Disclaimer: The characters of the Stephanie Plum Series belong to Janet Evanovich and are used here without permission. No copyright infringement is intended.
Note: This was written for a Weekly Wednesday Challenge on the PerfectlyPlum List
Birthday Surprise
By TT
Joe’s eyes flew open.
He remained perfectly still as he tried to figure out what sound had woken him.
After a few minutes, he heard quiet, shuffling steps moving through the downstairs. They were the wrong sound to be Bob.
Having just come off a very stressful case, Joe had been looking forward to catching up on sleep. Apparently that wasn’t going to happen. The fact that the group he had just broken up swore vengeance on all the officers involved in their demise was playing in the back of his mind and adrenaline flooded his system.
It didn’t take him long to retrieve his gun from where it rested on the nightstand. Moving swiftly and silently, he sat up, fighting back a groan as his exhausted body protested. Ten more hours of sleep wouldn’t have gone amiss.
Keeping his gun with him, he slid on the jeans he had been wearing the day before and padded silently to the top of the steps.
A brief flicker of worry assaulted him when he realized Bob wasn’t protesting, but he shoved it aside. He would have to deal with one thing at a time.
Carefully descending the steps, he avoided the creaky boards and made it to the bottom without alerting the intruder to his presence.
Peering around what he could see of the downstairs, he spotted nothing unusual. Nothing had been disturbed and he could see no one hiding.
He closed his eyes for a moment and still only heard sounds coming from the kitchen.
Carefully, he made his way to where he could see into the kitchen while still having some cover.
Gun at the ready, he peered in and spotted Stephanie standing in front of the coffee maker, her back to him. She and Bob were the only ones in the room.
Relaxing instantly, he allowed his arm to drop and put the safety back on the gun before tucking it into the waistband of his pants.
He shot a curious glance at the object sitting in the middle of his kitchen table.
It was about three inches high on one side and about twelve on the other. It was cylindrical and, if he wasn’t mistaken, covered in frosting. His tired brain only took a second to make the connection that it was a cake that almost, but not quite entirely, looked like a ski jump.
Stephanie turned around just then and saw him standing there. She gasped and a hand flew up to cover her heard. “Make some noise, why don’t you?” she demanded, shaking her head and muttering something about the min in her life giving her heart attacks.
“Not that I’m not happy to see you, Cupcake, but what are you doing here?” Joe asked.
Joe could feel her eyes roaming over him and saw something in her face soften.
“I heard that you finally wrapped up the case you were working on and wanted to wish you a happy birthday,” she explained, indicating the cake.
Stepping forward into the kitchen, Joe walked around the table and took Stephanie in his arms, placing a soft kiss on her lips. “Thank you,” he said, keeping his arm around her and moving closer to the cake.
It had a severe slope to it and there were flecks of cake in the frosting.
“Mary Lou helped,” Stephanie said. “And it was from a box.”
Joe smiled. He had finally come to accept that Stephanie would never be a cook. She made no apologies for it either.
“Turns out that my oven isn’t level and the layers rose kind of funny,” she added, her cheeks flushing slightly as she waved at the lopsided cake.
“It looks wonderful,” he replied, kissing her temple. “Thank you for remembering my birthday and making this for me. So, um, what is it?” he asked.
“Strawberry,” Stephanie replied. “I remember you once saying you liked strawberry cake.”
Joe grinned, touched that she remembered. It had only been a passing comment about two years before. “Thank you,” he replied. “Want to stay and have a piece?” he managed to ask before a yawn overtook him.
“Just one,” she replied. “You look like you need about ten more hours of sleep.”
A low chuckle escaped Joe as he yawned again and reached up to rub his eyes. “Yeah,” he agreed as Stephanie ushered him into a chair and got ready to serve the cake and coffee. He smiled again, feeling the warmth of love in his heart as he watched Stephanie. This was the best birthday he’d had in a very long time.
End