Chapter 10

The weary travelers were welcomed with hugs and kisses and pats on the back. Penelope took Henry from JJ and hugged him extra tight.

Jack insisted on being held by Uncle David.

"Somebody was worried about you," Aaron told Dave as the older man hugged Jack.

"Oh yeah," Dave replied. He kissed Jack on the side of the head. "I missed you too, Buddy."

"I hope everyone is hungry," Beth shouted over the cacophony of voices. "Dinner is waiting for us."

The group moved to the dining room. Dave glanced at the over-flowing Christmas tree. "You guys haven't opened the presents?"

"We had to wait for you, Uncle Dave," Jack said quietly.

"You didn't have to wait, Jack. I would have understood."

Jack leaned back and looked at him with solemn eyes. "We had to wait, so you can get your present from Santa."

"Santa brought me a present?"

Jack nodded. "A very special present."

"Come on, you two," Penelope broke in. Still holding Henry, she placed a hand on Dave's back. "Let's eat and then we can get to the presents."

Dave and Jack turned to her. JJ walked past and murmured, "The four of you make a cute family."

Jack and Henry giggled, Penelope blushed, and Dave looked from Penelope to JJ and back again. "What do you think she meant by that," he asked.

"I think that was a pretty straightforward statement, Agent Rossi," Penelope replied. Her blush deepened as he scrutinized her.

He followed her into the dining room, she handed Henry back to JJ and settled into one of the two empty chairs which happened to be next to each other.

"Come here, Jack," Aaron said as he gestured for his son.

Jack settled into Dave's chest. "I want to sit with Uncle Dave."

"Uncle Dave's been driving all night," Aaron pointed out. "Why don't you give him a little break?"

Jack looked up at Dave and took the older man's face in both of his hands. "You tired, Uncle Dave?"

"A little bit," Dave admitted.

Jack leaned up and kissed Dave on the chin. "I love you, Uncle Dave."

"I love you too," Dave replied obviously moved.

Jack slid off Dave's lap and went to his father.

"Now that we are all here," Aaron said loudly. The others settled and listened. "We obviously were not expecting to have you here, but I can say without pause that we are happy and grateful that you are. I think we should each share something we are grateful about or just share a thought."

He looked pointedly to his right where Beth sat.

"Oh! Me first," she choked. "Okay. I am grateful that Aaron and Jack have gone out of their way to make this a special day for me and that we can share it with all of you."

Will was next. "As always, I'm grateful for my beautiful wife and our son. I'm also very thankful that Dave risked his own state of being to come rescue us." Will and Dave shared a look, Dave nodded at him.

Everyone then turned to JJ. She took a deep breath. "Well, of course, everything that Will said except about him and not me because he's the pretty one." She looked at Will who blushed lightly and winked at her. "And, not really a thought but to Dave – She's closer than you think."

She held Dave's gaze as the others chuckled.

"What does that mean," Morgan asked.

Dave side-glanced at Penelope then back to JJ who smiled.

"Dave knows what I'm talking about," JJ replied cryptically.

Derek leaned forward to look around Penelope at the older man. "Dave? Care to share?"

"None of your business," Dave murmured as he continued to hold JJ's gaze.

"Well, I'm curious too," Penelope butt-in. "Who is this she?"

"And a new mystery develops," Aaron joked. "James, I do believe you are next."

"I don't know a lot about mysteries," James began. "But I am grateful that there wasn't a lot of snow so that Alex and I could be here to witness all of this."

Everyone laughed. "He's from Boston," Alex interjected. "This is just a dusting. I, too, am grateful to be here and to be part of this team. You guys amaze me every day with your wit, your skill and your loving hearts. Thank you for making me feel like part of the team."

She turned to Spencer. "As much as I love you guys, I wish that I was in Vegas with my Mom. I spoke to her on the phone and even though she said everything was okay, I could tell that she missed me. And I miss her."

Morgan put a hand on the younger man's shoulder. "There's still time to see her. I promise, as soon as the weather clears, I'll get you to the airport so you can go see your Mom."

"And I'll pay for the ticket," Dave volunteered.

"You don't have to do that," Spencer protested.

"That ticket is going to be expensive, kid. You should take Dave up on that," Morgan advised.

"I can buy my own ticket," Spencer replied.

"Yeah. But will it be first class," Dave asked.

"Uh, no."

"It will be if I buy it," Dave said.

Spencer blinked. "That might be nice for a change. Thank you."

"Man," Morgan sighed. He leaned back in his chair. "At this point it is hard to say something someone else hasn't said. I'm grateful for all of you and for the fact that Aaron opened his home for all of us. I'm also grateful for this food. This is a lot of food."

"We're almost done, Morgan. Hold on for a few more minutes," Beth told him.

Morgan grinned. "I'm trying."

"Ooh, it's my turn," Penelope squealed. "I've got so much to be grateful for, there's all of you and the food and the presents and the snow even though it made travel unbearable and, in some cases, impossible and…"

"Breathe, Baby Girl."

