Author's Notes: This story takes place in the Christmas right after Dean/Cinnamon and Seth/Kayla were married. This means that while Payton is Seth and Kayla's foster daughter, she has not been officially adopted. This also means Dean is still the WHC, and the events of United We Stand have not taken place.

Miracles of Lights

Part I

Dean was going home for Thanksgiving, a stroke of luck he was so thankful for, that he almost wanted to send a fruit basket to the offices of the WWE, just to let them know just how thankful he really was. As the WWE World Heavyweight Champion, he had been working non stop since he got the belt, and fully expected that for Thanksgiving, he would be overseas, some place that didn't celebrate. Instead, he had gotten Thanksgiving off and the Friday after.

It got even better as the House Show he would have on Saturday was in Virginia, less than a three hour ride from his house, and he had permission to show up at the second call, not first, which meant he had part of Saturday off too. He was grateful for that, because he was sure he'd need some extra time to sleep and recover from Friday night.

Still even better? Seth and Roman had the same thing, Thanksgiving off, then Friday, then late call Saturday. And, since Dean was the closest to the house show, everyone was coming over for Thanksgiving to Dean and Cinnamon's. Not just Roman and Seth, but their families had flown out to be there too. Sure, their tiny ranch house was a little small to hold all these people, so unfortunately, Seth, Roman, and their families would be sleeping in the nearby hotel, but they would still have Thanksgiving together, and, almost more important, the Friday afterwords.

Dean had arrived home at 3:30 in the morning, having flown on a red eye after the house show. Roman and Seth had dropped him off at the house, promising to be back later, then left to go to the hotel, where their families already were.

Dean watched the car roll down the street, then hefted his duffel bag and jogged up to the door. He expected it to be locked, Cinnamon and Neil to be sleeping, but when he tried the knob, more a force of habit, as his left hand fumbled in his pocket for his keys, he was surprised when the knob turned and the door opened.

"Hello?" he called out softly, as he walked inside. There was an opening in the wall between the kitchen and the living room, and he could smell coffee and see the light on in the kitchen. Then he saw her, Cinnamon, cup of coffee in her hands, standing by the kitchen counter. She turned as he walked in, shutting the door behind him. She was wearing a pair of old sweat pants and a long t-shirt, her hair hanging long and loose, showing evidence of having barely been touched by a brush, tell him that she was just waking up. When she saw him, she put the coffee cup back on the counter and hurried out of the room. He barely had time to drop his bag on the floor and she was throwing herself into his arms, wrapping herself around him and kissing him so deeply that he could feel it right down to his little toe on his left foot, which had been damage so many times he rarely felt much of anything with it. He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her even closer into him and kissed her back with the same passion.

"Can we have sex?" he blurted out, when the had stopped kissing and were just holding each other. "Please?" Part of him wanted to hit himself, this was not the way he pictured greeting her, and he knew that he should be asking her how she was, how Neil was, and telling her how much he missed her, but now that he was holding her, smelling that scent of coconut and vanilla, feeling her warmth pressed into him, all politeness had vanished, hell all rational thought had vanished, all he could think was how long it had been and how much he wanted her.

She responded by jumping on him, almost knocking him to the floor, wrapping her legs around his waist and kissing him back so hard he could feel their teeth clicking together. That was the thing with Cinnamon, she always got him. She didn't think he was too blunt, she didn't think he was unreasonable, she knew how he felt, knew that his blatant request wasn't born of rudeness, but born of a need, not just on his side, but hers as well. It had been too long since they had indulged in that ultimate communion of body and soul and they both craved it.

Wrapping his arms so one was around her waist, the other hand under her, he carried her down the hall into their bedroom, kicking the door shut behind him.

Slightly over an hour later, they were both lying in bed, temporarily sedated and Dean felt the night, the show he had done before, the long flight, the drive to the house, crashing down on him. "Sleepy," he murmured, stroking Cinnamon's hair. She was curled up next to him, her head on his chest.

"Get some sleep then," she whispered, leaning up and kissing his chin. "Neil won't be up for three or four hours, and I have a lot of work to do, anyway.

"You don't mind?" he said, already feeling his brain drifting towards that unconscious state.

"Not at all." She kissed him again and sat up. "When you wake up, I'll have coffee made and you can decide if you want breakfast or if you just want to wait for the Thanksgiving meal."

He was sound asleep by the time she was dressed and out of the room, his body relaxing, even in his dreams, taking in the scent of her that lived in the pillows, blankets and sheets that surrounded him.

