Morgan's POV

Okay so there's the napkins and the plates and the snacks Dawn approved of. She let us have pretzels, yogurt, fruit, and gatorade which is more than I expected her to agree on. Over there are her presents, then Lindsey is going to help me hang up banner and Alex and Allie are in charge of the balloons. Mallory, since she's rooming with her, is supposed to keep her distracted until four today so she better do her job because this has to be perfect. 

"Hey Moe where do you want all these?" asks Alex motioning to all the balloons on the floor surrounding her and Allie. "Do you want us to just spread them out?" 

"Yeah that would be great!" I nod. "Do either of you know where Julie is? She went to the store a hour ago to get hats."

"Ash went with her didn't she? I'll call her and check." smiles Al. She walks out to call and Lindsey walks in holding a folded banner in her arms. 

"Pinoe and I just finished!" she declares proudly. "We're still putting it there right?" she wonders pointing to the front wall. 

"Yeah! Let me grab the tape!" We both manage to get it pretty centered and put up. "It looks great Linds! You and Pinoe should be in charge of all our signs for now on!" I joke nudging her in the shoulder. 

"We're here!" yells Julie walking in holding a few bags in her arms. Ashlyn and Alex follow behind her. "We know you said to get just regular party hats, but that's boring. So we got everybody crowns instead." My eyes widen at her.

"JJ I told you one thing! Now everything is going to be ruined!" I rub my face in my hands and groan. I've worked so hard to make this absolutely perfect and now it's all going to be messed up. 

"Morgz relax!" says Ashlyn in a chill tone. I glare at her for not taking this seriously. It's Tobin's birthday! "She's the 'Nutmeg Queen' right?"

"Yeah." I nod still pretty heated. I asked her to do one simple thing. One freaking thing. "Why does that matter?"

"Queens wear crowns you idiot." she states. My mouth sorta falls open. "Moe sometimes I worry about you kid." 

"Oh." I sheepishly laugh. "I'm sorry JJ. I'm just nervous."

"There's nothing to be nervous about MoMo!" laughs Alex. "It's just Tobin we're talking about. She'd be happy with and apple and a Capri Sun." 

"Don't call me that." I pout crossing my arms over my chest. "And Dawn said no Caprisuns." Alex pinches my cheeks and laughs even more.

"Awe that's too bad baby MoMo." I sneer at her and push her hands away before carefully rubbing my face because that hurts. We finish getting all setup and ready right in the nick of time. The whole team plus the staff all flood the room except for a certain teenage forward and tan midfielder. 

"Okay everybody!" I yell trying to get everybody to shut up. "Guys!" I shout again. Everybody keeps talking instead of listening. I sigh and climb on top of a chair. "HELLO! EVERYBODY HUSH!" Finally they all get quiet so I can talk. "Mallory just texted and said they are in the lobby so-"

"Morgan Brian what are you doing in that chair?" asks Tobin. I spin around to face the door and break out into a goofy grin. "Get down from there. Do you know what Lauren would do to me if you busted your head open when I'm supposed to be watching you?" I jump down and smile cheekily at her. 

"SURPRISE!" screams the whole team making her laugh and me roll my eyes. "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" Tobin opens her arms for me so I go and lazily give her a hug. She kisses my temple before letting me go. 

"Thanks guys!" she yells back. Christen comes up behind her and puts a crown on her head as well as Mal's because everyone else, including myself, are already wearing ours. The party goes as planned with Dawn and Jill surprising us with cupcakes. At half past four Tobin grabs me and yanks me down on her lap. "Moe-"

"Wait just a second Toby, I've got to take these batteries to Becky so she can play Mario Kart with Hope and HAO." I explain trying to get up, but she holds me down. "Tobin!" I whine still wiggling.

"MoMo, hey," she soothes calmly. "I just wanted to tell you thanks for putting all this together for me. It was very thoughtful."

"No problem T." I smile. "You deserve it." She smiles again and kisses my cheek before letting me go. 

"Go give Broom those batteries so she can play."  she says with her voice cracking. I swear I see her wipe a tear as she pushes me off her. "Go on kid." I do as she says drop the batteries with Carli before going and helping Ali set up the karaoke machine. Pinoe, Kling and Crystal have a competition to see who can fit the most grapes in their mouths. Kelley sticks to bugging Hope for a turn to race. Mallory runs up behind me and jumps on my back. 

"Woah squirt!" I laugh grabbing hold of her legs. "What are you doing silly?"

"Does Tobin like it?" she wonders smiling big. Let me go into the family tree real fast to explain Mal's and my relationship. Lauren is like my "mom" and Tobin is her "sister" so that makes me her "niece". Mallory is basically Tobin's "kid", she's also Christen's "kid" but they're not in a relationship or anything it's just what it is; I swear they act like a divorced couple. So I guess you'd say we're "cousins". 

"Yeah she loves it." I reply returning her smile. "What did you and her do today?"

"I convinced her to take me to get my nails done." smirks Mal in triumph. She's been asking all week for a pedicure, but we were just too busy for anyone to take her. "I got pink and she got red."

"Wow Mally! You even got Toby to get hers done?" I question shocked. "You're a little miracle worker." 

