GEN I: Chapter 18

Breakfast is Hayden's favorite time of day, and he wants pancakes every morning. Today is Saturday, so no one works, and there is no school. Hayden does his homework anyway so he does not have to worry about it the rest of the weekend. Today is also Hayden's birthday. He is going to be entering his teenage years later. Hayden knows that mom and dad are planning him a party, although he is pretty sure he should not know this.

After breakfast Hayden went outback to play on his jungle gym for a while. Jenni went out an tended her garden while Alan took care of Damien. She spent most of the morning out there working in the dirt. Damien was already down for a nap when she came in, Alan was reading in bed and Hayden was also in his room reading.

Jenni figured now was a good a time as any to call and invite everyone to the party. It would only be about 2 hours from now. It is unfortunate though that Damien will not be present for his brothers birthday. Jenni invited everyone they were close too, even Hayden's only friend. They all said they would show up as soon as they could.

Jenni met Alan downstairs and talked to him for a while, "Isn't it the perfect day for a party?" she asked, "I'm going to go set up outside, but will you take the trash out before guests start arriving?" Alan said he would and he would meet her out front to help set up.

They spent the next hour moving his gift from their hiding place to the front yard, and putting out the balloons. Right when they finished up everything the first guest arrived.

Jenni was happy to see her firstborn come to the party too. Chase was second on scene and Alan hurried to greet him. He still wished Chase would come live with them, but knew he did not want to. Chase was a man now, and didn't want to live with his mother and stepfather.

Alan greeted Chase in his own special way then said he was going to go get Hayden. Jenni noticed Chase and ran up to give him a hug. She was just thanking him for coming when Hayden yelled for everybody to come around, he was going to blow out his candles. He wanted to get down to business pretty quick, he was hungry and wanted that cake. Jenni had ordered pizza to have before the cake, but it was Haydens day and he wanted it the way he wanted it.

Everyone gathered around to watch Hayden blow out his candles and make a wish. "There isn't much more I could ask for when I have a family like this," Hayden pointed out, "and they already got me the bench I wanted!" He made a silent wish anyway and blew his candles out on the first try.

Jenni almost cried when Hayden aged up, he was almost grown now. She did mention to him about changing his hairstyle, it just didn't match his face.
Everyone went up and grabbed them self a piece of cake. Even the pizza delivery lady joined in the festivities and had a slice of cake.

On his way inside Hayden grabbed the pizza box that the deliverer left on the porch and served it inside. He did not think anyone would eat it though, they were all filling up on sweets.

**Look, Alan's eating cake :~)!

Everyone finished the cake and talked for a while. Jenni noticed that Chase was sitting in the living room all by himself and went to talk to him.

"You seem upset Chase, what is the matter?" she asked gently.

"Well mom, Grandpa died last night" he said "and being here today just reminds me of all the family times we had when I was little."

"I understand honey, is there anything I can do?" Jennie asked as she was consoling Chase. "Do you need anything?"

"No, nothing, it just seems so lonely in that house now."

"Well why don't you come live with us?" Jenni proposed "You'd be with your family and we would love to have you!"

Chase paused for a moment to think about it for a second, then hugged his mother. He accepted her offer and said "I won't move in without my girlfriend though. I hope that's okay, that means you'll have two people coming."

Jenni smiled and said "I wouldn't have it any other way, she is definitely welcome." With that Chase and his girlfriend Kenya agreed to move in.

Chase hugged his mother and they continued to talk. Jenni asked him if he was going to marry this girl. He told her he wanted to, just hadn't gotten up the nerve to ask yet. Jenni was so excited to have her son moving in with her she didn't even notice Hayden flirting with his friend Isabel, nearly right in front of her.

She is a little bit older than Hayden, but apparently he does not mind. He seems to really like her. Hayden decided after a little light flirting, it would be okay to show off right? He said to Isabel, "Hey watch this..." and then ran off to the bathroom.

When Isabel peeked inside the door, she saw Hayden showering in his clothes. Isabel started to laugh, which made Hayden think that his showing off worked and she was starting to like him even more. He got out of his 'shower' and asked her to go play catch with him outside. She said yes, but after she went and got the baby she heard crying upstairs.

Meanwhile, Alan has been over here having a nice conversation with Kenya. He has learned a little about her, one thing being that she is Chase's girlfriend. Another thing he learned was that it was her birthday too. She was entering adult hood. The moment Alan learned this, he called everyone over to celebrate.

Just as everyone gathered around, Isabel walked by with a hungry child. She put him in the highchair and gave him some baby food.

After congratulations and both birthdays complete, everyone said their goodbyes to one another. Everyone that was in attendance said it was a wonderful party and they had a lot of fun.

Now the fuller family has more members to enjoy, Jenni is very happy that Chase moved in. She is also thrilled to hear that he is involved in a serious relationship. Maybe she could see a grand baby in her near future. Alan was happy to have Chase move in as well, and was really glad he saved up money from his promotions because, now they need to redo the house.

**Writers note : Sorry they are night time pics, it all happened at night so...

With everyone having their own room now, plus a few extra rooms, everyone settled into their own bed that night. They each dreamed of different things, all good dreams. Chase was extremely happy to be surrounded by his family again, and grateful for a chance to get to know his brothers.

Stay tuned for introductions