A/N: Dominic's quote is from Lord Byron. Jason's gift to Kate is one that I myself received from Santa back in fifth grade when I was pining away after an eighth grader (yes, laugh at me here).

Early Christmas Presents for y'all.

Emma didn't speak so that Luce could hear. She spoke for herself. The only reason she was there at all was because he'd become unresponsive, and was now unmonitored. This was the only place she could find--but she still spoke as if telling him her story. If only because she was falling apart at the seams, and he just happened to be there to listen to the breaking...

"I don't understand." She shook her head, her hair falling limp in her face. There was no trace of her trying to be innocent, not any airs. She really was desolate. "I don't understand!" And she was angry.

"I hate everything. I'm intelligent.. I'm deceiving. I don't care. I'm everything anyone ever wanted--!" She shook her head violently, punching the wall. "I don't understand!" She stepped back, fists trembling. Her voice broke. "I'm not doing anything wrong—I'm doing everything wrong. It's what I'm supposed to do. What I'm supposed to be. I don't understand why everyone rejects me… They created me, so they messed up, but… They can't abandon me!" She cried, sinking down to the floor. "Talking to myself, talking to a boy that might as well be a corpse…why? Why, why, why?"

She was covered in grime. Not only because of her job, not only because this place has not been touched in ages—she hadn't been keeping herself as clean as usual. She was a mess. And no one had noticed. She dropped her head in her hands. "I'm nothing…Why? What am I missing? I'm the same as her. Why not me? What did I do wrong? Why do you hate me?" She dropped her hands. They fell limp to her sides and her head fell forward to rest on her knees.

"I don't understand…" She lifted her hands to clutch her knees to her chest. She was curling in on herself. "I tried. I tried to be as good as her--even when no one wanted me. I did everything they told me to. But they still didn't want me. The dumped me, the failure, off on the kid because no one wanted me. I tried to impress you. A stupid crush, they'd told me to have it—and I wasn't good enough for that either." She sniffed. "I thought it was just because you were a failure too. It wasn't my fault. Everything else might be, but losing you to them wasn't. You were originally like them, right? It made sense." She shook her head. "But Zach wasn't. Zach isn't. Why's he becoming one of you? I don't understand." She wiped her eyes. "Is it my fault? What's wrong with me? Why am I not good enough?" She choked. "Why do you all keep leaving me? Why can't I get anyone to stay with me? I've never done anything…" She began to sob.

"You all created me…Why do you keep abandoning me?"

Lucifer suddenly stirred. His wings rustled, and then a foul odor hit her in the face. He hadn't been bathed or cleaned in a while either; his hair was lank and stringy, a grimy color that looked nothing like the straw-blond it had been before. He looked at her through dull, narrow eyes, and licked his cracked lips. "Don' say that," he rasped.

Her eyes snapped wide open and she froze. "You-you were unconscious. Out of it." She wiped at her eyes furiously, attempting to save some lost dignity, trying to come up with some lie but coming up blank. She glared. "What do you care anyway? Just forget it!"

"Mmph..." He attempted to sit up, but his arms didn't seem to want to support him. He sighed and rolled gingerly onto his side so that he could see her better. After recovering from an especially painful flare in his ribs, he managed, "I care a lot, that's what I care. And I probably will, in a few hours..." He sighed.

Her gaze faltered before it hardened. "Good." She tried to come up with another come back but couldn't. "Crap..." She stood up stiffly, legs feeling like Jell-O though she'd never say, and began brushing herself off. "What else can go wrong?"

"Well, they could decide that I should get fed to the Grotesques. Or maybe they might want to parade me out in public. Or maybe they'd make me smell myself."

Emma smiled. "That last one is probably the worst, and the second most likely won't happen. And I won't let them feed you to the Grotesques--you might make them sick."

He chuckled, but it was rather wheezy. "Glad someone cares enough."

"Didn't say it was about you."

"Didn't say you cared about me. Hey, if you being in love with one of those beast-tards is what keeping me away from them..."

"Luce! I am not in love with a Grotesque! Ew!"

He laughed again. "What about that runt you took care of? Any feelings there?"

She grimaced. "They just gave me that job because no one else wanted it--and the runt tried to eat me, remember? Ungrateful beast-tard."

"Right. You say that now," he teased.

"Weirdo." She made a face, then leaned back against the wall. "I've got another couple hours or so. I was just going to hide out in here, so you can shut up and go back to sleep."

He was silent for a moment, then, "Haven't slept since I got in here."

"Oh...sorry." She looked away.

"You ever get...the nightmares...?"

She shrugged. "Not so much. I don't know why...I just don't dream."

His gaze dropped to his messily bandaged hands. Silence fell again. This time, he didn't speak. His wings rustled as he spread them wider over his body to keep in some heat. She glanced at him, but he wasn't looking at her, staring off into space with a terrible, melancholy but otherwise blank expression...

"Why?" she broke the silence with a jolt to both of them and carried on after scowling at herself. "I mean, why do you care? You didn't have to..."

