"A baby!" Rick was surprised, then seeing his brother's pleased expression, engulfed his younger brother with a hug. "A.J., you rascal, congratulations! What a early Christmas present! Is Linda all right?"

"Yes, that's what Dr. Allen wanted to see her about, of course she's going to have to be careful for a couple of months." A.J. suddenly had a worried expression, then Rick reassured him, "She's going to be all right, A.J., don't worry. Besides, you two have all of us to look after you."

Seeing the relieved look on A.J.'s face, Rick was grateful that Linda's attackers would be in jail for a long time. With Anita Cooper sent to jail for at least ten years and Roman Baker for twenty, the Simon family was assured of their safety for a long time.

"I know, speaking of looking after, I still wish I knew how Laurie knew Anita was bad news all these years. To think that being laid off of her job sent her after me…." ." A.J. shook his head, "At least we know why they linked up. She was after me, and Roman wanted Laurie" Rick frowned at that as A.J. added, "I 'd have given almost anything to see my sis hit Anita. Linda says Laurie was great, she hit her flush in the face. By the way, how's her hand?"

Rick sighed, "She has a broken bone in the middle of her hand, so she's in a cast. At least it wasn't her wrist. You hit on something, though. She's been upset about hitting Anita since we left the hospital, say, how old were you when you and Anita started going together?"

"Almost thirteen, it was just before Laurie was taken away. Isn't that when Mom told me no going steady with Anita?" The younger Simon remembered, looking at the picture of himself and Rick at that age on his desk.

"Yeah, Mom thought she was kind of wild. She was happy when you two broke up your freshman year. She tried to get me to warn you off…" Rick abruptly remembered what happened when he told Laurie about Anita going after A.J..

"That's it, I'm going to call Mom." Rick went to his desk, then picked up the phone.

An hour later, Laurie was sitting, deep in thought when she "heard" Rick call to her.

"Sweetheart, I'm almost home. Is your Dad there?"

She smiled, "He just went to take hiscatch to the cabin, I can hardly wait to see you, love."

Immediately she went to the back door and called to Mike and Rex. "Daddy's coming."

At once a small black streak raced in the door, then Mike followed, wagging happily as he climbed the steps.

As Rick pulled into the drive, he saw his wife standing at the door. She was pleasantly surprised to see Cecilia with him. "Mom, I didn't know Rick was bringing you!" she beamed, as Rick loitered behind and reached into the front seat to pull out a box. Hugging her mother-in-law, Laurie glanced at her husband, who gave her a wink. As she released Cecilia, Rick came up the walk then embraced her.

"Rick, you are so bad, I missed you, darling. I'm so glad you guys are closing tomorrow." She told him, then kissed him hungrily.

"I've got a couple of surprises for you, Laurie. But first, we need to talk. Let's go inside." He said, putting an arm around her.

Puzzled, she went inside where Cecilia had already commandeered the sofa. Rick made himself comfortable next to her, then pulled Laurie down between them, "Now, this is more like it." He told her, and she relaxed against him. "Hmmm, yes, Rick."

"Sweetheart, I know you've been upset about something, and I didn't know what it was ." he explained after a minute, then Cecilia gently added, "Honey, I think it's time you told us about what's bothering you. It'ssomething that happened a long time ago, isn't it?"

Emotionally, Laurie started, "Oh, Mom, I didn't know what to do, all of a sudden it came back to me, but…" Rick interrupted her.

"Laurie, you did nothing wrong, you couldn't have stopped Anita from getting involved A.J. if you'd tried. Just like you couldn't have prevented all the stuff we just went through."

Her eyes opened wide as he continued. "I know you found out she was fooling around with a high school guy, Mom knew all about it. What I didn't know was that Anita threatened to go to your step-parents about Mom reporting them to Social Services, if you told any of us."

Tears filled Laurie's eyes as Cecilia said, "And what you didn't know, was that I heard her say that to you. Why do you think I made A.J. break up with her until he was almost sixteen?"

"You mean, oh Mom, I was so torn." She choked. "I was afraid you'd be hurt, Mom. After Uncle Jack's dying and everything, I didn't want to be responsible for you getting hassled by those two. I completely forgot about it until I hit Anita, then it was like a flashback."

"Darlin', you wanted to protect Mom, and I love you so much for that. What you buried deep in your memories all this time, it gave you the power to protect Linda from what Roman and Anita would have done to them and us." Rick explained, then comforted her as she buried her face in his shirt. Cecilia stroked her hair gently, "Honey, thank you for caring so very much." Rick felt her stop shaking, then she raised her face to look at them both..

"I love you, Mom, all my good childhood memories are because of you and Rick and A.J.." She sniffed, then giggled weakly as Rick kissed the tears off her cheeks. "No more bad memories for you, angel. It's Christmas, and I want my girl to have a very happy time." He promised.

"I will, just as long as my family is with me." Laurie replied, leaning over and kissing her mother-in-law's cheek, then snuggling into his embrace.

