Disclaimer: I don't own Everwood, because if I did it wouldn't be in danger of being cancelled… (Hate you CW!)

A/N: this story inspires me and even though I had my finals in less than two weeks I decided to right a new chapter instead of studying… I hope you like it. Thanks for the review; I loved them!

Chapter six: One Happy Christmas.

Ephram woke up the next morning feeling completely invigorated. He glanced at the clock which was showing 9:42; he had not sleep a lot but he was not tired. He turned to look at his daughter who was lying beside him.

"Buon giorno Papa." a very awake Ella greeted him.

"Buon giorno piccolina. How long have you been up?"

"A little while."

"You didn't miss your bed?"

"No." she looked at him and laughed.

"What?" he asked amused; he loved her laughter.

"You stole Sam's bedroom." He laughed too.

"I didn't still it, I borrowed it, and technically, WE stole it. Beside this was my room before it became Sam's."

"Really?" she asked surprised.

"Yeah. For three entire years, I slept here."

"Did you miss it?"

"A little."

"Did you miss Everwood?" He thought about it for a few seconds. When he left, he was angry and he thought he would never feel the need to come back. Then he met Carla and even though he was happy with her in Florence, somehow he always missed his old home. Despite his anger and his sadness, Everwood would always have a special place in his heart.

"I did." He answered. She sat on the bed and leaned to give him a hug.

"Papa," she whispered in his ears. "I'm hungry." Ephram laughed warmly. They dressed up and went downstairs.

"Morning." Sam and Delia greeted them.

"Morning." Ephram replied while his daughter was running into her aunt arms. "Where is everyone?"

"Dad and Nina are at work and the twins are at school." Delia replied still looking at Ella.

"And what are you doing here. Aren't you supposed to be at… what is it again? Oh yeah, college?" he asked smirking.

"My last final was two days ago, I'm done with school for two weeks and a half." Sam answered grinning.

"Lucky you. I'll never be done with school." Ephram said while giving Ella a bowl of cereals and a glass of apple juice. "And you?" he asked Delia.

"My next class is this afternoon; I'll be leaving in an hour. But I don't want to." She said smiling at her niece.

"Dad said you weren't coming before next week." He said remembering the conversation they had at Sam's.

"I wasn't. I left a paper here; I was just passing by."

"Are you coming back soon?" Ella asked.

"Sure. I'll be back tomorrow night; for the week end. Don't worry; Sam will play with you." She added smiling.

"He's a boy." She said making a face and Delia laughed.

"I'm a boy too." Ephram said seating down across of her, a cup a coffee in his hand.

"You're my dad, it's not the same…" she pointed out and the two men laughed.

"Talking about boys." Ephram said looking at his sister. "I had an interesting conversation with dad, yesterday." Delia quickly looked up. "Who is Harry?" he asked, trying not to laugh.

"If I were you, I wouldn't go there." Sam said getting up. "It's top secret." He added before leaving the kitchen.

Delia rolled her eyes and returned her attention to Ella. Ephram looked at her impatiently.

"It's not interesting." She simply said.

"On the contrary, it's very interesting."

"No it's not. At least not yet. So could you please drop it?"

"Okay." He said shrugging, a little disappointed.

"He's coming to the new year's eve party…" she reluctantly said and he smiled. "I better get ready for school." She said getting up. When she left, Ephram looked at his daughter and sighed deeply at the thought that one day it is with her that he will be having this kind of conversations. Somehow it felt more frightening than playing in front an entire audience.

The morning quickly passed by. Ephram undid his luggage and he and Sam brought Claire's old bed in his room, for Ella. At noon, Hannah came to see him and they had lunch together. They talked and laughed for an hour before she had to leave. He spent the afternoon with his daughter, watching TV. Sam went to pick up the twins from school and when they came back, they spent the rest of the afternoon with Ephram and Ella, playing with snow in the backyard.

Ephram was delighted to see how comfortable his daughter was with his family. For nearly four years now, he had tried to fill the whole that Carla had left behind her. Alberto, Fran and Paul had helped him, playing the role of a subsidiary family, being there for them at anytime. Somehow, he forgot that he also had a family here, a family that loved him and his daughter and who was worried. After only 24 hours with them, he felt that for the first time the whole has been completely filled. He was surprised to see that he did not want to leave them. He remembered telling Amy that Florence felt like home. It had felt like that but now that he was watching Ella, Claire and Chris throwing snowballs at Sam, he realised that Everwood was the only place where he really felt complete. Everwood was his home.

