"Hi, gorgeous."

"Hi," Tara returned to her wife, kissing Willow's cheek on the steps of the courthouse, "Ready for this?"

"It's not going to be complicated, is it?" Willow asked with an arched eyebrow.

Tara shook her head.

"No, just a quick signature."

Willow offered her hand.

"Let's do it."

More than an hour later, they walked back down the same steps.

"Well, he was a dick," Willow blew some air out angrily, "Where was Hallie?"

"It's luck of the draw which judge you get," Tara explained, reaching across herself to massage her own shoulder, "It doesn't matter now, everything is approved."

"Just feel like I've been turned inside out in the process," Willow muttered and threw some side-eye back toward the court, "Why did he want to know about our donor?!"

"Judge Hayden is known for having a chip on his shoulder after a bad divorce," Tara sighed; she was used to dealing with difficult or belligerent judges but it was never usually so personal.

Willow kicked a step angrily.

"But it's nothing to do with—" she stopped and frowned with concern, "Is that on open record? The girls deserve to know what we know about the donor before anyone else does!"

"No, sweetheart," Tara soothed, "Nothing in family court is open record. Judge Hayden was just being an ass because he could."

Tara watched someone brush past them and her eyes shut tight.

"Shit."

"What?" Willow asked, looking all around.

"That was his clerk," Tara replied at the smirking, retreating man, "He heard me."

"Uh oh," Willow replied with a pained look on her face.

"Hopefully he doesn't hold it against any of my clients," Tara sighed deeply, "I can't worry about that right now. I have to go back to work. I'll see you at home."

She pecked Willow's cheek and hurried off back to the office.

Willow turned the opposite direction and did the same thing.

Willow watched Lily literally bounce around the living room on an imaginary Pogo stick.

Her head bobbed in time with the movements and she was starting to feel a bit nauseated by the incessant up-and-down motion.

She jumped when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Huh, what?"

Tara flicked her hand in the opposite direction.

"Scooch."

Willow blinked.

"Oh. Sorry."

She moved up the couch and let Tara sit in.

"She's giving me the woozies."

Tara glanced at Lily and was actually quite impressed with her athletic ability but it was a bit dizzying.

"Sweetie, can you stop that for a minute? We need to talk to you—"

"Robyn put the bathroom stuff in the trash, not me!"

"—and your brothers and sisters."

Lily paused, caught.

"Oh."

Tara pursed her lips.

"Can you go get everyone please?"

Lily ran out of there as quickly as she could.

A minute or later, Robyn was the first to arrive. She threw herself on the ground dramatically and held her chin on top of her palms while she rested her elbows on the coffee table.

"Can I adopt a pig?"

"Did you throw out all of my cleaning supplies in the bathroom?" Tara asked with an arched eyebrow.

Robyn's brow knitted together defensively.

"They weren't non-toxic!"

"Yes, they were," Tara replied pointedly, "I don't use toxic products around any of you."

Robyn looked down sheepishly.

"It didn't say it on them."

"It's a completely unregulated term," Willow pointed out, "It could say it and still be bad for the environment."

Robyn sighed.

"Sorryyyyyy."

"You'll be picking them out of the trash," Tara said firmly.

"Okayyyyy," Robyn agreed, blowing air out from between her lips, "But can I adopt a pig?"

"Do you want to draw down your savings?" Willow asked, then continued when she got a definitive nod, "If it's an ongoing payment, how do you plan to make them?"

Robyn frowned unsurely.

"You need to write down what it costs and figure out how you're going to pay for it and when you know you can come to us and take what you need," Willow replied in response to the look, "I need at least a six-month plan."

Robyn frowned thoughtfully.

"Okay."

Tara leaned into Willow.

"It's a little much. It's not the same as when JJ was saving for a car."

"We have to teach them how money works," Willow replied with a shrug.

"With bi-annual spending forecasts?" Tara said with a hint of good-natured ribbing.

"I don't care if I get it in crayon," Willow shrugged gently, "Though knowing Robyn she'll tap into that Tiny Tara artistic flair and I'll get it carved into a wooden ornament or something."

"The art she makes with her skateboard is actually very impressive," Tara replied proudly, "Did you see the flower she did on the driveway?"