He woke up at eight, only four hours, but he had dozed a bit on the plane. And in his line of work, four hours wasn't bad at all. He was hoping though, that tonight he'd get a solid six to eight. He had big plans for tomorrow, plans he'd been working on ever since he found out he'd have this time off. He was hoping he'd get a chance today, to find out how those plans were working out. Cinnamon knew of some of them, she didn't know all of them.

After showering and changing into a pair of sweat pants and an ancient CZ wrestling T-shirt, washed so often it had faded from black to a barely gray color and the red lettering now was nothing but a series of random dots, he headed for the kitchen.

He barely shut the door to the bedroom, when Neil came charging down the hall, throwing himself in Dean's arms. "Dad! You're awake!"

"Yep," Dean braced himself to accept the impact and hugged Neil back, tousling his hair. "How are you doing?"

"Fine," Neil hugged him again, tighter and raised himself up on the balls of his feet, so he could whisper in his ear, "Ka'eo's in the back yard working on stuff. He says he needs to talk to you at some point."

"Thanks," Dean whispered back.

"What are you two chatting about?" Cinnamon asked, popping her head around the corner and looking down the hall. "Neil, let your father get in the kitchen before you monopolize him, I'm sure he wants some coffee."

"Am I monopolizing you?" Neil asked, grinning.

"Yeah, but it's cool." Ruffling his son's hair, Dean headed into the kitchen, which smelled like clove and nutmeg and a million other scents, all wonderful. He sat at the light oak table, noting that it was still set up to hold no more than four people. "Do you need me to put the extenders in the table later?" he asked, as Cinnamon put a cup of coffee in front of him.

"No," Cinnamon said, shaking her head. "no need."

"How are you going to fit nine, maybe even ten people around the table, if Jasper Coleman comes?" Dean asked, folding his hands around the cup, grateful for its warmth and sniffing the scent, which helped clear the brain fog as much as the taste.

"We're having a little more than ten people," Cinnamon said, biting her lip. "I hope you don't mind."

Dean looked at her. "How many people are you talking about?" he asked, taking a sip of his coffee. The taste, both bitter and smooth, bold and comforting amazed him. Cinnamon made coffee better than anyone else he knew. He didn't know how she did it, but she did.

"Well, the Wilson's will be joining us," Cinnamon said. "Normally, they go to their daughter's for Thanksgiving, but this year her daughter and their family are going to Oregon to be with her husband's side of the family, and since they're like Grandparents to Neil I thought we should have them over. And then the Karume family are coming too. Some of the wrestlers from the WVW are coming, because they really don't have family and everyone should have someplace to go on Thanksgiving..." her voice trailed off.

"So, how many people are coming?" Dean asked, baffled as he thought about how many people they'd be trying to fit into the tiny house.

"Around twenty five, give or take a few," Cinnamon confessed. She was sitting at the table with her own cup of coffee. It was obvious from the state of the kitchen that she was working at getting things ready, but she was willing to take a coffee break for him. Neil was sitting down too, drinking orange juice.

"How are we going to fit twenty five people in this house?" Dean asked, looking around the tiny kitchen in bewilderment.

"We're not," Cinnamon admitted. "I rented tables and chairs and a tent. We'll be eating in the back yard. We set up the tent yesterday, it's all ready."

Dean took another sip of his coffee, so she wouldn't see the grin that he was having trouble hiding. "What would you have done if it had been cold?" It had been an unusually warm November, even for West Virginia. When he was on the road, he check the temperature near Cinnamon and Neil every day, it was his way of trying to understand what they were experiencing, even when he couldn't be there.

"I would have rented some of those big, outdoor propane heaters," Cinnamon answered. "But we won't need them, so it doesn't matter." She took a sip of her own coffee, avoiding meeting his gaze.

"How are you going to make enough food for all these people?" Dean asked. "I mean, I'm sure you've been prepping for this for weeks, but this is still only one tiny kitchen."

"The Wilson's and the Karume's have kitchens too, they're helping out," Cinnamon said. "We're having three turkeys. I'm cooking one here, the Karume's are deep frying one, and Mr. Wilson is going to grill one, so we'll have a fried turkey, a traditional turkey and a barbecued turkey. And all kitchens are in use for making the side dishes. You'll see, it will be fine." She looked over at him. "You don't mind, do you? I mean, I know you don't have much time off and you were probably thinking it would be just like last year, just ten or so of us, but it's Thanksgiving and I couldn't let the Wilson's just sit over there along and -"

"Cinnamon?" Dean said, causing her to stop her rambling apology and look up at him. When she did, he reached over and took her hand. "It's fine. It's great. It's going to be a blast."

