Scarlett: Me too. And I'm so glad that you think that, I like writing everyone else's scenes. I love writing Gem as well.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

"Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday to you!"

Lily lifted her head from Connie's shoulder, and forced a smile as Iain kissed her head and handed her a neatly wrapped present with a bow. He then handed her a bunch of envelopes, looking a lot more excited than she was.

Iain hoped that Lily would feel happier on her birthday, but in fact she was having one of her bad days again. She'd slept all day, she hadn't eaten, and even though she was out of bed she was still in her pyjamas. He'd almost cancelled her birthday meal and when he'd brought it up, Lily had just shook her head.

He wasn't sure why because she was clearly feeling down, but he hadn't questioned it.

"Happy Birthday beautiful," Iain said. "This is from me, alright? I hope you like it."

Lily nodded faintly and anxiously fiddled with the ribbon that was keeping the package together. She was quite aware of the fact that everyone was watching her; Iain, Connie, Alicia, Ethan, and Robyn. It was too much. Maybe she should have just let Iain cancel the entire affair, but she hadn't realised how difficult it would be.

"Hey, are you going to open it?" Connie asked quietly, and gave her arm a gentle nudge. "We all want to see what he's got you, and whether it's clean or not."

"Hey, what do you mean by that?" Iain chuckled. "I do clean!" He shook his head and turned back to his girlfriend. "Come on Chuckles, don't worry about the others."

He placed a comforting hand on her shoulder and she carefully undid the ribbon. She then peeled away the paper to reveal a cute, cuddly monkey, a notebook, and a set of different coloured pens. Lily smiled and looked at the tag on the monkey, noticing that he was called Iain. She picked up the notebook and saw that on every page, there was a lovely motivational quote, and her smile grew even wider. It was such a lovely gift.

She gulped and opened her mouth, but she couldn't even thank Iain. A small tear escaped her eye and she turned to face him, feeling surprised when he pulled her in for a hug.

"Don't worry about it," he whispered in her ear. "I can tell that you like it."

Lily nodded and picked up the monkey, hugging it to her chest. Iain stroked her hair and rested his chin on the top of her head, wishing that he could take her pain away.

"That monkey is soooo cute!" Alicia said, leaning over to feel it. "And it's so soft! Oh my gosh, I love stuffed animals."

"Me too," Robyn gasped. "I have this huge collection of Disney toys in my room. I'm not even embarrassed."

"You lot are such children," Ethan laughed, shaking his head at them all.

"Enough," Connie scolded, rolling her eyes at them all. She brought out a parcel from behind her back and handed it to Lily. "Open my present, eh? I think you might like it."

Lily slowly took the present from Connie and gave her a thankful smile. She took a nervous breath, sat upright and slowly tore the paper off. It looked like a book of some sort. When Lily got a better look at it, she saw that it was a copy of Alice in Wonderland, a better condition than the one that Connie had in her office.

"Do you like it?" Connie asked. "Now you have your own copy."

"I don't understand," Robyn said, and gave the book a puzzling look.

"Lily and I have been reading it in our sessions," Connie informed her, as Lily sat and began to flick through the book. "I keep Grace's copy in my office, but it's a bit old and worn."

Lily smiled and rested her head against Connie as a thank you. The book meant everything to her, and she was so pleased that she now had her own copy.

"That's a lovely present," Iain said, leaning across and kissing her cheek. "Happy Birthday, princess. I love you. And I have another surprise for you as well."

Lily's eyes widened, and she turned to Iain with a terrified look on her face. She seriously couldn't handle any more surprises, it just made her anxiety even worse than it already was.

"No, it isn't anything to worry about," Iain reassured her, and held a hand up. "This Saturday, I would like to take you to the seaside for the day."

"Jealous!" Alicia squealed. "Can't we come?"

"Cal and I used to go to the seaside all the time as kids," Ethan piped up. "It used to be my favourite sort of day out."

Lily didn't seem convinced though. Tears stung her eyes and she looked as if she was about to be sick.

"Lily," Connie whispered, and gave her back a comforting rub. "Listen to me, you don't have to go if you don't want to. Iain just thought that it would be a nice idea, and it'd be a nice change in scenery as well."

"We don't even have to stay for long," Iain said to Lily. "We can go for a bit and if you want to go home, we can do. I'd really like to take you though."

He stroked at her hair and tucked a strand of it behind one of her ears. Lily looked down at the book that she was holding and weakly smiled at Iain, whilst faintly nodding her head.

"That's good," Iain said. "Hey, we'll have fun. I promise."

"Whilst the rest of us will be working," Robyn scoffed jokingly. "Where's Gem this evening anyway, Iain?"

"Oh, she's had to pop out for a bit," Iain said, his arm around Lily. "But she'll be back."

As if on queue, they heard the front door to the flat slam shut and Gem's voice appeared. She bounded into the living room, swinging a carrier bag from side to side, and gently leaned over to give Lily a hug.

"Happy Birthday," she said, taking a seat on the footstool and handing the bag over to her. "This is for you."

Lily handed the Alice in Wonderland book to Connie, and peered into the bag that Gem had given to her. Inside was a huge, packaged, chocolate cake with 'Happy Birthday Lily' written on the front in white icing. Lily mouthed 'thank you' at her and took the cake out of the bag so that everyone could have a proper look at it.

"Thanks Gem," Iain said to his sister.

"Don't mention it." Gem gave a shrug of the shoulders. "Lily deserves to have the best birthday!"

Iain smiled and nodded in agreement, leaning against his girlfriend, as she ran her fingers over the top of the cake box.

"So?" He grinned and gave her arm a comforting squeeze. "Who wants cake?"

Just a nice cute chapter there. Sorry it was short. I've been so busy this weekend but I was determined to update. I hope it was alright x