_It’s been a few days, but we arrive bright and early ready to collect Emma for her birthday festivities. Jimmy grumbles as he lets us in.

“You can’t turn twenty-one and not start the day off with mimosas!” Katie squeals as we push her out of bed.

“Put some clothes on and let's go, I need coffee before I kill someone. You can’t say I don’t love you.” I grumble.

“Don’t mind the she-beast, she’s only had one cup of coffee.” Avery places a sloppy kiss on my cheek before prancing out of the room.

“Does that bitch wake up with sparkles and sunshine?” Emma grumbles.

“No, it must be the red bull she brewed her coffee with this morning,” I tell her.

“It’s easier if you just go with it, trust me,” Katie tells Emma.

Emma pulls on some clothes before turning toward the kitchen.

“Oh, no bitch! If I don’t get any, neither do you. Besides, we have reservations for breakfast and mani’s,” I say as I push her toward the front door.

“Shouldn’t I tell Jimmy bye or something?” Emma says.

“Bitch, please. That’s what cell phones are for. Get your cute ass out the door.”

Hanging her head, she follows us out the door.

The Duck Dive is one of our favorite spots, the food is amazing, the atmosphere fun, and they put whiskey in my coffee.

“Happy Birthday! Your first mimosa is on the house!” the waitress tells Emma.

We order and discuss our plans for the day.

“Next, we have mani appointment, then it’s back to Katie’s to change. Then we do some bar hopping, dancing, maybe get some dinner if we remember, before ending up at The Mission,” Avery says.

“That sounds like a long ass day,” Katie says. “My feet are going to be huge.”

“Sorry, not sorry, prego.” Avery gives her a wink.

I shovel food into my mouth as soon as it arrives, I need carbs to absorb the liquor I’m about to dump into my system. Talk is at a minimum as we all eat, this food is amazing, seriously, so damn good.

“Okay, let's get a move on,”Katie demands.,

“Alright ladies, let's get dressed to impress!” Katie leads toward the car, and we chuckle as we follow behind her.

Standing in Katie’s spare room, we get dressed; small touches and soft caresses slowing us down. When we finally leave the room, Katie is dressed, glowing in her cocktail dress and round belly, but Emma is nowhere to be found.

Avery heads down the hall and bangs on the bathroom door.

“Are you done or do we need to come in there?” Avery yells.

“Shut up! Not everyone is born gorgeous!” Emma yells through the door.

“Hurry up, Hooker! We gotta pre-game!” Avery yells on her way to the kitchen.

A few minutes later, Emma appears in the doorway and she looks stunning. There’s no way Jimmy will be able to say ‘no’ to those long bare legs and pouty lips.

“So, what’s the plan? Get our drink on here, then head over to The Mission?” Emma asks hopefully.

“Oh, no. We have drinks, dancing, more drinks, maybe dinner, then The Mission. Take this shot and let's get going,” I tell her as Avery hands her a shot glass.

Corrupting Emma is too much fun, we’ve had plenty of shots and dancing to last a lifetime. I can’t help but laugh at Katie’s swaying belly as she attempts to dance. Since she’s having twins, her belly is huge even though she is only six months along. Emma is dancing behind Katie both laughing, obviously having a good time. This is exactly what we all needed, let loose and have some fun.

Shots continue to get passed around until we can’t remember why we're here, where we are, or how long we’ve been there.

After a while, Katie rounds us up to head to The Mission, got to get Emma home after all. I’m pretty sure herding drunk people is like herding cats, a lot of work and not much cooperation.

Once we get to The Mission, I find us some young studs to dance with and turn on some skanky songs, mostly to make Jimmy jealous. He doesn’t want to admit it, but it works; steam is basically shooting out of his ears.

Emma disappears outside for a few minutes with her dance partner while Amber and I start sobering up by switching to water. Jimmy has locked himself in the storeroom when Emma yanks the door open, obviously upset and starts yelling for Jimmy.

The poor girl is having a panic attack, but before we can really do anything, Jimmy is scooping her up and heading upstairs. Once a hero, always a hero. He’s a lot more attached to her than he wants to admit.

Since the bar isn’t busy, it's not difficult to keep it running smoothly while Jimmy tends to Emma.

“Last call!” Amber hollers as she wipes down the bar top.

A few people come for fresh drinks, but it's nothing we can’t handle. Katie starts collecting empties and glasses and passing them to Amber.

Jimmy comes down the stairs, looking a little ragged.

“She okay?” Amber asks.

“Yeah, she’s resting now. Do you mind sticking around for a few more minutes? I want to talk to Katie.”

“No problem,” we say in unison.

Katie and Jimmy disappear into the stock room while we get ready for closing. Just a few stragglers are hanging around, so we get everything wrapped up quickly.

The tables are wiped down, the floor is swept, dishes loaded and trash is by the back door when Jimmy and Katie come back. Jimmy boots the last of the customers and closes up for the night.

“Night Jimmy, let us know how she is tomorrow,” Amber says as the three of us head to the car.

“Will do.”

The door locks behind us and my phone starts ringing. Who the hell is calling me at 2:30 am?

Pulling my phone up, I see an international number, and my heart stops.

“Hello?”

“Avery? This is Logan, I have some bad news…”

“What?!? AMBER!” I scream. Suddenly Amber and Katie are beside me, Katie takes the phone and puts it on speaker.

“Hello? Avery are you still there?” Logan says.

“Logan? What is it? What’s wrong?” Katie says. Amber wraps me in her arms while we both try to keep our panic at bay.

“There was an accident during a mission, Charlie was shot.”