"I think so, too," Cinnamon agreed, smiling and squeezing his hand.

Seth, Roman, and their families showed up about nine in the morning, something that had obviously been planned and discussed among the wives, because they immediately went to work in the kitchen. Neil, Payton and Leah greeted each other with great enthusiasm, acting as if they never saw each other, when in truth, the three of them were constantly Skyping, texting, and emailing each other. It didn't take long before they were banished to the outside. "Go show them your wrestling ring," Cinnamon suggested.

"They've seen it," Neil protested.

"Show them again!" Cinnamon said, and this time her tone of voice said it was not a suggestion, but an order.

Neil looked at the two girls. "Wanna see my wrestling ring?" he asked, his voice fake and overly enthusiastic.

"Sure!" Payton and Leah chimed in with equal enthusiasm and the three of them ran out of the house together.

Dean grinned as the kids ran out the door and looked at Roman and Seth. "Maybe we should see how things are going in the back yard, too?"

Outside, the tent had been set up yesterday, stretching across much of the back yard. Ka'eo and Makaio were setting up folding tables and chairs. When Ka'eo saw Dean, he finished unfolding one of the metal chairs and ran over. "Dean!" he called out.

"Hey, Ka'eo," Dean said, giving the kid a hug. He'd grown since the wedding, at least an inch, but he still had that gangly look. "You remember Seth and Roman here, right? You met them at the wedding."

"And I see them on TV every week," Ka'eo reminded Dean. The four of them exchanged greetings, then Ka'eo grinned. "I've got everything set, just like you wanted."

"Good!" Dean nodded. "Where's the stuff?"

"In our shed," Ka'eo said, pointing to the shed in their back yard. "Mom and Dad know about it, I had to tell them, but we've kept most of it from Cinnamon."

"Kept most of what?" Roman asked, looking over at Seth, the two men wondering what in the world Dean was planning and would this get them into any trouble.

"Christmas lights and other things." Dean grinned. "Remember I told you about how we decorated the house last year? And how Pete Spencer the asshole neighbor three houses up was furious because he thinks he's the king of the Christmas Lights?"

"Yes," Seth said, slowly. Of course he remembered, it was impossible to forget. Dean had been on a leave from the company at the time, but he had sent pictures of the house, all done up, pictures of Pete Spencer's house, and many texts calling Pete's house every name he could think of, while praising his own to the skies. It had gotten to the point where both Roman and Seth had started regretting Dean's new proficiency with technology and were wishing he'd go back to being the guy who still had trouble figuring out how to answer his cell phone when a call came through.

"Well, this year, we're really going to make him cry," Dean said, the grin if his deepening and taking on a vengeful undertone. "Our display is going to span over three houses. The Wilson's, mine, and the Karume's. We're going to have over a million lights, light and music shows, and we're going to make Pete Spencer's house look lame, as if he'd strung a few strands across his porch and called it a day."

Roman and Seth exchanged looks. "They had known about helping to decorate the house tomorrow, Dean had made that very clear, but this sounded like a lot more than he had made it out to be. "Are you sure?" Roman asked.

"Oh, I'm sure," Dean said, nodding. "I'm very sure. Ka'eo's getting all his friends to help, the same ones we had last year."

"And a lot of the adults are helping too," Ka'eo said, enthusiastically. "Makaio and I have been talking to everyone and pretty much the whole block is going to be here, helping."

"Excellent." Dean rubbed his hands together, looking for a moment like a sinister villain from a child's cartoon. "The more the merrier."

"And, we've been working on the Wilson's house and our house when we could too," Ka'eo continued, grinning. "Chuck's been working too, getting the lights ready to sync to the music. He built a new computer this year, so he's using his old one to coordinate the lights show. And believe me, his old one is plenty powerful to do everything we need and more. Trust me, Dean, this will be the best."

"Isn't this an awful lot of work just to show up an old guy?" Roman asked, feeling a little sorry for Pete Spencer. It was obvious from everything he had heard, the man lived for his light display, it seemed mean that Dean and the rest of the neighbors were trying to take this away from him.

"Pete Spencer is an asshole," Dean growled, "he deserves this and more."

Ka'eo bit his lip. "He-he's bad news," he finally blurted out. "I've helped him with his lights since I was a kid, he paid me twenty five bucks a day. The last few years, I was putting in ten hour days with him for that same money. Every free moment I had he was pounding on my door, demanding I help him. Last year, I got a couple friends to help, just to try to get it done? He still only gave me twenty five bucks for three of us. We worked one Saturday for over twelve hours, for less than ten bucks each."

