A/N: I know, I know...too long between updates again. I'll do better when school's over, I promise. Maybe then I can write two stories at once and get all these ideas out of my head! But I digress :-P Here's a new chapter for you, complete with a little (okay, a lot) of fluff. A couple of notes, though: the pink fingerprint powder has shown up on several different crime dramas, and is not a product of my twisted mind; Stella By Starlight and Buona Sera are songs by Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin, respectively; and the Christmas carol in the middle section is not mine (obviously), but everything else is. So have yourself a merry little Christmas...in May :-D
Enjoy!
Danny awoke to bright sunlight streaming through the windows of his bedroom and immediately pulled the covers up over his head.
I just went to bed, he thought. It can't be morning already…
He rolled over reluctantly, sighing as he pulled the blankets away from his face and felt around for his glasses.
"Eight o'clock?" he asked no one in particular as he squinted at the alarm clock. "Is it really eight o'clock?"
Beside him, Maddie shifted to a more comfortable position, sounding an alarm in his brain. Why is she still here? he wondered. She should be in school…
He was just about to wake her when he remembered why she was in bed asleep at eight o'clock in the morning on a week day. It was Christmas break, and she was out of school for a week and a half of well-deserved rest. Not that she'll actually rest, he thought with a wry smile. I bet she already has seven hundred things planned to do…
He turned away from the clock on the night stand and kissed his wife gently, deciding to let her sleep for a bit longer as he climbed out of bed alone and headed for the shower. By the time he was dressed he could smell pancakes frying in the kitchen and wandered out to join his family for a few minutes before he left for work.
"'Morning sweetheart," he smiled at Shayla, kissing her hair as she passed by him with an armful of plates for the table.
"'Morning," she returned shyly, still not completely used to the affection she received from her foster parents.
Danny continued into the kitchen where Maddie was finishing up breakfast. Sliding his arms around her waist and caressing her growing abdomen, he smiled a little as his lips found her neck. "'Morning babe," he mumbled against her skin.
She turned and kissed him lightly over her shoulder. "'Morning slugger," she smiled back, using her old pet name for him. "Breakfast is almost ready."
"'kay…I'll help Shayla set the table." He reached over her head and pulled three glasses from the cupboard, leaving another kiss on her cheek before heading toward the table.
The three sat down to breakfast, sharing smiles at the novelty of the experience.
"We should do this more often," Shayla commented.
"Yeah we should," Danny agreed, nodding his head. "This is a good way to start the morning."
Maddie chuckled. "You two just like not having to find your own breakfast," she teased.
Danny and Shayla grinned at each other, but then the girl became serious for a moment. "No really, this is a nice family thing. I never had this before I came here."
The adults' smiles softened as Maddie leaned over to kiss her foster daughter's cheek and Danny slid an arm around her shoulders.
"You do now," Maddie told her.
The twinkle returned to Danny's eyes and he added, "And we have a built-in babysitter…"
Shayla laughed, the lump that had formed in her throat beginning to dissolve. "Anytime," she promised.
"So what's on tap for my girls today?" Danny asked.
Shayla's smile brightened quickly. "We're going Christmas shopping!"
"Be gentle, okay?" he laughed in return. "Don't spend all our money today…"
"We'll be good," Maddie promised with a giggle. "But I do need to get a new dress for the Lab's Christmas party tonight…"
"No you don't babe," he told her, "you look good in everything."
"Everything she can still fit into," Shalya smirked.
Maddie nodded, her expression a mixture of joy and sorrow. "I've never been this big before…I don't have much that I can still wear."
"And I'm going to Dantrell's tonight, too, don't forget," Shayla reminded him, frowning a little.
"I thought you liked going over there," Maddie said. "They're like a second family…"
The girl nodded, but the frown remained on her lips. "I do—and they are—I just hate the feeling that I need a babysitter all the time. I'm seventeen years old…"
"You know Antwan's friends are still on the lookout for you, even if he's locked up at Rikers Island," her foster father reminded her.
She lowered her eyes and sighed. "I know."
