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When Michael pulled up in front of Alex’s house, it was with not a little bit of nervousness swirling inside him. Alex had sounded weird on the phone. Not I’m in danger weird. But like he was dealing with his own nervousness weird. All Michael could hope was that this call to come over and the nerves behind it were signs that Alex was ready to move from the friendship they’d been working hard on solidifying into a different kind of relationship.
He took a deep breath to steady himself before knocking, and Alex must have been waiting by the door because it swung open before he could even move his hand. Alex gave him a slightly nervous but still brilliant smile, and Michael smiled back.
Alex stepped to the side for Michael to come in, and as he did, Michael saw the sign on the wall behind him at the same time that Alex said, “Happy Birthday, Guerin!”
Michael felt his brow furrow in confusion, and he could tell that Alex wasn’t surprised by his reaction. “It’s not our pod day. That’s in June.”
Alex shook his head. “I know it’s not. I’m not confused. Come sit down, and I’ll explain.”
He led the way to the couch, handed Michael a beer, and then started talking.
“I’ve been working with the Caulfield files off the hard drives Kyle managed to grab, your mother’s in particular. They noted a pattern of odd behavior. Every year on the same date, she would press her hand to the window in her cell, and it would glow red for at least an hour. She usually also had her other hand caressing her stomach at the time—as if remembering a pregnancy. They theorized that she was trying to contact her child. I know it’s not definitive. But I think it’s pretty good odds that today is your actual birthday. And I figured it wouldn’t hurt to choose today to celebrate, separate from your pod day with Max and Isobel. A day just for you. You deserve a day of your own, Guerin.”
Michael thought back to his mother in her cell. To the windows behind her and the way she’d communicated with him through her handprint. He found himself blinking back tears at the thought of her trying to reach out to him from her torture chamber every year on his birthday.
“You really think?” he said, stopping to clear his throat and try again. “You really think today is my actual birthday?”
“I do. As I said, I can’t prove it, but based on the information I’ve found, it feels right to me,” Alex said. “So I threw you a party. But I didn’t want to make you uncomfortable or force you to celebrate if it didn’t feel right to you, so I didn’t officially invite anyone. But there’s enough food and drink and I told all our friends to leave today open without telling them why. So with a few phone calls, we can get the party started. Or not. Whatever you want.”
Alex stopped talking and just watched him, waiting for his reaction, and Michael honestly wasn’t entirely sure what his reaction was. He’d never thought he’d know his actual birthdate. He’d hoped to find information about his home planet eventually. His people. But he’d never dreamed he’d be able to find something so specific to himself. The fact that Alex had put the time and effort into finding this for him meant a lot, and honestly was putting him right on the edge of tears. So, no, he didn’t particularly want to be surrounded by all their friends at this moment. But as he looked at the decorations and the pile of presents and the cooler of beer and soda, he realized the trouble Alex had gone to. For him.
“Maybe we can call them in a bit?” he said, stopping to clear his throat when he heard how rough it sounded. “Just us for now?”
Alex smiled, and it was a beautiful smile. “That sounds great. I actually was hoping to give you at least one of your presents before anyone else was here.” Michael watched Alex head over to the table, swallowing back his emotions again as he saw the pile of presents that he now realized must all be from Alex since no one else knew today was his actual birthday.
“You shouldn’t have gone to all this trouble,” he said as he watched Alex grab a thin rectangular box from the pile.
“Of course I should have,” Alex said as if he was being ridiculous. “You’ve never had a true birthday party in your life. That’s a lot of years to make up for!” He came over and sat next to Michael on the couch and handed him the carefully wrapped package.
“Thank you,” Michael said, and Alex chuckled.
“You’re supposed to open the present before you say thank you, you know.”
“No, I mean, thank you. For doing the research. For figuring it out. For,” he gestured around them, “all of this.”
Alex smiled warmly at him again and Michael wanted desperately to lean over and steal a kiss. He held himself back, knowing that they were in a good place with their friendship and not wanting to ruin it if Alex wasn’t feeling the same way he was. He focused instead on unwrapping the package in his hands. When he pulled out a picture frame, he found himself hoping that when he turned it over, it would be a picture of the two of them. What he saw instead took his breath away. It was a picture of his mother. She was young. She was beautiful. She was smiling. She wasn’t in that hellhole of a prison.
“How?” he gasped, uncaring of the tears pooling in his eyes as he traced his fingers over his mother’s face.
“It was in the files,” Alex said quietly. “I think it has to have been from her time at the Long Farm and they found it when they took her. Scanned it into her file when they went digital. I cleaned it up a bit and had it printed.”
