AN: This was written for a challenge on one of the message boards. It is inspired by the song Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)

Alex sat alone up in the tree, he liked the tree, he liked the peace and quite the tree gave him, he liked being above everything else, able to see every thing. He learnt a lot from the tree, things he really shouldn't know like the girl two houses down liked to sun bake nude during summer. When he was little he thought that was so gross but as he got older he realized that wasn't gross at all.

It wasn't summer though and there was no one in any of the back yards. It was winter, it was Christmas Eve and he was up in the tree for two reasons. One he needed to get away, he needed to get away from his mom. He loved her, he loved her more than anything but she'd been having a bad day, actually it was more of a bad week, bad month, she'd been bad ever since his father took off. His father leaving hadn't been a good thing, he thought it would be a good thing, with him gone the beating would stop; his mom wouldn't have to be scared in her own home. The bad days had always come after the beatings but now the bad days were just constant. She blamed him for his father leaving, for him taking off without even a goodbye, and really it was his fault, he never would have left if he hadn't beaten the crap out of him. It was his fault and his mother knew it, she made sure he knew it.

He was discovering there were things about his parents' relationship he didn't understand. They loved each other, somewhere under all that hatred there was love. She loved his dad more than she loved him that was why she put up with it, she let him beat her because she said it wasn't his fault, that it was her fault she should have done better. Alex never understood that he didn't understand how his mother could think that, but how was not important anymore, the fact was that was what she thought and he couldn't change that, he couldn't make her see they could be happy without him, that things could be better without him. All he knew was she missed him like crazy and as a result he missed him too.

He missed his dad, he never though he would think that, for most of his childhood he thought he'd hated the man because he made his mom cry but now he missed him. He didn't miss the yelling and the screaming but he missed the good times, because there were good times, somewhere in between all the yelling and screaming there were good times. There were times when they would have fun as a family, when everyone would be happy and smile; Christmas was one of those good times.

For some reason his dad always managed to pull himself together at Christmas time. At Christmas time they were a loving family, things were almost perfect. Maybe that was why he'd always loved Christmas, as a boy he hadn't realized the connection but now as a young man he could see it all too well. Christmas was meant to be happy but this year wasn't happy. His mom hadn't got out of bed in days and she refused put the Christmas tree up, he'd put it up anyway, all by himself he'd put the tree up and hung the decorations from it, he'd almost cried when he'd done that, he wouldn't admit that to anyone but he had. There were decorations for the tree that belonged to each of them, that each year they hung, his dads was of a king, the king wore a purple robe and carried in his hand a small box, a gift, his father had told him. His mothers was an angle, it was the most delicate and beautiful thing on the tree, and he had a Santa. They were meant to put the tree up together, they always did and it hurt not doing that.

That was almost two weeks ago, and that simple act, putting up the tree had been a catalyst, a call telling him what he had to do, he had to bring his dad home for Christmas. That was the second reason he was up in the tree, he was looking for his dad, scanning the streets looking for him. He didn't really think he'd see him, he didn't think he would come, why would he, they hadn't heard a word from him in months. He'd gone looking for him and couldn't find him, but he was still scanning the streets, he was still looking, because he wanted him to come, he wanted him to be there and on the off chance he did come he wanted to have some warning, he wanted to have enough time to get his mom ready, to get her out of bed and make her beautiful.

All around him the wind started to pick up. It blew right through his jacket and chilled him to the bone. He pulled the jacket tighter around him, he tried to keep the chill out but it wouldn't work, he'd freeze if he stayed in the tree so he reluctantly jumped down. He walked inside and checked on his mom, she was still in bed, she was still crying.

"Mom, I'm going to the mall." He told her walking into the room.

She lifted her head a little, "Go away Alex," she groaned, and then she dropped it back on the bed and closed her eyes, just like she always did.

He stepped further into the room. "I love you mom," he whispered kissing her forehead and he walked out the room, he picked up his guitar and he walked out the house.

The walk to the mall wasn't long, only fifteen minutes, but with the chill of the afternoon it felt like it took forever. The wind kept blowing through his jacket but he didn't turn around, he didn't want to be home. Home wasn't a happy place, but he liked the mall, there were lots of people there and they always looked happy. At the mall if he was lucky he might even be able to make some money, enough to buy his mom the present he wanted to get. That's how he and his dad always made money for Christmas presents, they'd play music at the mall and people would give it to them. He always had fun playing with his dad; it was the only time of the year where they really connected.

