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Light burned behind his eyelids. He opened them, waking up groggily. Georgia had ripped open the curtains and there, at the foot of the bed, were the brood. His brood. A cheerful grin spread across his face at the sight before him.
“Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday, dear daddy. Happy birthday to you!” His family sang in unison.
Ty walked over to David’s side and waited for him to sit up fully before handing him a tray.
“Sorry about the rubbish breakfast. Olive wanted to make it,” Ty told David with a frown.
“Heyyyyy,” Olive whined and threw her arms around Georgia’s legs, heartbroken.
“Aww, Olive dont be upset! Ty’s only joking, aren’t you Ty?” David quickly tried to cheer his daughter up. “Besides, I think it’s great!”
David spooned some sloppy, not-quite-cooked scrambled egg into his mouth and tried his hardest to fight the urge to spit it back out.
“Mmmmm,” he moaned in mock delight, until Olive’s little face lit up.
After David had finally managed to convince her that the breakfast was lovely, he was just too full to finish it, the family moved on to watch David open his presents and cards.
“Oh, and this one’s from dad,” Georgia said, bubbling with excitement.
“Ahh, lovely!” David replied.
The kids had all bought (or rather Georgia and Ty and picked out and Georgia paid for) a lot of new clothes for David. Of course they included new black socks with days of the week on; so they were easy to match. Amongst the new clothes pile were also some very bright jumpers, t-shirts featuring bands, movies and tv shows, and jeans. David had also convinced Georgia to buy him a very questionable suit, for any special occasions that might crop up.
“ Please don’t actually wear it,” Ty moaned with a look of pure disgust as David pulled the suit free from the wrapping paper.
“Daaaad!” Wilfred cried in frustration as he kept picking up cards and thrusting them into David’s lap, until he took the hint.
“Oh, shall we open cards now, Wilfred?” he asked his son.
“Yeah!”
“Okay, do you want to help?”
Wilfred nodded, vigorously.
The first card they opened was from the kids. It had various drawings and handwriting scribbled all over it. Ty wasn't too happy that Olive had apparently drawn (or rather, attempted to draw) a flying car made of chocolate over his carefully thought out paragraph.
The family stayed sat on the bed, watching David open all of his gifts and cards for just under an hour, when Georgia sent them off to get washed and dressed. She told Wilfred to wait in his room for her and that she’d meet him in there in a second to help, since he wasn’t really old enough to take care of himself yet. Of course, he also wasn’t old enough to listen to his mother, so instead he ran into Ty’s room to bounce on the bed; much to his older brother’s dismay. David had the baby in his lap as she cooed and gargled. Georgia leaned into his ear and whispered.
“I’m afraid my real present for you can’t be unwrapped until later tonight.” She quickly shot him a wink before picking up the baby and heading off to drag Wilfred away from torturing Ty.
A blush crept across David’s cheeks as he remembered Georgia’s ‘presents’ were why he liked birthdays so much.
A few hours later Georgia and David dropped the kids off at Georgia’s mum’s. Once they had rid themselves of the brood for the night they went on to one of their favourite restaurants. David was expecting a quiet meal with just the two of them, yet upon their arrival he saw that Georgia had something planned. There, at a large table, were sitting Billie, Olivia, John, Catherine and Nina. David felt tears begin to form behind his eyes and his throat closed up. He quickly pulled himself together and rushed over to greet and hug his friends; some of which he hadn’t seen in at least a year.
Halfway through the evening the group broke off into smaller conversations. John leaned in close to David and whispered low, so that nobody else - mainly Georgia - could hear.
“So, what did your wife get you?”
David giggled like a naughty schoolboy.
“A suit,” he answered. “She said her main present has to wait till we get home tonight, though.”
“Ooo, I wonder what it could be,” John said, dripping sarcasm, with a wink and a smirk. “You know, if you two crazy kids keep it up you’ll have even more of a brood. You’ll end up on some trash magazine’s list of celebs with a ridiculous amount of kids!”
David just laughed. As much as people joked about the brood he couldn’t think of anything more magical than him and Georgia creating more lives together… even if the children were a little tricky every now and then.
After a night of fine wine, good food, and the best company; Georgia and David headed home. She dragged him into the living room, by their joint hands, and pushed him to sit on the sofa.
“Okay, close your eyes,” she told him.
He obliged and heard her run out of the room and then back in a few minutes later. She placed a box into his hands.
“Open them,” she ordered.
David opened his eyes and tore at his new present.
“The complete boxset of ‘The West Wing!” David declared with barely contained excitement.
It was a good thing the children were sleeping at their grandmother’s, or else that probably would have woken them.
“Yeah,” Georgia smiled. “Because you wore your other ones out, and I’m pretty sure one of the kids got to them because they were all scratched and sticky.”
The couple snuggled up on the sofa watching the series in perfect contentment, until they drifted to sleep in one another's arms. Any idea of a different type of gift from Georgia; completely forgotten.
The next morning the kids were dropped back home, greeting David and Georgia with utter chaos, yet again. Olive ran around banging pots and pans together, screaming the lyrics to some made up song. Ty was in his room blaring out music, and Wilfred was chasing the dog around the house. Myrtle barked gleefully as Wilfred chased her, the noise making the baby screech, little tears rolling down her rosy cheeks.
As David bounced the baby in his arms Georgia tried to make everybody lunch. She let out a frustrated huff and walked over to her husband, wrapping him and their youngest child in a tight embrace.
“Sorry I was too tired for your other present last night,” she apologised. “It may take a while to get another chance,” Georgia explained, worrying her bottom lip.
“Don’t worry about it, we’ll find time.”
At that precise moment Wilfred ran into the room, Myrtle following closely behind. He grabbed at David’s legs and placed a sloppy kiss just below his daddy’s knee. David looked down, feeling a great surge of emotion. His heart felt as though it were swelling, unable to contain so many feelings in it’s current size.
“Besides,” David said, looking back to Georgia. “You’ve already given me the best present ever.”
“The complete boxset of ‘The West Wing’?” Georgia asked.
“No. A family, you numpty,” David laughed.
Georgia placed a gentle kiss to his cheek before continuing with the lunch preparations. Yes, David did indeed love his birthday’s.