Part 10

Christmas morning came earlier than his parents would have liked and was announced with great joy as Carradine ran into their bedroom with Snow hot on his heels. Between his excited shouting and the dog's enthusiastic barking there was no way to sleep through the racket in spite of Michael's attempt to bury his head under a pillow.

"Mama, Mama, you gotta come see," he insisted as he grabbed her arm with both hands and shook.

"We're on our way, Carey," she mumbled.

"You sure? 'Cause you might go back to sleep." He made a face. "Was you an' Daddy both up late?"

"Be there in a minute, buddy," Michael rasped as he reached up to rub one hand over his face. "Go let the dog out for a few minutes."

"I already done that, Daddy." He ran around to Daddy's side of the bed and leaned in close, their faces barely an inch apart. "You gotta see all the presents Santa left… it's a lot, Daddy!"

"Made out like a bandit, huh?"

Carradine wrinkled his nose as he tilted his head to one side. "Wha's that mean?"

"It means Santa's elves worked overtime to put lots of presents under the tree for you."

"Oh. Yeah, he putted lots of presents in there, Daddy." He wrapped both hands around Daddy's wrist and tugged. "C'mon, I seened one for you too."

"One, huh?"

"Well… you can play with my toys too." He sighed impatiently. "But we gotta go open 'em first, Daddy." He hauled himself up on the bed and reached over to shake Mama. "If we don't go then Santa might think I don't like 'em an' he might take 'em back."

Maria opened her eyes and glanced at her husband before giving her son her full attention. "Where would you get an idea like that?"

"China's Daddy said so."

"What?" Michael shook his head. "When did Hugo tell you that?"

"He said mornin' when I letted Snow back in an' he said it was really 'portant to open a present fast or Santa might take 'em back." He shook his head as his expression turned serious. "But he said I couldn't do it 'til you was up 'cause Santa likes daddies to be 'wake too." He glanced at Mama. "An' mama's too, Mama, but he said Santa really wanted Daddy to be 'wake." He glanced between his parents. "Are you 'wake?"

"We're awake. Go push the button on the coffee pot, little man. We'll be there in just a minute."

"You promise?"

Maria sat up and gave her little boy a kiss before patting his backside to get him moving. "Go on, we're right behind you."

Michael wrapped an arm around Carradine's waist and dropped a kiss on his head before rolling over to set him down on the floor. "You heard Mama, get movin'."

"C'mon, Snow, we gotta go find which present we're gonna open first!" The two of them ran out of the bedroom and down the hall to the kitchen.

"That's what you get," Maria said as she shook her head at him.

"How is Hugo's weird sense of humor my fault?" he asked with a roll of his eyes.

"This's payback for it taking hours to get China into bed last night."

"Yeah, yeah, I know." He came up on one elbow and smiled down at her as his fingers brushed against her cheek. "And who gets the blame for you puttin' me to bed so late last night?"

"You do. We could've been in bed hours earlier if you hadn't let Carey sleep so late yesterday afternoon." She grinned impishly at him. "However, I take full responsibility for you not getting to sleep until," she glanced at the bedside clock, "two hours ago."

"Wow, two whole hours," he mocked. "Lucky for you I don't need that much sleep."

Maria pressed her hand against his shoulder when he leaned in to kiss her, covering her mouth as she yawned widely. "Yeah, lucky for me." She smiled teasingly and shook her head. "You obviously passed that on to Carey. Too bad you can't just hand it out."

"Mama! Daddy! You gotta hurry!" Carradine hollered from the living room.

He laughed as he kissed her. "Time to get up, babe. We've got a five-year-old that's about to burst from the anticipation."

Carradine looked up when his parents finally came into the room and he paused in the process of shaking a colorful package as hard as he could in an effort to determine its contents. "Look, Mama, I maked out like a bandaid."

"You made out like a…" she smiled as she sat on the couch and recalled Michael's earlier comment. "Yes, you did."

Michael came in with two cups of coffee and settled down next to Maria, handing her one of the cups before placing his on the end table. His right arm rested along the back of the couch, his hand rubbing her shoulder before he tugged her up against his side.

"Now, Daddy?" Carradine asked impatiently. He was sitting on his knees, feet crossed at the ankle as he bounced up and down eagerly.

"Let 'er rip, Carey."

Maria laughed when their little boy looked over the mountain of presents, trying to figure out which one he should open first. He crawled around for a minute, pulling things out and shaking them before he finally picked one out. He ripped the paper off and Snow grabbed hold of the ribbon, giving him some help when it refused to come off all the way.

Carradine gasped audibly when the paper ripped free and he saw the box with the helmet inside. "Mama, Daddy, look! It's a real one." He fought with the box, trying his hardest to get it open.

"Good grief, Michael, what'd you use to seal that box shut?" Maria whispered.

"Just tape."

"Um-hmm."

"Here, buddy, why don't you hand that over and lemme get that open for you," Michael said as he leaned forward and held one hand out.

"Okay, Daddy." He carried the box over to Daddy and he looked at Mama. "Do you want your presents now, Mama?"

"That would be nice, sweetie, thank you."

He scurried back over to the tree and dug around for the packages he had seen for Mama and Daddy. "I din't find nothin' from Santa," he said as he put a red envelope and a wide box on her lap. He ran back for two more and put them on the couch between his parents. "These ones is from me," he said proudly.

Maria set the envelope and box, her and Michael's gifts to each other, aside and reached for the small present that her son had obviously wrapped himself. "Wow, that's a nice job on the wrapping, Carey. I think next year you should help Daddy with his wrapping."

