A/N: This is my third holiday themed story in two days, I'm feeling quite festive. Also, it contains spoilers for the second half of season three of The Secret Life of the American Teenager (which returns in March 2011, NOT January as normal and as many still seem to believe, because ABC Family is an epic fail), so if you don't want to be spoiled and/or don't like spoilers, don't read. You've been warned.

Family Gathering

"What are you doing out here, Buddy?" Ben Boykewich stood on the porch of his apartment, just outside the open sliding glass door, staring at his ex-girlfriend's twenty-two-month-old. He rubbed his hands together as though he were warming them over a fire. "It's cold out here!" He bent down to the little boy's eye level. "How did you even get out here anyway?"

John Juergens seemed unaffected by the frigid air. His brunette eyes were glowing like flying saucers as he stared into the clear night sky, peppered with twinkling stars and a crescent moon that looked like the Cheshire Cat smile. He pointed a pudgy index finger at the sky. "Ooon! Ooon!"

Ben grinned a bit and tugged off his jacket to drape around the little boy to keep him warm. "Yeah," he agreed, "that's the moon. It's real bright tonight, huh? Looks like the Late Night moon." He ruffled the little boy's thick hair. "You're too young to know what Late Night is though, it'll be classic television by the time you're my age, like Johnny Carson is for me."

"Ben? Have you seen-"

Ben turned around at the sound of Amy Juergens's voice, revealing John at his side. "Amy, hey. John and I were just doing a little moon watching."

Amy frowned. "I've been looking all over for him." She moved anxiously towards her son and knelt down as though she was about to give him a complete physical. "Why didn't you tell me you were bringing him out here? You should've asked," she chastised.

"I didn't! I passed by the door as someone was walking in and saw him standing out here and thought it was a bit strange."

"Oh." Amy blew a puff of white air between her lips with the word. "Sorry," she said, her cheeks flushing for an instance. "He's really sneaky like that. Ever since he started walking, he just goes everywhere. Probably snuck out between someone's legs and nobody noticed." She shook her head and lifted the little boy into her arms. "Shame on you, John," she gently scolded with a wag of her finger. "You had Mama soooo worried!"

John giggled and pointed again to the sky. "Ooon, Mama! Ooon!"

Amy followed her son's finger and smiled. "Yeah, it's pretty tonight, huh, baby boy?" Looking to Ben she explained lovingly, "He likes to moon watch. It's kind of our thing," she laughed. "We usually sit by my window out night and stare at the moon. Sometimes I tell him stories."

Ben nodded understandingly. "I never knew that," he smiled. "I've always had a passion for staring at the moon myself. My mom and I used to do that together when I-" he looked to John "-was just a few years older than you." He playfully tapped John's pink nose, causing the little boy to giggle. "I used to dream of being an astronaut when I was a kid."

Amy smirked. "I used to tell my mom I'd be the first woman astronaut on the moon…and that I'd wear a pink spacesuit."

"Trendy!"

"Why thank you," Amy laughed, striking an awkward pose with John in her arms.

"Ooove," John crooned. "Ooove!"

Ben arched his eyebrows. "What?"

"Oh!" Amy giggled. "He thinks it's going to move." She rolled her eyes. "I DVR episodes of Conan and watch them during the day when John's awake, so he likes to watch them with me. He thinks Conan's side-splitting. Obviously he doesn't understand the verbal comedy yet, but Conan does a lot of miming and physical antics too, which John just thinks is hilarious and anyway, he's got this movable-"

"Moon!" Ben interjected. "Yeah!" he chuckled. "On the waterfront set, yeah, I get what he's talking about now." He placed his hand to his stomach, laughing. Flicking his eyes to the little boy he nodded, "That's my favorite part of the set too." He patted John's head. "You little turkey, I was just telling you about Late Night, which Conan hosted too. Why didn't you tell me you were a Conan fan?"

John beamed and waved his arms up and down. "Ooove! Ooove!"

"Is that the moon dance?" Ben asked, unable to get rid of the smile on his face.

"Yep. His favorite episode is the one with the moon dancer. I hope they bring back again. All I have to do is play that for him when he's crank and bam!" She snapped her fingers. "He's shrieking with laughter! Sometimes he laughs so much it ends up making Robie cry."

Ben nodded and motioned to the door. "Speaking of, I just saw Robie with your dad about fifteen minutes ago. I can't believe how big he is now!"

Amy nodded. "I know, right? He just had his first birthday." She looked down, a bit embarrassed. "We all went up to celebrate with my grandma and her new husband, though, so it's not like we didn't have a party and not invite you or anything," she explained.

Ben shook his head. "Oh, no, you don't need to explain. I understand. We've all been pretty busy lately."

"Yeah…" Amy glanced down at the wedding ring on Ben's finger. She forced a smile. "How's married life?"

"It's…" Ben glanced over his shoulder, looking through the glass slider at all the people eating, drinking, and socializing in around the Christmas decorations. "…it's okay."

"Just okay?"

"Well, you know…it's not easy, as they say. Plus, with the new baby and everything."

Amy nodded understandingly. "Been there, done that." She kissed the top of John's hair. "At least you and Adrian have got each other at home all the time. Or, well…you know what I mean. With Ricky and me-"

"I remember."

Amy bobbed her head again. "Anyway," she sidetracked, "it's a great party." She nodded to the slider. "Thanks for inviting us. You've got a really nice place here."

"Thanks."

Amy hugged John a little closer to her chest. "Actually, I'm kind of envious."

Ben blinked. "What?"

"A-a-about the a-a-apartment," she stuttered. She swallowed forcibly. "Sometimes I wish R-R-Ricky and I had that too."

