The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree is the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other. – Burton Hill.
The four year old sleepily blinked his green eyes as the early morning sunlight just starting to shine through the sheer curtains in his bedroom window woke him from a deep sleep. The child sat up slowly, rubbing tiny fists on said eyes as full consciousness returned with habitual slowness. The boy pushed back the covers and turned around to slide on his belly from the high four poster bed that was centered in the large bedroom. He expertly avoided the scattered toys that covered the thick brown carpet as he shuffled toward the connecting bathroom to take care of some urgent early morning business.
He was much more awake and aware as he climbed up on the wooden footstool his father had made for him so he could reach the sink by himself just like a big boy. His quick wrestle with the hand towel would have caused his father to sigh as the child hopped down to the floor with hands still dripping water in places. A quick swipe of his palms across his pajama bottoms solved this problem very handily.
The boy ran across the room, again dodging through the obstacle course of abandoned toys, and was proud that he no longer had to stand on his tippy-toes to reach the doorknob. With a quick twist of his hands the door opened and the boy pulled it back enough to slip through. He headed immediately to the bedroom right next to his.
Tiny feet hardly made a sound as they flew across the hardwood floor to the big sleigh bed where a large lump appeared under a mound of covers. Without hesitation, the child pulled himself up onto the bed and launched his little body at the lump that gave a deep groan and tried to curl into a ball as one bony knee landed in the lump’s unsuspecting midsection.
“Daddy! Wake up!” the boy squealed in delighted anticipation. “It’s Chriz’mas, Daddy! You got to get up so we can see what Santa brought us!”
A tousled blond head fought its way out from under the covers. Two sleep-bleared blue eyes watched the excited child bouncing on the bed with a love that couldn’t be overshadowed by the affectionate resignation the man felt as he kissed away any lingering hopes of getting more sleep that particular morning.
“Merry Christmas, Ez,” Vin Tanner told his son. Even though it had been over four years since he had become a father and anyone would have expected him to be used to it by now, Vin still felt the tiny thrill that played through his chest at hearing his son address him as Daddy. The wonder of having his very own family when he had been so long without one was something that he never took for granted. Vin reached out and dragged the boy under the covers with him for an early morning cuddle before the madness that was Christmas in the Tanner household descended on them.
Ezra snuggled his head under his father’s chin and hugged tightly. “Merry Chriz’mas, Daddy! We get to open the presents today, right!”
The child’s excitement was obvious and Vin had to chuckle at his little one. Relishing the feel of his child warm and safe in his arms, Vin let the happiness he felt reflect in his voice as he answered the preschooler. “Yep, Sprite. Today’s the day we see if Santa thought we were good this year or not.”
“I been good, Daddy!” Ezra hastened to assure him. ‘I been real, real good! Santa’s not gonna leave me no coal in my stocking.”
The child had been obsessed with the idea of Santa leaving lumps of coal if a child weren’t good from the moment Josiah had told him a story about it. Ezra had been determined ever since not to give Santa any reason to slight him that way.
“Any coal,” Vin corrected.
“Any coal,” Ezra obligingly repeated.
“Nope, I don’t think you have anything to worry about, Sprite,” Vin agreed. “But you do remember we decided we were going to wait for all your uncles to get here before we opened presents, don’t you?”
Vin had to bite his lip to keep from laughing at the dramatically resigned sigh the child gave before answering, “I r’member. But they’re coming soon, right?”
“Yep. Uncle Chris promised to be here right after he feeds the horses, and Uncle Nathan and Aunt Raine will be here as soon as she gets off work at the hospital.”
“What about Uncle Buck, and Uncle JD, and Uncle ‘Siah?” Ezra tilted his head back to look at his father curiously.
“Well, I have a bit of a surprise for you there,” Vin said and rolled onto his back pulling the child up to sit astride his stomach and using his knees as a backrest for the boy. “After you went to bed last night, the guys decided to sleep over. Uncle Buck and JD are in the guest room and Uncle Josiah is on the fold out couch in the den.”
Vin had to hold little hips firmly to keep Ezra’s excited bouncing on his father’s abdomen from doing permanent damage. An evil grin formed on the blond man’s face as he said, “Why don’t you go wish them a Merry Christmas while I grab a shower, then we’ll see about getting breakfast started.”
“Okay, Daddy!” the child cried enthusiastically at the idea and he flew from the room as though jet propelled.
Vin rose from his bed and headed for the bathroom with a wicked chuckle that turned into deep laughs as he heard the unmistakable sound of his son merrily pouncing on the unsuspecting sleepers in his guest room. The grin on his face as he looked at himself in the bathroom mirror was as big as the Grand Canyon. God, he loved that kid!
Vin shucked off the tee shirt and sweatpants he wore as nightclothes and stepped into the shower, sticking his head under the showerhead to wet his hair before reaching for the bottle of shampoo he kept on the recessed self of the shower enclosure. As he poured a dollop into his palm then rubbed it into his hair, he reflected on the last four years of his life and the changes that one tiny chestnut-haired, green-eyed imp/angel had made in it.
Vin had met Ezra’s mother, Nicole Standish, at The Saloon -- a bar owned by his long time friend Inez Recillos and a frequent gathering place for Vin’s team at the ATF. Nicole had been a waitress there for several months. They had traded smiles and small talk as she served him and his friends, but they had been nothing more than passing acquaintances. At least until the day that a bust had gone wrong and Vin had been unable to stop a gunman from putting a bullet in Josiah’s shoulder.
Vin had blamed himself for the screw up even though everyone had assured him that it was not his fault. He had stayed at the hospital long enough to make sure Josiah was going to be okay and then he had quietly slipped away and headed straight for the Saloon where he dived into a bottle of Jose Cuervo. Inez had been out on a date that night or she would have phoned one of his teammates the minute he started knocking them back. Nicole had been sweetly worried about him and had listened to him without judgment as he poured out the increasingly drunken tale of his life.
At closing time, she had refused to let him drive home and he had refused to tell her where he lived so she could order him a cab. She had eventually poured him into her car and driven him to her place. Her attempts to sober him up had only been partially successful.
