Disclaimer: In spite of my girth and jolly demeanor ::snort:: I am NOT Mrs. Santa Claus

Notes: This picks up where the Thanksgiving story posted last month, left off. Please remember, this was written two years ago, and the dates for Chanuakah and Christmas represent the year 2000 (I think -- I'm getting old).
First appeared in the zine, We Gather Together, but has been changed.

Warning: Well, this is in the Jake universe and the sugar content is high. Add the fact that this *is* about a child's first real Christmas and Chanuakah, and well, come on, you know what you're getting into. <BG>

"Looks very good, Detective. Healing nicely. Now let me see how high you can lift your arm."

Blair, with the doctor's hand under his forearm, started to lift and got halfway to his shoulder before the sweat beaded up over his upper lip.

"O-kay, that's good enough. Starting Monday, I want you to begin some home exercises. I'll have my nurse give you the paperwork explaining--"

"I have a set, Doctor."

"You have... oh, of course, Detective Ellison's wound a few months ago. Well, that's exactly what I want you to start with on Monday, and not one day sooner. If everything goes well, I'll return you to modified a week from Monday. Right now, I'll send Betsy back in to redress this and you're free to go."

As the doctor turned to leave, he paused and added, with a glance at the purple sling hanging from the arm of the chair, "Maybe you'd like another sling? I have a nice tan-colored one--"

"Actually, I've really grown accustomed to this one, Doc. I think I'll keep it."
"Up to you. Betsy will be in a moment, then you can get out to the waiting room and calm your partner down. I'm amazed he actually allows you in here by yourself."

Chuckling, Blair said, "Me too, Doc. Me too."

"So everything's fine?"

"Like you weren't listening?"

"Right, so everything's fine."

"Everything's fine."

"And you kept the purple sling--"

"And I kept the purple sling. Beside, II like purple. So does Jake. I make a fashion statement."

"No comment."

"Good thinking."

They stepped out of the elevator, crossed the lobby of the medical building, then out into the rain. Jim put up the umbrella he'd carried in and they made a run for the truck. Once settled in the warmth of the truck, the umbrella dripping on the floor, Blair observed, "I'm thinking ... no park for Jake today."

"Yeah, well, we knew that was a possibility. If they were lucky, they got in some playtime before the heavens opened up."

"Fingers crossed."

Jim pulled out of the parking lot and as he turned toward Prospect, he reopened a discussion they'd started on their way to the doctor's.

"So, how will we balance Christmas and Chanukha?"

"What's to balance? I think the ceremony of lighting each candle will be great for Jake. Chanukah begins on December 21 and goes through the second of January, so he'll still be celebrating. It'll kind of stretch out the holiday, you know?"

"You make it sound so simple."

"It can be."

The signal at Evers and Via Rios went red, which gave Jim the perfect opportunity to look at Blair. The surprise on his face would have been appropriate if Blair had just said, "Before I became Blair Sandburg, I was Betty Sandburg" instead of, "It can be." Blair's response to the shocked look was to ask, "What? Did I suddenly turn into Tom Cruise or something?"

Jim did his excellent impression of a gold fish, then said, "My God. I'm ... we're ... you and I, you know?"

"This is utterly amazing, Jim. I actually know what you were not saying very well. You said we're a mixed marriage." Blair just managed to contain his smirk.

"Exactly! Who'd a thunk?"

"Jim, you slay me. It's not like either one of us is exactly practising our religions, capiche?"

"Maybe not, but you said Karen was definitely a practising Christian and I would expect that she would want--"

"She would, and she would want Jake to experience as much as possible. She once said that it was her job to expose him to all that this world offered, then to stand back and let him experience and thus choose.

"Now that's our job. We'll expose him to everything we can, give him bits of his heritage and family, then ours. That includes his Christian background, and yours, plus my Jewish heritage. In the end, he'll embrace what he chooses."

"So Christmas is going to be a hodge-podge--"

"A veritable cornucopia--"

"A plethora--"

"A smorgasborg of traditions. And let's not forget Kwanza," Blair added. "We've been invited to join Cherry's folks for their celebration, remember?"

"Right."

The light went green and Jim moved with the traffic, but it was clear that he was still musing on what the month of December was going to mean for the Ellison-Sandburg-Porter household.

"Oh, and Jim?"

"I hate it when you say my name like that. It means you're about to say something I won't like."

"Don't be silly. I was just going to let you know that tomorrow, according to tradition, we decorate the building for Christmas. And I'm thinking everyone will be decorating inside too, and, well ... Jake, you know?"

"You're thinking that we decorate the apartment, but I'm thinking we decorate with?"

Blair shrugged helplessly.

"Aw, Blair, does this mean we have to go shopping?"

"We don't have anything, Jim. Nothing left. Not that we exactly had much to begin with, but what we did have is gone."

They were less than ten minutes from home when Jim suddenly made a right at Fifth instead of a left.

"Uh, Jim?"

"Dad's. We're going to Dad's. There are some things that we, that -- Mom -- had, that we used to put up. But not for years. Some of it, well some of it, I loved. Do you mind if we stop by? I have a key."

The sudden expression of tenderness was Blair's answer.

Jim got Blair settled on the couch with a glass of ice water, then picked up the phone to call his father in London. As he dialed, he wondered if he were doing the right thing? He was about to chicken out by hanging up, but the phone at the other end of the world was picked up and a voice with a decidedly British accent answered.

<Yes?>

"I'm calling for William Ellison. This is his son, James."

<Just one moment, please.>

A few seconds later, his father came on. <Jim? Is everything all right? Is Mr. Sand--is-- Blair all right?>

"He's fine, Dad. Look, I have a favor to ask. It's about ... Christmas ... and the items of Mom's--"

<Take whatever you wish, Jimmy. And speaking of Christmas, our plans here have changed a bit. We'll be home after all. I was hoping, maybe, on Christmas day, you and Blair and Jake, well-->

Jim shot a glance at his partner, who raised an eyebrow in question. "Uh, Dad, hang on a moment." He cupped his hand over the receiver and said quietly, "They'll be home for Christmas after all, Chief. He'd like us to come over on Christmas day. What do you think?"

"Why not? What time?"

Jim took his hand away and said, "What time, Dad?"

<Well, I know you'll want the morning so how about afternoon? For an early Christmas dinner?>

Jim repeated the idea to Blair, who said, "Well, there's my mom, and we need to be home in time to light--"

Jim nodded his understanding, then said to his father, "No problem, Dad. We'd need to be home by sunset, though. And would you mind if Blair's mother, Naomi, joined us?"

<Not at all, Jimmy, not at all. A real family Christmas, maybe the start of something new?>

Jim closed his eyes, but at an arm winding around his waist, he opened them and found himself gazing down into Blair's smiling face. Feeling incredibly good, he said, "Yeah, Dad, yeah. But maybe you should keep--"

<No, Jimmy, you look, take what you love and Sally and I will start some traditions of our own>

"Thanks, Dad. What about Steven?"

<Jimmy, take whatever you want, don't
worry>

"All right. And thanks, Dad. So when do you actually come home now?"

<We'll all be back by the twentieth and ... I miss you, son. How's Jake?>

"He's fine, Dad. His first Thanksgiving was great. He ruled the roost."

<I'm sorry to have missed it. I'd like to have seen him finish off that turkey leg, though>

Jim chuckled at the vision of Jake lifting the huge leg and biting into it. The dreamy expression that had suffused his face while chewing , followed by his exclamation and proclamation of the *yummy goodnessness* of the turkey, broadened Jim's smile.

"Dad, I only wish we could have video taped it."

<Me too. We'll see you before the twenty-fifth, won't we?>

"Of course. Maybe dinner?"

<I'd like that, son>

"All right then. Give us a call when you get in and we'll set it up. Give my best to Steven."

<Will do and give my -- grandson -- a hug and kiss for me>

Jim's eyes drifted closed again, then opened as he said, "I will, Dad. Bye."

<Bye, son>

Jim turned off the phone but didn't move since Blair was still wound around him. He simply put both his arms around his partner, rested his head on Blair's and closed his eyes. His father never ceased to amaze him.

Jim gazed into one of the decoration storage boxes and smiled. "This was one of my favorite pieces. Mom would clean it up and set it on the mantle, letter by letter. It was her mother's."

Jim lifted each letter out of the box, blew off some long gathered dust, then handed each piece, one by one, to Blair.
Looking closely at each hand-blown glass letter, that when put together would spell 'NOEL', Blair whistled in appreciation. The 'N' was delicately wrapped by glass holly leaves, the 'O' was Santa's cheery face, the 'E' had small elves draped over the top, and the 'L' was trimmed like a Christmas tree that glittered brightly even in the lengthening afternoon shadows of William Ellison's living room.

"This is beautiful work, Jim. Truly. It would look perfect over the fireplace."

Jim nodded and said in a wistful voice, "I used to get lost in the L."

Gawking, Blair asked, "Do you mean to tell me you zoned on these?"

"I guess that's what I'd have to call it, Chief."

"Well, I'll be damned. How did you get out of the zone back then?"

"Just like you once told me, Chief. As a child I must have had an innate ability to bring myself out."

Jim took another item out of the box and carefully unwrapped it, disclosing a large, hand carved Santa. But no red coat adorned it. Its coat was green and twigs were entwined in the white fur that trimmed both his jacket and hood. The nature Santa carried a burlap bag over his shoulder and perched on his arm was a blue jay. On the snow-covered ground at his feet stood two bright red cardinals.

"We have to take that one, Jim. It's wonderful and Jake will love it," Blair said excitedly.

Smiling, Jim agreed. "Yeah, Steven and I both loved this Santa better than the red-coated ones we'd see in the stores."
They continued unwrapping and soon between the two of them, they'd chosen several tree ornaments, including two with pictures of an eight year old Jim and a five year old Steven; two lovely wreaths; the glass NOEL set; the wooden Santa; and finally, a lovely Christmas hurricane lamp that fitted neatly into a pinecone wreath, both of which had held up remarkably well. They also had a strand of the old-fashioned liquid Christmas lights that nearly gave Blair apoplexy when he spotted them.

"Jim, do you have any idea what these are worth today? Are you sure you--"

"I'm sure, Chief. They'd look good
around the window in the dining room, wouldn't they?"

"God, yes. But why not the window beside the front door?"

"Well, I'm thinking the Menorah should go in front of that and we wouldn't want anything to detract, right?"

"I love you, man."

By the time they arrived home, having decided that more shopping was necessary, but could wait until Blair felt stronger, it was dinner time. Upon entering the apartment, both men were attacked when a small ball of energy bounded into them. As Jake wrapped his arms around both sets of legs, Jim said with a grin, "Blair, I think we have a monster attached to us. We need a ghostbuster or monster detective to save us."

"Well, you have been called a monster of a detective, so I nominate you."

"That was low, Chief. Very low."

"not a monster," a small voice piped up. "just jake. and you be very
late!"

Concerned glances were exchanged as Naomi came out of the kitchen and gave them a small nod confirming that Jake had been very worried. Quick to reassure him, Blair said, "Jake, everything is fine. I'm fine. Did we worry you?"

In answer, Jake buried his head against Blair's thigh. Jim immediately put the box of decorations on the side table and picked him up. "I'm sorry, Hoss. We should have called, shouldn't we?"

Jake nodded, his lower lip making itself known. "you sure daddy is okay?"

"Why don't you ask me, welp?"

Blond curls bounced as Jake turned and looked accusingly at his father. "are you sure you're okay?"

"Right as rain, Jake. And Monday, I get to start exercising my arm and I choose you to help me."

"i get to help?" Jake asked, his body starting to bounce in Jim's arms.

"Yep, you sure do. You up for it, Hoss?" "i am. i'll help you goooood, daddy!'

"Thank you, and we're sorry about not calling."

"you just need to not do it 'gain,
'kay?"

"Deal."

"you promuse?"

"Promise," Blair assured.

Jake turned to Jim who immediaetly nodded and added his own, "Promise, Jake."

"'kay. and i have a new friend, i met him at the park before it started raining and his name is corky and he and me and cherry played and we chased each other and guess where corky lives?"

"Where?" both men said, simultaneously.

"'cross the street! remember the house where i got gummi worms? that's corky's house and that was corky's daddy, but corky was sick and didn't get to come out for halloweeeeny, but he's all bedder now and we're playing tomorrow too, 'kay?"

"Would that be before or after we decorate the courtyard for Christmas, Jake?" Blair asked innocently.

Jake, who was wiggling to get down, froze. "huh?"

"Tomorrow, according to John, is the day we all decorate the building for Christmas. Maybe Corky can come over and help?"

Jake's eyes got impossibly wide as he said in wonder, "krismas? we decorate for krismas, daddy?"

"We sure do. Now how 'bout we get settled, have our dinner, and we'll discuss tomorrow and decorating? Sound like a plan?"

"i'm down with that!"

"Three boxes?"

"Three boxes. Three big boxes."

"I noticed the 'big' part, John." Jim rolled up the sleeves of his blue denim shirt and added, "Well, let's get them out of here and get started."

The two men bent at the knees, and together, lifted the first large box.
Walking crab-like, they headed out into the courtyard.

Jake was sitting by the pond, an open storybook in his lap, while Blair occupied one of the courtyard chairs.

As the box was set down, Blair's eyes flew open and he smiled. "Gee guys, sorry I can't be of much help in moving the decorations out here. Real sorry."

The small child-like snort from the grass was immediately echoed by two grown-up snorts.

Innocence personified, Blair asked, shocked, "What? You guys don't believe how sorry I am? Gee whiz. I'm hurt. Terribly hurt and offended."

"Sandburg, bite me."

"Jim, really. Not in public," Blair teased.

"Um, Jake? How's the pond water?" Jim asked, ignoring Blair's remark.

