It was Monday morning when Annie woke feeling energized. She spent the entire weekend relaxing, resting and sleeping. When she entered her home on Friday–back from the hospital, she found her parents waiting up, worry etched on their faces.

They immediately noticed the state of exhaustion she was under. Both had matching expressions of disapproving frowns after she explained what happened to her. Patrick ordered her to rest and warned her not to even try going to work the following week.  Charlotte fawned and pampered her all weekend, nursing her back to health with food, rest, and plenty of love.

During that weekend, Anthony and his family finally made amends with their father and properly asked for Cici's hand in marriage with flowers and gifts. Anthony carried a large diamond ring in a velvet box and bent down on one knee in front of them all–after their parents accepted his prepared speech which expressed his worthiness and how important Cici was too him.

Everybody applauded the new couple and above all else, Cici finally got what she wanted.

An added surprise was when Anthony had a custom made diamond necklace made for Cici, and his only request is: she was to wear it for their wedding someday. Cici embraced him lovingly and congratulations were thrown at them during a nice private dinner at the Taverron home.

Annie was truly happy for Cici. That evening, she gave her big sister a warm and loving hug, wishing her an eternity of happiness. Cici thanked her and bent low close to Annie's ear, and whispered, "You're next..."

It was possible but Annie kept doubting her future. It was easy to hope, the reality of it was still too far away.  She wanted to respond back to Cici, but at the last minute she thought against it, not having the heart to shatter her happiness with negativity.

Continuing through the week, Cici and Sheila shopped around for the wedding, making arrangements and concluding unfinished preparations. Sheila's mother also helped, taking a load off their shoulders, which they were grateful for since Annie couldn't be available to help while she recuperated.

Charlotte started planning the bridal shower, hiring one of the top party coordinators in California to help. The bridal shower date was scheduled for after Valentine's Day, less than two weeks away. According to Charlotte the exact date could not be avoided and ended up landing on the day of Annie's date of birth–the 18th.  Further explanations revealed how it was unpreventable  since they were short on time and the bride and groom's wedding was right around the corner. She was assured they'd celebrate her birthday before the big shower party.

It appeared to Annie like her mother showed very little interest in celebrating her birthday like she was customarily accustomed to. She always made a big deal of throwing her children's birthday parties and never missed a year or the opportunity.   Annie felt a pang of hurt at the lack of attention but she wasn't in the mood to celebrate this year anyway, she assured herself. Too many changes were occurring around her and it was difficult to wrap ones head around it all. Skipping the celebrating this year sounded good to her. They had enough to worry about with Sonny and Sheila's nuptials.

Annie stretched out and rolled to the side toward her window thinking of Julien. Going over the events of that day at the hospital, it felt surreal. It was difficult to believe what she avoided for weeks, happened in just hours. However, as enchanting as that moment was, it was also the first crack in the thin layer of ice she's built around herself. She was truly vulnerable now, penetrable even, maybe finally allowing happiness to seep through.

She hadn't seen Julien since Friday night but continuously thought of him wondering his whereabouts. She hoped to have seen him, but he nor the rest of the St. James' visited. They were home, she knew from Cici who visited Phaedra personally. Annie's parents also stopped by to welcome Phaedra back home from her ordeal. Nobody spoke of the other family members and Annie never asked.

Not wanting to seem eager at the time, the thought of giving Julien her cell number crossed her mind while they talked in his car. If he was desperate and wanted to reach her he could always find a way.  She wasn't going to be the one to make the first moves. As for her to find him or contact him, that was out of the question, her conscious reasoned.

Annie was a firm believer in the man fighting for the girl. Scorching the ends of the earth to find his love or fighting against all the odds in order to be with his destined were things Annie knew were true and could happen, not just in fairy tales.

Her cellular phone went off on her night stand, disrupting her thoughts. Annie grabbed it, the caller ID indicating it was Mark. He said he would call and check on her.

"Hello?"

"Hey there, how are you feeling?" Mark asked her bluntly without a proper greeting.

"I'm fine Mark. All I've done for the last few days is sleep, eat, sleep, eat...doctor's orders remember...?" Annie sighed.

She hated being weak and showing any weakness to anyone. She was always the strong one, tough, unbreakable. It felt different to feel exposed, raw, penetrable. So much has changed in such a short span of time. Since meeting the St. James' her life especially, has been chaotic and unpredictable.

"That's good to hear...if its true." He paused when he received no answer. "I wished you would have informed me you were barely hanging in there, you could have avoided all this..."

It couldn't be avoided. Stress was inevitable to avoid, especially with a man as determined as Julien after her.

"I didn't feel that bad until I came to the hospital. It wasn't until I saw your face." Annie joked hoping to get back at him.

"That was not funny!"

She chuckled at his reaction. Mark was easy to rile up.

"It was to me...I'm kidding, can't you take a joke?" Annie argued. "Anyway, you deserved it! Hinting I'm lying about how I feel!"

"Okay, okay, I guess I deserved that. You always act like you're Wonder Woman...you're only human Annie. It's not a sign of weakness to accept defeat to stress."