To this day Vin was unsure if Nicole had been offering comfort in the only way she could or if her own loneliness had responded to his alcohol-inspired seduction attempts, but for whatever reason, they had wound up in bed together for a night of passionate pleasure of which he had only dim – if fond – memories. The next morning had found a hung over Vin staring in embarrassment at an equally embarrassed Nicole, both full of morning–after regrets. His leave-taking that morning had been awkward to say the least. The two had managed to mostly avoid each other for the next two months until Nicole had tracked him down and dropped the bombshell of impending fatherhood on him.
Still lost in his memories, his body continued the familiar morning bathing ritual on auto-pilot.
Vin felt his heart grow heavy as he recalled how shamefully he had reacted to the news at first. It had not been his finest hour that was for sure. In truth, he had been completely shocked when she told him which had almost immediately metamorphosed into a primal fear that triggered his fight-or-flight reflex. He had denied it and had literally run away from her and the possibility. It had only taken half an hour before he had settled enough to pull himself together and begin thinking again. He had immediately gone after Nicole, but it had been too late.
He had offered to marry her and give her and their child a decent home, but Nicole had refused -- shoulders straight with pride and determination shining in her eyes as she faced him down. She had informed him, in no uncertain terms, that she had not told him about their child because she needed a breadwinner. She had been surviving on her own since she was a teenager and she was more than capable of supporting herself and her child. She had only told him about the baby because it was the decent thing to do. She believed he had a right to know about his child and have a place in its life if he wanted, but she wasn’t part of the deal. She refused to be married out of a sense of obligation.
Vin had talked, argued, and pleaded with her right up until the time she went into labor, but to no avail. That one instant of blind fear when he had first been told the news had robbed him of any chance at a normal family life with his child. He had grieved for the loss of it.
Ezra Standish Tanner had been born in the middle of a thunderstorm one February night and Vin’s heart had been wrapped around the baby’s incredibly tiny finger immediately.
The child had inherited his mother’s chestnut colored hair and green eyes, but everyone had said Ezra had his chin and his nose. Vin hadn’t seen it, though. Ezra had not been a composite of himself and Nicole to Vin, but rather a tiny person complete in and of himself; the totally unique entity of Ezra.
And the most perfect creature to ever be put on the Earth. Vin had known that as absolute truth from the first moment he had held his son and had realized he was holding a miracle in his arms.
Nicole had been more than generous in allowing him access to their son and he couldn’t find fault with her as a mother. It had taken some convincing, but eventually Vin had talked her into accepting the money he wanted to give her for Ezra’s care. It helped soothe his conscience a bit, but there was still a deep hole burning in his chest when he thought about all that he was missing by not being in his boy’s life 24/7. So he had also convinced her to let him act as babysitter when she had to work, thus saving her the cost of child care and giving him more time with his son. She had agreed with his logic and from then on Vin could be found in her tiny two bedroom apartment at least five nights a week except for those times that he had to be on stakeout or out of town on an operation. He had relished the time spent with Ezra and had marveled at the speed that the child learned and grew. Ezra had soon become the center of his life.
His friends had opened their hearts to his son and become surrogate uncles. Each one doted on the baby boy, and they competed with each other to see who could spoil him the most. Nicole and Ezra had been welcomed to the team gatherings and had soon been absorbed into the close knit bunch. The guys had willingly taken on extra duties at times just to allow him to be free to spend time with baby Ezra without ever once asking for favors in return. Vin knew he owed his teammates more than he could ever repay.
As they had gotten to know each other a little better, Vin had found Nicole to be something of a kindred soul and they had become good friends. Although Vin would have been happy to push for something deeper, Nicole had insisted -- the one time he had dared to broach the subject -- that she wouldn’t accept him as a lover again. He had taken her refusal with good grace and had never brought it up again, but he had known that he could have loved her and taught her to love him if she had only given him the chance.
Not that he had really blamed her for her refusal. He had wounded her pride when she had told him about the baby that first day. He had discovered that when she was only a teenager she had spent a couple of years on the streets where pride was the only thing she could call her own. He had been there too, so he had known that it would have been easier for her to forgive him for taking a knife to her face than for slashing at her pride the way he had. It was a guilt he would live with for the rest of his life.
Vin had settled into a kind of happy routine until Ezra was nine months old then a phone call had shattered everything. Vin shivered in spite of the hot water beating on his shoulders as he rinsed the shampoo from his hair. The memory of that day could still shake the foundations of his soul. He remembered every minute as if it with such crystal clarity that it might have been only yesterday instead of over three years. Against his will his mind took him back to that awful day.
Flashback
Vin was writing up a report when the phone on his desk rang and, mind still focusing on the facts he was trying to get down on paper, he absently answered it.
“Tanner.”
“Vin?”
It took him a moment to recognize the shaken voice on the other end of the line as Nathan’s wife, Raine, who worked as a nurse in the ER of one of the area hospitals.
“Raine?” He asked with concern, drawing the immediate attention of his teammates.
Nathan leapt from his chair and hurried over to Vin’s desk to stand staring down at the sharpshooter worriedly, wondering what would have caused his wife to call his friend in the middle of the day.
“What’s the matter, Raine?” Vin asked gently, “You sound all shook up. You alright?”
“Oh, Vin,” Raine said and he was able to hear in her voice the tears that must have been flowing down her cheeks.
“Raine, you’re scaring me,” Vin said only half joking.
The deep breath she took was plain to hear over the phone connection as she struggled to pull herself together before she tried again. “Vin, you need to come to the hospital right away. There’s been an accident.”
Vin swore his heart stopped beating as his thoughts immediately flashed to Ezra.
“Ezra! Did something happen to Ezra? Raine! Tell me what’s wrong with my son!” Vin was on his feet shouting into the phone in panic by this time as the worst fear he had ever experienced overcame him.
“There was a wreck, Vin. Somebody broadsided Nicole’s car. It’s pretty bad, Vin. The EMT’s brought Nicole and Ezra in to the ER a few minutes ago. I recognized them and came to call you right away. You need to get down here right now, Vin,” Raine said, barely restraining the sob that wanted to break loose as she was now faced with the biggest nightmare an emergency room nurse ever faced: having someone she cared about come in as a trauma patient.
