Happy Birthday, Will

[notsocommon]

It was the second year that Helen had to plan a birthday for Will as his (wife, this year, girlfriend last) significant other and while last year's attempt had been absolutely well-received, she was nothing if not interested in constant improvement. To that end, she'd decided to plan a picnic for them at the waterfalls. She'd wanted to go to the second island but after having gone with Nikola to scout a place and it ending disastrously, well. That was nixed.

She'd woken him up in (what she hoped) was a particularly-nice way and shooed him off to deal with patients while she went to put them together a picnic basket and bake a cake. She could have just asked Shari for one at the bakery, yes, but Helen wanted something she'd made with her own two hands and while she didn't have chocolate for the frosting, she managed to top it with a bit of sugar and a mango-rum sauce that she thought had come out quite nicely.

That done and the hour rapidly approaching when she'd told Will to meet her, she donned her bikini and her favorite cover-up (blue, with little white daisies printed on it) and carried the basket down to the waterfalls to meet him.

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[inabmovie]

It had definitely been a good day so far. Lazy morning in bed with Magnus, a light schedule of patients, and Magnus planning a surprise for the afternoon. She'd told him to meet her at the waterfall, so while she was off doing... whatever she was planning, he got a couple of blankets and towels together, pulled on swim trunks and a t-shirt, and headed down to meet her. He got there a minute or two before she did, so when she strolled up with her picnic basket in her little bikini and beach cover-up... well, he got to fully appreciate the view.

"Hey," he said, grinning, and got up to help her with the basket.

[notsocommon]

"Happy birthday, darling," Helen said warmly, settling the basket down on the blanket before sliding her arms around him in a hug. Birthdays were important to Helen, at least Will's birthday, since he'd had many that weren't very good before coming to live with her and before winding up on the island.

"Has it been a good day so far?"

[inabmovie]

"Totally." He slides his arms around her, holding her close, and she's warm from the exertion of the walk to the waterfall and the warmth of the day. She smells good, too, a little like sunblock and shampoo and clean skin. "It's been a great day. Something tells me it's going to keep being good, too."

[notsocommon]

"Well, you only turn thirty seven once, unless you're me, and then you've been thirty seven for over a century," Helen teased, raising on her toes slightly to kiss him. She barely even wore heels any longer on the island and while it had been strange at first to be shorter than Will, it felt natural now.

"But I hope to make it a special day for you, yes."

[inabmovie]

"You already have," he tells her, his voice soft and genuine. He's never really made a big deal out of his birthday because his birthdays have often been pretty much a let-down and it's just better to treat them as any other day. But Magnus has made it special, just like she's made so many other parts of his life special, and it's just one of the things he loves her for.

[notsocommon]

"I do try," Helen murmured, kissing the tip of his nose. "Now, we've a picnic to get to, don't we?"

There wasn't exactly a schedule to Will's birthday, there would be no point in that, but she did want a chance to give him his birthday cake and have a day that was solely focused on him. It was important.

[inabmovie]

Will grins and lets go of her. "So, Mrs. Zimmerman, what's in the basket?" he asks, both because he likes calling her by her married name when it's just them and because he really wants to know what's in the basket. With Magnus, there's no telling.

[notsocommon]

"That would be your birthday cake and a pitcher of water," Helen said, beaming a little. She was excessively proud of that cake and hoped Will would like it since she'd made it more for him than any sense of accomplishment in the kitchen.

"Would you like to try some?"

[inabmovie]

"You think I'm going to say no to cake?" he teases. "Want some help upacking that, or is this one of those 'sit back and let me work' kinds of things?"

[notsocommon]

"You should let your wife cut it for you," Helen decided, beaming at him. She cut a slice of the cake and cupped it in her hand, offering it to him. Plates might have been better, certainly, but this was entirely more romantic.

"Happy, happy birthday my darling."

[inabmovie]

He could make a joke about her having him eating out of the palm of her hand, but he doesn't. Instead, he breaks off a piece of the cake and eats it, and then breaks off another little piece and offers it to her. "I didn't exactly get to feed you wedding cake," he says, "and it's good. You should try it."

[notsocommon]

Helen took the piece of cake he offered and closed her eyes, simply enjoying the tastes. She'd done a really good job with it, even by her own exacting high standards, and that pleased her almost as much as it pleased her that Will was happy with it. She swept her tongue along the pads of his fingers to get the last of the crumbs.

"It's amazing, Will. I outdid myself."

