Brothers by Blood

Forgotten Birthday

The monastery was silent which was a rare occurrence. Carolin was in a bad mood. Another rare occurrence.

Wu had left early that morning with the boys and Nya and had left a note saying they'd be home a bit late.

With 5 children in the house you'd think Carolin would be glad for some time to herself. But she wasn't.

It was her birthday for Ninjago sake! What's worse no one had remembered! Not even her husband and they'd been married for 10 years!

She'd already checked the monastery twice over and hadn't found a single present. Not even a card. So now she was sitting in her room trying to find a way to pass the time.

She decided to search for hidden presents one more time. While looking under the bed Carolin found a box she didn't remember putting there. She pulled it out, opened it and sighed.

It wasn't what she was hopping for but it was good distraction. Carolin had almost forgotten about the old photo album.

She flipped though the pages before stopping at the pictures of Jay's first birthday. It felt like ages ago. Yet the image was still fresh in her mind.

Zane stood on his step stool looking down at his baby brother. Today was Jason's first birthday and since he was too little to be excited Zane was excited for him. Jay's eyes slowly fluttered open.

"Happy birtday Jay." Zane whispered. Jay let out a happy gurgle in response. Soon Wu was standing behind Zane.

"Good morning Zane." He said softly. "And good morning Jason. Today's your big day." Wu smiled lifting the baby out of the crib.

"Daddy does Jay know it's his birtday?" Zane asked as he climbed off the stool. "Probably not. He's still very little." His father replied as he walked to the changing table.

"Glad to see the birthday boy's awake." Carolin said as she entered. Zane helped his mother wake the twins then followed her to kitchen. After breakfast everyone gathered in in living room.

"Can I help Jay open his pwesents mama?" Kai asked eagerly. Carolin nodded and Kai pull gift off the small stack. It was from him, Cole and Zane and he wanted Jay to see it right away.

Cole took the toy from Kai and handed it to the baby. Jay let out a cute little laugh as as he hugged the blue stuffed bear. "He wikes it dada." Cole smiled.

The one-year-old didn't pay much attention to the other toys after that. He had already found his favorite.

Carolin traced the edge of the picture and smiled. Her baby boy was five now. Before she knew it he'd be driving around Ninjago and going out on dates.

She smiled and searched for the twin's birthday pictures. More then six years ago...

Wu and Carolin crept into the boys room being careful not wake the babies. They gazed down at the twins who were just waking up.

"Good morning birthday boys." Carolin whispered as she picked up Cole. "You're growing up so fast." Wu marveled as Kai rested his head on his shoulder.

Carolin laughed as she watched the babies eat their first pancake breakfasts. Later Zane helped them open their presents.

They smiled as they clutched tightly to their favorites. A soft black and orange blankie for Cole and fiery red stuffed dragon for Kai.

Wu made sure to take a picture of the boys enjoying their birthday cake which was mostly smeared all over their little faces.

Carolin smiled at the memory. Cole still slept with that blankie every night and showed no signs of giving it up any time soon.

And even though Kai could sleep without his dragon he still kept it close by for when he had nightmares.

Finally Carolin found Zane's birthday pictures. Her first born son's special day.

Carolin and Wu sat in bed talking. It was their son's first birthday and they were waiting for him to wake up.

"I can barely believe it. We've been parents for a whole year now." Carolin told her husband. "So far so good. He's growing up. He'll be ten before before we can blink." Wu replied.

"Let's hope not." His wife smiled as fussing noises rose from the cradle. "Looks like like the birthday boy's up." Said Wu as the two of them got out of bed.

"Hello my little angel. Oh, you're getting so big." Carolin cooed as lifted Zane from his bed. Zane reached out for his father who happily took him so Carolin could get dressed.

Later Zane sat in his highchair playing with his new gray stuffed wolf. His parents let him feed himself and laughed as he tried to share his cake with his stuffie.

"I remember that day." Carolin heard a voice say from beside her. She turned to see her husband looking over her shoulder.

"Happy birthday Carolin." Wu said before giving her a passionate kiss. Carolin melted from the embrace and almost forgot that she had been mad.

"You and the kids have been gone all day. You'd better have a very good reason." She warned. Wu stood up and covered her eyes. "Follow me and you'll find out."

He led his wife down to the kitchen. "Surprise!!!" The kids shouted as Carolin entered. On the table there was a big creamy yellow cake. The kids all ran to give her a hug.

"I'm so sorry we left you alone all day. But I had to get the cake and I didn't want anyone to spoil the surprise." Wu explained.

"This is for you Auntie Carolin." Nya said hand her a flat box. Inside was a beautiful framed picture of the whole family.

"I love it." She announced. "Almost as much as I love the people gave it to me."

A/N This past summer I posted the following on my message board...

Hey everyone. I have a goal. My birthday is in September and I'm hoping by then to have gotten
80 followers
700 reads
50 votes
And 30 comments on any one of my stories

AND OM GOSH IT REALLY HAPPENED!!!!!!!
Thanks to you guys Brothers by Blood has gotten
3.40K READS!!!!!!!
290 VOTES!!!!!!!
AND 203 COMMENTS!!!!!!!

PLUS AT THIS TIME I HAVE 140
FOLLOWERS!!!!!!!

And of course I have you AWESOME readers to thank for following my page and sticking with this story. You guys are the best!!!!!!!