Luce closed his eyes. "Being wanted by ITEX and Zachary... Being valuable... Emma, it's not what you'd want. I don't want... Emma, ITEX is killing everyone around us. They don't care about us. To know that I could be terminated in an instant—that I could be ordered to terminate one of the other Fallen, or another sane experiment, with those fears over my head, it's so hard... Zachary... He's so confusing. He preaches morality, but I'm... I'm afraid of... He might turn on me and kill me if he was ordered to, or if his other projects became compromised.

"It's not fun with that hanging over you. And then when I met Sable, I was just curious at first. She was so different. I didn't think she was really pretty, but the way she glared at Zach—and then she slapped him! Tell me you haven't wanted to do that, but have been too afraid.

"And then I saw that she was just as strong as all of us Fallen, maybe not physically, but she was—no, she was even stronger than I could ever hope to be, than any of the Fallen. She's so sure of herself, of her faith. Even if it does turn out to be made up, I don't care. I want to be strong like that. I want to be able to stand up for myself, stand up against the things that frighten me... And then I started... It's so hard—" He struggled for words. "I would give up everything here, even if I am wanted. Just to keep people safe, just to stand up for what I feel is right, to stand up for myself. Do you know how many Fallen have been killed already? Fifty of the two hundred of us. And that's just the Fallen. What about the others, who aren't so different from us? And then we're next. As soon as we become unwanted, and no matter how hard we try, someone new will come, someone better, and our time will be up.

"Would you rather wait for your friend, your creator to become your executioner and die betrayed, alone, helpless...or would you want to live with people you loved? Who cared, who'd never betray you? I don't want...Emma, I don't want to feel so empty and alone, and that's what everything is here. Empty, desolate, and unfeeling. Outside..." His voice faded to a rasp and he coughed.

Emma shook her head. "What? It's different? Maybe. I doubt it. And it wouldn't be that different for me anyway--I hurt Sable, Luce. Why are you talking to me? I want to hurt you. And her. And everyone." She punched the floor. "It doesn't make any sense. This is all retarded."

"You hurt Sable, yeah. But at the moment, if I didn't talk to you, I'd start talking to myself, and that's a sign of insanity. Wait, it's a sign of insanity to talk to you... Ugh. Look. I nearly killed Sable myself. And you see how she took me back—it's not just because of the romance we have. She'd take in Zachary even, if he came around truly changed... The others would as well, if you gave yourself a chance... And you can hurt me if you like. I can't do anything about it. Right now, I'm absolutely defenseless. Do it. Go out and kill us all. Leave the poor floor alone and punch me. Go ahead, I'm waiting."

Emma sat up, glaring at him for a long moment before she slumped forward and laughed dryly. "Like killing you would make any difference. It wouldn't do me any good, let alone you." She curled up again. "I hate this. Luce—you don't get it. None of this is going to make a difference. Talking? It's pointless. I'm still going to hunt down The Family. I'm still going to plot and hate. I'm still going to follow orders and do whatever ITEX tells me. After the hour's up I'm going to walk right out that door and forget all this. I have to. I don't want to end up like you." She closed her eyes to erase him from her sight. "I am going to hurt all of you, at one point or another, but only when I get something from it—that's the way the world works."

Luce watched her with something akin to sadness in his eyes. "You're wrong," he said firmly. "And we'll prove it."

She stood up and walked towards the door. "Whatever. I hope they get you out of here soon, Luce. You don't belong here."

It was of his opinion that a truer statement he'd never heard her speak.

Trinity

"I can get my own magazine."

"Just take it, Princess."

"Make me, Elmo."

"Would you take it if Big Bird gave it to you?"

"Maybe."

I rolled my eyes. "Ana, stop picking on Fang and just take it."

She smiled and snatched the magazine from Fang's fingertips. He rolled his eyes good naturedly and sat back. "Read that paragraph, Santana."

"...Jerk."

"What's it say?" I asked.

"Nothing," both of them chorused, and while I got the hint that it wasn't anything important, I still felt bugged. However, I was interrupted by Dr. Tamlin coming out and gesturing at us. I jumped up and had to chase after Ana, who had dropped the magazine and speed-walked to the doctor with giddy feet.

Why was she so excited? Why, it was quite obvious. Dr. Tamlin had said that we'd probably be able to tell the genders this time around. You can guess that Ana was ecstatic, as was I. Fang was merely amused as he trailed along after us.

We went straight for the ultrasound room this time, instead of the counseling room. By the time I caught up with Ana, she was already on the bed and staring at the screen with devoted intensity. Dr. Tamlin was pointing out the two strings of pearls on the black-and-white ultrasound, waiting for the 3D (actually, the one we had here was 4D because it was a moving image) to come up.

And then there were our tiny little babies, with their large, round heads, tiny shoulders, alternatively crossed and stretching legs—and by God, toes! I could nearly imagine myself counting them... Ana cooed as Twin B as we called it turned a bit, revealing it was sucking its thumb.

And, of course, there were their wings that twitched and fluttered occasionally, but we couldn't tell at this angle.

My chest swelled at the sight of them, and I gripped the cuffs of my sleeves in a vain attempt to contain my excitement. "Can you tell?" I asked.

