The next morning, Christmas morning, Nathan woke up and went to check on Maddie. When she wasn't in her room again, he didn't panic. Instead, he went to Haley's room and quietly opened the door. He knew immediately that what he saw would forever be etched onto his mind and in his heart. Haley and Maddie were fast asleep, on their sides facing each other, their foreheads touching. Haley had a protective arm wrapped around Maddie's little body, holding her close.

As quietly as he could, Nathan backed out of the room and went into his own to get his digital camera—sending up a silent prayer that the girls wouldn't move an inch in the meantime. He quickly found his camera and quietly walked back down the hallway to Haley's room—not wanting to take any chance of waking them up. He moved back into the room and snapped the picture. The flash didn't even disturb them. After going back out into the hallway, he brought the image up on the camera to get a good look at it. He grinned from ear to ear when it appeared, knowing full well that he looked like an idiot. But he didn't care. This one was definitely going in his sock, he decided.

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Haley was jarred out of her sleep by Maddie saying her name excitedly. "Haley!" she said again, as Haley opened her eyes. "Let's go see if Santa Claus came," she squealed, tugging on Haley's hand. She was standing up beside Haley's bed, and Haley could only see the little girl's eyes and forehead from where she was. Haley sat up and stretched. "OK, Mads," she said on a yawn. She'd started using Nathan's nickname for his daughter. After hearing him say it all the time, it had grown on her. "Let me just change and brush my teeth," she said.

After Haley had brushed her teeth and put her flannel pajama's back on, they headed downstairs, Maddie in Haley's arms. "Nathan!" she said, as a flash almost blinded her. "Are you trying to get me to drop your daughter?" she asked.

Nathan laughed. "I have to have a picture of Maddie just waking up on Christmas morning," he said, defending himself.

Maddie squealed and started bouncing in Haley's arms two steps from the bottom. Haley lost her balance and started teetering forward, but Nathan was there to catch her. "I miss your nighty," he whispered softly in her ear, while steadying her by her upper arms. Haley blushed furiously.

She looked away to avoid Nathan's eyes and that was when she noticed his parents standing right next to him at the bottom of the stairs. "Hi, Mr. and Mrs. Scott," she said in a choked voice, stepping down from the last step.

"Good morning, Haley," Nathan's father said.

Maddie was squirming, so Haley put her down and Deb took her granddaughter's hand. "So, Maddie, do you want to see if Santa came?" she asked.

Maddie jumped up and down. "Oh, yes! I want to see if my Sally is here!" she said in a high pitched voice.

Haley looked over her shoulder and grinned at Nathan, who was behind her while they were walking into the living room. "See?" he whispered, grinning back. "No one gets my Maddie's Sally."

As Haley walked into the living room, she noticed three mugs sitting on the coffee table, the same mugs that they'd used yesterday morning. One had a candy cane sticking out of it, one was obviously black coffee, and the other was obviously for Haley. Yep, she thought, picking up her mug and taking a drink of her coffee. It tasted just the way she loved it. Just one more reason to like him.

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Brooke and Lucas were sleeping when all of a sudden the bed started shaking. "What the hell?" Lucas said.

"Daddy! You said a bad word," Laney scolded, jumping on the bed, with Lily next to her doing the same thing. "Grammie said we could wake you sleepy-heads up now. Santa came and I want to open my presents!" she told him.

"No, you don't," Lucas said, pulling both girls to him, one under each arm, tickling both of their bellies at the same time. "You don't even like presents," he teased.

Both girls were squealing. "Yes, we do, Lukie," his little sister said between her little girl giggles. "We love them!"

Laney stopped giggling and looked at Brooke, who was still sleeping. "Daddy?" she asked. "How come Brooke doesn't have any clothes on?"

Lucas looked at his new fiancé. "Brooke!" he said loudly and she rolled over, stretching, her eyes still closed. When she finally opened them, she let out a little screech and pulled the sheets up to her chin. She had to stop getting caught like this, she thought.

"Umm…let's go see what Santa brought," he said, quickly standing up in his flannel pajama bottoms, a little girl under each arm. He turned his head around and gave Brooke a look of desperation. One that said hurry up and get dressed.

