A Birthday Surprise Ch. 01

"Is yours the #2 or the #3?" a cute little blonde girl asked with a giggle.

"Uhh...Mine's the #3. You didn't take a bite of it, did you?" he asked with a wink and a smile. The car started to pull away, and I looked back to see two of the girls hanging out of the drive-thru window, screaming Simon's name.

"So...this is normal for you, to have girls screaming your name everywhere you go?" I couldn't help but smile, wondering (for the second time tonight) how I got here. I reached into the bag to sort the sandwiches as he divided up the drinks and sat them in the dual cup holder.

He shrugged as he took a bite of his sandwich, and thought as he chewed.

"It's gotten worse since the movie came out, obviously. But, I dunno...I guess you just learn to live with it."

"And it doesn't bother you?"

"Well, I think I would consider myself a private person, so that part of my life is rather difficult to handle with all of...this." he said, waving his hand. "But, then again, this is the job I've chosen to do. It's just a bit more public job than a lot of people have. Like you, for example..." he checked his watch. "What would you normally be doing at nearly 9pm on a Friday night?"

I finished chewing the bite of my sandwich I had just taken.

"Well, I dunno. I'm not a 'bar person', so I probably wouldn't be out somewhere. Maybe at a friend's house...Wait. Did you say it was almost 9?" He nodded, chewing on a french fry.

"Oh, no, no, no!"

I sat my sandwich down on the seat between us, and reached into my bag for my cell phone. It was on 'silent', so that's why I didn't hear the 7 calls I'd missed. "Oh god, she's probably asleep. Amy's phone - I'll call Amy's phone." I nodded at the conversation I was having out loud with myself. My hands were shaking as I scrolled through my contacts, searching for my sister's number.

"Please answer, please answer, ple...AMY! Oh my god, I'm so sorry!!"

"Jesus Christ, Emily - where have you been? Are you alright?"

"Yeah, no, I'm fine, I promise. It's just been a crazy night." I heard my niece's voice in the background. "She's still awake??"

"Yeah, Em, she is. You told her you'd call at 8, and she's been waiting. She took a nap earlier, so she's more awake than I thought she'd be. The doctors are saying she'll probably get to go home in a few days. They moved her to a non-isolated room this afternoon, so that's a plus. Wait, hang on, she wants to talk to you." I could hear muffled talking, and then Sydney got on the phone. I mouthed 'my niece' to Simon, and he nodded, taking another bite of a french fry. He wiggled his eyebrows as he chewed, and I just had to chuckle.

"What are you laughing at??"

"Oh Syd, sweetheart. I am SO sorry! I know I was supposed to call an hour ago but it's just been...hectic."

"Are you home? I tried calling there, but no one..."

"No sweetie, I'm not home. It's...complicated." That seemed to be the perfect word to describe the last hour. I glanced over at him, shrugging my shoulder. He responded by reaching for the phone and raising his eyebrows, silently asking me if I wanted him to talk to her. I shook my head, but I still didn't know what I was going to tell her.

"You saw him, didn't you?"

I smiled at Simon.

"Yeah, I saw him."

"Was he cute? Oh my god, I bet he was really cute in person...Was he??"

I sighed loudly.

"Yeah, Syd, he was cute." This made Simon laugh out loud, which ended in a coughing fit.

I could feel my cheeks blushing. How embarrassing!

"Who is that??"

"It's a long, long story Syd. Hey, let me talk to your mom real quick, okay?"

I could hear the phone being passed again.

"Em?"

"Hey, Amy...You think I could stop by tonight? I'm in the city now, I could be there in 10 minutes. Just say 'yes' or 'no' - I don't want her to know I'm coming. Let me surprise her for not calling at 8."

"Yes, so I'll talk to you tomorrow. Bye Em."

"See ya in a few minutes, Amy."

I closed my phone and looked at Simon. I opened my mouth to ask if I could be dropped off at the hospital, but he spoke up before I could.

"You've got to go, don't you?"

I nodded.

"And I feel like I need to apologize for it, though."

"C'mon, don't be silly." He held up a french fry. "At least I didn't eat dinner alone tonight."

I held up my drink.

"A toast then, to not having dinner alone."

Our paper cups tapped lightly, and we each took a drink. I returned my cup to the holder and leaned up to the driver.

"Could you please take me to Children's Research Hospital? The main entrance is on Lexicon Avenue, near the parking garage."

"Yes ma'am. We're just a few blocks away."

"Thank you." and I sat back in my seat.

"Your niece...You said she was sick, I didn't think you meant that she was that kind of sick."

I nodded and simply said "Leukemia."

"How...is she doing?"

"She's doing better than I'd be doing in the same situation." I smiled. "She got sick again about a week and a half ago, and her doctors wanted to give her a few rounds of chemo, just to be on the safe side. Something like that, I really don't know all the details and I've probably even got that wrong. Her birthday is in a few days - she's going to be 11 - and I was bringing her to meet you for a birthday present. Those posters you signed for her..." - I absentmindedly touched the cardboard tube that was resting against my leg - "...are going to make her ecstatic. So, thanks again for that."

