A/N: This is September's fanfic challenge by lilacmermaid, which was Birthdays and Anniversaries. I'm choosing to go with something light and fluffy by writing about each of the McCord babies' first birthdays. (I made up the months for Stevie and Jason, and set Alison's in the month when Tamerlane aired.)

June 1995

When Elizabeth woke up on that bright summer morning, it was quiet in the house.

That was the first sign for her that something had shifted. Maybe, she thought as she rose from bed and left Henry there asleep, she was overthinking it. But today was her baby's first birthday, and that didn't feel like a little thing at all. She padded down the familiar hallway and peeked into the nursery- little Stevie was sitting in her crib, babbling quietly to herself, and Elizabeth thought fleetingly that maybe she wasn't ready for this first year of motherhood to be over just yet. That she wasn't ready for the year of being roused at sunrise by the crying baby to end already.

But it was. The planet had made its full trip around the sun since little Stephanie McCord had come into the world, even when Elizabeth had thought it might really be the end of the world if the baby didn't stop crying. It had been a full year- minus a few hours- since Elizabeth had officially become a mother. And now, the baby who had looked up at her for the first time on that day and changed her irreversibly, looked up at her again. This time, there was recognition on her little face, happiness and the eager joy of a one year old, and she reached up for Elizabeth like it was nothing, the routine, reflexive action of seeing her mom. But to Elizabeth, it wasn't nothing at all.

Elizabeth leaned over the railing of the crib and picked up the baby, who continued to babble and chatter happily, unaware that this was anything other than an ordinary day in her life. Elizabeth snuggled her close and wished that she could stay so small forever.

"Happy birthday, little girl," Elizabeth whispered to her. Stevie screeched happily and squirmed in Elizabeth's arms, already restless and ready to move. Elizabeth tried to balance keeping Stevie entertained while she changed and dressed her, it was a routine that she and Henry almost had down. Elizabeth had just managed to get Stevie into her clothes when Henry walked into the room. Elizabeth looked up at him and she couldn't help but smile at the way his eyes lit up when he looked at their daughter. Henry had proven himself in the last year to be the father Elizabeth had always known he would be, and then some. He did sometimes more than his fair share of the work of parenting, and never complained. He could quiet the baby when no one else could, and while Elizabeth had certainly had her hormone-induced bouts of jealous hysteria and intense self-doubt over the baby favoring her husband, she truly loved the way Henry bonded with Stephanie, and she was always immensely grateful. She knew she'd lucked out with Henry. Now, she watched the baby light up in her arms at the sight of him, reaching her little arms out to him. She laughed as she passed the baby to her husband.

"A year ago right now," Elizabeth began, looking at Stevie and tracing a finger tenderly over her cheek, "Mama was going through the worst pain of her life to bring you into the world. So maybe remember that when you think Daddy is the center of the universe, okay?"

Henry grinned and bounced Stevie in his arms, much to her delight. He turned toward Elizabeth and wrapped his arm around her shoulders, leaning in to press his lips to her head, in such a warm and familiar way that it could have been no one but Henry.

"Happy birthday," he whispered to her.

"It's her birthday, not mine," Elizabeth laughed. Henry shrugged slightly.

"Happy anniversary to parenthood, then," he amended. At that, Elizabeth smiled brightly.

"Back at you," she said softly. Henry turned his warm hazel eyes on Stevie, still calm and happy in his arms.

"And happy birthday to you, little girl," he said softly, leaning into the baby and kissing her cheek as he snuggled her closer. She squirmed against him, impatient with his cuddling, but Elizabeth thought her heart could burst, watching the two of them.

"Henry, can you believe she's a year old?" Elizabeth asked wistfully as she rested her head against Henry's shoulder.

"No," he admitted, turning a soft gaze on his wife. Watching her learn to be a mother to their baby over the last year had been the greatest joy of his life, and he could not wait to see what the second year held for them.

"Can you believe," he began, "that we have to host a bunch of annoying parents and toddling one-year-olds in…" he paused to check his watch, "six hours?"

He was expecting her to groan at the prospect, but she just smiled and reached out to take the baby from him.

"What?" he asked, confused.

"Better get on it," Elizabeth called over her shoulder as she left. "Parties to prepare!"

And Henry grinned as he followed, thinking that life couldn't get better.

March 2000

"You know, after Stevie's first birthday party, I thought we learned not to do that anymore."

Elizabeth was on a stepladder hanging baby blue and pink streamers from one corner of their dining room to the other when she posed the half-statement, half-question to her husband over her shoulder with a look back at him. Henry shrugged, like he didn't know how they'd ended up here any more than she did.

"It's...well, you know, that was a fluke, it won't be like Stevie's."

Henry sounded like he was trying to convince himself more than Elizabeth.

"Well," Elizabeth sighed as she stepped down from the ladder, "it's too late now to do anything but wait and see."

Henry couldn't argue. Their five-year-old was napping in her bedroom, and baby Alison was sitting in her high-chair, playing quietly while her parents decorated for her first birthday party, which was only two hours away. The decorating was done, the cake was in the fridge and-

Henry leaned over to peer out of their kitchen window.

"Blue skies," he announced. There would be no chance of the thunderstorm catastrophe that had occurred at Stevie's first birthday party, ruining the cake, soaking the guests, and ending with Elizabeth locking herself in the bathroom in tears. But Henry was determined that little Alison's first birthday would go much more smoothly. They had almost five more years of parenting experience under their belts now, and Henry's vivid memory of his wife spending the baby's birthday sobbing was more than enough motivation for him to make sure that it was better the second time around.

