"You've not told me the whole story," Adi finally plucked up the courage to challenge her best friend – or should she be thinking of her as a girlfriend now? – while she was helping out with some part for one of the bikes. Toni had all the skills she needed, and the strength to pull, lift, or twist whatever parts needed adjusting, but when it was a case of needing an extra hand to hold something, Adi was happy to lend one of hers.
"What story?" Toni grunted, not taking her eyes off the tiny nut she was adjusting.
"I'm staying here so long, and Mom hasn't protested at all. You're not telling me something."
"Umm... yeah. Your mom loves you, you know? She wants you to be happy."
"Yeah, but she'd be so worried about me, just from not seeing me for so long. I know her better than that."
"She kind of guessed we're... whatever this might be. I think she wants to give us some space to work it out."
"If that was true I'd be in for important mother-daughter talks, and a lecture about remembering not to agree to things just because it's easier, and all that stuff. Seriously, Babe. What have you told Mom, that she's okay with me being here? Does she know there's no adult supervision?"
"I might not have mentioned that part. I think maybe she assumed Uncle Walt was going to be here for the whole month, certainly before Dad went away again. But..."
"Please. I know you've done so much for me, but this is worrying me. I'm having a great time, but I'm constantly waiting for the other shoe to drop. Where's the catch? Tell me, please."
"Spoilers, Babe. It's more fun if you don't know."
"I don't like surprises. Please, tell me."
Toni turned her head at last, and finally their eyes met. And when she saw that Adi was serious, she put her tools down on the bench and gave her full attention.
"Okay. Britney will probably kill me. But they're setting up a surprise party for you. It wouldn't have taken so long, but there's your brother to deal with as well. He needs to learn, and properly understand, that he can't just say your name at random. It's like an intense discipline course, based off some of the tricks they use in military boot camp, coupled with some stuff that's almost like hypnosis but buried in conversation. It's a lot of effort, but I reckon they got a good chance of getting even the most rebellious kid to behave on just one issue. But they needed you to be somewhere else while they did it."
"That's like the biggest birthday present ever," Adi chuckled. "But... a surprise party? Doesn't sound like my kind of thing. Are you sure it'll be fun?"
"That's another reason. Britney wants you to be happy, you know? But she's not sure what you want. So they're making this big plan to make sure that no matter how you feel on the day, you'll get exactly the kind of party you're in the mood for. And I've double-checked everything to make sure you can enjoy it without getting turned into a baby, unless that's what you really want."
"No, I'm not going to–"
A handful of seconds, and Toni moved back again. Adi giggled just a little, and blushed as she commented: "You really know how to shut me up, Babe."
"And I know you're not going to ask to be a baby. You never asked for this, and you're avoiding that file now, right? So it'll wear off soon. But it's given them some ideas, and I really think you'll like some of them. And I promise you, you'll have the choice on the day. But please, act surprised?"
"Anything for you, Babe."
"Anything?"
"Anything.
"Then... could you pass the pliers? I really want to get this finished today."
Author's Note: This whole sequence from the end of school up to the birthday party was supposed to be a single chapter, but in the end I broke it up into smaller bits. Hope you're enjoying it; and for the people not yet on Patreon, I wonder if you can see where it's going. This certainly surprised me when I was writing it!