It felt surreal for Chris and Denise to be able to say that their son was turning one tomorrow. The first year of his life had passed so quickly, they swore it was only yesterday they had brought him home. It was the actuality of time that reminded them it'd really been a day short of a year with him in their lives; three hundred and sixty-four days of pure, wholesome bliss.

Now that Jack was twelve months, he could do and say a lot more than he could at eight and a half months. He was learning how to walk, and successfully doing so with the help of his parents' hands. He was actually using his words to ask for food and attention rather than his cries and screams, something Chris, Denise and Dodger were grateful for. He could successfully say "Dada", "Mama", and "Dodger," though he occasionally left out the 'D' in the middle so it sounded like "Doger" instead, which didn't matter because Dodger still responded. Now Chris always thought he and Dodger had a special connection. From the moment he adopted him from that shelter in Georgia, they'd been the best of friends. It wasn't until Jack came into the world that he realized the real special connection Dodger had was with his son, that they didn't just become best friends but were best friends in a previous life. They didn't even need words to communicate, they were that in tuned with each other. No matter where Dodger was in the house, he knew when Jack needed him. Even out in the yard enjoying the warm sun, he would beat Chris and Denise in getting to a crying Jack. Between the three of them, Dodger would easily demolish them in the category of 'Best Parent'.

Jack could also express his love and excitement for Winnie the Pooh, Mickey Mouse, Elmo, and- much to Chris' dismay- Iron Man. He and Denise guessed it was probably Iron Man's red that was exciting Jack, rather than the character himself; it had still been a dark day for Captain America. He knew Robert was going to rub it into his face the second he found out, which- thanks to Denise- was a couple days after they found out themselves. The compilation video she made of Jack squealing with excitement every time Iron Man appeared on screen, was sent to the group chat seconds after she finished making it. Everyone's hearts melted. It was uncanny. At first Denise thought it was just a coincidence, so she tested her son by putting on other Marvel movies, including all four parts of 'The Avengers'. Despite how many characters there were- especially in both parts of 'Avengers: Infinity War'- Jack only displayed his delight for Iron Man.

He did, however, become more attentive whenever Captain America spoke in the movies because he recognized his father's voice. His whole body would perk up and he'd turn to Chris with wide eyes, confused because he couldn't see his daddy's mouth move. He couldn't comprehend how he was hearing his daddy's voice when Chris wasn't talking. It was adorable. Every time that happened Denise would try to direct his attention to the screen so he'd see that Daddy was Captain America, but Jack was never interested. He kept his gaze glued to Chris' face, he'd grin and babble gleefully, and Chris would smile because Denise would remind him that "Iron Man may excite him, but no one makes him happier than you." It was true, it didn't have to be said to know Chris was currently Jack's favorite as he spent the most time with him. It would probably change once Denise wrapped up and Chris had to go back to work, but at this current point in time- Jack was closer to Chris. Denise had too much on her plate to be able to invest the same time with Jack as Chris was.

Directing a movie was keeping her crazy busy. She was consuming so much caffeine a day that Chris actually felt the need to limit her to prevent her from being too dependent on the stimulant. It was a good move on Chris' part because Denise realized she'd gotten to the point that if someone had invented a caffeinated IV, she would have one hooked to her just to stay ahead of her ridiculously filled schedule.

If things continued to go according to plan, she could wrap principal photography by the second week of April and begin post-production. After the editing and the test screenings, her trailer was going to be distributed so her marketing team could get a rundown of the responses and decided on the best release date. Currently there were press, private, and preview screenings estimated for the last week of August; with her 24th birthday being the first screening date. Chris optimistically stated "we can celebrate two things then, your birthday and the success of your film" whereas Denise pessimistically stated "at least I get cake to eat when things go downhill." The world premiere was set for a month later on the 25th of September, giving her and her team a month to complete press and promote their movie.

But all that was a little ways away. With Jack's first birthday tomorrow, Denise had left her movie on the back burner. They were throwing Jack a big birthday party and a good number of their family and friends were either driving up or flying in to attend. Sebastian, Luca and Alex's flight was arriving in the morning, as was the Evanses' flight from Boston. Chris was going to rent a van so he could pick all of them up while Denise set up for the party. There were tons to be done, and a lot of fun to be had. Other than Jack's birthday party, a group of them were going to Disneyland on Sunday to make up for that missed Disney World trip last Christmas. Denise felt both grateful and fortunate to have the ability to be present for such events, it made her glad she'd accepted Emilia's offer. Being the director of her film gave her more power over the schedule, it allowed her the three days off to organize and celebrate her son's first birthday, and also spend time with her family and friends.

