1x1 with x_fire

Sami ignored Carlos' delirious rumbling and fell asleep curled against him, completely content to be next to her mate.

----

"So this is a party for Alexi's twins? Alexi who's married to Maria, who's Carlos' little sister? Alexi who's your younger brother right?" Chris asked, Adam had opted to stay behind to bring Vlad up to the house later when he felt a bit better.
"Yes" Sven said, chuckling as he pulled up to Maria and Alexi's house.
"I have three brothers, Vlad's the oldest, then me, Alexi's next and finally Demitri. Alexi's married to Maria, and they have two kids, twins named Serena and Nick. Demitri's married to another shifter, Kristen, don't be surprised if you don't get along with her, she and Sami are always at odds. She's a bit of a loner, and very loyal to the shifter code. Kristen and Demitri have two children, Kristen's daughter Maddie and their son Zach" Sven explained.
"Jesus" Chris murmured tiredly, "Your family sounds awfully confusing"
"You'll get used to it" Sven reassured, slipping from the car and leading the man towards the house. Demitri and Alexi had gone up early in the morning, and it looked like everyone was there now, Carlos and Sami having gone with Alexi. Keith had also gone with Demitri, wanting to check on Alayna, having not been able to call her the previous eveing, he had had a wing issue he needed to take care.

----

"Happy Birthday" Alexi sang out, scooping his children up and kissing their forheads.
"Hey Daddy" Serena hugged him tightly, glancing up as the rest of the family wandered in.
"Who's that?" She asked, seeing Chris.
"Uncle Sven's mate, Sami's older brother Chris" Alexi responded softly.
"Oh..." Serena was a bit confused, "Is he a shifter too?"
"Yupp" Alexi grinned, "Sami has another brother as well, he's coming up with Uncle Vlad later" He murmured tiredly.
"His name's Adam, he can shift as well. Both Chris and Adam have the same form as Sami, a mountain lion" He explained.
"Oh wow" Serena squirmed, getting down to go hug her Uncle and meet Chris.

Sami grinned as Serena came over. She scooped the little girl up, "Happy Birthday guys" She said, hugging the little girl as Nick came after her.
"I want you guys to meet Chris, he's my older brother"
Chris looked at the two children, smiling reassuringly.
"Hi" He murmured, "And what are your guys' names?" He asked curiously.
"I'm Serena" She murmured shyly. Sven grinned, ruffling Nick's hair before picking the little boy up.
"Ready for some fun today?" He asked curiously. Tickling the little boy's stomach playfully.
Chris smiled softly, meeting the children was rather exciting. He tensed slightly, sensing the other shifters inthe room. He looked around, eyes landing on Kristen and shared a glance with his sister. Lovely.

"Dad!" Nick called out, running with his sister towards their father and practically tackling him. Maddie and Zach followed in with Kristen, and their mother bee-lined towards Demitri. She wrapped her arms around him, hugging him as tight as she could muster.

"I'm so glad your alright." Kristen said on her breath, obviously happy now that she was with her husband and the stressful night was over. It had been hard, and this party was much needed. Kristen laced her fingers with Demitri, not wanting to leave his side at all at the moment.

Maddie came over, hugging her father tightly. She looked tired, but other than being a bit runned down, she was happy to see her father practically unscaved. Looking over at Alexi, who was engulfed by his entirely family almost at once.

Kristen looked up, sensing the shifter. She took a deep breath but otherwise seemed fine. She was too happy too be defensive, and since it wasn't really her house, she felt no desire to jump at the three shifters who walked in. In fact, Kristen was revealed to see that Sami wasn't too banged up and Carlos looked pretty good himself.

Sven looked positively radiant. At least ten times better than he had been looking these past few weeks.
Kristen smirked, seeing that he was keeping close to one of the male shifters.
"Alright so let me make sure I'm getting this straight..." Kristen said, walking over though her hand was still laced with Demitri.
"Sami's bonded to Carlos...and last night amoungst the fray, your two older brother-right?-decided to join our extensive family...and Chris is it? Bonded with Sven?" Kristen asked, pointing to make sure she was getting this right.

Maddie couldn't help but giggle. "Mom it's not that hard." she said, laughing to herself.
"We can't all see emotional ties darling." Kristen chided playfully.
"I can't always see them Mother." Maddie countered, but lowered her gaze as her mother shot her a sharp look. "Sorry." she murmured, though she was still giggling.

Demitri smirked, hugging Kristen and taking Zach from her and hugging his son. He glanced around, letting his wife drag him over to Sami and the others. He rolled his eyes playfully at Krisen, noting her ridiculousness as she tried to piece together what happened.

"Actually they joined me before the battle started" Sami murmured, "And yes, Chris and Sven bonded, and Adam's at the house with Vlad, bringing him up later" Sami said with a small shrug, shifing Serena on her hip.