"It was my pleasure, really. You remember earlier, when I said that you were the most interesting person I'd met all day?" He was looking at the floor, a nervous smile curling one corner of his mouth up.

Trying to lighten the mood, I said, "Gee, I just thought you said that to all the girls."

He turned to look straight at me.

"Not all the girls." He ran his hand back through his hair. "Hey, I could come up to meet your niece if you'd like, since she missed coming earlier?"

My breath caught in my throat, and a smile grew on my face. I was trying to think of a way to spend more time with him, and was coming up with nothing. I had convinced myself that once I left the car, that would be the last time I saw him.

"Simon, you really don't have to do that. I mean, it's a very generous offer, but I couldn't ask you to do that. It's late, I'm sure you're tired."

He held up a hand to silence me.

"Well, you said that you couldn't 'ask' me to do it, so since I offered, then it's settled. Unless, of course, YOU don't want me to."

"No! I mean, of course I do. I mean...wow. Yeah, I think that would be great. Thank you, that's really sweet of you."

A few minutes later, we were pulling up to the doors to the hospital. The driver got out to open my door, and I climbed out with Simon moving across the seat and exiting behind me. He asked the driver to park in the parking garage, and told him that we'd find him when we were ready to leave. Simon was carrying the tube with the posters; I had my bag over my shoulder and was leading the way inside. We made our way down this hallway and that one, turning left then right then right again. He was walking fairly close to me, and I noticed he kept his head tilted down. I wondered if this is how he always walked, or if this is how he walked when he didn't want anyone to recognize him. People passed us as we walked, and more than one person's face lingered on Simon, as if they knew who he was but couldn't quite place where the knew him from. I looked over my shoulder at him. "You're sure about this?"

"Absolutely sure."

I smiled up at him. "Thanks again." He replied with a wink.

"Ummm, could you do me a favor?"

His eyebrows raised in a silent question.

"When you meet her, could you use your English accent?" I couldn't help but laugh after I

asked it.

"Fish and chips and all 'at?

I playfully smacked his upper arm. "Simon!" His laughing joined mine, and we soon found ourselves in the elevator to take us to Syd's floor.

The door opened on the 6th floor, and when we stepped out of the elevator I asked the nurse at the front desk what room Sydney was in. We headed to room 617 but before we walked in, Simon gently grabbed my upper arm and turned me to him.

He whispered. "Hey, I've got an idea - why don't you go in first, act like you forgot the tube, and I'll come in and save the day."

"Just remember, Simon...You're not that charming." I added with a genuine smile.

"Yeah, I am. You'll see." His wink made my knees weak. Damn him! I walked into Syd's room, and nearly ran right into my sister.

"There you are!" She grabbed me and hugged me tight. "You've had me worried sick!"

"Amy, I'm sorry. I'll explain all of this later, I promise." I winked at her, and she seemed to understand that it would all be alright. I turned to Sydney, laying in bed propped up by what seemed like 10 pillows.

I sat down on the edge of her bed, and handed her the folded up list of questions that Simon had answered. She took the list, opened it with a quizzical look, and stared at it. I think her eyes were trying to believe what her brain was telling her. "Yeah, he answered all of those himself, even though there was a woman standing there telling him not to. So...We okay now, Syd?" I asked with a soft smile. She squealed and hugged me tight, and I took that as a 'yes'.

Finally letting go of me, she sat back in bed.

"OK, details. ALL of them! What did he look like? What was he wearing? Tell me everything he said to you? Did he sign all of my pos....?" She stopped mid-sentence, looking around. Her face told me that she knew I hadn't carried them in. I wasn't exactly sure how I was supposed to 'act' like I'd lost them.

"I can explain, Syd..."

And that's when he did, in fact, save the day. He turned the corner and walked into the room, his face beaming with mischief.

"There you are - I knew you'd leave these behind again! Good thing I finally caught up to you." I just looked at him and shook my head. The English accent was definitely there, and thicker than before. "You must be Sydney!" He handed the cardboard tube to my niece, who just stared up at him with her mouth hanging open. My sister had joined us around the bed.

"Simon, this is my sister Amy. Amy, this is Simon, the guy from this afternoon."

She looked at me and whispered, "You...kidnapped him??"

"Amy!"

*****

Simon was great, he really was. We spent the next hour giving details of our day, to how he ended up at the hospital with me tonight. Sometime into it, Sydney regained her senses, realized she wasn't dreaming, and actually turned human again. She was asking him all kinds of questions about the movie, and he generously offered answers. He posed for a few pictures with her; I think the one of him kissing the back of her hand is going to be the hands-down favorite. When he looked to my sister and asked her if he could talk to her for a minute, I was a little curious, but I took the opportunity to ask Sydney what she thought of my birthday present. She was in the middle of telling me how great of an aunt I was when laughing from the doorway made us both turn to look at them.

Syd asked, "Hey, what's so funny?"

Amy looked at me with a raised eyebrow.

"He doesn't even know your name??"

Looking only at me, he said with a soft smile...

"I didn't until just now. It's nice to finally meet you, Emily Porter."

I knew this wouldn't be the last I saw of Simon Lowdry, and that made me smile back at him.