A few weeks later [without pictures]

It doesn't take you long to get the hang of college life. You go to your classes, hang out with your friends from the engineering and biology departments, get some studying done, and then relax at home or pop over to visit Annabelle. Ashley has been accepted by everyone in her department and her professors aren't giving her any trouble for now, so she's happier than ever.

Ashley's mom came to see her again too, and you spent an evening back home with your family. Everyone was amazed at Ashley's transformation, it being their first time seeing her in person since she moved in with you. Tibby was a hit with the little ones, and managed not to say anything inappropriate around them. She saved that to embarrass you in front of your big brother, who heckled you about it until your dad told him to cut it out.

Meanwhile, Tibby's 20th birthday is approaching and you have a great idea for what to get her. Since you've been given access to several prototyping machines, you decide the best way to practice using them is to make her a mask. You start with some sketches to get a feel for what it should look like, then model it in 3D and fine tune it. Then you supply one of the machines with some thin sheet metal to be sheared and folded into shape according to your schematics. The result is rather rough around the edges, but you're so proud of your first attempt that you make one for Ashley too. The long metal ears end up too top-heavy to wear comfortably, but you still think it could make a good display piece so you finish it with several layers of paint while you wonder how to improve the design.

You ultimately decide to skip the metal, instead using an injection mold to create a smaller mask out of polypropylene. It's more durable than you'd expect from looking at it, and light enough to be held on with a simple elastic band. Once airbrushed with a glittery black paint, it looks striking as well.

Getting back to Tibby's mask, you iterate on your original design until you get something suitably fancy. She is the birthday girl after all, and you want her present to be perfect. The final product is a mask similar to the one you made for Ashley in that it only covers half her face. But instead of airbrushing it black, you paint and decorate this one by hand until it looks like a work of art covered in swirling lines of gold and carefully placed rhinestones. It's her birthday after all, it's only right that her present be special.

Finally, you make one more mask using a third material: leather. It's not exactly in the realm of engineering, but some of the other students had decided to decorate their practice projects with the help of some students from the arts and fashion departments, who have access to machines for working with all kinds of soft materials from organic fiber over leather to synthetics. But instead of stretching one of these over a frame like the others had done, you stitch several strips of black leather together to create a second cat-themed mask that Tibby could wear on its own or alongside her leather muzzle gag.

Your work is completed just in time for Tibby's birthday. It falls on a weekend, so you have the whole day to make it perfect. Tibby spends the first half of the day with her friends back at Friendly Pets Inc., giving you and Ashley time to hang up banners and streamers and balloons. While Ashley puts the finishing touches on a tray of cupcakes in the kitchen, you clear some space in the living room and arrange everyone's gifts on the coffee table. Between you, Ashley, her mom, your parents, as well as something from Annabelle, it's a bit of a pile. And you don't know what most of them contain either, so it's going to be a surprise for you too. Since you do know what your own gifts are, you also move a mirror into the room.

Throughout your setup you receive several selfies and group pictures from Tibby, showing you what a blast she's having. It's not only her fellow cats celebrating, there's a whole room of human pets having a good time over there. But eventually that party is over and she calls to let you know she's on her way to the second party waiting for her in the apartment.

When Tibby comes home, still smiling from the time spent at FPI, she's greeted with hugs and kisses and barely has time to take her shoes off before being pulled into the living room. She takes in the decorated room, the banner wishing her a happy 20th birthday, the table stacked with wrapped boxes... the treats. Speaking of treats, Ashley bends over to light the candles sticking out of several cupcakes. When all of them are lit she picks one up and presents it to Tibby. "Happy birthday you crazy cat. Think of something nice and blow on it!"

"That's what he said," Tibby snarks, winking at you before she purses her lips and blows the little flame out.

After carefully removing the candle, she takes a bite. Of the cupcake, not the candle. "Oh, yum! You better take some for yourselves too, you made them after all."

Of course you help yourselves and enjoy a cupcake each, but then it's time for presents. The first thing Tibby opens is the box with her and Ashley's name on it, the one that contains the two black masks you made for them. When Tibby hands Ashley the rabbit-eared mask she takes off her headband and puts on the glittery mask, turning to look at herself in the mirror.

