."

Mitchie nodded, unsure as to what exactly Shane had planned, but she had a feeling that she was going to like it….

A/N: There you go! For those of you that wanted Caitlyn and Nate to start a family, your wish is granted!! I hoped you liked this chapter, please review!