"We're here!" Linda announced as they pulled up in the Commissioner's driveway and Danny started honking the horn. Jamie and Nicki walked out to greet them and help unload. "Jack and Sean, can you both grab a cat and help Mil get into the house while Daddy and I start unloading?"
"Sure, Mom."
"Hey boys. Hi Cricket," Jamie smiled as he opened the back hatch and grabbed a few gifts.
"Hey Uncle Jamie!" Sean and Jack smiled as they each put a cat under their arm, grabbed Millie's hand, and hurried into the Commissioner's house.
"Grandpa! We're here!" Sean announced as the rest of the Reagans spilled out of the kitchen to greet them.
"Yes, you are!" They all walked in to attack them with hugs after the boys dropped the cats on the sofa in the sunroom. "Are you hungry?"
Millie took a deep breath, smelling the wonderful roast that Henry and Frank had prepared with help from Nicki and Erin. "I am!"
"Come on," Pop said, "you can do a taste test."
Millie followed him in the kitchen. "Ooooh Pop, can I have one of those rolls with butter?"
"Sure," Henry smiled as he got a roll out of the oven and slathered some butter on top. "Careful," he said as he handed it to her. "It's hot. What do you want to drink?" He sat Millie up on the counter so she could enjoy her roll. "I've got red Kool-Aid."
Millie's eyes lit up and a smile spread across her face from ear-to-ear. "Can I have that please?"
"You sure can." He poured Millie a small cup and himself a small cup of the sugary mixture. "Welcome home, Peanut," he smiled as they clanked glasses.
Danny and Linda walked in with their first load as the boys were walking out to help finish unloading the car. Frank followed Danny out to lend a hand. "How are you?" he asked as the boys walked in ahead of them and he and Danny got the remaining few gifts out of the back.
"I'm good, Dad."
"Ok. Just checking. I read the DD5. What'd the doctor say?"
"No signs of sexual assault."
"Good. So they just kept her locked up?"
"As far as I can tell. She said they didn't want to hear her crying, so they'd give her some medicine and lock her in a closet. She slept a lot. And she said they only fed her one peanut butter and jelly sandwich a day until a few days ago and then they cut that off. They also wouldn't let her drink anything so they wouldn't have to let her out to go to the bathroom. From the state of that closet though, I'm not sure how often they let her do that anyway. Dad, if you saw it… I want to kill every one of them."
"But they didn't touch her?"
"I don't think so. She said they hit her a few times but as far as I can tell, I think she's ok… she lost about ten pounds, so her clothes are falling off."
"I can tell. I think Pop's about to remedy that. He's already got her in the kitchen." Frank put his arm around Danny as the two tired men made their way back inside. "Let the courts take care of Dino and the others. Your only focus now is making up a wonderful Christmas."
"I guess so," Danny sighed. "I think we all could use a good Christmas… and some rest."
"You've got that right. Good work today, Detective."
Jamie said grace as the Reagans all sat down to their long-awaited Christmas dinner. Millie quickly ate her entire plate full of roast. She barely even took a breath.
"Slow down, Millie," Linda smiled. "It's not going anywhere."
"Poor kid was starving," Erin whispered to Frank who had barely taken his eyes off of her.
"So, I'm thinking we decorate cookies," Nicki began, "then maybe open a gift… and then after Grandpa reads the Christmas Story, we can all watch It's a Wonderful Life… while drinking the hot cocoa that Uncle Danny is going to help Grandpa make." Nicki smiled from ear-to-ear as Danny cut his eyes and grinned in her direction.
"Oh really?"
"Yes. I've got it all planned. Mil, how does that sound?"
"Perfect."
"What about us?" Sean asked.
"Ok. Boys?"
"Yes," they both answered.
When they finished dinner and cleared the table, Erin and Linda made the Christmas cookies for the kids to decorate while Danny went to grab a shower. When he made it back to the livingroom, he, Frank, and Jamie all fell fast asleep. Henry chuckled, knowing how exhausted the three of them were. The kids, Erin, and Linda were all enjoying the cookie decorating process when Millie excused herself and wandered into the livingroom. She found the men all asleep and quietly crawled up between Danny and Jamie.
"Hey, you," Danny whispered as he cracked open his eye. "Did you get finished with the cookies?"
"I don't feel good."
