Author's Note: I'm going to start off with an apology. I started writing this beginning of December. I wrote what you are about to read, sent it off to my wonderful beta DianeM who quite correctly said that it didn't feel finished. Then the biggest time suck in the world started to happen, otherwise known as christmas + assignment deadlines + illness. So currently this is all I have written. I am penning the rest of this and it will hopefully be with you not to far into the new year. That's not really why I'm apologising. I'm apologising because I should have posted this before christmas. To be honest I don't quite know what happened. I just haven't been able to get on a PC, been far too busy looking after my family. Anyway, thanks to beta extroadinaire DianeM, without her I would never have realised how many British terms I use. Please enjoy this late christmas tale!

"Story, story!" Finn demanded.

With super human effort, Jack held back a groan. He met Sam's eyes. She wasn't even bothering to hold back a grin, she was definitely enjoying this. She left the doorway of Finn's room to head back into the living room. It was the evening before Christmas Eve and she was wrapping Finn's presents, which left Jack trying to distract the little guy. He should have been in bed hours ago, had in fact been put there, but it was as if he had some kind of sense that told him something interesting was happening in the living room. He'd kept leaving his bed and wandering in, so Jack had escorted him back to bed and read him a story, which had turned into two, which had turned into three--he'd lost count at some point. The good news was that Finn was thoroughly distracted; the bad news was that he wasn't showing any signs of going to sleep anytime soon. It had been a mistake to start on the stories, as he knew full well what he was like. More than once Jack had been awakened at 3 am by a little arm patting him and had seen Finn with an armful of story books and a hopeful expression on his face.

"Don't you think you should try closing your eyes now?" Jack almost pleaded with him. Finn's bottom lip stuck out and started to tremble. Jack tried to look stern with him. He had a glare that had got many a criminal confessing, but he couldn't turn even a fraction of it on this little boy, particularly when he knew that the main reason why he was acting this way was because he was over-tired. He didn't usually try it on very much; he was a good boy.

"All right, one more," Jack acquiesced, causing Finn to smile broadly at him, "..on the understanding that you close your eyes." Finn clenched his eyes shut tightly. "And relax and try to go to sleep." Jack scanned the titles on Finn's bookshelf, looking for a short story that he hadn't already read that evening. He couldn't see one and he really didn't want to start reading a longer story. Then it would be 'please one more chapter' and Finn really needed to go to sleep. Then he spotted one that was half hidden between two bigger books. He grabbed that and in a low soothing tone read the 'Epic Christmas Tale: How the Thestrals Saved Christmas'. It seemed a little creepy to him, having the reindeers die like that, but Finn didn't seem to mind and mercifully actually seemed to settle into, what he hoped, was sleep. Jack crept out into the living room, softly closing Finn's door behind him.

"He's finally asleep then?" Sam asked without turning round. She was taping the end of a parcel closed.

"I know I shouldn't have started reading to him." Jack looked round the living room; he couldn't see any parcels that weren't yet wrapped. "Are you nearly done?"

"Yup, last one," Sam said with an air of satisfaction. Jack nodded and gathered up the few parcels that remained in the living room and took them into their bedroom and stacked them neatly in the closet. Sam brought in the one she'd just finished wrapping and placed it on top. "I'm beat," Sam yawned.

"I'll clear up the living room." Jack automatically kissed Sam on the cheek and headed out to the living room. He picked up the wrapping paper pieces that were littering the floor, the bits of sellotape, which had turned back on themselves or become unsticky and been discarded, either to the floor or been stuck on the table or the sofa. Sam really was quite messy when she was wrapping gifts, but he didn't care.

They'd been together now again for just over two years and he gave thanks every day that he'd got the opportunity. Although, he supposed that Sam being with Brian, the biological father of her son, was something that she needed to do. Much like he'd needed to go back to Maria, to try again after they'd separated for the first time. It was something that needed to be done or you'd forever wonder if you should have. He remembered with disturbing clarity when Sam had come into his office the evening Danny and Elena got married. He'd known that she'd come to break up with him and he'd played it casual and said it first so that she wouldn't feel bad. Although, in retrospect that hadn't been the best move, as he'd played casual a little too well, and had left Sam wondering if those were his true feelings, something which had delayed their inevitable reconciliation. He said inevitable and it had been really; much like magnets are drawn to one another, so were they. They were bound together and while in his actions he'd denied his place at her side, in his heart he never had. Even after everything, or perhaps especially because of everything they'd been through, they were still together and this time it was for the long haul. He wouldn't leave her again, not for anything. They were now actually living together, although he'd kept his apartment for paperwork purposes, so OPR didn't get on their case. Plus it was helpful to have a separate base when his daughters came to visit as there wasn't room for the five of them in this apartment. When their relationship was out in the open he expected that they'd look for a bigger apartment to officially share.

Living room cleared up, Jack padded back into the bedroom, pulling the door closed behind him. Sam was already in bed, so he swiftly and quietly took care of his nightly routine before slipping into bed beside her. Sam turned to burrow into his side.

"Jesus, Sam how can your feet still be that cold?" Jack griped without feeling.

"Deal with it," Sam mumbled, now using his chest as a pillow.

Jack hugged her close to him. Of course he could deal with it; he didn't care, after all. Things like Sam's cold feet and messy present wrapping were part of her and he loved her, all of her, even the parts that might sometimes be annoying. He knew that that made him pretty sappy, but once again he didn't really care. He was happy, truly happy, almost blissfully happy, in fact. It was almost like they were living in a fairytale it was so good, and sometimes he worried that he would wake up and the wonderful life he shared with Sam and Finn would be gone like a breath of cold air. Perhaps, though, they'd had their share of trials already and they also had OPR still to contend with. Best not to borrow trouble. Both of them loved missing persons, but one of them would need to step aside. He was increasingly thinking about it himself. His job had once meant everything to him, but Sam now took that position. He wanted to marry her; he had the ring in his sock drawer. If swapping out from missing persons to another division was what it would take for her to say yes, he would do so without hesitation. Was it cliché to propose on Christmas Eve? That was his plan. Finn would go to bed early to make sure Santa paid a visit and they'd have the evening to themselves. He had his happy ending, his fairytale in sight, and he was going to grab it with both hands.

A/N: Nearly forgot the story that Jack read's Finn is actually a song by The Mudbloods, it's on Jingle Spells One: Leaky's Rocking Christmas. I think I had it on repeat as I wrote this.