Someone To Watch Over Me
by Purple Lacey

Part 24

Vin drew in a deep breath of air and blew it out again slowly with deep happiness. No matter how old he got, Christmas still had the power to bring out the little kid in him. He hoped it always would.

He had spent the night at Nettie’s apartment in the big house last night. As was the tradition that he and his foster mother had started that very first Christmas after he had come to live with her, the pair had risen early and taken a long walk in the brisk winter air, throwing crusts of bread to the birds and watching as they fed. They had returned to the house where they were joined by Casey. Together the three members of the little family prepared the Christmas breakfast that had become a custom ever since a nine year old sugar-holic picked it out all those years ago; the breakfast that Nettie had laughingly dubbed their European feast: French toast, Belgian waffles and toasted English muffins with honey. After breakfast they had exchanged gifts. At ten o’clock they had grabbed up their presents to the others and piled into Vin’s Grand Cherokee and headed to Buck’s for the rest of the day as had also become something of a Christmas tradition for them.

Vin moved around the hood of his car to open the passenger door of his jeep and reached in to take the stack of gift wrapped boxes from Nettie with one hand then help her from the vehicle with the other. Casey slid lithely from the back seat and turned back to extract more gift boxes before shutting the door with her hip. The trio made their way to the front door of the guest house and Vin stepped forward to open the door. He allowed the ladies to enter then followed behind them. They set the boxes on a narrow table along the foyer wall and shucked their coats. Vin played valet and hung them up in the coat closet by the front door.

A child’s giggles and the deeper laughter of two men could be heard quite clearly all the way from the den as Vin led the two women deeper into the house. Vin stopped at the doorway and looked around. Then he quietly motioned Nettie and Casey forward with a big grin. Casey had to cover her mouth to contain her own giggles, and Nettie’s smile was wide with amusement. Vin stood in the doorway, an arm wrapped around the shoulders of each woman and watched the three occupants of the den with enjoyment.

Buck was lying on his back with a giggling Ezra seated on his stomach. Ezra was waving around some kind of creature that he had constructed from the vast piles of Lego that surrounded the trio while Buck laughingly pretended to be frightened of the construct. JD was sitting with his video camera taking in the scene while trying his best not to laugh so the picture wouldn’t jump around.

“Rrrrhhh!” Ezra growled through his giggles.

Buck’s hands came up to wave around ineffectually and his voice was raised to a high, squeaky pitch as he said, “Help, oh help! I’m so scared. The terrible Lego-zilla is after me. What will I do! Somebody help me!”

Ezra laughed and brought his bright yellow creation up and twisted it against Buck’s chest growling louder as his monster ‘viciously” attacked the prone man.

“Ahhhh, ahhhh, he’s got me,” Buck screeched, barely getting the words out through his own chuckles. The monster crumbled under the assault, breaking down into its component blocks that bounced off the man’s shirt with the force of his laughter. Ezra collapsed on Buck’s chest from laughing so hard.

“Is it safe to come in or should we mobilize the military?” Vin drawled humorously, drawing the attention of the room’s occupants.

“Vin!” Ezra yelled as he saw the man standing there, “Look what Santa brought me! Hi, Miz Nettie! Do you see? I got lots of presents for Christmas. I didn’t know he was gonna bring so many but Buck said he’s catching up for when he didn’t get to bring me anything ‘cause he wasn’t welcome at my house before. Isn’t that really nice of him! I think Santa Claus is a really nice man. Hey Casey, you want to see my bike? Come see!” Ezra bounded toward the girl and grabbed her hand to tug her over toward his new wheels. JD followed the pair.

“Merry Christmas!” Buck announced happily as he brushed pieces of Lego from his shirt and rose to his feet. He hurried over to Nettie and gave her big hug then turned to Vin and grabbed the laughingly protesting policeman in a bear hug that lifted him off his feet.

“I take it Christmas as been a big success all around,” Vin said sounding a bit winded when Buck eventually returned him to his feet.

Buck laughed and agreed. “One of the best ever.”

Vin was staring in fascination at the piles of Lego blocks on the floor, impressed in spite of himself. “How many boxes of that stuff did you have to buy to get that much of that it? I remember from my own Lego days that there were only a couple of dozen pieces of the stuff per set. There has to be thousands of them on the floor right there.”

Buck shrugged and gave his wolfish grin. “I know somebody that happens to work for the company. She’s a real sweet lady...in every way, if you get my drift.”

Vin held up his hand as if to say don’t go there. Buck’s grin grew larger.

“Anyway, I gave Molly a call and told her I was in the market for a bunch of the stuff in a hurry and she was nice enough to send me a couple of bags of it.” He gestured to two canvas sacks sitting on the floor by the sofa. Vin picked one up to look at it. Although it was white, it bore a striking resemblance to the duffle bags he had used when he was in the army.

“A couple of bags? Don’t you think that’s going overboard, even for you?” Vin asked shaking his head at the unrepentantly grinning man.

“Nope,” Buck assured him with cheeky good cheer. “A kid can’t have too much Lego. It’s good for ‘em. Teaches them to think creatively, and it’s good for developing eye/hand coordination. There is also the added benefit that they’re learning to build instead of just destroying stuff for fun. Nah, can’t have too much.”

Vin looked at him knowingly and replied, “Plus, with all of that you can build too without him taking all the parts you wanted, right?”

Buck laughed but didn’t deny it which caused Vin to chuckle too.

“You’re not fooling anybody either, you know,” Miz Nettie broke in looking at her foster son with knowing eyes. “You’re dying to dive into that pile yourself. You never could resist those plastic blocks.”

Vin shot her a sheepish look and then had to laugh. “You got me. I never can pull one over on you.”

Buck laughed out loud and waved him toward the multi-colored piles of plastic. “Help yourself. There’s plenty for everybody.”

Vin didn’t wait for a second invitation. He folded his legs and dropped to the carpet to sit Indian-style, and immediately reached for a handful. A laughing Ezra, having been abandoned temporarily while Casey went to give JD a proper Christmas greeting, threw himself down next to the detective happily and began chattering to the man about his Christmas days so far.

Buck looked with amusement while Nettie watched her foster son and Buck’s with indulgence. “Might be a grown man on the outside, but there’s still a kid alive and well on the inside,” Nettie fondly murmured to Buck of the long haired man swiftly attaching the blocks together.

The big man agreed. “Which is probably why he can deal with the kind of horrors he has to every day and still have such a good heart and a positive outlook like he does. Let’s just hope that little kid never grows up too much.”

Buck led Nettie inside and helped her get settled on the sofa. He played host and passed out cups of eggnog and cocoa. Within half an hour they were joined by Josiah and then Nathan and Raine. Ezra had run to greet each set of visitors as they rang the doorbell. Christmas greetings were exchanged by all and the new guests were made comfortable.

Ezra tried to be patient but he was eager to give his new friends the presents he had gotten for them. Buck watched the impatient child with amusement and thought about making him wait but decided that would be cruel. Finally having mercy on the boy, Buck turned to Ezra had said, “I think it’s about time for gifts, don’t you?”

Ezra popped up immediately, eyes shining, and answered, “Can I give them mine first?”

Buck smiled. “I believe that would be alright with everybody. Why don’t you start things off then?”

Ezra raced to the tree and picked up a present in each hand and hurried over toward Nettie.



Part 25

Part 23

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