"You can bring one toy with you to Nana's, Harrison." Jack held up one finger. "Just one."

"Aw, man!" The little boy knelt down, surveying his new toys. He looked at them for a few long moments before picking up a stuffed dinosaur. "This one." He held it up. "Can I wear my zoo jacket?"

"Yes. Go get it real quick. I'll hold your dinosaur." He reached for the toy.

"His name is Gerald, daddy."

"Oh. Okay. I'll hold Gerald for you." Jack chuckled. "Go get your jacket now."

Harrison hurried to his room, returning a few moments later in his new jacket with the zoo logo stitched on the front, courtesy of Elizabeth's coworkers. "Ready to go, daddy!"

Jack handed the toy back to him. "We just have to wait for mommy."

"I'm here." Elizabeth came down the hall, finishing putting her earrings in. "I'm ready."

Jack loaded a few gifts into the back of the car while Elizabeth made sure that Harrison was situated in his car seat.

"Daddy?" Harrison asked once they were on the road. "Is Uncle Tom gonna be at Nana's?"

"I think so."

"Cool. I wanna show him Gerald."

"Gerald?" Elizabeth whispered, looking over at Jack.

"Gerald is Harrison's new dinosaur."

"Oh, I see." She glanced back at their son. "I bet Uncle Tom will think Gerald is awesome."

"I wish dinosaurs were real." He sighed. "I could be a dinosaur vet."

Jack laughed. "I don't know, bud. A dinosaur might step on you by accident."

"Only the big ones," he said matter-of-factly. "The little ones can't step on me. Besides, you make 'em sleep to clean their teeth and stuff when they're big and scary. That's what mommy's friend says they do with the tigers."

"You're going to know just as much as a vet before you even get to vet school, bud."

"Uh huh." He nodded. "When I'm a vet, am I a doctor?"

"Yep." Jack looked in the rearview mirror. "You'll be Dr. Thornton, just like me."

"Except you're a people doctor."

"That's right. I'm a pediatrician, so I take care of kids. If you want to be a vet at a zoo, you'll be an exotic animal vet."

"Cool."

...

Harrison ran to the front door as soon as he was out of his car seat. "Hi, Nana!"

"Hi, Sonny boy!" Charlotte scooped him up. "Merry Christmas."

"I got lots of toys, Nana. Santa gave me Gerald." He held up his stuffed animal. "And mommy's friends gave me a zookeeper jacket."

"Very cool. Why don't you go inside and see if Uncle Tom needs any help finishing the cookies?"

"Cookies?!" His eyes lit up, and he squirmed until she placed him on the floor. He took off running again, this time into the kitchen.

"Did you already fill him with sugar today?" Charlotte teased as she walked over to the car.

"Just cinnamon rolls at breakfast. And maybe a bit of chocolate after lunch…" Jack handed her a few of the gifts he was removing from the trunk. "Merry Christmas, ma." He kissed her cheek.

"Thank you for having us over for dinner, Charlotte," Elizabeth added.

"Oh, of course. Christmas dinner is for family, and you three are welcome over here for dinner any time."

"Mommy! Daddy!" Harrison came running back outside. "Uncle Tom is making Christmas cookies, and he said I can help put icing on when they're cooked."

"Wow, that sounds like fun, Harrison."

"Hey, bud." Jack waved him over. "Can you help us carry these presents inside?"

"Okay, daddy." He took the small package that Jack gave him, carefully carrying it into the house. "Where do I put it?"

"Under the tree," Charlotte instructed him, putting her own armload of gifts near the Christmas tree. "We'll open them after dinner."

"Oh, man! I gotta wait AGAIN?"

"It's good for you to learn patience, bud." Jack ruffled his hair. "It smells delicious in here, ma."

"Thank your brother for that. He found some fancy roast recipe."

"You're letting Tom cook? I have to see this." Jack laughed as he headed toward the kitchen.

"Now, Lizzy." Charlotte took her arm, inviting her to sit on the sofa. "Tell me how you've been."

"Oh. I'm good. Jack and I are doing well."

"He seems happier than I've seen him in a long while, thanks to you, no doubt."

She blushed. "I don't know about that."

"It's the truth." Charlotte squeezed her shoulder. "He was in a fog for a long time after Olive died. Things changed after he reconnected with you. And it's clear that Harrison really likes having a mom again."

Elizabeth smiled. "Well, I really like having a son."

...

Jack groaned, putting a hand on his stomach. "I don't know if I can make it to the living room to open presents. I'm too stuffed."

Harrison tugged on his arm. "Come on, daddy. Else we'll open presents without you."

Jack feigned dejection. "You would open presents without me? That makes me sad."

Elizabeth laughed, patting Jack on the back. "Come on, big guy. You don't want him opening all of your presents, do you?"

"That's true."

She took his hands, pulling him up from his chair. He gave her a soft kiss before following her and the rest of the family into the living room.

"Daddy?" Harrison asked, finding a seat on the floor next to the tree. "Why do you kiss mommy so much?"

"Because I love her." He kissed her again, putting his arm around her waist. "And I just like kissing her."

He covered her eyes. "You kiss her too much."

Elizabeth chuckled. "Maybe we should kiss you more." She took a seat beside him and pulled him into her lap, showering kisses all over his face.

"Mommy!" He laughed. "Stop!"

