This time it will be [our] happy ending

Anatoly was certain that Lex had forgotten the date. It was understandable - ever since the discovery of the underground city, Lex had been down there as often as he could get Helen to escort him and on his return, he had talked of nothing but the discoveries he had made there. Today was going to be different, however. Today was Lex's birthday and they were going to celebrate it and that was simply all there was to it.

He'd managed to put together a simple lunch that would keep well on the journey from the kitchen back to their hut. Aeneas had been sent to the girls for the day so that it could be just the two of them for the day. Perhaps it wasn't a grand celebration on the scale that Lex was used to, but Anatoly thought he might appreciate that it was something held in private, where they could as they wanted without worrying about being in the public's eyes.

Once Anatoly had everything arranged the way he wanted it to be, he settled down in a chair and waited for Lex to return.