Meredeth was awoken out of a deep sleep by the ringing of her phone. With a quick glance at the clock, she saw it was seven minutes past six in the morning and knew it would be only one person; reaching over the snoring mountain of Esposito she grabbed the receiver and hit 'Talk'.

'Good morning Momo,' she said in Danish, ending on a yawn.

On the other end of the phone, Constance Dakkars' voice was bright as a sparrow's song. 'Hello birthday girl, you are now officially thirty-one years old. How does that feel?'

'Tired. Javi and I had our one-month yesterday, and he had to go back to work until after midnight.'

'Oh, sweetie, I know you had other reasons for being up late.'

Meredeth felt her cheeks burn a little. It didn't matter that her grandmother had been a flower child and even taken Meredeth's mother to Woodstock in '69; it still made her feel squirmy that she knew her little pige made love with her boyfriend. 'It's too early for sex jokes, Momo.'

'What's planned for tonight?'

'Drinks and dessert with Javi and friends after they're off shift.' Beside her Esposito shifted, pulled her close as his eyes fluttered open, his hands roaming over her body. The liquid sensation his touch brought to her insides gave her goosebumps she'd just as soon not have while on the phone with the only real family she had.

'Tell whoever it is to call back,' he muttered as he kissed his way along her jaw.

'It's my grandmother, you caveman.'

'That your boy?' Constance asked with a knowing but amused edge to her voice. 'Should I call back later?'

'No, it's fine.' God, how domestic did that sound? Meredeth mused. When she heard him take the boxer-Dane mix out, she rubbed a hand over her stomach. 'I really like him, Momo.'

'Then don't let me keep you from birthday wake-up calls. I'll see you for lunch.'

When she hung up the phone and wandered into the kitchen Meredeth saw the table was already set with coffee, juice, toaster waffles and a fresh bowl of fruit; at her place was a triple chocolate muffin with a candle in the center.

'When did you do all this?' she asked Esposito as he brought Arturo back inside. He only arched an eyebrow at her.

'You were out for the count last night. A fully military parade could have gone through the bedroom and you wouldn't have noticed, so you sure as hell didn't notice me getting out of bed an hour ago to make breakfast.' He found a book of matches in a kitchen drawer, held a lit one to the candle. 'How's Momo?'

'Fine, though she pretty much asked if she was interrupting morning sex, which would be a much more pleasant way to start my birthday than a phone call at the ass-crack of dawn.'

'You know she's done it, otherwise your mother wouldn't have been born, and by that extension neither would you and that thought makes my world a very dark place. And today is not the day for things like that.' He grabbed her hand, and tugged her towards the bathroom. 'Today you are the center of the universe.'

He turned on the water for the shower, tugged his shirt over his head. 'And birthday girl gets whatever she wants.'

Fueled through the day by a birthday breakfast cupcake and shower sex, Meredeth walked into O'Lunney's Irish Pub just off of Times Square shortly before eleven. She made her way through the tables, saw that Lanie, Honey-Milk, and Castle were there already; none of the cops were there, making her wonder if they'd see them at all that night. Not that she would get cranky, it was part of the Esposito package that he would have to be late or cut plans short when work summoned him back to the precinct; the little girl inside her simply wanted to open more presents and have as many photos as possible.

Lanie caught her eye, sent her a wide grin. 'Hey, it's the birthday girl!'

'I'm guessing the cops are still on the clock?' She leaned over to give Lanie a quick embrace.

'Yeah, and I'll have to exit soon, as I'm on the midnight-to-eight tonight, but I wanted to give you your gift.' Lanie picked a small bag up off the bench beside her. 'A little birdie told me you like cucumber and coconut bath products.'

'Javi has a big mouth.'

Lanie only smiled as she signed the Visa slip, shrugged on her coat and headed out the door. Back at the table, Castle poured Meredeth a glass of wine and gave her a little gift box. 'Alexis sends her regards.'

'Oh, she didn't have to do that.' Touched, Meredeth unwound the ribbon and snickered at the small plush rabbit whose mid section had been replaced by a large spring.

'She said it's an idea bunny, something to smack around when you have writer's block. And this one is from me.' Castle pulled a smaller, slimmer box from the breast pocket of his coat.

Meredeth felt her breath catch in her chest as she lifted the lid to find a Bookworm 702 fountain pen. 'Oh, nice! I auctioned my last one off at my last signing! Thanks, Castle!'

She took out her draft book, scrawled her signature a few times with the neon blue ink. As she recapped the pen, she closed her eyes and bit her lip to keep the smile off her face. 'Hello Detective.'

'Hello Writer-Girl.' He didn't bother wondering how she knew it was him. 'You been here long?'

'About fifteen minutes. Lanie just left. Thirsty?'

'As long as it's fermented, send it this way.' He sat down beside his girlfriend and gave her a kiss he'd normally have reserved for an elevator; he lingered for a few minutes there before accepting the wine from a broadly smirking Castle. 'Ryan's parking the car and Beckett will be down once the paperwork's done.'