“I’m on my way. You take care of him for me, Raine! Do you hear! Don’t you let him die!” Vin yelled wildly.
Nathan was forced to wrestle the phone from him while Buck and Josiah held him back as he continued to shout at Raine in his terror. Nathan quietly spoke to his wife and hung up. Chris hustled Vin out of the office and stuffed him into the middle of the front seat of his Dodge Ram and Josiah shoved in beside him, the two men book-ending the distraught father to keep him from doing anything stupid. The rest of the team piled into their vehicles and followed after them to the emergency room.
A trembling Vin listened to Josiah recite prayer after prayer on the ride to the hospital and added a few heartfelt ones of his own. The drive was made in record time. Chris’ normally aggressive driving technique rose to new heights that day as he nearly ran two cars off the road and almost sideswiped another in his haste to reunite his friend with his son before it was too late. The whole drive was a surreal nightmare for Vin.
He ran through the emergency room doors -- batting furiously at the glass doors to open them when they slid apart too slowly to suit him in his terrified state -- and was met by Raine who was waiting in the ER waiting room for his arrival with her arms wrapped around her middle as if to hold herself together. Her red rimmed eyes and trembling mouth sent his fear into overdrive and he caught her by the shoulders and shook her before he knew what he was doing.
“Where is he?” he yelled, completely loosing control in his panic. “Where is my son?”
His teammates freed Raine from his hold and Nathan enfolded her in his arms trying to comfort her.
“He’s alive, Vin,” Raine told him reaching out from the safe haven of her husband’s hold to grab one of the distraught father’s arms. “I just talked with the doctor that examined him. Thank God he was in his car seat! Other than some bruises and scrapes and a bump on the head, he’s fine. They’ve moved him to the Infant Care Unit. The doctor wants to keep him over night for observation due to his age, but he doesn’t expect any problems. Ezra’s going to be okay, Vin. I’ll take you to him, but you have to calm down first. They won’t let you in to see him if you keep acting like this.”
Vin suddenly felt like someone had stolen the bones from his legs as he sank towards the floor, overcome with relief at the news. Chris and Buck caught him before he reached it and the others surrounded him protectively as the pair helped him make it into a chair in the ER waiting room while he tried to recover enough to go up and see Ezra.
He lifted his head to thank Raine for calling him and taking care of Ezra until he could get there when he noticed she had her face buried in Nathan’s chest and her shoulders were shaking as she cried softly. Confused, and beginning to get worried again, Vin suddenly realized what Raine hadn’t mentioned.
“Nicole! What about Nicole? Is she okay?” Vin asked urgently.
Raine broke down and began sobbing as she turned to face him, her face a mask of sorrow. “I’m so sorry, Vin. She was gone before they made it to the hospital. The EMT’s tried everything, but they couldn’t revive her. I’m so very sorry.”
Tanner felt like someone had sucker punched him in the gut. For a moment, he couldn’t seem to pull any oxygen into his lungs.
“Oh God, no! Nicole,” he moaned and buried his face into his hands. He barely felt the hands that were laid on his shoulders in comfort as this friends drew near again to offer their support.
Vin existed in something of a daze for the rest of the day. The only thing that kept him grounded at all was Ezra. The baby had been sore and cranky and didn’t like all the paraphernalia the hospital staff deemed necessary to monitor him properly, and the child made his objections known...quite often... at very high volume. Vin had been the only one that could calm the baby and he had spent the whole night just holding and rocking Ezra while the baby slept.
Not that he minded holding him all night. Vin still suffered from the shock and fear he had felt when confronted with the possible loss of his child, as well as the grief over Nicole’s death. He unequivocally refused to let the boy leave his arms even when the doctor or nurses wanted to examine him. The very patient, if wary, staff managed to work around him, which was a good thing because as on-the-edge as Vin felt anyone trying to separate him from his son would have been taking their life into their hands.
“Daddy?”
The high pitched voice calling through the bathroom door focused his attention back on the present, and Vin looked through the clear glass of the shower stall to see the door open and Ezra stick his head in. “Uncle Buck said to tell you that we’re going to T’wanna for breakfast since there isn’t any in the kitchen. He said to tell you that we’ll be back eventually.
Daddy, what’s T’wanna? And why do we gots to go there? I thought we was gonna open our presents.” His bottom lip pooched out far enough to let anyone looking know just exactly what the child thought of anything that would postpone Christmas morning’s gift opening.
Vin smiled at his pouting son, and assured him, “Uncle Buck was just teasing. Tijuana is a city in Mexico, and it’s too far from Denver to go just for breakfast. We’re still going to open our presents as scheduled, so don’t worry, Munchkin. I’ll be out soon to start breakfast. Why don’t you tell Uncle Buck to lift you up so you can flip the switch on the coffeemaker? Coffee ought to hold them for a little while longer.”
A very relieved four year old grinned happily at his father and told him, “Okay, Daddy. I’ll tell him,” and the door slammed shut with a bang as the child left again. “Uncle Buck!” The little boy yelled as he ran down the hall, “Daddy said you was just teasing. That’s not nice! That’s like telling a fib! You’re gonna get coal in your stocking if you don’t be good!”
Vin smiled and shook his head with a parent’s long suffering patience. One of these days he was going to get that boy to stop running in the house and yelling at the top of his lung. One of these days.
Vin quickly finished his shower. By the time he emerged from his bedroom, dressed and ready to meet the day, Josiah had already had a skillet full of bacon cooking and was chopping onions and green pepper for Western-style scrambled eggs. A chortling Ezra was riding Buck piggy back and the man was jumping and twisting around as he attempted to “protect” the boy from JD as the younger man made feinting grabs for the child. Vin stood in the doorway of his den and shook his head in exasperation. It was no wonder that he had problems teaching Ezra how to behave indoors with that rowdy pair around.
Vin cleared his throat and silence descended as three pair of guilty eyes turned his way. “Merry Christmas,” he said, letting it go this time without the scolding the others were expecting since it was Christmas and he felt too good.
“Merry Christmas, Vin,” JD called to him with such youthful enthusiasm that it made Vin wonder if he had ever been that young even though only a few short years separated them chronologically.
