Christmastime

Part 1/4

When Aaron opened his eyes for the first time this morning, he noticed that it was already bright outside. Within seconds he sat up in his bed, wiping the sleep from his eyes and looked around. Listening, he couldn't hear a single sound which meant, that his parents weren't up yet. Normally, Aaron would try to go back to sleep or get up to play something, but not today. Today was a special day. A very special one! Carefully he slipped out under his blanket and walked to the door and left his room. He listened again, but still he couldn't hear any noises coming from the first floor. Getting more and more excited, he walked towards his parents' bedroom, opened the door as quietly as he could and peeked inside. He could see his father lying on his back, snoring slightly. Aaron chuckled. Then he walked over to him and came to stop right at Horatio's bedside. Like at the time when he had been afraid of the thunderstorm, Aaron tapped his fathers' shoulder but got no response. A frown came to his face as he tried to wake up his father. Then the frown disappeared and was replaced by a broad grin when he got an idea. He went to the end of the bed, climbed inside and started to jump up and down. Doing so, the mattress began to shake. "Daddy! Mommy! Wake up! Can we go downstairs? Can we?" He shouted loudly and added a "Pleeaasseeeee?"

Making some grunting sound, Horatio jolt up and tried to focus his eyes. "What? What?" He asked confused and was still half away in dream land. "Aaron, what are you doing here?" He asked his son and rubbed his eyes. Maybe he was still sleeping.

For a moment, Aaron stopped his movements, baffled by his father's question. "But...but we have to go downstairs. Now! Santa was here!"

Calleigh turned around to her son. "Aaron...it's still early. We can go back to sleep. Your presents will still be there later. Okay?" she tried to convince him gently, but knew she was talking to a real Caine.

The child shook his head, pursed his lips and put his hands to his hips. "We have to go now," he insisted.

"Aaron it's just..," Horatio tried to read his alarm clock, "..just quarter past 6." Far too early on a Christmas morning for Horatio's liking. With a groan he fell back into the bed and closed his eyes. When he didn't hear any comment from his son, he cracked one eye open and saw the best puppy face he had ever seen before. His son was a natural, that was for sure and he had no idea where he got that from. "Go…get your dressing gown and we'll be down in a moment," he smiled at him.

"Yes!!" Aaron started to jump once again and when he saw his mother's look, he nodded and quickly climbed off the bed. "Are you coming for sure?" he wanted to know, because none of them started to get up.

"Scouts Honor, little man," Horatio nodded and laughed when Aaron ran out of the room with a joyful shout. "It's definitely the Duquesne side in him, you know?" He rolled onto his side and wrapped one arm around his wife. "Being up so early and such things."

With her eyes closed, Calleigh just smiled before answering. "Yeah, and such things. Too bad Aaron knows how to manipulate his old man," she joked lightly.

"Old man, huh? I'm gonna show you an old man," Horatio said and quickly covered her body with his own. "So...who's old?"

"You," she simply stated while looking at him. "Be careful," she whispered taking one of his hands in her own. "We don't want anybody to get hurt, do we?"

"No we don't," he said softly and entwined their fingers. "Merry Christmas, Sweetheart," he whispered and leaned down for a kiss.

"Merry Christmas, Handsome," she replied with a soft smile on her lips, returning the kiss. After they broke the kiss, she looked into her husband's wonderful blue eyes. "We better get up, or Aaron will come back."

"Mhm, I think we have another minute or so..," he smirked and leaned down again, but was interrupted by a loud "DADDY!". "Okay, probably not," he rolled his eyes playfully and let go of his wife. Carefully he sat up and ran a hand through his hair. Yawning, he got up and walked to the dresser, grabbing his own and Calleigh's dressing gown.

Calleigh stayed in bed and watched the rumpled figure she called her husband. She loved this look. His hair was tousled, he was unshaved and he was only clad in boxers and a T-Shirt. One thing she knew for sure – she would never get enough of this sight. After a moment or two of just enjoying watching Horatio, she joined him at the closet, taking her gown. "Why, thank you," she said, as he helped her putting it on. "And now...go...show your son his presents," she shooed him, smirking because she knew that Horatio was as excited as Aaron. The older the boy got, the more Horatio enjoyed Christmas. Probably because he didn't have a real Christmas when he was in Aaron's age.

"You know me too well," Horatio smiled at her, but instead of running down the stairs, he took her hand in his and led her out of the room. Of course he was excited about Christmas. At least nowadays. Before Calleigh, before he became a husband and a father, Christmas hadn't been all that special to him. But now he dearly loved and enjoyed it.