Forever Charmed

Screwed

"Cupcake hotline, this is Carmilla speaking," Carmilla says on the first ring of Laura's phone. "How may I not help you?"

Danny sighs on the other end. "Is she still resting from... everything?"

"From going after my mother and then getting drained by Javna?" Carmilla clicks her tongue. "You betcha."

"Okay, well, that actually works out better for planning out her birthday party. Which we can do that now," Danny says. "Putting you on speaker for LaFontaine, Perry, Kirsch, and J.P."

Carmilla's eyes widen. "WHAT?"

"I said, I'm putting you on spe––"

"No, not that, you overgrown carrot," Carmilla snaps. "Laura's birthday is coming up?"

Kirsch snorts. "Bro, did you not read Laura's file from the Elders?"

Carmilla guiltily looks over at the large folder, crammed with a stack of papers inside. "Uh, I–– ah... Pfft."

"I think she just deflated," LaF comments.

Carmilla rolls her eyes. "Look, when I got the folder from the Elders, we had already established we were gonna be in a relationship. Reading about the milestones in her life, or her interests, or whatever–– it felt like cheating."

"Aww!" Perry squeals. "You wanted to get to know Laura on your own!"

"I mean, yeah, whatever," Carmilla mumbles.

Danny laughs. "Alright, alright, Karnstein. Laura's birthday is in a couple days, so how do you wanna handle this?"

Carmilla pinches the bridge of her nose and closes her eyes, taking a deep breath. Then something occurs to her. "Why hasn't Laura mentioned it?"

There's a pause on the other end and Carmilla taps her fingers on the kitchen countertop impatiently.

"The attack that killed our parents was the day after her birthday," Perry says softly.

Carmilla sucks in a breath, treading carefully. After all, Laura's mom died along with Perry's mom, Danny's dad, and LaFontaine's mom.

"She doesn't really like making it a big thing," LaF explains. "We usually do a cake or cookies and some presents."

"We went a little crazy the year she could legally drunk, but that's a story for another time," Danny says. "But we figure this year is different coz she's not at Magic School, and she... Well, she has you."

Carmilla takes this in slowly. She flops on the couch. "Gee, no pressure."

Danny chuckles. "Karnstein, we're not trying to force you into anything. We just wanted to know if we had to work around any plans you may have had."

There's a pause as Carmilla's mind begins to whirl.

"O-Okay," Perry stammers out. "How about we plan a small celebration? A few hours in the middle of the day–– and you can either plan something for her outside of that, or not. Does that sound doable?"

Carmilla lets out a breath she didn't realize she'd been holding. "Yes."

"And if you need our help picking out a present or something, let us know," J.P. offers.

"I don't need help with that," Carmilla growls.

"Yikes, no need to bite my bro's head off," Kirsch says. "And no getting her a TARDIS nightlight. I already called dibs on that."