"How's work?" She asked, changing the subject.

Annie heard Mark sigh on the other end of the line. "Busy as usual.  My shift ends in about an hour. I just wanted to call and check up on you. And I wanted to remind you that you owe me."

"Owe you what exactly...?" Suspicion laced her voice. Annie sat up in bed and clutched her phone tighter to her ear.

"A date of course." He made it sound like the most natural thing in the world, his charm shinning through. Annie laughed and fell back against her pillows.

"We'll see...I'll let you go, thanks for calling."

"At least it's not a complete NO." Annie could hear the smile in his voice. "Okay, talk soon, bye."

"Bye Mark." Clicking end, Annie placed her phone back on her nightstand.

Mark was so handsome, so smart and talented. She liked him a lot but not enough to fall for him. He always tried taking their friendship beyond the basics, Annie always pushed Mark away when she felt he was getting too personal, but it never stopped him from trying.

Getting out of bed she glanced at the clock and noticed it was close to noon. Heading towards the shower, she decided to go out and enjoy the rest of the day.

As for Julien, time will tell just how determined he is to have her by his side.

The best things in life are never free.
********
"She's not going to find out it's her surprise birthday party." Cici argued, trying to reassure her mother. Since Friday Charlotte, Cici and Sheila have been making arrangements, not just for the wedding and bridal shower but for Annie's upcoming birthday that she seemed oblivious to the fact is coming up very soon. "Trust me, she'll be very surprised and love it by the time I'm done!" She concluded with determination.

Charlotte still appeared unsure but nodded as she sat in Cici's office while Sheila occupied the adjoining chair and listening to the conversation.

Knowing Annie, she hated surprises. How they were going to pull this off Charlotte had no clue. It's been non-stop for the last few days, talking to the coordinator she hired and making the necessary preparations. Her birthday was on the eighteenth of February, a Wednesday, the day which was supposedly reserved for the bridal shower.

"I hope so, my dear."

"Everything will be great, Annie will love it!" Sheila responded enthusiastically.

"Just as long as she thinks it's for Sheila's bridal shower and leave out the specific details, we'll be fine." Cici says, pointedly at Sheila. "Besides, I'll make sure Annie's going to be busy with Shelia and the wedding dress fittings so she'll be out of our way."

"Let's avoid adding more pressure on her with the wedding details, as you know she works hard enough, we don't want a repeat of what happened from last week!" Charlotte reasoned, twisting her fingers together in agitation.

Cici was too confident for her own good sometimes as she watched her eldest daughter write down a list of things left to do for the birthday party. Cici placed her pen down on her sleek desk and narrowed mischievous eyes at Charlotte.

"Mother, it's just a detour, it'll allow us to do things behind her back and she'll feel like she's helping out. You know Annie and I know Annie, she's not going to just sit around without helping out somehow. It's only dress fittings, for goodness sake, we're not having her run around town running errands!"

"I'll make sure she doesn't do anything else than occupy me to some fittings and alterations. That's if we need to need to keep her busy before the party," Sheila confirmed.

Their mother worried too much. This will go on without a hitch according to her plan.

"Your job is to make sure all our relatives know and be in town, it'll look like they're here for Sheila's bridal shower, which they are in reality, since the bridal shower will happen on the twentieth, two days after the birthday party." She told her with a bright smile.

"Consider it done dear, I've already notified everyone yesterday and we have only to inform Annie's friends from the hospital and the St. James'." Cici stood and walked around her desk handing Charlotte the guest list of Annie's and hers closest friends to add for the head count. Cici already notified most of them over the weekend.

"Perfect. These are a list of the people I called, some are from the hospital and the others are mutual friends of hers and mine." Going behind her mother's chair she began massaging her tense shoulders. Charlotte sighed, enjoying having her muscles worked no thanks to this tense week. Glancing down at the list Cici wrote, Charlotte's eyes widened in disbelief.

"Some of these are famous people, celebrities even! How do you know these people?" Charlotte questioned suspiciously. Stefani aka 'Lady Gaga', she knew well but the others?  Rihanna, Ryan Seacrest, Taylor Swift, and many more were listed on the list in her hands.

"Just relax and let it go, just like Elsa said it. Everything will happen according to plan... This is going to be the most talked about party of the year..." Cici assured her, starring straight ahead smirking to herself.
**********
Julien paced in his office.

Everything in his being wanted to go to her. He was angry and frustrated with himself for not asking for her number. Walking to his desk he dialed someone, a contact he knew in the FBI that could provide the needed information.

Julien slammed the phone down when he heard the man's voicemail.

"Bloody hell!" He muttered, walking to his sofa and sitting down.

The coffee table in the center held a beautiful bouquet of flowers his assistant constantly replaced every week. Julien stared hard at them intently, suddenly the idea came to him, he smirked to himself and sat back in his office chair.

Finding the best way to reach out to her without raising suspicion, Julien dialed Masion Des Fleurs...
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Thanks for reading!
-Shaz