Just as an FYI, fanfiction was going through some errors last week which caused Barefoot And Bruised to look like it went un-updated! Please make sure you didn't miss last week's chapter, Given It All!

~TLL~

Christmas Day dawned bright and sunny. It was the dawn that woke Connor, and not his usual internal clock. He and Adam had been up late, watching a live production of A Christmas Carol and then going out to an extremely late dinner, which they had picked up from a dogged street vendor on the way back to the hotel. Things had been rocky and quiet between he and his father since their disastrous dinner. Connor still wasn't sure what to think about it or him and, because of that, he had no idea how to forgive his father for everything that he had thought, did, and said.

He laid in bed for a moment. He could already hear Adam up and moving around. There was no point in lingering in bed. He sat up, glancing at his phone and deciding not to text Jude until later. There was no way that Jude would be awake now and Connor refused to be the one that disturbed him. He slid his socks on, pulled Jude's sweater over his head, and then he opened the door.

"Morning, Dad," he called softly. He didn't want to surprise Adam anymore than he wanted to annoy Jude.

"Merry Christmas, Connor."

Adam was in the little kitchenette included in the room. There was a strong smell of something in the air, but he couldn't identify what. He glanced at the coffee table that sat in front of Adam's couch. It had a laptop on one end, Adam's briefcase leaning against the side of it, and several small, wrapped gifts. Connor looked at them with the same nervousness that he'd looked at Jude's present with and skulked toward the kitchen. He didn't like gifts. Gifts had to be repaid. He wasn't quite so good at repayment. It had gotten him in trouble more than once.

"W-w-what are you making?" Connor asked.

"Gingerbread tea. I thought it was appropriate for Christmas," Adam said. "I also ordered special holiday breakfasts from room service. I'm not sure what's on it or even if we'll like it. If not, then we'll just get something else brought up."

Connor nodded. "Thank you. I'm sure it'll be great."

Adam passed him his tea and Connor was careful not to brush fingers with him when he took it. He hadn't been sure he was ready to touch his father to begin with and now that he was upset, he knew that it was never going to happen or he would end up overreacting too much.

"Would you like to open your gifts?" Adam asked. "It's just a few little things I picked up and something of your mother's that I've been saving for you. I thought that this Christmas would probably be the right time."

"I, um, have something for you too, Dad."

Connor scurried off to his room, tea in hand, to get the two things that he had picked up for his father. When he returned, Adam was sitting on the couch. Connor hesitantly sat opposite of him and put his gifts on the table. Adam had more things for him and that just made him more uncomfortable. He sipped nervously at his tea – so nervously that he never tasted it and he wasn't sure he could tell someone whether or not he even liked it.

"Save the little box for last," Adam advised. "I'd like to tell you something about it as you open it."

Connor nodded and opened the few other gifts his father had given him. It was what Adam had said they were: small. Yet, thoughtful. An adult colouring book on zoo animals, complete with coloured pencils. Connor had glanced at Adam curiously; Adam had given a little cough of embarrassment and said that he'd heard that colouring could help ease anxiety and he thought Connor might have wanted to give it a try. Connor then turned to the small package and picked it up. He slowly picked the wrapping paper off to reveal a green ring box.

"They were your mother's," Adam said.

Connor opened the box and found two rings that he remembered quite well: his mother's engagement and wedding rings.

"I was saving these t give to you when you found the right woman. Then, you met … Anyway, I was going to keep them from you, after that. But, I decided they were rightfully yours, no matter what."

"Because I'm going to find that woman someday?" He hadn't meant to sound so bitter but, in light of everything, he realized that he did feel that bitter.

"No. Of course not! Because she was your mother. Because she loved you and you are her only child. Because I know that they'll mean something to you. Because, someday, you might want to adopt children and they might want the rings to wear or to offer someone else. I don't know how your life is going to go. I just know that you are the rightful owner of these."

Connor stared down at them. Children? No, never. He couldn't imagine being responsible for a small life that counted on him entirely. The thought of it left him panicked and repulsed. If he knew one thing for sure about himself it was that he could never be a father. But that wasn't something he'd ever expressed aloud. Even his ex had mentioned kids in a passing, in a 'what if' kind of manner, when he was half-drunk and musing about grandiose dreams for the future. Connor had never corrected him about it, even though at times, he'd been seconds away from falling to his knees and begging his ex to never bring children into the home, because it would be Connor that would end up caring for them, and he knew that he couldn't – not to mention the fact that he would never be able to protect a child from his ex's abuse, and it wasn't fair to bring an innocent into that situation, no matter what Connor wanted. There was no way that he could express any of that to his father and so he just said, "Thank you."

"What would you want to do with them?" Adam asked, and the question caught Connor off-guard.

"Um." He wanted to keep them with him, but what did that entail? Putting them on a shelf in his bedroom? No. Not safe enough. He wanted to keep Mom's rings with him, because that way, he could keep Mom with him. How did he do that, without constantly carrying around a ring box? He wondered what Jude would say to that. Immediately after, he wondered if he would even want to know what Jude thought. "I think … I would like to, um, get a chain for them."

Could he even wear a necklace? High shirt collars – if tight enough – had been known to bother him recently. A long chain. A lightweight chain. Something that he could keep tucked under his shirt unless he chose not to.

"We can go look in a few days when everything's completely up and running after the holidays."

"Thank you, Dad," Connor said. "Um. Your turn."

