Chapter 4

Tony had not been exaggerating when he described Christmas Eve with his family as a "madhouse." After a long day in the heat of the Florida sun decorating the exterior of the Moretti home, the three young men were tasked with helping clean, tidy, and decorate the living room. It was hard to concentrate on what they were supposed to do, when wafts of delicious cooking smells kept distracting them from their work. At one point, Tony had attempted to nick a few freshly baked cookies from the kitchen and was rewarded with a sharp smack with a wooden spoon.

"Out!" Aunt Rose yelled at him, pointing with the wooden spoon. "Don't think I haven't seen the mess you made downstairs. As soon as you finish up here, you three can go clean up down there."

They had barely enough time to clean themselves up before family started to arrive.

Lucas was digging through his duffle bag, trying to find something – anything – that would be appropriate for a family dinner. He hadn't even imagined that he'd need anything even remotely "nice" when he'd packed. Based on past visits with his dad, he'd just shoved the usual things in his bag: jeans, t-shirts, flannel shirts. Now he wished he'd packed at least one button down, or at least folded the clothes first.

Tony laughed at the frustrated look on Lucas' face. "No one is going to care, Luke."

"I care, Tony. I don't want to look like some homeless guy your family felt sorry for."

"Fine." Tony rolled his eyes at his friend. "Wear this."

A navy blue polo shirt was thrown into Lucas' face. Raising an eyebrow, Lucas gave the shirt a tentative sniff. "At least it's clean." He pulled it on over his undershirt and tried to smooth it down. While it didn't smell bad, it wasn't any less wrinkled than most of his own clothes. "Thanks."

"Tony! Lucas!" Angie yelled from the top of the stairs. "Ma said to get your butts upstairs before people start arriving."

Before Tony could reply, raised voices and laughter were heard.

"Too late. Sounds like it's started." Tony smacked Lucas on the back. "Get ready to have your cheeks pinched, Luke. Nana's going to love you."

Lucas gave Tony a light shove and laughed, "I bet she gets to you first, Tony."

He let Dagwood and Tony go up the stairs first. With a deep breath, Lucas prepared himself mentally to meet his roommate's extended family. He had no other experience to compare this too. It was going to be his very first large family Christmas. Even when he was younger, and his parents still together, they'd celebrated the holidays as a small unit, with short visits with the grandparents. He wasn't exactly sure what to expect but based on the laughter and loud music coming from upstairs, Tony wasn't kidding when he said it was going to be crazy.

The house smelled amazing and the dining room table was covered with food. The Moretti and Piccolo families adhered to the traditional Italian American tradition of the Feast of the Seven Fishes. From what he could tell, Lucas estimated that there were far more than the standard seven to nine fish dishes. In fact, he saw that the table was overflowing with seafood and pasta, not to mention the baked goods he knew were still in the kitchen.

By the time they'd made it upstairs, the Moretti house had filled with distant family members ranging in age from toddlers to grandparents. Lucas didn't kid himself. There was no way he was going to be able to remember anyone's names, let alone their relation to Tony. His friend dragged both he and Dagwood through the growing crowd, until he found who he was looking for.

"Nana, this is my friend, Lucas. Lucas, this is Nana."

Lucas smiled and held out his hand to the tiny old woman. He had very little time to register shock as she grabbed him with a firm hand and pulled him in to a vice-like hug.

"Look at you, young man. We need to get some meat on these bones. "She looked around the room, "Why don't you have any food yet?"

"I'm fine, thanks…." He wasn't sure what her name was besides 'Nana.

"Nana. You just call me 'Nana.' Now run along and get some food." Before she let them go, Nana gave Dagwood a sharp look through narrowed eyes. "You look like you can eat like a Piccolo." She pointed at the dagger. "I think Uncle Michael may have finally met his match." She laughed at the look on Dagwood's face. She gave him a light tap on the cheek. "Go get some food, young man."

The three of them wandered from room to room, Tony making introductions as they did, before heading to the dining room to fill their plates. Lucas was able to remember a few names, but he gave up on being able to identify most of the children. Tony's family was very welcoming and didn't even bat an eye at the inclusion of two new faces. It wasn't long before Lucas was able to relax and fall into conversation with a few of Tony's cousins.

Several hours later, the Moretti household was still filled with family and friends. The noise level had increased and the Christmas music in the background was barely audible. As warned, Angie had managed to corner him several times with the excuse of bringing him sweets or a tidbit of information about certain family members. Lucas, concerned about hurting the 14 year old's feelings, accepted what was offered and smiled at her stories. He was finally able to find an open spot on the fireplace hearth and was enjoying a few minutes to himself. It wasn't that he wasn't grateful for being included in the Moretti family tradition, it was just that this wasn't the norm for him and he was feeling slightly overwhelmed. He was constantly surrounded by crewmembers on seaQuest, but it wasn't quite the same. There, he was part of a large close-knit crew where privacy was rare and, for the most part, precious. Here, he was immediately identified as a new face, and everyone seemed to want to talk to him, or at least shove more food in his hands. He was grateful for a moment to himself.

From his position towards the back of the family room, Lucas could see a bewildered Dagwood standing close to Nana. The older woman had continued to fill the dagger's plate with food and seemed to be getting a kick out of how much he could eat. Lucas had no doubt that his large friend was capable of out eating anyone in the room, and Nana was testing that possibility. He stifled a laugh as Dagwood attempted to spoon an entire bowlful of pasta in his mouth. Lucas took a last bite of cookie and pushed himself back to standing. With all the bodies crammed in the house, it was beginning to feel stiflingly hot and he felt the need to slip outside for a few minutes.

