Chapter 7:

It was near midnight when Spot awoke. He propped himself up on his elbow and stared at Rae.  "It's almost Christmas, and you still haven't told me where you hid the presents." He gently pushed the hair from her face and kissed her pale forehead. "Wake up, please..." Sitting up, he gently lifted her into his arms, resting her head on his shoulder. He stroked her hair and as the clock began to strike midnight, he was unaware of the tears falling from his eyes.

"You're getting me wet," a small voice whispered.

He choked loudly and looked down. "Rae??"

She nodded her head weakly. "Yeah?"

He hugged her close, crying.

"Spot, you're getting me wet," she repeated, weakly reaching up to brush his fallen tears from her face.

He tried drying off his face. "You're awake, you're awake!" he whispered over and over.

She suddenly turned her face into his shoulder and began sobbing.  He stroked her hair, "What's wrong?"

"You finally came home."

He held her tightly. "Yes.... I finally came home."

"I missed you so much."

"I missed you too."

A slight whimpering was heard from across the room.  Spot gently ran his hand down Rae's cheek, before crawling out of the bed and walking over to the cradle.

"Can you bring him to me, Spot?"

Spot gently lifted the baby into his arms and carried him over to the bed.  "Alright little guy, Momma wants you now."

He placed the baby in her arms and crawled up on the bed next to her.

"He's beautiful," she murmured, stroking his fine, dark hair.

Spot reached out and ran his finger down Rae's cheek.  She glanced over at him. "I love you," he whispered, leaning to kiss her.

She smiled. "I love you too."

He bent down to kiss her again and the baby began to fuss.

"I think he's jealous. And he hasn't been properly introduced..." She smiled and propped the baby up. "Baby... this is your daddy."

"Hello baby.... He really needs a name," Spot replied with a grin.

Rae glanced down at her son. "What about Samuel?"

"It almost seems to big of a name for him."

"Well, we can call him Sam for short."

Spot smiled. "Well, Sam...welcome to the family."

Rae yawned and rested her head against Spot's shoulder.

"Tired?" he asked. She nodded. "A don't see why," he said with a smile, "you've been sleeping for two days."

She just smiled sleepily.

"I didn't notice a tree or anything downstairs. Did you get any presents for the twins?"

She shook her head. "Chris, Molly and Julie wouldn't let me go into town and then Doc wouldn't let me out of bed."

"Why wouldn't he let you out of bed?"

She hung her head, "He said I was working to hard...."

"Rae Conlon, what will I do with you," he said with a half smile.

"Kiss me," she retorted with a slight smile.

He grinned and kissed her, laughing a little as Sam fussed again. "He doesn't like me getting too close to his Mommy."

"He better get used to it," she said, resting her weary head on Spot's shoulder.

"Indeed he better."

When she didn't answer, he glanced down at her, with a smile.  She was sound asleep again.

He slid out of bed, picking up Sam, who had dozed off as well, and placed him back in the cradle.

He crawled back into the bed and pulled Rae back into his arms. "Merry Christmas, Baby," he whispered, kissing her forehead.

* * *

"It's Christmas, it's Christmas!" a voice was shrieking throughout the halls.

Spot sat up suddenly, jolting Rae who sat up as well.  "I thought you said you didn't get any presents."

"I didn't," she murmured sleepily, stretching.

"Then what's all the yelling about?"

She shrugged. "Let's go find out."

"No. You are staying here. I'll go find out."

"No! Spot Conlon, I am going down there! I want to be with my family Christmas morning!"

"Then I will carry you down," he said, handing her the robe that was draped across a nearby chair.

"Fine."

He helped her into the robe and then lifted her into his arms. "I'm bringing you back up here at the first sign of fatigue."

"Spot.. I'm fine, I promise."

"I'm not taking any chances, sweetheart.  You had both me and Doc pretty scared."

She sighed and shook her head, but smiled anyway. "Downstairs, cabby."

"Yes, ma'am," he said with a grin.

Her smile broadened.

He carried her downstairs and set her on the couch.  The twins crawled up on the couch next to her. "Look, Momma!" Ann squealed.  "Presents!"

And Rae did look- very wide-eyed, she stared at the tree propped up in the corner of the room, prettily decorated and surrounded by presents of all sorts.

She looked up at Spot to ask if he had done this, but after seeing the look of shock on his face she decided against it.

Julie and Molly wandered sleepily down the stairs a moment later, followed by Chris.

"What in the world?" Molly gasped.

"I'm guessing that you three had no idea about this either," Spot said.

"Any idea about what?" Chris asked. "You mean... you didn't do this?"

"No," Spot said shaking his head.

Molly set the squirming Kendra down on the floor and she crawled over to Rae. "Mama!"

"Hi baby," she said with a smile, picking Kendra up.

"Rae!" Spot hissed. "Take it easy!"

 "Spot, calm down! I'm just picking her up! I'm still sitting on the couch. I'll be fine!"

He knelt down beside her. "Just humor me."

"Spot..." She sighed. "All right... I will, for now."

"Mama!" Kendra said, pulling on Rae's robe and throwing her free hand toward Spot.