Chris smiled, his cheeks darkening slightly at Kristen's scrutiny. He could feel the dominace rolling off of her, and knew in a shifter pack she would have been a dominate. He was the same, he was just below his father in the pack he had just been part of. Now that he was gone from the pack, he was leader in his sister and brother's little group, just due to pack hierarchy. Not that he was anything like his father at all.

---

Once everyone had been introduced, the rest of the kids invited to the party began to show up.
The adults were currently lying around the pool while the kids goofed around and splashed.

Sami was stretched out in her bikini, chatting animatedly with Sven about healing techniques. She was rather curious about some of the methods he had used the previous night. Chris was stretched out next to him, enjoying himself immensely in just relaxing. The last little while had been rather stressful.
He glanced around, amazed at the good fortune he had in this whole mate thing.
"You okay?" Alexi asked, flopping down next to the young shifter. Sven had, apparently, already given him a small dose of vampire venom in order to make him like Sami, immortal with a bit more of a healing ability.
"Yea, overwhelmed a bit, but happy" He murmured softly, shaking his head and checking casually on Sven and Sami.
"You? Last night was a bit intense" He murmured.
"Fine, I'm used to stuff like that unfortunately" Alexi murmured.
"I was a Roman Gladiator as a human" He explained.
"Seriously?" Chris murmured, eyes wide. "Like actually, a Roman Gladiator?"
"Yupp, Sven and Vlad found me after my final fight, that's where I got this" He pointed at his scar, "Reason I'm a vampire, this was my final blow in the arean, I was dying essentially and then I was a vampire" He chuckled.
"Braggart" Sven muttered, looking over at his younger brother.
"What were you?" Chris asked, "I mean before you were a vampire?" He asked Sven.
"I was a greek doctor, a really bad one since medicine at that time was awful" He said with a chuckle.
"Vlad was a soilder in the Athenian army, we were good friends. He was turned right after the Peloponesian war, and then he turned me" Sven explained.
"Demitri was a viking if you wanna get really confusing"
"And yet you all have Russian names?"
"We moved here and it just seemed easier to assimilate. Besides, most of our names weren't exactly modern" Sven said with a small chuckle.
"I can imagine" Chris murmured, a bit shaken at the fact that his mate was literally about three thousand years old.

Maddie seemed to deflate a bit when Sami said that Vlad wouldn't be coming for quite some time. She should have know better, he was hurting bad and the party would be going on for a long while. There was plenty of time, and if not, Maddie was sure to see him later when they all went back home.

"Come on, let's go in the pool." Nick said, tugging on his cousins so they could go change into their baithing suits.

-----

While the children were playing in the pool, Kristen was sitting near the edge of the pool. Unlike Sami, Kristen's inner cat loved the water, and she rather enjoyed being in the water, just like her daughter, who had cheered up quite a bit since more people had joined them. With more children in a happy mood, Maddie was getting good vibes all around.

Maria was humming happily to herself as she brought out sandwhichs, chips and drinks for the children and other humanoids.
"Snacks and lunch!" Maria sang out as she put out paper plates, cups and napkins as well.
"Serena, Nick, if you two are hungry let me know." She said, silently warning them not to eat anything on the table.

Carlos wandered over, dripping wet from having been in the pool with the children. He sat down on Sami's chair, practically collasping into her lap.
"Wait are we reminiscing already? I thought we agreed that bloody mary's would go around first." Carlos said, grinning.
"Good to hear you'r much better." Maria said, having heard from the others of the frenzy her brother had slipped into last night.
"My dear baby sister when will you learn? I pride myself with having the fast recovery time from any injury be it emotional, mental or physical." Carlos teased in his philosophical way.
"I swear to God you're Socrates reincarnated." Maria said, rolling her eyes and sitting down next to Alexi.

"I so wish I would have met you before I met Carlos Maria. I might have reconsiderd this whole bonding thing" Sami said, nudging Carlos playfully. She ran her fingers through his hair lightly, wincing at the wetness in his hair. She pulled a face, rolling her eyes at her mate, though she was grinning contently.

Alexi laughed lightly, watching the kids (minus his own) scramble to eat.
He shrugged, "Just filling the poor man on what he's getting involved in" Alexi said with a small chuckle, "Besides, I like ruining your stories, besides that means you guys don't get to tell embaressing stories about me" The blonde vampire said with a grin.
"Like you not being able to speak any language but Italian for like the first hundred years of your life" Sven asked, waggling his eyebrows.
"Seriously?" Chris asked Alexi while Sami dissolved into playful giggles.
"Sheesh, thanks Sven" Alexi growled, shaking his head at his older brother.

