Happy Birthday Shay!

January twenty-seventh came in a hurry, Chris having made all the preparations to make it the best birthday his daughter ever had. Fortunately for her, it fell on a Saturday this year, and all of her friends had the day available, all too thrilled to get together to celebrate their friend and her new lease on life.

Chris had reserved a table at Shay's favourite restaurant for the girls, the birthday party departing at five in evening, having split into two teams: Chris with Shay and the Cruz twins, while Jasmine drove herself, Taryn, Sabrina, Amyra, and Yuki.

Blue Sky was a nice, independently owned restaurant downtown - not Michelin starred or fine dining, but a deal nicer than any chain restaurant around - that styled itself as a steakhouse, but offered a bit of everything: seafood, pasta, Mexican food, and even both Indian and Thai styled curry. It was a common spot for the Harpers to eat at; for brunches on quiet Sunday mornings, drinks after work for Chris and his co-workers, or any sort of occasion the family wanted to eat out. Like most things, those rituals were disrupted with Becca's sickness and passing, but Chris saw Shay coming back here as another sign of her miraculous, magical recovery.

"Alright girls, I'll be off, enjoy yourselves." Chris said to the collective of eight girls after they were shown their booth by the host, seated, situated, and settled in.

"You know dad, you can join us." Shay returned, a mischievous smile alighting her sweet, pretty face. "We're not going to bite or anything."

Chris had explicitly made the reservation for eight, arranging other plans for himself. He wanted to give Shay all the time she needed with her friends, to be showered and pampered all night long. To that end, of course, he used the ring. Just a few wishes, to make sure her birthday went off with flying colours. "I wish Shay has a great birthday". "I wish she gets what she wants for her birthday". "I wish I knew what she wanted to most for her birthday" And "I wish I would find that gift for an affordable price".

"I know, I know. But I also know that you girls don't need a old man hanging about and cramping your style." Chris motioned across the restaurant floor to the bar area. "I'll just be right over there, enjoying myself, so I want you to enjoy yourselves, too. Order whatever you'd like, however much you'd like, and just come and get me when you're ready to finish up and head home, okay?"

"I'm getting the most expensive item on the list!" Rosy exclaimed, knowing Chris would be paying the whole bill."

"I'm going to use my fake ID!" Roxy similarly called out, the twins sharing a snicker together. Chris hope that meant at least one of them was joking.

"Don't say that!" Sabrina scolded from across the table, only for Tarryn next to her to lean across and add, "At least not in front of Shay's dad!"

There was a round of laughter from half the table, the other table shaking their heads, trying to looked concerned while fighting back their giggles.

"Seriously, Mr. Harper, thank you so much for this." Jasmine said, sincere and direct. Chris noted with minor annoyance she was still being formal with him. Wait, why did that bother him so much?

"Anything for you girls. And for the birthday girl." He leaned over to where Shay was, kissing her atop her head. Her face scrunched up and she squealed slightly. It was how she reacted when she was embarrassed in public, but it was partly a term of endearment. Blushing slightly, Shay did still return her father's smile. "Have fun girls!"

From there, the night and dinner proceeded without a hitch. Chris found a spot at the bar, had a couple of beers and a nice steak, and watched the hockey game (the Kraken even won for a change! Something more supernatural than his ring!). Every once in a while, he craned over in his seat, trying to catch sight of Shay and her friends, but they were clear on the other side of the restaurant and around a corner, further masked by the bodies and noise of the Friday night crowd. Despite the futility of it, he never stopped trying to check in, his mind mostly fixated on Shay and her friends.

Even though Chris knew they were going to have a good time - their own strong relationship bolstered by the power of the ring - he was curious how they were getting along. What they were talking about. In his mind, he played at the idea of them being nothing but complimentary and grateful not the birthday girl, but to him.

"Oh gosh, Shay, your dad is so nice and generous to do this for us" and"He's got to be the best dad, ever!". Benign, simple things like that, for the most part. But every now and again, Chris would imagine Jasmine or Amyra or Sabrina or whoever say "Is it me, or is Shay's dad kind of hot?" and "He's a total DILF" and "I wish my daddy were as handsome as he was".

And every time his mind conjured something like that, the phantom voices being perfect replication, Chris would stop and stare, frozen in shock and shame. What was wrong with him? This was becoming a reoccurring problem, him fantasizing about Shay's friends in a... less than pure way, to put it diplomatically. He had even begun having thoughts of that nature about Tarryn, who was gayer than San Francisco in June!

Of course, now that he had mentioned her, Chris idly wondered if Tarryn's carpet matched her drapes...

God damn it!

Pushing away the remainder of his beer, Chris asked the bartender for a glass of ice water and tried to focus on anything else. Especially not the awkward stiffie he was currently experiencing. Thank the lord he was a the bar top. He really needed to figure this out. Maybe this was just his body's strange (very strange) way of telling him to get back into the field, find a girlfriend, or maybe even a one-night stand. It wasn't the first time he had thought about that, but it always came back to Shay. He was unsure of how she would react to her father moving on and finding a new partner.

Eh, he was probably over-thinking about it. Shay was a big girl. Besides, if she had a problem with whoever he was dating, he could just use the ring to change her mind.

The ring practically purred at that errant thought, Chris rubbing the smooth, hot metal beneath the bar top.

After a few hours, the girls were well and truly stuffed, having enjoyed themselves greatly at their hosts' expense (even without ****, eight girls could rack up a bill pretty quickly). So, they all gathered up into their cars once more and moved over to phase two of Shay's dream birthday: the sleepover.

But first, as Chris led the girls home, he had one more surprise for Shay. As Chris pulled into the driveway, leading Jasmine and her car, his headlight fell upon a strange, unfamiliar red BMW sedan.

The look on Shay's face was priceless.

"Happy birthday, sweetie."

"Oh my gosh, dad! What the heck this is..." Shay gawked, shaking her head in disbelief, even as her father passed her the keys to her new vehicle. "You didn't have to do this..." She said, taking the keys with a clear mixed of emotions. "This is... incredible, but...seriously? A new car!"

"A new car." Chris echoed in confirmation. Another thing delivered by the ring. All Chris had to do was say "I wish I knew what Shay wanted for her birthday" and "I wish I could find Shay's birthday gift for a reasonable price" and, boom, he had he found the shiny new BMW for less than half of it's normal retail price. Thank the heavens for this ring!

Despite the chill of the evening and the drizzle that had settled in, all the girls poured out of the vehicles to gawk at Shay's brand new car.

"Damn, that thing is fucking sweet." Tarryn gushed over the sport's car. "You wanna take it for a test drive, Shay?"

Before she could answer, Chris spoke up. "Maybe in the morning, girls." A dark night, rainfall, and slick, wet roads combined with inexperienced drivers could lead to something disastrous. "Now, come on. Let's get you girls inside before you get soaked."

With that, he was able to usher the eight young women into his home without any trouble. That was mostly because he was leading them into part two of Shay's birthday: the sleepover. Snacks and drinks and movies and games and (Chris was certain) some more illicit activities saved for the dead of night when he was asleep. That was okay, though. The girls would be indoors and safe and they were responsible enough Chris had no fear things would go too far.

That, and the smile Shay had been wearing all night. It was a wonderful thing, and Chris was willing to do anything to keep that smile on his daughter's face.

Little did he know that, starting tonight, his relationship with Shay and the things that made Shay happy, both those things would take a sharp, surprising turn...