[A Few Days Later] [March 10, 2009] [Wilson Estate] [Morning]
Asher's first birthday arrived only five days after Max had given birth to the twins, which meant the Wilson estate was trying to prepare for a celebration while half the household was still adjusting to newborn sleep schedules.
The party was never meant to be large. Halle and Alex had agreed on that almost immediately. Max was still recovering, the twins were only a few days old, and neither of them wanted the house filled with strangers, photographers, studio executives, or distant industry acquaintances. The guest list stayed limited to family and people close enough to feel like family.
Even so, the estate had been awake since early morning.
Alex started his day in the nursery after hearing one of the twins crying through the monitor. Their daughter had woken first, followed soon by her brother. "Good morning to both of you too," he murmured while carefully lifting his daughter. "Your complaint has been received by management, although management would appreciate quieter business hours."
The little girl kept crying against his chest.
Her brother responded from the second bassinet.
Alex looked toward him with tired amusement. "You don't have to support every argument your sister makes, buddy."
He gently rocked his daughter while reaching down to touch his son's blanket. Five days had passed since their birth, and Alex still found himself stopping every few hours to stare at them like they had appeared through some impossible trick.
The nursery door opened quietly behind him.
Halle walked inside wearing a blue robe, her hair pulled loosely behind her shoulders. She carried Asher against one hip while he blinked sleepily toward the crying babies. She had spent the past few days moving between Max's room, the nursery, and Asher, trying to make sure nobody felt overlooked. She knew Max needed help even when she hated admitting it, and she knew Asher was too young to understand why the house had suddenly become focused on two smaller babies.
"There you are," Halle whispered as she approached them. "Somebody woke up because his brother and sister started the morning meeting without him."
Alex smiled when Asher reached toward him. "Birthday boy already wants executive privileges."
Halle carefully shifted Asher higher against her side while looking at the twins. "Which one started it?"
"Our daughter opened negotiations," Alex replied while rocking her gently. "Our son joined the union immediately."
Halle laughed under her breath and leaned over the other bassinet.
"Good morning, little troublemaker," she murmured while lifting the baby boy into her other arm.
Asher stared at both babies with serious curiosity.
His face tightened slightly as Halle kissed the newborn boy's forehead.
Alex noticed immediately.
"Oh, don't start," he said with a grin as he stepped closer. "You still have birthday immunity today."
Asher reached toward Alex with both hands.
Alex carefully shifted his daughter against one shoulder, then leaned close enough for Asher to grab his shirt.
Halle smiled at the sight. "He's already making sure nobody forgets whose day this is."
"He learned from the best," Alex replied as Asher tugged his collar.
The four of them stayed inside the nursery until both newborns settled again.
After the twins settled, the morning shifted into a quiet routine. Caroline took Asher downstairs while Halle took the babies to Max for feeding. After that, the twins refused to sleep, and Max needed sleep. So, Evangeline took the boy, Scarlett took the girl, and Chloe helped organize diapers, blankets, and everything else that seemed to multiply each day.
The household had fallen into an informal schedule without anyone announcing it. Somebody was always with the twins, somebody was always watching Asher, and someone else was checking on Max.
Max remained upstairs under the doctor's orders.
She hated that arrangement.
Five days after giving birth, her body was still sore and tired. Everyone around her knew she needed to rest. Max knew it too, which made her feel worse. She wanted to hold the babies every time they made a sound, wanted to go downstairs whenever she heard people moving, and wanted to join in every part of Asher's birthday.
Instead, she spent most of the morning in bed with pillows behind her back, breakfast in front of her, and a growing suspicion that everyone downstairs was having fun without her.
When Alex brought her food, she barely looked at the tray before asking, "Where are the babies?"
"With Scarlett and Evangeline," Alex said as he set the tray down. "They're fine, and they'll be back here after you eat."
Max sighed and pushed her hair away from her face. "I know they're fine. I just hate waking up all exhausted. And I'm fat. My tummy looks flappy... I don't look hot anymore. Don't leave me."