"From this angle, I believe I can," he said. "Of course, we can't be quite sure until later on, closer to twenty weeks, but... They're developing so fast. From what we first calculated they should be on thirteen, but they look more like fifteen weeks!"

"So?" Ana demanded.

"I believe—and this comes from a fallible man—that this one," —here, he pointed at Twin A— "this one here is a girl."

Ana looked like she was having trouble refraining from bouncing. "And the other?"

"He is most assuredly a boy."

"Anna Marie and Nicholas Gabriel!" She grinned at me. "Sabes was right!"

Fang had come in just as she said, "Nicholas Gabriel", and his jaw fell open against his chest. Shock flooded his mind, and what I got was a big, hilariously surprised exclamation mark of surprise.

"Uncle Fang!"

He shook his head. "Wow-do I get to babysit?"

"Of course!"

He nodded. "I've got a nephew..."

"And a niece!" Ana was beaming.

"And a niece," he agreed. "A niece and nephew...I'm getting old."

"Yeah, time's a wasting, buddy." I grinned at him mockingly. "Better get a move on."

Fang's face arranged itself into a carefully molded scowl, and he looked back at the ultrasound. "So, how big are they, really?"

"They'd fit into your hand easily," Tamlin said.

Fang's eyes widened a fraction. "Really! They take up a lot of room..."

"Well, there's..." And Tamlin went on a schpeal of bio-babble that I'd heard at least three times before (all on visits where Fang hadn't come). Surprisingly, Fang became quickly absorbed and sat down on Ana's mattress, listening intently to Tamlin and asking questions.

I looked at Ana questioningly, and she shook her head. "Doubt it," she said.

"But... Nah, you're right. No way he'd do that. He's more of an author."

"Probably, yeah."

"Fascinating," Fang said, having ignored us completely. "What were you saying, Trin?"

"Didn't Sable say you were destined for a great career as an author if you ever got your spelling straightened out?"

"Yeah. And then I told her it wasn't my fault if I couldn't spell and I didn't really care."

I shrugged. "Details, details."

"In this case, details are important. I'm not writing."

"You know there's such a thing as spell check nowadays? It's fascinating." Ana laughed.

Fang rolled his eyes. "I blog. That's enough."

"I have an idea," I said, feeding him some of my good humor. "Wanna hear?"

"I know what you're doing," he pointed out, giving me a bit of his level-headedness. "But sure."

So it was working. Good. "How about you blog a bit of your writing? I'm sure it'd be much more interesting than a regular old post. And I really want to see what your style is like."

"It won't be any good," he warned me. "But if it makes you happy and you don't bug me again, I'll think about it."

"You have to do more than just think. You have to do it. And you'll like it, trust me."

Fang smirked. "An what do you know, oh wise Big Bird?"

"A lot. I--"

"Just do it, Fnick." Ana made a face at us. "You know you want to, and he'll never stop bugging you until you do."

"Fine, fine," he relented. "But you can't tell Max."

I shrugged. "Whatever."

Ana changed the topic by squealing, "Look at the yawn! She yawned! She yawned!"I looked up at the screen as little Anna Marie smiled briefly, and I got the biggest grin on my face.

"Looks like she likes your attention."

Ana squeezed my hand and I sat back to watch with her. Every little detail engraved itself into the walls of my skull, and I found myself trying once again to imagine what they'd look like when they were fully developed, when they were born, when they could walk, when they had teeth and hair and feathers...

"I bet Nick will look like you," Ana said to me.

"I bet he looks like you."

"Nuh-uh."

"Uh-huh."

"I say he'll look like me," Fang said flatly, and we laughed.

Fang's Blog – 12/24

I've put this off as long as I could. Now, the day before Christmas, I doubt Trinity will continue to 'forget' to remember our deal. He made me promise to write something so that he could see what my 'style' was. In my defense, I tried to refuse, but there is no arguing with him. Especially when he can subtly influence your thoughts so you can't remember whatever strong argument you'd usually have against such attack. The most I could think of was that I can't spell.

To which Ana replied with a simple, "Spell check, dork."

I have tried to ignore this, but once Sable heard of the deal (this morning, curse you, O Mind Reader Angel!*) she sat me down with my laptop and trained her Look on me. There was no escape. I was forced to pound the poor keyboard until my fingerprints had worn smooth and my mood was the blackest it had ever been. I've been starved for inspiration as of late, but there's something about the people and events around me—no, I won't tell you the specifics—have reminded me of a girl I once knew.

Squee now. You won't when I'm done. I can't write worth anything, and I don't have any idea how o begin, so I'm just going to—in the words of our much beloved Maximum "Charging Off" Ride—I'm just going to jump right in and you try to keep up.

You blog readers should prepare yourselves for a miracle. Are you ready? You better be. I'm warning you. You seriously need to be sitting down or something.

You're sure? Really sure?

Here goes.

You ever think, "This is it, I'm in heaven"? Or, "This is it--I've finally got my fairy tale"? It sounds like a very flowery, feminine thing to say so just blame it on my new status as Uncle Fang. But still, I try to be some Prince Charming. And then if I am, Prince Charming has had some tough luck let me tell you.

First, he got booted out of his castle. The King turned out to be an incompetent buffoon, who disappeared and then led the army that kicked the Princes and Princesses out.

