The next four months came and went with no sight nor sound of C.A.T. Co. Leon would go into work every day and often wouldn't be back until Aliya was in bed since he was trying to work on solutions for them to bring down C.A.T. Co and let Aliya live a normal life. He and Helena had decided not to tell her that her bite could infect people unless it was necessary. Helena had since gotten the cast off and her arm had completely healed and the incident from a few months earlier had become a distant memory for Helena. It was January now and it was Aliya's thirteenth birthday and the two agents wanted to make sure that she had a great day.
Helena looked up as Aliya entered the kitchen, rubbing the sleep from her eyes as she sat down at the table.
"There's the birthday girl," Leon says from where he sat at the table as he saw her.
"Thanks. It feels weird to not celebrate it in a lab," she says as Helena puts some pancakes down in front of her.
"Are you sure you don't want an actual birthday party with some classmates?"
"Yeah, I'm sure. I'm fine just having Trevor over for dinner and cake," she shrugs as she ate her pancakes, ignoring the look Helena was giving her.
"Lena, relax. It's fine, some kids just don't want birthday parties," he says, getting up and putting his coffee mug in the sink, "I have to go. I'll be back for dinner; I just have to stop by Sherry's to pick up her gift." He adds, giving Helena a kiss and ruffling Aliya's hair and walking out the door for work.
"What did you guys get me?"
"I honestly have no idea because Leon wouldn't tell me and I'm not telling you what I got you."
Aliya pouted, "you're no fun."
"Hm, I know I'm so terrible," she says with a chuckle as she left Aliya to her own devices while she went to do laundry.
Aliya got up from the table and decided to watch TV in the family room while waiting for Trevor to arrive. She was so excited for these moments where she got to be a normal kid and it was moments like these that she almost forgot about the experiments that she went through at C.A.T. Co. Aliya perked up when she heard the doorbell ring.
"I'll get it!" She called, getting up and rushing to the front door, making sure to look through the peep hole just to verify that it was Trevor, which it was.
"Hi Trevor!" She says excitedly once she opened the door, giving her best friend a hug.
"Happy Birthday, Aliya." He says as he enters, holding a wrapped present for her.
"You didn't have to get me anything," she says, taking the gift and closing the door.
"Well, I wanted to, and I hope you like it because it costs me three weeks' worth of allowance."
Aliya smiled as she ripped the paper from the box and opened it to discover a new sketch pad and paints with charcoal for her artwork.
"Thanks Trevor! I love it!" she says, giving him another hug as Helena came down from putting laundry away.
"Glad you could make it Trevor. You know your mom was welcome to come too."
Trevor shrugged, "it's alright. My mom had to work today but she wishes you well."
Helena smiled and went to start baking Aliya's birthday cake while the two kids went upstairs to find something to do. She was glad that Trevor didn't seem to be grieving his father anymore or that he wasn't asking questions about his father's death.
Helena had been deep in thought and hadn't noticed Leon enter as she put the cake in the oven until he cleared his throat and made her jump.
"Jesus, you can't sneak up on me like that," she says, turning to look at him as her eyes fell on the tiny, corgi puppy in his arms.
"Aliya's present."
"No," she starts, "we are not giving her a puppy," she adds, crossing her arms in disappointment.
"Oh, come on! She's going to love it."
"Okay? And she may not even continue being with us when this is all over."
"And she can bring her with to the next place as an emotional support animal. Look at this face?" he asks, holding the puppy up to Helena's face, allowing for the puppy to lick her. Helena scrunched her face, not appreciating the puppy kisses. She was more of a cat person than a dog person.
"My answer is no."
The two went back and forth like this for several minutes until they heard Aliya come down the stairs and into the kitchen.
"Guys come on. It's my birthday so please don't_" she starts, but stopping and squealing as she saw the puppy that Leon was holding.
"Is that for me!?" she asks, jumping up and down excitedly.
"Yes, she is." Leon chuckles, handing the puppy to her and Aliya held the puppy close as if her life depended on it.
"I love her!" she says as Helena pinches the bridge of her nose. Helena was glad that Aliya was happy, but she couldn't believe that Leon spent so much money on a dog.
"I can't believe that you just spent two grand on a puppy," she says, looking at her boyfriend in disapprovement.
", I spent six hundred on her at a shelter. The price included her vaccines and the price to get her fixed later. You're welcome."
Helena sighed, "alright but let me make one thing clear. The only care taking that I am doing is during the day while you're at work and school. Once one of you is home, she's your responsibility."
"Yes ma'am," Leon nods, Aliya nodding in sync with him.
"Do we even have a crate? Food? Toys?"
"Yeah, it's in my car. I hid all of that at Sherry's," he says, turning to Aliya, "what are you naming her?"
"Sylvie. After the Pokémon, Sylveon," she says without missing a beat.
