Moxley carried the wrapped Christmas present into the library and carefully placed it under the Christmas tree. For some reason, there were two trees in Roman's house. One in the living room and one in the library. Roman had shrugged and said he liked both of them equally so why not put both up?

The one in the library was the Secret Santa tree. Mox had drawn Jericho's name and floundered for a gift. Thankfully, Naomi had come to his rescue. Jericho was into old-school vinyl albums. He found one in a local retro record store by Jericho's favorite band, Fozzy. When Mox admitted he'd never heard of them, the clerk had let him listen to the CD of the album he was buying.

Mox didn't know who the lead singer was, but he sure wasn't any Johnny Cash.

A lot of people were flying back to their families in Florida for the holiday. Jericho, Jimmy, Jey, Naomi, and Ali had been taken to the airport by Roman. His cousin Dwayne had sent a private jet for them. Aleister and Zelina had decided to stay in Davenport and spend some 'quality time' together. Aleister's stern expression had kept anyone from commenting on that.

Ricochet and Joe had their own plans although Mox had overheard something about some sort of fruit salad that had Ricochet sighing. They left to go shopping, Ricochet grumbling about grocery stores being crowded this close to Christmas.

He heard the front door open and Roman call out, "Anybody here?"

"Yeah," Mox yelled back. He walked into the hallway and turned towards the front door. Then he stopped in astonishment.

"Uncle Jon!"

Stunned, Mox fell to his knees, holding his arms out as Roman's daughter ran towards him. He barely had time to brace himself before she slammed into him, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"Mommy and Daddy said I'd have a surprise when we got here, but they didn't say it was you!" The Little Princess began kissing his cheek.

Mox wrapped his arms around the little girl and stood. "You've grown," he whispered.

"Yep! Every year! I missed you!"

Mox chuckled. "I missed you, too." He kissed her forehead and balanced her on his hip. "How did you know it was me if your Mommy and Daddy didn't tell you I was here?"

The Little Princess gave him a wide grin. "Because I have a picture of you and Daddy and me when I was a baby. It's on my dresser so I see it every day!"

Mox hugged her again, aware of Roman and Galina approaching. "Gotta give your Mom a hug," he whispered as he put the child down.

Galina swept him into her arms for a hug. "We told her that you had to go away for a long time, but that you'd be back some day."

Mox caught his breath and nodded.

"Was I a surprise for you?"

"Sure was," Mox grinned down at Roman's daughter. "Best surprise ever." Then his eyes widened. "Uh…I gotta go…do some things."

"But we just got here!" The child's protest was accompanied by a pout. An adorable one, Mox silently admitted, but a pout nonetheless.

"Yeah…" Mox began edging away. "But…uh…yeah do some things. I'll be back for dinner."

Roman choked back a laugh as Mox almost ran down the hallway. He patted his daughter's shoulder. "Don't worry. He'll be back."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Mox slid to a halt outside the room Jericho and Aleister shared as an office. He saw Aleister sitting behind one of the desks. He looked up, then closed a folder.

"Thank God," Mox muttered, walking into the office. "Where's Zelina? I really need her."

Aleister stared at him for a few seconds. "You need my wife?"

"Yeah. Really bad." Then Mox saw the cold look in Alester's eyes and held up both hands. "Whoa! Not like that! Are you nuts? She's your wife!"

"Yes, she is. Which is why I ask again. You need my wife?"

"To help me do some shopping," Mox quickly explained. "Roman's here with Galina and Little Princess. I don't have anything for them!" He rubbed the back of his neck. "Roman's easy to buy for. But I need help…" He closed his eyes for a few seconds. "And I need help finding a gift for…Look, where's Zelina?"

"I last saw her downstairs in the gym," Aleister answered. "I'm sure she'd be happy to go shopping with you."

"Thanks, man." Mox spun around and ran back down the hallway.

Roman was leading his wife and daughter up the stairs when he heard Mox pounding down the stairs to the gym.

"Daddy, what wrong with Uncle Jon?"

"I'm not sure, but I think maybe he forgot to send his list to Santa," Galina quickly answered.

"Oh…he could email it."