The small boy lifted his head from his picture book and trailed a finger in the pond. "purrrr-fect, jimmy."

"You don't say? Well, I'm thinking daddy looks hot. What do you think, Jake?"

Grinning broadly, Jake nodded excitedly and immediately flipped his hand in the water with just enough strength to effectively create a spray that reached Sandburg.

Wiping his face, Blair scolded lightly, "Jake, my main man, Hoss, that was not nice."

"yes it was. jimmy said you were hot."

The man in question chuckled and thumping John on the arm, said, "Let's go. We have two more boxes to bring out."

As they headed back to the storage room, they grinned as Blair's lecturing followed them. At the door of the storage closet, Jim paused to listen--

"...so when Jim gets back, you really need to cool him off because it would only be fair, right?"

"right. fair is fair."

"Right."

"Jim, what?" John asked when Jim failed to move inside.

"Blair has given up the lecture and is now encouraging Jake to cool us down when we return."

"You could hear that? From here?"

Jim stammered a bit, but then, as he rushed into the store room, said, "Uh, well, ye-ah. I mean, can't you?"

John scratched his head, then shrugged. "I guess I wasn't listening. Okay, this box next?"

"Sounds good to me."

By eleven, Doyle Briggs from apartment 6, Emmy and Kyle Lauter from apartment 3, Maxine and Stu Carstairs from apartment 2 and the prickly Mr. Pritchard from apartment 8 were all working diligently at decorating the Anjasmayo.

Jim and John Holder were hanging the lights in the courtyard, the outside trim having already been completed. The white branch reindeer family were now set up around the pond and Maxine had her husband threading small white Christmas lights through the wood that formed the deer.

In the corner of the courtyard, opposite the pond, Doye, Emmy and Kyle, with the appropriate aid from Jake, were hanging the outdoor ornaments on the Anjasmayo Christmas tree. The large shade tree that took center stage in the courtyard had been wrapped with foil and red ribbon, as had the tree in front of the building. In the lobby, Blair and Naomi, who had joined them half way through the decoration process, were setting up the wooden cut-out elves.

According to John, Karen's husband had made the elves when their daughter was about Jake's age. When people walked into the lobby, the elves would appear to be trying to sneak in. A green ladder was rested against the courtyard gate and two elves, one holding the ladder, the other climbing it, were set up, followed by an elf on the mailbox who was trying to stuff a present into one of the slots. Another elf sat on the front gate, one finger to his lips as he winked at anyone who entered.

Everyone in the Anjasmayo decorated windows that faced the courtyard, as well as their front doors, and all had lights trimming said windows. The weekend after Thanksgiving was traditionally the time chosen for everyone to decorate their own places and the building.

At eleven-thirty, a woman in her late forties arrived towing a small redheaded boy of about Jake's age. When Jake, who was setting pretend presents under the tree, spotted them, his face lit up like the proverbial Christmas tree.

"corky!"

He rushed to the other boy's side and immediately took his arm to begin to show him everything. Jim wiped his hands on his already dirty jeans and with a nod from Blair, both men headed over to the woman.

Smiling, the slightly harrried-looking strawberry blonde held out her hand and said, "Hi, I'm Cordelia Patterson, Cordy to friends. You must be--"

Blair took the offered hand and finished for her. "Blair Sandburg and this is my life-partner, Jim Ellison. Jake told us all about you and Corky. I'm glad he could join us today."

Cordy Patterson shook hands with Jim and if she seemed bothered or concerned about the "life-partners" remark, she didn't show it. Instead, she looked over at the two boys as they raced around the grass, oohing and aahing at everything, and said, "I'm thrilled that Corky and Jake met yesterday. The neighborhood is full of children, but not many are Corky's age.

"My husband and I, well, we had Corky late. We have two other children; Ellen, who's away at college, and Bobby, who's
thirteen. You can imagine how hard it is for Corky. He doesn't usually have anyone to play with."

Blair nodded sympathetically. "I understand, Mrs. Patt--"

"Cordy, please."

Smiling, Blair said, "Cordy. And again, it's a pleasure having him today."

"I'm so glad you called last night. What time should I pick him up?"

"Well, to be honest, Jake has been making sounds about wanting Corky to spend the night. Do you have any objections?"

"Did I get Corky's story right? You're both detectives?" At Jim and Blair's nod, she grinned and said, "Then not at all. My husband and I are visiting some friends later tonight so why don't I drop off his stuff then? About six? That will give us some time to get to know one another?"

"Sounds like a plan," Jim responded.

"All right then, we'll see you at six." She turned and spotting her son, said, "Corky? I'm leaving now. How about a kiss?"

The small boy ran happily to his mother, who scooped him up and planted a kiss on his cheek. "You be good and it looks like you get to spend the night with Jake, okay?"

"yippee!"

Smiling, she said, "Yeah, yippee. But no trouble, okay? You behave and do what Jake's parents tell you to do."

"i will, mommy, prom-his."

"Okay. Daddy and I will bring your jammies later. Have fun, honey."

She let him down and without a backward glance, he scampered off to join Jake. A few seconds later, two loud "yippees" were heard. Chuckling, Blair said, "I think Corky just gave Jake the news."

Laughing, Cordy agreed and a few minutes later, after a short tour, she took her leave. Jim and Blair remained standing out front as the woman jogged back across the street. When she disappeared up the walkway, they turned and headed back inside. As they entered the lobby, Jim shook his head and said, "We're having our first sleep-over, Chief."

"No, Jim, we had that a few weeks ago."

Jim stopped to gaze down at his partner. "Sandburg, do you ever think of anything but sex?"

Blair pretended to give the question great thought, then said, "Um - no. Not really. After all, I have a rep to protect."

"Uh-huh." Jim was about to ask something else, but Jake and Corky ran up and with Corky taking Jim's hand and Jake taking Blair's, the two men were led back into the WinterWonderland.

"So you're telling me there will be three four-year olds for dinner?"

"Um - yes. Think you can handle it, Jim?"

"Naomi will be here, right?"

Blair snorted and answered, "'Fraid not, Jim. She's having dinner with an old friend who arrived this morning, remember? Valerie Fernandez?"

"Oh. Yeah. Damn."

Blair stepped over to the bed where Jim was sat, still damp from his shower. He pushed the older man's legs apart. "Poor baby. But I think between us, we can handle Jake, Cherry and Corky, don't you?"

In answer, Jim rolled his eyes, then said, "Who's idea was it to have Cherry too?"

"That would be Jake, naturally. They are, after all and as of yesterday, the Three Musketeers."

"Yeah, well, we're both gonna have headaches, trust me."

Blair turned, stepped over to the door, closed it, locked it, then returned to his place between Jim's legs. He wedged himself in tighter, letting his right leg push against Jim's crotch.

"Well, you are a sentinel. You could turn it all down, and if we relaxed, it wouldn't be so bad later, especially since ... Naomi's here now."

Gazing up at his love, Jim cocked his head as if in thought. "We-ell, that could work. What did you have in mind for relaxing?"

"Um, how 'bout this--"

Blair went down on his knees, glanced u, smiled, then slowly lowered the zipper on the jeans Jim had just put on.

"This could work," Jim agreed, as Blair lovingly handled his already responding dick. "But what about you, Chief?"

"Well," the younger man said, just before taking Jim into his mouth, "you could try the same proven technique--"

"I ... could ... do ... that--"

Blair lay on his back, Jim sprawled across him, his head resting on Blair's right shoulder. Jim's eyes were closed, but he wasn't asleep. His right hand was stroking up and down Blair's side while he made small satisfied sounds deep in his throat.

"Jim?" Blair tilted his head so that he could see the man's face. At his mumbled, "umm?", Blair said, "Are you aware that you're --like-- purring?"

"Got objections?"

"Hey, me? No way, man. But sometimes, you take the whole 'the jaguar is my spirit animal' a bit too far, you know?"
Jim petted Blair's furred chest and said, "Riiight, Wolfman. If I'm not mistaken, did I or did I not have to muzzle you a few minutes ago in order to keep you from howling?"

"I do not howl."

"Says you. And hadn't we better get up and join your mother? We still have an apartment to decorate."

"So move, already."

"I'm moving, I'm moving," Jim said as he wiggled in closer.

"Uh, Jim?"

"Yeah?"

"Never mind."

They walked slowly down the hall, both surprised that all was silent in their world. Worried at the strange silence,
they peeked inside Jake's room. To their amazement, they found all three children gathered around Jake's playtable playing quietly.

Frowning, Blair glanced back and up at Jim, who shrugged his surprise. Voice low, Blair said, "Does this look right to you, Jim?"

"How the hell should I know, Sandburg?" Jim hissed back.

"They look happy, don't they?"

"Well, yeah."

"Okay then. let's go."

Closing the door, they backed away and headed out into the living room.

"You two hungry? I have a nice chicken salad for you and some ice tea."

"Mom, that sounds great. And yeah, I'm starved."

"I bet you are, Chief. All that work this morning, decorating, and all."

"Hey," Blair grumbled, "I was doing the hard part. I was supervising."

Jim, peering over Naomi's shoulder, snagged a cherry tomato out of the salad bowl. After popping it into his mouth and chewing it down, he said, "I think you planned this whole thing, Sandburg. You've taken partial ducking to a whole new level."

"Yeah, I am good."

"Guys? Sit down, shut up and eat."

"You heard your mother, Chief. Sit down."

"Jim, so help me--"

"Boys? Do you want dessert?"

Both men scrambled to their seats.

Corky colored the clown purple and with eyes perusing more crayons, he asked,
"what are you gonna ask santy for, jakey?"

"whadya mean?" Jake asked, not looking up from his coloring.

"you write santa a letter and you tell him what you want for christmas, silly," Cherry answered.

Jake took his eyes from his coloring book and frowned. "i do?"

Cherry nodded, her short curls bobbing. "a 'course. everyone knows that, right cork?"

"right. i'm gonna ask for a -- tel -- tela -- telascoop."

"why?" Jake asked, naturally curious.
"and what's a -- telascoop?"

"you look at stars - at night. you can see everything up close."

"oh."

Corky smiled shyly at his new friend, then asked again, "so what are you gonna ask for?"

"i don't know. and how do i write the letter?"

"your daddy will help. you tell him and he can write it for you. see?"

"your daddy does your letter, cherry?"

"yep, and my mommy."

"cork?"

"yep, my mommy. daddy says he doesn't have time. he works very hard."

"when do we do this? how much time does santy need?"

"well," Corky scratched his head, "my sister, says i'd better write it soon, or santy will skip our house!"

"no, no, silly," Cherry interjected. "you can write your letter on christmas eve and santa will still get your presents to you by christmas morning. he's magikal."

"so there's no hurry? i can think about it and write my letter later?"

"sure you can. you too, corky!"

Corky looked from one to the other, then said, 'we could write our letters together. maybe your daddy would help us, jakey?"

Cherry put down her crayon and tapped her chin before finally saying, "that's a good thing, corky. we could do that, right jakey?"

"my daddy and jimmy will help us, and my nomi too. should we do it tonight?"

"well," Cherry said, officiously, "i think we can wait til tomorrow. tomorrow is sunday and my mommy and daddy always feel better on sunday."

Jake nodded as he said, "'kay, tomorrow it is. and - who is santy?"

Corky looked at Cherry and Cherry looked at Corky, then both looked at Jake. Who stared right back at them.

"you don't know santy claws?" Corky finally asked.

"no, well, kinda - from today. i know he has rudolph and other reindeer, johnny told me that, and he's gonna leave pressies under my tree, but who is he?"

Corky, even after only one day, knew to leave the explanations to cherry. He wisely shut up and looked expectantly at her.

Cherry bit her lower lip and said, "santy is a close friend of jesus and for jesus' birthday - he brings you presents. he lives in the north pole and he spends alllllll year making toys, just for us."

Corky, seeing Jake's puzzled face, said helpfully, "you know who jesus is?"

"a' course. i went to church with my gammy and jesus loves me and gammy is with him now."

"yep. and that's why we get pressies on his birthday," Cherry added.

"so christmas is really a birthday party?"

Corky and Cherry exchanged looks, then nodded. "very good, jakey," Cherry approved.

"do i get to give my daddy, jimmy and my nomi a birthday pressie?"

"do you have an - allow-ance?" Cherry asked seriously.

"what's an... allow - ance?"

"your daddy and jimmy give you money for cleaning your room and - and - other things. i get a whole dollar and," Cherry held up two fingers, "two quarters."

"i get a dollar and if i help mommy bring in the growceries, i get more. bobby always goes indivisdible when mommy gets home."

That was all Jake needed to hear. He got up and took off, eager to find out more about this thing called an allowance. He tore down the hall, through the living room and finally into the dining room where his fathers sat. The table was full of decorations and spotting them, Jake skidded to a stop, eyes bulging.

Jim, seeing his son's shock, said with a grin, "Hey, Jake, my man. Where's your company?"

Jake could only blink and point.

Pushing his chair back, Blair stood, walked to his son and squatted down. "What's up, Hoss?"

"those, daddy - those!"

"You like our decorations?"

"our decorashuns?"

"Yes, our decorations. Of course, this isn't all of them, but it's a start."

Jake walked past his father and stood at the end of the table, fingers on the edge as he peered over. "wow," he breathed out.

Blair lifted him up, sat down, and settled him on his lap. Slowly Jake reached out and fingered the tall wooden statue of Santa Claus. One finger trailed down the coat, then up to the cheery face, then lovingly over the beard. Corky and Cherry joined them and Jim quickly got them settled, Corky on Naomi's lap and Cherry on Jim's. All three four-year olds couldn't keep their eyes from the wooden Santa.

"not like the one we have, jakey. why is this santy in green?" Cherry asked.

