Skye: Hello readers, It's Skyler. Jupiter can't make it to do the disclaimer, so she asked me to do it for her; however, she did tell me what to say to you. She apologizes for the delay in this chapter. She and her beta, Kohaku no Hime, have been really busy
Alister: Yea, and also because Jupiter bombed her math test
Skye: Shut up! *smacks over head with a pillow, only to be taken away by him.* Damn your height.
Alister: It's a gift at time. *Alister suddenly gets sprayed with water and turns around to find Raphael holding a Super Soaker* Really?
Raphael: You brought it upon yourself.
Valon: Is this the chapter with my birthday-
Skye: Don't spoil it. *clears throat* Anyway, Jupiter does not own Raphael, Alister, Valon or any of the canon characters in this story, she only own me, Lola, Amber and everyone else you don't recognize.
Ember: *coming out of chimney* The chapters about to start. Shush *pulls out popcorn*
Alister: Isn't there something else you wanna say, Skyler?
Skye: *gives Alister a confused look* Oh yea, Please review
Valon had plans as to how he would spend his Fourth of July, most of which involving various ways to set off fireworks.
He had not intended for those plans to include Ember screaming in his ear at eight o'clock in the morning, but apparently they now did.
"Gah!" he yelped, rolling out of bed and onto a pile of dirty laundry. He rubbed his head and looked up at the girl standing over him, glaring at her indignantly. "Was tha' really necessary, Ember?"
"Yep!" she replied cheerfully, tugging at his leg insistently. "Come on come on come on!"
"Why?" he asked, debating on whether he should go back to sleep on the pile of dirty laundry he was currently on top of.
The other girl pouted, glaring at him before starting to pull him from the room. "Get up and go to the kitchen or I promise that I will drag you down the stairs," she grunted, a strained expression on her face.
"All righ', all righ'!" he snapped, getting to his feet and rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. "'m goin', 'm goin'."
He followed after the overexcited Ember drowsily, continuing to rub his eyes even as he went down the stairs. When he got to the kitchen, though, he felt his mouth drop open in surprise. The room had been made over with red, white, and blue streamers; a birthday cake sat on the table and red, white, and blue balloons were scattered throughout the room.
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" three female voices squealed, causing the startled Australian to fall backwards. (He wasn't expecting them to pop out from different places, in his defense.)
"Were we too enthusiastic?" Ember asked, looking at the Hispanic girl and Skye.
"Maybe," the two girls said in unison.
"Was it necessary for you three girls to scream that loud?" Alister asked. "I think you broke my eardrum."
"Yes," Ember said, grinning goofily up at him. "Lola, I need your help with his present. Mind coming with me to go get it?"
"Sure, as long as I don't have to go through the chimney," replied Lola as the two girls left the room, leaving the four bikers in the kitchen.
"Wha's going on here?" he asked, looking around him in confusion. When his eyes landed on the cake he noticed that his name was written on it and a frown marred his features. "My birthday's not 'til December. You blokes on somethin'?"
Raphael and Alister exchanged glances with each other before their gazes went to Skyler expectantly.
"Wait, why do I have to do it?" she questioned.
"Because you asked for the info and you're the one who wanted to do this for him," Alister supplied flatly.
"What is going on?" Valon asked, and this time there was an angry tremor in his voice. "I like cake as much as the next fella, but I was sleepin' upstairs 'n' I was comfortable 'n' 'avin' a good dream. So wha's all this about?"
Skye sighed and stepped forward. She watched the teen with a slightly sympathetic expression on her face. "Valon, do you remember when I asked Kaiba to do a background search on Raphael?"
Valon blinked. "Wha' are you talkin' about?" he asked a tad too hastily. "I wasn' in your email inbox that time, honest!"
Skye rolled her eyes. "Alister already ratted you out," she explained, and Valon shot a betrayed expression at the redhead.
Skye hesitated, and then she continued. "Well, I also asked if he could look up something else for me," she stated, handing him the piece of paper that she was holding.
Valon took the paper, and looked at it questioningly. The color drained from his face. "What is this?" he asked hoarsely, although the expression on his face told them all he knew exactly what this was.
Skye opened her mouth to reply but now the Australian was handing the paper back to Skye. "This is fake. Dartz couldn' even find it," he said brusquely, eyes flashing.
"But this really is your birth certificate, Valon," said Raphael quietly, reminding them that he and Alister were still in the room. "It's an official document. No tricks this time, Valon. We wouldn't joke about this."
Valon stared at the document and brought it back to him slowly, studying it intently for several long minutes before his shoulders slumped dejectedly. The other three bikers exchanged awkward glances—now what were they supposed to do?
"Wha' about my parents?" asked Valon sharply, startling the three of them. "It's got their names on this paper, but what about them? Did Kaiba find out where they are now or wha' they're doing?"
Skye flinched. She had not even realized that by giving Valon his birth certificate that she would be opening a very old wound. She shook her head slowly. "He didn't tell me," she said quietly. "I don't think he found anything on them."
Valon's jaw clenched and he looked at the certificate again. "I see," he said softly, his eyes downcast. He paused, and then suddenly all three of them were locked with an intense glare. "'N' 'ow long did all of you know about this?" he demanded
Alister answered him this time with a prompt, "Right before we took off for France. Skye wanted to give it to you as a birthday present and asked us not to mention it, not to mention none of us were in the whole, 'let's get awkward' mood. Not that it seems to have worked—here we are, in awkward mood moment."
Valon glared at them for a moment longer before he turned on his heel and disappeared from the kitchen. Skye went to follow after him but Raphael caught her arm and shook his head.