Roman shook his head, understanding the disgust, but still not ready to give in completely. "Okay, that was wrong, but-"

"-But, he got me arrested," Makaio interrupted, as he joined them, having finished setting up the chairs.

"What?" Roman asked, looking at the young man in surprise. "Got you arrested? For what?"

"Officially? Attempted break in," Makaio said, his expression sour. "But unofficially? It was NBW."

"NBW?" Seth asked, looking puzzled.

"Not Being White," Makaio said. He shrugged, but it was obvious he was still upset by the incident. "The Spencer's went on vacation last summer. We all knew they were gone, and they were supposed to come back on Sunday morning. They came back Saturday night instead, we didn't know that, because he parked the car in the garage. About one in the morning, I hear all this clattering going on in their shed. So, thinking he was on vacation, I got up, grabbed a flashlight and went over to see what was going on. Pete isn't very liked in this neighborhood, so I thought it might be some of the neighborhood kids, messing with his shed. I didn't want to call the cops on kids, so I figured I'd see what was going on, scare them off, you know?"

Roman nodded. Unlike his cousin Ka'eo, who was gangly and thin, Makaio had a heavier build to him, not fat, but pure muscle. He was wrestling for WVW, Cinnamon having gotten him a try-out, and it was obvious he had been spending most of his free time, building himself up. It was easy to see how Makaio would have felt that he could quickly intimidate a group of kids causing mischief, getting them to run off before any real damage was done. "And what happened?" he asked.

"I went over and saw it was Mr. Spencer, just putting the luggage in his shed from the trip," Makaio said. "I told him I heard the noise and came over to check it out, but since it was him, I'd go back home. We talked for a couple minutes, I helped him put the luggage away, you know, that neighborly crap. Then, as I was about to leave, the cops came. Pete had heard me coming and called them before he knew it was me."

"Yeah, but it was all just a misunderstanding, right?" Seth asked, understanding why the guy might have called the cops if he heard someone outside his property late that night. "I mean, he just told the cops that you'd come over to make sure the house was all right, right?"

Makaio shook his head, almost violently and Ka'eo, standing next to him had an angry scowl on his face. "No, Pete didn't tell the cops that, he told them that he was sure I was coming over to break into his shed and steal his lawnmower. He's got a pretty nice one and Ka'eo's family has an old one that breaks down all the time, but we can always fix it enough to get by. But the cops arrested me that night. Took me down to the station, finger printed me, the whole bit."

"Cinnamon bailed him out," Dean said, softly. He knew about the incident, as Cinnamon had told him.

"I didn't want to call my aunt and uncle," Makaio said, hanging his head and looking ashamed. "I was born on Molokai, just like my aunt. I came to the mainland to go to college and to wrestle. They don't charge me any rent, they took me in to help me. Even though I didn't do anything wrong, I was still...embarrassed. I-I had Cinnamon's number and I called her and she came and bailed me out, took me home, and talked to my aunt and uncle."

"What happened then?" Roman asked, his voice soft, but a hard glint coming to his eyes as he thought about this young man being arrested for nothing more than trying to be a good neighbor.

"Eventually, the case was dismissed," Makaio said. "It just couldn't hold up, though Pete Spencer tried. But, there just wasn't enough evidence and the judge could even see what happened, that it was all a mistake. But still, it's on my record that I was arrested for breaking and entering. Yeah, it also shows it was dismissed, but it's still on there."

"Okay, this guy is an asshole," Seth said slowly.

"No, he's more than an asshole," Dean disagreed. "He's a racist asshole. Trust me, if I had been home and I had gone up there instead of Makaio, Pete would have explained to the cops that it was a misunderstanding. Because I'm white."

"Do you know that for fact?" Roman asked.

"It's true," Ka'eo blurted out. "Everyone on the street knows what he's like. I worked for him for years, doing stuff for him and some of the stuff he's said to me..." his voice trailed off and he shook his head. "I don't want to talk about it!" he finally said, obviously uncomfortable.

Roman and Seth looked at each other, then to Dean. "Okay," Roman said, deliberately bringing the subject back on track. "We're gonna take that motherfucker down."

Dean grinned. "Oh yes, we are." He was about to add to that, when his phone rang. He fished it out of his back pocket and looked at who was calling and frowned. "It's May."

"May?" Roman asked.