"Yeah, but this is more fun," Roman chuckled.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Zelina was slowly walking on the treadmill, and Mox hoped she was in the cool down phase of her workout. "Thank God you're here. I need help."

Zelina stopped the treadmill and wiped her face with the towel around her neck. She turned to stare at Mox in speculation. "With what?" she finally asked.

"Roman's wife and daughter are here," he began.

Zelina nodded. "He wanted it to be a surprise for you."

"Yeah, well, I don't have any Christmas presents for them," Mox complained. "And I don't have the faintest idea of what to get them. So I need your help."

"Okay, shouldn't be hard to find something," Zelina nodded. "Gonna have to battle crowds, though."

Mox waved a hand. "I'll behave," he promised. "Uh…and maybe you could help me pick out a gift for someone?"

"Secret Santa?" Zelina asked as she walked towards the stairs.

"Uh…not really."

Zelina smiled to herself. "Give me a half hour."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Okay, that takes care of Roman, Galina and Little Princess," Mox happily smiled as he stared down at the shopping bags.

"Is that it? Didn't you have someone else to buy for?"

Mox glanced at Zelina, noticing her innocent expression. "Yes," he sighed. "I…uh…I want to buy a gift for this young lady I'm seeing."

Zelina's dark eyes widened in surprise then patted his arm. "What did you have in mind?"

"I dunno," Mox groaned.

"What's her favorite color?"

"I dunno."

"Well, what type of music does she like?"

"I dunno."

Zelina gave him a look of exasperation. "What do you know?"

"Her perfume smells nice," Mox faintly smiled.

"What's the name?"

"I dunno." He suddenly grinned. "But her fingernails have been all sorts of colors. Not just…you know the boring pink or red that most women have."

Zelina glanced down at the dark burgundy color on her nails. Then she smiled. "We'll go with that."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Sitting on the floor, Mox happily sighed as he put the last of the wrapped gifts under the Christmas tree that was sitting in the living room. Some had been there when he and Zelina had returned from shopping, but it looked like Santa had made a delivery after the little girl had gone to sleep.

Alexa's wrapped gift was in his closet. A select gift box of nail colors that Zelina helped him pick out from the cosmetics department at Macy's.

Before he could even think of how Aleister might take it, he told Zelina he wanted to buy her something to thank her for her help. She'd laughed and said it wasn't necessary. But if he didn't mind them walking down to Cinnabon, she wouldn't turn down a cinnamon roll and coffee.

"Whoa, looks like Santa's made a second delivery." Roman looked at the extra packages. "A rather large delivery," he smirked.

Mox looked over his shoulder and grinned at Roman. "You should've told me they were coming. Zelina dragged me all over two damn malls."

Roman chuckled and sat down in a chair while Mox leaned back on his arms. "Little Princess gives the orders around here."

Mox chuckled and ruefully nodded. He glanced back at the tree with the twinkling lights. "Thanks for not letting her forget me. I…I didn't expect that." He sighed. "I'd convinced myself I'd never have this again."

"Enough, Jon," Roman softly ordered. "This is the first Christmas in years that things are good."

"Good?" Mox looked over his shoulder at his brother. "Cops have me as a 'person of interest' in a couple of murders. That slimebag Barrett's calling me out on television. I'm starting a business and haven't the faintest idea of what I'm doing. And you say things are good?"

Roman nodded with a faint grin. "We're together and healthy. It's been years since I've been able to say that." When Mox slowly nodded in understanding, he continued, "We plan to go out for Christmas dinner tomorrow. Galina swore she wasn't cooking. Joe and Ricochet said they have plans, and I know Aleister and Zelina are taking some time together. What do you think about asking Seth to join us? He probably doesn't have anyone to be with tomorrow."

Mox shrugged. "Fine with me."

"I'll shoot him a text," Roman decided. "He'll see it when he gets up tomorrow." He stood and reached his hand out to his brother.

Mox grabbed Roman's hand and leveraged himself to his feet. Then he wrapped his arms around Roman. "Merry Christmas, brother," he whispered.

Roman hugged him back. "Merry Christmas, brother."