It didn't matter how tired he would be tomorrow, he would make it a special day for Lana as he did for Flynn.
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It took him more than two hours to set up a plan, bake the cake, and call some friends. Thank God that he still had all the ingredients he needed for another cake since he had baked one for Flynn. Sean used most of the birthday decoration that was already placed around the house but changed it enough to be more adult-like.
The cake wasn't a masterpiece after all, but Sean did manage to put enough decorations, mostly chocolatet, to make it look presentable. To be honest he was kind of proud.
After getting everything cleaned, he did a last check up on everything he had planned over the last couple of hours before heading to bed himself. To his surprise, Amélie didn't even wake up this night, which meant that she actually slept 11h straight. Must have been all the excitement about Lana being back that made her tired.
Sean's alarm woke him at 6 o'clock, half an hour earlier than normal. It took him about 10 more minutes before he managed to get out of bed and get dressed, before heading downstairs to place the cake on the kitchen counter.
After that, he went to Amélie, who was patiently playing with a book in her bed. Sean took care of changing her before waking up Flynn and Leo. Both of them were extremely excited when they learned that it was Lana's birthday today, so Sean dressed them quickly before sneaking up to Lana's door.
"Alright, boys. We're gonna sing happy birthday for her when I place the phone down okay?", He said, waiting for their positive response.
After that Sean started the video on his phone, whilst holding Amélie in his other arm. He slowly turned the doorknob and entered as quietly as possible with the boys, before placing his phone on a shelf, so it could record their birthday song in case Lana was too tired to actually recognize everything.
He had to giggle when he saw her still sleeping in peace, looking like an angel.
"1...2....3...", Sean counted quietly to give them a start signal. "Happy birthday to you-", they began to sing, which made Lana open her eyes since she wasn't in a deep sleep anymore. "-Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday dear Lana. Happy birthday to you!", they all sang happily, including Leo and Flynn who decided to do it extra loudly and laughed at one point. Lana grinned as soon as she opened her eyes and sat herself up, to have a good look at her morning greeting. Her eyes even got watery since she didn't expect such a surprise at all. As the song ended Flynn and Leo climbed without any hesitation in Lana's bed to make her fall back in the pillows because of their tempestuous hugs, which made Lana laugh out of joy and happiness. Sean placed Amé at her bed, who was ready to crawl up to her as well before Sean sat down on the edge himself.
"Good morning, birthday girl.", he grinned at the woman, who was tucked in her bed by the boys.
Lana gave them a lot of kisses before wiggling out of their arms to hug Sean. She was so eager to get to him that she was falling unexpectedly in his arms, which made her lose control so that Sean fell backward with her on top. Lana chuckled and pushed her body up again, to be able to look him into the eyes. Her dark curls were slightly falling in front of her face, framing it perfectly. Sean automatically stroked his hand against her cheek up to her hair, to put it behind her ear again. Her brown eyes sparkled brighter when she felt his soft touch on her skin, making her giggle like a teenager.
"Thank you for that sweet surprise.", Lana said smiling. She wasn't able to unlock her eyes with his, instead, her sight shifted down to his lips, then up again. Of course, Sean noticed the certain stare on his lips that made Lana blush about her own actions, which made him grin a little. He did feel the exact same tension she felt and the urge to just smash his lips against hers was almost inevitable.
Without any warning, Sean sat up, making Lana sit on his lap and her face only inches away from his own. He could barely breathe since his heart rate was getting higher and higher every second he could feel her breath on his neck. Lana did look surprised at first, but adjusted to the new condition within seconds. Her heart was pounding against her chest, making it raise. She couldn't control her actions anymore, when she briefly closed her eyes, ready to lean in. Sean did the same without thinking about any consequences for a second. He could almost feel her lips on his, when Flynn was throwing himself on Sean's back, making him stumble backward, away from Lana.
"I am a monkey!", the kid laughed and gladly didn't had a clue which situation he just interrupted.
The woman's eyes widened in shock when she realized what she and Sean were about to do in front of all the children. She cleared her throat, looking for a distraction to get more space between Sean and herself. Lana slapped herself for letting down all her walls and doing stupid stuff, she shouldn't have been doing. Her thoughts were spinning in her head, making her disoriented for a few moments. Once she saw Amélie on the bed, she picked the girl up to give her a morning kiss, like nothing had happened. That was exactly what Sean was trying to do as well: act like nothing happened.
"Let's go downstairs now!", Flynn exclaimed, whilst letting go of his father, running around the bed to Lana. He grabbed her hand and waited for Leo to take the other one, before leading her outside the room.
Sean stayed for a couple of more seconds since he was stunned by the feeling that had overwhelmed him. Was she really about to kiss him? She obviously was the first to lean in, but wasn't she the one mentioning that it would be weird if they would be more than friends? Did he just dreamed about the whole situation and would wake up in a couple of minutes?
He shook his head, looking at Amélie, who was left behind on the bed with him, and took her on his lap before finally standing up. "You did see that too, right?", Sean asked his daughter, not expecting any response. To his surprise, Amélie actually had something to say about that.
"Nana, no no", she squeaked.
"I have no idea what you wanted to tell me but it was something about Lana, so I agree with whatever you just said.", Sean laughed and took his phone, ending the video that recorded basically the whole situation.
As he went down he could see how big Lanas eyes were when she saw the cake on the counter. Touched by the effort that Sean had put into decorating and baking left tears in her eyes.
"When did you do all this?", she asked smiling before pulling him into a hug. The whole moment about that 'almost kiss' was gone in her head and her mental decision to keep her distance from Sean officially vanished before it even started. The blond-haired man laughed about her sudden expression of joy. He loved seeing Lana happy and even being that tired was absolutely worth it.