Chris was grinning, enjoying speaking with the vampires.
"So, I heard something about bloody marys? Are those the vampire version? Or the version that I can actually enjoy drinking?" The male shifter asked, laughing lightly.
"I'll make you a safe drink Chris, trust me you don't want one of these guys making you one" Sami said quickly, rolling her eyes at Alexi.
"Not my fault I forgot you weren't a vampire" Alexi said, looking away from the girl.
Chris arched an eyebrow at the vampire, resolving not to ask.
"Thanks Sami" He murmured, smiling at his sister as she went into the house, coming back out with a two beers, handing one to her brother and cracking the top of her own drink.
"Man its been awhile since I've just chilled" Chris mumbled.
"I know the feeling bro, believe me" Sami murmured, sharing a look with her older brother. Alexi glanced at Carlos then Sven, he had a feeling that they were missing something rather large about the two shifters and their home life. Both young shifters had a faraway look in their eyes, and Sven was willing to bet their father had something to do with it.
He glanced at Carlos, this wasn't good. He already could see repressed memories playing a role in their futures.

Maria laughed at her brother and Sami. Together the two were quite a couple, and it was funny to see the two. She glanced up, sipping from her own drink that simply looked like red wine. It was always so easy to mask these things in her opinion.

"Never let my husband mix drinks period." Maria said, shaking her head. "Bad things happen with Alexi tries to be the bar-tender. That's why we hired Mitch to take of it for us at out club downtown." she said, going off on the unneeded explanation since it was a habit of hers.

Carlos rolled his eyes. "Maria, how many times have I told you that you talk to much."
"About the same amount of time that I've called you ridiculous, impossible and insufferable." Maria answered easily, the two obviously having had this conversation many times before.

As Sami wandered away, Carlos sighed as she walked off. When she came back with beer, Carlos made a face.
"In my opinion beer wasn't all that great back when I could drink it and something says they haven't improved the system that much to make a difference now." He murmured, sitting up so that Sami could resume her seat and he could lay against her again.

Maria looked from one sibiling to another before breaking the topic no one really wanted to talk about.
"Not an easy life I take it?" She asked, skillfully shaping the question. If they didn't want to give details, they didn't have to, but the question gave off sympathy and understanding. All the vampires had been through equal hardships at one point in their life or another and could relate somehow. Chris, Sami and Adam were all part of their family now, so in a way, they were all hear for them.

Carlos chewed his lip a bit, looking at Sami, resting a hand on her leg in silent reassurance. He was glad that his sister possessed a certain smoothness with her words. He didn't want them getting off on the wrong foot with the shifters after such a good morning. Last night had been brutal, and he didn't want a repeat just yet.

------

Nick swam over to his sister, a grin on his face.
"Maddie just told me where Dad and Tio Demitri hid the water guns. I saw we grab them and they everyone while they're still sitting down." Nick whispered so that she and Zach could hear. Maddie was at the snack table, being the only one out of the tree who didn't drink blood.

"It'll be perfect." Nick said, grinning and laughing. The adults all looked so caught up in talking that they weren't paying that much attention to the kids.

Chris watched the exchange between Maria and Carlos with a small smile. It reminded him of him and his sister, before she had left the pack. He was sure things would eventually get back like that in no time, but he could tell Sami had changed a lot in the last little while.

He glanced up as Maria asked a question he wasn't too sure he could answer. His eyes roved over Sven's head and met with Sami's. She shrugged, he was sure she had shared some of her life experiences with Carlos, but at the same time, wasn't too sure how much.

"I suppose you could say that" Sami finally murmured, flicking her dark hair over her shoulder and offering Carlos a reassuring smile. Brent, their father, had been downright abusive to his children. Pack life was hard to begin with, what with the hierarchy and rules, but Brent had made their lives hell. He had taken cruel to a whole new level, him attacking Sami the other night to punish her for leaving was typical, except normally he did it while his children were in human form, as to inflict the most pain. Sami knew she had had it easy though when it came to their father, as had Adam. Chris had taken it upon himself to protect them both from the psychotic lion, and had bore the brunt of all punishments he inflicted. Sami still didn't know everything that had happened, as Chris refused to talk about it.

Sven frowned, mentally cursing. He could tell from his short experiences with Sami she had some tramua related to her life. It came out in little ways, like her desire to not be touched by people she didn't know. Carlos and the twins seeming to be exceptions to that rule. However, the way the young shifter was looking at his mate told him that the man probably had similar, if not worse issues then she did. Gods if he ever got his hands on their bloody father he'd tear the man to shreds.

----

Serena glanced at the adullts, looking at the seriousl expressinos on their faces as they spoke.
"You sure that's a good idea?" She whispered, keeping her voice as low as she could so Zach could still here.

"Of course" Zach murmured, "It'll be fun" He said, nodding eagerly for emphasis.
"Its a birthday party, everyones supposed to have fun, but the adults are being all serious" The other children in the pool nodded, attacking the adults with water guns just seemed like good, wholesome fun.

Maria nodded gently as if to say that Sami's answer filled the question entirely. "Well you the know the expression time heals all wounds?" Maria said wih a smile on her face as she leaned back on Alexi. "It's true. It jus takes a really Lon time in some cases."

Carlos rolled his eyes. "Maria, leave the deep expression and expinaions to me next time." he teased, hoping the lighten the mood from the somewhat daunting subject they were now on.

