Kai woke up slowly. He was a morning person, but it sometimes took him a while to get going fully. Then he remembered the day. He threw his covers off in excitement and rushed through his daily routine of showering, shaving (not always necessary), dressing, etc. and hurried downstairs to check the plants quickly.

Most of them greeted him happily, but as always, he noticed a sad lack of trees. Unfortunately for him, there was not a huge market for trees in New York City, and therefore, their shop would look odd if it attempted to sell them. He sighed, At least there are some green things.

Cameron was no where to be seen. He's generally not a morning person. And today is the one day I can't just go wake him up.

Today was New Years Eve Day. To most people, this meant that they would be up all night partying with friends. To Cam and Kai, this day had extra meaning. It was Cam's birthday.

Lamenting the absence of his brother, Kai ate breakfast and decided to make the most of things by wrapping his gift. Several paper cuts later, the misshapen package was laying on the kitchen table, disguised in brightly colored paper. He knew that it would taunt Cameron all day if he left it in plain sight. By tradition, they opened birthday presents from each other IMMEDIATELY after midnight. That way they could celebrate together. For being an older brother, Cam was usually pretty... fair.

And Tonight, Kai thought as he waited for his brother to drag himself out of bed, we also get to see the Ball Drop in person! It was the event for the two of them. They'd always liked New Years and had pretended that the million people in Times Square the evening were there to celebrate their birthday (a much more grand affair than any party they could throw in small town Illinois). Tonight, they would join those million people in the countdown to the greatest day ever (in Kai's opinion).

Cameron scrambled out of his bed at about 4:00 a.m. Somehow, after a week of planning, Cameron had procrastinated so much that he still didn't have a birthday present for Kai. He didn't even know what to get him either. Cameron went through his morning routine so fast that he tripped as he was putting on his pants, got soap in his eye(s) 3 times and cut himself as he brushed a razor over the stubble that had begun to grow on his chin.

With all that done, Cameron tiptoed down the stairs and out the door before he woke Kai. The plants in the shop grumbled a hello and fell back asleep. As Cameron reached for the door, he had a sudden thought. He quickly turned and grabbed Rose in her tiny pot and placed her gently in his pocket. She grumbled at the rude awakening, but then promptly fell back asleep in the warmth of his pocket. Now Cameron was read to leave. He grabbed the key and his wallet and opened the front door very slowly so as not to disturb the bell that would surely awake Kai.

It was still dark outside as Cameron looked for a store, any store that might be open at this time. After walking around for about an hour and still not finding one, Cameron decided to eat a solid breakfast. As he was sitting at a table in a dimly lit McDonald's, sipping pulpy orange juice and picking at a burnt pancake, Cameron thought what he might want to get Kai. He had though about it every day for the past month, but still nothing. Maybe a nice tree.

Suddenly a light bulb flickered on inside Cameron's head. A tree! And with that, he scurried out of McDonald's, leaving a half eaten pancake and some orange juice, and bolted down the street. It was now about 6 a.m., people might have opened their shops now. To Cameron's luck, there was a florist shop right next to the McDonald's. He ran inside, for it was indeed open, and ran down the isles until he found exactly what he was looking for.

The pine tree sprout eagerly said hello and thanked Cameron for purchasing him. Cameron easily paid the $20 dollars the tree was worth (even though he knew it was a rip off) and walked back to the shop. Maybe a little too quickly, because he slipped on a slick patch of unseen ice and bruised several parts of his body. The sprout continued to chat at him the entire time that he was holding him and only faltered when Cameron fell over.

"You know, you are going to have to be quiet until midnight tonight, otherwise Kai will here you," Cameron remarked plainly. Surprisingly, the sprout immediately shut up and fell asleep. Cameron sighed and unlocked the shop at about 7 a.m. and hid the sprout under his bed. Then he proceeded to fall asleep.

A noon, Kai drew the line. It no longer mattered that it was Cam's birthday, he needed to wake up and enjoy it! He tiptoed up the stairs and peeked into Cameron's room. There he was, lying face down on top of the covers... fully dressed?

That rat had been awake already and hadn't bothered to eat breakfast with him?!

Kai opened the door, then took a few steps back into the hallway and got a running start. Then with a mighty leap that would have put Olympic medalists to shame, he pounced on his brother and jumped up and down on the bed next to him. All the while, he was lulling in a sing-song voice "It's time to wake aaah-up!"

I love being the younger brother! he thought wickedly to himself.