"May Devany, from NXT," Dean said, staring at the phone in puzzlement as the generic ring tone buzzed. "I wonder what she wants?" He had met her a few times, he had gone to NXT a couple times when they were in the area, and May herself had done a few opening shows for Raw and SmackDown. And while they had been pleasant with each other, they hadn't bonded or exchanged phone numbers.

"You could just answer the phone and find out," Seth suggested, rolling his eyes.

"Oh, yeah, good point." Dean pressed the button to accept the call and brought the phone to his ear, wandering towards the porch to hear what was going on. "Hello?"

"Is-Is this Dean Ambrose?"

Dean recognized May's voice, but she didn't sound like her usual self, which was normally pretty cheerful. The girl talking to him now sounded worried and at her wits end. "Yeah, it's me, May, what's up?"

"I didn't want to call you," May said, her voice sounding more strained as she spoke, "But I'm out of options and I remember you lived in West Virginia, and I heard you got Thanksgiving off, so I thought that- no never mind, you're probably with your family and I'm just being a big bother and, don't worry, we'll fix it."

"Whoa!" Dean called out, "May, what's going on?"

"I'm with my sister," May said, as if this cleared up everything. "She just got signed with NXT."

"Okay," Dean said, bewildered. "Congratulations to her, but what's going on?"

"We were headed home," May said, and now Dean could hear tears in her voice. "Trying to make it back to New York for Thanksgiving. And the car- that shit-box car I have, it broke down!"

Dean was starting to put it together. The fact that she was calling him, likely meant she and her sister, who went by the name Raven Poe were stranded somewhere in West Virginia. "Did you call a tow truck?" he asked.

"We did," May said, sniffling. "Well, we called Triple A. But they're saying it's going to be at least six hours before a truck will get here. We got the car off the road, we were able to get it in a weight station on the highway, but we were, we were wondering if maybe you knew someone local who might be able to get here sooner? Someone who isn't listed with Triple A?"

"Hang on, let me ask," Dean said, as he walked into the house. Cinnamon was just taking a pie out of the oven that smelled wonderfully of apples and the spice that shared her name. Kayla and Jessica were peeling potatoes at the table. He nodded to them and walked over to Cinnamon. "We've got a situation," he said.

"What's going on?"

He explained the situation to Cinnamon, who frowned and took the phone from him. "Let me handle this," she said.

Dean stared at her, then walked out of the kitchen, onto the porch and out into the backyard, where he explained to everyone who had called him.

"Those poor girls," Seth said. "What a day to be stranded."

Dean shrugged. "I have a feeling they won't be stranded for long. They won't be making it home for Thanksgiving, but I bet they won't be stranded by the side of the road."

It was too bad nobody took Dean up on that bet, because he would have won. Less than twenty minutes later, Cinnamon came out and handed him back his phone. "You're going to go pick them up," she said. "And bring them here. We can't leave them stranded by the side of the road for Thanksgiving. But before that, go up the street to Jamal's house."

Dean stared at her. "Jamal?"

"Yes, Jamal, who owns the garage and the tow truck?" Cinnamon reminded him, shaking her head. "I just called him, he's expecting you. Give him the coordinates, Kayla found on the internet the exact location of the weigh station they're at, using the mile markers." She handed him two small pieces of paper, "One for you, one for him. He's going to pick up their car and tow it to his garage and look at it tomorrow. Raven thinks it's the alternator. But you're going to pick the girls up and bring them here. We can't have them alone on Thanksgiving."

"Okay," Dean said, forcing himself not to grin. "Maybe they can get a room at the same hotel Roman and Seth are staying at."

Cinnamon shook her head. "We do have a guest room, they can stay with us. God knows they're going to need all they've got to get the car working and NXT doesn't pay as well as the WWE does. Bring them here, we'll get it all settled. There's plenty of food for everyone. Now, if you'll excuse me, May's phone was dying, I have to call her mother and let her know her daughter is safe. She must be worried sick." On that she turned and went back to the house.

Dean looked at Seth. "I told you they wouldn't be stranded for long."

End of Pt. 1

Author's Notes: This is my Christmas present to anyone out there who enjoys my stuff. It's a four part story, I'll be posting one part a day for the next four days.

Like all good gifts, it comes with no strings attached. If you want to leave a review, even if it's just to say, "Good story!" or (gulp) "Meh" that would really be appreciated, but if you just want to read it and enjoy it, go ahead. No pressure.

I hope everyone who reads this is doing well as you prepare for whatever Holiday you celebrate. And if your holiday has already past? I hope it was wonderful.