Kristen wandered over then, having made herself a sandwich. Carlos looked as surprised as Maria did as the shifter sat down ok the only open chair left.
"Why are you gawking at me like that?" Kristen asked with a laugh.
"Are you actually eating?" Carlos asked to which Kristen rolled her eyes.
"Yes Carlos. I tend to get hungry on ocassions." she said.
"Wait just a minute. I was told that you were taking on more qualities like us..." Carlos said, looking at Sven in confusion. "How can she eat if she's more like us?"

Nick rolled his eyes as his sister. "It'll lighten the mood. Wel just say they aren't allowed to be serious at a party." he said already pulling himself out of the pool tofollow afte Maddie.

A few kids filled up water balloons and squirt guns and Maddie felt the bigger guns for Nick and Serena or Zach if Serena didn't want to.
"Everyone ready?" Maddie asked, grinning as she held a water balloon and her own squirt gun, determined to get Demitri back for throwing her into the pool earlier.
"Ready. Let's go." Nick said,sighing and grinning as they practically charged back to the patio, spraying the vampires and shifter and tossing a few balloons here and there.

Sven rolled his eyes, "More qualities like us doesn't mean all qualities like is. She still is, essentially, human, or I guess shape-shifter. Her bodies does need the energy created by food, not just blood" He explained, shrugging.
"Erm, are we going to end up drinking blood?" Chris asked, nodding to him and Sami and pulling a face. The whole idea seemed unappealing.
"No, Kristen has much more vampire venom in her then you two do, Demitri essentially changed her, but the interaction of vampire venom with shape-shifter DNA didn't turn out exactly as planned. She's immortal, like you two, but she has vampire healing, hearing and she has more strength then she did as a shifter. You two have immortality and a bit of an upgrade on the shifter-healing. You're still essentially shape shifters, so you need to eat. Kristen's more of a hybrid now, between the two species" Sven explained.
Chris nodded, sharing a relieved look with Sami, neither of them ever wanted to have to drink blood.

Suddenly Sami let out a loud yelp, diving off the chair and into her cougar form, fur dripping wet. Swinging around, she growled playfully as she saw the group of children, armed to the teeth with water guns and balloons, all prepared to attack.
Chris, taking the same route as Sami, shifted and the two immediately headed away from the water fight, playfully dodging squirts from water guns as they went.

"She's a lot smaller then him" Alexi commented, before getting hit in the face with a waterballoon, aimed by a giggling Serena.
Growling playfully, he grabbed his daughter, using her as a shield from the other children.

"Oh that's confusing..." Carlos muttered.
Kristen chuckled. "It's been driving Demitri mad. Some days are worse then others." she admitted with a small shrug. She didn't mind it though. The bonus came in handy at times, and then there were days that were hard. But other all, the immortality was all that she wanted, and nothing else really matter.

"Hey!" Maria called as a water balloon was thrown at her and broke with a hudge splash.
"Nicolas!" Maria half growled to which the boy was laughing but ran off anyway with the others as the adults pretty much retaliated.

Kristen was laughing, seeing how quickly Sami and Chris had darted off. All of the children were from the same school so they would know about shifter and such. Which was a good thing, since it would have been extremely daunting if a courage showed up out of now where.

A water balloon hit the back of Kristen's head, soaking her entirely as she tried to take another bit out of her sandwhich.
Maddie was laughing behind her, and Kristen let out a playful growl. When Kristen turned, Maddie was ready, in her husky form as Kristen bounced, tiger on dog.
It was all good fun, and Kristne let Maddie bite and claw here and there, getting the upper hand at times before Kristen would run off.

"What just happened?" Carlos asked, laughing since he was still sitting in his chair, just soaking wet right now, looking at the scene before him. Children were throwing water balloons at the two mountain lions and pointing water guns at each other while a tiger and a husky wrestled until Maddie shifted back, grabbed her gun and got Kristen right in the face, forcing her mother to shift back and run after her on two feet instead.

"I think the children revolted" Sven said, looking supremely unruffled at the water dripping down his face from where Zach had splashed him. He smiled lightly, before grabbing a nearby water balloon which had been tossed but not exploded and turned towards his nephew. Zach let out a sort of 'meep' noise and darted away from his uncle, who began to playfully chase after him.
"Brats" Demitri growled, though he was grinning, "Come on Carlos, lets join in this battle" He grabbed a discarded water gun and went after Nick while Alexi continued to playfully use Serena as a human shield.

Sami dodged again, skidding on the wet grass, and falling on her side before spinning across the lawn, claws extended as she tried to get purchase. Letting out a yowl, Chris did the same thing and the cougar siblings ended up in a massive knot of limbs in the middle of the lawn.