Cameron was dreaming peacefully about plants, when some wild beast came hurtling into his dream world and jolted him awake. Something was on his stomach, but his was still half awake so he couldn't tell what it was. Flailing madly, Cameron hit the thing off of him and sprang to his feet.

There, sprawled on the floor was Kai. Cameron shook his head in confusion and stared at his brother. Oops, he thought. Rose was also startled awake.

What happened? she asked timidly.

"I don't know..." Cameron answered. He then threw a look at Kai. "Ask him."

Okay! she squeaked. Kai, what happened?

Kai knew that there would be ramifications to his actions. Namely, he would probably get beaten up for disturbing Cam. He was not expecting, however, to be bodily thrown into a wall when Cam flailed unexpectedly.

>Kai, what happened? He heard Rose squeak in protest, but he wasn't really listening. His ears were still ringing slightly.

"Happy Birthday, big brother," he mumbled.

Cameron scrambled to hoist his brother back into a standing position. He looked a little battered and disheveled, but would obviously live. Cameron looked down at his feet in embarrassment when Kai muttered:

>"Happy Birthday, big brother."

Cameron had a great urge to shout that Kai knew what he was getting himself into, but then decided against it. It would be Kai's birthday tomorrow.

"Look... I'm really sorry," Cameron whispered. Before Kai could say anything, Cameron plopped onto his bed and began to struggle on a clean pair of socks.

What are you doing up there? You're squishing me! And I'm hungry. When's lunch? Where did you hide the sun? The sprout chattered from beneath the bed. Cameron tried to hide the shock on his face and pretended not to hear. Shut up! He thought. Hopefully Kai hadn't heard.

Cameron helped Kai to his feet. "Nah, don't worry about it!" Kai reassured his brother that he did not take offense to being slammed into a wall. "I guess it was my own fault. But what were you going to do, sleep all day?" Then he heard something.

> What are you doing up there?

Kai spun around, glancing at all the surfaces. Dresser? Nothing there. Desk? Nope. Bed? Nothing but an empty-headed brother.

"Rose? Did you say something?" Maybe I'm imagining things. "Hm... well hurry up, it's after noon already!"

Cameron sighed mentally. He hadn't noticed. Either that, or he was ignoring the chatty plant that was so conveniently hidden under his bed. After another second of struggle, Cameron managed to get both socks and his shoes on the right feet.

>"Well hurry up, it's after noon already!"

Cameron stuck his tongue out at Kai. He straightened up on the bed and muttered:

"Yeah, well midnight isn't for another 12 hours..."

Without waiting for a snooty remark from Kai, Cameron repositioned Rose in his pocket and headed downstairs. Hopefully, Kai wasn't THAT much of a snoop and follow him right away.

Kai was pretty sure that Cameron had made some comment about midnight being a while away, but he chose to ignore it. It was his birthday, afterall, perhaps he deserved a little slack. Then again... Kai followed Cam out of the room and down the stairs with every intention to bother him some more. "Do you realize that there will be a MILLION people there? If we don't leave right now, we're probably not going to get good seats. I bet there are people who have been camping out in Times Square for the past week! This is THE event of the year!"

Cameron seemed to be ignoring him.

"Don't blame me if we are so far away that we can't even see the ball drop!"

Kai waited for a response. Sometimes his brother could be a little slow in the mornings. It was something that he'd learned to deal with, being a morning person, himself.

Rose? he thought tentatively. He wasn't sure if this would work, but it was worth a shot. Would you mind poking him? I'm not sure he's really awake and we should get going soon. Maybe bribe him with an offer to go out to lunch? Kai had never delibrately used his power to speak to a plant on purpose before. They usually understood his feelings and he could get a few thoughts across. He was also aware that Cameron could do something similar. So if they could both hear plants... could they communicate through them? This would be the test...

Kai wants me to tell you that he wants to go out to lunch or something like that. Rose squeaked energetically. Cameron sighed. Well, you can tell him that would be a better idea than waiting out in the cold for twelve hours. Also, tell him to… Cameron was going to say that Kai should be patient and shut up, but his mind somehow didn’t get around to explaining that to her. The same thought kept rolling around in his head like a washing machine and caught his attention like a bee to honey. Why had he ever thought of this before?

Cameron whipped around and stared at his brother for a long moment. Rose, he thought, tell Kai that I think he looks like a monkey.

Why should I? She muttered. I am NOT the postman. Tell him yourself.

It’s just an experiment. Please? Cameron pleaded as she grumbled stubbornly. When she continued to give him the silent treatment, he repeated his request.

