"Christmas Present"
**This story immediately follows "Testament to Murder"**
Matt woke up early and looked down at his wife, CJ. She was curled up against him, her head on his chest. It was December 21st. He couldn't believe how much his life had changed in the last year – actually not even a year. But he did know that is was a change for the better. He was happier now than he could ever remember being – except as a kid. He looked around the bedroom. It had been his room since the time that he and his dad Bill had moved to the ranch just outside of Houston, Texas when he was just five years old. This would be his first Christmas in this house since his dad had passed away a couple of years ago.
This would also be his first Christmas as a married man. He and CJ had gotten married back in March after being a couple for only about three weeks. Smiling as he thought back on it, they had always been a couple. From the time they met at the age of ten they had loved each other. Bill had known it, Matt's friends had known it, but he and CJ had refused to acknowledge it until the past spring when Matt just couldn't deny it anymore. She was all he thought about and he had finally summoned up the courage to talk to her about it one afternoon after work at their detective agency. He had popped the question a few days later while lying in the emergency room. It hadn't exactly been the most romantic place or way to propose but it was sincere and heart-felt. CJ had immediately said yes.
About three weeks later they had traveled to Hawaii to inform the Novelli family and to plan their wedding there. After a mix up with the Five-0 Task force, Matt and CJ now had a couple of new friends: Steve McGarrett and Danny Williams. The wedding had been held on the beach behind the Novelli's restaurant and the reception inside it. Matt had bought a Tahitian resort for their honeymoon – a long term investment was how he had described it to CJ. He planned on taking her there every year for their anniversary. Although now he wasn't sure if they would be able to do that this year. CJ was pregnant with their first child that was due in June. He looked down at her. She complained about the weight gain and the size of the baby bump but Matt thought she had never looked more beautiful. He gently pushed her hair back and watched her sleeping, then put his hand on the baby and felt it move a little. Life was good. Of course, as usual, there were ups and downs. He and CJ had gone through a rough patch when he and Uncle Roy had been working on tracking down a Middle East terrorist. He had gone in with a team of Navy SEAL's and the target had ended up being thrown from the helicopter when it was discovered that he had a bomb strapped to him. It was right after the mission that he had found out that CJ was pregnant.
They had been at the ranch now since the first part of November. One of his childhood friends had been involved in a meth lab and had blown himself up in his house. Matt had hooked back up with another childhood friend, Chuck Wylie, who was a deputy. Chuck had been helping him to repair fences on the ranch as he got it ready to run cows again. He had hired three of the best cowboys in the area to work the ranch for him. Marty and Pat Hoffmann were brothers with reputations of reliability. Matt had also hired Ollie Burckhardt to help out. He had been homeless when Matt met him. But as it turned out they had met several years before when Matt was riding bulls in the rodeo – Ollie had saved his life when he got hung up on a bull. He had been reunited with the former rodeo clown while attempting to find the man's homeless friend.
A little over a week later, CJ and Matt had gotten temporary custody of Brian Landers, a thirteen year old boy who had turned up in the barn. His mom had been missing for over a month and with the help of a Narcotics Squad deputy, Matt had tracked her down and gotten her into a drug rehab facility. Brian would be reunited with her right around the first of the year.
Matt was amazed at how cases just seemed to find him. The week before he had been asked to help the Houston Police Department's Homicide Squad on what turned out to be the hunt for a serial killer. He was hoping that things would calm down now. He was really looking forward to Christmas and couldn't help but think about next Christmas when they would have a baby to share it with.
The only real regret that Matt had in his life was that he and CJ hadn't woken up sooner and admitted their love for each other. His dad had tried many times over the years to make Matt see how he really felt, but he was too afraid that he would lose his best friend – the one person that he had always been able to turn to over the years. It was too late for Bill to enjoy grandchildren, but Matt and CJ were determined to make up for lost time. They hadn't decided how many kids they would have, but there would definitely be more than one.
CJ stirred slightly and a smile flitted across her face. Matt watched as she snuggled back into him. He woke up almost every morning the same way – with her head on his chest. He wouldn't have traded it for a million dollars. Until he admitted his love for her, Matt couldn't believe that one person could have so much of an affect on him. But she did and he was grateful for it. And before too long he would have another person in his life – their child.
Matt had always loved kids. Vince Novelli's sons had always seemed like his own. He loved spending time with them and the rest of the Novelli clan. Vince was like a brother to him and had been best man at his wedding. His other best friend – and at times it was still hard to believe that they had become so close – was Michael Hoyt. Hoyt had replaced Vince on the job with the LAPD after he had been shot in the line of duty while working a case with Matt. Those had been some dark days but they had all made it through and Matt felt that they were the better for it. Vince was happy these days running the Italian restaurant with his mother Rosa and his wife Isabella. It was one of the most popular in Hawaii.
A smell drifted upstairs: the housekeeper who had helped Bill to raise Matt, Madre Rosa, was down in the kitchen cooking breakfast. It smelled like cinnamon rolls. He grinned. Madre Rosa knew how much he loved her cinnamon rolls. CJ wasn't the only one gaining weight. He had gained several pounds himself since they had been married. Between CJ's cooking and Madre Rosa's he had been eating very well.
As he watched his wife again, he felt sorry for anyone who couldn't feel all the love that he was feeling right there in that moment, and felt glad that he was no longer like that himself. For years there had been a string of women in and out of his life; and one of them that he had made the mistake of getting engaged to had almost killed him a few months back. But for a little bit of luck and bad timing on the part of the person who had detonated the bomb, Matt wouldn't have been lying there with his wife in his arms and a baby on the way.
He wondered what the next year would hold for them, aside from the new addition to the family. After all of the disturbing cases that they had worked in the past year, plus the Middle East mission, Matt was hoping that the next year would bring peace, not only for him and his family but for the world in general.
CJ stirred again, this time opening those hazel eyes that absolutely made him weak in the knees. "Good morning." He tucked his head down and kissed her.
"How long have you been awake?" She yawned, then rubbed the beard on his face. At first she hadn't been too sure about it, but she now decided that she liked it.
"Long enough to watch the most beautiful woman in the world sleeping – and thank God that she agreed to marry me." He kissed her again, a long, slow, leisurely kiss that left both of them breathless. "I love you, babe."
"Love you, too, sweetie. What's got you in such a loveable mood?" She ran her fingers through the dark curls on his head.
"Just laying here watching you, and feeling the baby move, and realizing how lucky I am." He kissed her again. "And I believe Madre Rosa is making cinnamon rolls, which makes me feel really lucky." They both laughed and kissed again before heading downstairs to breakfast.