Zach let out a yelp, running away from his uncle, a huge grin on his face. Letting out a giggle, he tried to dodge Sven's water balloon, but instead it hit him in the middle of the back, causing the older vampire to crow victoriously. Laughing, Zach whipped around, starting to spray his Uncle with the gun he had grabbed at the beginning of the water war.
Sven let out an undignified squeak as the water hit him square in the face.
"Little brat" The doctor vampire growled playfully, pausing only to watch the pair of cougars skid by on the wet grass.
"Carlos" He called, pointing out the pair, it was rather comedic, neither seemed able to stop slipping and sliding on the wet ground.

Seeing that her brother was being ganged up on, she ignored her mother and turned her gun on Carlos while Zach got Sven right in the face.
"Oh no another ambush!" Carlos cried dramatically, falling ungracefully to the grass as if the water had been an actual bullet.
Maddie smirked, at her brother's side with her own gun, pointing and shooting effortlessly. That was until she ran out of water.
"Uh oh. Zach I'm out." Maddie said.

Kristen looked over at her husband, who was somehow at her side, before looking at their children. Maddie's eyes went wide and she gave a scream of laughter after nudging her brother to head back towards the pool.

Kristen kept up with them easily, and grabbing them both she jumped into the deeper end of the pool. Maddie surfaced first, laughing hysterically, and coughing a bit when she inhaled water.
"That's was cool!!" She said, swimming to the edge and Kristen laughed, finding Zach and grabbing hold of him playfully.
"Gotcha." Kristen said, easily keeping a float with her son in her arms.


"Eh?" Carlos asked, still laying dramatically where he'd fallen. He looked up and laughed outright, seeing the two lions slidding around on what was now mud thanks to all the water.
"I don't think your animal form is helping right now." Carlos called teasingly to his mate, still laughing at the seen.
"Ah Sven...what are we going to do with those two?" he asked, shaking his head though there was a happy smile on his face.

Sven rolled his eyes at Carlos' dramatics, before turning his attention back to Zach and Maddie, whom had somehow appeared at his side. He was about to dodge, when he realized they were both out of water. Glancing up, he saw Kristen and Demitri stalking them, and bowed.
"All yours" He teased, watching Kristen grab the pair and head for the pool. Chuckling, he wandered back over to Carlos, flopping on one of the lounging chairs and enjoyed the show.
"Us? I think we'll have to hose them off, they're covered in mud" He commented, chuckling at the pair who had finally untangled themselves from one another.

Demitri dove into the pool, coming up next to Maddie and tossing her in the air, before catching her.
"So, I'm guessing the water fight is over?" He asked Kristen, watching her and Zach floating around contently.
"Adults won" Alexi called, setting Serena down who was still laughing.
"Did not" She shot back, spraying her dad with the gun she had just picked up.
"Why you little.." Alexi sputtered, taking off after Serena who was now running away, free for the first time since the fight started.

Sami sighed, giving Carlos the cougar equivalent of the puppy dog face as Chris shook off. The pair were bedraggled and covered in mud, though the looked like they were having a good time. It had been a long while since the siblings had been able to play together.

"What did we miss?" Vlad asked as he and Adam walked through the backdoor into padamonium.
"And you were telling me how nice and well behaved everyone was" Adam teased the older vampire, glancing at his siblings with an arched eyebrow. The cougar pair suddenly got a devious look on their faces, and Adam let out a loud shout as he was suddenly pounced on, knocked back into the muddy mess by his siblings.

((omg this is comical XD))

Carlos looked over at Sven with a ferral grin. "Lets go get the hose. That'll be fun." He said, a devious expression on his face. The water hose was always fun, especially for the kids. And they would be killing two birds with one stone by washing off the two cougars whose furs were covered entirely in mud.

Maddie laughed as Demitri tossed her up and then caught her. She wrapped her arms around his neck, silently saying that she didn't want to do that again, and rested her head on Demitri's shoulder. She felt good. And then it dawned on her why.
Maddie's head shot up like that of a puppy hearing the front door open. Seeing Vlad, Maddie's face broke into a grin of relief, and only when he looked over did Maddie realize that her face felt hot. She gave him a happy smile before resting her head back down on Demitir's shoulder, giggling softly to herself.

Kristen wandered over to the edge where Demitri and Maddie were, letting Zach rest while she stayed in the water.
"The children decided to ambush us. We were drenched before we knew what hit us." Kristen explained, before laughing as Adam was attacked by his sibblings.

"Where's Carlos?" Maria suddenly asked, appearing near Alexi with a muddy Nicolas under her arm. The two looked like they had wrestled in the mud as well, but Nick was laughing hysterically, half hanging upside down.
"There! Oh good he found the water hose." Nick said.
"What?" Maria asked before being completely dosed with a shot of water. "AHH! CARLOS!" Maria yelled, laughing as she held Nick away from the pressure.

"What? Your covered in mud!" Carlos said, laughing as he capped the hose with his thumb to stop the flow of water.
"My turn!" Nick said, having scrambled from his mother, standing with his arms open and holding his breath. Carlos chuckled and moved his thumb so that the water came out as a sprinkler spray rather then the fire-engine pressure he had given Maria.
"Oh sure, be easy on the children." Maria teased, soaking wet and she sat down by the edge of the pool with a huff.