Inside the apartment, near the refreshments table draped in a crimson table cloth and spotted with plates of holiday cookies in the shapes of Santa Claus, Christmas trees, stars, and tree ornaments as well as fruit punch, pumpkin pie, and an obligatory fruitcake that had not been touched, Ricky Underwood stood with each hand loaded with a plastic green cup filled with punch. He was turning from side to side, apparently in search of someone, when dark curls and naturally bronzed skin approached from behind.

Adrian Lee held a paper plate in her hands, with cookie crumb remnants on the surface, a plastic fork, and a few orange pie stains. Pressed to her right side she held a small pink bundle, with a scrunched up face, fast asleep. As she set her plate down on a stack of napkins, Ricky turned and bumped into her, splashing one of the cups he was holding all over her arm, carpet, and table cloth.

From Ricky's point of view, the juice seemed to leap out of the cup in slow motion, sloshing in time with Adrian's yelp as she realized the inevitable. His stomach flopped as the staining juice began to seep into the various fabrics and carpet fibers. As quickly as it happened, he scrambled to set down the remaining cup and search for napkins, which he couldn't find under Adrian's plate. "Where're the napkins?"

In her haste, Adrian shoved the sleeping babe in her arms into Ricky's chest. "Here!" She tossed her plate aside and grabbed a handful of poinsettia printed napkins and began to throw them to the white carpet, her arm, and the table cover and then stop along on the napkin mound.

In the jerking, the baby awake and began to whimper, growing slightly louder as she heard her mother's frustration grunts and hushed curses. She opened her wide brown eyes, all Adrian's, and then her full lips parted to unleash the air from her lungs.

Flashing back to his experience with John, Ricky quickly began to bounce the child in his arms. "Shh, honey, it's alright, Mommy's just a little upset right now, that's all. It's okay…" He cradled the little girl to his chest and kissed her forehead softly, all the while still keeping Adrian in view as she tried to clean up his mess. "I'm sorry," he whispered.

"Just-" Adrian held up her hand, involuntarily flashing her engagement and wedding rings "-let me take care of this!"

Ricky nodded numbly and tickled his ex's daughter under the chin, calming the baby into a gentle coo. He stepped back, as Adrian's mother approached with a couple of wet rags.

"I'll get this," Cindy Enriquez soothed, rubbing Adrian's shoulder. "You go take care of my favorite granddaughter."

"Are you sure?"

"Absolutely. I've got this."

"Thanks." Adrian squeezed her mother momentarily, before stepping away from the mess.

Ricky blanched. "Thank you. Again, I'm-"

"It's fine," Cindy nodded. "You two go enjoy the party."

Ricky edged away from the table, abandoning his second cup of punch, and followed Adrian over to the leather recliner, where the latter flopped down and stretched her arms out for the baby. Obligingly, Ricky handed the bundle back to Adrian. "Sorry," he mumbled again.

"It's fine." Adrian heaved, then smiled as she stared down at the bright eyed – and presently silent – infant. "Wow, how did you do that?"

Ricky shrugged. "I just did what always worked with John."

"Maybe it's just a dad thing," Adrian mused. "Somehow Ben always manages to calm her down too, but ninety-five percent of the time, she just cries for me." She leaned her head back into the cushion. "Speaking of my husband, have you seen him?"

Ricky wrinkled his nose. "That doesn't sound natural."

"What?"

"You, calling someone your husband."

"Someone or Ben?"

"Both."

"You know I've always wanted to be a wife and mother," she intoned.

"Yeah, I know." Ricky gazed down at Adrian's daughter. "Guess you've finally got everything you wanted in life, and just in time for the holidays, too."

Adrian spied Ricky from the corner of her eye. "Yeah, well," she replied with a candy coated poison in her voice, "looks like you did too." She stroked the dark hair on the head of the infant in her arms. "I guess that punch you spilt all over me and my floor was for her?"

"Yeah." Ricky bounced uncomfortably from one sole to the other. "I've been looking for her, you haven't-"

"There."

"'Scuse me?" He looked down at Adrian's sudden fixation and followed her sight across the length of the living room to the garland trimmed sliding glass door, where he could see his girlfriend and her ex, his best friend.

"Look at his smile," Adrian whispered, as though in a trance. There was a remorseful wisp in her words. "He has that when he holds her," she said, indicating the child in her arms. "And when he looks at Amy, but – but…" She suddenly shook her head. "Nah, it doesn't matter anything. What's done is done, right? Ben and I are married now. Legally," she added as an afterthought, recalling her husband's first wedding.

Ricky absentmindedly covered his mouth as he watched Amy pass his son into Ben's arms, followed by smiles and laughs from all three of them. At that point, he noticed John was also wrapped in the coat he'd seen Ben wearing earlier. He ran his hand through his hair. Without really thinking about what he was saying he whispered, "They kind of look like a family, don't they?" As the words touched his ears he added, "I mean…to someone from the outside, who doesn't know, looking in."

"Ben's got a family."

Turning his eyes away from the window and back to Adrian he asked, "What's it like to have a daughter?"

Momentarily forgetting about Ben, Adrian's eyes seemed to light up at the mention of the precious cargo in her arms. "It's the single greatest feeling in the world."

Ricky slid his tongue over his teeth, weighing his next words carefully, then asked in his most tentative voice, "Can I hold her again?"

"Sure," Adrian spoke, before laying her baby in Ricky's arms.

As he accepted the little girl, Ricky couldn't help but notice the beam on Adrian's face, reminding him of the day she first got her house and that golden morning after he'd spent the night, when he'd told her he loved her. Leaning his face close to her daughter's ear he confided, "I missed your mommy's smile."