Claire POV-

Overall, Tom's birthday party was a success.

They had gone out to a structure he had built in the dessert a while back, one they never had time to visit.

It wasn't much, just four walls, a roof, and a kitchen with limited amounts of food.

Regardless, it was still fun! Everyone had shown up in the afternoon to celebrate and surprisingly, only two people ended up dying that day. They had some really bad food and many jokes and laughter to go along with it though, hell, even the cake managed to survive till it was time to blow out the candles.

That wasn't a Mianite tradition but Jordan wanted to do it because Tom thought it was cool when she brought it up a long time ago.

The weird part of their day began when Mianite showed up to the party. Though Jordan didn't mind, she was worried it would cause problems. Also, she had this horrible feeling he knew about her and Dianite, he didn't of course, but every glance her direction made her nervous. He could probably tell she was hiding something but was kind enough to just focus on Tom's jokes and feeble attempts to kill him.

She could swear that Tom wanted to get himself killed sometimes...

Though the modesteps and made didn't stay long they dropped by to say hello around the time Mianite left which was very convenient, who knew what they would have gotten themselves into.

Jordan's favorite part was later at night when she gave Tom his present and she got to see the joy and happiness in his eyes. She got him a pink leather jacket. Though they had spent most of their time watching Harry Potter they did watch other things sometimes, thats were she got the idea for the gift.

That and the streams...

The jacket resembled a jacket from Barbie movies and a pink ladies jacket from the movie Grease. Since Tom loved both, it seemed like the proper joke to gift, and by the looks of it he really liked it. She even had 'Such cute OMG' engraved on the back just for laughs.

When it got late and the masters began to spawn they headed home. In the end, Champwan had gone home and it was just her, Tom, Sonja, and Tucker.

It had been ages since they had time to spent together like that, Jordan could tell that they all missed it as much as her. Tom talked about what he did in the nether, Sonja talked about her new snowman pet named Boris that she had Mianite bring to life few days back, and Tucker talked about his endless attempts to find the hidden treasures in the Mianite temple.

As Tucker told his story, she could tell he was looking at her the entire time. He had been acting that way since last night...

When they woke, she found out he knew nothing of her little escape that night which was a relief.

Still, Jordan could tell that Tucker had more questions. It wasn't like her to go out at night and he knew that.

"Anyways, I think me and Tucker will head home. I don't want to leave our new body guard all alone" said Sonja, snapping her out of her thoughts of last night

"You got a guard too! Is Tucker not enough company these days" Tom joked

"Oh shut it Tom! We'll be going now" Tucker said

"Good night Jordan! Ill see you tomorrow for girls day!' Sonja said with a big hug

"Can't wait! And ill see you tomorrow night for movies Tom" Jordan said, giving the birthday boy a big hug

"And ill see you tomorrow for haircut day Tucker!" Said Tom in a joking tone

"Yeah right! Then we can go get our nails done! But seriously, we should hang out while the girls are off doing their thing. How about we go mining, need to stock up on supplies?" Tucker asked

"Yeah I could use some stuff, who knows how much you guys stole from me while I was away" Tom said

The boys didn't hug like her and Sonja had, they just gave each other a nod instead.

Boys...

"Common Jordan, ill walk ya home mate" Tom said

Jordan quickly joined him, desperate to get away from Tucker's suspicions.

They walked for seconds without saying anything which was unusual for Tom to do. Tom looked taller than before, maybe an inch or so taller. His eyes also looked more tired, she could see the eye bags in his green skin, looked like he would need a lot more time to catch up on his sleep. Still, he looked happier, more relaxed, maybe even skinnier yet he seemed to have more muscle than before.

"I haven't had a big birthday party in a long time, thank you for planning this. It reminded me of when I was a little boy" he said, staring at the sky.

"It was my pleasure, I'm so glad you're back home safe" Jordan said

"Home...you say it as if you consider this place your home now. Do you?" He asked

Jordan hadn't even noticed she had been, if she was being honest, she hadn't thought about her actual home in a while.

"I guess so, it seems pretty unlikely I can go back. Besides, everyone in here is my family now, you guys have helped me so much, treat me like I'm from here. I don't feel like much of an outsider anymore" she said

"Im glad you're starting to realize it. It may sound selfish because in a way it is, but I don't want you to go back to your world. I cant imagine what this place would look like without you" he said holding her hand

"Well, it would have a lot less kidnappings" Jordan joked

Tom laughed once, just once, then he grabbed on to the fabric of her cape making them both stop.

They were outside of Champwan's by that point, yet he didn't seem to notice. He was looking deep into her eyes, searching for something.

"There wont be any more of those from now on, ill do my best to keep you safe. Even though you are a magnet for trouble sometimes, that just makes my job harder you know?" He teased

"Happy Birthday Tom" Jordan said giving him a hug "I promise you I have no intention to leave any time soon"

Tom hugged her back, releasing the cape.

"You better not, I wont lose you again. If this Nvidia guy gives you trouble just let me know and I'll end him! And if Champwan bothers you ill kill him myself, then you can move in with me"

"Haha, well Champwan isn't a problem and Nvidia would kill us both. Goodnight! Ill see ya during movie night" Jordan said a she made her way inside

"Sleep well Sparkles"Tom said

She could have swore she heard Tom mumble something but she couldn't make out the words, by the time she turned around to ask, he on his way home