Denise even had the time to bake her famous chocolate cake. She'd clearly forgotten Chris had already ordered a 'Winnie the Pooh' birthday cake from the same bakery that made their wedding cake. He thought about reminding her about it, except he enjoyed seeing how happy she looked baking. It'd been a while since she last baked and he knew she'd missed it. Like writing, baking was therapeutic for her. But a lot of things were, even doing her makeup was therapeutic. Denise just liked anything she could focus on so her mind couldn't think of anything else. Chris was the same, and while he cleared his mind with activities, he also meditated. He was very into the Eastern philosophy which helped him develop a good relationship with Denise's maternal grandfather, who was a Taoist. They got along so well that people would often think Denise was the one who married into her family.

Denise found Eastern philosophy fascinating too, enough to write a paper about it in high school. And though she aced the paper, she did not ace mindfulness or mediation. She was actually so bad that Chris stopped taking her to his Buddhism classes because she was- in his words, "a laughing hazard." Denise tried to defend her name only to have him remind her that "you were asked to leave the room because you couldn't stop giggling, Denise." In her defense, their breathing exercises were similar to the ones her brother's yoga class had. The one time she went, she saw one of the funniest things happen that made her laugh every time she recounted it. It happened during the breathing exercises where everyone had to inhale and exhale with short, sharp breaths. It just so happened that while doing the exercises, the teacher exhaled a string of snot onto his mat. Denise reminded Chris he laughed every time she told him about it, so he should only expect the same from her when she was placed in a similar setting.

Chris looked up at Denise and chuckled when he saw her giggling to herself. He and Jack were lying on their bellies on the floor, Denise laid on the couch with Dodger. Chris had moved the coffee table aside so he and Jack could have the floor to play with Jack's new wooden car set; the one present he had gotten his hands on before his mother could wrap it. "What is it?" Chris asked then joked before Denise could answer. "Is there a ghost in the house I don't know about? Is he good at telling jokes?"

A momentary frown appeared on her face. "Don't joke about ghosts." She chided and he chuckled, pushing himself up off the ground. "I was laughing at the time I got kicked out of your Buddhism class." His soft chuckle turned into a loud laugh as he shifted to sit on his butt instead. "Because that reminded me of my brother's yoga class where-"

"Where snot flew out of his teacher's nose," he finished for her and she nodded, covering her face with a throw cushion because she couldn't stop giggling. "God," his smile widened as he shook his head in disbelief. "You are so easily amused. It's almost hard to believe you're not the one turning one tomorrow."

"I know, right?" She tossed the cushion aside and gently nudged Dodger's butt so he'd hop off her. She slid off the couch and onto the floor as the dog padded over to Chris. "I can't believe Jack's turning one tomorrow." Denise shared a heartfelt smile with Chris, then turned to Jack. "Hey, Jack." She reached forward and tapped his shoulder, pulling his attention from his toy cars. "You're a big little man now, aren't you? My big little man," she booped his nose and he giggled.

"Mama," he held out the blue car in his hand. "Mama, caa." He put it on the floor and pushed it across to his mom like he'd been doing with his dad. "Caa." He repeated and she chuckled, picking him up instead of his toy. "Ahhh!" He giggled and squirmed when she loudly kissed his chubby cheek. "Mama!" He squealed with delight, the corner of his eyes crinkling with his wide grin. Chris' heart filled; every interaction Denise had with Jack, and even Dodger, his heart would just swell with copious amounts of joy.

"It's your birthday tomorrow, baby." Denise folded her legs and sat Jack on her knees. "Can you say birthday?" She asked. "Birth," she annunciated slowly, "day. Birthday, sweetheart. Can you say it for me?" His small head tilted then he giggled, making his parents laugh. "No?" She chuckled. "Okay, how about supercalifragilisticexpialidocious?" The timer for her cake went off and she looked up. Even before she could ask Chris to help her check the oven, he was already on his feet.

"Why don't you stick to teaching him 'birthday' for now?" Chris tapped Denise's head as he walked past and she smiled, bouncing Jack on her legs. "I'm here, shut up." He said to the timer, silencing its irritating cries with a quick push of a button. Denise laughed as she got to her feet, carrying Jack with her to join her husband by the oven. "Hey, honey. I don't think- Dodger, stop." Chris caught their dog's collar before he got too close to the hot oven, instructing him back to the living room. "I don't think we'll be serving this tomorrow, Nise." He called, glancing over his shoulder at her.