Then, the Prince learned the art of eating the delicacy that is rat. More specifically, a rat of desert origin, roasted.

And since nothing could be more obvious, our Prince Charming hadn't really had that much luck with the Princesses. But I'd like to say that our tough-luck Prince finally reached the end of his troubles—and if not the end, then he's already claimed the prize and is still willing to work for it. That's what love is all about, isn't it?

Our Prince finally, after everything, not only has an evil alter-ego, a twin brother, a soon-to-be sister-in-law, a whole new family with a little niece and a little nephew on the way, but our Prince has finally won the heart of is Snow Queen, and has reached peace at heart with the new sister—the lovely Princess Santana.

But, this isn't about that. Or, it wasn't going to be anyway. This tale is about the Prince finally winning the Snow Queen's heart, after she's already held his for so long and didn't even know it. It had been back in New York, after a near-death experience where feelings had been brought out once in for all. The Prince had made a promise to the Queen, and she followed through with it.

Ice skating. The beautiful Queen took her Prince ice skating. And oh, for all her grace she still let the Prince help her with her skates. And, even though she was a Snow Queen, an ass-kicker, and a chocolate chip cookie lover, it was revealed that she was still a klutz on the ice. Thus, she allowed the Prince have the honor of helping her learn how to skate.

Our Snow Queen was amazing. She kept trying, and she kept teasing, keeping at it until she learned, playfully bantering in that way she has—and learning how to skate with that beautiful determination on her face, and almost winning every neck and neck race they held there after, brining them both joy.

Then, she had the nerve to ask for hot chocolate.

Of course the Prince had suggested it first, being wiped out, but that's beside the point. The Prince almost tripped and she teased him about his Ninja origins, a memory that he'd rather have forgotten. She was a very kind Snow Queen, obviously.

After they exchanged their skates for shoes, the pair went to get their hot chocolate. The Prince bought it—but the Snow Queen paid him back by looking adorable, imitating a dragon by exhaling out her nose.

The Prince made a face and made his Queen laugh. He loved the sound; it made his heart swell in his chest, filling it with love... He wanted to kiss her, but he made sure to ask first.

She explained to him why she thought she'd run before, but how she was better now. He didn't care. He'd forgiven her all along. But it was nice to know that she had fixed herself.

They got off topic by a memory of some of the Prince's troubles, which brought her to hers. Amazingly she told him in was no point arguing, and then they brought the topic to Ninjas again.

Something changed in her face, and the Prince worried. Was it the mysterious Voice that sometimes aided her? Was it a brain-attack, an event that hadn't been repeated in years—but always looming at the back of his mind? Was it something else?

She came-to and gave him a quick kiss, telling him she was better. It was her evil clone, trying and failing at her task. He was relieved, but in his worry he had gotten hot chocolate on his fingers. She took one of his hands from his face and licked it, then assuring him it was still good. It was Ninja flavored. She made him blush.

He kissed her then, so overcome with the love of her humor, her wit, her perseverance; he could taste the hot chocolate on her lips. She could taste the peppermint on his.

He teased her about flavored lip gloss, and she asked about his Dad, and they wandered home thinking about Bruno the Brute—the poor, mummified gorilla that never stood a chance against the one called Catlyn the Insane.

It seemed, then, that everything would be alright. He'd won back his throne, even if it was in a new, dirty, unstable kingdom. He'd found the Crown Prince, who had found his own soulmate and had two children on the way. He'd found his true father, who was the True King—and the odds of finding the King's Queen were optimistically high. All the other members of the royal family were in good health and hands...

And in our Prince's heart, his Snow Queen would forever be his Princess.

--Fang

This is what you get, Sable, Trinity, Ana. I don't know whether to thank you or tell you to bug off, so I'll go with BUG OFF. I'm no good at this sort of thing. Give me something bleak and depressing, and I'll give you something stellar. But you guys got me hooked on that addictive Christmas Spirit... Ugh.

Thank you.

Fly On.

-Fnick.

*Sorry, Ange. You know I'm joking.

Sable

I'd wrestled Max into wrestling Angel, Gazzy and Nudge into bed (armed with cups of hot cocoa and promises to be fast asleep by the time we got up there), and now I had to deal with Max herself and the other 'grown ups' as they called themselves.

Grown ups. Right.

"Iggy, put that down," I said as I came out of the hallway. "Those are for the reindeer, not you, silly."

He put the carrot down sheepishly. "Can I have a cookie, then--"

"Those are for the owner of the reindeer."

The blind boy shot a mournful expression at the plate he was standing over, and then looked over at the wall beside me with an attempt at Bambi eyes. While Bambi eyes didn't work on me, having a blind boy staring at the wall instead of me pulled at my heartstrings. "However," I said, "you can eat the cookies that are sitting in the kitchen."

"Cool!" He beamed at me and ran to the kitchen, followed by KIX.

"But guys, you gotta listen in while I talk, 'kay?"

"Alrighty!"

I turned to the adults who were cuddling around on various pieces of furniture in the living room. Trinity yawned lazily and snuggled further into Ana's arms; the cold always made him sleepy, and although we had the heat on, it was freezing. Good cuddling weather.