Willow shook her head and Tara took out her phone to show the picture she'd taken of a portrait of a flower Robyn had etched using skid marks from her skateboard wheels. It was, as Tara had said, impressive.

"Hey kiddo," Willow called out and waved the photo on the phone to get Robyn's attention, "I missed this. It's really good."

Robyn smiled happily.

"Thanks, Momma. The hardest part is not falling over when I stop real quick!"

The rest of the kids piled in quickly and Robyn nudged Lily in the ribs for ratting her out. Lily mouthed 'sorry' as her legs beat against the floor and her fingertips tickled the rug beneath her.

"Okay kids, listen up," Willow called over the general chatter loudly, "Mom and I have decided for Christmas this year, we're not going to do the whole Thanksgiving 2.0 thing with the turkey and the need for Pepto-Bismol and whatnot."

"But we still get presents, right?" Lily looked up, stricken.

"This year," Willow continued fluidly, "We're going to have Christmas just us, our family. You know what they say, you kids grow up so fast. Here today, gone to Maui."

She waited, but to no reaction.

"And you know us girls, we just wanna have sun."

No one was picking up on Willow's puns, making her pout.

JJ arched one eyebrow.

"Does Gramps know about this?"

"Hanukkah is early this year," Willow replied reassuringly, "We won't miss it. We just think you'll find this a really fine-apple of an idea. So for this Christmas…"

She did a drum roll by slapping her thighs.

"We're taking you all away!" she announced with enthusiastic jazz hands, "To be pacific…"

She threw her hands up in the air.

"We're going to Hawaii!"

Finally, there started to be some reaction. The girls all jumped up and JJ nudged Kayden excitedly.

"I can't wait to get lei'd!"

"Jacob!" Tara warned and threw her eye toward the girls.

Emily crept up to her mothers and pushes her glasses up on her nose.

"C-can Woofy come?"

"Woofy's going on a vacation to Uncle Jesse's house," Willow reassured, "He'll get to play with Ella and Aurey."

Emily still looked unsure, so Tara lifted her into her lap and stroked her hair.

"And we'll leave a present under their tree for him too, okay?"

"Will Santa find him too?" Emily looked up earnestly.

Willow squeezed Emily's leg and nodded.

"Rudolph will. Rudolph knows where all of the dogs on the good boy list are."

Emily smiled and cuddled into Tara's chest.

"Will Santa find US?!" Lily asked through a gasping breath.

"Yes, Santa will find you," Willow replied in exasperation, "But you won't even care because you'll be having so much fun!"

"I'll care," Lily nodded surely.

"Will we play limbo?" Emily asked excitedly.

Willow nodded keenly.

"Uh-huh and we'll hula hoop and go to the beach and drink out of big pineapples!"

Tara gave Emily's tummy a gentle tickle, making her giggle.

"Okay, that's it. You guys can go now," Willow announced, "And get in the Hawaii mood! Right now your excitement levels are at way too aloha setting!"

JJ stood up and held out his hands.

"I'm getting away from those puns."

"Don't worry, beach happy!" Willow yelled after him.

"Kayden, hang back please," Tara requested softly, "Girls, why don't you go get your letters written to Santa so they get to him in time to know our new address?"

Robyn rolled her eyes but kindly just ushered her sisters out to help them with their letters.

As the door swung to an ajar position and stopped, Kayden remained where he was sitting with his hands clasped together and tucked between his knees and his head hanging down.

"S-so what happens now?" he asked with quiet acceptance, "Do I go to a group home or a different family, or…?"

Willow and Tara shared a confused look.

"Kayden, what do you mean?" Tara asked softly.

Kayden looked up slowly, sadly.

"While you guys go away," he clarified and swallowed, "Where do I go?"

"You go with us," Willow answered resolutely, "It's a family vacation."

"We already got permission from the judge," Tara added as Kayden's eyes widened, "But we need to get you a passport. So you need to come with me to get pictures taken."

Kayden's mouth physically hung open.

"O-Oh."

His mouth closed but his heart was still hammering as Tara asked him to get himself together to go get the pictures taken.

In the car, he didn't utter a single word as his thoughts and emotions swarmed until they finally merged into one thought.

"Tara?"

"Yes, sweetie?" Tara asked as she indicated into the mall parking lot.