"I know." she sasses giggling. I roll my eyes and gently put her back on the ground. "Can we watch Bridesmaids tonight?"

"If that's what T wants to watch." I tell her. 

"What does T want to watch?" asks Tobin coming to us. She throws her arm over Mallory's shoulder and rest her head on top of hers. 

"Bridesmaids?" begs Mal using her puppy dog face. 

"Sure munchkin." she agrees. "How about you go play with Linds? Moe and I've got to go make a phone call."

"Okay." grins Mallory. She quickly pecks Tobin's cheek before running off. Tobin takes my hand and leads us to her room. 

"Lauren texted me and told me to call her so I thought you'd like to join me." she says taking out her phone and Facetiming her. "Hey Cheney!"

"Happy birthday Tobs!" she shouts excitedly. "Hey MoMo! How are you baby girl?"

"I'm good Mama! What about you?" I giggle.

"I'm great but I miss you two loads!" she says exaggerating the word "loads". "How's your birthday been Toby?"

"It's been wonderful actually. Mal and I went and got our nails done and our Moe here threw me a party." brags Tobin proudly. "We've done good with this on Chens."

"We have done pretty good haven't we." smiles Lauren. We all talk for a little while longer before Cheney has to hang up. Tobin and I decide to hang out in the room until movie night so I take it as the perfect opportunity to go grab my present for her. I kept mine in my room instead of with everyone else's. I run to my room and back and place it softly on the bed in front of her. 

"Oh kid you didn't have to get me anything." sheepishly says Tobin picking it up.

"Just open it!" I say about to explode from excitement. She laughs at me but does as told.

"Moe," she gasps happily. "this is so sweet." I got her a picture of the two of us. On the top part of the frame it says "Aunt Toby," then on the bottom part it says "I love you to the moon and back. -Moe".  "Thank you baby girl. I love it."

"I wrote you a note too." I mumble shyly holding out the folded paper I was keeping behind my back. "Sorry I forgot to get a card and nobody had an envelope." She smiles and takes it from me. It reads:

Dear Aunt T,

You're such an amazing person on and off the field. I love the way your smile can make anything better whether it's a skinned knee to Mama retiring or  Aunt Aims being away because of the baby. Thank you for being there and continuing to be here for me even though I know those two things hurt you too. You always put others before yourself and I admire you for that. Thank you so much for "adopting" me into your "family" when Mama left and taking care of me. I don't know what I'd do without you. You've taught me so much as a player and as a person that I know I wouldn't be where I am today without you. I know I don't always listen and do what I should or what you say the first time, but I promise I'm going to work on it. You're such a great "Aunt" to Ryan and I and I know you'll be just as amazing to the new baby 'Rod and to Mama's and Papa's future baby. You're also an amazing mother figure in Mal's life. I guess I'm just trying to say I love you and thank you very much for all you do. Happy birthday Toby.

                                                                                                                                                            Love,
                                                                                                                                                Morgan Paige Brian

She has tears freely flowing down her face as she wraps me in a tight hug. "I love you so much squirt. You're never going to know how much I do." she whispers kissing my cheek. "Thank you for this baby. I wouldn't want my life any other way. I don't know what I'd do without my Morgan Paige."

"Happy birthday Aunt Tobin." I smile into her embrace. She kisses my head one more time before letting go. She wipes her face with a tissue before grinning stupidly at me. 

"C'mon let's get ready for movie night before Chris brings Mal-Pal in here." She gets up and starts to fool with the DVD player. Before I get a chance to do anything the door burst open and Mallory comes running in all hyper. "Baby calm down." laughs Tobin.

"Ashlyn dared me to eat ten sugar packets!" exclaims Mal jumping up on her bed. 

"What?" asks Tobin spinning around quickly. She grabs the younger girl's arm and yanks her down onto her butt. "We don't jump on the beds Mallory Diane." she scolds looking her in her eyes.

"Yes ma'am." nods Mallory sad that she got got on to. She crawls of the bed and leaps into the safety of my arms. Tobin shakes her head, more at the fact that Ash dared Mal to eat ten sugar packets than that Mal did it and the jumped on the bed.  Tobs puts in the movie and uses the remote to to go to the title screen and then to play it. She flicks the lights of and lays on the other side of me making me in the middle. For the entire first half of the movie Mallory literally fidgets the whole time. 

Tobin growls, I think to herself but I hear it, "I'm going to kill Ashlyn." Tobs sits up and looks down at the girl still in my arms. "Mally-o come here babe." She reaches her hands out and picks her up. She then sits there for the rest of the movie rocking the teen to sleep. When the credits start to roll I quickly close my eyes pretending to be asleep so she won't make me go back to my room. She gets off the bed and to put Mallory down first. I hear her whisper "Good night princess. Sweet dreams." Then I hear a small sigh and a laugh. I feel the bed sink down behind me and the covers be lifted. "Good night Morgan Paige. I love you sweetie." A few minutes of silence follows before, "Moe?"

"Yeah?" I squeak. Darn it! 

"Mhm I knew you were still up." she says wrapping her arms around my waist and snuggling up to me. "I guess tonight's okay. Good night."

"Good night Aunt Toby. Happy birthday."