Michael finally tore his eyes from the photo to look at Alex, blinking back a few of the tears as others rolled down his cheeks. “It’s beautiful. She was beautiful. It’s perfect. Thank you.”
“You look like her, you know,” Alex said with a gentle smile.
Michael felt his cheeks heat slightly with a curious mix of pleasure and embarrassment as he tore his eyes from Alex’s to look at the picture again. “I never thought I’d have a picture of her. Or if I did, it would be how she was at the end…” his voice trailed off. “I can’t tell you how much this means to me.”
Alex smiled softly at him, and Michael swallowed back the emotion that threatened to choke him. He finally tore his eyes away from the photo to look at Alex again. Then he carefully turned the frame over and rewrapped it and set it beside him on the couch. “I’m not quite sure how birthday parties work, but I feel fairly certain that two people sitting in silence on a couch while one chokes back tears isn’t the traditional plan for the event,” he said, trying to laugh at how emotional he’d gotten over the present, and the situation as a whole.
“They really work however you want them to. It’s all about what makes you happy,” Alex replied, reaching out to take Michael’s hand and give it a quick squeeze.
“That photo made me happy, Alex,” he said, just to be super clear about his feelings.
Alex smiled. “I’m glad, but I’m also glad I gave it to you while it was just the two of us here instead of all our friends. No pressure for the macho cowboy swagger,” he explained. “But what do you think, should I send out word now? Get people to start showing up in the next half hour or so? Help us eat all the food I’ve got in the kitchen and drink all these beers?”
Michael nodded, still struggling with his emotions at all the effort and preparation Alex had clearly put into this day for him.
“Why don’t you go put some music on while I do. And how about I put this back in the bedroom for safekeeping?” Alex suggested, reaching a hand out to the picture frame behind Michael.
Michael was proud of himself for not flinching and covering it with his own hand to keep Alex from taking it from him. The instinct was there, but when Alex had been the one to give him the photo in the first place, he was certainly the last person that Michael needed to protect it from. “Uh, yeah. That sounds good,” he said at last with a nod. The thought of everyone else seeing the photo didn’t sit well with him. Not just yet. It was too precious and too new.
He forced himself up and over to the sound system, picking out some of his favorite CDs from Alex’s collection, and if anyone didn’t like the fact that most of them were from the time they were seventeen, they could sue him.
But Alex grinned when he heard the first song play as he walked back into the room, and Michael didn’t care what anyone else would think of his choices. Alex had his phone in his hand and was so focused on his texting that he wasn’t paying attention to where he was going and the fact that there was a cooler in his living room that wasn’t usually there. Michael quickly used his powers to slide it out of his way before Alex could trip.
Alex realized what happened when he heard the cooler lid hit the wall and looked up sheepishly from his phone. “Thanks.”
Michael waved off the thanks, but was pleased to get Alex’s attention back on him instead of his phone a minute later.
“Everyone is on their way. I didn’t tell them what today was yet. Figured it might be a fun surprise, but I can send another round of texts if you’d rather they know beforehand.”
“Nah,” Michael replied, wanting to let Alex have his surprise if he wanted it. “It’s probably best Isobel not know until she gets here or she’d go nuts trying to get a present before she comes.”
Alex’s face fell slightly. “I’m sorry, Michael. I didn’t even think about letting the others have an opportunity to buy you presents. I didn’t want to tell anyone before you, but I should have just told you a week ago and then let everyone know with plenty of time to get you something.”
Michael reached out a hand and pulled Alex to sit beside him on the couch. “You’re being ridiculous, Private. Just the knowledge that today is my actual birthday itself is a wonderful gift. Not to mention the party. And that pile of presents over there is already way more than I need, and honestly, I already got the best present I could imagine. So stop beating yourself up, please.”
Alex relaxed into the couch cushions, but Michael could still see a little furrow between his brows. He pulled out his own phone and shot off a quick text to Isobel.
If you give Alex a hard time for not telling you in advance what this afternoon is about, I’ll never speak to you again.
He received a confused emoji back, and figured that was good enough.
“What was that?” Alex asked, gesturing to his phone.
“Just a little insurance.”
Alex looked puzzled again, but Michael just waved it off and floated a couple of beers across the room. Alex chuckled and plucked the beer out of the air. He tapped the neck of the bottle against Michael’s and said, “Happy Birthday, Guerin.”
They spent the next twenty minutes happily sipping on their beers, listening to some of their favorite music from their childhoods, before their relationship got so complicated, and chatting easily.