Kayden scratched under his ear where his hair swished from side-to-side.

"Can I get a haircut?"

Tara smiled softly. She'd wanted to suggest that for a while now but she was always careful to let her children come to her when it came to appearance changes.

"Sure you can," she replied easily, "I know the barber JJ goes to here in the mall takes walk-ins."

Kayden had never actually been to a barbershop. He had vague recollections of his mother swiping at his hair as a young boy and since, well, since she wasn't around anymore he just cast scissors over his eyes when he was struggling to see. It had never been so long-growing that it had caused him problems. Then Tony had taken a clipper to him once or twice to get rid of his 'shaggy hair' though he hadn't exactly said 'shaggy'. He'd replaced the 'sh' with an 'f'.

Kayden hadn't liked a shaved head but he didn't like it how it was now either. He liked the cuts he saw in school or on TV or on the musicians he admired. Cool lines and slick fades. He didn't have the same tight beard a lot of those people had to pull the look off, but he thought he could look better than a scruffy dog.

Tara brought him to the shop and told him she'd be waiting outside when he was finished. He sat into the chair and for the first time in his life, a gown was put around his shoulders.

About twenty minutes later, it was pulled off again and Kayden grinned in the mirror. It was the first time he'd grinned at his own reflection in a while, possibly ever.

The barber had given him a textured quaff with short sides with the cool embossed lines and slick low fades he wanted.

He couldn't wait to show it to everyone.

He couldn't even wait to show his therapist, and he only tolerated going to her because he knew he had to.

He went up to the counter to pay, but the barber just held a hand up.

"Your mom already paid."

Kayden stilled in surprise.

"Oh."

He hadn't been expecting…that word.

The only reference to his 'mom' had usually been his aunt muttering about him being some variant of a sissy and how much shame he would bring her. The words 'your mom' usually ignited a feeling of nausea in his stomach and not in the way many teenage boys felt as a joke was about to be landed upon them.

He felt something in his stomach now, but it wasn't nausea. It was kind of warm but disconcertingly non-descript.

His eyes cast off to the side as he thought.

He'd been staying with the Rosenberg-Maclays for a while now but he'd been scared to use any of those defined words that might mean more than the situation implied.

They'd spent Thanksgiving together.

But they kinda had to have him there for that.

There was nowhere else for him to go.

They were bringing him to Hawaii.

He knew that cost more than what they got for keeping him.

But maybe they felt obligated. They were those kind of people.

Decent.

Good.

Pitied him, probably.

But it was a good life.

As much food as he wanted, a warm bed every night.

No one ever shouted; they were affectionate even.

His own room still blew his mind.

A phone, a laptop, new clothes.

And then things he never realized he'd wanted.

Chores — responsibility.

A dog.

Little sisters.

They weren't, though.

His sisters.

And she wasn't.

His 'mom'.

Or…'moms'?

He was still kind of getting his head around that one.

But that was all wishful thinking.

He realized the barber was still staring at him. Waiting for him to leave, probably. He quickly put the money he was going to use to pay in the tip jar and ran away, barely hearing the cries of 'hey kid, she tipped too!" behind him.

Tara was waiting, as promised. She had yet to let him down.

She looked up from the bench and smiled as she sensed him approaching.

She held up her hands and he didn't even object to her bouncing his delicately quaffed hair.

"I love the cut."

"Thanks," Kayden replied, blushing bashfully, "Um, thanks for, um, paying for it."

Tara just looked confused, then sad, and gave a little smile. She brought him to the other side of the mall to the Walgreens.

"Hi," she greeted the clerk and brought her purse up to the counter to take out her wallet, "I need to get some passport photos done for my son. Can we get the kind where you get the email with the photos attached too? Thanks."

She called Kayden up to sit in front of the sickly white screen and smiled encouragingly while Kayden tried to smile-while-not-smiling and make as little facial movement as possible.

"Is that it?" Kayden asked awkwardly when the clerk brought the camera back over to the computer.

"That's it," Tara replied easily and showed him the photos once they were printed and handed to her, "We'll send off the application and then we'll have your passport in a few weeks."

She put the photos away in her wallet and put her arm around Kayden.

"Why don't we stop off and bring some dinner home to everyone. Your pick."