This year his dad wasn't playing though, at first he'd thought maybe he would, for some reason he thought his dad might come and play with him but he never did. He played by himself though, he still liked playing, and he still made money.

He walked in the front doors of the mall and began making his way towards the café in the centre. Years ago his dad struck up a deal with manager there, he was allowed to play in front of the store provided there were no customer complaints. In the years they'd been playing there had never been a complaint, in fact the manager said they seemed to bring the café business.

He pulled up a chair from one of the empty tables and sat down, he unclipped his guitar and he began playing. He began strumming out the chords to Silent Night; it was the first song he learnt to play, his dad taught him to play it when he was eight, when he was given his first guitar. It was so much fun learning how to play with him. When they were playing together it was almost like they were normal, like everything was fine. When they played together it made his mom happy, she would tell them how proud she was of her men.

Alex played for hours in front of the café; he would go through all the traditional songs and take requests. Slowly the money in his case began to mount up, after three hours he had almost $50, he had enough to but his mom the present he wanted. He scooped the money out from his case and rested his guitar in it, he clipped the buckles on it closed and walked into the café.

The manager Mr. Springton was at the front counter helping make coffee. He waved at Alex and beckoned him to come over. "You're not leaving already kid." He said smiling at him, "You're doing great things for business."

"Thanks," He smiled at the man who was the closest thing he had to a father figure at the moment. "I'll be back later; I just have to buy my mom a present. Can I leave my case here?"

"Sure just sit it up the back somewhere."

"Thanks."

He dropped his case up the back and headed to the stores as fast as he could. He knew what he wanted to buy; he'd been keeping his eye on it for weeks, hoping no one else would buy it first. What he wanted was this necklace, it was gold plated and looked like a chain of moons and stars, he thought it was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. He wanted his mom to have it, he thought she would like it and he'd been saving up for it for weeks. He had enough money for it now; he just hoped it was still there.

He walked into the store, it was crowed but the lady behind the counter saw him and smiled, she recognized him; he'd been coming into the store every evening for weeks to make sure it was still there. He waited patiently for his turn to reach the front, when he got there his heart almost sank, the necklace was gone, the position it usually sat in was empty. He was about to turn around and walk out the store when the lady called out to him.

"Alex," He heard his name yelled. He didn't even know she knew his name. "Don't go." He stopped and turned around. The woman was still smiling at him and waving for him to come over. He walked back to the counter and she pulled a box out from under it.

"I put this aside for you this morning." She told him opening it up. "I've been hoping all day you'd come in to buy it."

"Thanks," He took the box from her hand and ran his fingers over the chain. It would be the most expensive thing he'd ever brought and the idea of that excited him and scared him all at once. "I'll take it." He told the lady and he fished his wallet out from his pocket. He handed over every dollar he'd earned for the last month and the lady handed him his docket and a small gift bag for the box.

"Merry Christmas." She told him on the way. He waved to her having already thanked her a dozen times for saving it for him. He made his way back to the café and retrieved his guitar.

"Did you get your present?" Mr. Springton asked him.

"Yep." He smiled as he sat down again. It was starting to get late; there was only half an hour of shopping left before the mall closed. It was still enough time to make some money though; he pulled his guitar out and started playing again.

As he played he watched the mall begin to empty of people, everyone seemed to look so happy and excited. It brought a smile on his face, he was excited too, he couldn't wait to give his mom her present, he hoped it would snap her out of the bad mood, bring her back to him.

"Alex." He was snapped out of his thought by the voice of one of the waitresses. "A man dropped this off for you while you were gone."

"Thanks," He took the envelope from her hands and stared at it. There were no marking on it, it was completely blank and he had no idea who would have left it, maybe one of the regulars, sometimes that happened, people would leave larger amounts of money for them in envelops. He ran his fingers over the seal and tore the envelope open.

Inside was not cash from a regular, inside was a letter, a letter from his dad.

Alex,

The letter read.

I'm writing to you because someone at the AA meetings said it might be a good idea. It might help if I communicated with you somehow. I wanted you to know I'm okay and I forgive you. I understand why you did it, and I'm getting help, I'm trying to become a better person.

I also wanted you to know I'm proud of you, I've been starting to read the newspaper and I seen your name in there all the time. You're really good at that wrestling stuff. Someone said you might even get a scholarship, get to go to college. No one in my family ever been to college so, I'm proud of you son.

Also tell your Mom, I miss her, I love her and I'm sorry. Tell her I want to come home, but I'm going to get better first. I don't want to hurt her again. I don't want to hurt you.

