Alice’s eyes quickly adjusted to the change in light as she heard several voices yell out “Surprise!”

All her friends and “family” were right there with her.  Shane, Harrison, Brad, Bette, Tina, Angie and Sam were all present.  Tasha was also there as were several of the people from the island that made the trip to New York.

Looking beyond those smiling faces, she was overwhelmed by the flashing lights and colors.  She turned in shock to Dana.

“You brought me to an indoor arcade?”  Alice said with a mixture of excitement and a little fear that this was just too good to be true.  She was shifting slightly back and forth in excitement.  

“Yes.”  Dana said a little shyly.  “I know you missed out on birthday parties when you were younger and I wanted to give you one.”  Dana and Alice’s private moment was broken up by Angie finally breaking free from her Mama T to launch herself at Alice.

“Happy Birthday, Auntie Alice!!”  Angie yelled as she ran and jumped into Alice’s arms.  Luckily, Dana was prepared and had an arm behind Alice to make sure the two didn’t crash down.

“Hey, Boo!”  Alice said, still smiling.  “I am so glad you could come to my birthday party.”

“Miss Dana invited me!  I got my own invitation and everything.”  Angie continued – seemingly without taking a breath.  “My friend, Christine, had her birthday here and it was so cool!”  Angie then lowered her voice.  “Maybe you could help me talk Mama B into having my birthday here.  She wants it at the art museum.”  Alice smiled at Angie’s eye roll and kissed her niece.  “I’ll see what I can do…”  She said with a wink.

Alice shifted Angie to her hip and then went to greet everyone.  As she was getting hugs and birthday greetings, Dana wandered over to where Bette’s assistant James was standing.

“Hello, Miss Fairbanks.  It seems the surprise worked as well as you hoped.”

“It did, James.  Thank you for all your help.”  Dana had called Bette a few days earlier and asked if James could help her in the final preparations for the party since Dana could not break free from Alice to handle them herself.  She was also worried about a leak if she asked one of the Stranton executive assistants to help.  Bette was more than happy to agree since they were in-between projects.