“Merry Christmas, Pard.” Buck added his own season’s greetings and swung Ezra over his head, flipping the boy head over heels to set his feet on the floor.
Ezra crowed with delight at the maneuver, a sound that pulled a loving smile from his father as he listened with true enjoyment to the happy noise. The boy immediately raced to his father and leapt into the arms that reached out with practiced ease to intercept one of Ezra’s infamous flying leaps. He hauled the child up onto his hip and rubbed noses with the grinning boy before returning his attention to his guests.
“You guys sleep okay?” Vin asked, trying to be a good host. It was not a skill that he had much experience with having lived a hand-to-mouth, homeless existence for so much of his life, but his friends could have told him that his natural generosity and a innate courtesy helped smooth over whatever rough edges he had in that department.
“The sleeping was fine,” Buck answered with voice full of irony, “It was the waking that almost did me in.”
Vin laughed and ruffled Ezra’s hair. “He makes a mighty fine alarm clock.”
Buck grinned fondly at the smiling child and answered, “That he does, Pard. That he does. Just sometimes wish we could find his snooze button!”
Vin and JD laughed at their smirking teammate.
“I’m going to go help Josiah with breakfast. I think you three have your own job to do,” Vin said looking pointedly at the two men and jerked his head back in the direction of the bedrooms.
“What’s that?” a puzzled JD asked.
“I believe somebody -- two somebodies to be exact -- were supposed to help Ezra clean up the mess they all made in his bedroom last night right before bedtime? Sound familiar?”
“Ahh, Vin! It’s Christmas,” JD whined in protest. “It can wait to tomorrow, can’t it?”
Vin looked him squarely in the eye and gave an unequivocal, “No.” Although he was in a Christmas mood, he wasn’t stupid enough to agree to that one, not after the last time.
“Come on, Vin. Be a sport. Just this once?” JD pleaded.
Vin stared him down and simply stated, “Thanksgiving.”
JD’s shoulders immediately slumped in defeat at the reminder of a similar promise given the past holiday that had gone spectacularly unfulfilled. JD’s head dropped with guilt as he recalled the mess that he and Buck had blithely left for their teammate to clean up as they slipped out to pursue other holiday plans. Vin had wised up this holiday. No slack would be cut the pair this time.
“Okay,” the young agent conceded with guilt-inspired grace. The younger man crossed the room, lifted Ezra from his father’s arms, and tossed the pajama clad body over his shoulder. “Come on, Munchkin. The sooner we start the sooner we’ll be done and can have some real fun.”
“You too, Bucklin,” Vin glared severely at the grinning mustachioed man who was about to drop into one of the recliners in front of the fireplace.
Buck glanced speculatively at the sharpshooter, calculating the odds of getting out of the clean up detail, and finally decided it was better to knuckle under and give in with good grace. Vin had extracted his own brand of revenge after the last time, and Buck really didn’t need to be fighting off another bunch of marriage-minded women like he had when Vin had put his picture and phone number in a classified ad in one of those matchmaking magazines. Buck still had nightmares about a few of the women that had hounded him for a couple of weeks after that.
And he’d yet to figure out how Vin had gotten JD assigned to the local schools for the annual crime awareness week that had him wearing the big, goofy --not to mention stiflingly hot-- dog costume for five less-than-fun-filled days. JD still shuddered every time they drove home by the elementary school in their neighborhood. No, it was definitely not worth the risk.
Vin watched with satisfaction as the other man walked out of the den and down the hall to join in the clean up effort of the disaster area otherwise known as his son’s room. He was getting better at this discipline thing he told himself smugly.
Chris arrived just as Vin and Josiah were finishing up the breakfast preparations and Buck and JD were racing a laughing Ezra back to the den after putting away their mess.
“Uncle Chris!” the little boy screamed in delight at the sight of the man letting himself in the front door, arms loaded with packages. “Merry Chriz’mas!”
Chris hastily knelt and set his gifts on the floor in preparation for the flying assault he knew from past experience was coming his way. The one that had inspired him to bestow the nickname of Rocky on Ezra -- as in the flying squirrel of cartoon fame. Ezra didn’t let him down. The child threw himself at his father’s boss and best friend with adoring abandon.
It never once occurred to Ezra that Chris wouldn’t catch him. Chris always caught him. So did the rest of his uncles. This time was no different as the blond man grasped him under the arms and rose with one smooth motion, tossing Ezra up in the air and catching him again. Ezra whooped with enthusiastic delight and wrapped both arms around Larabee’s neck, pressing his smooth check against the man’s newly shaved one then giving him the noisy smack of the lips that was the Ezra version of a kiss.
“Merry Chriz’mas, Uncle Chris! Merry Chriz’mas!” Ezra said excitedly as he stopped hugging and pushed back to look into Chris’ face. “Guess what! Uncle Buck and Uncle JD and Uncle Josiah got to have a sleep over with us last night! They stayed so they’d be here to open presents first thing. Well not really first thing, ‘cause Daddy says we gotta eat breakfast first and we had to cleaned-ed my room ‘cause we didn’t last night ‘cause I had to go to bed, but we did that this morning already, and anyway Daddy said we had to wait for you and Uncle Nathan and Aunt Raine to get here, but you’re here now, so we just gotta wait for Uncle Nathan and Aunt Raine and then we can open ‘em.
I can’t wait ‘cause I know I’ve been a really, really, good boy this year and Santa is gonna bring me lots of toys and stuff, and I’m not gonna get coal in my stocking ‘cause that’s what bad boys get from Santa when they’re not good, but I been good, and Daddy said so, too.” The child paused long enough to gulp a quick breath.
“You got a big pile of presents there, Uncle Chris. Are those for me? Daddy and me got you one, but I can’t tell you what it is ‘cause it’s a secret, and Daddy said it would take all the fun out of it if I told you what it was before you got to open it yourself, but I know you’re gonna like it ‘cause it’s really cool. We got somethin’ for Uncle Buck, too, and Uncle JD, and Uncle...”
A grinning Chris put his palm across the little boy’s mouth to stop the flow of words long enough to get a few of his own in.
