Morningstar Manor

Anastasia was already awake and laying on her side facing away from Trevor  when his alarm went off Tuesday morning. Much to her surprise he didn't climb out of bed without a word as he had been lately. Instead she felt his moment of hesitation before he turned and wrapped an arm around her waist, snuggling himself into her back as he always had before this mess had started.

She couldn't stop the broad smile that broke out across her face at his familiar touch. She had hoped things would be better today. It was her birthday after all...

Mail. Normally Jazz loved getting mail. But not today.

Today there had been a plain white envelope waiting for her. Inside there had been a quick note from Olly and a small newspaper clipping. An obituary.

She hadn’t seen him since she was sixteen, hadn’t spoken to him either. But she remembered him and it stung. More than she’d have thought it would.

She looked down at the clipping in her hands, reading it again, and blinking furiously against a hot wetness creeping into her eyes.

He was gone.

And she’d never even said goodbye.

What a lucky break that Anastasia's birthday happened to be on a Tuesday - Emily's usual day off from the restaurant. She was going on the weekly tango lesson with Vincenzo later on, but now she had plenty of time to pamper her friend on her birthday.

Emily appeared behind her door carrying a white carboard box that could not hold anything else except a cake or a pie, wearing a green casual dress, and knocked on the door determined to wish a very happy birthday to Anastasia. She just hoped she had seen the date right on her driver's licence the one time she had managed to see it.

A messenger had come in to Morningstar this afternoon bearing two boxes, wrapped in pale purple paper. They were addressed to Anastasia Wentworth. A card inside the first box read Happy birthday, my dear. I hope these are to your liking. It was also signed, Anabella Winters. The second box sat on top, with a silver bow.

Tristan knew it was her birthday today, since she'd told him already. Fairly sure that she'd be busy tonight, he wasn't going to call her. Instead he sent off a text message, then hoped it wouldn't get him punched out by Trevor.
Happy Birthday Sugar!




Summary: Text message leads to phone call, everybody forgot Anastasia's birthday (oh noes!). Tristan sends for her to spend her birthday with him, at the strip club

There were times when the tools you had wouldn't do the job. At that point most people gave up but an old timer like Ron had another option.

He made his own.

But that took more time so he had had to leave a message for Toth to put off collecting his Leica til Tuesday.

Ron was happily putting her back together again, when he heard the door open. It could have been anyone else but Ron would have put money on it being the Leica's owner come to reclaim his darling.

Emma had been busy painting, but now, the telly couldn't hold her interest, so she started thinking about the weekend.... and that meant planning. So she grabbed her phone and sent a text to Amarie.

Amarie? You wanna go clubbing this weekend? I'm up for some fun! Emma

They'd be heading home tomorrow but first they just had to get out for a breath of air. And once they were out they were drawn back to the industrial area where the race had ended.

Charlie sighed, looking at the blackened patch of gravel and the scraps of metal and glass. he looked sadly at Deaon. "Do you know where they took her?" he asked.