Please. Why are you being so difficult?

Because, she replied curtly, it’s your birthday, and I am like your little sister. Little sisters are supposed to be annoying on their big brother's birthday.

Cameron laughed mentally. Well you got that right. You ARE my little sister and you ARE annoying. I guess they come in one big package, eh?

Rose snickered and then relayed Cameron’s message to Kai.

Kai was still smarting from the 'You smell like a monkey' comment, but it was mostly for show at this point, he'd given up being mad at Cam hours ago.

He had been bouncing around energetically all afternoon until Cameron finally agreed that they could make their way to Times Square. I was NOT winding the plants up too much, he thought to himself cheerfully. They WANTED to grow a lot this afternoon.

After finding out that his experiement, communicating with Cameron via plants, was a success he had tried to focus on practicing. It was harder for him to get some of the flowery plants to relay his message accurately. It sparked an interesting version of "telephone" which had him experimenting with sending messages through a chain of several plants.

As exciting as this was, his mind was still elsewhere and some of his messages turned out a little strange... Like the time that he had been trying to say 'Please pass me the salt' and the message ended up being 'Please I want pass to me go to the Times Square already salt.' He guessed that his pent up energy and wild thoughts got transfered to the plants. But it wasn't his fault.

Kai sucked in a big breath, trying to experience everything about the city at once. The light was fading and he had heard that Times Square at night was so cool looking. "This is SO AWESOME. Why didn't we run away to New York a long time ago?"

Cameron sighed melodramatically as he listened to the babble that crept into his brain as Kai chattered at him by means of plants. Some of them seemed reluctant to talk to him. It seems that the plants of New York as crabby as their human neighbors. Some of the messages got garbled together that ended up having Cameron bite his tongue to keep him from snickering loudly.

>"This is SO AWESOME. Why didn't we run away to New York a long time ago?"

Cameron laughed softly at his brother’s eagerness. It was really quite amusing.

“We didn’t have our powers before.” He remarked smugly. Hopefully Kai wasn’t to angry at his flippancy, because they had arrived at Times Square.

Small Weed Growing from a Crack in the Sidewalk, please tell Cameron that... Kai stopped mid-thought-sentence. They were there. In Times Square. He knew that he tended to be a little over eager, but what a sight! It was dark already and the signs were all lit up just like all those post cards, better even. He couldn't help it if Cameron didn't take pleasure in the little things in life. Personally, he was an "OH look at how full the glass is, isn't it exciting!?" kind of person.

"Look! There's Broadway! We'll have to go there some time! There's the NBC building! Oh! Roasted Nuts!" Kai drifted towards a particularly aromatic vendor, his mouth watering. He quickly purchased a small amount of peanuts roasted with cinnamon in a paper bag.

Popping several still warm nuts into his mouth, he crunched happily. "I love New York." he sighed and reached into the bag for another handful of delicious- then stopped and stared at his hand in horror. He was holding... "CAMERON? Is this bag... a dead Tree?!" That was it, the end of their days of bagging groceries in paper. And possibly using notebooks... PAPER WAS EVERYWHERE!

Let there be a boycott of paper and paper-products and Let it begin with me!…Let this be the moment now!

Cameron tore his stare away from the glittering lights and the spectacle of Times Square to stare, opened mouthed at his brother. Now, of all the times and all the places and all the days, Kai had to go spoil it all with his anti-paper outbursts.

“Kai, think about it,” Cameron said in a soothing voice. “Not all paper is made from trees. If we didn’t have paper, there’d be no books or newspapers or anything like that. We need trees for houses. We have to accept that trees have many uses, alive and… dead.” Cameron flinched slightly at the word. “It’s okay. I understand how you feel. Come on! It’s our birthday celebration! You are the one that convinced me to come here, so lets have a good time!”

Cameron attempted a warm smile and “skipped,” if that is what you called it, across the street and gawked at a sign for the Lion King.

“Hey Kai!” Cameron called over his shoulder. “We should go.”

>"We should go."

Kai turned to see what Cameron was talking about. "Oh! The theatre! Definitely!" He had already forgotten much of his anger towards the paper industry, though the furniture in their house might have to be purged... There was entirely too much tree sacrificing going on. Plastic and metal were perfectly fine alternatives!

The 'Square was beginning to fill. It's a good thing I'm not claustrophobic, he thought to himself, excitedly. Soon the confetti would fly! In the mean time, Kai amused himself with watching the interesting people walking by. There was a guy with fluorescent orange hair! Ah, the joys of crowd watching...