“Merry Christmas to you too, Rocky, and to answer your question... yes, I do believe there are one or two boxes there with your name on them,” the blond man told him fondly, settling the child more comfortably on his hip.
The little boy immediately craned his neck toward the boxes trying to guess which ones were his with a child’s innocent greed that made Larabee laugh out loud.
“Merry Christmas, Chris,” Vin called out as he walked out of the kitchen to greet the new arrival, and the others added their own season’s greetings as well.
JD stepped around the man still holding the child and swept up the pile of boxes. “I’ll put these under the tree for you,” he said cheerfully.
Larabee called his thanks before Ezra captured his attention again with by placing a hand on each side of his face and turning Chris’ face back towards himself.
“We gotta eat breakfast, then as soon as Uncle Nathan and Aunt Raine get here we can open presents. You ready to eat?” the child asked, his desire to get through all the father-decreed preliminaries as quickly as possible so that they could get to the good stuff -- namely opening gifts-- was totally transparent.
“Well,” Chris began in a considering tone, “if it’s going to be some time before Nathan and Raine get here, then I don’t see why we shouldn’t make the best of the available opportunity and go fix that piece of fence your Daddy was telling me needed replacing.” Blue eyes danced in the otherwise serious face as Larabee teased the boy in his arms. “I don’t suppose it would take more than, oh, two...three hours, right Vin? Then it’d be done and we wouldn’t have to worry about it any more. THEN we could eat breakfast and open gifts.”
“TWO HOURS!”
Chris had to struggle to contain his laughter at the horrified look on the boy’s face. He knew for a four year boy an hour was a long time; two hours was an eternity.
“DADDY!” The child turned pleading eyes to his grinning father. Chris finally lost his battle to keep a straight face and burst out laughing, sparking chuckles from the rest of the watching adults.
Vin reached out and took the now pouting child away from his best friend and bounced the boy in his arms a few times before pulling him close for a reassuring hug. “Uncle Chris is just playing with ya, Ez. Nobody is gonna be mending fences today. I promise.”
This earned Larabee a scowl from the relieved four year old and a tiny finger rose to shake in front of the man’s face as Ezra scolded, “That’s not nice, Uncle Chris. Santa’s not gonna like you telling fibs. He’s gonna leave you coal instead of candy and stuff if you be naughty -- like Uncle Buck!”
While Buck sputtered his denials of this, Chris stepped forward to ruffle the boy’s hair and bent forward to put his face close to Ezra’s as he said with affection, “I’m sorry for teasing you, Rocky. Am I forgiven?”
Ezra immediately leaned forward and wrapped his arms the man’s neck and hugged hard, unknowingly almost throttling the man in the process. “It’s okay, Uncle Chris. I still love you.”
Larabee was glad his head was lowered and turned away from the others when his eyes got slightly damp with the emotion that overcame him. It always hit him hard when Ezra said those words. He sometimes marveled at how much this one precious little child had come to mean to him.
After the death of his family, Chris felt like his heart had turned to stone. He pushed people away and built walls to keep them out, not wanting to be hurt like that ever again. Even Buck had eventually had to step away or risk killing a piece of his own soul by watching his oldest friend self destruct and knowing he wouldn’t be allowed to help him.
Chris had lived that way for years before Orin Travis had put him in charge of a new kind of ATF group and he had drawn together the five men that had formed his team; the men that had ever so slowly begun carving chinks into his once impenetrable wall allowing the feeling of family to creep in as slowly and stealthily as the midnight mist. Then Ezra had been born and with one look into those amazing green eyes every last wall had fallen faster and harder than those of Jericho.
He had become ‘Uncle’ Chris and had sworn to himself to protect this child as he had been unable to protect his own. It had been his chance for a kind of personal redemption and he had grabbed it with both hands and never let go. Nothing bad would ever happen to Ezra if Larabee had anything to say about it!
“Love you too, kiddo,” Chris answered softly, meaning the words with all that he was.
Vin watched his son and his best friend interact with perceptive eyes. Knowing Larabee would turn defensive at the least show of teasing about the exchange, Vin glossed over it by redirecting everyone’s attention to the one thing guaranteed to get the group moving. “Alright, everybody in the kitchen before breakfast turns to icicles.” This caused a very predictable stampede toward the kitchen, much to his amusement. Vin followed behind with Ezra on his hip and a happy grin on his face.
Vin walked into the kitchen and sat Ezra in his booster chair. The child waited patiently as his father reached over to the napkin holder in the middle of the table and snagged one of the paper napkins that he flicked open and tucked into the neck of Ezra’s pajamas. Vin took his own chair at the head of the table, next to the child.
After an eloquent prayer from Josiah, the platters of hash brown potatoes, eggs, bacon, and biscuits were passed around -- as well as a big bowl of the creamy country gravy that was Vin’s claim to culinary fame -- accompanied by much laughter and teasing. Conversation was lighthearted as the group fueled up for the day. Nathan and Raine arrived halfway through the meal causing a flurry of greetings before places were cheerfully made for them at the table.
Raine stopped by Ezra’s chair to grin down at the boy looking up at her with a welcoming smile wreathed in smears of gravy before leaning over and placing a kiss on the chestnut curls.
“Merry Chriz’mas, Aunt Raine!” he called out around a mouthful of biscuit. “You’re finally here. I been waiting all morning for you and Uncle Nathan; hours and hours!”
“It’s always good to be missed,” the smiling woman told him and gently pinched the end of his nose.
“Merry Christmas, Ez,” Nathan stopped by the booster chair long enough to drop his own kiss on the top of the tumbled curls before continuing on to his chair. “You think Santa Claus has been good to us this year?” He asked with a grin as he sat and reached for the plate of eggs Buck was passing his way. He helped himself and held it for Raine as she scooped some onto her own plate.
“I think so, Uncle Nathan,” Ezra said as he licked a smear of gravy off the handle of his fork before grabbing it again – with a hand covered in more gravy than the fork had been. “We been good. At least, I know I have.”
“Hmm, do you think Santa is going to take into account the time last month when you wandered out of the yard while your Daddy and Uncle Chris were trying to replace the den window and we all had to come look for you?” Buck asked with ironic innocence.