"yep! mine is wearing his red coat and white fur and black belt. with a biiiiiig gold buckle. and shiny boots. that's santy."

Jake's fascination was rapidly dimming in the face of Cherry's and Corky's expertise. Slowly he dropped his hand away and sat back against Blair, the joy slipping away.

Blair, noticing his son's withdrawal, reached for the statue. "Corky, do you have a best suit?" he asked.

Grinning proudly, Corky nodded and said enthusiastically, "you betcha! i wear it on sunday and to granpa's."

"Cherry, what about you?"

"me too. my best dress is pink and has reeeeeal lace."

"Well there you go. At Christmas, on Christmas Eve, Mrs. Claus takes down Mr. Claus' best suit and it's red velvet, very thick and warm, with a special lining that protects Santa from the cold of the world. It's trimmed in white puffy clouds that look just like fur because Santa would never use real fur.

"Anyway, Mrs. Claus polishes up his boots, the good ones, with the gold buckles and the matching belt--"

"like the belt and boots on our Santa," Corky interjected happily.

"Exactly, Cork. So now Santa is ready for Christmas Eve. But this Santa is wearing his everyday clothes, the clothes he wears while finding things to make your toys with, and while actually making the toys with the elves. See, look at his bag," Blair pointed at the burlap sack, "he's got loads of things in there and he and his elves will make thousands of toys for all the children."

"all the children who are good, like me, and jake and corky, right, bwair?"

"Right, Cherry."

"why doesn't he just go to toys r us, like my daddy does?" Corky asked, bewildered.

Blair made a little sound with his lips and Jim and Naomi hid their grins. This was getting good.

"Yes, well, Santa knows that when you make something, from the heart, it's more valuable to the person receiving. He takes great pride in his craftmanship and spends all year creating the perfect toys for you. Besides, he hates standing in line, you know?"

"oh, me too, me too. i always ride in the cart, but lines are toooooo looooong," Cherry said.

"That's exactly how Santa feels, Cherry."

While Blair talked, Jake slowly reached out and continued his stroking of the wooden Santa. Corky, not to be left out, leaned forward in Naomi's lap and did the same, his eyes wide with appreciation.

Cherry, ever the practical, asked, "are you gonna get a chrismus best santy? you don't have to, because this santy is bee-u-tiful, but still, you should."

"Well," Jim answered, "I think we most definitely will get a dressed up Santa, Cherry. Maybe tomorrow you can help us pick one out?"

"i'm a good picker-outer but jakey is the best." Cherry was nothing if not diplomatic about her future husband.

"can we all go pick out a dressed up santy, jimmy?"

"Sure we can, Jake."

Corky bent his head and mumbled, "i can't. i gotta go to granpa's on sunday, after church." Then his head snapped up and he asked hopefully, "but i can come see it later, can't i?"

"a'course, silly." Jake grinned at his new best friend.

While Jim explained all the other decorations to Cherry and Corky, Jake tilted back his head and asked, "can i
have an... al-ow-wance? so i can buy pressies?"

Blair blinked at his son and sighed. He'd really hoped to have this allowance talk when Jake was closer to ten. "Tell you what," he finally said, "you, me and Jimmy will talk about it later, okay?"

"'kay. and later, will," he dropped his voice very low, "you tell me 'bout santy and chrissymas?"

Blair was momentarily stunned as it hit him that Jake had never had a Christmas with Karen. In addition, it was doubtful that he had any meaningful memories about Christmas from his time with his mother. Brushing the back of his hand over Jake's cheek, he lowered his head and whispered in Jake's ear, "Of course, Jake. Jimmy and I will tell you all about it, and something called Chanukah, tomorrow night as your bedtime story, okay?"

"promuse?"

"Promise."

"can we all decorate now?"

"You betcha."

Dinner was over and dessert had been slurped and enjoyed by all three children and the three adults as well. The house was partially decorated and three children were snug in their beds, (Jake in his, Corky in his sleeping bag on the floor and Cherry on the Aero bed) dreaming of Santa, toys and huge allowances. Naomi had left, with Jim promising not to get sidetracked on Sunday so that the closet at the loft could be finished.

Now Jim sat on the couch in front of a blazing fire, Blair between his legs, resting against his chest. Their fingers were entwined and both men had their eyes closed. Jim broke the gentle silence.

"Penny for your thoughts?"

Without opening his eyes, Blair smiled and said, "For you, they're free. And I was just thinking that we have to explain Christmas to Jake tomorrow. I was prepared to explain Chanukah, but just assumed--"

"That he knew about Christmas?"

"Well, yeah."

"He seems to have gathered a great deal from Cherry and Corky and he knows Christmas is about Jesus and his birthday. You heard Cherry's version of the whole manger thing tonight."

"Yeah, that was cute. And she was remarkably accurate. But I'm really talking about explaining Santa and all the symbols of the season."

Jim slipped the hand not currently in Blair's, under the younger man's shirt. As he stroked the soft chest hair, he said, "I really loved your whole *best suit* explanation. I learn something new everyday, Chief."

"I thought I did pretty good too, considering it was off the cuff. I was worried we couldn't make it right, you know?"

"I know, Chief, I know. You done good. Can't wait til tomorrow night."

"You are so evil."

Chuckling, Jim agreed.

Making breakfast for three small children nearly proved to be Jim's undoing. Corky wanted oatmeal and cinnamon toast, Cherry wanted Fruit Loops and bacon, and Jake wanted French toast.

Scratching the back of his head as he tried to figure the logistics of all the requests, Jim was relieved to hear Blair say, "You know, personally, I think Sunday's were made for Mickey Mouse Pancakes. Red Mickey Mouse pancakes."

Three sets of eyes went round as three small heart-shaped mouths did the same. Corky looked at Jake, who looked at Cherry, who looked at Corky, then they reversed it. Finally, Jake, assuming the role of spokesperson, said, "i think red mickey mouse pancakes would be the bestest!"

All three children high-fived each other as Jim looked aghast at his mate, who quickly rose from his spot next to Jake. Slapping Jim on the back, he said confidently, "Have no fear, I'm here to guide you. Now you get out the red food coloring and the other ingredients and let's get this chow line going."

"they're - red. mickey's ears are red," Corky said in wonder, just before giggling.

"they taste goooood too!" Jake added just before shoveling another forkful into his mouth.

"chrismassy mickey mouse pancakes! i love it here, jakey!" Cherry said happily.

Grinning, Blair glanced over at Jim and said softly, "You're a hit, man."

Jim beamed. He was getting damn good at this whole father thing.

Sunday passed quietly for Blair, once Jim left with their horde. The plan was to drop Corky and Cherry, then with Jake in tow, he'd finish the closet for Naomi. The end result was that Blair was enjoying some much needed peace and quiet.

With soft music in the background, he spent the day alternating between napping, reading, and thinking about how best to explain Santa and Chanukah.

At five, his nap was interrupted by the joyous arrival of his family. It seemed they'd stopped off at the mall and finished the necessary shopping that would complete their holiday decorating.
Jim's and Jake's arms were full as they entered the apartment, bringing the cold and wind with them. Jake was literally bouncing.

"daddy, daddy, wait til you see! we got gar... gar... stuff for the mantul and we got missytoe, and green and red towels and wash cloths and i got a pair of santy socks and we got tree lights and stockings, daddy! jimmy says we hang them up, on the mantul, and santy puts goodies in them! we got one for me, and mine is white, with a fox on it, with a red hat like santy wears? and your's is red, with a wolfie on it, jimmy had the nice man put it on, with my foxy and his jaggywar, and his is green and the nice man wrote our names on them, daddy and we got one for nomi too and it has a chrismassy swan on it and i picked that out and when do we get the tree, daddy? uh? uh? and jimmy picked out--"

Holding up his right hand in surrender, Blair said, laughing, "Whoa, Hoss, slow down and let's take a look at everything, okay? Why don't you two put it all here on the table?"

Jake hurried forward, followed by a slightly more sedate Jim Ellison. The packages were set down, jackets were removed and as Jake began to pull his goodies out, Blair noticed the large white box.

"I see we're having pizza tonight?"

Jim gave Blair his Jake won and we lost look as he said, "Yeah and while you and the Jakemeister pour over everything, I'll go get the paper plates and drinks. Tonight, we eat out here by the fire and decide where to put everything."

Blair wasn't sure who was more childlike at that moment, Jim or Jake.

The pizza was gone, the goodies explained and exclaimed over, Jake was bathed, and all the new decorations were in place. As Blair gazed about him, he marveled at the transformation. Their home looked - good. Warm, inviting and very holiday-ish. He could hear Jim and Jake laughing in Jake's bedroom as Jim tried to convince Jake to wear his new santa socks, but Jake was explaining, in loud tones, that "no, must save for chrismussy night".

Smiling, Blair got up and headed into his bedroom. On the floor of the closet sat a trunk that had been in more countries than the most avid armchair traveler. With some effort and not a little discomfort, Blair dragged it out, got it open, and after moving stuff around, found what he needed. With satisfaction, he closed the trunk and with his foot, shoved it back, closed the closet and headed into the living room.

Blair had just placed the item on the table when Jim joined him, leading a now pajama clad Jake by the hand. Jake slipped away from Jim and strode up to Blair and taking his hand, said, "'kay, now time to 'splain." With that, he crawled into Blair's lap, settled in and waited expectantly.

"Yes, well. You seem to have the idea about Christmas and it's being Jesus' birthday, right?"

"yup! he were born in a manger and my gammy tol me that and i learnt it in sunday school. but i never knew about pressies and i think we should give him pressies, like i got for my birfday, but i can handle it this way."

"Glad to hear it, Hoss. And by the way, you can give him a present. You can give him a promise about yourself," Jim offered, clearly repeating something he'd been told when he was growing up.

"a ... promuse?"

"Sure. Like, maybe for his birthday you promise, as your gift, to eat more green vegetables."

"oh." Jake mulled that over, then asked, "when should i make this promuse?"

"Well, Christmas Eve would be good. The eve of his birth."

"so i don't have to eat more green vegetables til then, do i?"

Blair gave Jake a little tickle and a kiss as Jim said, "Well, you could practise, maybe."

"pra-ctuse?"

"Yeah, maybe with some celery tomorrow?" "oh. i could do that - if the celery had - peanutty butter on it."

Jim held back his chuckle as he said with the utmost seriousness, "Yes, I think that could be arranged."

"'kay. so now - santy claws."

"Blair, your turn."

"Right. Santa Claus. Okay. First off, you need to know that Santa has many names throughout the world, like Saint Nicholas, which is the most common. He was a generous man known for taking care of the poor and bringing toys to the children of his village--"

"why do we call him santy claws then?"

"Well, here in America, many immigrants from Holland brought with them their love of Sinter Klass, their name for him, and shared this Saint with others. Eventually, that became Santa Claus. But the thing to remember about Santa is that he believed in caring for the less fortunate. He rescued sailors, brought gifts to families who had nothing, and tried to bring love and happiness to children who had little. You could say he embodied the spirit of giving."

"cherry says he comes in a slay. and someone named ... rud--rud--"

"Rudolph."

"rudollf, leads him. who's rudollf?"

"Okay, see, Santa lived in a time before cars and in the winter, they traveled by something called a sleigh."

Blair reached over and picked up the snow globe that Jim had purchased. Holding it up for Jake to see, he said,
"This is a sleigh, Jake. See? There's Santa and he rides in this sleigh and those are reindeer. And the one at the front, with the red nose? That's Rudolph, the rednosed reindeer."

"You know, Chief, I think you should sing about Rudolph, to Jake. Explain it that way."

Jim gave a fleeting thought to ducking, based on the dagger glare being thrown his way, but he stuck out his chin, grinned, and waited.

"yes, yes! sing to me!"

"Right. Okay, here goes. Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer."

Blair started to sing and Jim watched as Jake's face lit up. On the second chorus, Blair slowed down and let Jake follow him.

"....then one foggy Christmas Eve--"

"then one foggy -- chrismus eve--"

"Santa came to say--"

"santy came to say--"

"Rudolph with your nose so bright--"

"rudollf with ... your nose so bright--"

"Won't you guide my sled tonight?"

"won't you guide ... my sled ... tonight--"

"Then how the other reindeer--"

"then how the other rainydaydeer--"

"Shouted out in jubilee--"

"shouted out in--" Jake faltered and Blair sang again, "Jubilee--"

"in jubaleeee!"

"Rudolph the red nosed reindeer, you'll go down in history!"

"rudollf the red nosed reindeer, you'll go down in his-store-eeeee!"

Jake clapped, throwing his head back and giggling. He had a new hero - Rudolph.

Blair explained Winter Solstice and as he talked Jim started to unwrap the
package Blair had brought from his room.

As Jim unwrapped, Jake's attention immediately strayed. His eyes grew wide as the beautiful item was gradually revealed.

"jimmy?"

"Jake, this is something called a Menorah. It's your daddy's and it's very special. Ask him about it."

Jake tilted his head back and asked, "daddy?"

Blair let Jake scramble down and as the boy stood by the table, his fingers running over the Menorah, Blair took a deep breath and started to explain Chanuakh.

"the mac-a-beeeeees?"

"Yep, the Maccabees."

"an they beat the ... geeks?"

Jim bit down hard on his lower lip since laughing right now would not be a good thing.

"Um," Blair said, his own laughter starting to bubble to the surface, "the Greeks, Jake. G-r-e-e-k-s."

"'kay. then what happened?"

"Well, Jonah Maccabee led the defeat of the Greeks, but when the Maccabees arrived at the Temple of Jerusalem they found only one jar of oil. The Greeks had defil... destroyed the others. But when they lit the one remaining jar, with only enough oil to burn for one day, well, a miracle occurred and the oil burned for eight days. So now we give our thanks and praise symbolically, for each of those eight days. We call this celebration Chanukah, or the Festival of the Lights."

