Happy Birthday Ger!
By The 4everknightfanatics


Intro by Teri:

The large sprawling castle often tries to look ominous or, at the very least, 
intimidating to the uninitiated, but to those who know and love it, it looks
like "home". It houses a variety of residents, human or otherwise, and quite
frequently enjoys visits from those of the Undead persuasion. Any manner of
odd things may happen at any given time at the Fanatics' Castle, but tonight 
seems to be just a litte out of the ordinary, even for the Madhouse...er...
Castle. Fiction and RL seem to intertwine, until it's no longer obvious who
is REAL and who is only a TV character..........


By Jeannie:

Gersknightlady comes down the stair case in a long red formal ballgown. 
Draped over her shoulders is a velvet back wrap. Her long black hair hangs 
in thick waves over her shoulders and down her back. Her eyes shine with 
love and she holds out her hand. The Great Blond One, standing at the bottom 
of the stairs, takes her hand. He is dressed in a black Tux. 
  
He draws her close and his lips slide along her jaw. "You look lovely, my 
dear." he whispers in her ear. 
  
She sighs with pleasure and draws back and gives him a warm long kiss, "Happy 
Birthday, my love." 
  
He smiles and guides her to the ball room. It's empty. 
  
"Where are all the guests?" she asks surprised. 
  
"Guests, who needs guests." He draws her to him as soft music fills the 
room. 
  
They fail to see that there is after all a guest sneaking into the room. 
Nicole has arrived................. 
  
                            * * * * *

  
Nicole waits till their dance is over and the GBO places a soft kiss against 
GNL's lips. He turns to Nicole whom he sensed was there and reaches out his 
hand. Gersknightlady turns as another figure enters the room. "Lucien, 
come dance with me," she calls softly. 
  
He smiles and reaches out to take her hand in his cool one and the two 
couples dance around the huge ball room...... 
  
As the two couples dance around the fine ballroom, Jeannie decides this 
party will just have to go on all weekend.....that way more people might 
join their fine party....

                         * * * * * 


By Teri:  
  
The sound of soft music wafts on the air and barely reaches Vachon's 
sensitive hearing. He shuts off his bike and props it on its kickstand in 
the Iron Pony Carousel that's still under construction in the Vaquera Wing. 
He looks around at the dust-filled hallways and shakes his head. Sometimes 
he wonders if this part of the old Castle will EVER be finished. He 
hesitates a moment, considering strolling down the corridors that will soon 
be dedicated to him but finally his curiosity gets the better of him and he 
goes in search of the source of the music. 
  
It doesn't take him long to find it, the old Castle is achingly empty 
everywhere he looks except for the main ballroom. There the lights are 
dazzling, the room sparkles with a golden glow and there are two couples 
dancing in tuxedos and ball gowns. Even though he recognizes the dancers, he 
pulls back from the doorway instead of going in, feeling just a little out 
of place in his jeans and black leather jacket. Before he has a chance to 
turn and disappear back into the shadows he hears hurried footsteps behind 
him and turns to find Castle mom #2, long hair all in a wild disarray, 
scruffy jeans almost black with dust, dirt smudged liberally all over her 
face. Vachon's dark eyebrows go up a couple notches. 
  
"Well, at least now I don't feel so under-dressed," he comments dryly. 
  
Not seeing him until he actually speaks to her, Teri jumps and lets out a 
startled squawk, the items in her hands go flying. Luckily Vachon is there 
with his quicker-than-lightning reflexes, because those items just happen to 
be several of the Castle coffee pots, all glass, all very breakable. He 
catches all of them smoothly, with the ease of a juggler, calmly holding 
them out to her as if this was not at all out of the ordinary.... which is 
quite possible knowing Teri's nerves and Vachon's penchant for sneaking up 
on people. 
  
"So...."Vachon says, indicating her disheveled state and the empty coffee 
pots."What's the deal?" 
  
With a heavy sigh she motions for him to follow and she dashes off, back on 
her previous course, chattering over her shoulder as she hustles along. 
  
"Well, you would not BELIEVE how much has been happening in RL to everybody, 
the Castle is practically deserted, NOBODY's around anymore, not even the 
Knighties, and these coffee pots haven't been filled or even CLEANED in 
eons!" She stops and gives him a frazzled look over her shoulder, blowing 
futilely at a strand of hair that will not stay out of her eyes. He's kind 
enough to reach out and tuck it thoughtfully behind her ear for her. 
  