Ezra looked a little uncomfortable and appeared to be thinking hard before he replied, “That was a ax-dent. Santa don’t count ax-dents as being bad.”
“Was it an ‘ax-dent’ when you left Uncle Chris’ yard while you were visiting him and ended up at his pond, where you wound up falling in and having to have your Daddy jump in after you to keep you from drowning?” Josiah asked with soft irony.
“I just forget-ed,” the boy was looking around defensively. “Santa knows I didn’t mean to fall in the pond. And I wouldn’ta drowned! I know how to swim!”
Vin barely repressed the quiver of remembered fear at the memory of watching Ezra flailing in the chilly waters of Larabee’s pond as his head started to slip under the surface before Vin could get to him. Vin pushed the memory away, determined not to let it sour the day.
“Splashing in the bath tub is not the same as knowing how to swim, Ezra,” Vin leveled a stern ‘Daddy means business’ look at the boy. “And like I told you then, if I ever catch you near that pond again or any other kind of water hole -- including a swimming pool -- without an adult holding your hand then I will promise that you won’t be able to sit down comfortably for a week. Is that understood, son?”
Ezra swallowed and his little head quickly bobbed several times to indicate the message had been received loud and clear. Even at four years old, Ezra was already aware that when his Daddy made a promise then he kept it. That was one promise Ezra did not want him to have to make good on. Vin nodded once but kept his stare on the boy for a moment longer to reinforce his seriousness before turning back at his own breakfast.
“What about the Fourth of July when he snuck out to the fireworks you had waiting in the barn and almost set the whole thing on fire?” JD couldn’t help reminding them all of the frenzied free-for all that followed that escapade as the teammates had scrambled out of the way of bottle rockets and other assorted pyrotechnic devices after Ezra had managed to set them off by placing a lit punk too close to the where the rockets had been laid out in preparation for Vin's and Chris’ planned show at dusk.
Ezra peered up at his father and said with an angelic countenance, “That’s another ax-dent. It don’t count either.”
“There seems to be a pattern developing here though,” Raine said, only half teasing. “Whenever you wander away from where the adults are, you wind up in some kind of trouble. I wonder why that is?”
Ezra shrugged and turned back to his breakfast, determinedly ignoring her question with the ‘attention to inattention’ that only a preschooler could pull off. The rest of the folks gathered around the table just shook their heads at the boy’s dogged ingenuousness and laughed.
“He doesn’t always forget what he’s told though,” Josiah amused voice broke the short silence. “I remember when he wanted to make smores but had been told he wasn’t supposed to touch the stove or the microwave so he put a bunch of graham crackers, marshmallows and chocolate bars in the dryer and turned it on high heat to melt it all. You can’t say he didn’t mind then.”
The adults sniggered and laughed at the memory of the mess in Vin’s dryer and the innocently befuddled look on Ezra’s face when Vin had caught him at it and sent him to his time out chair. Vin had been torn between anger at the mess and paternal pride at the child’s ingenuity.
“What about when you poured the regular dish soap in the dishwasher, Ez, and it oozed suds all over the kitchen?” A chuckling Buck asked as he remembered that scene.
“I was being Daddy’s helper!” The boy defended himself indignantly.
“Or the time you...” Nathan began only to come to an abrupt halt when a tiny sniffle brought all eyes to the little boy sitting at the end of the table by his father.
Emerald eyes were filling with tears and a tiny chin was beginning to tremble as Ezra looked at his uncles and his aunt with the eyes of a wounded puppy and said in voice full of hurt feelings, “You think I’m bad. You think Santa’s gonna think I’m a bad boy and not bring me anything but coal. I’m not bad. I’m NOT!”
Vin pushed his chair back from the table and reached over to pull the distressed little one into his lap. “You’re not a bad boy, Sprite. In spite of whatever trouble you get into, we all know you’re the best little boy in the whole world. And Santa knows that too. Even if you have the occasional accident and sometimes forget to do what you’re told, you’re my good little boy and I still love you, and I always will.”
“We’re sorry, Ez,” JD said softly. “We were only teasing with you. We didn’t mean to hurt your feelings. You’re Daddy’s right. We do all know you’re the best boy there ever was.”
“And Uncle Chris will personally take it up with anybody who says differently,” the blond man told the boy while glaring balefully around to let everyone know he meant it. Leaning over closer to the father and son, he chucked Ezra under the chin with fond encouragement.
“There, you see? Everyone agrees. All better now?” Vin asked wiping a tear from Ezra’s cheek and hugging him.
Ezra sniffled and snuggled close to his father while he looked at the others around the table bit uncertainly. “They think I’m a good boy?” he asked in a tiny voice.
“Yes, ‘they’ do,” Josiah assured him.
The boy knuckled a little fist to his eye to wipe away a final teardrop. “Okay,” he said with a most uncharacteristic meekness.
“That’s my boy,” Vin said encouragingly and he pulled Ezra close for another hug before setting him back in his own chair. “Now why don’t you finish up your breakfast so we can get this show on the road.”
Ezra obediently picked up his fork and began eating again, the occasional sniff the only evidence of the tiny tempest. Conversation resumed and the meal finished without further problems.
Everyone pitched in for cleanup, working around an increasingly excited four year old, and finally the moment Ezra had been waiting for arrived. Ezra looked up eagerly as his father hung up the dishtowel he had just used to wipe down the counter and turned around to face the waiting child.
“Now, Daddy?” Ezra asked bouncing in place and every muscle vibrating with anticipation. “Now?”
Vin grinned and nodded, “Yep. Now, Sprite.” The words were barely out of his mouth before Ezra was shrieking out his joy and tugging on his father’s hand pulling him toward the living room where the Christmas tree had been set up the weekend after Thanksgiving.
“Come on, Uncle Chris!” Ezra urged over his shoulder as he tugged at Vin’s hand. “Everybody, let’s go!”
