The Vault

Sherrie/Jimmy Anniversary Fic - James P.O.V (requested)

August 1, 1985

"James, be good and watch over your brother and your sisters while I go pick up your father from the airport, okay?" Mum called to me as she grabbed the car keys off the ring by the door, before quickly sweeping her blonde curls out of her face.

I nodded and waved her off, promising to protect my siblings while she was gone. My little brother, Ashen, was just a year old, so he was the one I was most worried about watching. What if he started to cry and I couldn't get him to stop... Anyway, I have much bigger things I need to worry about.

"Hey, Scar?" I called up the stairs of our new home, The Tower House, asking for my little sister. "Scarlet? Can you come down here for a minute?"

I waited a moment before I heard her little feet running along the wooden floorboards upstairs. She came barrelling down the stairs. My little sister Scarlet, just an 11 year old little thing whose as sharp as a tack mum would say, adored me. I was like her protector, and I always swore to be. My little sisters are my everything.

She stood before me, dressed in a little pair of jeans and a baby Led-Zeppelin t-shirt, her long blonde hair touching down to the top of her skinny little tummy and her piercing blue eyes shining as she awaited what I was going to say. I turned to see my littlest sister, Zofia, sitting on the couch in the family room, watching the telly. I urged her to come stand by us and when she did so, I began to speak.

"Quick, we don't have much time now that Mum's gone... She'll be back with Dad in about an hour or so, so we really need to get this done." I pushed them towards the guitar room, where there was a phone waiting on the big desk Dad had in there. Picking up the phone, I dialed in a number I'd familiarized myself with when I was very young. My sisters looked at me eagerly as I waited for the line to click on. Remembering that I had a little brother to look out for, I told Scarlet to go into the nursery and get him so I could keep an eye out for all of my siblings.

Just as she left, the line clicked on and a smooth, cheeky accent answered - it was one I knew all too well. "Hello?"

"Uncle Robert!" I grinned, sitting down on the chair by the desk and offering for Zo to sit on my lap. Which she did. I held her protectively as I smiled into the phone.

"James, is that you?" He gasped. "My god, you're sounding more and more like your father now-a-days. What are you now... Sixteen? How are you?"

"No, but almost! I'll be sixteen this October...And, we're all fine." I giggled, beginning to play with Zo's dark hair nervously as I gave my uncle my little proposition. "But I need your help with something and I don't have much time... You see, Mum is out picking up Dad right now, so I need to say this quickly."

"Oh god, nothing's happened has it? Are you okay?" He began sounding nervous, just as Scarlet walked back into the room, my baby brother craddled in her arms protectively. "Where are the girls? Ashen?"

"No, we're all fine, don't you worry. The girls and Ashen are here with me." I assured him. "But I know that Mum and Dad's anniversary is coming up soon and I really want to throw them a big surprise party... I mean, fifteen years is a long time to be married, don't you think?"

"Oh god, you cheeky little shit, you scared me there!" He laughed, loud and carefree. "Of course I'd love to help you plan a party. Have you given any thought as to what you want to do?"

"Hmm... I was thinking we could rent out a venue of some sort? A buffet, a cake, a full bar, the whole lot." I suggested, before nervously taking a breath - I had another little trick up my sleeve that I so desperately wanted to pull out, but I wasn't sure how Uncle Robert would take it. Luckily, he beat me to the punch line.