Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas

You don't know if Fate hates or loves you too much.

You found him at a store with the perfect Christmas gifts for your friends.

He was just starting his own business, he explained, and he was rushing back to Natalie before midnight.

'Natalie' was a good name for a daughter-in-law, you thought, and began coming every 24th.

Last year he was carrying a baby and you instantly knew that he'd have his father's nose. Because your boy had that nose once, too.

You don't really care about Fate.

You only want to wish Merry Christmas to your only son.

Butterfly

When Angel realises that Darla is pregnant, he's in shock.

It's not possible, it's all wrong.

That night he dreams of worms and rotten fruit.

But Darla isn't lying and before his eyes she becomes the protector of a miracle.

Little does he know that she'll protect it with her life.

That night he dreams of butterflies breaking out of their cocoons.

But just as a butterfly, his baby is still helplessly weak. Nature dictates that it will take a while until it can spread its wings.

But he doesn't care.

Angel has forever to teach his baby to fly.

Never Seen Blue

Angel thinks of fire.

He remembers a thousand fires in the cities of old. How he and Darla just watched the humans run to them, panic drawn in yellow and orange in their eyes.

Angel thinks of fire.

The hottest flame is always blue. He doesn't know why, but that knowledge is important now.

In this department store, willing to sacrifice and lose his boy all over again, Angel looks into himself and sees the orange-yellow licking at his soul.

But looking at Connor, Angel can't help but wonder how the blue could reach so deep into his baby's eyes.