"Speaking of Santa, I almost forgot." Rick sat up, as his mother told him, "go on, I'm going to make some tea." Rick took his wife's hand, then led her into their room where he opened his mystery box.

Inside were two red outfits, and Laurie gasped when he held up a red velour dress, trimmed with white ermine and with a fur-lined muff to match.

"Rick, oh, dearest!" she cried, touching the soft material. She dropped the costume on the bed then threw her arms around his neck. "I love it, it's so beautiful. Where did you find it?"

"At the mall, I couldn't resist it, princess." Rick kissed her, then whirled her around as she kissed him back.

Setting Laurie down, he then picked up the matching Santa outfit and pretended to model it for her, breaking her up.

"My Santa will be so handsome in his new suit." She exclaimed, then the gate buzzer rang.

As they went into the living room, Mike and Rex started barking. Cecilia laughed. "Tattletales, I just gave them a cookie each, now what?", then Rick saw his son and daughter-in-law getting out of their car, Andy running ahead of them as Ramona carried a sleeping Lala.

"Rick, did you know Robbie and Ramona were coming?" Laurie asked, going to the door. Rick just winked, then laughed as Ian and Robin parked right next to his truck.

"Surprise, Mom!" Robbie hugged Laurie as she welcomed him in, then she squealed with delight as she caught sight of the others. Cecilia was equally as overjoyed. "I love this kind of surprise, honey." She embraced each of them, then cooed over Petey as he gave her a big smile.

"Oh, Mom, I have to have a picture of him with Grandma!" Robin said with glee, then pulled out her new camera and tripod.

Pleased, Cecilia and Laurie posed with Petey, then Andy and Lala, then the five of them. Suddenly it came to Laurie why Rick had brought the Santa outfits.

"Darling?" she looked at him, then saw him snicker.

"I told you I had a couple of surprises. I thought we might take a family picture to give to Mom for Christmas." He whispered.

"Rick, that's a wonderful idea. You are so smart!" she kissed his cheek, then Robbie laughed.

"Well, Robin thought of it too, Mom."

"Well, then my baby is smart too!" she chuckled, hugging her daughter.

As they waited for Robin to adjust her camera, Ian and Robbie started teasing her, then Andy kept asking when Grandpa and Grandma would be ready.

"Okay, picture time!"

Robin turned around first, then gasped. "Oh, Mom! Pop, how cute!"

The other children looked, then Andy jumped up and down with joy. "Look at Grandma, she looks like Mrs. Santa!"

Shyly, Laurie came out in her red velour dress, holding Rick's hand as he asked his grandson, "Do I look like a Santa's helper?" The little boy nodded happily.

"Pop, that's perfect!" Robbie said. "I couldn't agree more." Oscar spoke from the kitchen doorway.

As everyone gathered around him for hugs, Robin adjusted her camera so she could be in the picture, then beckoned, "Uncle Oscar, come on, you're just in time for family pictures."

As they stood together, Laurie put her head against Rick's chest, whispering, "Thank you for this, love, now I'm ready for the holidays."

"Just wait, Angel." He dropped a kiss on her hair, then a buzz at the door started Mike and Rex barking.

"Rick, is this another surprise?" Laurie giggled. "It's on me, darlin'!" Rick responded, then opened the door to A.J. and Linda and Rudy, with an excited trio of children.

"Sorry we're late, can you handle another surprise?" A.J. snickered, then Laurie rushed over and hugged all of them. "I just got off duty, I must look a mess." Rudy fussed, then Linda put an arm around him.

"Never mind, this makes it just right, Mom will love it!"

"Mom will love what?" Cecilia stood in the doorway, and Rick cleared his throat.

"Never mind, Mom. Now we can talk about surprises…."

"Well, …" A.J. smiled at Linda, then said, "do you want to..?"

"Want to what?", Laurie looked blankly at her brother and sister-in-law, then gasped as Robin pointed at his mother's stomach.

"Baby!" he blurted. Cecilia picked him up and hugged him. "What a smart boy!"

"Linda! Oh, honey!" Laurie went and embraced her, then A.J.. "I'm so happy for you! You wanted another little one!"

"We did, I just never thought we could. This means I'll need you to coach me again." Linda spoke through tears, then Rick pulled out a handkerchief. Linda dabbed her eyes, then handed it to Laurie, who handed it to Cecilia.

"What is it with Simon women, never a Kleenex between them!" he pretended to grouse as he found another one and handed it to his daughter. Oscar shook his head, then Cecilia poked him, "Don't encourage him, "Dad"."

"All the better, we can cry on our men, then!" Laurie joked, then kissed Rick as he pulled her into his arms. "Then remind me to hide my handkerchiefs." He teased.

As they posed, Robin looked through her lens at her family, then felt a great burst of happiness at seeing everyone together.

"Okay, say "Christmas!"

"Christmas!" Andy bellowed, then as his mother and father laughed, Robin knew she had already received her Christmas gift.

The only thing she wanted for Christmas was right in front of her. Their family.