"Oh no!" Denise burst into laughter when she saw her cake had overflowed and cooked on the side of the circular tin. "I am so glad I decided to use a second tray, I can only imagine the clean up if I didn't." Chris pursed his lips then sucked the air through his teeth, he agreed that a thorough oven cleaning was not how he wanted to spend their night. "But what happened?" She pouted then giggled when Chris laughed. "It's looks like a science experience gone terribly wrong."

"Oh my God, yes." Chris threw his head back, laughing louder than before. "It looks like one of those slime sludge monster things. Oh man," he wiped the tear that had formed in the corner of his right eye. "You failed hard with this cake, babe." Denise agreed with a nod, her lips tightly pursed. She couldn't believe it. This was a cake she'd made more than fifty times, how could she have messed up so badly? "I love you, but-" Chris snickered. "That is a straight up horror show."

"Munsta," Jack released a gurgle of laughter.

"There goes my reputation." Denise joked and Chris snickered again, taking their son from her. She squatted in front of the oven, further examining her failure of a cake. "Is it just me, or does this kind of feel like a sign?" She looked up at him and he rolled his eyes. Somehow he had already anticipated that she would associate her failed cake with something completely unrelated. "Like the universe is preparing me for when my film turns into a huge flop."

"Till this day, I still don't know if I'm amazed or annoyed by how wild your imagination runs." He chuckled and turned off the oven as she pulled the tray out with her Minnie Mouse oven mitts. He closed the oven door then joined her in staring blankly at the mess in front of them. "The flop is a none issue, a cake already been ordered." She turned to him with narrowed eyes. "You've forgotten, but I did tell you I already ordered a cake from 'Sugar & Cream' a few weeks ago. Your Mom's picking it up before the party."

"Yeah, no. I remember," she nodded. "It's a 'Winnie the Pooh' cake, right?"

"Yes," he nodded. "So breathe because tomorrow is sorted, you have nothing to worry about." Denise leaned into him as he wrapped an arm around her. "And by nothing, I mean the film too. It is not going to be a flop," he whispered into her hair when he kissed the side of her head. "Nothing you do ever turns out to be a flop."

"He says as we stand in front of a failed cake."

"Except this cake," he chuckled. "But hey, I'm sure it's still delicious." He took his arm off her so he could break off a chunk to try. "Yeah," he nodded after swallowing. "It is still delicious so I wouldn't consider it a flop. If Disney has taught us anything, it is that beauty comes from within. Right?" She chuckled at his attempt to comfort her. "And now we have cake to eat, and we love cake." He turned to Jack, smiling. "Don't we, pal? Yeah," he chuckled at Jack's grin. "Clearly." He turned Jack towards Denise and pointed at his gleeful expression; she shook her head with a smile nearly as wide as Jack's.

"Ake!" Jack excitedly cheered. Denise's whole body tensed when he leaned away from Chris, reaching down with his tiny outstretched arms. For a second, she swore she saw him fall head first into the marble countertop. She huffed a sigh of relief when she remembered Chris had the habit of keeping a ridiculously tight grip on any and all small children he carried, especially Jack. If she and Chris had been worried about an oven cleaning turning their night bad, one could only imagine what a visit to an emergency room would've done. "Ake, Dada, ake."

"Cake, bud." Chris said then phonetically sounded a 'C' for Jack to hear. "This is cake." He broke off a piece for Jack and made sure it was cool enough before passing it to him. "Yummy, right? Want some more?" He chuckled when Jack opened his mouth so he'd be fed more. "See, baby." He looked over at Denise, smiling. "Not a flop."

"You really should be meaner to me so I'm prepared for what the critics will say."

"Or I should shower you with so much love and kindness it won't matter what the critics say." He said then smiled when she wrapped her arms around his waist, lifting her head to kiss his cheek. "You're going to be fine, I've got your back." She rested her head on his chest and smiled at Jack, making faces that drew giggles from him. "You should know by now-"

"It's you and me against the world, kid," Denise finished for him and he laughed, nodding. "I know, thank you. Honestly, Chris, if I didn't have you." She chuckled, turning her head to kiss him. She smiled when she felt him smile against her lips. "I love you," she told him when they broke the kiss.

"I love you too."