"Hey, guys. It's bedtime. Before you start whining, I want to explain. The little kids want you to be asleep—or at least up in your rooms, quietly reading. And we've got to humor them, or else Angel's threatened to go puppet-master and drag you up there."

Max blinked. "So, we don't have to go to sleep and we can keep doing this, right, as long as we're quiet?"

I nodded. "Yes, Max. You can keep snogging Fang."

"Good enough for me!" Fang said before Max could snark at me, and he scooped her up. "Night, peeps."

I watched with a smile as he tossed her over his shoulder and dragged her protesting down the hall and up into the attic. Trinity looked at me lazily through his lashes, and then made a, "Mmmm," sound as Ana smoothed back his hair. I continued to smile, but crossed my arms and tapped my foot. "You guys can cuddle in my room," I sighed. "But I'm kicking Trin out when I go to bed. I'll give you twenty minutes."

Ana sighed happily. "Alright. Come on, Trinity." She practically dumped him onto the cold floor, and he ran to the room and jumped under the heavy quilts I'd put there. Ana laughed softly. "Thanks, Sable."

"No problem."

I didn't wait for her to go down the hall. Instead, I turned to Beth, who was curled up in the corner of the sofa, fast asleep. I pondered standing over her with a spork until she woke up—but then decided that'd be too mean, and I didn't have a spork. Plan B went into action. I poked her with a finger. "D, wake up. KIX is waiting for you."

She squinted at me. "Huh?"

"Bedtime. Come on, up-and-attic." I grabbed her arm and pulled her off the sofa. "You can take the blanket with you," I called, and allowed her a second to wrap the blanket around her before I proceeded to tug her down the hall. I made sure that Angel was going to help Beth to the right sleeping bag, and then went back down the hall. I passed KIX, who gave me a hug and then a quick kiss on the cheek—he was carrying a sprig of the mistletoe that had been put up in the center of the living room. "Beth's asleep. Save it for tomorrow morning," I warned him. He grinned.

"What a way to wake up," he remarked, and disappeared into the attic.

"Iggs, you'll be wanting to head up, too," I said.

He nodded, and grabbed a few more cookies before taking his leave.

"He didn't save any for you," Dom said disapprovingly.

"And you did?" I leaned back against the counter and gazed at the oven door, spreading my hands out towards the warmth.

"Mhm." He turned around, and then faced me with a plate of cookies he'd been hiding behind his back. "Made 'em myself." He grinned.

"I can't eat that many!" I protested. "We'll have to share."

"Fine by me." He held out an arm and guided me back to the sofa. " So we have twenty minutes to hang out before you kick Trin out of the room and call it a night?"

I nodded as I sat down. "Yes, but you can head out to see her, if you want," I told him quietly. "Just watch out for incoming Saints."

Instead of thanking me profusely and jumping out the door without a backwards glance as I'd expected him to, he shook his head and looked down at the cookies. "She's in Salt Lake City tonight," he said, without any wistful tones or forlorn sighs. "And she specifically told me to hang with you. So I am."

"Glad to know that she cares," I said sarcastically.

He seemed offended. "I care, too," he said. "I'm just explaining why I'm not heading out to visit her."

"Mm'kay."

Dom paused for a moment, then he put his arm around my shoulders. I leaned into his side and picked up a bell-shaped cookie that was covered in gold frosting, with little silver sugar pearls around the rim. I could feel his falcon-voice keening in his chest, but he didn't let it out to form words. He sighed.

"Something wrong? You sure you're alright?"

"I'm just... I've got a bad feeling..."

I slipped my free arm around his back, between his wings and the back pillow of the couch. He pulled me a bit closer and I rested my head on his chest, staring out at the pitch black glass that obscured my vision of the backyard.

"I know."

"I don't," he said bitterly. "And Angel won't tell me. She asked me what I had a feeling about, and I told her that I felt like someone was going to die—I felt that around her and... I don't know... I just feel it, in my gut."

"And what did Angel say?" I asked. My voice was low and quiet to match his sombre gaze and his hushed, warbling tone. "Did she look frightened?"

"She looked like she was going to cry."

"She's probably thinking of someone else," I said firmly. "Maybe that boy who gave her the flower. Or someone. Your girlfriend—she's my cousin. She can't die. She just can't."

Dominic's grip on my shoulders disappeared; I could hardly feel it, even though it was still there. His jaw was clenched so tightly that I knew it had to be against tears. I shut off the light immediately. To see Dominic cry was to see a stained glass window break. Immediately, moonlight flooded the room, and our faces were illuminated by the blinking green, red, blue, and yellow lights on the tree. His eyes seemed black in the darkness, glassy with tears.

I couldn't see his lips trembling, though. It was good; if I had seen that, I would have begun to cry as well.

"She can't," I said softly. "She just...can't."

"'For the sword outwears its sheath, and the soul wears out the breast. And the heart must pause to breathe, and love itself have rest.'..."

Trinity

"Whoa…" I said.