"What's wrong? What hurts?"
"My tummy."
"You know what? I bet it's from eating that big dinner. Your tummy isn't used to eating that much since you haven't been eating a lot. Want to come rest with me for a little bit and give it some time to digest?"
Millie nodded as she made her way into Danny's arms, the safest place in the world.
After a good thirty-minute nap, Millie was feeling much better. She woke up just as the kitchen crew came in to join them. The boys quickly awoke the rest of the sleeping brood. "Let's open a present!" Sean suggested.
"I guess it wouldn't hurt to open just one," Henry agreed as Sean jumped up and offered to play Santa, passing out a present to each of the family members.
"I know which one," Erin said. "You've all got to open mine. I was going to make you do it anyway."
They all looked at each other and shrugged. Linda was perched with her phone, wanting to take pictures of the kids opening their gifts, but Erin insisted everyone open them at the same time. When they did, they all found matching pajamas… for the entire family. Everyone had plaid pajama pants and a grey shirt with a silly reindeer picture on the front with their name below it.
"Aunt Erin, these are hilarious!" Jack chuckled as Danny literally couldn't quit laughing at the reindeer on the front of his.
"Even better, I pre-washed them all, so we can all wear them tonight and match for Christmas pictures in the morning."
"Good job," Linda said. "That's impressive."
"That was Nicki's idea."
"How about we all go put on our jammies and then get ready for Grandpa's story? It is getting late and our men are fading fast… despite their power nap," Linda smiled as the kids took off upstairs to put on their pajamas.
"We may have to tie up Millie's pants," Erin said as she and Linda followed them upstairs. "I thought I bought the right size, but…"
"Oh, I know," Linda whispered her. "She's lost a little over ten pounds. I had to dig deep to find those leggings she's wearing now. They're a four. She had a cute Christmas outfit that I bought right after her birthday that's a six but when she put it on earlier it was literally falling off of her."
"Poor little thing."
"No kidding."
It wasn't long before everyone returned and took a seat on couch. Nicki, Jack, and Sean assumed their normal spots on the pallet in front of the fireplace. Phil and Gus both stretched out on the top of the couch where Danny, Linda, and Jamie were all relaxed with their feet propped up on the coffee table. Erin and Henry relaxed on the loveseat while Frank sat in his recliner, ready to read the Christmas story. Millie looked around at her big, Reagan family, so thrilled to be home. She grabbed a fleece blanked out of a basket in the corner and made her way over to Danny, holding the blanket in one hand and holding up her pants with the other.
"Want to lay down with Nicki and your brothers?" Linda asked as she leaned forward and pulled the drawstrings as tight as they would go in Millie's pajama pants.
"Can I just sit with you?"
"Absolutely," Danny smiled as he opened his arms and she once again crawled into his lap.
"Are we ready?" Frank asked.
They all looked around to each other. "Ready."
"Mr. Uncle Danny," Millie whispered as Danny held on to her tightly, "I missed you."
"Oh Mil, I missed you too," he kissed the top of her head. "You have no idea." Linda rested her head against Danny's shoulder and draped her right arm over both he and Millie as they listened to Frank read the Christmas story. By the time Frank finished, only Henry and Erin remained awake. Everyone else was fast asleep… including the cats.
"Should we wake them?" Erin whispered.
"Nah," Frank smiled. "No matter where they sleep, I can guarantee it will be the best rest they've had in two weeks." He and Erin spread a blanket over Jamie and Linda and turned off the lamps before the three of them retired upstairs for the night.
Frank was right. They slept soundly throughout the entire night, never even stirring. Nicki, Jack, and Sean were first up the following morning, but understanding the stress the family had been under, they made their way into the kitchen to hang out with Frank, Erin, and Henry to make breakfast. The rest of the Reagan crew woke up when they smelled bacon and eggs.
"You look better," Erin smiled at Danny as he walked into the kitchen in search of coffee. "Get enough sleep?"
"I guess I was a little more tired than I thought."
"Me too," Jamie agreed. "I don't think I moved all night."
"Well, grab some coffee and breakfast and let's get going," Henry announced. "We've got to go see what Santa brought!"
"Pop, Santa didn't come last night. It wasn't really Christmas."