"Well, Flynn, Leo, and I put you to bed last night since you fell asleep on the couch...and after that, I started to bake because I couldn't let you wake up without a cake on your birthday.", he chuckled before walking past her gently to light up the candle that he had placed in the middle of the cake.
"Make a wish.", he smiled softly, stepping aside to make space for her.
Lana grinned immensely before stepping closer and blowing out the candle with closed eyes.
"Are we ever gonna find out what you wished for?, Sean teased whilst looking straight into her eyes when Lana began to shake her head no with a shy grin on her face. Whatever it was, her expression made Sean think that he was a part of that mysterious wish that he will discover one day.
They all had a big piece of cake for breakfast before Flynn and Leo had to hurry a little to be right on time. When Lana stepped out of the door, she almost dripped over a nicely wrapped box, which had a big blue bow on top. That's when Sean put an arm around her to make her look at him.
"I am going to drop off the boys at school and Amélie at a friend's house. It will take about 45 minutes... and when I come back I am going to pick you up.", Sean grinned.
"What the hell are you up to, Maguire?", Lana laughed and looked down once more at the box in her hands.
"You'll find out soon enough. Now make yourself at home, before I get you. Oh yeah... the box is for you. Happy birthday from Bex.", Sean said before heading to the car to help his kids go in.
Lana was stunned for a couple of seconds before following him laughing.
"Wait. Bex knows about all this?!", she said trying to get his attention but all Sean did was ignore her before he shrugged his shoulders up to make his 'I don't know' expression on his face not believable at all. Without another word he stormed into his car and drove off his driveway.
Lana laughed about his little play before running giggling inside. She felt like a teenager who just got the chance to go out with her crush. She went upstairs to the guest room, opening the box on her bed. Inside was a whole outfit, which fitted perfectly to today's weather. It was a light-colored striped trousers, matched with a simple white top and flat shoes along with a cute necklace and sunglasses. Lana chuckled at the outfit choice from her TV sis, who actually was like her sister in real life. The last piece of the box was a big note from Rebecca, which made Lana laugh.
"Wear it with sass, sis! Xoxo Bex"
By now Lana was extremely thrilled to put on her new clothes, so she made her way to the shower to get a refresh. She was way too excited and literally danced to the other room, crossing Lola's path, who jumped up and down when she saw her owner that happy.
"We're going out Loli! I think Sean and Bex are up to something here.", she chuckled before hopping into the shower. After she washed her hair it took a while to actually take care of her curls since she wasn't going to do any styling apart from her naturally curly hair. After drying it on minimum heat, Lana decided to apply just a little bit of makeup before putting on her new outfit. It fitted perfectly and matched with her personality in many ways, which she absolutely adored.
After putting some of the jewelry on, she heard how the doorbell rang; just in time, she thought.
It actually was Sean, who was standing grinning in the doorway, pointing at Lana up and down.
"Wow... you look really beautiful.", he grinned shyly, continuing his sentence before Lana even had the chance to answer something. "Let's grab Lolas leach and we're good to go.", he said and made Lana smile. She was glad that he had thought about Lola, since she needed a walk in the morning and was very used to it.
So Lana got her dog and hopped into the car with her, excited for what was going to happen. Sean chuckled about her behavior and went to the driver's seat, starting the car. Lana was trying to convince Sean to tell her where they were heading for the entire ride, which wasn't a long one. But even in those 15 minutes, Lana managed to annoy Sean to a level where he raised his voice at her whilst giggling. "Will you be quiet for once?", he laughed. "I am trying to concentrate and find a parking lot. We are almost there. Gosh. You're worse than the children!", he said amused, which actually made Lana shut up for at least two minutes. He parked the car and got Lola out of it before taking Lana's hand.
"I... Ehm... I don't think it is a good idea to walk hand in hand in public. You never know if some is taking pictures... and I don't really wanna spread rumors.", she said shyly, not knowing how he would react. In fact most of the time she didn't even bother thinking about topics like that but since Tanya's death was only a month ago it really could lead to bad media of some sort. She didn't want this memory to be ruined by something like that. Even if the possibility of Sean getting recognized was low, the chance was there and today it was an obstacle in her opinion.
Sean just nodded understanding, putting a hand on her lower back to push her slightly in the right direction before pulling his hand away again.
"The Japanese gardens?", Lana grinned when she saw the big letters above a massive, extremely beautiful entrance. She looked in astonishment up to the golden ornaments that were totally breathtaking. As soon as they walked past the entrance Lana felt a wave of nature hitting her. The park was beautifully made, not looking over artificial at all. Trees she had never seen were planted next to a pathway, which was leading around a lake with several birds swimming on it.
"It's gorgeous.", Lana managed to say, looking up to the sky and spinning to see every inch of her surroundings. Sean grinned at the way she acknowledged everything she saw, realizing that Lana was wearing the most beautiful accessory in the world. Her smile.
"Yeah, it is. Remember that I always wanted to take you one day? Looks like today is that day.", he laughed slightly. "I have nothing planned specifically, so I was just wondering if you would be up to walk a bit around? They have beautiful walks and even an animal section.", he said.
"I would love to! I want to see the whole park if possible.", she grinned and took his hand, giving a shit if anyone would see them. This just felt right and nobody could stop her from feeling otherwise. It was the most relaxing few hours she had in a long time. They wandered through the different varieties of the park, without any hurry, whilst talking about stupid stuff that made them laugh almost the whole time. Lana could swear that they even had laughed more than they actually talked.
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A/N: Here we are. Part one of Lana's birthday. There is still more to come.
In addition to that I wanted to give a shout out to FuzzyFowl
There are two stories in the making right now and I am in love with both. Give it a shot even if you're not shipping them. I can assure you that I never heard about the ship of Lana and Jordane from Why woman kill before but the writing is just amazing and totally convinced me to keep reading.