"I know." Ana leaned against me as I reread Fang's post. She kissed my cheek and tugged on my arm, pulling me away from our spot by the brightly lit tree. It was still dark outside, and the house was still peaceful with sleep. It wouldn't be in a matter of hours. "Come on, it won't be that much longer before the others wake up, let's head upstairs. You don't want to be between them and presents when they first wake up, do you?"

I smiled, shaking my head. "No…but you don't want to wake them either, do you?" I brushed her cheek with the back of my hand. "Christmas morning, all that hustle and bustle… I like our peace."

"Me too," she said happily. "It's been a while."

"Tell me about it," I said. "I mean, last night was nice... But I fell asleep too quickly."

"Yeah, we had five minutes of you being awake, and then you were out."

"I'm sorry! It was just so nice."

Her lips spread in a glorious smile at my implied praise. I pulled her closer so that our foreheads touched. "You're perfect," I assured her. "Stunningly perfect."

Her arms went around my neck and she pressed a soft kiss to my lips. A happy thought fluttered around my checked-out brain; If I get kissed every time I praise her, I should do it much more often... God knew, I'd always mean it.

There was a clearing of throats, and when we looked up we saw my Fang smirking at us. Angel and Gazzy stood by him, rubbing their eyes and snickering along.

"You two busy?"

"Yes, quite," I replied, and went back to kissing my fiancé.

Gazzy stuck his tongue out at us, but otherwise plopped down on the floor where he was and did his best to wake himself up faster, pinching and rubbing his eyes. He glanced at the presents under the tree and back at Fang. "How much longer until we can wake the others up?"

"We're up," Max grumbled, and flopped down on the couch, taking up all the room. Fang lifted up her legs, sat down, then dumped them back into his lap. Let me correct myself. Now all the room was taken.

Everyone else just sat on the floor, eyes trained on the presents glistening under the tree.

Sable slipped in and stole a seat at the table, then cleared her throat. "Do not open them, but find your presents."

Chaos broke out.

"This one's mine!"

"This one's yours, Igs."

"Catch Trin!" I caught a large present that was thrown at me by a mischievous looking KIX. "It's from all of us!"

I raised my eyebrows. "Right." I sat down on the piano bench and waited for the others to finish exchanging gifts.

Sable had a pile that was so high, it hid her from view when she was standing (which, I admit, wasn't saying much. Shortie). Beth, too, had a high stack of presents, and she seemed not to know what to do with them. Everyone else had a fair amount, and my own grouping of boxes was growing steadily. Everyone was handing presents to their owners, regardless of if they were the sender or not.

Soon, though, there were no boxes left. All eyes turned to Sable, who peered out from behind the castle wall she'd made by stacking the boxes. "Alright. One at a time, though! And you have to share, if it's something that's not really personal."

"Me first!" Gazzy said, and tore into the first gift—from Iggy—before anyone could move. The wrapping paper fluttered to the floor in little shreds, falling away to reveal a small black box with "The Gasman" on a neat label on the front. "What is it?" he asked Iggy. "Bomb parts?"

"Lock picks."

"Dude!" Iggy held out his hand, and Gazzy reached over to smack it.

"Can I go next?" Omega asked. We assured him that yes, he could, he didn't have to ask, and he began prying the white-and-red pinstriped present that I recognized as from Santa. It was rather large, and all I could see from this angle was a brown cardboard box.

"What is it?" I called, craning my neck.

Omega pulled open the box with ease and found a very cool looking jacket, with Jason written across the shoulders in golden stitching. He stared at it in awe, mesmerized. Kate smiled and ripped it from his hands, draping it over his shoulders. "Read the card!" KIX prompted.

"To Jason, from Santa Claus... Welcome to the family."

I grinned at him. "Not that you weren't welcome before of course."

"Yeah..." He shrugged it on, smiling at all of us. "Thanks."

We smiled. "My turn!" KIX said, and then handed Beth a box.

"But it's your--"

"Didn't say it was my turn to open anything, did I?"

Beth flushed. "Oh, fine..." She took the box and opened it, eying KIX the whole time. "This isn't going to be one of those presents where something jumps out at me, is it?" KIX laughed and shook his head. "Alright." She began unwrapping.

"Oh my gosh." Beth stared at the present, her eyes wide and mouth hanging open.

"...You are so dead," Ana said in awe.

KIX blushed, and gave Beth a quick poke. "You alright Beth?"

She nodded slowly. "Have I told you how much I heart you?" She hugged his waist tightly.

He stuck his tongue out at Ana. "Not dead yet, am I?"

Ana shook her head. "Who's turn?"

"Mine!" Nudge held up a present wrapped in crimson paper and tied with a thick, gold satin ribbon. "From Fang," she said proudly.

She opened the box and got a card, she opened it up and laughed, holding up the gift card as she read aloud. "To Nudge, I figured shopping was the best gift I could give you. Enjoy, Little Shopaholic."

"Note the store," Fang said.

Nudge smiled and tucked it into her pocket before we could. Darn. Catlyn began poking my arm. "Open yours now, KIX and Dom have been talking about how awesome it is for ages."

"Fine."

I shook the box, held it up to my ear, and then handed it off to Iggy. "Can you tell if it's a bomb?" I asked, quite concerned.