"Okay, I'll stop." She smoothed down his hair. "Do you want to hand out the presents to Nana and Uncle Tom?"

"Yeah!"

...

They returned home a few hours later, bags of new clothes and toys filling the back of the car courtesy of Charlotte and Tom. Jack carried a sleeping Harrison to his bedroom, changing him into his pajamas and tucking him in with Gerald.

Elizabeth was waiting in the living room with two glasses of wine and a fire blazing in the fireplace.

"Thank you," Jack said, accepting the glass of wine from her. They sat shoulder to shoulder on the sofa, quietly sipping their drinks.

"It was a good Christmas."

"A perfect first Christmas as a family," he agreed. "It's crazy to think that a year ago, this wasn't even on the radar."

"That's true. I hadn't thought about that. Has it really been less than a year since we reconnected?"

"Amazing how quickly life can change."

"Mhmm." Elizabeth set down her glass and shifted to lean back against Jack's chest, lapsing into silence again for a few minutes. "Jack? What do you do about New Year's Eve? Do you let Harrison stay up?"

He ran his fingers through her hair. "I give him the option to, but he's never been able to stay awake the whole time. He's usually asleep by ten."

"Do you go to your mom's?"

He shook his head. "No. We've gone to Lee and Rosemary's a couple of years, but other than that, we just hang out here. Lee and Rosemary did invite us over this year, if you'd like to go over there."

"That sounds like fun. It'd be nice to get to know them a little better. And I'm sure Harrison would like to spend some time with someone his age." She turned her head to look at him. "Is anybody else there, or just the three of them?"

"Just the three of them. We usually have snacks and play games and stuff. Nothing big."

She smiled. "That sounds like my kind of party."

...

"Hi." Harrison looked up when Rosemary answered the door. "Where's James?"

She chuckled. "He's in the living room watching Minions."

"I love Minions!" He ran past her into the house.

"Sorry about that." Jack hugged her. "Thanks for having us over."

"Oh, we're happy to have the company." She stepped aside to let them in. "Lee's in the kitchen, by the way."

"Great. I'll see if he needs any help." Jack kissed Elizabeth on the cheek before disappearing around the corner.

"It's good to see you again, Elizabeth." Rosemary led her into the living room.

"You, too."

She invited her to sit on the couch. "So how's married life going for you? The last time we spent any real time together, you and Jack weren't even engaged."

"Oh, that's right." She laughed softly. "Um, it was a little rough at first, trying to figure out how to be a mom and a wife at the same time, but things are great now."

"I'm glad. It seems like you're all very happy."

Elizabeth smiled. "We are. We definitely moved quickly, but it was the right decision for us."

"Beth, Harrison." Jack poked his head into the room. "Do you want something to drink?"

"Um, water!" Harrison exclaimed.

"Water for me, too."

"On it."

Elizabeth sighed contentedly as he walked away. "God, I love him."

For the next few hours, the adults sat and chatted while the boys watched another movie. Jack convinced them to play a few card games until it got closer to midnight.

Harrison nodded off shortly after ten o'clock, and James was close behind him.

Elizabeth yawned, leaning her head against Jack's shoulder. "I don't know if I'll be able to make it until midnight."

"Yeah, I'm honestly surprised that I'm still awake." Rosemary chuckled, covering her mouth as she yawned. "I'm definitely not a night owl."

"We could always watch the east coast feed of the ball dropping and then call it a night," Jack suggested.

"I think we might have to do that," Lee agreed. "I have no idea how we were able to stay up so late when we were younger."

"I'll get the drinks so we can at least toast." Rosemary excused herself to go to the kitchen again. Lee followed, and the two of them returned with four champagne glasses.

"I hope you two don't mind that there's no champagne this year, just sparkling grape juice." Lee handed a glass to Jack, and Rosemary handed one to Elizabeth. "We weren't sure if you two were coming, and I didn't want Rosie to be the only one not drinking." He glanced over at his wife, a knowing look passing between them.

"Rosemary?" Jack raised his eyebrow. "Is there something you'd like to tell us?"

A grin spread across her face. "We just found out about two weeks ago. I'm due in August."

Jack pulled her into a hug. "Congratulations, Rosie. But why did you guys wait so long to tell us? We've been here for hours!"

Lee chuckled. "James doesn't know yet, so we had to wait until he was asleep."

"Congratulations, you two," Elizabeth said, raising her glass to them.

"To a New Year and a new baby."

"Hear, hear!"

...

Jack pulled into the driveway and turned toward Elizabeth. "How are you feeling, Beth?"

"Tired." She yawned, stretching her arms over her head.

"That's not what I'm talking about."

"Are you asking how I'm feeling about hearing that Rosemary is pregnant?"

He nodded. "Yes."

"I'm fine, Jack." She took his hand. "I'm really happy for them. Of course, I wish I could be giving you news like that, but we haven't even been married for two months. I'm not surprised that it hasn't happened for us yet, but I trust that it will."

"Okay." He brought her hand to his lips, kissing her knuckles. "I love you, Elizabeth."

"I love you." She leaned over the center console to kiss him. "We should get Harrison to bed so we can get to sleep, too."

A few minutes later, Jack slipped into bed after putting Harrison in his own room. "Happy New Year, Beth."

"Hopefully this will be the year we can give Harrison his little brother."

Jack smiled. "Hopefully."