Ella came running to him and jumped into his open arms. He kissed her red nose and she giggled.

"It's cold." She said laughing and nuzzling her small body into his arms.

"Do you want to come in?" he asked, already knowing the answer.

"No!" she said and he laughed.

"Okay, ten more minutes and then you go take a bath." She nodded and kissed him. He put her down and she ran to Sam who fell down, laughing.

It always is the same thing. Every time you are enjoying yourself, every time you are happy, time seems to speed up his race. Before they even realise it, the Browns and their guests were having their Christmas Eve dinner, at the Abbotts. It seemed that Rose decided to celebrate Ephram's come back by inviting the entire population of Everwood. The living room was crowded and Amy could barely see who was here and who was not. She knew Meg and Reid must be somewhere since she saw them arriving but, right now, she just could not find them anywhere. She wanted to introduce them to Ephram but as she turned to look for him, he seemed to have disappeared as well. She decided to take some fresh air; she took a coat that she had found in the entrance hall, not caring to whom it was, as long at it seemed clean. She went to the backyard where Bright's old seesaw was still standing. She took a deep breath and immediately felt better. She looked around her and noticed that someone was seating on of the swing.

"hey." Ephram said.

"Hey." She said smiling. "I thought I lost you." She added chuckling.

"Well, my father was beginning to tell another embarrassing story about me… he can do that without me." She laughed, "Plus you know me, I'm not into parties. What about you? What are you doing here? Wearing my coat, none the less."

"Same as you; I was running out of oxygen. Am I aloud?" she said pointing the seesaw next to him.

"Of course." He said while drying the snow off it so she could seat. "You never told me that Reid was marrying one of your best friends."

"I'm really happy for them. Plus I already told you Reid and I never really loved each other, at least not like that. He's just a friend with whom I had a child." They shared a laugh. "Meg and him are right for each other, they really love each other and that's all that matter." She said looking at him intently. "So you met them?"

"Yeah Bright and Hannah introduced us. They are really nice. I also met her twin sister…"

"Nicole."

"Yeah. I saw Laynie too. She changed so much; I can't believe she has three kids and a husband."

"Yeah I know I was too, but she's happy…"

"Where are our kids?"

"Thomas is with Chris, Ella is sleeping in my old room and Claire is with Delia." He nodded and rubbed his hand to warm them. "So I didn't see you since you arrived. How are you?" she asked.

"I'm really good. It's nice to be back. I've spent the last four days talking, laughing; catching up… it was great." She smiled. "Oh and I went shopping with my father. I can't believe he waited this week to make his Christmas shopping." They laughed. "What about you?"

"Nothing much. So Ella like it here?"

"She loves it. I don't know how I'm gonna put in that plane next week." Amy looked at her hands trying to hide her sadness. "I think she's lonely there, you know. Fran and Alberto don't have children yet so she's not used to be surrounded by kids. I never saw her this happy."

"You seem happy too." she added smiling.

"I am."

"So why don't you stay." She said before even realising it.

"What?" he asked surprised. He never considered the idea of staying; he just decided to come more often, but not coming back.

"It's just that I never saw you this happy Ephram since Carla's death and Ella loves it here. So why don't you come back to Everwood? This where you belong. We've missed you a lot…" she added in a whisper.

"I've you missed you too but…"

"Amy," Nicole yelled from the kitchen window, "you're mum needs you."

"I'm coming." Amy yelled back and turned to look at Ephram who seemed lost in his thoughts. "Think about it." she said getting up. She left and Ephram seat there for half an hour; thinking and rethinking Amy's words. She was right; he was happy and Ella was too. He thought about his father and Nina. He thought about his siblings. He thought about Bright and Hannah. Then he thought about Amy. When he was with her, everything was so simple, natural and pleasant. He had always missed her; there was no point in denying it. He remembered nine years ago when he nearly came back home when he realised he was still in love with her. He did not, thinking she was certainly over him and he had no right to put her through more pain. Now, she asked him to come back and as bizarre as it may seem he was exited by this idea.

"Hey." He jolted when he heard Fran's voice. "Sorry Brown I didn't mean to scare you."

"It's ok." He said trying to catch his breath. "What are you doing here? Where is Alberto?"

"I needed some air and Alberto is with Paul and your father talking about home. What about you? What were you doing outside for half an hour?" she said crossing her arms trying to protect her body from the cold.

"Nothing much, just doing some thinking."

"About?"

"Nothing… it's just… Amy told me something and I don't know what to do." He said sighing.

"I love it when you're explicit." She said smirking. "I saw her in the kitchen; she seemed a little confused too. What did she say?" she asked softly.

