Betty guided Ferris to the little surprise she had already set in a small corner of the base she knew no one would bother them. “No peeking,” she reminded him with a little excitement in her voice as she looked at the table with the little picnic she had set up to celebrate Ferris’ birthday. She hadn’t been sure what to get him for a present, so she thought a nice surprise lunch with some of his favorite food would be a good gift to start with.
She stopped him right in front of it and bit her bottom lip nervously before looking at Ferris. “Okay, you can open your eyes now... Happy birthday!” She exclaimed, smiling brightly at him.
Ferris's birthday hadn't started out on the most positive of notes. Learning that Laurence and Temeraire planned to return home had left him feeling both unsettled and irrationally abandoned (again). He had no doubt that Tharkay would soon follow, presumably once he made whatever arrangements the Diplomatic department required for his departure. There were things that a lifelong member of the Corps (former member) knew enough not to know, even in their own world. Here in Atlantis certain predilections were not only winked at but fully accepted, and Ferris was aware that Laurence and Tharkay were close in a way that even Laurence and Admiral Roland had not been as discreet as Laurence had attempted to be about his relationship with Jane Roland. Anyone in the Aerial Corps understood such things, after all. Ferris had been present when Laurence's memories returned to him in China, and it had not been difficult to understand, had he chosen to think about it. Laurence and Temeraire were leaving (today of all days), and Tharkay would too.
He'd been glumly out of sorts, therefore, when he remembered that Betty had made plans. Betty was sweet, charming, and a large part of the reason that Ferris had not immediately approached Intake to discuss his own return. He was - fond - of her, and returning would mean losing the closeness developing between them. Fondness battled with a perverse desire to be left to his solitude (and possibly a glass of whiskey) as he allowed her to guide him through the base.
When she allowed him to open his eyes, his first sight was not the cozy picnic lunch she'd arranged but the warm smile on her face. His stomach fluttered as the stomach of no veteran aviator ought to be able to do, and he began to smile himself. Only then did he turn his gaze to the table with its picnic luncheon. Atlantis boasted any and every form of food and drink, including many that Ferris would not have recognized as such had he not be told, but the very variety was sometimes overwhelming. In the same way Gong Su's creations were masterful and yet overpowering to a simple man's taste buds, the food court often left Ferris missing ordinary British fare. He could have sought it out - he sometimes did - but that someone had thought to bring it to him on a day when Ferris had been feeling rather forgotten was… humbling. Gratifying. To think he'd felt abandoned!
Slightly pink about the collar, he looked back at her. "Miss Bayer - Betty-" His flush deepened. "You're too kind."
Betty’s smile widened when she saw Ferris's reaction. So this had been a good idea. She had to admit she had been a little nervous, not sure if he would like surprise parties like this — if this could even be considered a surprise ‘party’. It was more like a surprise lunch for just the two of them.
She smiled when she saw him turning pink and thought it was the cutest thing she had ever seen. “You deserve this and much more, Ferris,” she said softly. “I hope you like it. I spent all morning cooking,” she said with a soft chuckle. “Now sit down, come on. Food isn’t gonna eat itself — although maybe in this place it will,” she added with a laugh.
"I don't deserve so much effort," Ferris contradicted with a smile. "But thank you." He pulled out a chair for her before sitting himself. "I'm surprised anyone remembered this far from home, and even there-" Only his mother really acknowledged the day, and her solicitude was always more painful than not. "There are much more important concerns."
He chuckled at her joke about the food. Here in Atlantis… "It might. We ought to make haste, then."