"and we light that," Jake pointed at the Menorah, "right?"

"Right. The Menorah. See, it has eight branches, four on each side, and they all must be equal, none taller than another--"

"but daddy, that one is taller."
Jake was pointing at the center branch and Blair nodded. "Yes, it is. That's the shamash. It's not one of the eight and is actually used to light the others."

"'kay. do we light them all at once? can i blow them out?"

"Well, you see, we have this little ceremony, and on the first night of Chanukah, which falls on December twenty-first this year, we will light one candle. Then the next night, two, and so forth, until--"

"the eighth day, when we get to light all of them?"

"You got it, Jake."

"then do i get to blow them out? like my birfday candles?"

"I don't think so. We need to let them burn naturally, and for at least half an hour after sunset."

The boy looked hard at the beautiful brass piece sitting proudly on the coffee table, then asked in awe, "but how did they burn for eight days, daddy?"

"Well, that's the miracle, Hoss. Remember, a miracle is when something happens, something wonderful and yet, it couldn't possibly happen. Like one jar of oil that should only last a day, burning for eight."

"so magik."

"God's magic miracle."

"can i light one, daddy?"

"I think that can be arranged. There's a special ceremony that goes with the lighting, and you must light the candles in a specific order, which I'll teach you. Afterwards, well, one of the ways we celebrate the oil is to have," Blair winked at Jim, then said, "donuts. I'll make them, using a special recipe of my mother's. We'll play games and do special tasks, like wrapping gifts for our friends and each other. And you'll get something I loved when I was your age, namely Chanukah gelt."

Eyes wide, Jake said, "i get gelt?"

"Yep."

Frowning, Jake asked the obvious. "what's gelt?"

Smiling, Blair said, "Let me put it this way; you won't have to worry about an allowance because gelt is money."

Jake pursed his lips, then said, "i get gelt ... an that's money?"

"Yep. Coins."

"but -- but i wanna - urn - it, like cherry and corky."

"Um. Well, Jim," Blair asked, turning his attention to the man beside him. "what do you think?"

"We could use help with taking out the trash, and I know John could use some help with the leaves. I think we can come up with something - equitable."

Jake's head swiveled from one to the other as he asked, "ekitable?"

"That means fair, Jake. Like, say, a dollar for helping Jim or I take out the trash and we'll ask John about the leaves and see what he says he's willing to pay, okay?"

"that's way better than doing my room, cuz i do that anyway - it's my room."

"Good thinking, Jake."

"so when is chanyka over?"

"On the twenty-eighth, which means that even after Christmas is over, you'll still be celebrating Chanukah."

Jake grinned slyly and added, "and getting - gelt."

"You catch on quick, Hoss," Jim said, laughing.

"yup!" Then he looked up at his daddy and asked, "where do we put it, daddy?"

"Well, we'll set up a table by that window, over there, because tradition says that the Menorah should be in a spot where people passing by can see it, and on December twenty-first, we'll rest it on the table. Sound good to you, welp?"

"sounds purrrrfect."

"Glad you agree."

"does cherry and corky have one as good as ours?"

Blair caught Jim's look, and over his son's head, he stuck out his tongue. Taking a deep breath, he plunged in.
"Well, see, Jake, Cherry and Corky aren't Jewish, but I am. So is Naomi. We celebrate Chaunukah. But Naomi is also a Wiccan." Seeing the puzzled expression on his son's face, Blair added, "Jake,
the world is a big place and its full of people, all with their own beliefs and customs. This winter, you get to experience three of them. Then, when you're all grown up, you'll kind of - choose. See?"

"three? i get to have three?"

"Yep, you do. You get to celebrate Chanukah, Christmas and Kwanza. And yes, Cherry celebrates Kwanza. Remember how we talked about that when Cherry's mom invited us to join them in their Kwanza celebration?"

"i member." Jake worried at his lower lip, then said, "so i get chanyka, chrismus, and kwanza, cherry gets chrismus and kwanza, but corky only gets chrismus ... daddy, can he come over for chanyka?"

"We'll be sure to ask his parents, all right?"

"'kay. and jimmy, what are you?"

"Well, my family celebrates Christmas because we're Christian. So you have one daddy who is Jewish and another who is Christian. However, if you want to get technical, we're both a little of everything."

"then i wanna be a liddle of everything too!"

"Well, Jake," Blair affirmed, "this year you will be. Later in the week you can ask Naomi all about being Wiccan, okay?"
"yippee! i be wicked too!"

"Well, that went - okay."

"It went great, Chief. You got me all excited about Chanukah and sharing it with you. You've never really ... in all the years we lived at the loft... I mean... do you know how to do this?"

Laughing, Blair wrapped his arms around his partner and said between chuckles, "Yeah, Jim, I do. As to years past, well, you spent the first holiday with Eileen, remember? The second one was spent with Beverly, and last year with your Dad--"

"Blair, Chanukah is eight days long. I know this because a very smart man told me tonight."

"Yeah, well - you weren't really into - holidays, you didn't decorate, so who was I to--"

"Tell me you're kidding. Just tell me that."

"Well--"

"Tell me it wasn't because of me that you didn't celebrate Chanukah or Passover or--"

"Jim, it wasn't you. Come on, you know me. I really am a little of everything and I can't begin to count all the expeditions where any kind of celebration was impossible. To be honest, this will be my first real Chanukah in several years. At least - a traditional Chanukah. The spirit was always there, though."

"You sure?" Jim asked as he pulled far enough away to study his mate's face.

"I'm sure, you idiot. Did I ever do anything in three years with you to make you think I'd not do something if I wanted to do it?"

"Good point. Here's hoping you're in the mood for some energetic monkey love."

"Why do I think acting like a baboon right now might kill the mood?"

"God, I love you."

"Come my little monkey, let us adjourn to the bedroom."

Jim managed to refrain from making any sounds that could even remotely be construed as ape-like.

"I really hate this, Jim."

"Yes, I know. So you've mentioned - six times - since we woke up."

"Well, I really hate this."

"You know," Jim said as he pulled up the zipper of his slacks, "I'm beginning to think you have no faith in my ability as a detective."

"Jiiiiim," Blair whined pitiously.

"Well, you're making it sound as though one week without you and I'll fall apart."

Feigning shock, Blair said,"You mean you won't?"

Jim stopped dressing, his shirt hanging open as he turned to his partner. "Is this a trap, Chief?"

"I don't know, Jim, is it?" Blair asked, innocence personified.

"I can't win this, can I?"

"I don't know, Jim, can you?"

Resigned, Jim said,"Simon is putting me on desk duty."

Pumping his right arm and lifting his knee, Blair hissed out, "Yesssssss."

"You're disgusting, Sandburg."

"Yep," Blair said proudly. "And Simon is a wise man."

The week of Blair's convalescence went remarkably fast - too fast for one four year old.

Having his father home for one solid week had been pure joy for Jake. They'd gone to the park together, and even with only one good arm, his daddy had managed to push Jake, Corky and Cherry on the swings. He'd made them peanut butter and jelly sandwiches cut out in the shape of dinosaurs, had played endless games of Monopoly with him, and had drawn and colored with him on the floor.

His daddy had taken him to John's, where it had been decided that John would pay Jake three whole dollars each time he helped with the leaves, which with his daddy's help, he'd done on Tuesday and Thursday and he already had six one dollar bills tucked away in his room for Christmassy pressies.

Twice, his daddy took him and they met Jimmy and had lunch and he got to have a chocolate malt and he shared it with Jimmy, who then took him up on his shoulders and he could see the whole wide world. Every night, the courtyard was lit up with white, and red and green lights and it looked like a wonderland. But the most amazing thing that happened while his daddy was home was that the rest of the block started to light up too! More and more houses on the block got mysteriously decorated and every night, more and more houses got all lit up. And his Jimmy said that just before Christmas, they would all go and "see the lights: and Jake could pick the bestest decorated house of all, not counting their own, a'course.

But then - it was Sunday - and his daddy would be going to work the next morning....

"why did my jimmy have to go get my nomi?"

"Her car is in the shop, Jake. And you did want her to join us for dinner tonight, right?"

"yup! but - my jimmy shoulda taken me!"

"Ah, but then, you'd miss these great grilled cheesy samwiches."

"yup!"

"And you wouldn't mind a bit, would you?"

"nope!"

"Scamp."

"yup!"

"These really are special grilled cheese sandwiches. I'm using mozarella."

"mozzyrelly? like pizza?"

"Yep!"

"okay - i'll stay here."

"Uh, Jake? You're already here. And how 'bout some music with our lunch?"

"what kind?"

Blair wiped his hands off and lifting Jake from his booster seat, said, "Well, let's go out and look. Naomi left some great CD's that a friend burned for her - maybe we'll find something good."

"daddy," Jake asked as he trotted after his father, "how can you burn something and still listen to it?"

Blair rolled his eyes. "Well, Jake, it's like this...."

"You do realize that if you hadn't picked me up at the garage, that, that -- words fail me."

"That bastard?"

"Dickhead. That dickhead. And don't you dare tell Blair I used that word."

"Mum's the word, Naomi. Get it? Mum's the word?"

"My son did this to you, didn't he?"

Laughing, Jim nodded happily.

"Well, thank God for you. At least now my car wil be fixed and I won't pay through the nose."

Jim pulled the truck into the carport and together they climbed out and headed into the couryard. Half-way to the apartment, Jim cocked his head and held up a hand. Pausing behind him, Naomi watched, concerned, until his face split into the most beautiful smile. With a
finger to his lips, he took Naomi's hand and led her quietly inside.

As they entered, Naomi could hear her son and grandson singing to a CD.
Smiling, she crept along behind Jim as he led them into the dining room. The kitchen door was propped open and by creeping into the corner, both Naomi and Jim could just see the action inside.

The song playing on the stereo was Tainted Love and at the moment, Blair and Jake were dancing around the kitchen in time to the song. Jake's arms were in the air as he waved them in tune to the punctuated beat. In front of him, Blair danced with his knees slightly bent, white sneakers squeaking across the linoleum, hips swaying in time with the beat. Every few seconds, father and son would meet in the middle and cupping their hands, they would jab at each other's palms. Blair would then swivel away, head down, voice raised as he sang, Jake following and mimicking every action and word.

For Jim, it was a moment he would remember for all eternity. His eyes glistened as he watched the two move, both completely unaware and unaffected, simply content to be one with a song.

For Naomi, watching the two dancing and singing together was like history repeating itself.

As they continued to watch, Jake's curls bobbed, Blair's hair flew, and as the song wound down, Jake fell in behind his father as they danced toward the dining
room.

Naomi and Jim quickly backtracked into the living room. Jim plastered himself against the wall to the right, Naomi doing the same on the left. Seconds later, Blair and Jake danced in, Blair pivoted ... and froze.

"Uh-oh."

The last strains of the song faded as Jake bumped into his father.

"daddy?"

"We are no longer alone, Hoss. We are being spied upon."

Jake spun around, and spotting his Jimmy, he yelped with glee and launched himself at the man. Jim caught him and swung him up as Blair walked to the stereo and shut it off.

"Mmm, how long have you two been--"

"Long enough, Chief, long enough," Jim said, grinning broadly. "You've got talent, Sandburg. And Jake, you're a regular Fred Astair."

"i am?"

"You are."

"is that good, jimmy?"

"Very good, Jake."

Naomi put her arm around her son's waist and said, eyes twinkling, "Did Blair ever tell you about a certain Mother-Son Talent Contest?"

"Mom, you are so deadmeat."

"nomi? tell, tell, tell!"

"Well, see, it all started--"

"Oh, no."

"So there we were, wearing our Sonny and Cher outfits, and no, Jim, I was Cher, and we were singing I Got You Babe. When we finished, we received not only a standing ovation, but first place as well."

"Jim, who is this woman? We really shouldn't allow strange people into our home, you know?"

Naomi giggled and Jake favored them with a child-like guffaw. Jim, a wicked gleam in his eye, walked to the stereo, shuffled through some old cassettes and with a "yoohaw!", triumphantly held one up. He waved it around, then slid out the tape and put it in the slot for playing.

Seconds later, the youthful voices of Sonny and Cher filled the room. Jim turned and with a grin, said, "Well?"

Naomi immediately jumped to Blair's side as she cajoled, "Come on, sweetie, let's show 'em how it's done."

"Aw, Mommmm," Blair whined. But his whine was in vain as Jake attached himself to Blair's leg and pleaded, "please, daddy?" Adding insult to injury, Jim did his best Sandburg impression by flashing the famous puppy dog look as he intoned, "Please, please, please?"

Blair rolled his eyes, then said,"All right, all right, we'll do it. But just
this once."

Naomi clapped her hands as Jim stopped the tape and rewound it. With finger poised over the play button, he announced, "And now ladies and gentlemen, it's with great pleasure that Cafe Ellison-Sandburg bring you the talented warblings of Blair and Naomi!"

Blair, with another roll of his eyes, immediately struck his Sonny pose.
Seconds later, he and Naomi were singing and swaying, arms around each other.

*They say we're young and we don't know - We won't find out until we grow - Well I don't know if all that's true 'Cause you got me, and baby I got you....*

At "Babe", both Naomi and Blair were in perfect unison, their voices blending beautifully. They continued with hips swaying and fingers pointing each time one or both sang the word you.

When Blair and Naomi got to the second verse, Jim watched the faces of mother and son and listened carefully to the words.

*...before it's earned, our money's all been spent - I guess that's so, we don't have a lot - but at least I'm sure of all the things we got...*

As they sang, Jim could actually see the Naomi and Blair of the past, just the two of them against the world. For the first time, Jim caught a glimmer of their life together. The next verse drove it home.

