It was Christmas Eve and everyone was waiting anxiously for dinner. Well, almost everyone had showed. The only person missing was David and inwardly, Faer felt a stab at her heart. She knew why he hadn't shown. He was still mad at her, but she just sighed and shook her head. If he wanted to be an ass then he could do so. She was just happy the others had come.

"When do we eat?" asked Paul as he bounced on his seat at the table across from Laddie who decided to follow his example much to Dwayne's annoyance.

"In a little bit and stop teaching Laddie bad manners or else I might think you were high again." Paul caught the warning and immediately stopped his bouncing as he grimaced at the memory that popped up in his head. He could still smell the garlic. "Are you guys going to stay for presents?" she asked.

"We have presents?" replied Marko surprised.

"I said you did last week…oh that's right. You were upstairs. Yeah, you guys have presents. From me, Laddie, Sam and Lucy. Max said you guys didn't deserve presents but I think I can decide for myself who does and doesn't deserve things."

"So does that mean David doesn't get anything?" asked Laddie as the room went silent.

"Of course he gets something Laddie." replied Faer after a minute. "He's just busy is all. That's why he's not here."

"Oh." Turning to Dwayne, Laddie smiled at him. "Can I send my present for David home with you? I don't want him to feel left out because he was busy."

"That's a wonderful idea Laddie. I'm sure the guys will be willing to take David his presents and before we sit down and eat, I'll put together a box so David will be able to have some dinner too. Does that sound good?"

"Yeah!" Once again the boys found themselves surprised by how much this one female was able to break everything they thought they knew. They knew she knew the real reason why David wasn't there, but it seemed she didn't care. She still wanted him to enjoy the night even if it meant he was doing it later in the cave.

All throughout the night, the boys found themselves in a sort of lull. The calm of the family gathering keeping them light and content for once while inwardly they lost themselves to their thoughts, thinking about what all David must be doing right now. For Marko though, he kept thinking about the short talk he had had with Faer the previous week.

He knew that what he had told her the previous week had helped her to understand what was going on a little more than she had. But he could also see that she was more worried than she had been last week too even though she was doing a pretty good job of hiding it as Holiday Chef jitters. At least, that's what Lucy and her called it since they took such pride in the more extravagant than usual meals. However, if anything had bothered him more than the rest, it was this mysterious woman that Faer had spoken of. Out of the entire conversation that he had reported back to David about, that was the only thing he had kept hidden, simply because he knew David would storm to the house to confront her on it and it was too close to dawn for him to leave the cave. Of course, the simple fact that Max easily angered close to sunrise too didn't help either. But all in all, the question still remained though. Who was this woman and how had she known to warned Faer not to drink?

"Ok! Last presents! Now, everyone gets one but I want you all to wait until I say open them." Everyone but the Emmersons was perplexed, though Sam and Michael looked a little confused.

"Mom. I thought we had stopped this tradition." said Sam as he received his present. It was no bigger than his palm, the same with everyone else's and smiling at her son, Lucy shook her head.

"Oh Sam. Now that we're going to live forever, I figured why not. It'll be a way to keep us connected to our new beginnings no matter what happens. So, I've officially started a new box and from now on, we'll just keep adding to it." Lucy was so happy with her statement and everyone but Michael, Sam and Faer were still so confused. What was she talking about? A new tradition. "Alright everyone! Open them up!" Doing as they were told, each person opened their last gift only to pause. They were ornaments, one for each of them with their name and the year written on the back.

"Lucy dear." said Max as he looked down at his little Santa ornament. "Would you mind explaining?"

"Hmm? Oh yes. Well everyone, in my family, it is a tradition to get a new ornament every year. Kind of a way to pass the years on a tree. Normally, we try to pick ornaments that represent each person and then sometimes we just go with a random trinket. Either way, everyone gets one. And now, Laddie, would you like to put yours on the tree?" Nodding his head, Laddie did so before he returned to his seat and Sam, who was sitting beside him, stood to do the same. Slowly they went around the room until everyone had placed their ornaments and smiling when it was finished, Lucy stood and looked at it. "Now, isn't that a beautiful tree."

"You know what this means now right?" asked Sam to Marko who sitting on his other side.

"No. What does it mean Sam?" he asked confused.

