Inbox • SEBASTIAN STAN

TWENTY FIVE

THE DAY OF Pippa's birthday had finally come. She'd gone about her morning in the usual way (along with the addition of the song that Lucas had so kindly recorded and sent to her, as promised). She'd gotten up, had breakfast, gotten showered and dressed and then headed to work. She had refused to take the day off, no matter how many times Dakota had told her that it would be fine for one day without her being there, so was going into work and planned to be there half an hour early to open up and set everything up for the day.

However, when the brunette had walked around to open the shutters, they were already pulled up and open. There was the faint scent of coffee already lingering in the air and whistling was coming from inside the bookstore.

Pippa frowned and adjusted the strap of her bag that rested on her shoulder. Dakota stood behind the counter, drying off some mugs and plates she had just taken out of the dish washer and carried through. "Good morning birthday girl," She smiled.

The now twenty-nine year old narrowed her eyes at the more-chipper-than-usual blonde. "Why are you doing that?" Pippa questioned, walking towards her.

"Doing what?" She asked, putting down one cup and picking up a different one to dry with the cloth in her hand.

"Being all morning person," She answered after a moment of hesitation, trying to figure out how to word it; Dakota was one of the sweetest girls she knew, but she didn't deal well at all with early mornings, it's why she rarely went early to open up.

"No reason," She shrugged, although the smile on her lips told Pippa otherwise.

"You're a rubbish secret keeper," She commented. Dakota stayed quiet for a moment, until she couldn't contain herself any longer and let out a squeal.

"There may or may not be a surprise waiting for you in the break room." The blonde mumbled quietly after a moment, "But you totally didn't hear that from me."

Pippa rolled her eyes and shook her head, but couldn't hide the grin she was now wearing; she had a sneaking suspicion that she knew who the surprise was from.

"Well go, what're you waiting for?" Dakota urged her forward and Pippa grabbed the cup of coffee that was waiting for her on the counter before she set off walking, heading through one door and down a short corridor to the break room.

She opened the door to reveal Sebastian sitting on the couch with his feet up on the coffee table and something resting beside him.

The actor held a finger up to say one second and whipped his phone out of his pocket. He typed out a quick message and a few short seconds later, Pippa's phone buzzed in her bag. She laughed slightly, put her cup down on the table and grabbed the cell.

Puppy:

We're still allowed to hug, right?

She shook her head, letting another short burst of laughter slip past her lips and it brought a smile to Seb's face as he stood up, grabbing the two presents which sat beside him. He held out the bunch of flowers to her, it was quite possibly the biggest bouquet she'd ever seen in person, and when she took it off him it was filled with daisies in all different varieties.

"You remembered?" She asked, glancing up at him.

Seb nodded, handing her the envelope he held in the other hand. "It's just a card, nothing special," He shrugged before reaching into his back pocket and pulling a final gift out, although Pippa was too busy focusing on the flowers and the card to notice.

"I'm just going to get a vase to put them into, I'll be one se-" The brunette began to ramble but Seb gestured to the glass vase that was already half-full with water, sitting on a table in the corner of the room.

"Dakota's idea, not mine," He added with a smile on his face as Pippa went and put them in the water for now, she'd arrange them later, she mumbled as she did so.

She then returned, standing in front of Seb much like she had the first time they met. She felt a little sheepish, she didn't know why; she knew him, and this wasn't their first meeting, although it felt like the same thing all over again.

"Happy Birthday," He finally said, realising that he hadn't wished her well yet.

"Thank you." She responded before Seb pulled her into a warm hug, with his arms tightly around her, the box from before still in his hand, although he tried his best to allow it to go unnoticed.

Pippa stepped back after a moment, and decided to take a seat down on the sofa so Seb followed her lead, sitting down beside her, but leaving enough distance between them so that he was sure he wasn't too close to make her uncomfortable.

"I have one final thing for you too." He said after a moment, allowing Pippa to take a sip of her coffee first.

She shook her head, spotting the box in his hand, "You really shouldn't have, you didn't have to. Honestly, you gave me enough already."

"Well," He laughed, "I'm hardly gonna take it back to the store." He handed over the last gift and watched on in a kind of anticipation as Pippa opened it.

"Oh Seb," She gasped, looking at the necklace which lay neatly in the box, it was simple but perfect, "It's gorgeous." She grinned, taking it out of the box and holding it up to get a better look at it.

The actor shrugged, "I wanted to."

"Would you?" She asked, holding the jewellery out to him, wanting him to put it onto her.

"Uh, sure," He nodded and took it off her as she turned around slightly. Seb brushed the hair away from the back of her neck, causing warmth to stir within Pippa's chest, before he put it around her neck. The clasp was a little fiddly, but after a couple of failed attempts and bursts of nervous laughter, he managed to get it opened and then fastened. "There," He smiled proudly as Pippa turned back around.

"Thank you," She said once again. And Seb smiled, a real genuine smile that he couldn't hide even if he wanted to. He enjoyed spending time with Pippa, and definitely thought they should hang out more often, but another part of him thought it wasn't fair to let her get so used to having him around so much as his hiatus would end in the not too distant future and he'd be away an awful lot of the time. But, he supposed that that just meant they had to make the most of their time before he did get called back to set.