Alex sat beside her and then hugged her before kissing her. "I'm never gonna leave you. I love you and believe it or not, you're stuck with me for the rest of your life."
"Sorry for saying something so stupid," Max whispered as she kept hugging him.
"It's alright. You're just exhausted. I mean, you barely got five hours of sleep last night. So, eat and sleep. Don't worry about anything. We're all here with you and the kids. You just relax for a moment," He said, pulling back a little and looking into her eyes.
"What about the party?" She looked toward the door for a moment, then gave him a tired look. "I know everyone is decorating downstairs, and I'm stuck up here like I'm grounded. Get me out of here, now! I want to help."
"You gave birth five days ago."
"I remember that part very clearly."
Her tone carried enough irritation that Alex chose not to argue. Max's mood had been shifting all week. One moment she was laughing, the next she was crying, and five minutes later she was annoyed because someone had moved a pillow she liked.
Everyone had learned to let the emotions pass without treating them like a problem.
Alex squeezed her hand. "You won't miss the party. We're keeping everything simple, and we'll bring you downstairs later if you're feeling well enough."
Max studied his face as if she were checking whether he meant it. "You promise?"
"I promise."
That was enough for the moment.
Downstairs, the estate slowly changed around them.
Caroline had decided she needed a new dress for the evening despite owning more clothes than most department stores. She stood in her room comparing three outfits before deciding all of them felt too formal for a first birthday. Twenty minutes later, she had already called a boutique in Beverly Hills and arranged an emergency delivery because, in her words, a family party still deserved decent clothing.
Scarlett heard about the emergency shopping and joined her search out of curiosity. Within half an hour, both women were standing in Caroline's dressing room while boxes arrived from two stores, though Scarlett eventually chose something she already owned and left Caroline surrounded by discarded choices.
Angelina took a simpler approach. She selected a dark green dress, left it hanging near the wardrobe, and spent most of the morning helping downstairs instead. She preferred the estate when it felt lived in rather than staged, so she quietly removed several decorative pieces the event staff had brought in and replaced them with family photographs, flowers, and softer lighting.
Evangeline worked with Chloe near the kitchen and garden entrance. They prepared pitchers of iced tea, lemonade, and fruit water while staff handled the main food.
Trixie stayed close to them until she became bored and wandered toward the decorations.
She immediately took responsibility for the balloon area.
By the time Chloe found her again, Trixie had convinced two staff members that the blue balloons needed to go closer to the birthday table because Asher liked that color. Nobody knew whether Asher actually had a favorite color, but Trixie sounded confident enough that the balloons were moved anyway.
Nacho followed her from room to room, sometimes in her arms and other times on her head, until it was his nap time. Eventually, he found a quiet place beneath a chair near the terrace and went to sleep while people worked around him.
Rachel handled the practical parts of the day. Guest access, staff movement, deliveries, parking, and privacy all went through her. There would be no press near the estate, no photographers waiting outside the gates, and no unexpected visitors getting through simply because they knew someone's name.
John was also there, taking care of the security. With him in charge, no one had to worry about anything.
Halle looked deep in thought. Her mother and sister were coming to the estate for the first time, and the idea had left her more emotional than she expected.
Months had passed since she had seen them properly.
Her life had changed so much in that time that she sometimes struggled to understand it herself. She had become a mother. She had moved into a home large enough to feel unreal. She was part of a family that didn't fit any ordinary definition, yet somehow felt more stable than many traditional ones she had known.
She wondered what her mother would think when she walked through the front doors.
Would she be overwhelmed by the house?
Would she feel awkward around the others?
Would she look at Halle and understand how happy she was now?
Those questions followed her while she checked the guest rooms, changed fresh flowers near the hallway, and asked staff about the dinner menu. She didn't want anyone waiting formally in the entrance hall when her family arrived. She wanted her mother and sister to feel like they were visiting her home rather than entering Alex Wilson's estate.
When Alex found her near the dining room, she was adjusting the same centerpiece for the third time.