"What?" Henry looked at Millie with disbelief. "Of course he came. I went to see him right before Christmas and told him you weren't home yet and that he'd have to come back. Me and Santa go way back. I told him I'd let him know when it was time, and I did."
After that, the kids made it a very quick breakfast before all looking to Frank, smiling ear-to-ear. "Grandpa, can we…"
"Why not," he grinned as he threw his napkin in his plate and pushed back from the table. "Let's go open presents!"
"Ooooh! Mr. Uncle Danny, Mrs. Aunt Linda, open mine!" Millie squealed as she ran into the livingroom and dug under the tree until she found the two items from kindergarten that looked like they had been wrapped by a six-year-old.
"Danny and Linda both smiled as they carefully un-did the wrapping paper and found a tiny oval shaped piece of plaster of paris with a Millie sized handprint on the left side. On Danny's, the inscription on the right read To: My M.U.D., Love, Millie and on Linda's it read To: My M.A.L., Love, Millie. Danny's was painted blue, with a red handprint and white lettering. Linda's was painted green, with a pink handprint and white lettering.
Linda's eyes filled with tears of course as they both held them up for all to admire as Danny chuckled.
"Hey Cricket, what's MUD and MAL?"
"Mr. Uncle Danny and Mrs. Aunt Linda of course!" Millie smiled as they all died out laughing before tearing into the rest of their gifts.
"OK, now it's your turn!" Danny said as he handed Millie a big box. "This one is from Pop."
Millie looked at the boys and ripped off the bright red paper. "Oooooh! Jackers, Seany look! It's a cotton candy machine! Thank you, Pop!" Millie jumped up and ran over to hug Henry. "Can we make it?"
"Of course," he smiled. "Open the rest of your gifts and then we'll crank it up."
"Oh thank you, Pop! It's just what I wanted."
As Millie made her way back over to her spot in the floor, Sean unwrapped a hoverboard. "YES!" he screamed. "Jack! Look!"
"Oh good," Linda said sarcastically. "It's been a minute since we last had a broken arm. Jack, what'd you get?"
"Tickets to the Jets vs. Patriots football game! Best present ever!"
"Here Cricket," Jamie smiled. "Open mine next."
Jamie handed Millie a lightweight present that was as big as she was. "Thank you, Mr. Uncle Jamie," she smiled as she hugged him before ripping into her gift and finding a humongous elephant.
"Oooooh, Mr. Uncle Jamie! I love it! It's exactly what I wanted!" Millie wrapped her arms around the elephant's neck as she pulled it into her lap and disappeared beneath it.
He cracked up. "Mil? You good?"
"I'm great!" he heard from beneath the huge, stuffed elephant. "Where'd he come from?"
"The Sheldrick Wildlife Trust in Africa. Because you adopted him, you helped take care of an orphan elephant in Africa."
"Really?"
"Yep.. It was a win-win."
"So what's his name?"
"You get to name him."
Millie looked long and hard at her elephant. "I like what you said before. Shel…"
"Sheldrick?"
"Yeah that. I like that. His name is Sheldrick."
The Reagans continued digging through gifts. Jack and Sean got Jets jerseys. Nicki got tickets to the theater. Linda and Erin got spa treatments. Frank and Henry got a fishing trip. Danny got new sneakers and a new leather jacket. Jamie got lots of new things for his car and a couple of new sweaters, and Millie got her requested grey toboggan and lots of grey clothes that were going to be way too big now, but she would soon grow into, along with Frank's gift of another year of gymnastics.
"Oh wait, there's one more," Henry smiled as he carefully picked up a present that was hidden behind the tree and handed it to Millie.
"But you got me the cotton candy machine, Pop."
"Yeah, but you were extra good, this year." He handed it to her. "Careful, it's breakable."
Millie gently took the present from his hands and placed it on the rug in front of her before unwrapping it ever so slowly. The rest of the family was digging into their gifts as Henry watched Millie at work. Frank turned and saw Henry watching Millie and stopped as well. Piece by piece, she unwrapped a marble nativity set.
"Oh Pop," she whispered. "It's beautiful!"
"Santa and I thought you might need another one."
"Pop, I love it!" Millie ran over with tears in her eyes to where he was sitting. "It's amazing."
"You're amazing. I'm so proud of you."
She threw her arms around his neck. "I love you."
"Love you too, Peanut. Merry Christmas."