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Familiar Traditions

"So, you'll do it?"

The glassblower shrugged and smiled, "It's a strange request, but it seems simple enough, and given your reasons, I don't think I can turn it down."

I breathed a sigh of relief. I was lucky enough that Niko's world was similar to mine and actually had a glassblower. Knowing he was so willing to do this for me took a weight off my shoulders.

"Though I know the 'who', would I be able to know the 'why'?

I flinched at that and scratched my head sheepishly, "It's, uh...a secret gift for them." I didn't say any more than that. I wasn't sure if he would know what I was talking about, so I didn't want to accidentally let that slip and make people think I was crazy.

He chuckled, "Fair enough. It's nice to see you making that effort for them."

"Well, they've done so much for me already. I figured I should at least do something for them. They're worth it," I grinned back and handed over his payment, "Anyways, thank you so much for doing this, Mr. Holt."

"It's no problem, Alan. I should have these ready by tomorrow." He then waved me away, "Now off you go! I got work to do!"

I laughed and waved goodbye before leaving his shop. The town square was a lot busier than usual and I waved to the people that passed by. Most of the people here were starting to get used to seeing me around as well as knowing my relationship with Niko and Dahlia. They didn't know about the whole "being from another world", but they didn't need to. We just left that part out. As I continued around the square, I reminded myself of what the date would be back in my world.

December 23rd.

I let a small smile creep onto my face. Christmas was never something I had the opportunity to participate in. The whole "being on the run" schtick made that a bit difficult for me. Now, with that not being the case anymore, I figured who better to spend it with than my new family, my real family.

I pulled out the list I had written for myself this morning before I left on my "errands" as I told the two of them. Niko wanted to come along, but it would ruin the surprise if she ended up asking too many questions, so I told her otherwise, much to her disappointment. Stopping by Mr. Holt's was the most important stop since he would take care of the biggest gifts that I had planned for them. Now, it was just a matter of finding everything else.

I stopped by one of the stores nearby and picked up a pack of new crayons for Niko. I knew how much she liked to draw, so I figured she would appreciate a new set. I also picked up a new toque for Dahlia since her current one was starting to breakdown as well as a nice new mug for her to use. I kept exploring all the other stores, trying to find gifts that I thought would be really good, but it was only after leaving the fourth store that I finally realized something.

Finding Christmas gifts was hard.

The times I had seen people celebrating the holiday in my world, it always seemed so easy, but I really had no idea, huh? I groaned but shrugged off the anxiety I felt. This was important to me and, many presents or not, I wanted it to be special. Both for them and for me. I took a deep breath and marched on.

Okay, I take it back. Finding gifts is easy. WRAPPING them is another story entirely.

"C'mon, you little..." I grumbled and as I tried shaking off a piece of tape that had stuck to my finger.

The amalgamated attempt of a wrapped box sat in front of me on my bed with bits and pieces of wrapping paper around the room. I had to be really discreet in smuggling everything I needed into the house after yesterday's shopping spree and only once the two had gone on their own errands did I use that time to get my gifts for them prepared. Stopping by Mr. Holt's took care of getting the most important gifts and I made sure to wrap those first. However, the first one took nearly an hour to wrap while the other still sat in its box, waiting to be covered in green and red wrapping paper.

"It always looked so easy, but I didn't realize I had to be a freaking scientist to be able to put paper around a stinking box..." I continued to grumble as I started again on the box.

After what felt like another hour of trying and failing, I breathed a sigh of relief as the box was now wrapped, complete with a bow on top. I rubbed my head, hoping to get rid of the headache that had formed from the endeavor.

I froze in fear when I heard the front door open and a familiar child's voice call out.

"Alan! We're home!"

My head whipped around to my bedroom door and back to the two boxes and several piles of ripped wrapping paper and tape strewn about my room.

"Uh oh."

I could hear footsteps getting closer and closer to my door. Moving as if my life depended on it, I scooped up all the wrapping paper, tape, and my gifts and shoved them all under the bed, making sure it was out of sight. Just to be safe, I pulled the blankets further over the edge, creating a wall between them and any wandering eyes.

I was able to crash onto my bed before the door opened and Niko peaked her head in. I did my best to act calm and flashed her a smile as she skipped up to my bedside, "Hey, Niko. How'd your errands go?"

"Good! I would've liked it if you came with us though," she said, frowning for a split second.

I scratched my head, "Ah, I did too, but all that running around I did yesterday must've caught up to me. Figured it was better to take it easy for today."

She tilted her head, "You never mentioned what you were doing yesterday."

My heart skipped a beat. Thinking fast, I said the first thing that came to mind, "Well, I wanted to explore a little more, get used to everything. Plus it'll help other people get used to seeing me around, y'know?"

Niko stared at me. Slowly, her eyes narrowed as a smirk crept onto her face. The sight of it sent a small shiver down my spine.

"...You're planning something, aren't you?"

"What?! No, 'course not!" I blurted out a bit too quickly for her, causing her smirk to grow even more, "I-I mean, you know I'm not really the planning type..."

"Uh-huh..."

This was going downhill fast. Fortunately, Dahlia's head peeked through the doorway just in time to save me from Niko's interrogation.

"Alan? Niko? Could I have some help unloading these groceries?"

Niko lingered on me for one more second before turning to her, "Coming, Mama!"

