Shadows May Fall

Nikolai's Car Dream

(someone try to come up with a better name for this chapter. I dont even know what to call it. Comment down below!!)

When the group of two turned five arrived where Petra planned to have Bean's birthday celebration an odd feeling washed over Petra.

She had celebrated birthdays before, been given gifts and had a loving family. All things Bean never revieved in what was supposed to be his childhood. As Petra glanced at Bean who stood next to her, she could sense how uncomfortable the situation made Bean.

Cassiopeia and Nikolai had begun to share what they had been up to since they had seen each other, leaving Alai walking behind the other four tapping away on his phone. Caliph duties, Alai had explained while the group waited for their table where would eat Bean's true first ever birthday dinner.

After waiting until 6:57 as noted by a very bored Nikolai after waiting for an hour, they were seated at one of the most prestigious restaurants in Greece named for the sea it looked over, The Mediterranean.

Petra was relieved to finally sit down, even though she was still early in her pregnancy, she was still exhausted from standing in the overflow area for an hour. Bean sat down next to her, his brown eyes still showed his discomfort of the social situation.

Nikolai sat across from his genetic twin and Cassiopeia next to him across from a content Petra. Alai sat at the head of the table next to the other two males.

As they waited for the waiter that had just showed them to their table Petra looked around and admired the décor of the high end restaurant. The group was seated right by a large full wall window which showcased a beautiful view of the sun setting over the large sparkling body of water.

The interior of the establishment was very modern but also had a more classic vibe which the place was known for. When the group's waiter came, Petra found herself gazing out the window at the ocean.

The waiter placed five menus on the table with a polite smile, "Hello, welcome to The Mediterranean tonight. My name is Jon and I'll be serving you tonight." He dug around in a pocket in his uniform pants for a moment and then pulled out an order pad and a pen. "Can I start any of you out with something to drink tonight?"

Bean was the first to a answer beside Petra, "I'll just have a water without ice." The waiter scribbled down Bean's drink order and then turned to Nikolai who ordered the same.

Petra glanced at what was listed for drinks in the fancy font on the menu and opted for the same as the other two while Alai and Cassiopeia ordered some sort of fizzy limade.

Once the waiter returned with drinks Nikolai grinned like a maniac, "Guys, we should go do something crazy after we're done here."

Bean raised an eyebrow, "I never like the sound of something crazy Nikolai, you said that while we were in the launchy barracks once and we both ended up getting frozen and stuck in the middle of the battle room with no one awake to unfreeze us!"

Nikolai flashed Bean a sly grin, "Its not my fault you didnt see it coming. You're the one that has the higher IQ thats ever been recorded!"

Bean sighed and rolled his eyes, "I knew that it was a bad idea and that we would get stuck, I just knew you wouldn't listen to me so I let you go along with it."

"Well you could have told me!" Nikolai huffed.

Petra laughed at the brother's quarell and asked Nikolai, "What do you want to do? Bean can tell us if its a bad idea or not."

Nikolai glanced at Cassiopeia who shrugged, "I think we should go buy a sports car."

Petra raised an eyebrow, "A sport car? I don't understand how thats crazy Nikolai."

Bean's genetic twin shrugged, "I dunno, we've all got these crazy pensions from the Fleet, the three of you even more than I, so I think we should go buy a sports car."

At the same time Bean and Petra answered. Petra said, "No way."

And Bean who had said very little throughout the night surprisingly said, "Lets do it."

Nikolai looked at Bean Shocked as did Petra. "Really?"

Bean's stoic face broke and a contagious laugh broke free, "No you idiot, you'd kill all of us within thirty seconds behind the wheel!"

Nikolai huffed, "I would not! I'm a fantastic driver! I'm better than you!"

"I don't drive Nikolai." Bean said fighting back full out laughing so he didn't attract too much attention. "Of course you're better than me."

Petra rolled her eyes, "Thats a definite no Nikolai, you're not buying a sports car with your pension or Bean's or mine. No sports car for you."

Alai laughed, "Don't buy a sports car Nik, I already own one."

"Then let's go! I want to drive it!"

Alai chuckled, "Nik, even if you were a good driver, with a license I may add, I still wouldn't let you drive my Porsche."

Nikolai's face dropped and Cassiopeia put an arm around his shoulders, "Someday you can get a sports car Nikolai, and then we can go on long rides along the water front." Nikolai grinned.

"Couple moment!" Said Bean jokingly from across the table and Nikolai glared at him. Cassiopeia just blushed and looked overly confused at Bean's comment.

Bean kept laughing with his signature Bean grin on his face when Bean's phone that was sitting face up on the table lit up and started buzzing. The caller ID showed that Ender was calling.

"Look at that, you didnt tell Ender it was my birthday did you Petra?" Bean said with a smile while answering the phone. "Hey Ender."

Bean's eyebrows furrowed in confusion as he listened to the other end of the line, "Ender is that you?"

Petra looked at Bean with a funny look and he made eye contact and shrugged, "Hang on, I'm going to give you to Petra." Bean took the phone from his face and motioned to hand it to Petra. "Hey Pet, its Carly."

Petra took the phone from Bean and just listening to Carly's erratic breathing on the other end of the line just had Petra worried, "Carly? Are you alright?" Petra carefully spoke.

A shaky voice cane from the other end of the call, "I'm ok-kay, b-but Drew. Peter....Alexander." Petra could hear the tears let loose from Carly's end of the line.

"Carly, is Valentine there?"

A simple "Yeah" croaked through the phone line as Petra turned to Bean, "Bean, we should go home and pack some travel bags." Then after more sniffles the phone was turned over to Valentine.

The five left the restaurant after paying their small bill and in the car with Alai driving. Petra was still on the phone with Valentine, but a few minutes into the ride Valentine finally said goodbye as the two had to stop for a little while.

"So what's all that about Pet." Asked Bean.

Petra looked into Bean's brown eyes and frowned, "Achilles is dead."

Bean grinned, "Thats a good thing, why do you look so unhappy?" Petra could understand that Bean was excited to hear of Achilles' fall after he had been tormented by the boy for now seventeen years.

"Ender is dying Bean."

A look of shock crossed Bean's face, "Well shit."

Here's this chapter! I'm sorry its not a double update but I'm still swamped with judging so maybe I'll get another update out early this week, we'll have to see how much time I have.

Killing Achilles was prolly one of the only good things that came out of chapter twenty six of Stay Strong, well and killing Alexander too. I hope you guys like this chapter, don't forget to follow, vote and comment!!!

PS ~ Guys....Stay Strong is at more hat 1300 reads!!! Yay!!!!