Danny glanced at his watch and rose from his seat, reaching across the table to squeeze her shoulder. "You know it's to keep you safe."
This time she smiled a little. She had people in her life now that were worried about her safety. "I know."
"And you," he continued, moving around the table to plant a kiss on Maddie's lips, "will look gorgeous in whatever you get, so don't worry. I'll see you after work."
He grabbed his coat and headed out the door, striding quickly down the hall. When he reached the elevator doors he paused to wait, suddenly feeling very strange. Did I just kiss my wife and daughter good-bye…and tell them I'd see them after work? he thought rather incredulously. That was very domestic...
The elevator car arrived and the doors slid open and he stepped in, punching the button for the building's lobby with a grin. An old dog can learn new tricks…even a mutt like me.
"Has anyone seen Don yet?" Maddie asked, glancing around the bar in search of the Homicide detective. He wasn't an official member of the Crime Lab, but worked with the unit so much he was invited to the annual Christmas party anyway. "He said he was coming…"
"And bringing a date, too," Danny chimed in.
"There he is," Sarah said, gesturing toward the door and squinting. "Who's that he's with?"
"It's Aiden!" Stella jumped from her chair and greeted her former colleague first. "We didn't know you were coming tonight!"
The younger woman hugged her friend tightly. "I came up to spend Christmas with my family," she replied when she pulled away, "and Don talked me into coming."
The rest of the group engulfed her, anxious to welcome their friend back to the city with hugs and kisses and affectionate squeezes.
"Well, should we sit and chat?" Don asked with a wink when the crowd began to return to their seats, "or should we get right to the gifts?" The group laughed, and no one protested when he plopped his secret santa gift on the table.
"We'll chat while we open," Sheldon suggested. "Who's going first?"
Mac reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a small black box. "I will," he announced, rising from his chair and moving around the table to present the box to its new owner. He smiled, the only one who had known she was coming, and squeezed her shoulder affectionately. "Welcome home Aiden," he told her quietly, "for a little while at least."
She looked up at him and smiled appreciatively, watching him walk back to his seat before lifting the lid. Inside she found a delicate gold chain with a tiny pendant hanging from it. Upon further inspection she discovered that the pendant was actually a miniature version of an NYPD Detective's badge, complete with her old badge number engraved on the back.
"Wow Mac, this is beautiful," she grinned. "You didn't have to…"
He shook his head, brushing off her thanks. "You're still one of us," he explained, "even if it's unofficial now."
"I love it," she proclaimed, bouncing up and planting a kiss on his cheek.
He blushed predictably and waived her away. "Okay, your turn."
She found her seat again and reached underneath it, grabbing a box she had stashed when she first sat down. "For Sheldon," she said, handing him the box with a flourish. "Merry Christmas."
The former medical examiner laughed as he accepted his gift. "Thank you!" This box was larger than the one she had received, wrapped in dark blue paper and tied with a yellow bow. Sheldon carefully slid the bow off and slit the paper, meticulously unwrapping the box and neatly folding the paper. When he pulled the top off, he waded through the tissue paper and laughed again at what he found. "It's a new set of fingerprint brushes and powders! Wow, this powder's hot pink…"
Aiden grinned. "I used those more than anything else in my kit," she replied. "And the pink is my own special concoction."
"Thanks!" he smiled again, leaning over the table to give her a hug. "I will definitely use these."
Around they went, giving and receiving gifts from their very closest friends. There was a foot massager for Maddie from Sheldon, "the best gift to give a pregnant woman," he grinned. Mac found a specially-burned CD containing songs like Stella By Starlight and Buona Sera, along with a gift card to the best Italian restaurant in New York in his envelope.
"You can share that, too, if anyone comes to mind," Maddie teased as the color rose in his cheeks.
Danny had drawn Sarah's name, and had settled on a pair of ice skates after hearing her tell a story about skating as a child, watching with relief as her face lit up when she opened them. In collaboration with Aiden, Sarah had added a service to Don's wireless plan as his gift, sending the scores of every hockey game right to his phone so that, no matter what shift he was working, he would always know how his Rangers were doing. Stella found a shoebox with her name on it in Don's handwriting, filled with DVDs of her favorite movies along with several packages of microwave popcorn, "for those nights when Mac's workin' late," he laughed. And Danny, after warily eyeballing the tiny envelope Stella presented him, discovered a brand new memory card for his digital camera, one that was much larger than his current card, "because I expect to see tons of baby pictures in the spring," she winked.