"It's clean, Trin."

I nodded. "Thank you, Iggy." I proceeded to tear off the wrapping paper. I then gave a loud groan. "Thanks, guys."

"More sincerely, thank you, guys," Ana said. "It'll come in handy."

"You're welcome," Dom said. "But you should see what's inside it, y'know. We might have put the bomb in there."

"..." I unzipped the bag as quickly as I could, and I didn't find a bomb. At least, not exactly. Ana leaned over and said, "Awwww!" quietly in my ear. "That is so cute."

"Thanks, guys," I said and pulled out the statues. There was a small cradle with two babies wrapped inside, one in a blue blanket and one in pink. Above them hovered their guardian angels, with their beautiful white wings spread out protectively above them.

I smiled and elbowed Ana. "You go next."

She rolled her eyes. "Anything in particular you want me to open next?"

"Yes, actually. The blue one, with the snowflakes." I pointed at it, grinning. "It's from Gabe. The dark green one with the Christmas trees is from me."

Ana smiled widely and pulled Gabriel's present into her lap. She ran her fingers over the wrapping as she picked up the card and leaned against my shoulder, holding it so that I could read it over the top of her head.

"Dear Ana, (it began)

"I didn't know what to get you. When we went to the mall, I realized that I know very little about you. Next to nothing, in fact. You are beautiful, strong, caring, compassionate... But I don't know you. I don't know you as a father should know his daughter.

"But that doesn't mean I don't love you more than life itself. Even though I only knew you for a few short days nineteen years ago, I spent every second of every day after that loving you. Now, I have the chance to show you how much I love you. I hope you can see exactly how much in your present—I treasured those few moments I had with you and your mother, all of us a family. For so long, they were all I had.

"Forever Yours,

--Gabriel."

I held onto the card as she began opening the present, sniffling a little bit. A gentle, sloping piece of smooth mahogany wood appeared first, and then it spilled out of the wrapping to reveal that it was the elegant back of a hand, whose fingers were gently cupping the top of a pair of downy wings. The wings were attached to the shoulders of a small, tiny little baby with wide, feminine eyes and a radiant face. Her head was tucked beneath her mother's chin; the mother was smiling and glancing at Ana out of the corner of her eye, a messy fringe falling across her cheek to frame the sparkling eyes.

It was so detailed, so smooth, so life-like that it was hard to believe it was real.

"It's beautiful," Ana breathed. I nodded mutely, and then she was launching herself away from me into Gabe's surprised arms. "Thank you, Daddy!"

He was pretty much squashed, but he somehow managed to wrap his arms around her and hold her tightly, smoothing her hair down her back between her wings. "No problem," he said rather gruffly, and I could have sworn he was blushing.

Ana shook her head. "Oh my gosh...My present's really pathetic now." She wiped her eyes, laughing. "I'm sorry. Thank you!"

He seemed to have no idea what was happening to him as she handed him her present. "Wha—you didn't—I mean--"

"Dude, just open it," Angelus said. "You're making a fool of yourself. Wait, you already were. Continue."

"Jerk."

"That's me!"

When Gabe unwrapped his present he was holding three books. A Book About Me, done by Ana, One of those Coke or Pepsi things, and a book with a plain cover, but I recognized it as one of Ana's favorites that she'd never let even me touch. She smiled at him. "Books...I don't know you that well either..."

Angelus groaned. "Like father, like daughter. Wouldn't you know, they had the perfect gifts.."

"Let's see how well we did then, Dad." I snickered. "Open mine."

"You first," he said quickly. "Fang, your present's the white box, about this big—yeah, that one. Trin, yours is the black one, same size."

I raised my eyebrows at Fang, and then at Dad. "Only if you promise to open ours after," I said.

"Fine." He raised his hands in defeat. "Just open yours already."

"Opening," Fang drawled as he pulled off the plain white wrapping paper to reveal an uber exciting cardboard box. I ripped off the paper on mine and found an identical box. "Oh. My. God," Fang said. "This is the best present ever." Angel giggled; Angelus whapped Fang over the head. I cackled and used my finger to break the tape holding the box closed, and then shook it open.

"Thanks, Dad!" I said. "A Fang voo-doo-doll. Just what I needed."

"You better watch yourself, Trin," Max chided. "Fang has one of you." Fang reached over and knocked fists with her.

"But mine's cuter," I said flatly.

"Nuh-uh," Fang said.

"Uh-huh."

"Nuh-uh."

"Uh-huh."

"Ha, I win!"

Fang scowled at me and shoved our present to Dad. "Whatever Trin, we both know I'm the hotter twin anyway."

"Hot people get to be trapped in people's closets," I told him, and he glared at me.

"Boys," Dad said.

"What Dad?" I turned to grin at him. "We wouldn't give you a bomb."

"No, your mother did," Gabe snarked. "Two bombs, to be exact."

Fang and I leveled our glares at him. "Not helping."

Dad rolled his eyes and tugged the wrapping paper off his present, pausing to glare at us before he opened the lid. "If something jumps out to get me like a rabid squirrel or desert rat or something you're both grounded."

