Second Chances: All I Want For Christmas Is You

An old flame wants to re-kindle her romance with A.J., and when he refuses, her campaign of harassment brings danger to all the Simons. Inspired by "Who Killed The Sixties", and dedicated to the actress who brought the character of "Anita" to life, Darleen Carr.

(This is a fictional story, and no money is being made from it. The characters from Simon & Simon and Six Million Dollar Man are owned by Universal Studios and are only being borrowed for a little while, I promise to put them back when I'm done.)

Chapter 1

"Happy Anniversary to yooooooou!" the waiters sang out, then the dining room burst into applause.

Rick Simon beamed at the maitre'd and his staff. "Thank you, very much!" He turned to his wife, who was looking at him with so much happiness it brought tears to his eyes.

As the oohs and ahs sounded around them, Laurie put her arms around him, then whispered, "thank you for such a beautiful surprise, darling."

"You're welcome, princess." He kissed her, then cut a piece of the lemon tart he had ordered and fed it to her. "Mmmmm", Laurie savored the bite, then caught sight of her brother and sister-in-law grinning.

"You two are so bad, shopping for Mom's Christmas gift indeed!" she chuckled, then gave Rick a bite of the treat. He raised his eyebrow then archly asked, "wanna share." She giggled then gave him a lemon flavored peck.

"That is good, sis." Linda said, then teased A.J. by taking a mouthful then giving him a kiss.

"Now that's the way I like dessert." A.J. laughed, then Rick needled him, "Better then on your shirt, huh?"

"Well, dessert or no dessert, I think this is one of the nicest anniversary gifts I've ever had." Laurie told them when the joking died down. "This is such a special place, I'm just glad you two came!"

"Wouldn't have missed it, Sis." A.J. kissed her cheek, pleased how this belated celebration turned out.

Rick surveyed his wife's empty plate, then picked up her hand and kissed it. "I'm just happy we still surprised you. I didn't plan on being sick for our anniversary!"

"This was so much better, love. This way you got over your cold and Ricky his mumps, and we were well for Thanksgiving." Laurie smiled at him, then caught him sneaking a look at his watch.

"Rick, what are you, oh!" she squealed, seeing a couple of familiar faces enter the dining room.

"Robbie? Robin, oh Rick, you darling!" she hugged him tightly, then held up her arms and embraced her son and daughter, bringing moist eyes to the others by her joy in the moment.

"Happy Anniversary, Mom, Pop!" Brother and sister took turns hugging their parents and Aunt and Uncle.

"Where are the children?" Laurie asked, once everyone was seated and fresh coffee and tea were brought, "compliments of the hotel."

"Abby and Temple and Ramona are having a sleepover, Ian had to work but he's going to pick us all up with your Jeep, Mom." Robin explained, then took a taste of her dessert and froze.

"Mom, this is incredible, it's better then mine!"

"Honey, I don't think so." Rick smirked, then when his daughter gazed at him questioningly, added, "It's the one you sent here last month, they simply froze it then thawed it for us!"

Laughing, Robbie broke them all up when he paused in mid-bite, then told his sister, "Squirt, only your cooking would improve by being frozen!"

Only the closing of the kitchen let the party of Simons know it was late, and after giving a smile-inducing tip to the Maitre'd, Rick led the way to the elevators.

"Rick, you didn't, we're staying here?" Laurie gasped, then saw his wide grin.

"Courtesy of your father and Rudy, darlin'. There's a card in our room, but they wanted us to have a special time, especially since we had to cancel going to Maine to see your cousins."

"That was nice of them, Pop" Robbie responded, as his sister giggled. "This ought to be good, I take it Rob and I are sharing a room?"

"Yep, and I better not hearing any pillow fights, your mom and I are next door. Remember, Santa's taking notes as to who's naughty and who's nice." Rick teased, then said good night to A.J. and Linda, who were in the other turret room.

As they got ready for bed, Laurie couldn't help but knock lightly on the connecting door of their children's room. Rick got choked up when he saw Robbie and Robin had waited up to be "tucked in" by their mother and father.

"Rick, that was the sweetest, most loving thing. All because of you." Laurie closed the door, then came and lay down in her husband's arms.

"My Laurie." Rick pulled her to him. "That's because you are the sweetest, most loving woman in the world."

"Only because of you, darling." She told him, then kissed him deeply, dipping her mouth into his.

Sharing their love until they were drowsy with sleep, Rick gave one last kiss then whispered, "Happy Anniversary, sweetheart. I love you "

"Happy Anniversary, Rick. I love you more.", she replied, snuggling into his embrace.

In the morning, Rick was awakened by the sound of a door closing, then the smell of bacon and eggs.

Quietly slipping out of bed, he found two conspirators setting up a table for six in the suite's living room.

"What are my favorite son and daughter doing?" he whispered, causing Robbie to jump.

"Pop, you startled me, I thought you were still asleep."

"I was, but the smell of breakfast is better then a alarm clock." Rick chuckled, hugging his children.

"Whose idea was this?"

"Mom, she wanted to give you a treat before we went to Old Town, I bet she's just pretending to be asleep, Pop." Robin answered, giggling.

Leaving them to wake up their aunt and uncle, Rick stole back to bed, then seeing one hazel eye blink, tickled his wife with a kiss. "Wake up, sleeping beauty."

Smiling, Laurie opened her eyes, then laughed as Rick enticed her into breakfast.

"Oh, it looks wonderful, thank you, darlings." Laurie joyfully greeted their family, then sat down to help polish off a huge breakfast.

After eating until they were stuffed, the Simons divided up to finish Christmas shopping, then met again at the Del for lunch before checking out. As they entered the lobby ahead of Laurie and Linda on the way to meet their children at the restaurant, Rick and A.J. heard a woman's voice calling, "A.J., A.J.!"

As A.J. turned, he caught sight of a familiar face, who rushed to him and flung her arms around him.

"Anita?"