Nikki had struggled to come up with present ideas for Trish's birthday. Sure she'd bought her stuff before but that was different, that was little spur of the moment things on random, insignificant days. This was the first time she'd had to get her girlfriend something for a specified gift giving day. A day with expectations around it and other people around to judge her on them. In the end she'd settled for two gifts, a small piece of jewelry her family had helped pick and a book.

She'd liked the stupid book idea at the time, thought it would be a laugh, but now as she glanced round at Trish's extended friends and family she was getting somewhat nervous; there was a slight possibility of the book getting her slapped.

While the Shepards were a large but compact, tight knit family, the Stewarts were the opposite. Normally it was just Trish and her Mum on Mindoir but the event had pulled in relatives from across the galaxy and it was the first time Nicola had seen most of them.

"Your Uncle's sorry he couldn't be here but he couldn't get leave so soon after the promotion." Somebody informed the birthday girl, handing over a well wrapped box as Nikki snuck closer to the central group.

"It's OK, I understand. The Alliance-" An involuntary gasp cut off Trish's reply as she opened the gift. "If he sends presents like this he can miss ALL my birthdays!" For a brief moment Shepard found herself pulled by conflicting emotions, happiness at the obvious joy on her girlfriend's face and a twinge of jealousy that it hadn't been her to cause it.

The jealousy faded quickly however as Trish entered full geek mode, excitedly spouting off facts and figures concerning the new top of the range omni-tool she was in the process of attaching to her wrist. Her old model placed carefully, almost reverently, into the box for safe keeping. As Nikki looked at some of the other already open presents, many of which had a decidedly 'stereotypical 17th birthday present for girls' feel about them, she was glad at least one of Trish's distant relatives had paid attention to her girlfriend's actual interests.

"Nikki!" Her wandering attention was pulled back in a rush as Trish finally noticed her and launched herself into the youngster's arms, Nicola having to twist them both into a twirl to prevent the momentum knocking them over.

"Happy Birthday beautiful." The resulting kiss caused Nikki to blush, not from the public display of affection itself, but rather the assorted noises from the assembled adults which mostly consisted of themes along the lines of 'Aww!' A shy smile graced her lips as they rested their foreheads together, fingers brushing as she passed the smaller of the two parcels over. Trish barely had time to flick a finger under the first strip of sellotape before they were interrupted by a twenty-something year old male.

"Your mum says it's time for the cake. Presents were supposed to be handed in to the table." He directed the last bit at Nikki, conveniently overlooking the many gifts already handed directly to the birthday girl by guests.

"I'll go when I'm ready, a few minutes difference won't be the end of the world." Trish stated, shooting a withering glare at the older relative.

"But your mum said-" The death stare proving ineffective she looked apologetically at Nikki before gesturing at the larger, hard looking package the younger girl was still holding.

"Is that breakable?" Nicola shook her head bemused, offering no resistance as Trish took it gently from her before spinning round and thumping the man on the shoulder. "Sean. {thunk} Leave {thunk} us {thunk} alone. I'll be there {thunk} when I'm {thunk} ready." He grabbed the makeshift bludgeon and hurried away, depositing it on the relevant table among a pile of other gifts. Trish twisted back round to her girlfriend with a sigh, completely missing the amused sparkle in the eyes and the way Nicola had to bite her lip to hold back the laughter as she launched into an apology.

"Don't worry about it." Nikki interrupted popping a finger on the elder girl's lips to shut her up. "At least I know you're making good use of my present." Her smirk was returned by a groan. "Come on, we should head over."

"Not yet. I want to open this first." She held up the small parcel, unwrapping it carefully while Nikki watched nervously. Wrapping paper removed, she glanced up at Nikki's face as she popped the jewelry box lid up, eyes dropping down to look inside. "It's beautiful..." She lifted the chain out, cupping the pendant in her palm as she inspected it closer. "What is it?"

With an incredible display of self-control and tremendous willpower Nikki managed to refrain from the obvious reply of 'a necklace', and the almost as bad answer of 'a heart and crown'. For once actually responding to the question somebody meant to ask rather than the words they uttered, knowing her partner was referring to the strange green and yellow 'gem' in the centre.

"It's heather. Dyed and pressed together, each one's supposed to be unique." Trish held the necklace out, lifting up her hair with her other hand and Nikki obeyed the unspoken command to put it round her neck. "Do you like it?"

"I love it. Thank you"

...

Nikki hadn't intended to abandon her girlfriend. She'd stepped away for a brief moment to get some juice and when she came back the birthday girl had been abducted by yet another group of relatives. She wandered around the party, completely at a loss what to do before catching sight of the telltale blond hair of a member of the Cooper family. Strolling over she was pleased to find Alice and others from school that she could actually talk to without risk of upsetting some strange family power balance.

The peace didn't last long however. Her name being yelled was both the first she knew of the fact that Trish had started opening more presents, and the sole warning before she was hit from over twenty feet away by a copy of 'The Beginner's Guide to Car Mechanics'. Alice was the first to move, picking the book off the floor and chuckling when she saw what it was.

"How dead am I?" Nikki asked as the blonde looked over her shoulder towards the birthday girl.

"Well... she's smiling now at least, but I'd watch out if I were you." Nikki nodded glumly but the older girl's prophecy was forgotten about by the next day. It took a while longer for her to learn that her girlfriend was of the 'forgive but don't forget' variety; Trish waiting until Nicola's own birthday before enacting her revenge.

Despite being the more significant number of 'Sweet Sixteen' Nikki's party was a much smaller affair, nobody flying in from offworld to see her. She was however surrounded by her family at the dinner table when she opened a birthday book of her own, to everyone else's great amusement... 'Flirting for Dummies'.

...

Author's note: You may have noticed Shepard's birthday slip quietly into the last paragraph, she's now 16 and the clock is ticking towards the end of Act 1. Also that Nikki's mother is addressed as Mom and Trish's mother as Mum. There's no real reason for this but it isn't a typo. Hope you're all still enjoying.