"It means we really are a family now. Mom doesn't buy ornaments for anymore unless they're family."

"Well shoot."

"Agreed."

Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"DAVID!" Jumping down into the cave, Paul and Marko walked over to the sulking figure. David was pissed that his brothers had decided to go to the house against his orders, but now that they were back, he was even more pissed by the fact that they had had a good time. He was hoping they would have had a lousy time and that Max would have lectured them about why they're not getting presents like everyone else.

Throwing the bottle of beer he had been drinking at the nearest one of his brothers, he just growled when Marko dodged it. "Someone's being a Grinch."

"Shove it!"

"Ah ah ah!" admonished Marko. "Keep that up and I'm not giving you your present." Now, David was interested. They had brought back a present for him?

"Me too!" added Paul and for the first time, he noticed that both Marko and Paul had semi large boxes in their arms. Looking behind them, he saw Dwayne enter the cave, with very much the same items in his arms as well.

"What? Max tell you guys to pack your shit and stay away from the house for good?"

"No! They're our presents! And yours, if you ask nicely!"

"Fuck off Paul."

"That's not very nice." he said in a sing song tone.

"I'm not a nice person."

"Oh, well then. No presents for you." David had had enough of Paul's taunts and growling low in his throat, he stood and began to stalk towards his brother, only to freeze when Paul gulped and threw two brightly wrapped packages at him.

"Fine, I give! Here!" Catching the presents, David stared at them for a minute. 'To David, Merry Christmas, from Lucy.' So even she had gotten him something huh? Inwardly he wondered what Max's face looked like when he found out. The second present though was sloppily wrapped and held messy handwriting. 'Dayvid, Mery Chritmass, Laddie.' Even the runt?

"Here." said Marko tossing him two more. One was from Sam and the other, surprisingly, Michael and Star. Now, he was really confused and looking to Dwayne who had set down his boxes on the couch and placed three more items upon the table, obviously for him, he stepped forward and peered at them. Of the three containers, only one was a present.

"What are the other two?" he asked.

"Faer made you dinner to go. She packed it before we ate, so you would be able to have everything before everyone else got theirs." answered Dwayne, before he picked up the thermos and shoved it at him. "She even made it special by catering to both of your hungers." The meaning wasn't lost on David and setting down the items in his arms, he quickly unscrewed the lid and inhaled the scent of semi fresh blood. She had cut herself again to feed him. "Max is pissed because she's hurting herself for our sake again, but he doesn't want to approach her cause Lucy doesn't know what's going on and he doesn't want her to know. He says, you need to make sure she understands she can't do it again." Growling, David stared at the canister for another moment. "Drink it David. Before it becomes too old and cold."

Now normally, David would have been furious with the quiet man for trying to order him around, but for once he was in agreeance and quickly gulping down the vampiric meal, he licked his lips clean and made for the cave entrance. There was still three hours to sunrise. He could make it there and back.

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Faer had been in bed staring out the window when the door to her bedroom was slammed open. She had heard stern voices speaking downstairs and she knew one of them was Max's but to find out now that the other voice was David's was surprising. She didn't think she would have seen him for at least another week if the pattern they had unconsciously set up held true.

Staring at her in anger, David let his animalistic side come to the surface as he tried to reign himself in. Because of her, he had gotten chewed out by Max for her carelessness. Of course, David reminded Max that even though he dealt with her far more than the others, she was still under Max's command and not his because she was still human. Max had of course, opened and closed his mouth a few times before he had turned to head upstairs to spend some time with his wife before the sun rose.

"Take care of this David. I do not want a repeat do you understand me?"

"Whatever."

"I'll ignore that remark."

Sitting up in bed, Faer held his gaze, unflinching even though it was normally meant as a killing spell. 'Is that what people see before…?' She couldn't finish the thought. When David saw her begin to lose herself to her thoughts, he stormed up to her and grasped her arm.

"The hell do you think you're doing huh?! Why the hell did you cut yourself again!" he all but yelled, having shut the bedroom door with a slam behind him. Blushing, Faer looked away.

"I didn't know if you had eaten, so I thought I would take the edge off just a little." she murmured. Her words only infuriated him thought and wrapping his hand about her neck, he pushed her down onto the bed.

