BENEDICT'S POV
"WAKE UP DAD" came not one but two young but very distinct voices as they walked into the bedroom I'd been sharing with my gorgeous wife Giselle since the day she agreed to leave her flat to Gemma Arterton and move in with me. The two voices in question belonged to my nine-year-old identical twin daughters Danica and Kayleigh, who aside from their now almost dark chocolate brown hair seem to bear a stronger facial resemblance to me than what they do to their mother, although the shape of their face is undeniably Giselle, so she didn't miss out.
Before they come running into the room and bounce onto the bed, which fortunately has been vacated by my 42-year-old bride (though she doesn't look it) I can't help but think about the way my life would have turned out if I hadn't been working with Gemma Arterton on a film that had quite sadly never been released at all, would I have still met Giselle somewhere else or would she have found a life away from the public eye? It doesn't really matter because we have been together now for seventeen years and married for thirteen of those years.
Looking at the other side of the bed as my young girls come charging towards me, I can't help but wonder just where my beautiful Giselle ahs gotten to this morning but the answer comes to me quite quickly as Meta, our Siberian Husky, gently pushes the door open with her nose and in walks Giselle carrying a tray that seems too heavy for her to lift (playing Sherlock for those four seasons has really left its mark on my brain) so when she gets close to my side of the bed, I sit up straight and take it from her.
"Happy birthday darling" she whispers as she leans in and I take the initiative, while at the same time deciding to gross the girls out by kissing her square on the lips and it has the very much desired effect as both Dani and Kay look at each other and bolt from the room with a still very energetic Meta on their heels, Giselle and I share a bit of a laugh as we pull back and she comments on how, "for her age with two young children in the house, Meta is still just as fit and as active as before".
GISELLE'S POV
My man is now FIFTY! I can't believe it, and one certainly wouldn't know he had reached the half-century mark if they were to be looking at him physically, though I guess I've got a part to play in that (smirks). As many times as he has said that he doesn't want anything to really remind him of the fact that he was now starting to lose roles to thirty or forty something's, in my eyes at least, he's still as talented now as he was when he began, but of course being his wife, I am COMPLETELY biased.
Thanks to Martin and Amanda keeping their basement locked these days, I have been able to store the gifts with them as that is also where the kind of celebration that children can have a part in will be taking place. Ben and Martin have known each other for about sixteen years or so now, having first met on the pilot episode of SHERLOCK that made it to a DVD release, and also worked together in some capacity on THE HOBBIT, though while Martin was physically seen as Bilbo, we only heard Benedict's voice as Smaug and then as the Necromancer.
The family-oriented celebration was every bit as successful as Amanda and I had initially anticipated it to be, and the expression on Benedict's face when he saw the new Audi in their 'spare' garage was to say the absolute least priceless, especially since he had given up motorcycle riding after the accident he had when Dani and Kay were barely three, realising that he wanted to live to see them grow up and have a family of their own, though hopefully not wait as long as he did, nor start too early, was more important than risking his life any longer.
BENEDICT'S POV
I will NEVER underestimate Giselle again! That woman is the Queen of sneaky, conspiring all this time with two of our closest friends to give me a 50th birthday party even though I had expressly told them not to bother, that I was more than happy with a celebration here at home where our girls could have their own parts as they were too young to really participate in anything else that may or may not have been going on. but at the same time I have to admit that I do appreciate the lengths they went to for it.
The last thing we were expecting though was for Martin and Amanda to take Dani and Kay for that night to give Giselle and I a chance to be on our own for a night as that was indeed becoming a far few and between occurrence in the last nine years, though nothing was half as important to the two of us as our girls, but to have that time alone with the one true love of my life was deeply appreciated and judging by the fact that Amanda the next morning was trying not to laugh, she could see why.
