The Academy In My Head

A Birthday to Remember

Owen ducked his head around the corner and studied his wife. He couldn't remember being nervous about asking her to join him for lunch in quite some time.

Honestly, it may have been the first time he asked her to join him for a birthday lunch date that he'd actually been nervous.

He remembered being so pleased and impressed about how reserved she'd been and how she merely listened willingly to the bits of information he was willing to provide her with on that long ago December day.

And here they were, four kids later and in a relationship with the eight most important people in both of their lives.

He knocked lightly against the door until her head popped up from where she was working on the accounting for one of their family members. "Good afternoon, darling."

"Good afternoon, my love." She smiled at him before shifting her shoulders slightly. "I wasn't expecting to see you today." She glanced at her calendar and her eyes widened slightly. "Oh my gosh, Owen... I forgot, didn't I?" She bit her lower lip.

Owen smiled softly and pushed his glasses up with a finger. "No, Sang, you didn't forget anything. I promise."

"But I usually have a whole bunch of reminders set on my phone, I have no idea how it's managed to be your birthday already and I'm totally unprepared." She frowned, reaching for her phone to study it.

He crossed the room quickly and deftly lifted her phone out of her hands. "I realize you normally have a lot of reminders as well as help from Sean and Victor to remind you that my birthday is coming." He said.

"You know about all of that?"

His lips tilted up slightly at the corners. "You don't think there's something I'm unaware of, do you? I mean, I am the head of the family."

Her eyes twinkled as she sat back in her chair to study him. "No, I don't suppose that there's much at all that gets by you. You've always been very perceptive, Mr. Blackbourne."

"We'll discuss the situation with the formal name later, Miss Sorenson."

Sang laughed softly. "Well, here we are, on your birthday and I've missed an opportunity to plan something for you. So just what is on your birthday to-do list today, my love?"

"Well, I did make some plans. They're plans that start with us this afternoon and end this evening with an adults only party with our family."

"Is that so? Adults only, hmm? So an early bedtime for the children?"

"Oh goodness, who knows. They've been deposited at Auntie Jessica's house to play with their cousins for a sleepover tonight." He said.

"You gifted Jessica a house full with seven kids? The week before Christmas? Are you insane?"

"I offered a weekend sleepover for New Year's Eve in return, was that not enough?" He arched an eyebrow at her before offering her a hand.

"I suppose that's probably enough of a make up offer." She said, putting her hand in his and letting him brush a kiss to her knuckles.

"Besides, I think she muttered something about having Raven and Corey come over to help watch the kids because she did have a few cakes or cookies to take care of tonight." Owen said.

"Oh, well that just means Raven did something she didn't approve of with classic Russian meddling and he's going to be tasked to watch out for his goddaughter tonight because that girl has been a handful. He'll probably end up with Sophia too because the two of those girls together is a match made in mischief." Sang chuckled.

"Which means that we'll hand both of them off to Luke when it's our weekend with all the kids." Owen said.

"Okay, well, I'm all yours for the afternoon. What do you have in mind?"

Owen reached for her coat and offered it to her, gently helping her put the coat on before he turned her around and buttoned it up. "I was thinking it was a good day to go picnic at the lake, honestly."

"It's probably a fine day for a picnic." She murmured, reaching to put her scarf and hat on.

"Thank you, darling. You've always managed to do so much for my mood on my birthday." He leaned in, pressing a kiss to her forehead. "You always just know what I need."

"I want your birthday to be a happy day at some point." She reached up and rested a hand on his cheek, turning his face down towards hers so she could look into his eyes. "I know the memories are difficult to handle. I have some memories like that myself. But surely, someday, we can start making sure there there are more good memories to balance out the bittersweet ones, can't we, my love?" She pushed up onto her tiptoes and kissed him softly before she rested her hand over his heart as she lowered herself back off her tiptoes. "Does this year feel any different? In here?" she tapped his chest gently.

He tilted his head and studied her for a long moment. "You know, I think that yes, this year is the right year. Let's go to the lake and have lunch. Now that you've given some insight, darling, I believe it is indeed the year to let the painful memories of this day go away and focus on the good memories."

Sang beamed at him. "I honestly love that for you, my love. For us. For our entire family will benefit from the memories you want to make going forward." She tucked her arm around his. "Picnic at the lake it is. I'll assume you've already taken care of lunch?"

"The other favor Jessica did for me was prep and pack our picnic." He chuckled as they left her office at headed to his car.

"Such a lovely sister we have." Sang smiled, glancing up at him. "Happy birthday, my love. Truly many happy returns of the day from here on."

Owen smiled at her before murmuring a thank you as he bent down slightly to press a kiss to her lips.

~Fade~