Penelope cut Morgan a look.

"I'm just thankful for everything, especially to Aaron and Beth for taking us in and for Dave who went got JJ, Will and Henry and brought them safely back to us. But the one thing I really, really, REALLY want to know… who is SHE?"

Penelope looked at Dave. He smirked at her and winked. He turned to JJ. "And you thought I was a dog with a bone."

She smiled in return.

"I hate secrets," Penelope growled. "I mean, I love them when I know them, but I hate them when I don't know them."

"We know," the entire group said aloud. Penelope frowned as everyone else laughed.

"Dave," Aaron said as the laughter settled. "You're the last one."

"Every year, life gets a little harder… and a little easier," Dave said quietly. "It's harder because you begin to lose people whom are important to you. You begin to question your own mortality and your own will to continue. If you're lucky, you get to spend time with your family. Sometimes, things like work and the weather, can get in the way of that. And sometimes, if you are really lucky, you realize that family is more than the people who raised you. It's more than the genes you share. I'll be honest, yesterday, when we were all saying our goodbyes and going in our separate directions, I didn't really have a plan."

He stopped and looked around the table. "Some of you were pretty spot on with your description of my celebration plans except I stopped at the cemetery on the way home and left wreaths for Caroline and James… and Haley." Aaron reached over and squeezed Dave's hand. "Then I picked up some Chinese food. I thought, that all I needed was to be alone and then my phone rang."

His eyes sought out JJ's. "When I heard your voice on the recorder and you said the word 'hospital', my heart nearly stopped. All I could think about was getting you and your family to safety. As you could tell, there was nothing that was going to stop me."

"You are a stubborn Bast…" Aaron let the last word hang in the air. Another group chuckle filled the air.

"What I'm trying to say," Dave continued. "Is that in the last twelve to fourteen hours, I realized that you guys are my family. You've been my team for years and now, you are my family."

"Hey, we got a free upgrade," Spencer piped in.

Dave smiled. "Trust me, it hasn't been free."

"Anything else," Aaron asked softly.

"One more thing," Dave nodded. He looked at JJ once again.

She smiled at him and nodded. "Go for it."

He turned to Penelope. "Do you really want to know who 'she' is?"

"Yes," Penelope smiled.

Dave leaned closer and kissed her softly. "It's you."

"YES!" Jack yelled. "Santa did it!"

"Santa did what," Aaron asked.

"I asked Santa to bring Uncle Dave a girlfriend for Christmas," Jack explained. "And he did."

"Wow," Aaron stated as the others around the table exchanged looks and smiles. "That was really something special you asked of Santa. I don't remember that being on your Christmas list."

Jack shrugged. "I asked him when Aunt Jessica took me to see him at the mall."

"Did you ask him for a girlfriend for me too," Morgan asked.

"No," Jack shook his head. "But I did ask him for something special for Daddy and Beth."

"Well then," Aaron said. "We should eat dinner so we can open presents and see if Santa granted your second wish as well."

"Or," Dave cut in. "You can go grab the big gold present sitting in front of the tree."

Dave motioned with his head for Jack to go get the present. Jack slid off Aaron's lap and raced out of the room. He glanced at Penelope who was staring at him wide-eyed.

"You okay, Kitten," Dave asked quietly.

"I'm more confused than ever," she admitted.

"I'll explain it all later," he assured her.

Jack ran back into the room and tossed the box at his Dad. "Open it!"

Dave grabbed the boy around the waist and pulled him onto his lap.

"It doesn't seem fair if I'm the only one opening a present," Aaron pointed out.

"Just open it so we can all move on with our lives," JJ groaned.

Once again, the room erupted with laughter. Aaron looked at Beth. "Want to help me?"

"Sure," she smiled. They tore the wrapping off and opened the box. Aaron reached inside and pulled out a business sized envelope.

"Pretty big box for a letter," he groused.

"Santa didn't want you to figure out what was in it," Dave mused.

Beth opened the envelope and took out a piece of paper. Silently, she read it as tears welled in her eyes. She looked at Dave, "Really?!"

"What is it," Aaron asked.

"A trip for two to Hawaii," Beth replied tearfully. "I've always wanted to go to Hawaii."

Aaron looked at Dave. "That's awesome, but what about Jack?"

"He can stay with me," Dave smiled.

"He can stay with us," JJ interjected.

Dave frowned at her. "What? You don't think I'm capable of taking care of Jack for a week?"

"I'm sure you would be fine," JJ smiled back. "But I think you might want some alone time with the new girlfriend."

Dave blinked for a moment. "I hadn't thought about that, you could be right."

Penelope slipped her arm through his and snuggled close. "We could take Jack for a day or two. I wouldn't mind."

"Now that all of this is settled, can we eat," Morgan asked.

"Yeah," Aaron laughed. "Merry Christmas everyone."

The End!