*And when I'm sad, you're a clown
And if I get scared, you're always around - Don't let them say your hair's too long 'Cause I don't care, with you I can't go wrong -Then put your little hand in mine There ain't no hill or mountain we can't climb, Babe - I got you babe....*

Mother and Son. Naomi and Blair.

Protecting each other, moving through life in their own way, different, loving, but always together no matter what. At that moment, Jim truly loved Naomi Sandburg for the life she'd brought into the world and the boy to man that she'd raised.

They were at the chorus and Jake was now in his father's arms, singing in his high, clear, baby voice. He turned in
Blair's arms and held out his own to Jim. The older man stepped to Blair's side and let Jake wrap one arm around his neck. With Naomi behind Blair, her chin resting on his shoulder, the four of them finished the song.

Jake sat in the tub, his Shamu bobbing along as he made bubble bath castles. Blair sat on the edge and watched, his own hand trailing in the sudsy water. As Jake made Shamu jump out of the water and dive back in with a nice splash, he said, "we be good, huh, daddy?"

"Good?"

"singers. we be very good." Then with head still down and fingers back to forming more castles, he asked quietly, "i always have you and my jimmy?"

Blair added more sudsy bubbles to the growing castle and answered just as quietly, "Always, Jake. Always."

"So, Spiderman jammies or jungle jammies?" Blair turned and held up two pairs, one designed like the Spiderman costume, the other full of jungle animals roaming through greenery.

"spidey tonight!"

"Right. Spiderman it is."

As Blair helped Jake into his pj's, Jake said, "when do i gotta write santy?"

Blair's hands froze in their attempt to put Jake's arms through the sleeves prior to pulling the top over the boy's head. "Write Santa?"

"cherry says i gotta write him and tell him what i want for chrismassy. she said you'd help too. will you, daddy?"

How could he have forgotten the time honored tradition of helping out hapless parents find the right gifts for their children? Smiling, Blair said, "You bet I will. In fact, nowadays, you can email Santa. Would you like to do it that way, or mail an actual letter?"

"eee-mail! eee-mail!"

"All righty then, email it is. Now you give it a lot of thought, and next weekend, we'll compose the message and send it, okay?"

"promuse?"

"Promise."

"'kay!"

"Do you think he's forgotten?"

"Forgotten what, Jim?"

"That tomorrow you go to work."

"Oh. That."

"Yeah, that."

"Nope. I think tomorrow - he's gonna let me have it."

Jim chuckled as the two moved about the apartment, turning out lights and locking up. Blair was shutting and locking the window that overlooked the park when Jim said, "You know, tonight, while you and Naomi were doing your Sonny and Cher impersonation?"

"Jim, so help me--"

"No, no, listen. I just - well, I finally got it, that's all."

"Got what?" Blair was staring at him, a small frown of puzzlement on his face.

"Got you and your mom. How close you two were. How it must have been for you both. How you were a real - team. Sandburgs against the world - sort of. That's all." Then, while Blair's mouth remained open in surprise, Jim added slyly, "And of course, who knew the talent in the Sandburg gene pool?"

"You jerk."

"Yep, that's me. But seriously, I really do understand your mother a little better now. I guess I keep forgetting how young she was when she had you and how it must have been--"

"Not unlike your father, in the seventies, raising two sons in a world where the mother usually--"

"Yeah, yeah," Jim held up his hands in surrender, but he was smiling.

"Come on, let's go to bed. Monday's gonna come awful early and so will Jake's tantrum." Blair started to move toward the hall, but Jim's next words stopped him.

"Wait. You know, we've never danced together and so far today, you've danced with your mom and Jake, so now, I think it's my turn."

Blair did his impression of a neon sign, eyes blinking rapidly.

Grinning from ear to ear, Jim once again moved to the stereo, flipped through his favorite CD's and finally chose one. He dropped it in, hit memory, then skipped to number five, then finally hit repeat. He turned, walked slowly to his partner and held out his arms.

Looking at Jim as if he had two heads, Blair asked suspiciously, "Who leads?"

"I'm pretty sure Sonny always led, Chief."

"Oh. Okay, then." Blair held out his arms and to the strains of Nat King Cole's 'Unforgettable', Jim moved into the safe warm circle. Slowly the two men began to move, all pretense of leading discarded as they simply wrapped their arms around each other's waists.

At first they simply swayed, feet barely moving, bodies close, almost melting into each other, but gradually, as they became more accustomed to the style of the other, they began to move about the living room.

Not even the Sentinel noticed the small figure creep down the hall, lured by the sound of the music.

Spiderman Jake peeked around the corner, and seeing his fathers, he immediately sat down indian style, elbows on knees, cheeks on hands - and with a wide grin, watched - mesmerized.

"no!"

"Jake--"

"no! you both gotta stay!"

Prepared is one thing, but facing the reality of a tantrum was altogether different. At the moment, the tanturm thrower was sitting in the middle of the hall refusing to get up or allow his father to pass. His chin was aiming for the stars.

"Jake, you know both Jim and I have to go to work today. How can we protect the streets if we stay home?"

"you protek me!"

"Yes, we do, Jake. And we protect others. Now Naomi will be here in a few minutes and she's going to be with you all day. She'll take you to the park and remember, she's going to explain the Winter Solstice and all about being a Wiccan."

"no, don't wanna, want you to stay home!" He punctuated his
statement with a firm nod of his head.

Tons of words came to Blair's mind as he stared down at his suddenly stubborn, tantrum-throwing son. Phrases like; "I'm disappointed in you" and "no dinner for you, young man", but he discarded all of them. Instead he hitched his jeans up enough to bend and squatted down in front of the upset boy.

"Jake, we will be home. You have us always. And we'll call you too - three times. But you know Jim and I are policemen and the doctor says I'm ready to go back--"

"but, but, you still havto wear that," Jake said softly, his eyes filling as he pointed to the sling.

"Yes, I do. But only for a few more days. I'm going to be on what's called desk duty until the doctor says I'm completely fit."

"what's desk duty?"

"It means I get to sit at my desk all day and type reports and research and answer phones."

"jimmy too?"

"Oh, yeah. Jimmy too."

Jake ducked his head and whispered, "stay home, pleeeeeze?"

Blair pulled the now quiet and compliant boy into his arms and nuzzled at his neck. "I can't, Jake. But I'll miss you very much. And the day will go fast, I promise. Pretty soon, Jimmy and I will be home and it will be as if we'd never left."

"nuh-huh."

"Bets?"

There was a pause, then a small voice
asked, "how much?"

"A dollar."

"kay. i already have sum dollars, i need way more for pressies."

"You scamp."

"Hey, welcome back, Hairboy!"

At Henri's pronouncement, heads shot up and were almost immediately followed by bodies as the detectives of Major Crime rushed forward to welcome Blair back.

Simon stepped to the door of his office and watched, letting his newest detecive have his moment. Then he turned back, walked to his desk, picked up a thick stack of folders, and with a grin, walked out to the squad room. Facing his people, he said sternly, "I believe we work around here, ladies and gentlemen?"

Everyone immediately scattered. As Jim and Blair walked to their desks, Simon followed. He waited until jackets were discarded and his best team had taken their seats, then with a satisifed smirk, he dumped the files, half on Jim's desk and half on Blair's. "Welcome back, Sandburg. Now get to work."

Sticking his unlit cigar in his mouth, he strode back to his office.

Blair glanced over at Jim, shrugged his shoulders and said, "Gee, I missed this."

"Could you explain how, with only one hand, I still managed to get more reports processed than you?"

"Simple, I'm smarter."

"Damn."

"Ready for lunch?"

"After we phone a certain four year old?"

"Duh."

Laughing, Blair picked up the phone.

"you were gone--" Jake snuck a peek at his nomi, who held up all her fingers,
"ten ... ten hours."

Blair and Jim stood in the doorway of their home staring down at the guardian of the gate.

"Um... gee, Jake, it didn't seem that long to me. Why, to me, it seems as if we've hardly been gone at all."

Jake shook his head adamantly. "nope. ten hours. i had brekkie, i watched 'toons, i went to the park and me and corky tried to dig a hole to chiner, and cherry thought we were silly because she said we'd only end up in the--"

Once again he glanced back at his nomi, who said, "sewer".

"sewer. and then we had lunch but we had it at the maaaaaaall and i rode the horsey 'round and 'round and do you want to know what i had for lunch?"

Since neither man could move, they both nodded helplessly.

"i had... hot doggy on sticky! an lemunaid! it was goooood. but i don't like ... re...lish. and then we came home and i took a nappy and still you weren't home, and then i got up and we played games and i ran outside and still you weren't home, but now you are and you were gone a looooong time!"

Narrowing his eyes at his mother, then sighing theatrically, Blair pulled out his wallet, unfolded it, and slipped out a dollar bill. Making a show of kissing it good-bye, he handed it down to his son. Who grabbed it with glee and allowed his fathers inside.

Things were back to normal. Or at least, what passed for normal in the Ellison-Sandburg home.

"I think I can safely state that you are fit for active duty, Detective Sandburg."

"Thank you, Doctor. I think if I had to type one more detective's report or take one more complaint about mice in Christmas stockings, well, you'd have to kill me."

Doctor Cravens chuckled as he wrote out the "Return to Work" form. Signing it with a flourish, he handed the white slip to Blair. "So tell me, Detective, did anyone find mice in the Christmas stockings?"

"Our problem, Chief, is when do we get the tree? How do we do this?"

"Um, I don't know. Maybe - next week? Which means it will be up for two weeks before Christmas?"

"Okay, so how do we handle the presents?"

It had been over a week since Blair had been released back to full duty and during that time, he and Jim had been struggling with the hows of their first Christmas with Jake. Both men understood that they would be setting up traditions that would last a lifetime and neither man wanted to make a mistake.

"What do you mean, the presents?"

"Well, do all the presents come from Santa, or do we tell him that some come from us and some from Santa?"

"Oh, shit. This is getting complicated."

"You're sharp like a knife, Einstein."

"Ellison, Sandburg, would it be possible for you two to stop bickering long enough to join me in my office?"

As Jim stood, he said, "Sir, we are not bickering, we're discussing the very real problem of how to have our first Christmas with Jake."

"Well," Simon scratched his chin, then said, "See, you buy a tree, you decorate it, you have a Christmas goose or a turkey or a roast, you open your presents--"

"Yeah, but do you open them Christmas Eve or Christmas morning?"

Simon stopped dead and favored his number one detective with a look that clearly labeled the man a knucklehead.

"Detective Ellison, how can one open one's presents from Santa before Santa comes?"

Blair reached over, grabbed a notepad and handed it to his partner. "You'd better take notes, Jim."

"You're gonna pay, Sandburg."

"Gentlemen, as much as I'd love to continue this scintillating conversation, I have a new case for you. Now get your butts in my office and I mean now."

The two men hurried.

Once settled, Simon picked up a file and handed it to Jim, then he perched on the edge of his desk. "I'm getting heat on this one, gentlemen. And no jokes."

Blair gave Simon a double take as he asked, "Jokes? Just what kind of case is it?"

A snort from Jim caused Blair to ask, "Jim?"

"We're about to investigate Santa Claus, Chief."

"Oh, shit."

"Five robberies in the middle of the day, in busy neighborhoods, and all witnesses say the same thing--"

"They saw Santa Claus approaching the homes that were later discovered to have been robbed."

"You got it, Chief."

Blair flipped through several pages of the report sent up from Burglary while making small noises of acknowledgement.

"Sandburg, would you cut that out. You're driving me crazy."

Looking up, Blair favored Jim with his best who me? expression and said innocently, "What?"

"The symphony of sounds that seem to accompany your reading of any report."

Glancing back down and hiding a smile, Blair said huffily, "I don't know what you mean, Jim. And you're just upset because I've already figured out a few things."

Lounging back in his chair, Jim clasped his hands behind his head and smirked. "Oh, yeah? Like what, Einstein? Like - our robber is cleverly disguised as Santa Claus?"

"Har-har. Did you, O Great Detective of the Year, notice that according to residents, no unusual trucks or vans were in the neighborhood when Santa was spotted? And that in three of the five robberies, Santa was seen leaving the house with nothing more than a large sack? And that none of the victims reported anything missing other than the presents under the tree?"

"So?"

"So, no vcr's taken, no DVD players snitched, no computers stolen, no jewelry missing, no coin collections disappearing ... just presents. And of course, all the victims had huge picture windows with the tree and gifts prominently displayed in front of said window for the entire world to see."

Sensing that Blair wasn't finished and that the best was yet to come, Jim couldn't contain his interest. He leaned forward, saying, "Go on."

"Well, we need to get a list of what was taken. That's not here and neither is the address of the latest hit, which, according to Simon, was this morning."

"And the list is going to tell you what?"

"I've got an idea, but until I see the list of stolen items ... well, I wouldn't presume to speculate."

"You asshole." Then Jim wiggled his fingers at his partner and said, "Give it up, Sandburg, give it up."

Looking like the cat that swallowed the canary, Blair said just two words, "Swap meet."

Jim stood, pushed back his chair, grabbed his and Blair's jackets and headed for the elevator. Pausing at the doors to Major Crime, he said impatiently, "Well? You coming?"

Blair did a couple of bows as he said,"Yas, mastah, anything for you, mastah."

"Oh, shut up."

"I've got it here somewhere... it was just compiled...."

Detective Andy Anderson shuffled the mound of paperwork on his messy desk, moved four styrofoam cups half-filled with days old coffee, dumped a Breakfast Jack into the trash and finally held up a computer printout. "Got it!"

The soon-to-be retired detective handed off the spread sheet to Blair, then slumped back into his chair. Wiping his brow, he said, "I gotta tell you fellas, I'm damn glad this case is off my back and onto yours. The mayor was hounding my captain, who in turn was hounding me. Now it's all yours. Enjoy."