"Since when do you like Pokémon?"
"Trevor introduced it to me. I like all the Eevee's and stuff, but Sylveon is my favorite."
"That settles it. Sylvie it is so why don't you bring her up and play while I bring her stuff in."
Aliya smiled and went to rush back up to her room with the puppy where Trevor was waiting. She couldn't wait to show him her new companion.
"You know, I really wish you had talked to me before getting her a puppy."
"I know and I'm sorry. I just wanted her to have a good birthday since this is her first one not in a lab."
"I know and if you had talked to me first, I probably would have agreed but it was sprung on me."
"You're right. Next time I'll ask but you can't deny that this isn't the happiest you've seen her."
Helena sighed, "I guess you're right, maybe a companion is just what she needs."
Leon chuckled as he started to bring all the puppy's stuff in, putting the dog food in the hall closet, the bin of toys by the TV in the family room and the food and water bowl by the kitchen island. Finally, he brought the crate up to Aliya's room and put it at the foot of Aliya's bed. The two kids played with Sylvie until Helena called up to tell them that dinner was ready, and Aliya put the corgi in the crate while they all ate.
"How was work, daddy?" Aliya asks as Helena put a plate of lasagna in front of her.
"It was good. I'm glad to be home at a reasonable time."
"Have you been working late?" Trevor asks as he poked at his lasagna.
"Yep, work has me working on a lot of cases and paperwork, but my schedule should be back to normal now."
Trevor nodded, "that's good. My moms been working a lot more since my dad died."
Leon cleared his throat, unsure of what he could say to make the kid feel better. He lost his parents when he was young, and he was barely able to cope himself.
"I'm sorry," Helena says, "I know it's rough. When my mother and father died, I basically raised my younger sister, and I did the same. I threw myself into my work because I was suddenly caring for the two of us and didn't know how. It's going to get better, okay? You lost your father, and your mother lost a husband. The love she feels for you and the love she feels for your dad are very different."
Leon gawked at Helena from where he sat at the opposite end of the table. He had never heard Helena say something so wise since he had known her.
"So, what kind of cake are we having?" Trevor asks, not wanting to ruin Aliya's birthday with this kind of talk.
"Aliya requested a chocolate cake, but before that I have a gift for her from both me and her dad." Helena says, gesturing to them to get up and follow her.
Aliya and Trevor got up and followed the two adults, wondering what else they could have possibly gotten for her. Aliya stuck close behind them as they went to one of the spare bedrooms that they had been keeping Aliya out of for the last month much to her confusion.
"So, Aliya, we know how much you like art," Leon starts, opening the door and gesturing for Aliya to enter.
Aliya crossed her arms and stared in confusion as she entered the guest room and Helena turned the lights on. Her eyes widened as she saw the bedroom had been completely made into her own personal art studio. She had her own easel with sketch paper that was bigger than herself and she had a special cabinet with various paints and brushes.
"You guys didn't have to do this," she says, feeling tears prick at her eyes, noticing that they had hung up some previous drawings that she made for her art class at school. She had never felt so much love from anyone before and Leon and Helena weren't even her real parents, but they were going above and beyond these last four months.
"You deserve it," Helena says with a smile, "also we got permission from Hunnigan for you to paint on the walls and decorate them. Express yourself. Just keep the paint in the bedroom."
Aliya smiled and hugged them both, shocking them since Aliya had never shown them any kind of physical affection and always expressed discomfort at being touched.
"Alright now how about we all go have some cake?"
"Cake sounds great right now," Trevor says, feeling a little jealous that Aliya was so spoiled by the two when his own mother was always at work, and he felt as though he didn't exist to her sometimes. The four went downstairs and Leon cleared their dinner plates and brought out the dessert plates while Helena brought the cake over to the table, placing the candles on the cake and lighting them. Leon dimmed the lights and started recording on his phone as they all sang happy birthday.
Aliya was beaming as they sang to her. Most kids would feel awkward being the center of attention for their birthday, but she loved it.
"Alright make a wish and blow out the candles," Trevor encourages his friend, who closed her eyes as she thought of a wish to make before finally blowing the candles out in one breath.
"What did you wish for?" Helena asks, taking the candles out of the cake and beginning to cut some pieces for everyone.
"If I tell you then its not going to come true, mom," she says, flipping her hair in typical teen fashion.
Helena chuckled as she gave the first slice of cake to Aliya and then gave some to Trevor and Leon and finally cut a slice for herself. The small group ate their cake in silence and then decided to watch movies for the rest of the night with Aliya and Trevor managing to fall asleep on the floor with the dog in front of where Leon and Helena were sitting. The two agents quietly got some blankets and covered the two teens and then went to bed themselves.
"I think she had a good day," she says as she got into her side of the bed.
"Good day? She had a great day."