He put his arm on the back of her chair as Honey-Milk passed her a flat box wrapped in blue paper decorated with yellow smiley faces; he watched as the level-headed Meredeth ripped into the present like a shark in a feeding frenzy. She was by far the most entertaining thing in his life, even better than watching Beckett spin her wheels when Castle had first joined them at the 12th.

'Oh it's beautiful, Jenny.' Meredeth wrapped the purple and yellow striped woolen scarf around her neck. 'This will definitely come in handy taking Artie for walks in the dead of December. Did you make it yourself?'

'Yeah. I took it with me to work and worked on it on my breaks, even had a few of my more senior patients work on it when they wanted a break from colouring and Garfield comics.'

'Ah, child labour, where would be without it?' Esposito drank his wine as Ryan strolled in and gave Meredeth a quick innocent kiss on the cheek. 'Watch your aim, pal.'

'Nothing wrong with a nip of the Irish to go with the brown sugar.' Ryan sent her a wink as he kissed his wife's smiling lips. 'You have a good day so far?'

'Save the chatter, it's present time.'

'Well in that case, happy birthday.' Ryan passed her a gift far too neatly wrapped for it to have been his handiwork. Meredeth took no notice of it though as she shredded the pretty pink and teal polka dot wrappings to find a copy of the Lego Indiana Jones game for her Wii system. 'I figured you need a game where you can drill it into Esposito's skull he's not the grand universe champ of Wii games.'

'Says you.'

'It's awesome, Ryan.' Meredeth tucked it into the bag of booty she'd accumulated from her friends, sipped her wine as the rest of the table ordered another round. By the time they were done, she was getting antsy to open another gift and wasn't surprised when she found a large box placed in front of her by her boyfriend. 'I wonder who this is from?' she said with a falsely curious tone in her voice as Esposito gave her a poke in the ribs. She untied the large ribbon on top of the box, lifted the lid and laughed out loud before she could help it. Turning to Esposito, she met his innocent look with eyebrows lifted nearly to her hairline.

'Are you freakin' kidding me?'

Honey-Milk and Castle both craned their necks closer to get a glimpse. 'What is it?'

Rather than answer them, she pulled out a stuffed fox wearing a black suit with a little red V stitched on the breast pocket below the name 'Guy', black cape and flat black hat. 'It's Guy Fawkes the Fox!'

The rest of the table sat staring in confusion as she cuddled the stuffed toy under one arm, took Esposito's chin in her hand and pressed a hard kiss to his lips; it was a toss up as to which one looked more delighted with the gift. Ryan only drank his wine, as he'd been witness to Esposito picking this gift up for Meredeth. Or rather, he'd thought they'd be getting a real fifteen minute lunch break and heading to a deli only to discover his industrious partner was dragging him to FAO Schwartz to purchase Meredeth's birthday gift. He'd tried to point out she was turning thirty-one, not thirteen, but it hadn't swayed the detective an ounce. Now, seeing the delight on Meredeth's face, it seemed his instinct was bang-on. Finally it was Castle who cleared his throat. 'And this is a big deal because...'

'My favourite comic books are the V for Vendetta series; Guy Fawkes Day play a central theme in it, which is also my birthday - November the fifth. It's perfect, I love it,' she said turned back to Esposito and giving him another smacking kiss.

'There's something else there, too.'

Meredeth examined the stuffed fox, saw a flicker of something shiny around his neck. Tugging at it, she saw it was a platinum chain that threaded through a little charm of an old-fashioned writer's plume. 'Oh, Javi, it's lovely.'

'I thought you might like to have something very writer-y when you go on your press appearances.' He unfastened the necklace from around Guy's neck, and slipped it around Meredeth's. He caught a whiff of her perfume as she lifted her hair so he could fasten for her, felt her fingers grab his wrist as she turned to murmur in his ear, 'You're so getting lucky later.'

'Bookend the day with birthday sex, I dig it.'

'Can't you keep your hands to yourself any more, Detective?'

The couple looked up to see Beckett standing there with a box that only meant one thing - cake - and a small parcel bag in her hand. Meredeth's eyes landed on the cake box first. 'Is that lemon cake with the strawberry mascarpone filling?'

'And fresh strawberries on top, just like you asked for.' Beckett set it on the table, passed Meredeth the package. 'I know Castle got you a nice pen so I figured this might go with it.'

Meredeth fished the leather-bound journal out of the tissue paper, saw her initials 'M.D.C.' stamped in the corner. 'It's perfect. I do my writing on my computer but I do all my draft notes by hand first, and I needed a new one.'

As a waiter came over to light the candles, the others began singing 'Happy Birthday' to Meredeth. When she felt Esposito kiss her cheek and tell her to make a wish, it was one of the most magical moments of her thirty-one years.

R&R&Enjoy!