She shrugged her shoulders. I'm sorry, she mouthed.

Lucas grinned and wiggled his eyebrows as the sheet fell away from her chest again. She hastily grabbed it and pulled it back up. Luckily, the girls were facing the bedroom door and not the bed.

"Maybe Santa Claus brought Brooke some clothes!" Laney said on the way out of the room, causing Lucas to break into laughter.

A mortified Brooke got up out of bed and quickly put her pajamas on. She had been so tired when they go home at 2 o'clock this morning that she'd just stripped down and fallen into bed. She had just wanted to lie down for a minute and close her eyes, but she never made it back up to put her pajama's on. Well, she wouldn't make that mistake again. She grabbed a T-shirt for Lucas on the way to the living room.

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Nathan grinned as he watched his daughter open her presents one by one. It was so much fun to listen to her squeal and tell him how much she loved everything. She absolutely loved her Sally car, and it didn't escape his little girl's attention that her new doll looked just like her. She finally got to the present that Nathan had been really excited about. She tried to pick it up, but it was too heavy. She looked over her shoulder. "Daddy, can you help me lift this?" she asked.

He put his coffee down and stood up, and helping Maddie with the present, they put it in front of Haley. Haley had been designated by Maddie to sit beside her on the floor in front of the tree to put the wrapping paper in the trash bag. Maddie put her hands together in front of her and looked at Haley, her eyes dancing with excitement. "This one is for you, Haley. It's from me and my daddy," she told her. "I even got to help wrap it!" Haley looked up at Nathan in question.

"Open it," he said softly.

Haley tentatively started opening the present. She noticed that where the wrapping paper should have been cut, it was ripped instead, and she looked up and grinned at Maddie, absolutely adoring the little girl's handiwork. She pushed the paper aside and her breath caught in her throat. "A laptop," she said softly.

"Do you like it?" Nathan asked, unsure of whether or not it had all the features she'd been looking for.

She looked up at him and blinked a few times, not sure what to say. "I love it," she said quietly. "But, this a really expensive gift, and—"

"Merry Christmas, Haley," Nathan said.

Maddie placed a big wet kiss on Haley's cheek. "Daddy said you would love it," she told Haley.

Haley smiled at her. "Your daddy was right," she said.

Dan and Deb shared a look that no one noticed. Deb grinned and sat back on the couch, a satisfied smile on her face. Her son was in love. And her husband owed her fifty bucks.

Nathan had no idea what Haley had gotten Maddie, but it must have been some gift by the way she was screeching. She threw the box to the floor and started jumping up and down excitedly. She ran over and threw her arms around Haley. "Thank you, Haley," she said, everyone barely understanding her because her voice was so high pitched.

Haley gave her a hug. "You're welcome," she said, glad that Maddie liked the gift and saw the significance of it. Nathan was right; this girl could put two and two together!

Nathan laughed. "What did she get you?" he asked, taking a sip of his coffee.

Maddie bent at the knees, her little butt sticking out, and her arms were locked right out straight by her sides, hands balled into fists because she couldn't contain her excitement. Her arms were shaking. "Daddy! It's a shirt and some jeans! In Haley's power color," she told her father.

"In Haley's what?" He looked at Haley and she was blushing slightly.

"In Haley's power color," she repeated, then looked at Haley and rolled her eyes as if her father wasn't very bright. "You know, the color that makes Haley feel really good when she puts it on. The one that makes her eyes shine!" she explained.

"Oh, right, that color," Nathan said, pretending to know exactly what she meant. "Let's see it."

Maddie bent over and reached into the box, pulling out a long sleeved turquoise shirt with flowers on it, and a pair of dark blue jeans with turquoise sequined flowers on them. Lastly, she pulled out a pair of little shoes that Nathan thought looked just like Dorothy's, except they weren't ruby, they were turquoise.

Nathan nodded his head. "Those are nice," he agreed.

"Daddy, can I wear this today?" she asked.

"Sure," he told her.

"Oh, here's one more," Maddie said, reaching behind the tree for the last present that was under there. She passed it to Haley. "Who is it for?" she asked.

Haley didn't need to look at the tag. "It's for your father," she said, "but you don't have to open it now," she told him, suddenly self-conscious of her present, afraid that it wasn't enough.

