Birthday

"Ezra, can I see you in my office?" Chris Larabee said to Ezra Standish.

"I'll be right there, Mr. Larabee," Ezra drawled and rose from his desk."

He gently knocked on the door to Chris' office and stepped in. Chris motioned him to sit down in one of the chairs. Ezra did as Chris wanted and then looked questioningly at his boss."

"I need you too rewrite this report." Chris said and handed him a pretty thick stack of papers.

"What?" Ezra said as he looked at the report. "I have to rewrite something JD's written!? Why?"

"Because I said so," Chris said and glared at Ezra who immediately fell silent. "I want it on my desk, Monday morning."

"There's 25 pages in this. What do you want rewritten?"

"All of it. You have to make corrections and so on," Chris ordered.

"This means I'll be working late," Ezra sighed since his computer at home was broken and left to the shop for repairs.

"Got a problem with that?" Chris stood from his chair and looked down at Ezra.

"No, Mr. Larabee."

"I don't think you'll be here that late. Possibly until 6 or 7 in the evening," Chris said. "Now you best start reading and writing."

" Yes, sir," Ezra said and left the office."

When he had close the door to Chris' office he started muttering curse word. He stalked over to his desk and fell down in the chair throwing the report on the desk. Buck looked up from his computer and studied Ezra's angry face."

"You alright?" Buck asked.

"Fine!" Ezra exclaimed and turned on his computer.

" Sorry, I asked," Buck said and returned to his computer."

Ezra had a bad day. First he managed to burn his hand on his coffee this morning. As he got to the office he tripped over JD who was on his hands and knees searching for a pen. Ezra had fallen badly and his knee hurt very bad but he ignored the pain. And now Chris had given him someone else's dirty work. Ezra couldn't believe the crap he had to take on his own birthday. The fact that none of the men had said happy birthday to him only made things worse. Ezra had expected a call from his mother but she hadn't called. In fact as Ezra thought about it he wasn't so surprised that nobody remembered that it was his birthday. Last year only Chris had said happy birthday to Ezra as he left the office for the day. The first year he worked with Team 7 nobody really liked him that much to even care. Apparently none of 6 other team members cared enough for him to wish him a happy birthday. Ezra's head fell back and he sighed loudly. Then he sat up and started writing the report.

Since it was Friday JD and Buck left early as did Josiah, Nathan and Vin. All men had asked if Ezra wasn't leaving. He had only said no and continued to write his report. Chris didn't leave until 5.30 and he came up to check on how Ezra was doing."

"How's it going?" He asked.

"Just great! I've only got 5 pages left to write," Ezra said sarcastically.

"Then you'll be finished in a half hour or so," Chris said and patted Ezra on the back. "I'll see you Monday, Ez."

The Chris left and Ezra continued writing the report. At 6.15 Ezra gathered the report from the printer, he put a paperclip at the top and left it on Chris' desk. Then he grabbed his coat and walked to the garage where his silvery gray Porsche was parked. He unlocked it and sat down in the driver seat. He turned on the stereo where the radio station was playing some sad song. Ezra groaned inwardly and turned the stereo off. Ezra drove slowly towards home. He had booked a ticket for "Star Wars: Episode 1 The Phantom Menace" but now that ticket wouldn't be available since he had to pick it up at 5.30. Ezra pondered if he should rent a movie and drown the rest of the day in whiskey. Finally he decided to just drown his sorrows in the whiskey he had at home without the renting of a movie.

Ezra parked his car and took the elevator to the fourth floor. There he stepped out and walked over to his apartment door and unlocked it. He entered and threw his keys on the telephone table and sighed again. Then he turned on the lights in the apartment."

" SURPRISE!"

The loud yell caused Ezra to jump and yelp. To his surprise he found Chris, JD, Buck, Nathan, Vin and Josiah in his apartment, all dressed very nicely. They had hung up a sign above the window that said: "Happy Birthday Ezra!" Ezra was in shock as JD came up to him and wished him a happy birthday and gave him a quick hug. The shock started to wear off when the 6 men had wished him a happy birthday and shook his hand."

"You okay, Ez?" Buck asked and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Yes. Yes, I am fine, Mr. Wilmington. Just stunned and somewhat speechless." Ezra said after a while.

"That was the idea." JD smiled and almost bounced up and down.

"How did you know? I mean why didn't you say something during the day?" Ezra asked.

"Chris is the man behind this and we didn't say anything to ya 'coz we didn't wanna ruin the surprise," Vin said.

"I'm very surprised," Ezra said and smiled happily.

"C'mon, the coffee's ready. You, Ez, sit down in that chair," Nathan ordered and Ezra complied."

Soon Josiah and Nathan exited the kitchen carrying coffee and a plate filled with delicious cookies and so on. Josiah poured the coffee for Ezra and the 6 men sang "Happy birthday" to Ezra.

After they had finished the plate off Josiah went to the kitchen again. Soon he came out carrying a cake. As he set the cake down Ezra began to laugh. The cake was shaped like a card and on it was the ace of spades. The six men smiled knowing that Ezra appreciated the cake.

A half hour later the men had eaten cake and they sat slowly sipping coffee as JD suddenly bounced out of the sofa. He disappeared into the kitchen and returned shortly carrying a stack of gifts. He placed them on the table in front of Ezra. Ezra's eyes grew wide as he realized that there were 3 gifts, all for him."

"Open them then! C'mon!" JD said encouraging Ezra.

"Alright, Mr. Dunne, I will," Ezra said and picked up the first box."

Ezra unwrapped the gift and pulled out a new cell phone. He looked at the phone in shock and then to his six friends. Vin and Chris smiled slightly and Ezra immediately understood that it was from them. Next he opened the gift from Nathan and Josiah, it was a beautifully tailored suit from Georgio Armani in deep green. Ezra smiled towards the two men and they smiled back at him. Finally he started unwrapping the biggest gift from Buck and JD. In it was a brand new VCR. Ezra's mouth dropped open and finally after regaining his ability to speak he said: ."

"I can't believe this."

"Well, we broke your VCR so it only felt right that we bought you a new one." Buck said.

"You didn't have too," Ezra said. "Thank you so much, all of you. I've never received such beautiful gifts before."

" Don't mention it," Vin smiled."

Suddenly the phone rang and Ezra went and picked it up."

"Standish."

"Hello, Ezra dear?" A familiar voice said.

"Mother?!" Ezra exclaimed.

"I just wanted to wish you a happy birthday, dear," she said.

"You remembered," Ezra whispered.

"Of course I did, honey." Maude smiled. "I'll be coming to visit you next weekend. I was unable to get tickets for today. Will you forgive me?"

"Of course I will, Mother. I'll be happy to see you next weekend," Ezra said.

"I'm sorry but I have to go. But I'll call tomorrow again so you'll know where to pick me up. Anyway, honey, happy birthday!"

" Thank you, Mother," Ezra said happily and hung up."

He the returned to his six friends who were seated in the living room. During the phone call they had cleared the table and now they had pulled out beer, whiskey and champagne. Ezra sat down in the chair and Chris poured him a glass of champagne and gave it to him."

"Sorry for making you write that report," Chris said to Ezra.

"It was part of your plan?" Ezra said.

"Yeah, we had to keep you out of the apartment," Nathan said and opened a beer.

" You certainly surprised me. I'm very happy about that." Ezra smiled and Then the men gave a loud cheer and after that the party really got started..."

The End