Merry Christmas son.

Love,

Dad.

Alex stared at the letter in his hands, he couldn't quite believe what he was reading, his dad had been there, he'd been watching him, waiting for him to leave. He wasn't sure if he should be angry or grateful, grateful for the letter but angry because he didn't give it to him himself, angry because he didn't give him a chance to tell him to come home. To tell him that he was sorry, that his mom missed him, that she was miserable without him, that they needed him.

"Who's the letter from?" The waitress's voice broke into his thoughts, she been standing beside him, watching him the whole time.

"My Dad." He slipped the letter back into the envelope and dropped it in his case. She smiled at him and started wiping down the table beside him.

"That was nice of him to write." She started saying.

"Yeah I guess," He still hadn't figured the letter out, whether it was good or not. "He took off a few months back. This is the first I've heard from him."

"That's something." She kept smiling at him as she stacked the chairs on the table. "My dad took off when I was five, I haven't heard from him since."

"Oh," He wasn't expecting the revelation from the girl, he didn't really know her, they went to school together but she moved with a different crowd.

"It sucked at first, my mom cried all the time but it got better."

"My mom cries too." He wasn't sure why he was doing this, why he was telling this girl something he hadn't told anyone. "I try to cheer her up but nothing works."

"I used to make popcorn and make my mom watch movies with me." The girl smiled as she began wiping down another table. "We probably watched Dirty Dancing one hundred times."

"Most days I can't even get my mom out of bed." Alex sighed and he stood up and began stacking the chairs on the table.

The girl didn't say anything to him, she just kept working, for a minute they moved around each other in silence then Mr. Springton came out.

"Are you kids nearly ready to go?" He asked smiling at them.

"Almost," The girl answered, "just one more table."' She wiped it down, and Alex lifted the chairs onto it. "Thanks," she smiled at him before running inside to get her bag.

-8-8-8-8-8-8-

Mr. Springton drove them home, it was something he liked to do for the kids working for him, he said he didn't like them walking home in the dark, and with the night being freezing cold it was something Alex was grateful for. During the ride the girl kept talking to him, trying to cheer him up, make him see that things would get better with time. By the end of the ride she almost had him convinced.

"Bye Alex, Merry Christmas." She waved at him as she hopped out the car. "Merry Christmas Mr. Springton."

As they got back on the road the older man turned to him. "I think she likes you." He said with a smile. "She's been staring at you for weeks trying to talk to you."

"Really?" Alex looked at the man and shook his head. He didn't think the girl liked him, not how Mr. Springton was suggesting. "We were just talking."

"Yes but talking is where it starts."

"Whatever."

Alex didn't want the girl to like him, she was nice but he didn't want to like her, not at the moment. She didn't go with his crowd, but then most people didn't, he hardly went with his crowd now days. She was nice though, and had some good idea.

When he got home he made some popcorn, and searched through their video collection, they owned one Christmas movie, Miracle on 34th Street, his mom had brought it years ago for him, he'd never watched it.

"Mom," He walked into her room carrying the movie and the popcorn. "I'm home, lets watch a movie together."

"No Alex," She opened her eyes enough to see him. "I just want to sleep."

"No Mom you've been sleeping all day." He pulled the cover off her and took hold of her hand. "I know you miss dad but I miss you and you can't keep doing this."

"Alex, please not now." She didn't want to get up but he needed her to get up.

"Please, Mom it's Christmas Eve. You have to get up."

"It's not Christmas without you're dad."

"Yes it is, it's just not the Christmas we're used to." He bit down on his lip and tried to work out what to do, what he could say. "Dad left a note at the café today." The note was the only thing he could use, the words in it, what had been said might be enough, it might get her moving. She seemed to look up at him as he started talking, she was listening more. "He said he misses you, and he loves you. He said he's going to get better and then he's going to come back. He said he is going to come back. Not this Christmas but maybe next Christmas when he's better."

"Next Christmas?" His mom seemed to light up a bit at that idea.

"Yes Mom, next Christmas, but now it's this Christmas and I want you to come watch a movie with me."

He held onto her hand and pulled her from the bed, she didn't fight him this time, she stood up and followed him into their lounge room. She sat down on the sofa while he put the movie on and slowly began eating the popcorn. Alex came and sat down beside her, he began eating the popcorn too and he tried to smile. This wasn't the Christmas he wanted, it wasn't the Christmas his mom wanted but they were making it work, they would get though it and maybe next year his Dad would come home for Christmas.