Growling, Adam shifted, pulling out from under Sami and Chris and dodging away from them, dancing just out of reach tauntingly. The other two cougars tore after their sibling, racing around the yard playfully. It was clear the three hadn't seen eachother in a long time and were in need of some catching up.

Sami's ears perked at hearing the hose, and she slowed and glanced over at Carlos as he sprayed Maria, rather roughly, then gently did the same to Nick. Her eyes grew comically wide, and she immediately headed out of reach, she had no desire to get hosed off. Chris and Adam, having noticed the same thing went with her, the three cougars slinking away while everyone was distracted.

"Glad I mised that then" Vlad said, sitting gingerly in a pool chair and looking around at the muddy yard.
"Looks like you guys had a blast though" He murmured, ignoring Sven's concerned look.
I'm fine, you can check me out later He murmured in a tounge only the two of them knew how to spoke. Sven reluctantly nodded, glancing around to see where Chris, Sami and Adam had gotten off too.
"You lost your reason for grabbing the hose Carlos. They took off" He called, watching as Serena let her Uncle hose her off.

Demitri kissed Maddie's forhead, letting her rest against him now instead of playing. He glanced up as he saw Vlad come in, and glanced down to Maddie's beet red face. He smirked though didn't comment.
"Did you get something to eat?" He asked instead, brushing wet bangs from his eyes.

Maria sighed, closing her eyes as she lay on the concrete near the pool. Kristen pulled herself up out of the pool after a moment, sighing in relief as a cool wind blew. She looked around with a soft and content smile on her face.Grabbing a towel, Kristen dapped at her face and rang out her hair that was now half in a pony tail.

"Well, that was fun." Kristen said. "I wonder who the master-mind behind that one was." She said, looking over at her daughter with a smirk.

Maddie giggled again, before picking her head up when she felt her face wasn't as red.
"No..I just munched really." Maddie admitted. Now that the excitement was over, she realized she was starving.

Carlos chuckled, spraying Sven playfully. "Nonsense." He said, looking over at Sami and Chris and Adam. "They have to come back eventually." he said, smirking as he washed off Serena.
"All right all those covered in mud line up!" Carlos called to the other children, since almost everyone was muddy to some point and he knew how Maria got when it came to keeping things tidy.

Once the children were all cleaned up, most of them sat to eat lunch. Looking over at Sami, Carlos shook his head. He made his way around the side of the house, making it look like he was putting the hose away and turning off.

"Mom..." Nick called, sipping from the bottle Alexi had brought out for him and Serena.
"Yes darling?"
"Can we open presents after lunch."
"I don't see why not." Maria said, smiling as she sat up and looked around. Everyone seemed to have calmed down from the excitement, so now would be a good time for presents and cake afterwards.

Demitri nodded, "Lets go get some food for you then" He said, lifting up the girl and placing her on his shoulders while he vacated the pool. He looked at the line of people getting hosed off and snickered.
"I don't think cougars like water" He commented to Maddie as he set her down by the food table which Chris was hiding underneath, at least, he thought it was Chris.

Serena was sitting by Nick, sipping from her own bottle.
"Really?" She asked when their mother agreed, she grinned happily, finishing the bottle with relish. Keith wandered outside, he had making the birthday cake with Alayna's help and it seemed they had missed all the excitment.
"I'm suddenly glad I was offered the job of baker" He commented, looking at the mud and children as well as large cats.
"Those are Sami's two brothers, the ones I told you about" He explained to the human girl, nodding at the two larger cats. "One bonded to Sven, Chris, I have no idea which one he is in animal-form however"

Sami eyed Carlos warily, glancing up as Keith, Alayna and Nicko came out. She could smell the food on Keith and was overjoyed at the fact that he had been cooking. The man could cook. She once again eyed her mate, keeping a sharp watch on the hose. Adam was doing the same thing from behind her, and Chris, the coward, was hiding under the food table. Or he was hungry.

Maddie laughed lightly as Demitri stood up with her setted on her shoulders. It was something that he had always done with her for as long as she could remember. As he set her down, Maddie's eyes went wide. She peeked under the table at Christ with bright intelligent eyes. She gave him a reassuring smile and winked.
"I won't tell." she whispered quietly before pulling the table cloth back down and helping herself to one of the pre-made sandwhiches.

Alayna was laughing as the trio walked outside, a bit of flour dusting her forehead. Keith had insisted on making a cake from scratch, so they had been at it practically all morning and Alayna was already worried about having to clean up the kitchen.
Seeing the seen in front of her, Alayna smiled; it was nice to see everyone happy and having a good time. "Our family seems to be growing more and more each day." Alayna commented, smiling.

Carlos could sense that Sami was closer now then she was before, but he knew that she was watching him, so he continued to whistle like he had been and continued to roll up the hose.
Only at the last minute did Carlos move, turning the hose on and dosing his mate playfully.
"Whatever happened to cleaning being a good reason to get wet?" he questioned, laughing softly.

