MHA #2 | Friday Evening - Diego and Five's Birthday Party!

Let the record show that no one had asked Annie to throw anyone a birthday party, but that really hadn't stopped her from throwing the full weight of an Annie January effort into all of this.

The apartment was decorated fairly tastefully, she thought -- just because this was an unsolicited party didn't mean she wasn't keenly aware of who they were celebrating, here. So while there were streamers, they were a tasteful charcoal gray and silver combination. While there was glitter, it was black and vaguely iridescent. The napkins were printed in a tartan pattern that didn't exactly match Five's uniform, but the intent was clear. A banner carefully hung across one wall -- interestingly, also across a door that led into the guest room, since no one needed to go in there today -- that read HAPPY BIRTHDAY DIEGO & FIVE.

And, most importantly, there was a ton of food and drinks in the kitchen, not to mention the shots Summer was providing and the two -- yes, two -- cakes that Annie had ordered. (It hardly seemed fair to make them share, especially when this was the first time either of these guys had really celebrated his birthday at all.)

So: welcome to a birthday party for a man turning thirty, and his brother who was turning fourteen-slash-sixty-four. Probably the most normal birthday party you'll attend this year.

Somewhere in Australia, Apparently | Saturday Morning

So, yesterday had been kind of a disaster, and really, Annie was still kicking herself for not seeing that coming. It wasn't her fault, exactly -- she'd moved past that line of thought -- but she absolutely had gotten caught up in the idea of planning and throwing this birthday party without really considering what Diego (and Five, but Diego was her bigger concern right now) actually would want.

Which was why they were now waking up to 600 acres of privacy. Annie had called in every favor she had, thrown her name around way more than she liked to do, and spent more money than she wanted to think about in the wake of the cakes hitting the ground. And while her assistant had promised her that what she'd secured for them (even on such late notice) was awesome, and they'd obviously had to trek up here last night before collapsing into bed, Annie was still kind of amazed once she woke up enough to look out the windows.

"Wow," she breathed as she sat up to look at the view, trying not to wake Diego yet -- they needed to talk about yesterday, still, but she also wasn't gonna deny the guy his sleep. Not after last night.

And the view would be here. Along with what looked like miles and miles and miles of quiet.

[for the dude and NFB for distance]