Secret Sister (Station 19)

Raise Your Glass

Elle had been fully back to work for a few days but was still putting off planning her birthday celebration. By Wednesday morning Vic was fed up with waiting. As she and Elle drove to work she finally gave her an ultimatum.

"Okay," she said seriously. "We're celebrating in two days; you're running out of time. If you don't plan your party by the end of the shift I'm not driving you home. "

Elle laughed but Vic turned quickly to give her a stern look. "Fine!" Elle said with a chuckle. "We can plan it today, I promise."

"Thank you!" Vic said with exasperation. "So I was thinking we could start at..." Elle turned up the radio, drowning out what Vic was saying. "Hey!" Vic shouted over Dua Lipa's song blasting from the car speakers. She looked over at Elle, rolling her eyes, and reaching to turn the volume down. Elle blocked her hand, instead grabbing it to use as a microphone.

"If you wanna run away with me I know a galaxy and I could take you for a ride."

Vic could only laugh and shake her head. She had to trust that Elle would plan the party... or she could walk home.

After weeks of procrastination, Elle did live up to her promise and spent most of her time between calls sitting in the beanery planning for her birthday. With Vic and Travis's help she put together a list of bars and narrowed it down to two she wanted to visit. One with a killer DJ and good dancing to go to right at midnight and the other with fancy cocktails to try out after dinner with her family. She made virtual invites to send out to the team and some of her other friends who were already 21. She even agreed to let Vic order her a tiara. After all of that she thought she was done and breathed out a sigh of relief as she closed her laptop and leaned back in her chair.

"Okay now what about the pregame?" Vic asked.

Elle's eyes widened as she sat up straight and looked over at her friend. "The what??"

"Oh come on," Vic said. "You need to have a pregame. We can't go out until midnight so we have to throw a party first. It's the only way to do it."

"Our apartment is too small to host everyone though," Elle reasoned, trying to get out of it.

"You can have your party at the houseboat if you want," Dean chimed in, walking into the beanery at just the right moment.

"Perfect! Thank you Miller." Vic replied before Elle could protest. "I'll bring the decorations over Friday morning?"

Dean nodded, "Yeah, sounds good." He grabbed a bottle of water out of the fridge and headed back downstairs.

"Do we have to plan decorations now?" Elle asked, sounding exhausted. Vic simply responded with a huge grin and excited nod as she reached for Elle's computer.

...................

By the time Friday rolled around, Elle was actually excited to celebrate her birthday. She realized that she kind of got two days of birthday celebration since they were having the party Friday night but her actual birthday was Saturday.

Vic came bursting into Elle's room at 8am asking if she was ready to head over to Dean's to set up. Elle laughed at how eager she was but threw on leggings and a sweatshirt, quickly getting ready to go. As happy as Vic was to get an early start on decorating, Dean was less thrilled that his friends showed up at 9:00 on their day off. He quit grumbling when Vic handed him a coffee and breakfast sandwich and ate in the kitchen while he watched Vic and Elle work.

They spent a few hours blowing up balloons and hanging streamers, filling Dean's fridge with drinks and making jello shots in three different flavors. They even created a playlist for the night and sent it to everyone so they could add songs. By 3:00 Vic was satisfied with their work and they headed back to get themselves ready.

Elle straightened her hair and put on a full face of make-up for the first time in what felt like forever. Then she pulled out three different outfits and took them to Vic to get her opinion. After a few minutes of debating and trying and retrying on the clothes, Elle settled on a black crop top and high-waisted ripped jeans. Once she was ready, she sat on Vic's bed watching her finish her make-up and going over the plan again. Vic rolled her eyes, laughed as she reminded Elle to relax, and told her to go get the champagne out of the fridge.

On their way back to Dean's, Elle scrolled through the playlist laughing at the different songs everyone added. It ranged from Taylor Swift and Girl in Red to Phil Collins (thank you Maya) and deadmau5 (courtesy of Travis). No matter what was going to be playing, she was excited to celebrate with everyone.

As soon as they got to the houseboat, they started up the music and Dean poured the three of them drinks. Maya showed up next with Carina in tow. They were followed by Travis and Emmett, then Jack. Finally, Liam and Alex, Elle's childhood best friends, showed up and she introduced them to everybody. She spent the next hour mingling and trying to get Alex to stop telling Trav all her embarrassing stories. By 10:00 Elle was already a little buzzed when Vic brought out the jello shots and gathered everyone around. Just as Elle downed hers, there was a knock at the door. "I'll get it!" Elle called out, hoping that Ben had decided he wasn't too old to party until 2am. She opened the door, but it took her a second to focus her eyes on the slender frame standing in front of her with a bottle of champagne.

"Happy birthday probie," Andy said with a smile.