He had gotten his father the traditional chocolate orange, as well as a new tie, and a tiny pin with his school's logo on it. He knew that he shouldn't really get Adam anything big, but he figured that a pin couldn't hurt, if Adam kept it in his bedroom – somewhere that it wouldn't been seen by visiting company, who would ask why Adam had the name of a west coast university in his house when Connor was supposed to be in the east.

"I love it, Connor, thank you."

Connor was just about to start feeling awkward when, through cosmic timing, room service knocked on the door. Adam got up to let the deliverer in and Connor stayed on the couch, unable to take his eyes off his mother's rings. There hadn't been a day of his life that she hadn't worn these. He closed the box and held it close to his heart. Yes, he definitely wanted to get that chain soon.

On the coffee table, his phone lit up and buzzed. Connor opened the text message and smiled.

Jude: Merry Christmas, baby!

(-.-)

Connor: Merry Christmas, Jude!

Jude smiled at his phone and the dropped it on the pillow beside him, lazily closing his eyes. He wasn't really awake yet. He had just opened his eyes enough to register that it was Christmas morning now and he should text Connor. Now, he could catnap for a few more minutes. It was still early. The siblings wouldn't arrive for a while, at least, and there was no point in starting any point of the holidays without them. He could hear Moms – awake and murmuring to each other in bed, low enough that he couldn't hear the exact words that they were saying. He stretched and then he heard something. The door?

"Hello?" Stef called.

"Moms!" Mariana yelled. "We're here!"

"Under duress!" Brandon added.

"What?" Lena asked, and Jude heard his mothers' feet hit the floor.

He was not expecting to be awake and functional nearly this early. Still, he pushed the covers on his bed back and following Stef and Lena down the stairs to where Mariana had most everyone else corralled in the living room. They were all wearing their Santa hats from the other day; he didn't even flinch when Mariana came up behind him and pulled the hat over her head. Jesus was fairly lackluster in passing Moms their matching green-and-red hats and he yawned behind his hand.

"Where did Brandon go?" Stef asked.

"To make coffee," Callie said.

"Being useful," Jesus said grumpily.

"Brandon didn't go on the date," Mariana whispered in Jude's ear, and then she adjusted the hat on his head again. "I do like this colour blue on you, Judicorn."

"Thanks."

Conversation moved sluggishly until everyone had a cup of coffee in their hands and they were all settled in the living room. Moms sat closest to the try so that they could help divvy up the gifts evenly. Jude liked that they still did that, though. He and his siblings were getting old enough that Jude knew their lives were going to start evolving and, soon, they might meet people, have children, and end up having other plans for Christmas. The family traditions that they'd had for as long as Jude could remember being with them were still intact, but they were starting to get a nostalgic feel.

"I think," Lena said, "we should start with Callie this year."

Callie quirked her eyebrow while Jude leant slightly toward her. Usually everyone bought a small gift for someone else – there were too many family members to buy a gift for everyone. This year had been an odd year. They had banded together to buy Callie a new camera to use for her new job. Callie quirked her eyebrow as Moms handed her the box.

"Gentle," Jude warned her.

She bumped her shoulder against his, none too gently, before reading the tag aloud. "To Callie, from everyone?"

"Trust it," Jude said, and she looked at him suspiciously.

It seemed like it took her forever to get the wrapping paper off enough to see what it actually was. When she did, she gave an astonished, high-pitched gasp that was out of character for Callie.

"You didn't have to do this," she whispered.

"We know," Lena said.

"We all wanted to," Brandon added.

"Open it!" Mariana said. "You're going to have to take some really nice pictures today!"

"I will!" Callie said. "This is amazing! Thank you!"

Unable to really contain herself, Callie situated herself by the coffee table and was unpacking the camera. It was the reaction that they had hoped for, though, and so they all just let her go while Christmas continued to flow around her. Gifts and laughs until, finally, Callie surfaced, turning to take a picture of Moms first.

"We weren't ready!" Lena complained, when Callie turned the camera around to show her the photo.

"You look cute, though," Stef said, kissing her on the cheek.

Jude knew he was next for the picture – Callie was slightly predictable like that – and so when she turned the lens on him, he had his cellphone out and snapped a photo of her holding the camera up to her eye.

"Hey!" she cried, but she was giggling about it. "Who has the real camera? Post, Jude!"

Jude smiled nicely for the photograph, and then laughed through the next one when Mariana leapt into his lap to pose with him. Callie snapped the picture, and then she looked down at it.

"This is beautiful," she gushed.

"You hear that, Jude?" Mariana asked. "We're beautiful."

"I meant the camera," Callie corrected.

"Do you like it?" Stef asked.

"I love it!" Callie responded. "Thank you."

"Does it have a timer?" Stef asked. "Can we take a family photo?"

Callie looked down at the camera and grinned. "We can try!"

And just like that, Jude was squashed in the middle of his family while Callie made a mad dash to get herself into the shot.

The chapter's title is after the song Storm by Lifehouse. If you have a song that reminds you of Barefoot And Bruised and would like it to be on the playlist – and possibly a chapter title – send it in and let me know! I'd love to hear your playlist suggestions! (Chapter titles are mostly chosen via shuffle.)

So, on tumblr I'm: we are all of legend now (with dashes between every word). If you want to find my replies to anon reviews, add backslash tagged backslash anon dash replies. If you want to see anything I post about Barefoot And Bruised, go to my tumblr URL and add backslash tagged backslash barefoot dash and dash bruised dash. Punctuation is spelled out due to Fanfiction's restrictions. If you're having any trouble accessing the tumblr content please send me a pm and I can format it for you in a different way.

~TLL~