"You're nervous," he said.
Halle looked at him and smiled faintly. "A little."
"They're family."
"I know." She glanced around the room. "But still..."
Alex understood immediately. He walked closer and kissed her forehead before telling her everything would be fine.
That simple reassurance helped more than she expected.
By late morning, the garden terrace had become the center of the preparations.
Small strands of warm lights ran along the covered roof. Blue, white, and gold balloons were arranged around the seating area without covering every surface. A simple birthday banner hung above the main doors, and a long table near the garden held photographs from Asher's first year.
That table became the one thing that slowed everyone down.
There were pictures of Halle holding him after his birth, Alex asleep on a couch with Asher resting against his chest, Max feeding him, Trixie sitting beside him in the garden, Caroline carrying him through the house, Evangeline holding him while Nacho watched from a nearby cushion, Chloe playing with him as he grabbed a fistful of her hair.
Scarlett stopped at one image of herself holding Asher during a quiet afternoon and smiled for several seconds before moving on.
Angelina found a picture of Asher laughing while she held him near the pool.
Rachel had somehow ended up in several photographs too, usually with a tablet in one hand and Asher resting against her shoulder as if being part of a security briefing was completely normal.
Later, Alex helped Max downstairs...
Halle came over. "How are you feeling?"
"Tired, sore, emotional, annoyed, hungry, and happy," Max replied.
Halle smiled. "That sounds about right."
Max looked around at the decorations. "You guys really kept it small."
"That was the plan," Halle said.
Max nodded with visible relief.
The party would begin later that evening. Earl, Han, Oleg, Sophie, and Luis were coming. Robert Downey Jr., Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Jennifer Lopez, and Kate Winslet had all been invited, though work schedules meant some might arrive late or miss the evening entirely.
Later that evening...
Trixie sat on the carpet with Asher while showing him a wrapped present he couldn't open yet. Nacho had moved beside them and was watching with the bored patience of a cat who had accepted that children controlled the house now.
Asher laughed when Trixie rolled a soft ball toward him.
Alex noticed something about Nacho. The Orange Cat sometimes feels too patient and intelligent for it to be a simple cat. He plays with Trixie, guards the kids, and doesn't bite, scratch, or destroy anything around.
'Are you Flerken?' He thought.
"Meow!" Nacho stretched his arms before walking over to Max. He jumped up on the couch as she hugged him.
Alex shook his head. 'Nah! That's impossible...' He looked at the cat again and narrowed his eyes. If a pervy Spatula, a magic cookbook, and a cheat System can exist in this reality, why not a Flerken? Still, it sounded absurd. 'Haha. What the heck am I even thinking?'
Approx. ten minutes later...
Halle's family arrived, both slowing as they took in the size of the estate. Halle barely gave them time to look around before she crossed the entrance hall and hugged her mother tightly.
"I missed you," Halle said, holding on longer than she had planned.
Her mother wrapped both arms around her and smiled through gathering tears. "I've missed you too, sweetheart."
Halle then hugged her sister.
"Yeah, yeah, enough hugging. Now where's my grandson?" Halle's mother said.
That finally made Halle laugh, and whatever nervousness she had carried throughout the day began to ease.
More cars arrived soon afterward.
Earl, Sophie, Han, Oleg, and Luis came through the doors together carrying enough gifts to make Max shake her head from across the room. Their arrival immediately changed the atmosphere, bringing familiar voices and the comfortable chaos.
Jennifer Lopez arrived shortly afterward, followed by Kate Winslet. Robert Downey Jr. appeared several minutes later, carrying a wrapped present under one arm and immediately headed toward Alex with a grin. His schedule was free since they planned to start the shoot of Iron Man next week. They shook hands and talked for a bit before RDJ went to meet the birthday boy.
Jeremy Renner and Anthony Mackie had both managed to clear their schedules and arrived together just as the garden lights fully came alive.
Soon, the quiet estate was filled with conversation, hugs, laughter, and people gathering around Asher.
The birthday party has finally begun...
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