"Listen here girl. I'm a hundred and thirty years old. I can feed myself. I do not need your pathetic excuse to give me charity. Got it?!"

"yes." she whispered.

"Yes. What." he growled out.

"yes David. i understand. i'm sorry." Silence filled the room and watching her for a moment, David eventually felt his animalistic side fade until he decided to focus on the other reason he had come. He wanted to make sure that she had cleaned her wound properly and that it wasn't too bad. The cut had to have been a decent size if she had given him so much and after the last time, he knew she wouldn't be stupid enough to put it someplace where they could see it either.

"Where did you cut yourself?" he asked, his voice brooking no room for arguments.

"you…you don't want to know." she whispered to him and frowning, he grasped her chin and turned her face towards him.

"Where. Did you. Cut yourself." he asked again, making sure to enunciate every syllable. When another minute had passed and she still hadn't shown him, he tightened his grip. "Either you show me where or I search for it myself."

Pausing for another second, David was about to keep to his word when she moved her hand, reaching for her shirt. Silently, he watched as she started to hike it up, higher and higher, exposing her hips, her stomach, her waist, all the while refusing to look at him.

David was floored. Michael had been right. She wasn't fat, she was curvaceous like no tomorrow and inwardly he felt his animalistic side growl in something more than hunger, his hands itching to touch the skin being exposed to him. To grip her waist and pull her towards him in something more…carnal. But he paused when he noticed the shirt continue to rise and watching in anticipation as it reached her breasts, he had to keep himself from licking his lips. Even if he had wound up with no presents tonight, this in itself was one to him.

"You made quite the cut." he said when she pulled it just above the swell of her breasts, keeping the large globes hidden from him but leaving him quite the view none the less. The cut was about three inches long, placed just beneath her breast, an angry red glaring at him.

"It had to bleed." she whispered, tensing when he leaned his head down to inspect it, a bit of unnecessary breath ghosting her skin and making her bite her lip.

"Why here?" he questioned as he ran his fingers lightly over the wound, grinning when they just ghosted her breasts.

"No one would think to look there and…"

"And?" he asked standing up.

"I heard blood straight from the heart means more. so…I got as close as I could." Staring at her for a second, he kept his face expressionless as he turned towards the door.

"Don't move. I'll be back."

"k." Staring outside at the sky, Faer lost herself in her thoughts. Why did he care if she cut herself? Maybe he didn't like that she was hurting herself for his benefit. 'No. He doesn't care about that. Maybe he just doesn't want Max to yell at him. Yeah, that sounds better.' Being drawn from her thoughts when the bed dipped, she turned her head to see David sitting beside her with a washcloth in one hand and the first aid kit in the other.

"Hold still." he said as he placed the cloth over the cut, pressing down on it lightly as she jumped from the cold water.

"That's cold." she said in a slightly higher voice than she normally used and he smirked when he noticed her shirt starting to get wet. It was the perfect opportunity to see the whole picture and he knew she wasn't going to like it. Then again, she had gotten him chewed out because of her carelessness, so as he saw it, she kind of owed him.

"Hold still. I'm trying to get the swelling down." he said as he reached out for her shirt. "Your shirt is getting wet. I'm going to pull it up more."

"No!" she cried, grasping the shirt so he couldn't.

"Let go. You think you're the first woman I've seen? Don't flatter yourself. Now move your hands." he ordered sternly watching as her chest rose and fell quickly as she panicked slightly. A minute passed before she slowly moved her hands, turning her head away from him once more as he raised her shirt to below her chin, exposing her to his sight.

David had to swallow. If his animalistic side had been vocal before, it was roaring now. Large, gorgeously soft looking breasts were staring him in the face and he had to control his body when he felt a tightening in his pants as their peaks hardened in the cold night air. 'Oh Merry Christmas to me.' he thought smugly before he went back to business and removed the cloth, noticing that the swelling had gone down.

Setting the cloth aside, he opened the first aid kit and pulled out some antiseptic cream and opening the cap to place some on his finger, he moved to cover the cut. He couldn't stop the smirk that graced his lips when her body shivered at the touch, or the flutter of her eyes as he intentionally brushed her breasts again. The sight was amazing and when he finished pulling down her shirt once more, he felt the demon inside him quiet down.