When the doorbell rang, Michael almost regretted the end of their solo time. But when he saw how excited Alex was to let the others in on his discovery, he pushed it to the side.
“What is going on, Alex?” Liz said as she came through the door and looked around at the decorations and presents. Max wasn’t far behind her, and Isobel was climbing onto the porch before they even started to close the door.
Michael stood from the couch but waited silently while Alex explained what he’d discovered in the Caulfield files, and he saw Isobel’s eyes narrow at the pile of presents before she shot a glare at Alex. Michael cleared his throat, and she forcibly reined herself in. Next thing Michael knew, he was at the center of a very tight group hug with his siblings and Liz, while Alex stood by smiling. Someone was ruffling his hair, and he’d bet it was Isobel, and all three were wishing him a happy birthday.
Max and Liz pulled back, and Isobel whispered in his ear, “I will leave Alex alone today for your sake, but there will be payback down the line for leaving me in the dark here. You’re my brother. I should have been able to help plan the party. And get a gift.”
He whispered back, making sure to put enough force behind the tone to not be misunderstood, “There will be no payback. Not now, not ever. You will learn to accept it and move on.”
Soon, Maria and Rosa and Kyle had all arrived and shared their well wishes once they’d gotten over their surprise. Even Sanders came, although he let it be known he wouldn’t be able to stay long. It meant a lot to Michael that the old man would even bother to show up, especially not knowing what he was showing up for.
Maria turned out to be the one to give Alex a hard time over not letting them know what they were walking into, and Michael regretted not realizing and taking precautions like he had with Isobel.
“You rat,” she said, shoving Alex playfully in the head and ruffling his hair. “You didn’t want to give any of us the chance to get him a present and outdo any of your gifts, huh?”
She was clearly teasing, but Michael was so in tune with Alex that he could see his smile slip a bit.
“I was the one who didn’t want him to tell anyone beforehand,” he said before Alex could get a word out.
Alex’s eyes shot to his in surprise at the lie. But it wasn’t even truly a lie. He had told Alex not to tell them what they were coming for when he’d texted them earlier that afternoon. They just didn’t need to know the timing of that decision.
Maria turned her attention to him and gave him the same knock to the head and hair ruffle.
“Is there food?” Valenti asked, and Michael was glad for the change of subject.
Soon everyone was digging in to the surprisingly elaborate spread Alex had assembled. Michael realized how much of a risk he’d taken by doing all of this without knowing how Michael would react. He’d offered to not tell anyone else and not include anyone else in the party. If Michael had said that was what he’d wanted, Alex would have been stuck with a ton of food.
He went over to Alex then and pulled him into his side for a one armed side hug. Then whispered, “Thanks,” into his ear and pressed the faintest of kisses to the shell of Alex’s ear in the process. He wasn’t even sure Alex would be aware of the caress, but when he saw the look in his eyes as he pulled back, he knew he had.
“So all of these presents aren’t going to open themselves, are they?” Rosa said from her spot sitting next to the table of gifts.
Michael felt his face flush as everyone turned their attention from the pile of gifts to him. He was unused to so much attention. Even when they celebrated their pod day, Max and Isobel were at the center of attention and he was always just a little bit to the side. Included, but not the main focus.
Alex gave him a gentle nudge towards the table as he took Michael’s plate from him to free up his hands. “Go on.”
Michael didn’t even know where to start, so when Rosa handed him the largest box on the table, he took it gratefully.
Alex kicked over a chair for him, and he sat down and started to tear off the paper. When he pulled open the box, he felt a huge grin split his face and he pulled out a brand new cowboy hat. He took it out and plopped it onto his head. “Howdy, y’all,” he said with a smirk, and everyone laughed. Isobel snapped a picture, and Michael hoped that Alex was standing close enough to be in it.
“He does not need this encouragement, Manes!” Isobel groaned good-naturedly.
Her grumbling continued when Michael opened a new pair of cowboy boots, a new large silver belt buckle, and a new flannel shirt.
Michael looked over at Alex, and recalled their exchange at the reunion when Alex had first returned to Roswell.
“Does the macho cowboy swagger thing ever get old?” Alex had asked.
“Did it get old for you?” Michael had replied.
He suspected he was getting his answer now. Alex clearly liked his cowboy swagger, if these gifts were anything to go by.
“There’s one more,” Alex said softly from beside him, pointing out an envelope nearly hidden beneath wrapping paper and open boxes.
Michael heard a touch of nerves in Alex’s voice, and wondered what could be in the envelope. When he opened it, he found a note.