Blair scanned the list and nodded almost to himself as Jim sat on the edge of Anderson's desk and asked, "I understand there was another robbery this morning? Did you roll on that one? We didn't get any paperwork on it, so I'm wondering--"
"Yeah, I went out, and no, nothing different or new. My partner should be back any minute and he's got the information on today's. You also might want to head over to yesterday's hit. The scene is still fresh in as much as the owners won't be back til tonight. No one's been in the house but us."

Blair looked up from the print-out and asked, "That's the one that the neighbor called in?"

"Yep. Some senior citizen busybody who'd heard about the robberies on the news."

Jim glanced over at his partner and winked. "My kind of busybody," he said drolly.

Before Anderson could form a reply, another detective walked in, a manila folder in his hand.

"Hey, Pete, you know Ellison from Major Crime?"

The new arrival smiled and headed over to Anderson's desk. "Sure do. How are you, Jim? And don't tell me you got stuck with this one?"

"'Fraid so, Pete. How's Hildy?"

"She's fine. Expecting again. We should be welcoming in our own New Year's baby."

"Well, congratulations, Pete." Jim stood up, adding, "You know my partner, Blair Sandburg?"

The two men smiled at each other as Detective Peter Cummings nodded. "You bet I do. I still owe you one, Blair."

"Hey, no problem. Do you happen to have the information from the robbery this morning?"

"I do owe you and yeah, this is it. Just got it signed off by Captain Fitzgerald. I was going to hand deliver it to you guys up in MC. Here you go."

As he handed the report to Jim, he added, "I pity you guys. On the other hand, if anyone can bust this creep, it's you two."

"Hey, from the looks of the paperwork you generated, and all the information you two gathered, I'd say any bust will be as much yours as ours. Deal?"

Patting Jim on the back, Pete said, grinning, "Deal."

Walking toward the elevator, Jim mused, "I don't know how Pete puts up with Anderson."

"Hey," Blair said, his nose still buried in the report, "the guy is nearing retirement, give him a break."

Pushing the up button, Jim shook his head and said, "Retirement doesn't mean you turn into a jerk, Sandburg. And to tell the truth, Anderson was never worth much as a cop. He's been doing nothing more than putting in his time for two decades."

"He's just not an overachiever like you."

"Listen, Letterman--"

"Oh my God, Jim." As Blair spoke, his face drained of a good deal of its natural color.

"What is it, Chief?"

Looking up from the report, a stricken expression on his face, Blair said, "The address. The robbery this morning. It's Makeba and Terry."

Jim pulled the truck alongside the curb and cut the engine. As Blair was about to open the door, Jim's hand stopped him. "Chief, Jake is in there."

"What?"

"Naomi too. Sounds as though they came over from the park. They're having cookies and milk with Cherry and Makeba."

Blair twisted his head around and finally spotted his mother's car. "Well damn."

"Let's get this done."

As they walked up to the door, neither man missed the huge Christmas tree in the bay window. The tree with nothing underneath. Jim was about to ring the doorbell when the door was swung open by - Jake.

"my jimmy? daddy?" he exclaimed, stunned.

"Hey, Hoss, you and Naomi just leaving?" Jake stepped back and both men could see Naomi and Makeba approaching. The expression on both women's faces said told the two men that both women knew exactly why they were there.

Makeba made a welcoming gesture with her hand and said, "Jim, Blair, please, come in."

Jake helped by pushing open the screen door, then leaving his arms up - the obvious signal for one of his fathers to pick him up. Naomi, seeing the grave expressions on her son's face, and with a glance to the tree in the window, did the picking up.

"We should have called, Makeba, but--"

Blair started to explain, but Cherry's mother just waved a hand, saying, "No, no, it's okay. I"m glad you're here."

Naomi rested a hand on Makeba's shoulder and said, "I'm going to take Jake home, but we'll see you on Monday, right?"

"Absolutely. And thanks for the ideas, you're a life-saver." Makeba dropped a kiss on Jake's cheek, saying, "We'll see you this weekend, as planned, okay, honey?"

Jake was still staring at his fathers, clearly confused, but at Makeba's words, he nodded and said, "yup! me an cherry an corky are gonna make some goodies!"

"Right." Then Makeba turned to Jim and Blair and with one eyebrow raised in question, said, "We are still on for Sunday?"

"Of course we are," Blair affirmed.

"Okay, then," Naomi said, moving toward the door, "Jake and I will get home and we'll see you two later. Jake, you want to kiss them good-bye?"

Nodding, Jake leaned forward and bussed both men, then turned in Naomi's arms and waved to Cherry, who had come up behind her mother and was now clinging to her leg.

"bye, cherry, see you later!"

"bye, jakey."

Naomi stepped out onto the porch and with a wave, headed to her car. Jake twisted around so that he could continue to watch his fathers from his perch in her arms. She got him to the car, put him in the carseat, then slid in behind the wheel and a few moments later, pulled away from the curb.

Makeba stepped aside and as Jim and Blair moved into the large living room, she hoisted Cherry up into her arms and said, "Can you give me a few minutes? I want to get sleepyhead here down for her nap."

"Of course. Sweet dreams, Cherry," Blair said with a smile.

"Ditto, sweetheart."

"bye jimmy and blair!"

She waved, then dropped her head back down onto her mother's shoulder. Makeba grinned and walked down the long hall and out of sight.

Once gone, Jim began to walk around, his senses on full alert. Blair followed behind. After a few minutes, he asked, "Got anything?"

"You know, there's something weird--"

"What?"

"A smell. It's not tied to Makeba, Terry or the kids, and certainly not to Naomi or Jake ... and I can almost ... identify it--"

"Sweet? Sour? Fruity?"

Jim snapped his fingers and said, "Got it! Steven's favorite gum when we were growing up. Fruit Stripe gum."

Blair shot Jim a rather skeptical look as he repeated, "Fruit Stripe gum?"

"Yeah, that's what I'm smelling."

"O-kay," Blair said dubiously. Before he could go any further with the discussion on Fruit Stripe gum, Makeba walked back into the living room and with a sigh, dropped down onto the couch.

After swiping a few stray curls back from her forehead, she waved a hand indicating that Jim and Blair should sit down. "I guess you're here on business, right?"

"I'm afraid so, Keeba. And I can't tell you how sorry both Blair and I are about what happened this morning. But I must say, the place looks good. Evidently Burglary cleaned up after themselves."

"They did. And I'm very grateful. They took several prints but a Detective Anderson said that he doubted that any would be ... what did he call it? Lat--"

"Latents," Blair finished for her.

"Right, latents. And as glad as I am to see you both here, I can't help but wonder why you two?"

Jim supplied the answer with a small, I'm sorry kind of smile. "There've been five robberies in as many days and Mayor Griffen kicked the case up to Major Crime."

"I see. Well, we were fortunate, Jim. Very fortunate."

"How's that, Keeba?" Blair asked.

"The presents that were stolen weren't family gifts. We normally keep those," she lowered her voice, "hidden because Santa brings them. The only presents under the tree were gifts for work, our gardner, that kind of thing. And thank heaven we were late this year in buying the small exchange gifts."

Seeing the puzzled expression on the faces of both men, she explained. "See, Santa brings most of the presents, but we still teach the children about giving and they earn money to buy for each other and Terry and I. And we do the same. Under normal conditions, by this time, my gift to Terry and vice versa, is usually under the tree, as well as a few other family gifts. But between one thing and another, and Jeremy being with his grandmother until the twentieth, well, we haven't done much shopping."

"A silver lining after all, then?" Jim asked.

"Definitely. And thanks to Naomi, I have some terrific ideas on how I can replace what was stolen without breaking the bank. So to speak. And Cherry handled it fine because of course, she--"

"Knows Santa comes on the twenty-fourth?" Blair offered.

"Exactly. She told Jake what happened, but don't worry, we didn't mention that the man was dressed as Santa." Makeba smiled fondly as she added, "Jake was more concerned than Cherry. And he was very concerned about our newspaper person, Rosie. Jake wants to help replace her gift."

Blair chuckled at that and said, "Well, Rosie is our paperperson too, and she's very patient with Jake when she comes to collect. They've become great friends."

Makeba nodded knowingly and then asked, "So what can I tell you that hasn't already been said about the robbery?"

Jim pinched his nose, then said, "This may sound weird, but have you, or Cherry, been chewing gum today?"

"You're right, that is weird," she said with a smile. "But the answer is no. No one chews gum in our family except Terry, and to anticipate your question, he chews Dentyne."

Laughing, Jim said, "Thank you, good bit of anticipation there. Okay, how about any of the cops who were here this morning? Or any other folks who might have been in the house today?"

Makeba frowned as she tried to recall the men and women who'd been in her home, but finally she shook her head.
"No, no one was chewing gum. One person had some candy, and he offered a piece to Cherry, but that's it." She tilted her head and asked, "Are you noticing how I'm refraining from asking why the interest in gum?"

"You're a strong woman, Keeba. What can we say?"

"Blair," she said warningly. "You are going to tell me, right?"

"Actually, it's just something I can smell, Keeba."

Makeba stared at Jim for a second, then asked, "You can smell gum? In my house?"

"He has a good nose, Keeba. What can I say? That's why I call him hound dog."

"Cute nickname, Blair. I'll have to remember that."

Jim rose while shooting a dirty look at his partner, who stuck out his tongue.
Facing Makeba, Jim said, "We're going to get the guy, Keeba, I promise. And please, just ignore Sandburg."

She got up, and laughing, led them to the door. "Have I said how glad I am that you two are working on this?" she said, as they stepped out onto the porch.

"No, but you can say it again. We are Cascade's finest," Blair bragged humorously.

"Yes, well, go get him, guys. Even if he is Santa Claus."

"Hey, we always get our myth."

Both Makeba and Blair grimaced at Jim's attempt at humor. Blair added a punch to his arm.

"Hey, that was good."

Blair reached up and grabbed Jim's ear lobe, then tugged. "Come on, hound dog, let's get going."

"You are so dead."

Laughing, Makeba watched her friends leave, and for the first time that day, felt better about the investigation. In spite of her words about how lucky they'd been, the fact was, her home had been violated. When Terry came home, they were going to have a serious talk about alarms.

"Well?"

"You're not going to believe this, but yeah, Fruit Stripe gum. Faint, but here."

"Well, I'll be damned. Our Santa chews Fruit Stripe."

"Yep."

Jim and Blair gazed around the home that had been hit the day before, then headed back to the station to run their ideas on how to catch their Santa by Simon.

"Swap meets and Fruit Stripe gum, gentlemen?"

"Well, yeah," Blair offered brightly. "See, if you look at the items that were taken, well, they're small ticket stuff. Exactly the kind of things you find at the local swap meet. Not the kind of things you fence or sell out of the back of a van." Then he added after the fact, "Sir."

"And of course, Jim will know him by the Oeu de Parfum of Fruit Stripe that follows him everywhere, right?"

"Well, yeah."

Simon sat back and closed his eyes. "This is not fair. This is Major Crime and yet my two best men will be at a swap meet on Saturday, looking for a criminal Santa who chews Fruit Stripe gum. Where are the mad bombers? The gun runners? Tell me that, please."

"Um... in jail, Simon?"

"Shut up, Sandburg."

"Yes sir."

"How many people do you need tomorrow, Jim?"

"I think between myself, Blair, Conner and Taggert, we'll be covered. But if he isn't at the Roscoe Swap Meet tomorrow, we'll be looking at some serious man power next week. We have mulitple swap meets between Tuesday and Friday, with some on the same day."

"Then may I suggest that you catch this guy tomorrow?"

"Wouldn't have it any other way, sir."

"And Jim? I really don't want a man arrested because you smelled some weird gum. Let's strive for something a bit more - District Attorney oriented, right?"

"Of course, sir."

"Go home, gentlemen."

Jim and Blair were almost out the door when Simon stopped them. "The Paramour's telephone number, is it in the report?"

Blair, hiding his grin, said, "Yes, sir, it is."

"Good, good."

He was picking up the phone as they closed the door behind them.

"We're going to need to talk with him about the robbery at Cherry's, you know that, right?"

"Oh, yeah. Not that I don't think your mother won't have done her part. I'm just praying that he can understand why we couldn't prevent it."

Jim pulled the truck into their carport, and with twin sighs, the two men headed into their home.

"but, but--"

"But what, Hoss?"

"why?" Jake asked plaintively.

Blair, Jim and Naomi sat in the living room with Jake, who was seated on Blair's lap. His head was down and small fingers played abstractly with the buttons on Blair's shirt.

Upon their arrival home, Jake had been unusually silent as he followed his fathers while jackets were removed. He watching them both as if they held the keys to the universe. Finally Blair had picked him up and carried him to the couch, Jim and Naomi not far behind. Now, ten minutes later, Jake was still struggling to understand about this thing called robbery. Somehow, his fathers and grandmother had to explain the world to a little boy who shouldn't have had to learn about the intimacy of crime so soon.

"Jake," Blair said tenderly, "there are people who think they can take from others. The majority of the world, the majority of people, are good, kind and generous, but there are also those who try to steal. That's what happened to Cherry and her family. Someone broke in while everyone was gone, took things that didn't belong to them, and left. But to tell you why, well, that's a hard one.

"Some people just seem to think they're entitled, that because they can take what isn't theirs, they do. They're greedy and want to take instead of earn."

"they be baaaad then and you're gonna catch 'em, right?"

Jim took the small hand in his and rubbing gently, said, "We're going to try, Jake. And before any other family has to go through what Cherry and Makeba and Terry and Cherry's brother have gone through. That's a promise."

"could -- it -- happentous?" Jake's words started out slow, then tumbled out in anxiety.

Looking over Jake's head, Jim's worried gaze met his partner's.

