A/N: Thanks for your patience. Life intervened, as usual. I know a few of you have requested an update...and I have fulfilled your requests. :) Hopefully it's worth the wait!


Will has kissed his fair share of women.

But none of them have ever made his head spin like Alicia.

As her lips press firmly against his, he realizes that he's just sitting there, not reacting, too lost in the effect she's having on him. He immediately pulls her closer, his fingers tangling in her hair.

When they pull apart, she has to catch her breath.

"That was quite the thank-you," Will comments, and Alicia smiles, albeit a little sadly, before reaching for his hand.

"I missed you," she admits, as he runs his thumb across her knuckles. "It was stupid of me to be so mad at you. You were just trying to give me space."

Will shakes his head. "But you didn't need space, did you? You needed friends. You needed me to be your friend, and I abandoned you."

Alicia shakes her head. "I pushed everyone away. I was snippy twenty-four-seven. I didn't give you room to be my friend."

"And you had every right to be. Anyone who cared about you should have given you a free pass." He gently touches his hand to her cheek to turn her gaze back to him. "It's okay, Leesh. Everything is okay. All of that is behind us. Let's keep moving forward."

"Keep on…keepin on?" Alicia teases, with a grin.

"How did…oh, god. Zach told you about that?" It's Will's turn to shift his gaze downward as he shakes his head. "I was mortified. I still am, actually."

Alicia rises from the couch to pour herself a cup of coffee, but before she reaches the kitchen, she turns around. "Will, if you're going to be a part of this family, you're gonna have to get used to being teased by all three of us."

Will can't help but smile, the corners of his eyes crinkled in happiness at the sound of the word family. "I could be okay with that."

"Merry Christmas!" Grace greets them, bounding out to the kitchen in her slipper-clad feet.

Alicia sets her coffee down on the counter. "Merry Christmas, honey," she says, squeezing her daughter tight.

"Merry Christmas," Will chimes in from the couch. "Coffee?"

"Is it the dark roast stuff?" she asks, crinkling her nose, but Will shakes his head.

"Nope. Medium," he says proudly, and Grace smiles as Alicia passes her a clean mug from the dishwasher.

"Is your brother awake yet?" Alicia asks, and Grace shrugs.

"I can get him, if you want," she offers, as she retrieves the caramel creamer from the fridge. "Bribe him with bacon, maybe."

Alicia chuckles. "That's okay. I'll go wake him. It's well past time to start opening presents."

"Yesss!" Grace cheers, almost as if she'd forgotten about that part of the holiday.

Grace takes a seat on the couch next to Will, in the same place she'd sat the night before.

"Did you make the medium roast just for me?" she asks.

"Well, I didn't think you would want the dark roast. That's more your mom's thing. But my sister, Aubrey, started drinking coffee in high school, so that made me think you probably liked it already, too."

"Thanks," Grace says with a smile. "For all of it," she adds. "I really appreciate you bringing us out here to spend Christmas with her."

"You're welcome," Will tells her sincerely.


As they chat, Alicia takes a seat on the edge of the bed where her son still sleeps. She smiles down at him, still marveling at how her tiny boy grew into a young college freshman so quickly.

"Zach," she whispers. "Time for presents."

He grumbles a little before opening his eyes. "Hey, mom."

"Time for presents," she repeats, and Zach smiles.

"Mkay," he agrees sleepily. "Is everyone else awake?"

"We've all been awake for hours," she jokes.

"Not true," Zach says as he swings his legs over the side of the bed and ruffles his hair. "Twenty minutes, maybe."

"More like forty-five," Alicia corrects him, rubbing her hand on his back as he stumbles sleepily out of the bedroom in front of her.

"Merry Christmas, sleepyhead!" Grace greets her brother.

"Oh, please. You've been awake for like five minutes," Zach replies, taking a seat on the floor.

Grace sticks her tongue out at him playfully. "Ten. And still longer than you."

Alicia glances at Will, who smiles as if to say this is nice. She sits cross-legged on the floor next to Zach, and Grace and Will scoot off the couch to join them. She grabs three presents, one for each of them, and distributes them accordingly.

"Will, as our guest, you get the honor of opening the first present," she tells him, but he shakes his head in response.

"No, no. You guys go ahead. Really. You two should go first," Will says, gesturing to Zach and Grace.

The first few gifts are typical: new clothes, a book Grace had asked for, a board game Zach had requested for his dorm room.

When Alicia opens her first gift, from Zach, she can't help but tear up at the package's contents: a Georgetown Mom t-shirt.

"This is so sweet," she says, kissing the top of his head. "I can't wait to wear it."

Zach shrugs but smiles simultaneously; he'd known she would love it.

Grace had wrapped up a small canvas painting she'd done in art class, a dot version of the Chicago skyline. "That's version number six," she explains as Alicia tears off the paper. "It took me a few tries to get it right."

"It's beautiful, Grace. I'll hang it up in my office," Alicia says, delighted.

"Now it's definitely your turn," Grace says to Will, nodding toward the present that sits in his lap. He doesn't recognize the wrapping as Alicia's, and realizes the kids must have wrapped this one. As he removes the wrapping, Grace tries to explain the contents without giving them away completely.

"I know it's silly, but…we really wanted to get you something, so we had to buy something from the airport gift shop. You don't have to wear it, or even like it. We won't be offended," she adds.

Will removes the bright red Angels cap from the package and immediately puts it on his head. Grace beams.

"I love it," he assures them. "Thank you."

