Bday Gift: SURPRISE

Halliwell manor was buzzing with activity, it was Shadow’s birthday and the Halliwells were throwing her a surprise Twentieth birthday bash.
“Jeremy, we’ll need more balloons” Sharon said as she hurried through the entrance hall.
“At once my lady” said the skeletal butler, who was currently standing on the ceiling and adjusting the black and purple streamers that adorned the chandelier.
“Hey mom, how many people are on the guest list?” Jonathan called, “The kitchen ghosts need to know so we can set up chairs”
“It’s going to be us, Shadow, Ranga and their bunch” she called back, “Lock Shock and Barrel should be here  as well”
Jonathan dashed off to set up the dining room. He almost crashed into Elric who was frantically inflating purple and black balloons. “When are they showing up?” he asked, “I’ve still got to wrap her presents!” he whirred,
“They should be here in… HALF AN HOUR, OH FUCK!” Jonathan screeched,
The residents of the manor began moving so fast they were a blur; they had to make sure everything was perfect….

Shadow walked through the briars after Ranga, the sun was beginning to set, casting an eerie, yet beautiful red glow over the area.
“Why are we here so early?” Shadow asked, “Things don’t really start around here until after dark!”
“You’ll see” Victor smirked; he walked up to the door and knocked three times.
Shadow looked confused when Jeremy didn’t open the door as usual, “Where is everybody?”
Ranga opened the door, the lights were off, and nothing was visible in the darkness.
“Hello, anybody home?” Shadow called,
The lights suddenly went on, Jonathan and the others were all sanding in the entrance hall, “SURPRISE!” they all cheered, Ranga and Jonathan wrapped her in a hug.
“What the…” Shadow stammered,
“Happy birthday Shadow!” Jonathan laughed, “Sorry bout the scare, it’s what we do best!”
“You did all of this for me?” she said,
“Of course, you’re one of my best friends!” he said, “How could I let your birthday go by unnoticed”
“In that case… Let’s party!” Shadow cheered, they all dashed into the dining room where a feast of ghastly (and normal) delights awaited them, along with a birthday cake that nearly touched the ceiling.

Later that night, when the food had been demolished, and Shadow’s cake had been decimated as well, the partygoers were all relaxing in the library.
Ranga produced several game boards, “Who’s up for twister?” She laughed,
Everyone was soon laughing and contorting themselves on the game board, Elric laughed and called out random colors and body parts, he wasn’t even using the spinner, “Left knee green!” he laughed,
“That’s all the way across the board!” Jonathan gasped; he finally reverted to a skeleton and threw his leg onto the spot.
“You’re cheating!” Shadow laughed, she quickly began tickling him under the arm, which led to everyone collapsing in a laughing heap.

The next game that they played was Spin the Bottle and truth or dare at the same time. Whoever it landed on was instantly put under a powerful spell, which made them either tell the truth, or do whatever Dare the spinner challenged them to.
Ted smirked evilly as the bottle landed on Lock, “Lock, I dare you to kiss Ranga!”
The other partygoers began laughing hysterically, “NO, I DON’T WANNA!” the devil screeched, the spell began to drag him towards Ranga,
Ranga sighed and leaned forward, lock kissed her on the cheek, “BLAARGH!” He cried, he began scrubbing his tongue on the carpet.
The bottle landed on Jonathan next, “Jonathan, tell us an embarrassing secret about you” Lock said,
Jonathan’s face suddenly went blank, “I still sleep with a teddy bear” he blurted out, “Dammit Lock!” He screeched as the girls all laughed at him. The teenager and Devil began to roll on the floor trying to strangle one another.

A short while later, when Lock and Jonathan had tired out, Sharon stood up and clicked her fingers, like she had just remembered something,
“Shadow, we almost forgot to hand out your presents!” Sharon said,
“Presents, you guys got me a present?”
Elric came forward carrying several boxes wrapped with various gothic wrapping papers.
Barrel hopped up and down, “Open mine first!”
Shadow opened the box and produced a brand new notebook and an empty, heart shaped box. “Um, Barrel, isn’t there supposed to be chocolate in this?”
“Oh yeah, sorry…” he said,
Shock presented Shadow with a small black box, inside was a pair of black gloves with bone decals on them. Shadow happily wore them while she opened the others.
Once she had opened all of the other gifts, Jonathan came up and presented her with a large, black leather-bound book.
“What is it?” She asked,
“Open it and see!” Jonathan smiled,
Shadow opened the book and gasped in surprise, inside was a huge collection of magically animated photographs. “Hey,” She said, “That looks like the day I first met you!” she laughed, the picture depicted Jonathan being frozen solid by Ranga’s attack.
“Yep, it’s a scrapbook of all our escapades!” Jonathan smiled,

They began to look at the photos, Shadow saw Jonathan being inducted into the MSI, and the time Crag blew the two of them sky high with one of his experiments.
“Look!” Ranga said, “Those are from the New-Year’s eve Masquerade ball!”
Sure enough, the page Ranga had indicated to was filled with pictures of everyone in their costumes from the night, Jonathan and Shadow posed in front of the Town Hall in the center of the page. Jonathan’s phoenix getup was even wilder than Shadow remembered.
“Oh look, there’s Ted!” Victor said, A picture in the bottom left corner showed Ted, dressed up as an Ace of Spades was attempting to waltz his way out of the frame only to be drug back in by Ranga, dressed in her wildest Wraith costume.
“Where’s Sharon in this page?” Barrel asked, “I know she was there…”
“There she is!” Papa said, “Dancing with Jack!” In that photo, Jack and Coleman had switched partners and were waltzing with each other’s wife.
A few pages later Shadow came upon their recent game of Quidditch, It was impossible to tell who belonged in which photo, because everyone was hurling through the photos in pursuit o the snitch, she spotted herself on Sabre, and Jonathan getting struck by lightening.
“There’s just one photo missing” Sharon smiled, “Jeremy, if you would”
Jeremy quickly set up a camera in front of the fireplace, everyone quickly gathered around the crackling flames.
Jonathan put his arm around Shadow, “On three, everyone say “Happy Birthday Shadow!””
“One… Two… Three!” Jeremy counted,
“HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHADOW!” everyone cheered,
The camera snapped and a photo slid out, the magic of the camera went to work instantly, the photo showed everyone laughing and cheering to the camera.
Jonathan put the photo in the slot on the front cover of the book.
“You didn’t see the best part yet…” Jonathan smiled,
He opened the book to the very back; on the last page everyone had signed the page with their own personal message.
“Hey, where’s yours?” Wench asked, Jonathan’s signature was absent from the page.
“It’s at the front” he replied, Shadow opened the cover and saw a note written in gold lettering with Jonathan’s unmistakable handwriting.
“To Shadow,” She read,
“Thanks for all the memories, and for being such a great friend, here’s to many more adventures to come,
Sincerely yours,
Jonathan C. Halliwell”
“Aww, that’s so sweet!” Emma teased,
“Thanks mate,” Shadow said,
“Anytime” Jonathan smiled,
The friends all settled in for the night, laughing and talking of adventures past, and dreaming of those yet to come…