Happy Birthday KakaAnko!

I do not own.

"Come on, Caesar." Beverly waved from the hill.

"I'm… coming…" Caesar panted as he tried to keep up. His backpack was almost as large as himself.

"Caesar, we're just going on a hike. Do you really need all that stuff?" Beverly asked with a tinge of annoyance.

"Sí… es… necesario.*" Caesar got to where Beverly stood. He leaned over with his hands on his knees.

"Do you want some help?" Beverly asked feeling sorry for him.

"No… of course not…" Caesar replied surprised. He stood up and wiped the sweat from his brow. "I can do it."

"There's still several more miles before we reach the summit." Beverly said looking up the mountainside.

"I know, I know… I can make it." He shifted the backpack. "Let's go." He walked ahead. Beverly shrugged and followed but she soon outpaced him as the backpack held him back.

"Really, Caesar… I can carry that for a while. I don't want you to die from exhaustion." Beverly said. The terrain was getting rockier and the path steeper. "We can take a break, if you want."

"If we take a break, we might miss the sunset." Caesar said shaking his head. "I don't want you to miss it."

"Oh, I don't think a 5 minute break is going to hurt either way." Beverly plopped herself down on some large rocks.

Caesar gingerly sat down next to her with the backpack still on.

"Um, wouldn't it be more comfortable to take it off?" Beverly asked.

"No." Caesar said.

"Okay, suit yourself." Beverly sighed.

Caesar had pulled out his phone from his vest pocket and was typing something in.

"The wind is shifting to a westerly direction." He noted. "That would give me a slight boost to get up the mountain. We must take advantage of it." He jumped up and started moving up the hill. Beverly raised an eyebrow but got up to follow him up.

After scaling up several more windy pathways, they reached the overhang. When they arrived, Caesar dropped his load and collapsed onto the floor, sweating and panting.

Beverly dropped next to him. "You know, next time I suggest a hike, you can say no."

"Hiking is good for you." He said unconvincingly.

"Not if it kills you." She observed wryly. "And the whole point is to enjoy the nature and to see this view… which you can't see because you are on your back staring at the sky."

"I will look at the views as soon as I straighten out my spine." He said before sitting up. Glancing out at the vista, he nodded. "Very nice," He said before dropping back on the floor.

Beverly couldn't help but giggle. "Thanks for coming out with me. Sis, said the views of the sunset are beautiful from up here."

"You're welcome." Caesar said unmovingly from the floor.

"So what's in the backpack." She asked.

Caesar didn't answer but he pulled a remote from another vest pocket. Raising it, he pressed the button in the middle. The backpack shuddered before it transformed before Beverly's shocked eyes.

The side pockets detached and became a couple of chairs. The body of the pack elongated and unfolded to reveal a table with an assortment of snacks and drinks. The straps stiffened and grew into legs.

"Holy cats!" Beverly exclaimed. "You were carrying all this, the whole time?"

"Not the whole time." Caesar muttered. "I did sit for a minute twenty-three seconds."

Beverly sprawled down next to him. "That was very sweet of you. But next time a picnic blanket and some beef jerky would have been fine."

Caesar looked at her with a scandalized expression. "What kind of date would that be?"

"The kind where I wouldn't have to carry your dead carcass down the mountain." Beverly propped her head up on her hand.

"Oh, you wouldn't have to do that. We're not climbing back down. He pressed another button on the remote. The legs on the backpack became squat while the hand strap stretched to become a steering column. "We're taking the sled back down."

"Really? With all that inventing, you'd think you'd have thought of a way to bring all this up." Beverly looked with awe.

"The robotic legs kept malfunctioning." Caesar admitted. "Besides going down is easier than going up."

"I guess that's true about all things in life." Beverly said. "But good things are worth working for. Like the beautiful sunset you're missing lying there."

"Give me a second." He raised his head and looked as the sun dipped below the horizon. "That's nice." His head went back down.

Beverly bent over and kissed him. He looked at her with surprise.

"You're nice." She smiled.

He smiled back and pulled her down for another kiss. She pulled back with a laugh. "Now we're both missing the sunset."

"But we won't miss the stars." Caesar said with a lopsided grin.

"Point taken." She leaned in for another kiss.

Sí, es necesario. = Yes, it's necessary.

Hope you have a great birthday, KakaAnko. Wishing you the best.