#ajpr

But the look of amusement slipped off Ava’s face at Briar’s words. Placing the cake tin down on the kitchen top she turned around.

“Ohhhh no!” Briar said diving forward. She had assumed her best friend was checking the calendar in a moment of confusion not that she’d have to wrestle a bottle of vodka off her “It’s six o’clock in the morning, you’re not having vodka!”

“You were gunna let me eat cake. What’s the difference?”

Briar let out an exasperated sigh as she placed the bottle back into the cupboard “We were going to eat cake later,” she said with a scowl “We never celebrate your birthday AJ! I just wanted to make you feel special!”

Ava was shaking her head as she bit down on the inside of her mouth and raised her eyes to the ceiling “I’d just...I’d rather not,” she said as she tugged the sleeves of her dressing gown further over her hands.

“But-”

“Briar please!” Ava snapped as she ran her fingers through her hair “Just leave it okay? Today’s a normal day,” she added in a softer tone as she eyed the alcohol cabinet before she wandered out of the kitchen.

“But I can fix it!” Briar said rushing after Ava “There doesn’t have to be cake I promise... I can’t really be bothered trying to make another one myself anyway,” she continued as she put a slight jog in her step to keep up with the redhead “I suppose I could call some caterers in though? Do you prefer chocolate or-?”

“B stop,” Ava insisted as she spun on her heel and held her hands up “No cake. No caterers. No mentioning it to another being in this household okay?”

“I just don’t understand why!” Briar said with a slight whine “You showed up to every single one of my birthdays with gifts and fussed over me making me feel like the most important person in the world and I never got to pay you back for that! I never got to help you celebrate, help you feel like the most important person-”

“Today isn’t my birthday Briar!” Ava blurted out, cutting through Briar’s sentence before she could say any more.

“I...yes it is?” the younger of the two replied with a confused look on your face “I remember you being at mine and Katherine mentioning it,” she said with a shrug “How you were another year into your life and you should be celebrating not moping.”

“I didn’t know you were listening in that day,” Ava said with a sigh before a small smile came to her lips “Though I’m not surprised, you were always lurking around somewhere when we were meeting with your mum,” she added teasingly but her smile soon dropped from her face “Today isn’t the day of my birth it’s the day I died. The day Katherine killed me.”

“I...but - what?”

Ava smiled as she reached out to rub Briar’s arm “She insisted we celebrate that instead of my birthday to convince me this new life was so much better for me,” she explained before she shrugged “But discussing the inner workings of the psychotic Katerina is the only thing lower on the list of things we should be doing than celebrating my death day.”

“AJ I...I’m sorry,” Briar said with wide, sad eyes Ava most definitely did not mean to cause “I’ll make it up to you! My misunderstanding! When...well, when is your actual birthday?”

Ava paused as she tapped her fingers against her palms and the corners of her lips tugged into a nervy smile “Well I don’t...I don’t remember,” she stuttered with a shake of her head and a shrug of her shoulders “When you aren’t surrounded by familiarity and the only day of the year Katherine mentioned in passing was this one it’s easy to let things like that slip.”

She let out an ‘ouff’ as Briar launched forward to pull her into a tight hug “It’s okay B I’m used to it,” she chuckled as she reached up and patted the younger girl’s back “I know the year was seventeen forty five and that’s all that matters to me.”

“Go and get dressed,” Briar said once she had pulled out of the rare hug Ava allowed “Me and you are spending the day together. Like old times.”

Ava narrowed her eyes almost in suspicion “Aren’t you playing mummy and daddy with your hybrid husband and his child today?”

Briar rolled her eyes in reply “Klaus isn’t my husband and you know you love Hope as much as the rest of us,” she said shoving Ava’s shoulder jokingly “I just want to spend the day as just us,” she added with a shrug “Maybe you could tell me more about what you remember of your old life? Even some stories about Almyra?”

Ava frowned, if her heart beat she was sure it would have skipped. Just hearing her little sister’s name sent all kinds of nostalgic feelings flooding through her body “You remember?”

“I remembered this date after one eavesdropped conversation Aves multiple stories about a princess called Almyra when I was younger was bound to stick,” Briar said hooking her arm through Ava’s as the two wandered back toward the stairs “Plus I am a SuperWitch.”

Ava let out a groan “You and your superwitch shit,” she said with a teasing look as she elbowed her friend gently in the side “Thanks B.”