Regardless of the fact it was past 10 pm, the glare of the Moretti family home Christmas decorations lit up most of the quiet street. While most of the guests remained indoors, a handful of the younger family members had slipped outside away from the older generation and were lounging on the front steps and in the front yard. Lucas gingerly stepped between the bodies taking up most of the space on the steps and returned the smiles he got from Tony's family. At this point, he didn't trust himself to refer to people by name. He'd just met too many of them over the duration of the party. Lucas made his way to the side of the home, finding an old, rusty swing-set hidden in the shadows. He hesitantly sat on the only swing left in decent shape and hoped it would hold his weight. He smiled as he looked at the festive sight in front of him. Even out there, the sound of holiday music and laughter was clear. This was, without a doubt, the largest and loudest holiday party he had ever intended, and if he was being honest, a little much for him to handle in such a large dose.

Lucas hadn't been out there long before he heard low voices coming from the fence dividing the Moretti home from their neighbors. He couldn't quite make out what they were saying, or how many people were there, but he could tell that whoever it was, was not happy. Lucas didn't think they could see or hear him, and he wasn't sure if he should get up and leave. He didn't want to stick his nose in where it didn't belong, but it wasn't as though he was eavesdropping on purpose.

"Luke!" Lucas jumped when he heard his name. At the same time as Tony rounded the corner and caught sight of his friend, he heard sudden movement from the fence.

"Ugh," A sudden thump and rustle from the shadows revealed three people, one holding a hand to his face, blood dripping from his nose.

"What the hell?" Tony lunged towards the figures. Lucas was close behind him.

"It's okay, Tony," the young man with the bloody nose grunted.

"What's going on, Marco?" Tony gestured towards the other two. "These guys giving you a hard time?"

Marco. Lucas knew this was Tony's cousin, Angie's brother. They hadn't had the opportunity to meet yet and Lucas was almost certain that it could have been under better circumstances.

"Nah. It's good, Tone. I got it under control."

It was dark enough that Lucas couldn't give a detailed description of the men with Marco, but what he saw wasn't giving him a good first impression.

The shorter, burlier of the of the two, jabbed a finger into Marco's chest. "You got two days, Moretti." With a curt nod at his "partner," the two turned towards the front of the house to leave.

Tony was just about to go after them, when Marco grabbed his cousin's arm. "Don't. S'okay. I got it under control."

"Yeah. Sure ya do." Tony gave his cousin an incredulous look. "Wanna tell us what's goin' on?"

"I, uh, got into a little money trouble. Placed a few bad bets." Marco avoided eye contact with Tony and glanced at Lucas instead.

"And those two were coming to collect?" Lucas asked.

"Yeah." Marco closed his eyes. "I got two days to pay up."

"How much?"

"Ten grand."

"Ten grand! Are you crazy?" Tony looked furious. "What the hell were you thinking?"

Marco glared at Tony. "I know a guy and he gave me a couple of really good bets. I couldn't pass that up. If I'd won, Id've won big."

"Yeah, but you didn't and now you owe those thugs ten grand. You got the money to pay?"

"I'll figure something out." Marco mumbled.

"Shit." Tony shook his head. "You know they'll break your knee caps if you don't cough up the cash, and that's if you're lucky."

"I know."

The three young men stood silently in the shadows, contemplating the predicament Marco had put himself into. Lucas could almost feel the anger radiating from his friend. This was not the kind of Christmas surprise any of them wanted, and Lucas wasn't sure what he should do.

Tony broke the silence. "Okay. This is what we're gonna do. We're gonna go inside, enjoy the rest of the party, and not say anything to your parents. They don't need to know what a dumbass you've been." He punched Marco lightly in the arm. "Tomorrow, we'll figure out what to do. Got it?"

"Yeah." Marco did not sound very sure.

"Come on." Tony shoved his cousin lightly towards the house. Before following him, Tony turned to look at Lucas. Shaking his head, he indicated that Lucas should head back inside too.

Lucas trailed wordlessly behind them. He knew how close Tony was with his aunt and cousins. Hell, Rose had practically raised him when Tony's own parents were dealing with personal issues. It couldn't be easy to see his cousin in this position. Lucas knew that Tony's family didn't have that kind of money lying around. In fact, he was often sending money to his aunt to pay for clothes for Angie, or for other basic items. Lucas had a little more saved away. He'd been earning a small salary since his first tour onboard seaQuest, but he'd also spent a lot on keeping up to date on technology. He could probably get his hands on some of it relatively quickly, but certainly not the full ten thousand credits.

Thankfully, the party was winding down. Most family with small children had either left or were in the process of getting ready to leave. Nana seemed to have gone home, leaving Dagwood looking as though he'd finally eaten his fill. Marco slipped out of sight, but Tony and Lucas were assigned clean up tasks along with the rest of the family.

Regardless of the number of people in attendance, there was still so much food left over. Aunt Rose was sending as much of the leftovers as she could with guests, but there was still enough to feel the Moretti family, and the seaQuest visitors, for the rest of their stay. Tony was uncharacteristically quiet as they cleared the table and wrapped food for the fridge. Lucas could tell that his friend was thinking about how to get his cousin out of the mess. He didn't pester him with questions. There was plenty of time the next day to figure out an action plan.

By the time Dagwood, Lucas, and Tony crawled into their makeshift beds in the Moretti family basement, it was almost midnight.

"Merry Christmas," Tony mumbled as he turned a side lamp off.

"Merry Christmas," Dagwood echoed.

"Thanks for letting me stay, Tony." Lucas yawned. "One of the best Christmas eve's I've ever had."

Despite the earlier drama, what Lucas had said was true. This was definitely the best Christmas he'd experienced in years.