"Jake," Jim finally said, "it would be very hard. First of all, you need a gate card to get into the courtyard and we have very good locks."

"better 'n cherry's?"

"Well, by now, I suspect Terry has already installed new locks. The detectives who originally rolled on the call advised Makeba on how to improve the protection of their home. By now, I Cherry is as safe as you are."

"that's good. so we have the bestest locks?"

"Yes, we do, Jake," Jim answered truthfully.

"and my nomi?"

Jim chuckled at that and said, "Well, she is living in my old home, so yes, she does."

"and santy?"

"Santa has the best protection of all, Jake, " Blair offered. "He lives in the North Pole and no one knows how to find him. Plus, he has Rudolph and the elves."

"but he doesn't have you and my jimmy," Jake whined.

"No," Naomi said gently, "but you and I do. And now Cherry does too. Those bad guys are gonna be toast."

Her words were so - out of character, so completely not Naomi Sandburg, flowerchild of the sixties, that Jim and Blair dropped their jaws in complete shock. Jake, on the other hand, was in complete agreement with his grandmother. Pumping his hand up and down, he said excitedly, "yeah! they be toast!"

"Gee, Jim, I think our work here is done."

"Right, SuperGuppy, we have once again saved the town, the world, and the universe as we know it."

"Hey, JimboMan, this ever get boring for you? All the exhaltation, the adulation, the fawning?"

"Why, no, SuperGuppy, I live for it. Saving the world is tough work and we've got to get our perks somewhere. Like right now?"

"Yeah, JimboMan?"

"I could use, for instance, an eskimo kiss, followed immediately by a butterfly kiss. How 'bout you, SuperGuppy?"

"Oh, yeah." Blair tilted his head to catch Jake's eye and asked, "Well, Jakemeister the Magnificent, what say you? You up to a few eskimo and butterfly kisses?"

"ab-so-lut-leeee! must give esk-eeeeemo and butterfly kisses now!"

Jake turned around and bracing himself on his knees, leaned forward and first bestowed a butterfly kiss against Blair's cheek, then they rubbed noses. Giggling, Jake crawled onto his other father's lap and repeated the process.

Smiling, Naomi asked, "Anybody ready for dinner?"

"yup! an we're having mac and cheesy!"

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go, Hoss," Jim said.

Taking Jake's hand, Blair helped him jump down from the couch and he, Jake and Jim followed Naomi into the kitchen.

"So tomorrow you two stake out the swap meet?"

Blair's head shot up at his mother's words. He immediately got up from his spot next to Jim, and upon reaching her side, placed a hand on her forehead. "Well, your skin is cool, so no fever."

"Blair?"

"Hey, I'm just checking, Mom. You used the word 'stake-out', and earlier, there was the whole 'toast' thing, you know?"

Naomi swatted her son's hand away and shaking a finger at him, said, "It's not nice to fool with your mother, SuperGuppy."

Holding his arms up in surrender, Blair said, laughing, "Whoa, back off, pistol -packing Grandma!"

"Dear, I think for -- pistols -- you need to address yourself to Jim."

For the second time that evening, both Jim's and Blair's jaws dropped.

"SuperGuppy? SuperGuppy?"

"What, you don't like it?"

Blair shifted onto his side, braced his head on his hand, and said, "But SuperGuppy? That's not very - you know - macho."

Jim flipped onto his side, and running a hand up and down Blair's arm, said, "Well, you are my SuperGuppy, right?"

"This is another reference to my height situation, isn't it?"

"Not at all," Jim quickly said.

"So it's an age thing? Because I'm younger?"

"Nope."

"So?"

"Gay - upwardly mobile - protector - and last but certainly not least - yapper."

"Were you planning on having sex with anyone in particular tonight?"

"Well ... the thought had crossed my mind, along with a few other things.
Why?"

"Yapper?"

"Okay, how 'bout--"

"Forget it, Ellison. The hole you've dug is way too deep now--"

"Nonsense. What I meant to say was, gay - upwardly mobile - protector - and ... yiddish," Jim finished proudly.

"Upwardly mobile?"

Jim reached down and began to stoke Blair's penis through his shorts. After a moment, he smirked and said, "Yeah,
'upwardly mobile'."

"Well, okay then. SuperGuppy rides again."

Blair rolled over onto Jim, and letting his hair trail across Jim's face, he added, "And tonight, I do the riding."

"Whatever, my little--"

"Jim," Blair said, warning in his voice. "...my handsome, tall, rugged, powerful, macho ... am I done yet?"

"A bit more groveling would be good."

"Sex would be better."

"True."

Blair captured Jim's mouth with his own and their laughter was exchanged through the kiss. They rolled about a bit, their mirth soon smothered by hot kisses only partially interrupted by Jim's fumbling for the necessary items. Blair took control then and quickly reversed their positions so that he was on the bottom. He raised his knees and with small moans, encouraged to Jim urgency.

Jim rose, planted his legs on either side of Blair, and with quick, practised strokes, prepared them both, while
stealing kisses at the same time.

Resting his lips against Blair's, Jim whispered, "Are we good to go, my superguppy?"

"If all my blood hadn't traveled south, I'd have a snappy comeback, JimboMan."

Smiling, Jim entered him in one fluid stroke. He stayed in place, holding back his passion as he watched the play of emotions crossing Blair's face. When Blair arched back, eyes tightly shut, Jim attacked the extended neck, suckling on the enticing adam's apple. He was really getting into it when strong legs suddenly wrapped around his waist. Before he could SuperGuppy three times, he was on his back, still buried to the hilt in Blair, who was grinning up at him.

Moving languidly forward, he said,
"Didn't I say that it was my turn to do the riding?" Blair hissed against Jim's temple. At Jim's barely controlled nod, Blair added, "Well then, riding is exactly what I'm gonna do."

Blair began to do exactly that and suddenly it was Jim's neck that was extended, his eyes that were closed, and his sounds of passion and pleasure filling the room.

Using the strength in his legs and nothing else, Blair moved up and down on Jim's dick, changing position just enough to ensure that his prostate was getting its full attention. When he felt his own impending orgasm, he'd slow, rock forward and clamp his lips over Jim's, eventually slowing to a complete stop while he excavated Jim's mouth.
When Jim clamped his hands on Blair's hips, begging him to move again, Blair would start rocking.

Sweat covered both men as they worked at extending their love-making beyond normal. Eventually, Jim had to come and he arched up as Blair moved down. With two more such moves, he came with, thanks to Blair's mouth, a muffled yell,

Blair, with a little help from Jim's hand on his dick, followed shortly thereafter. As the last of his orgasm shuddered through his body, he collapsed on top of Jim.

Fifteen minutes later, Jim, with just enough where-with-all to speak, said in amazement, "When did you learn that?"

Without lifting his head, Blair said sleepily, "I didn't. I read it. Cool, uh?"

"Roy Rogers should ride so good."

"Hey, Trigger always looked happy. For that matter, so did Buttermilk."

"No, Jake, we'll be home early, I promise. The swap meet closes down at one today, so we'll be back in time to go tree shopping, okay?"

"promuse?" Jake gazed up at his father, eyes wide and worried.

"I promise. And do you remember what we're doing tomorrow?" Blair asked with a sidelong glance at Jim.

Jake bit his lower lip and stared at the ceiling, then Jim leaned down and whispered in his ear, "va-rooom...."

Grinning broadly, Jake said, "yup! new cars!"

"You got it, Hoss. Now give me and Jim a kiss and we're off."

Jake's arms went up and Jim lifted. As Jake settled, he kissed Jim's cheek, then as he was allowed to drift forward, he dropped into Blair's arms and slobbered all over Blair's cheek. Putting Jake down, Blair laughed, and as he wiped his face, he said, "Good Jakeydoggy, good doggy."

"arf-arf!"

Blair stood a few yards from the busy entrance to the swap meet, foot tapping impatiently, two entry tickets being tapped just as impatiently on his open palm. A few moments later, he spotted Jim. When Jim reached his side, he said, "Megan and Joel all set?"

"Yep. They'll come in fifteen minutes after us. We'll take the west end, they'll take the east."

"But you need to cover the entire--"

Jim held up a hand and smiling, said, "I know, Chief, and we will. When we reach the back row, where the food is, we'll cross paths and repeat, but on opposite sides."

"Oh, okay." Blair glanced down at his feet and sighed. "Sure am glad I wore these shoes. We're gonna walk off the rubber."

Chuckling, Jim noticed that the gate was open and people, eager to spend their Christmas money on swap meet gifts, were heading inside. With an elbow into Blair's side, he said, "This is it, let's go."

"Are you filtering out all the smells okay, Jim?"

"Yeah, yeah, thanks to you."

"Hey, if you can find a guy in a sewer, you can find someone in here."

"Good point."

They were walking down aisle seven and had been at it for over an hour with no luck. The small transmitter in Jim's ear told him that the team of Conner of Taggert were having the same kind of luck.

According to Blair, they were looking for a stall that had a multitude of items ranging from clothing, toys, and shoes, to small electronics. According to the swap meet map, there were over twenty such stalls.

Feeling a hand on his back, Jim turned to look down at his partner.

"Jim, here's the other one, coming up on our left."

"Got it. And looks like the biggest one yet."

"Yeah."

Putting on their bored, where are our wives look, they strolled forward, and separating slightly, started perusing the goods. At one table, Blair stopped and started fingering a shirt, which brought Jim over.

"This one of the items, Chief?" he whispered.

"No, but look, a Harry Potter shirt, Jim. Jake would--"

At one look from Jim, Blair had the good sense to blush. "Right," he said sheepishly.

Rolling his eyes, Jim said, "I don't smell the gum, and so far nothing really matches so go ahead, earmark this stall and maybe later--"

Chuckling, Blair nodded, then shook his head and said, "We're so bad now."

"Speak for yourself, Charlie Brown."

"Oh, man, Jim, check this out."

Jim, used the outbursts now, turned to
find Blair standing in front of a large toy stall. On the ground, in the top of a box, a small electric puppy was yipping and jumping, and some weird stuffed animal apparently chasing a ball.

Shaking his head, Jim said,"Sandburg, you're impossible."

"Oh, come on, we know this one isn't the right one, and damn, this would be a perfect stocking stuffer. See? It's a like a ferret and there's this battery in the plastic ball and the ferret is attached but it looks as though it's chasing the ball. See?"

Biting back the chuckle that was threatening to erupt, he grabbed Blair's arm and led him away, saying, "Stall 42, aisle 17. Okay?"

"Oops. Sorry."

"Asshole," Jim said fondly.

"Yep."

"Jim, look, a palmcorder, same model as the one on our list, and it's the only one." He gave a covert nod to his right and added, "Aand over there, the Hermes bag, and there, the baby clothes--"

They were at the second to the last possible stall. Blair was talking sentinel soft, his eyes were on his partner, who was on the other side of the large stall. He watched Jim nod, then tap his nose.

The gum. Jim must smell the gum.

Blair watched Jim walk away and figured that he was giving Megan and Joel the word. Several minutes later, Blair spotted them hurrying up the aisle and stop next to Jim.

"Sir, may I help you?"

Blair whirled around and found himself facing their suspect. The man looked to be about forty-five, portly, a natural beard of white, and he was chewing gum. Gathering his wits, Blair held up the palmcorder and said, "I need two of these, but only see one here. Do you have anohter one by any chance?"

Their thieving Santa shook his head sadly. "I'm afraid not, sir. That's the only one left."

"May I see that?" Jim's voice came from behind Blair, and the suspect, gazing worriedly at Jim and the two people beside him, stepped back.

Blair handed it over and watched as Jim flipped the box over, then looked up and said, "Why, there's a name written on the back. It says, Jerry. How odd. A friend of mine was robbed last week and one of the gifts stolen was a palmcorder just like this one. See, my friend always writes the receipient's name on the gift before wrapping. Her son's name is Jerry. How do you explain that, Mister?"

The man took another step back, and before anyone could blink, he placed both hands on the edge of one of the display tables and pushed hard. The table was upended and items went flying as the suspect made his escape.

Batting purses and clothing away from their heads, Jim, Blair, Megan and Joel went into pursuit, Jim yelling out, "FREEZE, CASCADE POLICE DEPARTMENT!"

The guy continued his flight, knocking over patrons, shoving his way through stalls, and dislodging goods in his attempt to flee.

Blair noticed a stall with an opening in the back and immediately veered left, ran through it, turned right, and seconds later was tackling their suspect to the ground.

Jim thundered up alongside and catching his breath, watched with a grin as Blair flipped the guy over, Mirandized him, and cuffed him like the pro he'd become.

Spectators had gathered and as Megan and Joel came up, they yelled for everyone to stand back, and to please stay out of the way. Blair struggled up with his prize and gratefully handed him over to Joel.

"Nicely done, Chief. How's the arm?"

Blair rubbed his shoulder and rotated it a bit, then grinning, said, "Fine. And we have time to go back, buy those items we spotted, do our reports and get home before one."

Heading back to the stall that housed all the stolen items, dragging their suspect who was not protesting, Megan said, "Hey, if you guys are gonna buy some things, if I give you a list and Joel and I take this scumbag in, will you--"

Interrupting his partner, Joel added, "Yeah, me too. I wrote it all down--"

Jim froze in his tracks. Turning to face his fellow detectives, he said in a stunned voice, "This was a stake-out, right? When did police work turn into a Christmas shopping expedition?"

With a charming shrug, Blair answered, "Hey, you gotta learn to take your opportunities when they knock, you know?" Ignoring Jim's look of disgust, he said to Megan and Joel, "Here, give me your lists and we'll take care of it. And don't forget to give me the money too."

Watching the exchange, Jim had to admit that police work just wasn't what it used to be. If asked, he could track the change to the day Blair Sandburg started riding with him.