"I didn't think I was EVER gonna get this... this... STUFF... scraped out of 
the bottom of these! I don't know what happened to the kitchen staff or 
whoever used to take care of these things." She ducks in through a doorway 
that leads to an alcove that looks out into the brightly lit, albeit nearly 
empty, ballroom. "And to top it all off, today is Ger's birthday and we're 
throwing an impromptu party for him. A FORMAL one at that!!!!" 
  
Vachon can't help but smile at the horrified, almost desperate expression 
she's wearing. He knows his little Vaquera is about as comfortable in any 
sort of formal attire as he is at an anti-vampire rally complete with Holy 
Water and wooden stakes. But she's rattling on as if now that there's 
someone to talk to, there's no stopping her. 
  
"LaCroix and Nick are here... No!" she corrects herself quickly, "Ger! It's 
GER's birthday, not Nick...." Vachon glances back out onto the dance floor 
with a puzzled look. It *LOOKS* like Nick......He only mulls it over for a 
minute before he shrugs it off and turns his attention back to her, she was 
probably just losing it anyway. "...and I don't know where Tab is, and I 
don't think there's even a Birthday cake made yet, and we'll need some of 
the Raven's House Special brought out, and there's no decorations up, 
and....." Vachon puts his hand gently over her mouth, stopping the seemingly 
endless flow. He waits calmly with a quiet smirk until she takes a deep 
breath and blinks at him in true Vaquera fashion. 
  
"What can I do to help?" 
  
She heaves a sigh and controls the urge to hug him. Later, she tells 
herself. Thank him later. "Well, these need to be filled with coffee and 
those need hot chocolate, although Stephni is MUCH better at making that 
than I am. Oh, and the chocolate pops need to be brought out of the pantry, 
and Elise's favorite, the chocolate covered potato chips! Daygold the Elf 
should be here with her Pixie dust to brighten everything, and WHERE is 
Sparky the dragon?" Every time she thinks of something else that needs 
attending to, she turns as if to dash off in yet another direction. Vachon 
puts his hands on her shoulders and holds her still. 
  
"You stay here and deal with the coffee pots," he orders gently with a 
tolerant smile. "I'll go find the pantry." And with that he vanishes, 
leaving her there listening to the music and the soft trickling sounds of 
brewing coffee, looking out over the huge dance floor at the two couples who 
are elegantly swirling their way around the room, apparently oblivious to 
anything else. 

*********

By Mary:

EyeOnVachon slips through the back entrance of the Castle and enters 
the kitchen area where she sees Darius(Teri) hovered over her 'To Do' list 
for the Birthday celebration. EyeOnVachon hears Darius mumbling 
under her breath "There is just so much to do, it'll never be done in 
time; I just know it!" EyeOnVachon says quietly " Hi, need some help? 
What would you like me to do first?" 
  
Darius turns and smiles, " Oh great, another pair of hands. Put 
your gift down over there with the others and come with me." 
EyeOnVachon walks over to the table in the front hall and places her 
gift among the many others laid there. Darius calls to her," Come on, 
times a wastin'" EyeOnVachon returns to the kitchen; Darius hands her 
a soft cloth and a jar of silver polish, " that's the first thing that 
needs tackling" as she points to a counter laden with a huge mound of 
assorted silverware. EyeOnVachon smiles weakly with cloth and jar in 
hand," I'll get right on it."
  
*****

By RavensFyre:

RavensFyre enters the kitchen, two large baskets of cut flowers from the 
castle gardens and greenhouse in her hands.  "You can't have a formal party 
without flowers."  She says as she begins arranging a bunch of daisies in a 
vase.  After several minutes of fussing she has a dozen vases filled with 
daisies, sunflowers, roses, tulips, daffodils and a myriad of others creating 
little fountains of color.   

She tries to unobtrusively place them around the ballroom, aware she is not 
only very under dressed, in jeans and T-shirt, but also covered in dirt.  As 
she turns around from placing the last vase, she finds the General right 
behind her glaring with distaste.  "My dear, I hope you plan on making 
yourself a little more presentable before joining us in the festivities?" 

"I was just going to get a quick shower and change." She chuckles nervously 
as inches by him and then runs for the stairs. 

This party was just the break she needed from her spring gardening chores. 


To be continued......