‘I didn’t want you to feel awkward if you don’t want this gift and I tried to give it to you in front of all our friends. But I want you to have the guitar. It’s always been your guitar, and now that your hand is healed, I want to know that it’s yours again. That it can bring you peace and quiet the noises for you again. If you’ll take it, just give me a nod. —A’
Michael blinked back moisture from his eyes and then nodded at Alex. Alex’s nervousness faded away to be replaced by a beautiful smile, and then he left the room.
“What is it?” Rosa asked, trying to crane her neck around to see what was on the paper.
Michael folded the note and tucked it into his pocket, sticking his tongue out at Rosa as she huffed in frustration.
Alex was back before anyone could reiterate Rosa’s question, guitar in hand.
“I replaced the strings and tuned it,” he said as he handed it over, his cheeks a bit pink and his eyes shining with happiness as Michael accepted the gift.
“Thank you,” Michael said, running his hands over the instrument that was still familiar even all these years later.
“Thank you for accepting it,” Alex whispered for Michael’s ears only.
Michael closed his eyes as he felt Alex return the barely there press of his lips to the shell of Michael’s ear.
“Are you going to play something?” Max asked, and Michael looked around the room at his friends, at his family. He realized that none of them, aside from Alex and Maria, had ever heard him play.
“I’m a bit rusty. Haven’t played much since.” He stopped, flexed his left hand. “But I’ll play if Alex joins me,” he said.
Alex grinned, left the room again and came back with another guitar. He turned off the music on the way, and thanked Rosa when she gave up her chair so he could sit near Michael.
Alex looked to him to pick the song, and he took a moment to think, staring deeply into Alex’s eyes, then he quietly said, “Do you know 'The Reason' by Hoobastank?”
Alex’s eyes widened slightly, then he nodded and bit his lip. When Michael nodded, they started to play. They hadn’t ever really had an opportunity to play together when they were young before Alex’s father had smashed up his hand, and yet it oddly felt like old times. It felt familiar, and natural, and right, and Michael couldn’t remember the last time he was this happy, this at peace. He watched Alex as he played, wondering if he remembered the lyrics, if he understood why Michael had chosen this particular song, knew what Michael was trying to tell him.
Their friends all cheered when they finished, requested more songs. They played two more before Alex declared it was time for cake. He set his guitar down and disappeared into the kitchen. Michael kept fiddling around with his guitar, playing random chords. Isobel was at his shoulder the next thing he knew, and she was running her fingers through his hair like she hadn’t done since they were kids.
“It’s good to see you happy, Michael,” she said softly. She pressed a kiss to the side of his cheek and then vanished into the kitchen. Michael hoped she was just going to help Alex with the cake and not to give him a hard time about not letting her plan the party or he’d have to have a talk with his sister.
He was pretty sure from her expression that she wasn’t in the mood to lecture anymore though, so he didn’t try follow. He also was pretty sure the birthday boy wasn’t supposed to be in the kitchen with the cake. He wasn’t entirely sure where that impression came from, since he hadn’t had a lot of experience with birthdays, but he felt confident of it anyway. When the lights dimmed in the living room, he set his guitar aside carefully and turned to see Alex coming into the room with a cake covered in candles and Isobel trailing behind with plates and silverware. As if there was some unspoken cue, all of his friends immediately started singing and Michael found himself blinking back tears once again.
Rosa cleared enough room on the table for Alex to put the cake down in front of Michael, and Michael laughed when he saw the little green alien staring up at him from the center of all the candles. The cake said ‘You’re Out of This World’ at the top, and predictably, ‘Happy Birthday Michael’ along the bottom.
“Go on,” Alex prompted, “make a wish.”
Michael looked around the room at his friends and family all watching him with smiles on their faces, at the pile of presents next to him, the guitar sitting against the wall, and finally at Alex standing next to him. There was only one wish he could make. He closed his eyes, held the wish firmly in his mind, and then opened them and blew out all the candles in one go. Everyone cheered as if he was a toddler, and Michael rolled his eyes. Then Isobel was slicing and passing out cake, and everyone devoured it like they hadn’t already eaten a feast earlier in the evening.
Soon after, everyone started to filter out after final birthday wishes and hugs and promises to celebrate again next year. Isobel was the last to leave after helping to clean up as much as she could before Alex kicked her out of his kitchen.
Michael and Alex both let out a sigh of relief when the door closed behind her, and then they both burst into laughter.
Michael moved over to the couch now that it was empty once again and reached a hand out to pull Alex down beside him. But Alex resisted. He stood there looking at Michael, biting on his bottom lip, and Michael wanted to soothe that lip with his tongue. After a full minute of silent contemplation, Alex said, “I have one more present for you.”
