Chapter 4: Christmas Princess

As Rory grew older, she graduated out of using a crib. Soon, she was sleeping in a trundle bed at the base of Luke's king-size mattress. Luke knew that Rory was always more at peace whenever she was near him.

So it was one morning - well, not just any morning. It was Christmas morning, a fact that Luke was made painfully aware of when a little body belly-flopped onto his.

"Daddy! Daddy! Wake up! It's Christmas!"

"Rory... go back to sleep..." Luke moaned to his 4-year-old preschooler.

"But the sky is waking up! I can see the sun! So I have to wake up! So we have to open presents!"

Luke smirked. In a flash, he had sprung from underneath the bedclothes, seized his daughter and was tickling her madly. Rory screeched with delight. "Very well, you little monkey, since you insist." Luke swung Rory about in his arms as he carried her downstairs from the apartment and into the closed diner. He stopped short when he saw his parents already under the Christmas tree.

"You're already up?! It's 6:00 in the morning!" Suspicious, he looked down at his daughter. "Rory Danes..."

"Don't look at her, Luke; we got up ourselves," William explained. "We figured we'd have to, to beat her to it!"

Luke chuckled and set Rory down. She scampered over to the tree, and began to poke around at her presents. She received some new books from her father; Luke had learned very quickly that his daughter loved to read. She had begun reading unusually early too, and was already advancing to books beyond her age level.

William gifted his granddaughter with a new bookcase he and Luke had carved themselves. When Rory realized it was all hers, her eyes filled with tears. She turned to Katherine. "Grandma... No..."

"There was no arguing with them," Katherine shrugged with a smile.

For her part, Rory had made her father a card. For William, she got... a bottle of Tylenol. "Anybody who's sick needs medicine," she explained. "This will make the pain go away." William knew damn well mere Tylenol could not rid him of his cancer, but the gesture still made him emotional anyway. Katherine got a necklace from Rory, which Luke had helped his daughter pick out.

The family spent all day inside, laughing and talking. Luke cooked pancakes throughout the day, shaped like Mickey Mouse - Rory's favorite. It was well past dark by the time Rory stifled a yawn.

"Bedtime, young lady," Luke smiled. Scooping her up, he carried her to the room they shared.

"Daddy? Since it's Christmas, can I sleep with you tonight?" Rory asked so sweetly that Luke's heart melted.

"All right." Father and daughter climbed into bed together. "I'm guessing you also want a Christmas story?"

"Yes. I want to hear the Princess and Her Lost Baby!" Rory requested eagerly.

Luke dove right in. "Once upon a time, there was a beautiful princess in a faraway kingdom. She discovered that she was about to have a baby."

"Me!" Rory squealed.

"Yes, you," Luke laughed. "When the baby was born, the kingdom had little time to rejoice before an evil dragon stole the baby from the princess. When the dragon tried to eat the baby, he was killed in a plume of fire that the gods - in their displeasure - sent down from on high. A knight on his horse happened to be riding by and rescued the baby from the fire and the dragon and spirited her away to his kingdom. Now, the princess did not know any of this. She spent her days in a tower mourning for her missing child. One day, the beautiful princess will escape the tower, find her baby and they will live happily ever after!"

"Daddy? Will Mommy find me someday?" Rory whispered.

Luke paused. "I don't know, darling. But I hope so."

Rory nestled back into the pillows with a content smile. "Good night, Daddy."

"Good night, precious." Luke kissed her forehead tenderly and snuggled in next to his daughter.

Now, the story of the Princess and Her Lost Baby was of course based on how Luke found Rory. Except Rory did not know that. She merely suspected that she was the baby and her mommy was the princess trapped in a tower, since she had no Mommy. Rory wondered if her mommy and her daddy had been in love. She liked to think so. Daddys and Mommys were meant to be together. With that, Rory drifted off to sleep.