The music on the jukebox slowed a bit and, as happened every year, someone got a hold of a sprig of mistletoe that was passed around from couple to couple as the group began to pare off and dance around the bar.
Have yourself a merry little Christmas
Let your heart be light
From now on our troubles will be out of sight
Someone handed the mistletoe to Sheldon, who grinned and kissed Sarah gently, pulling her closer to him as they moved in rhythm with the music.
Have yourself a merry little Christmas
Make the yuletide gay
From now on our troubles will be miles away
Sheldon passed the sprig to Maddie who laughed, holding it over Danny's head with a smirk as he led her around the makeshift dance floor. He flashed his most charming smile and covered her mouth with his in a deep kiss before leaning down and planting a smooch on her abdomen.
Here we are as in olden days
Happy golden days of yore
Faithful friends who are dear to us
Gather near to us once more
Danny handed the mistletoe off to Mac with a wink, noting how uncomfortable his boss still looked with public displays of affection. Once he looked into Stella's eyes, though, Mac forgot all about the rest of the lab and brushed his lips over hers, contentment replacing the unease in his face.
Through the years we all will be together
If the fates allow
Hang a shining star upon the highest bough
Mac stealthily passed the little sprig to Aiden, who normally would have welcomed the opportunity to plant a big wet one on whoever was nearest to her. She glanced up at Don as he held her loosely and her exhibitionist tendencies faded away. Instead, she quietly reached up, allowing her lips to find his in a much softer kiss.
His bright blue eyes betrayed the surprise her touch brought.
"What?" she asked in characteristically Aiden fashion.
He shook his head a little. "That's the first time you've kissed me since…"
She smiled gently. "I know."
And have yourself a merry little Christmas, now
The merriment and gift-giving continued over at the Baker household, too, where Shayla was washing the dinner dishes with Dantrell while his grandmother helped his sister with a school project in the living room.
"So this is your first Christmas with Miss Parrish and Detective Messer," he remarked, drying a plate and stacking it with the others.
Shayla grinned. "You know Maddie's not your teacher anymore…she isn't even 'Miss Parrish' anymore."
"I know," he smiled. "It's just habit now, and I can't shake it."
"But yeah," she continued, picking up his previous question, "this is my first Christmas with them. And with you and your family…and without my mom or Antwan. I thought it would be weird, you know?"
"But it isn't."
She shook her head. "No, it isn't. Them…you…it's almost like I've always been part of this one big family—until I think about what my life was like before Maddie and Danny took care of me."
"Well, here's a little something to help remind you of what you have now," Dantrell told her sweetly, producing a long velvet box from a secret hiding place in one of the drawers. "Merry Christmas…"
Her eyes went wide and she stood still for a moment just looking at him. He laughed, the teasing little laugh he always seemed to direct at her, and she immediately smirked back, grabbing a dish towel to dry her hands with.
Her powers of speech and movement were lost again when she lifted the lid of the box. Inside she found an intricate silver chain threaded through five tiny silver rings, each containing a single gemstone of various colors.
"Oh my…" was all she could manage.
Dantrell laughed again. "Do you like it?"
"I…do…" she replied slowly.
He moved beside her and ran a finger gently over the rings. "Each one is the birthstone of someone in your family," he explained. "One for Miss Parrish, one for Detective Messer, one for Gran, one for Trina, and one for me."
"It's beautiful," she told him, the surprise still written all over her face.
"There's one more ring coming, too," he continued, "when the baby's born. We just have to wait and see what month that is."
"It's beautiful," Shayla repeated, this time with more feeling as the disbelief began to dissipate. She slipped her arms around him and hugged him tightly. "Thank you."
Dantrell grinned as he wrapped her in a big bear hug. "Welcome to the family."