Michael popped the last piece of tape and pulled the top flap up before holding the box out to Carradine. He watched his son take the box, lifting the helmet out and running his fingers over it reverently for several moments before putting it on. "I'm gonna be a big hockey player one day, huh, Daddy?"

"You can be anything you wanna be, Carey. It's all just a matter of hard work and how much you want it."

"Are you gonna open your presents now? 'Cause I got lots more I gotta open."

Michael laughed and reached for his son's gift to him. "I guess we'd better open them up then, huh? We don't want Santa thinkin' you don't want all those presents." He ripped the paper off of what was obviously a box, prepared to express the appropriate surprise for whatever was inside. His eyebrows shot up when he saw the picture of a drill on the box. "Carey, this's great, buddy."

"You like it a lot, Daddy?"

"Yeah, I like it a lot." He hugged his little boy. "Thanks, little man."

"Welcome, Daddy," he said with a smile. He leaned back against Daddy's chest as he watched Mama open her present. "Want me to help, Mama?" he asked after a minute.

"Mama's just takin' her time 'cause she saves the paper."

Carradine wrinkled his nose. "Why?"

"It's a Mom thing."

Maria lifted out the silver picture frame with a baseball theme etched into it and her fingertips traced over the photograph of Michael, Carradine and Snow behind the glass. Her eyes misted over as she looked up at her son. "It's a wonderful gift, sweetie." She leaned forward to give him a hug and kissed his cheek.

"I picked it out all by myself. Daddy an' me went together, but I picked it out."

"It's a wonderful choice, thank you."

"Welcome, Mama. Okay, now I gotta go open more of mine." He scurried back to the tree and he and Snow began plowing through the gifts, ripping paper off and getting into his hockey gear piece by piece.

Michael had opened up the box and he was admiring the drill. "You like the frame?" he asked as he glanced at her.

"Um-hmm. How many times did you have to redirect him?" She smiled knowingly and laughed when he shrugged one shoulder.

"I knew I was gonna have to give him a little guidance when we were in the hardware store and he found a toilet seat with purple flowers on it that he just knew you'd love."

Maria rolled her eyes. "Thank you for that." She could just imagine working up an expression of excitement over a toilet seat. "There is no doubt Carey's your son."

He grinned proudly. "What about mine?" he asked, nodding at the drill.

"Please," she snorted. "The two of you are in the hardware store every chance you get. And you've been drooling over that drill for the past month. We went out for your gift and he went right to it."

He laughed and nodded. "That's my boy." He pointed at the present on her other side. "So, can I have it?"

She handed it to him and watched him as he opened it. She saw the surprise in his expression when he realized what it was and she bit her bottom lip, waiting for his reaction.

Michael pulled the art kit out, his fingers moving over the brushes and paints. He hadn't painted in years and the supplies available to them in art class in high school hadn't been of this caliber. "Maria, this's…" He shook his head as he picked up one of the brushes and rubbed his fingers over the soft bristles. "This's great, babe." He leaned over to kiss her. "Thanks." He nodded at the envelope sitting in her lap. "Your turn."

Maria slid one finger under the flap and pulled it up, sliding the card out and opening it up. She picked up the tickets for a concert in Montreal a couple of months away along with suite reservations at a nice hotel. "Michael…" she glanced at Carradine, smiling as he tried to open another present while wearing hockey gloves. "How did you get your hands on these?" The concert had sold out but she hadn't been expecting to go anyway.

He shrugged. "Secret powers," he said with a smirk. "I know how much you like U2 so I thought we could go, make a weekend of it. Isabel, Kyle, one or both of them can come up that weekend to keep an eye on Carey."

She smiled but before she could say anything Carradine discovered the hockey stick and his excited shouting filled the air.

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Hugo opened the front door and ushered their guests inside, grinning at Michael when he sarcastically thanked him for the wake-up call that morning. He slapped the other man on the back and laughed out loud. "No problem, Guerin, glad I could help." He looked down at Carradine, all decked out in his hockey helmet and carrying his new hockey stick. "Looks like Santa did good this year."

"I got hockey lessons too," Carradine said with a big grin. The words were mumbled around the mouth guard he was wearing. "Where's China?"

"Carey! Carey! C'mere, lookit what Santa brought for me!"

He ran into the living room, dragging the stick behind him and looking around for his friend. His eyes widened when he saw the puppy bouncing around the room, yapping happily. He slid to a stop when he saw China surrounded by a mountain of hockey equipment and he hurried to show off his own gear.

Maria smiled at them as they compared their gift list and played with the Collie puppy that China had named Charlie. When she questioned Mei about the name the woman had shaken her head, not having an answer to that question. They settled down in the dining room, leaving their children to their own thing while they carried on their own conversation. When Maria told her new friend about Michael's gift to her she asked what they would do with Carradine for the weekend.

"We have a couple of friends who might be able to come up."

Mei smiled and nodded. "We would be happy to watch him for you," she offered. "He and China are getting along so well now."

"Thank you, Mei. I'll talk to Michael and see how he feels about that." If the kids continued to get along as well as they had been lately then she thought it would be a good idea. Carradine needed to spend time around other people, to become used to learning to control his powers when he was in situations outside of his home. They would have a better idea of whether it was even something they could feasibly consider after more time getting to know their neighbors.

She turned her head to glance at her husband. He and Hugo were involved in one of those conversations that sounded more like an argument over some sport or other. Michael wouldn't be easy to convince. It would take work and time for him to be comfortable leaving Carradine with Hugo and Mei. She was a good judge of character though and she trusted her instincts. It was all just a matter of how it was handled, she thought with a smirk. And if there was one thing she knew it was how to handle Michael Guerin.

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