"Let Valon digest this for a bit, Skye. You gave him something that's a little hard for him to take in all at once," Raphael said gently. "Give him time. He'll come around."
"I didn't mean to make him so upset. I though it would make him happy," she stated, "I didn't think, he would react like that—"
"This would have happened whether you gave him the stupid thing on his birthday or not," said Alister bluntly, though there was no ire to his words. "Like Raphael said, give him some space for a bit. He'll figure out he's being a baby and snap out of it."
"Come on," Raphael started after another awkward silence fell. He put his arm around Skye's shoulder and steered her toward the backyard. "In the meantime let's get ready for the barbeque."
"What smells so good?" Lola asked, walking into the backyard with Ember a few hours later.
"Burgers," Skye said, grinning at her friend. "And where have you been all this time?"
Lola made a face. "Ember wanted to buy Valon several packs of fireworks but wanted me to buy them for her since she's been banned from every fireworks place in Domino," she replied.
"Nice apron," Alister snickered as he passed, looking at the "Kiss the Cook" apron that Raphael was currently wearing.
The other man glared at the redhead. "Don't make me get the squirt gun," he threatened.
"It's a little bitty gun. I'm not scared," Alister huffed.
"You should be. I invested in a super soaker this time."
Alister froze at that statement.
"I like the apron," Skye said, kissing Raphael on the cheek as she passed by. "And besides, it's not his fault. That's the only apron that we have."
"Where's Valon?" Ember asked, dangling from the roof upside down and looking at them curiously.
"How the heck—you know what, no. I don't want to know how you got there in the space of three seconds," said Lola with a groan, massaging her temples.
Raphael and Skye looked at each other and Skye's gaze shifted to Valon's bedroom window.
"I'll go talk to him," Alister said with a huff, rolling his eyes and making a face.
"Is he really the best candidate for that?" asked Skye in an undertone as he passed by them.
Raphael nodded. "Don't worry. He'll be fine—he may not seem like it most of the time, but believe me when I say he's just as worried as you are."
Valon scowled as Alister suddenly threw open the door and walked into the Australian's bedroom. "'ave you ever 'eard of knockin'?" he snapped, shutting the radio off.
"What is this 'knockin'' you speak of and how does it apply to a door?" Alister asked sarcastically.
Valon glared. "Wha' are you doin' up 'ere, any'ow?" he asked sullenly, sitting up on his bed.
"To figure why your panties are in a twist," replied the redhead flatly.
Valon let the jibe slide. "You blokes looked up my birthday 'n' then didn' tell me 'bout it!" he growled.
"For the record, Valon, Skye found out right before we left for France. Now, I don't know entirely what happened while we were there, but there was that night when Raphael and Skye both disappeared and came back around ten. Whatever happened probably drove it out of her mind," he added when Valon opened his mouth. "If she'd known this would upset you, she would have said something sooner."
He paused. "Besides, Valon, Skye gave you an official document. You can use it to find your parents now, rather than having to guess perpetually as to where they are."
Valon was about to reply, when Skye barged into his room, running towards the redhead. "Control your girlfriend," she gasped out. "Ember said something and now Lola's trying to drown her. I can't even stop her!"
"It must be serious if you're up here and you can't get her to calm down. I'll go sort that out, and in the meantime you two kiss and make up," replied Alister boredly as he left, though his pace quickened when he heard a string of curse words drift in from outside.
Skye cleared her throat in the suddenly awkward silence and glanced at the other biker sadly. "Valon, I'm sorry. I—"
"Sorry f'r what?"
"For not telling you."
Valon shook his head, the tension leaving his shoulders. "Naw. I's fine…I kinda know why you wanted t' 'old off f'r a while," he said quietly. "I's just…I finally got an official date f'r my birthday and I 'ave a chance t' find my mum and dad and with me it never works out tha' easy."
He looked back at her and asked, "Why did you do this for me?"
"I wanted to get you something memorable for your birthday. I figured you would want to know when your birthday really was," Skye explained. "Plus, you're like my younger brother. I had to do something for you."
There was a long pause. "Thanks," he said at last, giving her a small smile.
"You're welcome. Besides, that document answered a question that Raphael, Alister and I have been wondering about a long time," she said mischievously.
"Which was?"
"Why you are so addicted to fireworks. Having a Fourth of July birthday would certainly explain it all."
It took a while, but Valon finally let out a laugh. "Tha' it does…'ey, do I smell 'amburgers?"
"WHERE THE HELL'RE ALL MY FIREWORKS?" everyone heard Valon roar from his room.
The three bikers and Lola, who were watching the sun going down from the back yard, started to laugh.
"WHERE ARE MY FIREWORKS?" Ember's scream followed from the basement, causing the four of them to burst out laughing harder. They'd taken precautions this year; there was no way they wanted to get blown away again and so they had hidden every last firework they could find.
The first of the fireworks whistled by them ten minutes later.
"What the hell!" Skye screamed, ducking a firework as it flew over her head. Exchanging alarmed glances, the small group went to the front lawn.
Valon and Ember stood there, soot all over their faces, with firecrackers surrounding them. Even as they watched Valon and Ember simultaneously lit a small bundle and tossed it into the air, cackling maniacally as the fireworks exploded.
"I thought we confiscated them all," said Lola, puzzled.
Alister groaned in sudden realization. "We did, but we forgot to check Ember's house."
Skye: That was an interesting day.
Valon: Yep, I found out who my parents were.
Alister: I'm going to make this quick. For anyone who reads this, please leave a review, or else Valon will go to your house and launch fireworks.
Valon: Oye! I would neve' do anythin' like t'at.
Raphael: Just review. Jupiter will personally thank you for doing so.