"That's Daddy, honey."

She cocked her head to the side. "Dada?"

Spot smiled and crouched down. "Hello Miss Kendra. Remember me?"

She reached out for him, hesitantly. Holding out his hand, he let her take her time. She put a baby hand on his cheek and babbled something.

He smiled, taking her hand and patted her head gently.

She threw herself at him and latched her arms tightly around his neck.

He smiled, hugging her. "Why thank you, Miss Kendra."

He kissed her forehead. "Alright, let's see who all these presents belong to."

"And who they're from," Rae murmured.

Spot bent down and picked up a single package. "From Kris Kringle."

Chris picked up another one. "This one says from Saint Nick."

"Santa Claus," Julie said, reading the tag of the package in her hand.

Rae glanced at Spot wide-eyed.

"Chris, did you say Saint Nick?"

He nodded, too busy rifling through the other presents to pay attention to the name.

Rae glanced at Spot. "It couldn't be?"

Spot tilted his head. "No way...."

"It would explain a lot of things."

"Yes... it would... You don't think... they had anything to do with the baby...?"

She shook her head quickly.

"I can't believe we never knew," he finally said, plopping down next to her.

"I don't think we were paying all that much attention."

"Well... yeah, but now that I think of it.... it was so obvious...." He shook his head and smiled.

Rae suddenly gasped.

"What?"

"We forgot about Sam," she whispered.

"I'll get him," Spot replied.

As he left the room, Ann shrieked in delight. "Look Momma, a book!"

Rae smiled, looking at her. "What book is it, sweetheart? Let me see."

Ann ran over to her. Rae opened the cover and smiled. "It's a book of fairy tales." Ann jumped excitedly. Rae set the book aside. "I'll read it to you later."

She squeaked happily and bounced off to her other presents.

Spot slipped back in the room unnoticed.  He sat down next to Rae. She glanced at him with a smile. He slipped his free arm around her and kissed the side of her head. "It's good to be home."

"It's good to have you home," she murmured.

Andy suddenly glanced over his shoulder. "Is that the baby?" he asked curiously.

Spot and Rae smiled. "Yes."

"Can I see?" he asked.

"Certainly," Spot said, pulling back the corner of the blanket Sam was wraped in.

"What's its name?" he asked as he and Ann crept closer.

"Sam. His name is Sam," Rae replied.

"He's little like my baby doll," Ann commented.

Rae smiled.

"Can I hold him?" Chris asked.

"Sure..." Spot stood and crossed the room. "Just be careful."

"Don't worry," Chris said, carefully taking Sam in his arms.

Rae glanced around the living room and smiled at the actions of her family members- playing, looking at the new addition, opening presents, talking... being... a family.

THE END!!!!!!!!!

AN: Wow….another one bites the dust….Rabbit and I want to apologize for taking so long between chapters, but our schedules conflicted quite a bit this semester.  Rest assured, this is not the end for the Conlon family. We have much more planned for them in the years that follow this story.  As an effort to show you how much we love all of our reviewers, we have written a nice little teaser for the next fic: Rebel Without a Cause.

THUD!

Chris sat up with a jolt.  He hadn't meant to doze off. Not really anyway.  A quick glance showed that Sam was still sleeping in his cradle. "What in the world-?" he murmured drowsily. What could have possibly made such an odd noise? A loud wail suddenly reached his ears.

He dashed through the door into the entry way and discovered Kendra on her back on the floor next to the stairs.  As he started to move to her, the front door opened and Rae and Spot rushed in.

"What happened?!" Spot demanded.

"I don't know!" Chris answered as Rae knelt next to Kendra and took the screaming baby into her arms.

"Well, what were YOU doing when this happened?! Don't you know you need to keep an eye on her?!" Rae exclaimed.

"I'm sorry. I was in the living room and I guessed I must have dozed off."

"Dozed off? Dozed OFF?!" Spot yelled.

"I didn't mean to!" Chris yelled back.

"You didn't mean to?" Spot questioned.  "Like you didn't mean to set the curtain in your room on fire? Or how about leaving Ann and Andy out in the woods?"

"I didn't mean any of those things!" Chris bellowed.

"Your irresponsibility is getting out of hand-"

"I'm not irresponsible!" He clenched his fists, as if ready to strike Spot.

"It's not just the irresponsibility, Chris! It's your attitude!  You sulk around the house all day long snapping at anyone who dares speak to you!"

"I don't have an attitude!" he bellowed.

"Chris..." Julie began.

"Leave me alone!" He roughly pushed his sister out of the way.

Without warning Spot shoved the boy up against the wall. "That's what I'm talking about Chris! Now pack your bags and get out!"

"Oh great! Where am I gonna go, genius?!"

"That's it... I'm taking you to Brooklyn. Pack Up! Now!"

"You aren't being serious?"

"Do I look like I'm jokin? NOW!"

Chris turned to Rae, who was still sitting on the floor with Kendra clinging to her. "Surely you aren't going to let him do this to me?"

Rae looked at him. "He told you to pack, young man, didn't he?"

"What about Julie?"

"Julie is free to stay or go. It's her choice," Spot answered.