[inabmovie]

"You did." He waits till she's licked the crumbs from his fingers and then swipes them over her lower lip, brushing away a little of the sauce she'd topped the cake with (mango, it tastes like, and rum). "Good job." He breaks off another little piece for himself and eats it, and then another for her.

[notsocommon]

Helen's breath caught lightly when Will touched his fingers to his lips and she laughed before taking another bite of cake. It was silly, she supposed, to be acting this way but more than that it was sweet and intimate, two things she'd had little of in her long life before meeting and falling in love with Will.

"Is there anything else you'd like for your birthday, darling?"

[inabmovie]

Will finishes off the last bit of cake and sits back a little, looking at her. "Nope," he says honestly. "There really isn't. I mean, it sounds kind of corny to say this, but just the fact that we did something for the day... that's enough." He shrugs and looks away for a minute. Lately--well, ever since he found those papers, so it's been a while--he's been thinking about his dad a lot, and remembering how his dad didn't live up to a lot of the things he'd said he would or things that Will had wanted him to live up to.

[notsocommon]

"It's important to me to make it special," Helen admitted quietly. "For all the years that it wasn't. I guess it's a bit vain of me to think I can erase that hurt but I have to try, Will. You're very important to me."

She smiled slightly. "You benefit, at any rate."

[inabmovie]

"I appreciate that," Will says, touching her cheek. "I really do. But never think you have to go overboard or anything," he adds. "Just acknowledging it is enough." It had always been Will, sorry I forgot your birthday, or Things are hard right now, we'll do something special next year, or I know I promised you those tickets for your birthday this year, but we can't make it happen this time, maybe next year. It wasn't that Will had expected anything at all, really; it was the repeated promises that had never made it through, not even once. Don't promise it if you can't back it up, was Will's feeling.

[notsocommon]

"I hate my own birthday," Helen said, blunt for her. "I hate knowing each year means I'm closer to losing someone else I love. But I always tried to make an occasion of Ashley and Henry's birthdays, tried to make them special. Oh, the things I did for Ashley. I once bought her two horses for her birthday because she couldn't pick which one she wanted and I never had the heart to tell her no."

She blushed a little. "I am, perhaps, too indulgent as a parent."

[inabmovie]

"Nothing wrong with that," Will says, with a slight shrug. He remembers his mother indulging him sometimes, too, though her indulgence was more spoiling with affection than with material things. He supposes that's what he missed the most when he lost her, that easy affection.

"Is it different now? Your birthday?" Maybe she looks at it differently, now that she doesn't have an infinite number of them.

[notsocommon]

"Not really," Helen said softly. "I don't think I've adjusted to being mortal quite yet and it will take a while to shift toward not dreading it, I think. I've enjoyed the birthdays I've spent with you, though, for what that is worth. I just...I would rather make other people happy, I think, than be the center of attention."

[inabmovie]

"Well, you're doing pretty good with that so far," Will says. "Because you make me very, very happy." He can't imagine his life without her now--couldn't imagine his life without her ever since they met, really." He leans over and kisses her, soft and sweet.

[notsocommon]

"Ah, I do try," Helen said, curling her hand around the back of his neck to drag him closer for another kiss. "Whether or not I always succeed remains to be seen but I always, always try to be a good wife to you and make you happy."

[inabmovie]

"You don't have to try to be a 'good wife'," Will says. Obviously, all relationships take a certain amount of trying and work to keep things together, but that isn't what he means. "You make me happy just by being you, you know?"

[notsocommon]

"Ah, now that'll just make me vain," Helen said, laughing a little before leaning in close to whisper against his ear. They were alone still, miraculously, and she wanted the chance to take advantage of that before they were interrupted by one of the numerous other citizens of the island.

"I love you. I will always strive to be worthy of how much faith you put in me, Will, and how much pure affection you give me. You're the first person I've loved in a very long time who loves without attaching any strings to it. I don't have to be anyone but me with you and it's...it makes you special. Different. It gives me hope that this marriage will work. And, as such, I strive to be worthy of it and to be just as good to you as you are to me."

[inabmovie]

Will's not sure what he can say that can quite match up to what Magnus just said to him. It's probably the... sweetest thing anyone's ever said to him--and coming from Magnus, who so often represses what she's feeling, it's somehow even sweeter than what comes from just the words. "C'mere," he says, reaching for her to hold her close. He might be a little misty-eyed. And maybe he needs a minute.

[notsocommon]

"Always," Helen said softly, curling up against him and laying her head against his shoulder and chest. They were more or less alone and it had been a poignant moment, the sort of poignant moment Helen liked to avoid because emotions so often overwhelmed her.

"I love you, Will."