I silently sighed in relief and smiled at her, "Will do, ma'am."

As Niko and I left the room, I stole one glance at the bed. Tomorrow was gonna be great, I was sure of it.

As my alarm sounded out next to me, my eyes flew open and a grin spread across my face.

Today was the day. Now to put my plan into action before the two woke up.

I turned the alarm off, threw off the blankets, and kneeled down to pull my wrapped presents out from under the bed. Despite the shoddy wrapping, I felt myself swell with pride looking at the boxes. I brought out the rest of the gifts I had for them and quietly left my room. I spared a quick glance into Niko's room to see her sleeping soundly in her bed before continuing into the living room.

I clicked on a nearby lamp and began arranging the gifts onto the coffee table. I stationed the smaller gifts around the wrapped boxes, placing each with their corresponding recipient. I must have arranged them for a while because by the time I looked over at the nearby clock it was already close to being 8:00.

With one last check of my gifts, I let out the breath I was holding. Now all that was left to do was wait.

Today was the equivalent of Saturday, so I figured both Niko and Dahlia would sleep in, but I had to be ready once they did wake up. The only downside to waiting was my thoughts now shifting my anxiety into overdrive. Would they think what I did was weird? No, Niko would easily be thrilled about what I was trying to do for them. Plus, the thought of getting a gift from me would easily make her happy. Would they like their gifts? I was completely inexperienced in gift-giving, so that thought constantly nagged at me, even among the peacefulness of the early morning.

I was so caught up with my thoughts that I didn't hear the footsteps come up behind me.

"Alan? You're up early again..."

"Gah!" I jumped out of my skin, accidentally knocking over one of Niko's pack of crayons, and whipped around to see Dahlia standing a few feet behind me. She was watching me with concern before her eyes looked beyond me to see the gifts on the table. Her eyes widened and a smile appeared as she looked back at me.

"Well, it looks like I finally know why you were so busy these past couple of days."

"Eh heh...yeah..." I felt my face heat up and I was about to say more before a yawn stopped me. Niko walked into the living room holding onto her owl plush and rubbing her eyes, "Mmm...morning."

"Niko, Alan has something for us," Dahlia told her, motioning to the wrapped boxes behind me.

Niko's eyes finally cracked open, taking a moment to process the gifts on the table, before her eyes also widened. I took this moment to clear my throat and move on with my plan.

"I, uh..." I started to say, "There's a...'tradition'...back in my world called Christmas where you would give gifts to your friends and family. It was originally a religious holiday, but that ended up being kinda...forgotten about." I stepped to the side to fully show off the gifts I had gotten them.

Niko grinned, "I knew you were planning something!"

"Oh, Alan...you didn't need to do all of this," Dahlia said.

I rubbed my arm, "Well, maybe not 'need' to, but I wanted to. I never really had anyone to...celebrate the holiday with before and you two have already done...so much for me." I looked between the two of them, "I felt like this was the best way to show my thanks."

Dahlia looked surprised while Niko rushed up to the table, "You mean these are for both of us?!"

"Yep."

Niko fawned over her new pack of crayons while Dahlia thanked me for the new mug and held up the toque I got for her. She smiled at me, "I definitely needed a new one. The one I have now was starting to fall apart."

"That's why I got it," I grinned back.

She set it down and picked up the wrapped box. I felt my heart pound against my chest as she sat down in a nearby chair and glanced over at me. I nodded, giving her the go-ahead to unwrap it. Thanks to my handiwork, it took her a bit to finally tear off the paper revealing the box. I watched with bated breath as she opened it and gasped. Her eyes met mine and all I could do was continue to smile at her as she pulled out what I was so excited to give her.

Sitting in her hands was a replica of her house with bits of white "snow" resting around it. She gave it a shake and the snow started to swirl around it.

"I had the idea when I saw some other snow globes in one of the stores. I asked Mr. Holt to make them for me and he was kind enough to do so," I explained.

Dahlia's eyes had misted over when she finally looked up from my gift, "Thank you, Alan. This means a lot to me."

I smiled sheepishly, "It's the least I could do for you, ma'am."

"You know, you don't have to call me 'ma'am'. I'm fine with you calling me by my name," she huffed playfully.

"I'll...work on that...ma'am."

I looked over at Niko who was holding onto her box with fervor. I chuckled and gave her the go-ahead. My heart began to pound much harder this time as Niko opened her box. She blinked, glancing up at me wide-eyed, before reaching in and pulling out another snow globe. The difference with this one is that instead of her house, it was something much more special to her and to me.

It was the lightbulb she had once carried, surrounded by black clovers.

Niko's gaze was locked onto the globe in what looked to be shock and awe. For a second, I was worried that I had broken her before she locked eyes with me. All I did was smile softly. There wasn't anything that needed to be said. Slowly, tears began to pool in her eyes as she set the globe on the table and ran into my outstretched arms.

"Th-thank you, Alan..." she sniffled, "It's p-perfect..."

I tightened my hold on her, "I knew you'd like it."

She giggled through her tears as Dahlia wrapped her arms around us. I smiled, happy that my plan succeeded.

"Merry Christmas, you two."

A/N: As always, reviews are always appreciated, and don't forget to leave a favorite/follow if you enjoyed reading!

Merry Christmas to you all! Let's hope this next year is a better one, yeah?