"All done!" Nick said, having completely emptied his bottle, and therefore having finished his lunch.
Maria chuckled and looked over at Alexi.
"Shall we bring the presents out here?" she asked, since some of the children were still wet.

Sami yowled as she took the hose to the face. Growling playfully, her muscles bunched and she pounced, landing on Carlos and knocking him to the ground, tail lashing as she stood on his chest, nose pressed against his, golden eyes narrowed.

Adam yelped, getting caught in the spray as Sami knocked her mate down. Shaking his head, he shifted back and stretched, looking aroud for Chris.
"Coward" He muttered, seeing him under the table, no one would spray the hose over there, that was for sure, so his older brother was safe. Grabbing a towel from a nearby stack, the tall, dark haired men dried off his hair and face, before going to sit by Vlad. He seemed the most comfortable with him, since he'd actually gotten to know the oldest Draq from talking to him this morning, plus, Vlad wasn't mated, which was nice, since he was beginning to feel left out in the sea of couples.

Chris sighed, seeing his sister and brother both getting cleaned up. Shaking his head, he slunk out from under the table and shifted back, going over and grabbing the hose from Carlos. Giving the pair a good spray, he quickly cleaned himself off, grumbling the whole while, before going to join Sven.

Alexi nodded, "I was thinking that anyway" He murmured, grabbing Serena and Nick's empty bottles.
"It does indeed" Keith murmured, "There's Chris" He nodded at Sven's mate, "And the other one's Adam"
"So cake then presents? Or presents then cake?" Alexi asked his children, "Remember cake is for those that can eat it, so mainly for your cousins and guests" He murmured, knowing his kids couldn't enjoy the treat.

((Wait..I'm a bit confused, does Adam just not think that Vlad is bonded? XD))

Carlos laughed as Sami pounced on him, actually expecting it though he lost his grip on the hose as the lioness tackled him.
"Oh come now, it wasn't that bad." he reasoned, smirking at him. He just couldn't take her seriously right now, he was having too much fun, and so he simply glared right back.

Carlos coughed though when Christ came over and dosed the two of them with the hose. "Alright, we get it." he said, laughing and shoving Sami off of him. Looking around, Carlos heard about the presents and nodded.
"Just in the nick of time. Come on, their gonna open presents." Carlos said, rubbing Sami's ear gently before standing up and walking back to the patio.

"Presents then cake?" Nick asked, thinking everyone might be full from lunch still.
"Yea that sounds good." Maddie chimed in, since she was still eating her lunch.
"Alright then." Maria said, going into the house since she was mostly dry and coming back with the presents, setting them on the only dry patio table.

Alayna nodded as Keith pointed the brothers out. "Got it. They all turn into lions? That's cool." she said. Seeing Maria go in to get the presents, reminded Alayna of something.
"Oh the camera." she said, remembering that Maria had asked the girl to take pictures once presents and cake rolled around. So she quickly hurried inside to get the ditigal device while Nick hurried towards the table loaded with presents.

OOC: No, he has no idea he's bonded to Maddie (Vlad didn't exactly tell him. Plus on some level, I don't think Vlad wants to be bonded to an eight year old whom he considers to be his niece, he's a bit weirded out still)

BIC:

Sami shifted back, shaking out her wet hair and smiling.
"Timing" She said with a grin, wandering over and flopping down on Adam's chair with her brother, since all the others were taken.
"Hey" He complained playfully, shoving her lightly.
"Why do you always gotta steal my spot?" He teased, tugging her hair lightly.
"Cause I'm your little sister, its my job, and I've missed out on a whole year of bugging you guys" Sami teased, making room fo Carlos if he wanted to sit.

Alexi nodded, he was saving Serena's big present for last, since well, it was kind of a dead give away if he brought the horses out right now.
"Alrighty then, Nick and Serena sit in the middle, and everyone make a loose circle around them, that way we can all see" He murmured, looking at his wife curiously.

Keith nodded, "Yea, apparently that's sort of rare, siblings and family members having identical forms. I guess their parents are a real lion (like from Africa) and a black jaguar" He said, putting his and Alayna's presents in the large pile for the twins, and sitting down.

((Yea I gathered that much xD Think it'll grow on him or should we stir up some drama so Maddie cuts him off?))

Carlos rolled his eyes at Sami as she shifted back and proceeded to collasp on her brother. He let her sit with Adam, preferring to stand near the twins who were looking extremely excited at all the presents on the table.

Alayna came around with the camera. "Alright, says 'cheese'" She said, to which Nick gave a big grin and Alayna snapped the photo.
Maddie wandered over, standing near her brother as the twins started to open presents with Alayna snapping photos here and there.
"Ya know you're birthday's coming up soon too." Maddie teased, nudging her brother gently. She thought it funny that all the kids were born sometime in the summer. Nick and Serena in late May, Maddie mid July and Zach was in August. It was definitely going to make for fun summers throughout the years.