"She said that I should consider staying here… not coming back." He added looking at her unsure.

"Oh!" she said smiling. He was quite surprise to see her smiling; it was as if she knew this was coming. "What do you want to do?"

"I don't know." He said frankly.

"Well I'll just tell you this. Since she's been gone you were a real wreck, but last summer when you bumped into Amy, for the first time I saw new sparks in your eyes and not the one you have when you're around Ella. It was different. I watched you this last four days and I have to admit that I never saw you this happy. I don't know if it's Everwood or the snow or Amy but if you're happy here, then there's no other place you should be. Do you really believe that if you hadn't met Carla, you'd have stayed in Florence? I sincerely doubt it." She looked into his eyes and took his hand. "I just want you to be happy again, Brown." she added smiling. He squeezed her hand and smiled back. "Come on," she said, "let's go inside. My toes are freezing." She added laughing and they came back inside. When they arrived in the living room Ella was on Andy's lap and she was laughing hard. They were with Nina, Chris, Claire, Thomas, Amy, Bright and Rose. Ephram looked at them and he felt warmth surrounding his heart. Fran put her hand on his shoulder and she smiled.

"I love to see her laugh." She whispered with a meaningful look before heading toward the group. He smiled and joined them too. They spend the rest of the evening talking, laughing and remembering. The more time he spent with his family, the more he realised that the decision was easy to make. Sure, he will miss Florence, he will miss his friends and Paul. He will miss all the memories that he had with Carla and he was not sure he was ready to let them go but he was sure of one thing, Everwood was where he belonged. "Ill just have to talk to her." He thought.

"Good morning Papa." Ella said to her father when he opened his eyes two days later. Today was the day where Alberto, Fran and Paul where going back to Florence.

"Good morning." He said smiling. He leaned over and gave her a kiss on the forehead.

"Don't be sad Papa. You'll see uncle Alberto, aunt Fran and Grandpa really soon."

"I'm not sad sweetie. I was just thinking."

"About what?" she asked concerned.

"About Everwood. There's something I want to talk to you about."

"What?"

"Do you like it here?" he asked.

"Siiii!" the little girl nodded vigorously. "Grandpa and Nina are great. Aunt Delia and Sam are really cool and I love playing with Claire and Chris." He smiled. "Why you're asking me that?"

"Would it be ok with you if we stay here?" Ella thought for a moment.

"You mean like… for always?" she asked. He nodded.

"But we can't live here; we don't have a house here." He laughed.

"The house is your only objection?"

"What objection means?" she asked frowning and he laughed again. They fell silent for a moment; both thinking. "Papa, I just want to be with you. If you want to stay, I'll stay. If you're happy, I'm happy." She added smiling.

"Me too piccolina. Me too." he said hugging her. He held her for a long time; smiling at himself and being grateful to God for her.

"So we're going to still Sam's bedroom for a little bit longer?" she asked smiling when they pulled away.

"We'll have to get back to Florence for a while first. When we'll come back here we'll have our own house."

"Grandpa and Nina are going to be so happy." She said smiling.

"I know, but I haven't talk to them yet."

"Let's do it now." She jumping out of the bed and running to the bathroom.

When they arrived in the kitchen, they found everyone having breakfast. They sat down and Nina served them bacon and eggs.

"Chris, stop annoying your sister." Andy said at his son before returning to his newspaper. Chris put his spoon down and turned to his mother.

"Mum can I go watch cartoons?"

"Of course, sweetie."

"No wait." Ephram stopped him. "I've something quiet important to tell you all." He said smiling and Ella began to laugh.

They all turned their attention to Ephram.

"Well, Ella and I were thinking that maybe… um it wouldn't be bad if the both of us came back… here."

"You mean for summer?" Claire asked.

"No I meant forever. Like coming back to live here." First, nobody moved, then smiles began to spread on everyone's face and Delia got up and hugged her brother.

"Oh my god." Nina said with tears in her eyes. Andy was smiling from ear to ear and he put a hand on his son's shoulder.

"Awesome, dude!" Sam said.

Chris and Claire were clapping in each other's hands.

"Does it mean you're ok?" he asked teasing them and they all laughed.

A/N: this last two days were like crap for me and for all the Everwood fans. The cancellation of this show is such an injusticeI'm really sad. I loved writing this chapter so

I really hope you like it. Please review, it'll ease my pain a little bit!

Everwood: September 2002- June 2006. Rest in peace. You were the best show ever and you'll always have a special place in my heart!