I smiled innocently, and Fang just watched as Dad pulled off the lid and looked inside. He pulled out the T-shirt that we'd draped, folded, on top of the tissue paper. Max face-palmed, and once it was explained to Iggy, he began chortling. "Dudes! That rocked!" He held out his fist and Fang and I knocked it with our own.

"Your mother is going to kill you two," Angelus said firmly as he folded the Buffy the Vampire Slayer shirt up and set it aside.

The statue we'd given Dad wasn't nearly as great as the one Gabe had given Ana or he one the others had given us--we hadn't realized statues would be so popular this year. Our statue was pretty crude. Just four rough figures of angels, two slightly smaller than the others, with one of the smaller ones darker than the others. It wasn't very big.

"You like? I think Buffy was better."

"That was my idea, by the way," I piped up. "Fang chose the statue."

"Hey! That's not true—"

"I love it."

Fang laughed and I elbowed Kate. "Alright. You wanna go next?" Gotta love the lack of ooey gooey stuff in our family.

Kate turned bright red, but she turned to—all our surprise—Dominic. I exchanged confused looks with Ana and KIX, but Kate ignored us and Jason was smiling. Dominic was even more surprised than we were, and he accepted the box and a hug gratefully but with a truly flabbergasted face.

He began laughing as soon as he opened the box. "Pringles!"

Seriously. Way too many Pringles. Goodness. He opened the box and dumped out three smaller Pringles boxes. All in different flavors—original, sour cream 'n' onion, and original.

...Wow.

Dom hugged Kate tightly. "You are my hero, Katie dearest!

She grinned and patted his head. "Love you too," she said, and sat back down beside Jason.

Jason wasted no time in handing her his present. He smiled. "Now you open one."

"Okay," she said bashfully, and drew back into her hair as she looked down and set about opening it with the utmost care. Her hair was in the way, so I couldn't see what made her gasp so loudly—all I knew was that the box had been tiny. Hardly an inch wide or thick.

"Let me see!" KIX whined.

Kate held out her cupped hands to show us the small silver box, filled with cotton gauze upon which rested a tiny, heart-shaped gold locket. On the misty half of the heart were Jewelled roses; the other side was shiny and gold.

Jason also wasted no time in taking the little locke from her and flipping it open--revealing one of the pictures they had taken in the photo-booth that he'd told her hadn't turned out. He smiled at her. "What do you know...the stupid photo-booth actually worked."

I think that, despite him being pretty indestructible, Kate nearly choked him to death from hugging him so hard.

I was jolted from watching them when another present was thrown at me, and I couldn't tell who had thrown it. The package said from Fang, but he wasn't looking at me, too busy with his own present. Oh, please. Like everyone didn't know he didn't have an excellent poker face.

Nevertheless, I tore into the thin package, knowing it was some sort of clothing but not sure what it could be.

I groaned loudly. "Fang, really? That's the best you could do?" I held up the Big Bird PJ's. "I know you're more creative than that."

He was staring at me in horror. "Me? I didn't get you that. You're the one who got me this." He tossed the giant black T-shirt with Elmo on the front. It hit me right in the face. "Geeze, Trin."

"What are you talking about?" I tossed Elmo back at him. "I didn't get you that."

He raised his eyebrows. "Max."

"What? It wasn't me!"

"Ana?"

Said Ana burst out in giggles. Fang rolled his eyes, smirking slightly. He was extremely amused, not that he'd show it. "Of course."

I nodded. "Should'a known."

"Yeah...but you'll get your real present later Trin." She smirked at Fang. "You'll get yours soon enough--its at the bottom of your pile o' presents anyway."

"Max's turn!" Angel said. She plopped a present on Max's lap. "It's from me! Open it first Max, please!"

Max was smiling as she pulled off the thin ribbon and began unwrapping. "Did you make it yourself, Angel?" she asked, still unwrapping.

Angel's face froze. "N-no..."

Max's grin didn't diminish any, if anything it got wider. "Then I really have no idea Ange. Any hint--oh!" Max hugged Angel tightly. "It's beautiful."

Angel blushed. "I'm glad you like it, Max," she said softly.

Max tried to open the locket—that was a small wing-encompassed silver circle, about half an inch big—but it was stuck. Angel seemed to panic for a moment. "No, no, it's got to open!" she pleaded, reaching over to try and open it. It still wouldn't budge.

We all took a crack at it, but it was no use. That little locket simply would not open. Angel looked like she was about o cry but Max hugged her again. "It's fine. It's perfect, sweetie."

"Why don't you tell her what's inside?" Nudge suggested.

Angel froze again. "No!" she exclaimed, then corrected herself. "It's not that important."

Max tugged on her curls. "It's fine Angel, really."

Angel nodded, and once everyone was assured that Angel really was fine, they turned away and continued on with gift giving. I found Angel suddenly beside me, jostled out of the way. She sniffed bravely.

I let her snuggle into my side as I kept opening my presents and as others handed her hers to open. When we were done we watched the others play with their remote control cars and wad the wrapping paper up and throw it at each other.

I didn't ask her if she was going to be alright. I had a hunch that she'd break down completely if I asked her. Instead, I kept silent.

But I had an uneasy feeling that I was going to regret it.