"Thanks guys!" Nick said, having opened the last of the presents on the table. Maria smiled.
"There's just one more for each of you." Maria said. Nick looked a bit puzzled.
"Really? From who?" Nick asked.
"From me and your Father silly." Maria said, bringing out the guitar case from behind Nick's chair. The boys eyes went wide.
"What?!" He asked, completely surprised as his mother opened the case. Obviously the guitar was too big for him to start playing with now. "T-Thank you!" he said, jumping out of his seat and hugging Maria and Alexi.
"And your my darling need to go with your father to find your last present." Maria said, kissing Serena's head gently.

Sami grinned as Serena looked up from the horse set her and Carlos had gotten her.
"What?" She asked, letting out a giggle as Alexi picked her up, "Come on darling, Nick do you wanna come too?" He asked, the rest of the family rose, wanting to see Serena's last present, or more like Serena's reaction to her last present.
Chris looked confused, but allowed Sven to tug him to his feet so they could trail after the little party.
"I'll stay here" Adam murmured, and Sami shot him a look, she'd have to speak to her brother later that evening, cheer him up a bit or something.

Demitri grinned, scooping Maddie up, "Come on, lets go see how this goes over" He said, picking Zach up in the other arm and setting his son on his hip while his daughter rode on his shoulders. Keith grinned at the sight, "I'm going to get the cake, so its ready when they get back" He murmured to Alayna, heading inside the house.

----

Serena looked confusedly at her father as he took her towards the old barn on the property. What was up here? Dad had said to stay out of the barn, since it wasn't safe. She glanced at her mother and twin, Nick looked as confused as she did, but Maria was grinning away.
Smiling, Alexi set Serena down and pushed the door open to the barn, ushering his daughter inside.
"D-Dad" Serena said, her eyes going wide as she saw the two horses standing next to one another.
"Happy Birthday sweetheart" Alexi said, kissing Serena's head.
"Thank you" Serena whispered, as if she was scared talking loudly would make the creatures disappear.
"Your welcome, go say hello" He nudged her, watching as Serena approached the two horses, the younger one, her's, coming forward and nuzzling her hair.

Maddie giggled, knowing that this was going to be good as Demitri hauled her up onto his shoulder. Everyone seemed to be following the family back to the barn on the other side of the house.

Nick simply shrugged at his sisters confused face, knowing about as much as she did though he took a wild guess when Alexi opened the door. He grinned, seeing how happy his sister was. Alayna flashed a few more pictures as the little girl wandered over to her horse.
"Cool. Are we gonna get lessons too?" Nick asked curiously.
"Yes you are." Maria answered, smiling.

"I'm glad she likes him." Maddie said, since she had gone with Demitri to pick out the horses for Alexi.
----

By the time everyone was back on the patio, Keith had brought out the cake. Maria smiled thankfully to the angel, looking at the cake with grin.
"Looks great." she said as Nick sat on the chair with his knees folded under him, his elbows resting on the table.

"Alright now, let's make this birthday offical." Carlos said, coming around with a box of matches
"God Lord, who gave my brother the matches?" Maria asked, to which Carlos rolled his eyes.
"Maria I'm perfectly capable of lighting a few candles." he said, smirking and setting the flame on the candles for the twins.

Maddie grinned and once the candles were lit, she started singing the Happy Birthday song, to which everyone else chimed in.
"Blow out the candles and make a wish." Maria said once the song was over.

OOC: I think, perhaps, we should skip ahead. Say Cassandra laid off for a few years to create a false sense of security, so all the kids are a bit older, and everyones sort of calm and relaxed. What do you think? Plus that'll give us a chance to drum up some more drama!

BIC:

"Me too" Demitri agreed, watching Serena's awe-stricken face. He smiled lightly, watching as Serena was reluctantly dragged from the barn to go back to the party.

---

Sami rolled her eyes, "Now you tell me he's a pyro too?" She teased Maria. "What did I get signed up for?" She said with a cheeky grin as Carlos finished lighting the candles.

Serena glanced at Nick, Maddie had explained the whole blow out the candles thing to them a few days ago, but it still seemed weird to her. Shrugging, she took a deep breath, mimicking Nick, before, with a huff, the candles all went out.
She grinned, laughing as everyone clapped their hands and Alayna snapped some more pictures.

"Alright, so who wants cake?" Keith asked, beginning to cut the chocolate confection carefully. He handed out plates, smirking at the three shifters, two of whom had never tasted his cooking before.
"Oh god" Chris mumbled, moaning around the bite he had just taken.
"If I hadn't bonded with Sven, I sure as hell could be convinced to stay for Keith's cooking. Who knew angels could cook?"
"Sure was a surprise to me" Sami admitted, "First time he made dinner I was scared I'd get food poisioning" She said, ignoring Keith's playful glare.
"Us angels can cook, even if we don't need to eat. Plus it gives me something to do while I'm here" He grumbled, handing Nicko a slice, since the kids all had their food now.