Zach smiles. "Well, we talked about baseball a lot on the flight, so we thought it was a safe bet."

"You really didn't have to get me anything," Will says. "But this is perfect. Thank you," he repeats.

"And, coincidentally, it goes incredibly well with my gift," Alicia says, passing will one of the tiny, immaculately-wrapped packages.

"Does it now?" Will asks, and Alicia can't stop smiling. She watches his mouth drop open when he sees what's inside the small box. "I…holy crap, Leesh. Opening Day tickets? Angels against the Dodgers? This is…these are amazing. How did you get these?"

"I have my ways," she says, raising her eyebrows. "Looks like you're going to have to come back out here in April."

"Thank you," he says, shaking his head in disbelief. "This…this is too cool. And I already have the perfect hat to wear."

Zach reaches for a Will-wrapped package under the tree; one of two left. "This one says it's for us," he tells Grace.

"You can open it," she offers. "Is it from you?" she confirms with Will, who nods in affirmation.

"Like you, I wanted to get something for the two of you, but I had to resort to…well…the grocery store," he chuckles. "You don't have to like it, either, and I won't be offended if you don't, but I hope you do."

When Grace sees what's inside, she can't contain her excitement. "Ohmygod," she whispers. "Really? Are those for real?" Will nods. "Mom!" she exclaims.

"What?" Alicia asks, leaning over to see what's inside.

"Ohmygodit'sDisneylandticketswe'regoingtoDisneyland!" Grace says all in one breath, jumping to her feet from her seated position, and Alicia is almost sure she's going to start running in circles around the living room.

Zach grins. "This is cool, Will. Thank you."

"You guys have fun," Alicia adds, smiling as Grace does her happy dance.

"Oh, no, Miss Cavanaugh," Will says. "There are four two-day park hopper passes in that box, because there are four of us in this room. We are all going to Disneyland."

"I…" Alicia starts, but doesn't know what to say.

"And you are not allowed to protest," he adds. "Instead, you are going to eat food that is delicious and also terrible for you, don a pair of mouse ears, and ride all the rides with us. And I can guarantee that you will love every second of it."

"Come on, mom! It'll be the best day ever!"

Alicia smiles, and decides Will might need a little background information. "We were going to take these two to Disney World when they were little, but the morning we were supposed to leave, Grace got ridiculously sick and we decided to postpone the trip, then never got around to rescheduling it. So…this is their first Disney experience."

Will smiles. "I didn't realize. Had I known that, I would not have offered this one coffee before presenting her with the news," he says, looking up at Grace, who is still bouncing off the walls with excitement.

As Grace returns to her seat on the floor, she kneels down to hug Will, who is surprised, but happy, to receive this affectionate gesture. He returns the hug, smiling over her shoulder at Alicia and Zach, who both smile in return.

"There's one more present under the tree," Grace reminds them. "It's Will's wrapping paper."

"And it's for mom," Zach notes, leaning over to grab the gift.

"You didn't have to get me anything," she says, smiling as she accepts the gift, but Will knows she's glad that he did.

"Well, I wasn't going to sit back and let you get me something while I got you nothing."

"How did you know I was going to get you something?" Alicia teases.

"The gifts I've gotten every single year since I met you might have given it away," he teases back.

A small leather box is nested in a larger box, and Alicia can't imagine what could possibly be inside. It's about the right size for…

"It's not that," Will adds quickly, understanding the look on her face. "Just open it."

Inside the small box sits a silver band, a bright blue stone in the center, encircled by the words "Georgetown University," the year of their graduation engraved on the side. An exact replica of the class ring she'd lost years ago, when moving from one house to another.

"I lost this," she says softly. "What was it, fifteen years ago? How did you remember something I told you fifteen years ago?"

"It was important to you," Will answers. "You were devastated when you lost it."

"And you haven't seen it in, what, almost twenty years since we graduated? How did you remember what it looked like?"

He chuckles. "The day we got them, you showed it to everyone. You were so excited. I counted, by the way: you showed it to me eight times that day. I was never going to forget what it looked like."

"Thank you," she says softly, and he leans forward to wipe a tear from her cheek. "This means so much to me."


An hour later, the four of them sit around the kitchen table, plates that were once full of cinnamon rolls and bacon now empty. As Will gets up to refill his coffee, Grace claps her hands together. "Can we start making Disneyland plans now? Please?"

Zach looks at Alicia. "Do you think she's going to be like this for the next two days?"

"Come on, Zach, get excited! It's Disneyland!"

He looks skeptically at his sister. "I only care about Space Mountain. And maybe the Haunted Mansion."

"So what I gained from that is...that we're going to ride It's a Small World five times in a row," Will says, returning to his seat at the table. Zach stares blankly at him, and Will immediately starts laughing. "Okay, maybe not. Maybe what I heard was: let's get fast passes for Space Mountain so we can ride it at least once, if not twice?"

"Now you're talking," Zach agrees.

"I want to ride the teacups," Grace declares. "And Splash Mountain. And do they really have waffles that are shaped like Mickey? If they do, that's what I want for breakfast."

Alicia smiles. "Honey, why don't you get a piece of paper and write this all down?" She agrees, and heads to her room for the supplies.

"I might take a break from the planning," Zach pipes up. "Do some reading." He follows Grace out of the kitchen, leaving Alicia and Will a moment of quiet.

She moves to refill her cup, but Will insists on allowing him to get it for her. As he sets the steaming mug back on the table, Alicia smiles up at him, closing her eyes to savor the moment as he places a kiss on top of her head.