Maddie sighed. "Don't be silly, Haley. Its Christmas morning. This is when we're supposed to open presents," she informed Haley. She took the present and ran with it over to her father. She stood between his legs with her hands on his knees while he opened it. "Daddy, what is it?" she asked when he had it unwrapped. "It's a calendar," he said softly. He flipped to January. It was a picture of him and Maddie. His eyes met Haley's.

"Oh, look, Daddy! It's us!" she said excitedly. "What's the next one?" she asked. As they flipped through the calendar together, it didn't escape Nathan's attention that in every single picture, he was smiling down at his daughter. He lifted his eyes to Haley's once more, and she blushed again. He loved this gift. Next to his daughter, it was his most favorite one he'd ever gotten.

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"Daddy, who is this one for?" Laney asked, bringing one of the last presents under the tree to her father. She had a hard time getting to him, since there were so many people in the room. Besides Lucas, Brooke, and Laney, there were Karen, Keith, and Lily, and Brooke's parents. They were going to stay at Brooke's apartment, but Karen and Keith wouldn't let them. They wanted them to be able to enjoy Christmas morning with everyone else, so Barbie and Rick had taken one of the spare bedrooms.

Lucas looked at the tag. "It's for you," he told her. "From Brooke."

"Oh," Brooke said. "Wait a second. Lily has one, too. You have to open them together!" she instructed. "There's another one under there, Laney, it's the same size, but the wrapping paper is different. Oh, there it is!" Brooke said, pointing to it. "Can you give that one to Lily?"

Laney ran back to the tree and got the one that Brooke was pointing to for her aunt. She gave it to Lily and then ran back to hers. "Can we open them now?" she asked.

"Of course you can," Brooke said, smiling nervously. She hoped they liked the presents. She had spent a lot of time on them, trying to make them just right for the little girls.

Lucas looked at her questioningly. "I don't recognize those packages," he said.

"That's because I didn't tell you about them," she informed him.

"Ahh, a well-kept secret. Kind of like your love for me, huh?" he teased.

Brooke laughed. "I have apologized up and down for waiting so long to tell you that I love you. I refuse to do it again!"

Lucas shrugged. "It doesn't matter, anyway," he said grinning. "I'm going to be able to hear it everyday for the rest of my life."

She put her forehead to his. "And on some days, you'll hear it more than once," she teased.

"Oh, Brooke Davis, you sure know how to turn a guy on," he said, leaning in for a kiss.

"Daddy, do you have a switch?" Laney asked, turning away from her half-opened present.

"What?" he returned, confused.

"You said that Brooke turned you on. Do you have a switch?"

"Wow!" Lucas said with a ridiculous amount of eagerness. "What's that?" he said loudly and exaggeratedly, motioning to Laney's present, trying to change the subject. Karen and Keith and Barbie and Rick were laughing hysterically.

Laney squealed and put her hands to her mouth with a gasp. Typical Laney, Lucas thought, grinning. Boy was his daughter dramatic. "What is it?" he asked. He was so glad that he wasn't going to have to deal with that alone anymore.

Instead of answering, Laney stripped down to her underwear. She quickly pulled the gift out of the box and put the top on.

"Oh," Lucas said, recognizing the gift and laughing as he saw Lily doing the exact same thing. Finally, Laney got the skirt on.

"Oh, Mommy, I love it!" she said in her mini Tree Hill Bulldogs cheerleader uniform. She ran over and hugged Brooke. Brooke quickly hugged her back, and then pushed her away from her, so that the little girl stood at arms length. "What did you say?" Brooke asked.

"I said 'I love it,'" Laney said.

Brooke shook her head, tears in her eyes. "No, before that," she whispered.

Laney blinked. "Oh," she said. "I called you Mommy. Remember? Because you and my daddy are getting married and we get to keep you!" she said clapping her little hands.

Brooke grabbed the little girl and pulled her in for a fierce hug. "I can't breathe," Laney said, laughing.

Brooke let go of Laney and gave her a light kiss on the lips. "Laney Scott, I love you."

Laney grinned. "Enough to show me where Daddy's switch is?" she asked.

Lucas sighed. How in the hell was he going to get out of this one?