But when Tibby moves to do the same, you stop her and hand her the second box. Opening it, the sight of the gold-decorated mask makes the cat gasp. Ashley turns back around to see what's up, and gasps as well. "It's beautiful!"

Tibby purrs. "Thank you John, it's wonderful."

She puts the mask on and grins at herself in the mirror. "But it's way too fancy for what I'm wearing right now."

"We'll just have to play dress-up later, Tibs," Ashley laughs, taking the mask off her and placing it on the table so she can hand Tibby the next box. "And after that you can play with this bad boy."

Tibby's eyes widen when she shreds the wrapping paper, revealing the pastel-pink packaging of a sex toy. It's a cat's paw vibrator!

"Are you for real Ash? I mean I love it, but seriously?"

"Well it's not the only thing I got you," Ashley says with a grin. "Here."

She hands Tibby another package, the same size as the previous. This time the wrapping paper covers a plain black jewelry box, inside of which is a necklace. It's a thin chain holding a golden rod, and hanging off that bar are two animals; a little golden cat and her rabbit friend.

"Oh hey, it's us!" Tibby exclaims. "Will you put it on me?"

"Of course." Ashley plucks the chain out of its box and Tibby turns around, pulling her hair up so Ashley can close the clasp behind her neck.

When Ashley is done Tibby lets her hair down again and spins around, wrapping her arms around the bunny. "Thank you!"

Looking over Ashley's shoulder, she sees the boxes still on the table. "Wait, how many presents are you giving me?"

"They're not all from us," you tell her. "Our parents chipped in too."

"They did? What'd they get me?"

You shrug since you really don't know. "You'll have to open them and find out."

So that's exactly what she does. Mrs Hoaka's gift is a charm bracelet that goes with the necklace her daughter got Tibby, while your mom's presents, which are the largest on the table, contain a set of cute decorative pillows. Your dad's present is the smallest (at least physically), being a simple plastic rectangle tucked into a letter. The plastic rectangle is a gift card to Pets Emporium and the letter is a heartfelt message in your mom's handwriting, welcoming Tibby to the Langwell family and thanking her for providing you with so much love and companionship. It's signed by her and your dad, who also added a humorous note about the card: "Don't spend it all in one place!"

With all that unpacked, only one box remains on the table. It's about the size of a phone and has Annabelle's name on it. When Tibby opens it she finds herself holding your phone. The cat looks at you, confused. "Why would Annabelle give me your phone?"

You chuckle as you take it out of her hands. "It's not the phone, it's what's on the phone. Here."

Waking the phone, you quickly open a video and hit play before handing it back to Tibby. Annabelle's face fills the screen as she smiles at the camera. "Hey kitty! Happy 20th! I wish I could be there for your birthday, but work's going to keep me out of town all weekend. And I can't even leave a present for you because the damn thing is stuck in shipping somewhere. Won't arrive until the week after, so I guess the three of you will just have to come over for another party when it's here." The blonde winks at the camera. "And since I know what you're thinking, yes this is a ploy to get you in my apartment again. See you then!"

"Huh," Tibby says. "That's sweet, but if she can read minds she should have known I was going to ask for a hint about what she ordered!"

"If you want a hint I got it," Ashley says smugly. "Should I tell her?"

You nod. "You have to if you don't want her to explode now that she knows you know something."

Tibby nods emphatically.

"Oh all right. A while back our dear friend Annie cornered me on my way home from college to ask me for your measurements. So either she was worried that you're gaining weight, or she wanted to make sure the outfit she bought would fit you. But that's all I know. So forget about it and let's dance!"

Ashley flips a switch and the lights go out. A moment later, the living room is lit up by disco lights and the stereo comes to life playing some wild boogie music! Waiting only long enough for you to snatch the phone out of Tibby's hands again, Ashley grabs the cat and drags her to the middle of the room to start dancing. As soon as you've put your phone away, you rush out to join them.