Michael closed his eyes. “Alex. You’ve already done far too much. This whole day. The party. The food. The cake. All the presents. It’s too much. I don’t need anything else from you except for you to sit with me for a few minutes.”
But Alex shook his head and left the room. When he returned, he had the framed photo of Michael’s mother and a CD case in his hands. He placed the photo carefully on the table with the other presents and then came to stand nervously in front of Michael, fingers tapping a rhythm into the plastic of the CD case.
When he didn’t say anything for a couple of minutes, Michael lost his patience and reached out, not to the present, but to Alex’s arm, and pulled him down onto the couch beside him.
“Alex, I already told you, whatever it is, it’s unnecessary. But I also can tell you that if you are going to insist on giving me something else, then I am very confident I will love it just as much as absolutely everything else you’ve given me today.”
Alex took a deep breath and handed the CD case to him. When Michael took it carefully into his hands and looked down at it, he was surprised to see it was blank. It was clearly a homemade CD and as such didn’t have a fancy album cover, but he was surprised there wasn’t even a handwritten label. When he looked up at Alex questioningly, Alex finally said, “It’s the song I wrote. I recorded it, for you.”
The song he wrote. Only one song immediately came to mind, and Michael remembered standing in the Wild Pony, realizing that Alex was the one singing, and that he was singing about them. That he was asking Michael to come home to him. And then he remembered seeing Forrest watching as well, and he’d known the time wasn’t right. Not yet. So even though it had torn his heart out of his chest, he’d walked away.
He took a deep breath, knowing from the way Alex was behaving that this was the most important gift of the night from his point of view, and needing to get the reaction right. “Your song? Would You Come Home?” he asked, realizing that he wasn’t even sure if that was what Alex had titled the song since they’d never discussed it.
Alex nodded. Michael closed his eyes for a second, afraid to hope that this CD might mean what he hoped it meant. He clutched the CD case to his heart, telling himself to be glad that he could hear the song again, even if it didn’t mean more than that. “Thank you, Alex. I- I’m so glad to be able to hear it again. To hear the end,” he whispered.
“Michael,” Alex said at last, and Michael’s eyes flew to his. It was so rare for Alex to use his first name. What he saw in Alex’s eyes caused his heart to thump in his chest. He held his breath without even realizing it when Alex opened his mouth to say more.
“Michael,” he repeated, swallowed nervously. “I fought my battle. I- I’m ready now. If you are. Michael, would- would you come home?”
Michael closed his eyes, took a moment to say thank you to whomever it was who granted birthday wishes. But when he felt Alex shift his weight as if to stand, his eyes popped open and he latched onto Alex with the hand that wasn’t still cradling the CD to his chest.
“Yes. Yes, Alex. Yes, please. Please let me come home,” he gasped out, totally uncaring of the tears spilling over his cheeks. He yanked on Alex’s arm, pulling him into his arms, pressing a kiss to his lips, swallowing Alex’s gasp.
Michael forced himself to pull back from the kiss a few minutes later, not letting Alex go far as he pressed their foreheads together. “Alex, I love you. So much.”
He kissed the tear tracks off of Alex’s cheeks and was about to capture his mouth again when Alex resisted. “I love you too, Michael. More than you could ever know.”
Michael was pretty sure he did know exactly how much, and perhaps even more than Alex did. But now was not the time to argue the statement. “Alex, this is the best present I’ve ever received.”
Alex blushed, and said, “The song’s not that good.”
Michael shook his head slightly, not separating from Alex, just rolling his forehead against the other man’s. “No. Not the song, although it means so much more to me than you realize. But I meant this. Us. You. You’re the best present I have ever or will ever receive.”
Now Alex’s blush was full force, and Michael smiled softly at the sight.
“And you’re the best present I will ever receive,” Alex replied.
Then they were kissing again, but it was softer, less urgent. There was plenty of passion and desire in the embrace still, there always would be between the two of them, but it didn’t feel hurried. It felt like they had all the time in the world. So when they separated, it wasn’t to make a frantic journey to the bedroom stripping clothes off as they went, but instead to settle back into the couch, holding tightly to each other.
“I think you’ve just made my first actual birthday, the best birthday I’ll ever have,” Michael said as he interlaced their fingers.
Alex chuckled softly, then said with a soft smirk, “Wait until you see what I have planned for next year before you say that.”
And Michael grinned at Alex’s boast, but in his head he was counting the months to Alex’s birthday. Four months. Plenty of time to plan something epic. That wasn’t too soon for a proposal, was it?