His laughing aunt and uncles followed along behind with good-natured compliance at the four-year-old’s impatient demand. The tiny boy’s naive excitement over this Christmas tradition lightened the hearts of the older, more world weary members of this heart-built family. Buck, JD, Nathan, and Josiah made a show of choosing just the right spot for the great unwrapping ceremony temporarily snaring Ezra’s attention and causing the boy to giggle at their escapades. Vin was almost too occupied in watching the show himself to notice Chris slip into the room a few minutes behind the others and quietly take a seat in one of the upholstered chairs in the living room.
Vin looked at the other man with a eyebrow raised in a silent question, but Larabee avoided his eyes by turning to watch the others with a smile. Vin could have sworn he saw Chris give a barely perceptible nod to Buck when the man looked Larabee’s way, but it happened too quickly for him to be sure and Ezra was demanding his attention so he shrugged it off.
Vin leaned over to pull Ezra over to stand beside the chair the sharpshooter was seated in as the rest of the group finally seemed to settle. “Well, Ez, let’s get to it,” Vin teased giving Ezra a little tickle. “We’re all ready to open gifts. You need to stop holding everybody up.”
“Daddy!” the child laughingly squealed as he squirmed and wiggled to get away.
“Yeah, Squirt, let’s get the lead out,” JD told him cockily.
“Times a wastin’, little Pard,” Buck said with twinkling eyes.
“Why don’t you do the honors, Ezra,” Josiah told him affectionately and gestured toward the brightly lit tree.
Ezra did not need to be asked twice but leapt for the gifts under the tree. JD joined him and sat cross-legged by the boy to help by reading the labels but allowing the boy to pass out the wrapped boxes to their new owners. Once everyone had a gift, they opened them together.
“Look it, Daddy!” Ezra squealed waving a plastic form around to show his father, “It’s an M’peril Occiffer!”
“Hey, you didn’t have that one, did you?” Vin asked indulgently as he fended off the Star Wars action figure that Ezra almost whacked him in the nose with. Ezra was a devoted fan of all the Star Wars movies and had quite a collection of the movie figures already.
“Maybe it will go along with this,” JD told him with a knowing grin as he pushed a large box toward the boy who pounced on it with abandoned glee.
“The Milimimum Fal-come! Daddy, I gots a Milimimum Fal-come! Thanks Uncle JD! Now Han Solo can fly Luke and Obe-One around like in the movies!”
“You’re very welcome, Squirt,” JD said as the boy threw both arms around the man to hug him with happy enthusiasm.
Over the next hour, mounds of toys, clothes, and games vied with mountains of crumpled wrapping paper for space in the large room as the piles of presents under the Christmas tree dwindled until the last one was passed over to its owner and opened. Ezra had had a ‘rippin’ good time and the adults enjoyed experiencing the wonder of the ages old Christmas tradition through the four year old’s eyes.
“You got a real haul this year didn’t you, Rocky?” Chris said watching the boy playing on the floor surrounded by the untidy heaps of his Christmas gifts.
A wide, satisfied smile and a happy giggle was his answer as Ezra sprawled out on this stomach to get eye level with his new Millennium Falcon model while he wiggled one of the new Star Wars figures he had received making it walk on top of the plastic toy.
“You know, I think Santa may have left one more gift for you,” Chris said mysteriously and Ezra’s head whipped up.
His face lit with expectation. He scrambled up to hurry over to Larabee’s chair and crawled into his lap. “There’s nothing else under the tree,” Ezra told him after visually searching the area and he looked at his uncle questioningly.
Chris grinned and told him, “I don’t think this one fit under the tree.”
“Then where did he leave it?” Ezra asked curiously.
Chris gave a wink and then a sharp whistle. Within seconds a clickety-click could be heard on the hardwood floors of the hall outside the living room and a black and white furred head appeared around the doorway. The body followed a moment later to reveal a medium sized, black and white Border Collie. The dog walked into the room, his alert head swinging around to take in the new room and its occupants, and closer to the blond haired man who’s arms were suddenly full of joyfully bouncing little boy.
“A DOGGIE! It’s a doggie! Santa left me a doggie!” Ezra shrieked in delight then scrambled out of Chris’ lap and would have hit the floor at a run if the man had not been quick enough to wrap an arm around the boy’s waist to halt the mad dash toward the canine.
“Not so fast, Rocky,” Chris told him firmly. “He doesn’t know you so you can’t rush up to him. You could startle him. He’s a gentle dog but even a gentle dog will bite if you scare him. You need to go slowly and let him get used to you, okay?”
“Okay,” Ezra agreed but his attention was obviously on the dog that had come to a stop in the center of the room and sat on his haunches.
Chris released the child who walked slowly over to the waiting dog and reached out with a tiny hand. The dog sniffed it and gave it a few good licks that caused Ezra to giggle as it tickled his fingers. Within seconds a laughing Ezra was kneeling with both arms wrapped around the dog who was enthusiastically licking the boy’s face, tail wagging happily.
Vin sat in his chair looking at his son who was enraptured by the dog, and turned to look as his smug friends with a frown.
“A dog? Was that your bright idea, Larabee?” he said in an annoyed voice kept low so Ezra wouldn’t hear – not that the child was paying any attention to anything but his new friend.
“Actually it was from all of us,” Buck answered soto voce.
“Don’t you think it would have been a good idea to ask me before you went ahead and decided to get him a dog!” Vin hissed. “Ezra is too young to take care of a pet.”
“Vin.” Chris’ serious tone caused the blond sharpshooter to glance over at him. “You are great father. You do a wonderful job raising Ezra. There is no arguing with that, but Ezra is a handful for one person to handle.”
“Don’t get us wrong, we think he’s a great kid,” Buck jumped in to assure him, “but he’s too smart for his own good sometimes and can be sneakier than a polygamist at a family reunion when he gets an idea stuck in his head. We’re not always available to help you when you need it.” Buck looked a the others wryly and continued, “Not that that’s a guarantee cause even when there are more of us here helping, he still manages to give us the slip sometimes and get into trouble.”
Chris claimed Vin’s attention again by saying, “After that dunking Ezra took in my pond, we decided we all needed a helping hand in keeping that boy corralled. So we got together and bought Ezra the dog. It’s a fully trained Border Collie. What do you know about Border Collies?”
“Can’t say I know anything about that breed in particular,” Vin admitted warily. “What’s so special about it?”