Kayden seemed slightly overwhelmed to have that responsibility put on him.

"Um…everyone likes pizza?"

"What's your favorite?" Tara coaxed.

Kayden looked down and scuffed his shoe.

"Anything you cook."

Tara was about to lean her head on Kayden's head but opted not to at the last second in case she displaced his hair that he seemed so proud of.

"What's your favorite thing I cook?"

"Chicken pot pie," Kayden replied immediately and the happiness in his eyes made Tara's heart swell.

"You want to know my secret?" she said and leaned in conspiringly, "Cajun seasoning. My mom's recipe."

She squeezed his shoulder.

"Luckily I happen to have some Cajun seasoning at home that I need to use up. So why don't we head home so I can make it? I don't even like pizza that much."

Kayden suddenly turned and hugged Tara. Hard.

She was startled for a moment but quickly returned it. When he backed off awkwardly, she made no mention of it and just brought him back to the car and gave him control of the radio.

When they arrived home, Kayden was greeted to a barrage of compliments like:

"Nice 'do!" from Willow.

And:

"Cool hair!" from Lily and Emily simultaneously.

And even:

"Hey bro, you're showing me up," with a good-natured shove from JJ.

When Robyn came downstairs from writing her latest manifesto on climate change, she stared at Kayden for a moment.

"I want to…just," she reached in and untangled one of the flawless heavy curls, "There. Now it's perfectly imperfect. That symmetry was hurting my eyes."

Kayden actually quite liked the minor change when he took a quick glance in the mirror and just smiled at Robyn, who grabbed her soccer ball from the hall closet and showed her age by proclaiming she'd 'smell them later'.

In bed that night, Tara turned to Willow, troubled.

"Willow, I realized something when I was filling out the application today."

"Yeah?" Willow asked as her eyes followed the news app on her iPad.

Tara left the book she was reading on her nightstand.

"There were so many dates and everything. I was looking at his birth cert and his interactions with the office and something just kept niggling at me. Then it hit me. The day that JJ brought Kayden home was his birthday."

Willow put her iPad face-down on the bed and adjusted her glasses.

"He didn't make any hint of it. That poor kid. It broke my heart that he didn't think he was coming with us."

"He doesn't feel secure with us, yet," Tara replied sadly, "You have to understand, he's never been secure his whole life, ever."

"Oh, I know, I get it," Willow nodded, "It's not an easy 'fix'. He's a human being. I'm just hoping that if this, us, becomes his normal for long enough…"

Tara smiled softly at Willow.

"I know. Me too."

Willow smiled back.

"He's ours, isn't he?"

Tara nodded.

"When he wants to be. Is ready to be."

Willow turned her body toward Tara.

"I've had something on my mind too," she admitted and folded her arms over her lap, "Do you think you'd be able to handle the brood on your own for one leg of the flight?"

"Why?" Tara asked, frowning a little.

"Thinking of connecting through Sunnydale on the way home so I can look in on the bookstore," Willow explained, "I'm due a visit."

Tara nodded slowly.

"Well — yes. I can cope. Or…we could bring the kids. They've never seen the store."

Willow's brow knotted.

"To Sunnydale?"

"Is there too much history?" Tara asked gently.

"I don't know, to be honest," Willow replied thoughtfully, glancing away, "Let me think about it."

Tara patted Willow's leg.

"Okay, but think quick so we can book the flights."

"On it," Willow promised and leaned over to kiss Tara's cheek, "Night, baby. I love you."

Tara returned the kiss and lay down on her pillow.

"I love you."

Willow walked up and down the rug in their bedroom as the dial tone rang in her ear.

Finally, it clicked into a connected call and a voice came down the other line.

"Bubbelah. How are you?"

"Hey Dad, I wanted to talk to you," Willow said back as she sat down on the bed and let the mattress sag beneath her.

"Yes, I guessed that when you rang," Ira laughed jovially.

Willow rolled her eyes at herself.

"Right. What I meant was, I need your opinion."

"Fire away," Ira offered cordially.

Willow played with the threads coming out of the end of the throw blanket at the end of their bed.