"I want you to promise me you won't do this again." he said as he set the kit next to the cloth and picked up her arm to examine it as well. There were three pink scars where the scabs had been and lightly he ran his hand across them, feeling a pain in his chest that she had marred her skin to make their dinner more appetizing to them. No human had ever done this before. No human who had ever figured out what they were had accepted them so quickly and gone through so much trouble to accommodate them. Inwardly, while he knew that she would likely end up as part of Max's pack, he kind of hoped she would think about joining theirs.

"i can't." she whispered, looking out the window once more while he stared down at her from his seat beside her prone form.

"Why not?" he asked, trying to control his rage.

"Because I can't. What if…"

"No." he said grasping her chin and turning her to face him. "No what ifs! Promise me you won't harm yourself again or else I'll force my blood down your throat. Do you understand?"

"yes."

"And?"

"i promise."

"Good." Releasing her, he stood. He had stayed longer than he wanted, the sun would be up in an hour and normally, it took fifteen minutes to get back to the cave. Now, with the sun approaching, it would take at least half an hour.

"david." she said as he moved to leave.

"What?"

"Don't go." she said hesitantly. "please."

"Why not?"

"The sun will be up soon and at this point it'll be hard for you to get back. Stay here. Please don't risk yourself." Turning towards her, he eyed her. The way she spoke to him, like someone would if talking to a lover, the way she refused to look at him and the blush that still stained her cheeks. She liked him, he thought with realization. After everything he had done to her, she liked him. For a minute he stared at her quietly, unsure of what to say before he simply nodded his head.

"I'll stay." he said, just so he could see her reaction. He wasn't disappointed. She visibly relaxed knowing that he would be safe from the sun. David was at a loss. He had no idea what to do and so, he did the only thing he could. He turned towards the door once more.

"where are you going?" she asked hurriedly as she noticed his departure.

"My room. Away from the sun." he stated simply, showing a bit of agitation at her constant questions.

"um…sorry but…all of the rooms downstairs are…a bit…messed up." As she spoke, Faer had the decency to look away from him as he turned to glare at her.

"What do you mean?" he growled.

"Well…I'm trying to sort things and it…kind of…spilled into your room too." she said slowly, trying to act nonchalant while he just growled even more.

"Then where am I supposed to sleep?"

"In here." Funny, she had no problem saying that unlike the other stuff.

"Are you blind woman?" he asked as he pointed towards the window. "I'll be ashes in minutes." Faer giggled slightly as she pushed the covers around her waist down and stood up, her naked legs being revealed to him and David had to swallowed the lump in his throat when she reached her hands above her head and grasped the curtains just beside her bed. He could have sworn he saw black lace just under her shirt and for a second he was tempted to tilt his head like Paul would do, to find out. Of course, he would never do it, because then he would no doubt get kicked out and he liked the thought of staying with her versus his now cramped bedroom in the basement.

Suddenly, it was pitch black. Faer had drawn a very heavy black curtain across the window before she pulled two smaller ones closed in front of it just for precaution. David had to stop the growl that rose in his throat when she kneeled down on the bed so she could tuck the curtain into the side between the bed and the wall. Her shirt was riding up as she pushed it down so the sunlight would be kept away from him at all times and he was getting a very nice view of what he could now confirm was indeed a pair of black lace panties. Once again, his pants tightened and he was happy that she had essentially blinded herself.

"There. Will that work?" she asked turning to look where she thought he was. He chuckled and walked over to the bed.

"Yeah. That'll do." Sitting down on the bed, he began to remove his boots, surprised when she didn't say anything. But then again, he figured she meant the bed when she had said he could stay in there.

"Can you put your boots at the bottom of the bed?" she asked quietly. "I might wake up before you and I don't want to wake you up if I trip on your boots."

"Sure." He didn't of course. He was hoping he'd hear an oomph sometime during the day. Once his boots were off, he removed his trench coat, which he placed over the desk chair, followed by his gloves that he laid on the desk. Now, all he had on was his black t-shirt and pants. It was weird to be honest. He normally didn't remove his clothes for bed.

"David?"

"What?"

"Um…I have a pair of sleeping pants…if you want those. They're men's!" she said hesitantly before she finished in a rush, her cheeks turning crimson though she really hoped he couldn't see it. Chuckling, he walked over and grasped her chin in his hand, moving so his cheek was pressing against hers while she froze and her breathing sped up a bit at the contact.