Not only for Elizabeth, but also for Alison.

He turned to pick the baby up from her high chair and she cooed at him, calm and sweet. They said the second baby was always a nightmare- Henry couldn't even count the number of people who had said that to him and to Elizabeth when they announced her second pregnancy. But baby Alison had proved them all wrong. Where Stevie had been stubborn, Alison was calm and compliant.

Lately, Henry had begun to wonder what a third McCord baby might be like.

But for now, it was all about their little one-year-old, and though he knew Elizabeth was hesitant about the party, he could see her visibly soften as she came to stand next to Henry and their younger daughter.

"Hi, sweet baby," Elizabeth said softly. Alison reached out with her tiny hands toward her mother's face, as sweet and gentle as she could be. Elizabeth could practically feel the tension about the party melting away as she smiled at her little girl.

"Wanna come see Mama?" she asked, holding her hands out to the baby, who leaned forward in Henry's arms, pitching her tiny body toward Elizabeth. Henry laughed and handed her off to his wife, who cuddled Alison close and kissed her on the cheek.

"At least one of them is Mama's girl," she sighed. "Right, Ali?"

Stevie had been going through an even more intense phase of attachment to Henry lately; she wouldn't even allow Elizabeth to brush her hair. But for right this moment, it was just Henry and Elizabeth and Alison, and Elizabeth was standing in the middle of the dining room surrounded by the streamers they'd hung up, and she was thinking about how grateful she was to be the mother of two healthy, beautiful little girls- even if one of them wanted nothing to do with her half the time.

"Happy birthday, Alison," she murmured to the baby in her arms. Alison squealed happily and Elizabeth couldn't help but laugh.

And maybe she was ready for that party after all...

"You know what?" Elizabeth asked Henry, later that night with the birthday girl and her big sister already tucked into bed. Elizabeth was leaning against the wall in the hallway and Henry was beside her, as always.

"What?" he asked,matching her hushed tone due to their close proximity to the girls' bedrooms.

Elizabeth smiled slightly.

"I don't think this birthday could have gone any better," she admitted, recalling the way Alison had smeared pink and white icing all over her face and the older kids had run around with Stevie giving just the right amount of distraction and focus on the baby. Henry had even gotten the whole cake-smashing event on video, and not a single temper tantrum was had in the McCord house.

Henry smiled as he took a deep, comfortable sigh and wrapped his arm around Elizabeth, leaning in to kiss her temple in a messy, familiar way. His voice was warm and slow when he leaned in close to her ear and whispered,

"Maybe we could go for three."

May 2002

"Okay," Elizabeth announced. "Guess what time it is, little McCords."

"Birthday!" Alison answered, proud and enthusiastic from her booster seat at the table. Elizabeth laughed at the four-year-old's declaration and smoothed her hand over Alison's dark curls.

"It is a birthday, baby," she said.

"But it's Jason's birthday all day, Ali," Stevie said. At nearly 8 years old, Stevie was every bit the big sister; bossy and opinionated and strong-willed, just as Elizabeth and Henry had always imagined she would be.

And as for baby Jason...Elizabeth looked at him sitting in the high chair at the end of the table, and she couldn't help thinking of the day a year earlier, of her emergency c-section and of meeting the final member of their family for the first time. It had been a hard year- from the c-section recovery to going back to work, and the aftermath of 9/11, Jason had been the bright spot in every single day of it.

"Yes," Henry was saying. "It is Jason's birthday all day, but right now is when we're going to celebrate it. Does anybody know what we do to celebrate a birthday?"

"Have a party," Stevie said. Henry had to laugh; they'd explained to Stevie about ten times already that for this year, they were just going to celebrate at home with their family. It had felt right to him and to Elizabeth in the wake of such a trying year, to celebrate the completion of their family all by themselves with no fuss.

"Sometimes," Elizabeth said patiently. "But we're having just a family party with Mom and Dad and your brother and sister, remember?"

"Right," Stevie said, and then her blue eyes, so like Elizabeth's, lit up.

"Cake!" she exclaimed.

"Cake!" Alison repeated.

"Cake!" Henry added, looking at Elizabeth with such joy in his face that she could have cried. But she had cried enough this year; tonight was about all of that joy and the tiny boy it was wrapped up in.

"Cake indeed," Elizabeth said.

A few minutes later, they were all crowded around the dining room table. A small blue cake with a single white candle was sitting in the center, and Elizabeth was hovering over Jason's highchair, catching his chubby little hands patiently each time he reached for the flame.

"Are you guys ready?" Henry asked, and got enthusiastic yesses from the girls, plus a happy shriek from baby Jason.

So he began to lead the family in a chorus of 'Happy Birthday', out of tune and messy and loud and everything that Elizabeth could have every dreamed that her family would be like. They all cheered and everyone but Jason blew out the candle and in a matter of moments, Jason was covered in blue frosting. There was no big party for this birthday, and Elizabeth wondered vaguely if the icing was going to stain Jason's skin or the tray on his high chair, it was such a vivid blue. But as the girls chattered and Jason happily buried his hands and face in birthday cake and Henry laughed, Elizabeth didn't care at all about the cleanup or the weather or anything else- just this.

Their first birthday as a complete family. She couldn't have wished for anything more.