"While we were planning the logistics for getting to Hawaii and back, I realized we'd have to stop on the West Coast anyway…so maybe I'd come back by Sunnydale and check in on the store. And then Tara suggested…why don't we all stop by Sunnydale and let the kids see the store and I could show them my old high school and stuff I guess too."

There was silence as Ira waited for Willow to present him with the situation she needed advice on.

"How lovely," he said eventually, encouragingly.

Willow gnawed on her lip.

"I'm…a bit concerned."

"Ah," Ira said, everything clicking in his head, "You're concerned that you'll run into your mother?"

"Not so much me running into them…" Willow wheedled out pointedly.

Ira made a soft, thoughtful sound and Willow could all but see him fixing his tie.

"You go to check on the bookstore quite often, don't you?"

"A couple of times a year now that we're doing well," Willow nodded evenly, "More often in the past."

"And have you seen her?" Ira prompted gently.

"Never," Willow replied softly, "Only the one time when I sought her out."

"Don't let her stop you living your life," Ira replied resolutely, "Back in college, when you told us about yourself."

He paused; regret still there.

"You didn't let us stop you then. So don't do it now. You are quite entitled to bring your family to see the town you grew up in and the bookstore that you own. If you do happen to run into your mother while you're there, do the same as you would if the family weren't with you."

"Don't think I can use that kind of language around my kids," Willow chuckled and though she heard Ira's tongue click, there was a small laugh there too, "Okay. Thanks, Dad. We'll go."

"Excellent," Ira's smile was evident in his voice, "We'll see you this weekend?"

"Yes, of course," Willow answered, more relaxed now as she held the phone to her ear with her shoulder, "Hey, it's Kayden's first Hanukkah, so if he does something he's not supposed to, please shut your mouth. He's delicate."

Outside the door, Kayden looked down with a gulp and realized for the first time that he had no hair to hide behind any longer.

"So that's why we have a special candle to light all of the other candles and we call it the shamash and that means 'helper' because it 'helps', see? So then each night we light another candle until eight days are up because that's how many days…"

Kayden dutifully listened as Lily explained all about the menorah to him even though he'd read up quite a lot after overhearing Willow on the phone. He didn't want to embarrass them or himself by offending Mr. or Mrs. Rosenberg.

He wasn't sure he had the whole puzzle of how the grandparents in this family fit together yet. Willow called Mr. Rosenberg 'Daddy' but Tara called him by his name and they both called Michelle by her name. Second wife, Kayden guessed, but she was also a sister to Tara's dead mother and the presence of Rose had completely blown his internal family tree to pieces.

That wasn't even mentioning Tara's father, whom Kayden hadn't brought up to anyone after the weird way JJ had reacted at the Halloween party. Or Willow's mother, whom Kayden had only heard spoken about in hushed tones recently. There were no photos of either of them around the house, which was otherwise abundant with family photos.

It was weird, he thought, but also everyone seemed happy. Maybe forming a family from pieces of different puzzles fit better than keeping to one image just because it was how people expected things to look.

"—can Kayden and I do it?!"

Kayden focused back on Lily's energetic ramblings and realized she was pleading for them to light the candle together.

He understood this was an important undertaking.

"Oh," he said, wiping his hands on his thighs, "I-I shouldn't…"

"You should!" Lily replied eagerly, "With me!"

"I'm not Jewish," Kayden replied with a deep swallow.

"Me either, sweetheart, but I light the candle sometimes," Tara called over encouragingly.

"Same for me," Michelle said softly.

"I used to be a bit of a traditionalist," Ira admitted as he patted the hanky sitting in the breast pocket of his suit, "Still am, some would say."

He looked over fondly at Willow.

"But there is no reason why you shouldn't light that candle, son."

Kayden gulped again.

He joined hands with Lily and helped her go through the process of lighting the candle on the menorah as the sun went down behind the window.

Ira started to sing some kind of blessing. Kayden was surprised by how moved he felt.

The blessings finished and there was suddenly an electric kind of excitement in the air. Ira had gold coins for all of the kids — Kayden included — and the girls had whipped out a dreidel. Willow was nudging Tara, who was blushing and Ira had gone to give Michelle a long hug and kiss on her forehead.

Kayden had another new thought; he'd been having more of those lately.

Now he wondered if there might be a little Kayden-shaped piece of this familial puzzle he might fit into after all.