"Faer?" he asked slowly.

"y…yes…David?" she replied cautiously.

"Do you like me?"

"what?!" Trying to pull away from him, she soon found herself being whipped around until she was sat in his lap, his arms coming to wrap about her waist.

"Do. You. Like me?" he repeated.

"um…I…uh…I…I don't…" David just chuckled while he brushed his five o'clock shadow against her neck slightly, taking pleasure in the shiver that he felt run through her as he did so before he whispered into her ear.

"Don't get yourself caught in a place you don't want to be Faer. Star learned the hard way, don't walk in her steps." At that point, he let her go when he felt her tense up immensely, before she pushed away from him, anger beginning to fill the room. "Did I say something wrong?" he teased as he watched her blindly walk to her dresser before she opened the third drawer and pulled a pair of dark blue sleeping pants out of it. Tossing them to him, she then walked to the door, not bothering to see if he had caught them or not.

"Stop comparing me to Star." she said opening the door. "When you're done changing, come downstairs. There's something I need to give you." With that she shut the door leaving him alone to chuckle a little before he stood and removed the rest of his clothes. Apart from showering and changing into a clean pair of almost the same outfit, it was quite strange to wear anything else and the feel of the soft cloth as he pulled them on was a new sensation he hadn't felt in a while. He had to admit, it felt quite nice.

Pushing the thought to the side for now, David walked over to the door and opened it before he made his way downstairs as Faer had asked of him. He quickly spotted her sitting upon the couch, her head bowed as she looked at a small object in her hand.

"What do you have?" he asked walking over to her. She didn't jump at his sudden presence but he could see that she was reluctant to look at him. Instead, she quietly held out what he now recognized was a small present. "Another?" he questioned in disbelief as he took it before he sat down beside her.

"last one. I promise." she said quietly.

"I didn't upset you did I?" he asked in disbelief.

"you broke one of your promises." she said quietly.

"Oh?"

"you promised you wouldn't intimidate me anymore." David chuckled.

"I did, didn't I." he said as he leaned back and rested his arms across the back of the couch. Faer just ignored him and leaned forward until she was bent in half, her head resting upon her knees while she wrapped her arms about her legs. For a minute, they were quiet.

"w…why do you always compare me to Star?" she asked softly.

"Because I know you'll follow her footsteps." he replied, his voice now solemn.

"how?"

"Because I do."

"but how?"

"Because she was just like you when we found her. Hurt, wanting something new. But she couldn't accept what it was we were offering her. She wanted everything but the family condition."

"vampirism?" David chuckled.

"Yeah. Vampirism. She wanted it all but that."

"did you scare her?"

"Tried. We even took her to our feedings several times to try to get the bloodlust in her to come out. But it never worked. She always ran and we always chased her down. If it wasn't because of the fact that we needed her to take care of Laddie, I probably would have done away with her and grabbed someone else."

"wh…why couldn't you have been a little more patient? kinder?"

"Faer…" said David as he grabbed the back of her hair lightly and pulled on it to get her to sit up. She did so slowly, turning so she was facing him before he let her hair go and moved to wrap his arm about her shoulders before he pulled her to him. She put up a small fight, but he won in the end and she landed against his naked chest with a soft thump, her hand coming up as though to keep some distance between them even though there was none. "Look at me." he ordered. "I'm not patient. I'm not kind. I'm none of those because in my world, they can get you killed along with several other things that to just about everyone else are trivial. Why do you think I'm so reluctant for more people to join this family? We are already too big. We're seven and when you, Lucy, Sam and Laddie change, we'll be eleven. Murder Capital of the world or not, we were pushing exposure with just the five of us before your family came along." Faer tried to look away at this point, but David grasped her chin and made her look back. "Marko told you already what happened and he told you what I want and I'm going to press it until it's fulfilled. I'm not going to change that and there's nothing you can say to make me stop. Faer, you being outside of my power is dangerous. Max may think he has you under his but he doesn't. We can't keep tabs on you during the day if you go out. What if you decide to betray us, what if you decide to tell others what we are? You are a danger to us. You need to change and the sooner the better."

Faer was quiet as she stared at him before she turned her head away as he let her go. She was still pressed against him, her body resting against his chest but for the moment she was refusing to look at him.

