It's almost Christmas, woohoo! Lumi time is a bit behind, but I'm trying to get most of the Christmassy stuff out of the way before the actual holiday. How cute was Alice today with Julie, I laughed so hard. For anyone who doesn't know, February 8th is the date of Will's conception.

"I still can't believe he did that! Brandon better get out of town fast once his trial is over or else there will be plenty of people coming after him."

Sami laughed and for the first time in a long time didn't doubt that it would happen. The Horton's had been threatening Brandon for the past couple days, this was the third time Jen had done it, "I know. He is such a jerk. Can you believe a few years ago we were fighting over him?"

"Please, that is a time period I'd rather forget. I can't believe what idiots we were."

"All's well that ends well, I guess."

Jen sighed wistfully, "Yeah you and my brother came to your senses, finally. And Jack won me over, again. Who knew it would be over so quickly. I miss him so much."

"I miss him, too. Obviously not as much as you do, but he was a good friend once. I really have no words to describe him," Jen actually laughed at that, "but at least you have a lot of people to help you. Where is Patrick, anyway?"

"He went to Uncle Mickey's. He said he was going to try and get Bonnie to back out as gracefully as possible. Who knows, maybe she'll listen to him."

"I doubt it, but let's hope so. Maggie has been so upset lately."

"Including her in the planning will be exactly what the doctor ordered. Oh, there they are now," Jen went to the door to let in Julie and Maggie. They came in, with an extra surprise.

"I hope you don't mind my tagging along. Julie told me where she was going and with Bo in Europe with Billie…" Hope trailed off, though everyone knew what she was thinking, "Anyway, I thought I'd come see what I could do to help."

"We can use all the help we can get. Come sit down guys. The first order of business is the… well, I guess there's no other way to describe it except, boycott. I need to know how many of you are in. I know Jen, Julie, and Doug have agreed, but we need more people. We only have 10 more days. Aunt Hope, Maggie, what do you say?"

"After all the things she did to my nephew do you really think I'd go?"

"Thanks Maggie, I knew I could count on you. What about you, Aunt Hope?" Sami wasn't sure Hope would go along with the plan. She and Belle had always had a good relationship, but would she really watch tinker-twit marry someone else?

"I don't know…Belle's always been such a sweet girl. I don't want to hurt her…" Luckily, Jen cut in before she could move on to praising the virtues of the honorable Belle Black.

"Hope, Belle has proven herself to be self-centered and insensitive. You should be glad Shawn left her, I know I am. Do you really want to support her marriage to Philip? I mean, the poor kid, I always liked him, too."

"Well, no…but she's Belle."

"I know she's Belle, she's my sister, but this is ridiculous. Has someone brainwashed this town into believing Belle is the alpha and omega? Come on, she's marrying Philip so that you guys will tell Shawn that he made the biggest mistake of his life. She completely disregarded Lucas and me; your niece and cousin. Isn't blood supposed to be thicker than water?"

Hope felt as if a fog had cleared in her brain. Why did she like Belle so much? The girl was whiney and clingy. If she really thought about it, her and Shawn's relationship was almost incestuous. Why was she so devoted to Belle Black? "I'm in."

Sami smiled; she knew they'd get through to Hope eventually, "Okay, so the next order of business should be the date."

"I've got you covered on that front," Jen pulled out a notepad to check quickly, "I talked to Father Jensen. He can't fit you in in January, but he's got two days open in February. It can either be the 2nd or the 8th."

"February 8th," Sami whispered, more to herself. Memories were overloading her head. The Cheatin' Heart, scary drunk men, the Titan photo lab, sweet words, white silk sheets…

"Sami?" The other women watched as Sami's mind drifted back, not exactly sure where she was going. Maggie was the only one who knew, being that she was Lucas's closest confidant next to Sami. She moved over to the couch and gently shook her arm, "Sami, honey, come back to us."

Slowly Sami took herself out of the past, "Oh, I'm sorry," she blushed realizing she had been remembering something so intimate while surrounded by older relatives. There was something wrong about that; "I have to talk to Lucas before we choose."

Maggie gave her a knowing smile, "We understand."

"I'll talk to him after we go get our tree."

………………………….

"Sami," Lucas whined while his son tried hard to hide his laughter, "We've been out here for two hours. Why are you trying to torture us? I'm cold, Will's cold. Tell her, buddy!"

Will held up his hands as if to ward off the request, "Sorry Dad, you're on your own. I'm not going against Mom."

Lucas scowled in return, muttering "traitor" under his breath as he followed Sami around looking for the ideal tree, Will went off in the other direction.

"I still don't see why we couldn't go to Bonnie's Tree Lot, she delivers her trees. Now there's going to be pine needles all over my car."

"We didn't go to Bonnie's because we are on Maggie's side, it would behigh treason, punishible by hanging. Anyway, we are doing this pretty early. It's only the 5th and Bonnie's trees aren't fresh cut. We need this tree alive for almost the whole month of December. It has to be fresh."

"That doesn't excuse the fact that we've been out here for two hours! I'm cold and I can't feel my nose."

Sami turned to him with a mock pout, "Poor baby."

"Yes, poor me! I want to go home. Your not the one who has to lay down in the snow to saw the trunk or drag it all over the place."

She took hold of his hand, "Stop your whining and I'll make it worth your while, you're not sore anymore."

Cold forgotten momentarily, Lucas pulled her to him and nipped at her lips. Turning the kiss slow, yet passionate, he ended with a sweet Eskimo kiss, "This better be good."

"I thought we'd already established that it's always good with us."

"Oh, baby..." he moved to reattach their lips, but Will called out for them to come to him at that moment.

"I think I found it!"

With an excited squeal Sami broke away to run and see the new tree. She pushed through the thick pine needles of the surrounding trees to see the most gorgeous tree with the most brilliant little boy standing next to it. The tree was a wonderful full-bodied beauty. The pine needles were long and a lush green. She walked to it slowly, as if amazed by it, and pulled a glove off. She ran a hand along the needles, and then leaned in to smell it. Even through the crisp, biting wind she could catch the fresh piney scent. It was the perfect first tree for the perfect first Christmas with her family finally intact. She felt like crying she was so happy.

Lucas watched as Sami carefully walked around the tree, inspecting every inch. She was so adorable. Sure he had complained about the cold, but it was all worth it to make her happy. She was determined to make this the best Christmas ever, their first official Christmas together. They had celebrated together last year, but it was different now. He could hold her and kiss her without mistletoe as an excuse. They could exchange personal presents, as well as ones that it would be decent to let Will know about, but it was more than that. This year was just…different. He didn't really know how to describe it, he just felt lighter than he had in a long time. All he knew was right now he absolutely needed to have her in his arms. Sami stood back to admire the tree again and Lucas came up and wrapped his arms around her from behind, resting his chin on top of her head.

Will watched his parents cuddle while looking at the tree he had picked out. Seeing them together all lovey-dovey made him happier than he had ever been in his life. He just wanted to sing, shout, dance, do cartwheels in the snow, anything to show how happy he was. This year all his dreams had come true. He was sad that they had lost so many people he loved, but his joy that his parents were together helped ease that ache. And he bet it helped his parents, too. He had never seen them so content with their lives.

Blissfully he moved to join his parents, once again feeling the comfort that came from being with both of them in a peaceful moment. His mom pulled him against her and his dad lifted his arms to enclose Will in the family hug as well. "I love you guys," he whispered quietly. This was the perfect family moment he had always dreamed of. He snuggled closer to his parents and felt his father ruffle his hair, which was quickly followed with a kiss on the top of his head from his mother.