Count on Me

Chapter Nine: Mesut's Birthday

Waking up in her bedroom, Katrina smiled brushing the hair from her face before she carefully got to her feet; she peeked at Balboa who was sleeping soundly next to where she had been. 

Things were strange now after Mandy's visit and Katrina wanted nothing more than to be prepared for what came next; she doubted that was the last that they had seen of Mesut's ex-girlfriend. 

Mesut had tried his best to reassure Katrina that he had no interest in taking Mandy back, he was happy and content with Katrina; he didn't understand why she had come back after all this time. 

Katrina quickly got dressed knowing that she had stuff to do before Mesut came home that night, she wanted to surprise him for his birthday; she had been thinking for a while about what she wanted to do. 

It had come as a bit of a surprise to find out when Mesut's birthday was and he hadn't been planning on telling her since they'd only known each other a month; Katrina was looking forward to surprising him after training. 

Katrina wasn't sure if Mesut had any plans but she did know that she was going to do something special; she wasn't sure that he would like whatever she did. 

Heading out of her bedroom, Katrina grinned wanting nothing more than for today to be perfect; she wanted nothing more than to do something that he wouldn't see coming. 

Katrina couldn't help but bounce down the stairs, she was going to bake him a birthday cake and she had picked up a couple of little gifts wanting to do something for him. 

They had only known each other about a month and Katrina found herself getting comfortable with how things worked for them; it was a good start for them and she hoped it carried on that way. 

Moving to open the back door so that the dogs could go out, Katrina nibbled on her lip wanting nothing more than to focus on what she was going to do.

Katrina didn't waste any time getting to work on making Mesut's cake, she wanted everything to be perfect and she couldn't wait to see Mesut's face when she surprised him later on. 

So focused on what she was doing, Katrina didn't hear Mesut coming home early training and watching her with a smile on his face as he watched her work before he walked over to her and wrapped his arms around her. 

"Good morning," Mesut whispered in her ear making Katrina jump in surprise, he chuckled kissing her cheek; he was just glad to have some time with her alone. 

The last thing that Mesut wanted was for Mandy getting in Katrina's head, he knew that things had been odd recently but he wasn't going to let anything happen to them. 

"What are you doing home?" Katrina asked turning to face Mesut, it wasn't early and he couldn't have been at training for more than an hour; she had expected a little more time to get ready. 

Mesut smiled at her, he was a just glad that she hadn't cut him off completely after Mandy had appeared; they would have lost everything if she had and he wasn't going to let them get to that point. 

"Training was cancelled," Mesut replied with a shrug of his shoulders, he peeked behind Katrina at what she had been doing; he was a little surprised to see what she was doing and he was a little curious. 

Katrina cursed inside of her head, she was sure that they would find another way to surprise him but she had hoped to get the cake done before he came home. 

"So what are we doing?" Mesut asked curiously, he wasn't very good at baking and was more than happy to help Katrina with whatever she was doing and he was sure that he wouldn't mess it up.

Opening her mouth to protest, Katrina tried to think of a reason why Mesut couldn't help her with the cake without revealing what she was doing; it was their first big thing as a couple and she wanted it to go well. 

Mesut had been so busy recently with not only playing with Arsenal but Germany as well; Katrina didn't know how he managed to stay so calm about all of this. 

"I'm making a cake... a birthday cake," Katrina murmured admitting what she was doing, she eyed him a little warily about what he would think; there was no point in trying to hide what she was doing now especially when she was sure Mesut would figure it out. 

Mesut grinned nodding his head, he was a little surprised that she was going out of her way to do this for him; he stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her unable to help himself. 

"Mesut..." Katrina murmured shaking her head, she had work to do and she doubted that he was going to let her to it by herself without finding some way to help her out. 

The only thing that she wanted was to get his cake baked before she got too distracted with her very good-looking boyfriend; she doubted that it would end well if she did. 

"I'll behave," Mesut promised softly, he just wanted to help out and he was going to do everything that Katrina told him if she let him stay and help her out.

***

"I don't think they're cooked yet," Mesut murmured eyeing the cupcakes that they had made, he carefully poked the cupcake and frowned finding that it was still wet; they had gone into the oven after the cake had come out and he was excited. 

Katrina smiled looking over at Mesut while she decorated his birthday cake, she wiped her hands and moved over to him; she was a little surprised about how eager he had been to help her out in the kitchen. 

"They might need another ten minutes," Katrina mused with a smile, she patted his arm before moving back to what she had been doing; she was a little surprised to see how well he had done. 

Setting the cupcakes back into the oven, Mesut smiled to himself knowing that he couldn't have asked for a better birthday and he wanted nothing more than to enjoy the rest of it. 

Things had been so great today and Mesut was pleased that he'd had extra time with Katrina; he was dreading her actually moving back into her own apartment in a couple of weeks' time. 

"So what are we going to do now?" Mesut asked moving to watch Katrina's work, he was impressed and he could see them doing this again soon. 

Katrina finished off decorating the cake and looked to Mesut, she blinked surprised to see how close he was to her and she suddenly felt at a loss for words.

"Mes..." Katrina murmured not sure what to say, she couldn't stop herself from peeking at his lips and she was suddenly very aware of the fact that they were standing very close to one another. 

Mesut brushed some hair from Katrina's face, he couldn't help himself as he ducked down and gently kissed her; he cupped her face as he felt Katrina slowly wrap her arms around his neck. 

Slowly kissing Mesut back, Katrina couldn't help herself knowing that this was their first kiss; she smiled into the kiss, they couldn't have picked a better moment than this. 

It wasn't long before they parted, the two of them unable to stop themselves from smiling at one another; it had been a pretty amazing first kiss. 

"I couldn't have asked for a better birthday present," Mesut teased before ducking down to kiss Katrina again, he wasn't going to be able to help himself now that they had kissed for the first time.