'Tis confusion!

Happy birthday

Q nodded over towards the bed once again. "Come here."

"What are you gonna do?"

"Do you trust me?"

"I do." I got on the bed. "Flip over, on your stomach," Q instructed. I did so. He began rubbing my back. "This feels awesome...Oh man. You missed your calling. This is incredible. Your hands"..I could feel every bit of stress and anxiety melt away as Q massaged my back. Occasionally he'd lean down and give me a gentle kiss on my neck.Then he leaned in closer and whispered in my ear, "What did I do to deserve you? How could such a wonderful creature get dropped into my lap like this?" He stopped massaging and asked "Do you have some massive, deal-breaking flaw I'm only going to find out about after I'm head over heels in love with you and can't tear myself away?"

I rolled my eyes. "Oh darn, you guessed it. " Q resumed the massage. A moment later, I felt his hands slip farther down my body. 

His hands brushed my hips slightly, and I once again shivered. Q seemed to take note of that, since a moment later I felt his hands graze my ass. I rolled over and looked at him, my head cocked sideways. "Having fun back there?" Q threw his hands up like a kid busted at the cookie jar. I immediately started laughing. "I'm only gonna say this once- if you're gonna grab it, fine, but at least make more of an effort to do so. I could hardly tell that was intentional."

Q had a rather wicked smile on his face at this point. "Gonna tell me how to do my job, are ya?" he teased. "I guess it's time for some...hands-on demonstrations."

"That was terrible." I groaned.

"Shush, you." Q smiled. "Turn back around." I did so, and felt his hands on my backside again. His hands slid up my back towards my shoulders. He did this a couple of times, then slid them back down.His fingers grazed the waist of my skirt. I rolled over and faced him. He had a look of almost pleading on his face. "Mara, I know we just met, but I..I really think I've fallen for you. I hope to god that doesn't scare you off, but I just felt this was something you should know. I like you, a lot. I'm so glad you agreed to this party tonight.I-" I cut him off with a long, slow kiss, then sat back thoughtfully. "Q, listen to me. I think you're wonderful, and these last couple days have been nothing shy of perfection. It means the world to me to hear you say these things. And as much as I would like to stay locked in this room with you for the rest of the evening, your friends are all waiting out there, probably thinking we dove out the window and abandoned them. Let's have some drinks and party. I wanna smash that pinata."  Q nodded. "Yeah, I wouldn't mind that either. Alrighty, let's go." 

"Take two," I joked, as we headed out of the bedroom again. Q smiled at me and went to pour us drinks. I joined everyone in the living room. Sal and Barbara were eyeing the pinata with interest. Sal whistled. "Hey guys, when can we do the pinata??"  Q and I looked at each other. "Now."

We strung it up and got ready to play. Sal went first, and playfully started whacking Murr with the stick. "Just getting a few practice swings in, buddy." Sal insisted. Joe blindfolded him and gave him a  few good spins. Sal stumbled around swinging for a good fifteen seconds before he even got close to the pinata. Swings one and two missed completely, but his third connected solidly...on the butt of the pinata. It made a great noise, but didn't split at all. Joe was next. He hit it twice, but again, nothing broke. Q insisted I go next. As he tied the bandanna around my eyes, he reminded me "Don't go until we say three." "I know." I felt him start to spin me and waited for the three count. I heard Q count "One, two..three." 

I went to take a step, but instead, the bandanna was removed from my eyes. "Wha-" I started to ask. Then I looked and realized that Q and Sal were standing in front of me holding a huge birthday cake. Candles flickered around the border, and purple icing roses decorated most of the cakes' surface. The only place that wasn't covered in roses was the space that read 'Happy Birthday, Mara. Love ya! I could feel the tears rising, and before I knew it, my vision was totally blurred. "Guys, this is..oh, my god. Thank you." "Make a wish!" Murr cried. As a grinning Q brought the cake closer to me, I locked eyes with him and silently made my wish.