Okay, so maybe police work was better now.

"Wow," Blair exclaimed happily as he gazed at the packages on the floor of the truck. "We done good, Jim."

Glancing down, Jim had to admit, they did have a pretty terrific haul. They'd managed to find not only a slew of fun gifts for Jake, but found gifts for most of their friends. The truly fantastic find of the afternoon, though, had to have been the gift they'd found at a stall on Megan's list, namely a stall that specialized in items and clothing of the sixities. One look and Blair had known that he'd find the perfet gift for his mother, and he had.

"I still can't believe they had that Nehru jacket. You just don't know how upset Naomi was when our luggage was lost during one of our moves. I mean, that jacket was special because of the pattern. And to find a similar one, albeit in green and gold, well, we're talking major groovy, you know?"

"Why do I not think that when she bought the original, it didn't cost a hundred and ten bucks?"

"Hey, what can I say? She's been looking for that jacket for years. Now, thanks
to our case, we've got it for her. And I notice you didn't balk at spending fifty on that Woodstock poster for her."
"Yeah, well, I still can't believe you were there."

"Yeah, I know. Kinda wasted on a three month old baby, uh?"

"Why is it that I can see your mother, long hair flowing, probably flowers woven through it, wearing a daisy dress, and on her back, in a papoose; you."

"Um, because you've seen the pictures?"

"Oh, yeah. And boy, were you cute. Naked as a jaybird, crawling around on that blanket, surrounded by a horde of horny, drugged teens--"

"Please, don't remind me that you saw that picture."

"Yuk-yuk."

"Just drive. Let's hope that our everloving son is still at the park so that we can sneak this stuff into our bedroom."

"Actually, I'm thinking, thanks to our everloving, that we let Naomi take the stuff for Jake?"

"Ooh, good idea, Jim. We can wrap the stocking stuffers and other items at the loft on our lunch hours."

"We?"

"Yes, father Jim - we."

"Damn."

"He's so going to love that Harry Potter shirt."

"you caught 'em!" Jake was jumping up and down in the courtyard and gleefully announcing to anyone who'd listen, that his fathers had got the bad guys.

"Yeah, Jake, we did. And actually, your daddy tackled him and brought him down. Now Cherry's mom and dad will get their stuff back."

"yippee," the boy yelled as he launched himself at his fathers. Somehow, they caught him and Blair swung him up to perch between the two men as John and two other neighbors came up to congratulate the two detectives.

Everyone spent a few more minutes hearing about the caught evil-doer, but eventually Jim and Blair headed inside with their son.

Stepping inside,Jim said, voice revealing his excitement, "Hey, it's still pretty early, how 'bout we go car hunting right now?"

"yippeeee! wanna go car hunting, wanna go car hunting!"

"Sounds good to me, Jim. And maybe dinner at The Cove?"

"Good idea, Chief. How does that sound to you, Naomi?"

"You three go and have fun. I'm meeting Valerie again."

"You sure, Mom?"

"Yep. In fact, I'll head out now."

Saying her good-byes and receiving her kiss from Jake, Naomi left

As the door shut behind her, Jim gazed over at Blair and said, "Well, where should we start?"

"How 'bout the AutoFair out on the 91? It has the biggest selection of makers and they're known for being willing to deal."

"Sounds good. Is Ben Riley still taking the Volvo?"

"Yep, as soon as I find a replacement. He's gonna restore it for auto shows. And did I tell you," Blair said, as he grabbed Jake's jacket, "that he's interested in your truck. Maybe we should give him a call tonight?"

"Sounds like a plan."

Jake now stood between them, head moving from one to the other as they talked, a huge grin on his face.

"What about another Expedition?"

"No way, Jim. Bad karma all around. And don't even think about another F-150 either."

Jim was about to toss the appropriate retort in the direction of his partner, when his eyes glazed over and he pointed to his left.

"Jim, what? Are you okay?"

Jake, sitting on top of his father's shoulders, leaned to his side to peer at his Jimmy and tap his cheek.

"Look," Jim said breathlessly.

Both Jake and Blair followed Jim's pointing finger and Blair grinned.

Sitting on top of a rock for prominent display, and glistening in the afternoon sun, sat a shiny red, two-door, Ford F-350.

"Any bad karma associated with getting an F-*3*50?" Jim asked with a dopey grin.

"Jim? I'm thinking... over compensation? You know what they say about men and big--"

Jake, who'd been looking at the red car, let his eyes roam further west and suddenly started pounding the top of Jim's head in excitement. "lookey, lookey!"

"What, Jake?"

"that, that - much better, jimmy, much better!'

Following Jake's waving hand, Jim and Blair spotted another Ford, also posed enticingly on a similar rock, but on the other other side of the Ford lot's driveway. It was a black four-door, F-250.

Jim's eyes widened, and without tearing his gaze from the beautiful sight, he said, "We could compromise--"

To no one in particular, Blair said, "I think we just bought ourselves an F-250."

"Can we get the seat in the back with the built-in car seat?" Blair asked the car salesman.

The man, who'd identified himself as "Ricky" the moment he'd spotted Jim's adoring expression, nodded, saying, "Of course. No problem." He glanced down at the paperwork and wrote it in, then looked back up and said, "So, we've got the four-door F-250 with the built-in car seat, and you wanted the cab over, right?" At Jim's nod, the man went on.

"You want the black with the gray interior, which comes with the CD/tape player, remote key entry, cab shield--"

His voice went on with Jim nodding and Blair grinning at his partner. Jim had already scoped out the best deal possible, and with the discount this dealer offered to Cascade police officers and firemen, their bill was coming in at about twenty-eight thousand. They'd already decided to put ten down on any car or truck they'd ended up choosing, thus making their monthly payments more manageable.

With all the dealing and the discount, they were saving about five thousand on Jim's new truck.

"...delivery can be expected around the second week in January, which is pretty good considering we don't get many people ordering the F-250 with the built-in car seat. So," Ricky said, as he turned the paperwork around, "just sign here, and you've bought yourself a new truck. We're saving quite a bit of time, thanks to the Cascade City Employees Credit Union and the certificate you brought in. Just wish more people would think ahead that way."

Jim signed on the dotted line, then took out his checkbook and wrote out the downpayment. Tearing it out, he handed it over, supremely satisfied. His only regret was that he couldn't drive the
truck home.

"All right, I'll take this over to our business window and be back in a few moments with all the paperwork in an envelope." He walked away, leaving the three seated.

"we bought a car, daddy."

"Yep, we did. And with a built-in seat for you, Jake."

"yup! an we get to go ... camping ... in it, right?"

"We sure do," Jim affirmed. "As soon as it's Spring, we take you and the new truck on our first family camping trip. You get to sleep in a tent, in your sleeping bag--"

Jake, who was perched on the edge of the desk, hung his head at the words "sleeping bag". "don't have one anymore, 'member? i - messed - in it."

Jim leaned forward and whispered, "so ask santa for a new one."

Jake's head popped back up, his expression full of wonder. "santy?"

Blair, resting his hand on Jake's leg, said, "Yep, Santa. But make sure you tell Santa what kind of sleeping bag, okay?"

Jake's head swiveled around as he asked, "kind?"

"Like, maybe a Star Wars sleeping bag, or a Harry Potter sleeping bag, or one with your favorite toons on it?"

"oh." Jake said, as he started worrying his bottom lip. "gotta think on that, daddy."

"Yup," both Jim and Blair said, grinning.

"Okay, one vehicle down, one to go. Maybe a Mustang, Chief?"

Blair didn't respond right away, thanks to his gaze being fixed on the dealer across the small man-made river that wound its way through-out the dealerships.

"I'm thinking - if you can stick with Fords, I should stick with Volvos," he finally said thoughtfully.

"Well, sure. Like I always said, boxy but safe. Not your Volvo, of course, but other Volvos."

Blair snorted, then started walking toward the Volvo dealership.

Two hours later, no car.

"Chief, I'm guessing maybe Volvos are too boxy and too safe? Maybe we should look--"

"Chief" wasn't listening. His eyes had glazed over. Jim waved a hand in front of his suddenly comatose partner, then giving up, simply followed the bedazzled young man's gaze.

"Uh-oh," he said as he took in the sight. Ahead of them, surrounded by streamers flying in the December breeze, sat a metallic blue Volvo convertible. The C-70.

Blair moved over to the display car and as he lovingly ran his hand over the convertible top, Jim dropped his arm, the one not holding Jake's legs, over the salesman's shoulders and said, "Okay, let's deal."

"It's like having my Corvair back, only combined with my Volvo. It's like - wow," Blair said dreamily as they waited for their dinner order to be delivered.

Jim shook his head and grabbed another sourdough roll, broke it in two, slathered butter on it, then gave half to the wiggling fingers on his left. Jake munched happily as he listened to his parents.

"Blair, I swear, you're only thirty and yet, here you are, going through your second childhood."

"Hey, man, that car is solid. We got a good deal and the fact that it's a sports car, well, so?"

"So? How about everyone's gonna think my partner is on the take?"

Blair took the rest of Jim's roll out of his hand moments before it was popped into Jim's mouth, then popped it into his own. As he chewed, he said, "Very funny, Jim. Very funny."

"daddy, don't eat with your mouth full." "Jake, I should eat some other way? And did you just speak with your mouth
full?"

Jake giggled, then said, "um - yup!"

Their waiter appeared bearing food, and for the next several minutes, silence reigned while they enjoyed their steaks. Jim almost purred over his New York steak, while Blair hummed over each bite of his salmon steak. Jake slathered his hamburger steak in ketchup and stole croutons from his parents. He also dipped into Jim's baked potato, tried some of Blair's Potatos Anna, but always returned to his own french fries.

They ate hungrily and silently, but finally as Jim was finishing the last of steak, he said out of the clear blue, "What's amazing is that you could get the built-in car seat in a sports model."

Blair picked up the converstation as if had been going on since the meal started. "Not so surprising. This is Volvo, after all."

"True. But I get my truck first."

"By three days, Jim."

"Hey, three days is three days, Chief."

Jake snuck another crispy potato Anna from Blair's plate, then asked innocently, "so now we go get the chrismassy tree?"

"too small."

"I agree, Jake. Too small. And not enough branches. Okay, how 'bout this one?" Blair asked hopefully.

They were walking down the sawdust covered ground examining trees with more care than they'd given the cars, but Jake continually shook his head. Either the tree was too small, or too crooked or too thin, or too thick or smelled wrong or didn't smell at all.

Jake shook his head after sniffing the offering. "cherry's tree smells goooood. we havta have one that smells bedder!" he proclaimed.

Blair shoved Jim ahead and hissed, "Use every sense you have, man, and find him the tree!"

As he watched Jim head out, nose in the air, he had to admit to himself that the one good thing to come out of the Santa robberies had been the ability to decide how to celebrate Christmas.

Like Makeba and Terry, the Ellison-Sandburgs had decided to get the tree rather than let Santa bring it. They also had explained to Jake that Santa didn't bring all the presents because the family would give each other gifts and those would go under the tree before Christmas. Jake had loved the idea as much because it was what he knew from Cherry and because it came from his parents.

Which brought them to now, and the most difficult part of Christmas; picking the right tree.

A yell from Jim alerted both Blair and Jake that maybe, just maybe, Jim had found it.

Rushing to his side, and not a little breathless, Jake's eyes widened. He stepped up tentatively and sniffed, then moved to the back of the tree and sniffed again. He ran small fingers almost lovingly over the soft green needles, then sighed blissfully.

"you found it, my jimmy, you found it!"

Blair glanced upward and said softly, "Thank you God."

The tree, at least to Blair, appeared to be nearly perfect. It stood seven feet high, was beautifully proportioned, and even better, smelled delicious. He looked around, found one of the teens dressed as an elf, and waved him over.
"We'll take this one."

"Would you like it flocked?" the elf asked, only slightly bored.

"fluked?" Jake asked, puzzled.

"They can make it look as though there were snow on the tree, Hoss."

"snow?"

Blair suddenly got an inspiration. "Listen, can you do the partial flocking? You know, where the snow is resting only on the top of the branches?"

"Yeah, sure, we can do that. Only cost you fifteen extra too."

"Then do it. That way, we get the best of both worlds. A green tree, but with a smattering of snow. How does that sound, Jake?"

"purrrrr-fect!"

"Okay, this will take about twenty, but you can take the little one over to the other side. We have a pony ride."

Jim looked at the teen elf and said, "You just had to say that, didn't you?"

"Yes, sir," the young man said with a smile.

"horsey ride, let's go, daddy!" Jake began to tug at his fathers.

"but what 'bout my nomi?" Jake asked as they walked across the tree lot towards the tent and the ponies.

"She has her tree, Jake. Simon got it for her and you'll get to see it on Monday, okay?"

"kay, daddy, but i bet it isn't as bestest as ours!"

"I bet you're right," Jim stated with a smirk.

At that moment, Jake spotted the circular pen and the horses. He broke away from his fathers and ran toward the irresistable sight. Jim and Blair wisely hurried their footsteps.

Once up to the cashier, Blair forked over the two dollars and Jake, along with several other children, ran inside. Blair and Jim followed, and once Jake had picked out the horsey, Blair hefted him up and settled him in.

"Okay, you hold on here, this is called the pommel and your feet go here, in the stirrups. When the others are ready, the horses will start to go walk around. Okay?"

"'kay!" His eyes were shining and his hand was petting the beatiful black and white pony. As more children took to their saddles, Jake cooed, petted and stroked, almost disbelieving that this was a real horse. It was so much smaller than the one at Halloween, at the carnival.

Eventually, all the children were ready and Blair stepped to Jim's side as the horses started trotting.

"daddy, my jimmy, lookee, i'm riding!"

Jim gave him a thumbs up and Blair grinned broadly.