Chris’ smile was full of satisfaction as he informed the waiting man. “Border Collies are highly intelligent and hard-working dogs that are easily trained. They thrive on games and are very eager to please. They’re even tempered and very obedient, and they will herd just about anything...including children.
Once you show him the boundaries that you want Ezra to stay in, the dog will help keep him there or make a ruckus to get your attention if he can’t. It will be like having a second set of eyes watching him all the time.
We didn’t give him the dog because we were trying to supersede your right to make decisions for your own son, Vin. You’re his father and we acknowledge that and all it means when it comes to Ezra. We just want to help you keep him safe. We care about him, too.”
Completely disarmed at the speech, Tanner drew in a deep breath then let it out slowly, the action puffing out his cheeks. He looked at the five men and one woman watching him as they waited for his reaction. He realized that although they may have overstepped themselves a bit their hearts were in the right place. They were trying to look out for his son, and give him a little more peace of mind where Ezra was concerned at the same time. He could not be angry with them for acting like the good, caring friends that they were.
“So does this dog have a name?” He said -- still not ready to let them off the hook.
“His name’s Checkers,” Nathan answered.
“We got him bowls and a bag of food, too,” JD hastened to let him know.
“And the breeder who trained him gave us a folder that lists all the commands he responds to,” Buck added.
“He really is a very sweet tempered dog,” Raine assured him. “He’ll be great with Ezra.”
“And every boy needs a dog,” Josiah pronounced. “It’s almost a rite of passage.”
Vin looked at his son rolling around on the floor with the dog and sighed. He tried not to think about the scene that would ensue if he were to tell his now smitten son the dog was not staying. Six sets of cajoling eyes watched him expectantly and, knowing a hopeless battle when he faced it, Vin ran up the white flag. “Sounds like a good addition to the family.”
Five uncles and one aunt grinned at his acceptance of the gift that, he had realized, was meant as much for him as for his son.
Vin nodded then called to his son, “Hey Ez, why don’t you bring Checkers over here so we can get acquainted?”
&&&&&&&
The clock was striking eight o’clock when Vin finally headed his son to his bed. The others had taken their leave only minutes before. Ezra had drug out his goodbyes to his aunt and uncles as long as fatherly patience allowed, but eventually the last taillight had faded from view leaving the house unnaturally quiet after the sounds of laughter and merriment that had filled it all day.
The child chattered excitedly about the day all through his bath time and would have tried through his nightly toothbrushing if Vin hadn’t put his foot down. Even Vin had not been able to come up with a good enough reason to keep Ez’s new dog out of the bathroom while the child bathed although he was successful in convincing Ezra that the dog did NOT need to join him in the tub.
Finally a scrubbed and pajama-ed boy was tucked up in his bed waiting for his story. It had taken a fatherly decree to keep the dog off the child’s bed, and Vin’s firm “stay” had Checkers settling comfortably on the rug by the boy’s bedside, despite the boy’s pout.
Vin settled on the side of the child’s bed and asked, “What story do you want to hear tonight?”
“The Luckiest Man,” Ezra said around a wide yawn, asking for his favorite story.
Vin’s smile was full of love as he reached out to brush a lock of hair back from Ezra’s forehead as he began his story.
“Once upon a time, there lived a boy who was all alone. He had no friends and no family. Bad people hurt him and mean people made fun of him because he had nobody to protect him or stand up for him against the bad and mean people. He had no home or any place he could call his own. He had to live outside on the streets. When it was cold he froze, and when it rained he got wet, and he was always hungry. He was miserable and thought he was the unluckiest boy in the world.
Eventually, he grew up enough to take care of himself. He learned to work so he could buy food so he didn’t have to go hungry, and he got himself a tiny apartment so he could stay out of the cold and the rain. And even though it was hard, he managed to go to school, too, so he could get a better job to make sure he never had to go back to living on the streets.”
“But he was still alone and he was lonely,” Ezra filled in part of the much beloved story, blinking rapidly to stave off the sleep that was trying to claim him, “and he realized that in spite of having someplace to stay and food to eat and getting to go to school, he was still unlucky because he didn’t have anybody to care about him.”
Vin smiled and brushed his thumb lightly over a warm, rosy cheek. “That’s right,” he agreed. “Then one day, this man met another man who said, “Come work with me and help me protect the good people of this land from the bad people that want to hurt them,” and the first man decided that sounded like a good thing to do. So he went to work for the second man who became his best friend, and introduced him to four other good men who became his friends, too.”
“So the man wasn’t alone and lonely anymore,” Ezra said drowsily, “and he knew he wasn’t unlucky anymore.
“Uh huh,” Vin replied quietly, watching little lids slide lower and lower over sleepy green eyes. “And then one day the man met a woman who was just as beautiful on the inside as she was on the outside. She was so good that the angels said she had to go to Heaven to be an angel too so she could help them take care of all the little children in the world. The man was sad to see her go but before she left she gave him a great gift. She gave him a son to love and who would love him.”
“Forever and ever,” Ezra murmured.
“Forever and ever,” Vin agreed softly.
“A boy named Ezra,” The child fought off sleep long enough to mumble.
“A boy who was as smart and kind and good as his mother so that everyone who met him loved him.” Vin pulled the blankets up a little higher around the child -- who had lost his battle with slumber -- and leaned over to place a soft kiss on Ezra’s forehead. “And his father knew he had been blessed with a miracle, and because he had this boy and his five good friends in his life he was now the luckiest man in the world,” Vin finished his story in a soft whisper. “And he lived happily ever after with his son and his friends and was never lonely again.”
Vin sat on the bed watching his son sleep and knew he really was the luckiest man in the world. He knew the gifts they had exchanged that day were more than mere physical objects given for the sake of tradition but were a way of showing their caring for one another; their appreciation for each person as an individual in this group of men that had fashioned themselves into a family, and he knew with absolute certainty that he had been given the best gift that any man could have received for Christmas: his son and his friends gathered in his home celebrating the holiday together as family.
As the night deepened and Christmas Day wound down and prepared to slumber for another year, Vin sat on the side of his son’s bed in his warm house thinking on the happy day spent with his loved ones, and sighed with happiness.
The End