"I'm not going to apologize for trying to protect my family. I'll do whatever it takes to keep them sa…"

"i know." said Faer, interrupting him. "i know. But you have to understand as well, that I'm not going to change until I'm ready. So until then you'll just have to trust me." David scoffed, biting his lip to hold his tongue before he froze when she turned towards him and locked their eyes. "Trust me not to be like them." Surprised by her boldness, David found himself nodding his head before a small smile appeared on her face and she leaned forward to rest her head on his shoulder. "thank you."

"Don't expect much." he said a minute later once his mind had returned to him before he leaned his head back and stared up at the ceiling for a moment.

"are you going to open your present?"

"Hmm?" he asked looking down at her before he saw her pointing towards his hand.

"are you going to open it?"

"Oh…yeah." he said, surprised that he had forgotten the little present in his hand. It was wrapped in brightly colored paper, no bigger than the length of his hand and opening it with a small question as to what it could be, he stared in great confusion at the little motorcycle ornament that greeted his eyes. Faer giggled quietly from her spot against his chest while his arms came about her to look at the gift and with a questioning look from him, she explained.

"In my family, it's tradition for everyone to get a new ornament every year. It's a way we keep track of the years without really realizing it." Reaching her hand out, she took the ornament from him before she flipped it over. The words David and 1989 were neatly printed on the back. "See the teddy bear and rocking horse one?" she asked as she pointed to the tree. David looked before he spotted the little white porcelain ornament that was decorated in soft colors. "That was my first ornament as a baby. And see the one below it to the left?" Once more he nodded his head as he spotted the new target, it was a Star Wars ornament. "I got that when the first Star Wars movie came out. Dad and I went to see it so many times that we practically had the entire dialogue down." Another soft giggle left her lips before she frowned and pressed her head against his chest a little more, her voice somber now as she spoke. "It's my family's way of remembering the good times." she finished softly, trying to hide a tear running down her face.

David watched her for a moment before he looked at the ornament in his hand. A way of remembering the good times huh? Well, he wasn't sure this year had been good or not, but he wasn't about to call this moment a bad one. Even though she managed to aggravate him to no end, Faer was good company and in this moment, he actually felt at peace for once even though he wouldn't admit it.

With a slight shrug of his shoulders, he silently told her to sit up before he stood and stepped towards the tree. "What did you get this year?" he asked curiously before she stood as well and moved to pick a white butterfly off of the tree. "A butterfly?"

"New beginnings." she said as she placed it back on the tree. "I guess…it was time for me to spread my wings and fly. Now I'm here."

"So you are." he said before he placed the ornament on the tree beside hers. Grasping his hand, Faer pulled him back a bit.

"Lucy was wrong." she said after a moment of staring at the tree.

"What do you mean?"

"Earlier, she had said the tree looked beautiful once we were done placing them on the tree. But I don't think it did."

"Do you think it does now?" he asked truly curious.

"Yeah." she said softly. "Now that everyone's is there, I think it's perfect." Finding himself chuckling once more, he looked at the tree again. Now that he knew everyone had an ornament on there, he did think it looked pretty good. But once again, he would never say that out loud. "the sun's about to come up." she whispered looking at the sky that was beginning to lighten.

"Then it's time for bed. Come on." Taking her hand in his, David led her upstairs and into her room shutting the door behind them before he let her crawl into bed first, closest to the window.

Getting in after her, he laid down as she pulled the covers over them before she turned on her side away from him, the silence as they adjusted to their sleeping arrangements thick. For a minute, David listened as Faer's heartbeat pounded loudly. It came as no surprise that she was slightly panicked by having someone else in her bed, but she wasn't about to kick him out, especially not with the sun having just risen. Besides, she had offered her bed to him and she was going to stick to her word.

"a…" Squeaking a bit when she felt an arm suddenly snake about her waist, Faer tried to hide her shock when she felt her back come in contact with David's chest, his arm holding her tight. "david…"

"shut up." he grumbled.

"k…david?"

"What?"

"merry christmas."

"…merry christmas to you too. now go to sleep." Relaxing after another second, she gratefully leaned into his embrace. It felt good, it felt really good and smiling as sleep began to take hold of her, she allowed herself to rest.