Chapter 5

Nate opened the door. When he saw two of his friends standing there, he said abruptly, "I'm not paying double you know."

"You'd have paid me?" Clint asked laconically.

"No, just saying," Nate replied, letting them in. "By the way, Justin's here too. Hope you don't mind," he added. Clint shook his head. "Not at all."

"Hey Clint. Hey Nancy!" Beverly greeted them. "Thank you so much for looking after the kids on such a short notice."

"No problem. What's three more," Clint said, earning himself a punch on the arm from Nancy.

"Watch what you're saying, Cowboy, or you'll be doing the cooking and the dishes alone again tomorrow."

Nate grinned. "Ooh, Country. You'd better watch your steps."

Raul and Justin came out of Raul's room.

Clint chuckled. "Oh well, I've had worse. Once you've had to clean out the pigsty over at the Stanford's place, it just can't get much worse than that."

"You don't mean that literally, right Country?" Nate asked.

"Yup. I do mean the actual building pigs run 'round in," Clint clarified, amused at the disgusted faces of his friends.

"Did you get paid for that?" Justin asked.

"Nope. Although we did usually get a glass of fresh milk," Clint grinned.

"Oh man, I would never do that voluntarily," Justin said, shaking his head.

"Well, neither did we. At first at least. Then we found out the Stanfords could use some help every now and then, so we did."

"Well," Nate said, "Now that we've once again confirmed I'd never want to live in the countryside, how 'bout we get going, Bev?" Beverly nodded, and after the pair had said their goodbyes they left.

"Want to play a game?" Raul asked.

"Sure," Clint nodded. "Just set it up at the coffee table, so we can keep an eye on Mattie too."

"Ok." Justin and Raul went to get a game, while Clint got them all something to drink, and checked on Mattie who was still happily playing with some blocks. Nancy sat down at the couch, and watched as the boys set up the game. Raul sat down on the chair, while Justin and Clint both sat down on the floor. Clint kept half his attention on the game and half on what Mattie was doing.

At some point, Mattie crawled up to the country doctor, presenting him with a yellow block. Clint accepted it and was soon rewarded with a red block. This went on for a while, until Mattie decided Clint had enough blocks. Then the young boy sat down, and leaned against the country doctor. Clint picked him up and sat him in his lap where he could watch the game progress. Mattie seemed content with that solution, even if Clint wouldn't let him play with the dice, and after a while his eyes drooped, and he fell asleep.

A few minutes later the game was over, and Justin announced he should be going home. He left, and Raul asked if Clint and Nancy wanted to play another round. Nancy declined; she still wasn't totally up to par, and she'd just content herself with watching. Clint stood, the sleeping Mattie still in his arms, and said, "Why don't you get the chess set out while I put Mattie in bed.

"Ok," Raul agreed, as he walked to his room to put this game away.

"Why don't you head off to bed too," Clint suggested to Nancy. He could see she was tired.

"Nah, I'm fine. I've slept a long time during the afternoon. I'm not sleepy yet," Nancy declined. Meanwhile she thought how sweet Clint looked with the sleeping boy comfortably in his arms.

"Alright," Clint conceded.

When he got back, Raul had set up the chess game, and Nancy had refilled their glasses. They chatted while they played, and Nancy watched. This was much better than sitting home alone…

She didn't realize she was drifting off to sleep, until she woke up again to quiet talking. Opening her eyes, she realized she was lying down on the couch, her head on a pillow and a blanket covering her up to her shoulders. The chess game was still on the table, but the players were gone.

She could hear them talking though. Apparently they were doing the dishes, but judging from the tone of their voices, their minds were far from the cups and glasses waiting to be cleaned.

"…remember my first Christmas with you, Nate and Beverly?" Raul's voice asked.

"Yeah."

"I still use it you know – the song – when I get sad about my Mom."

"Yeah, me too," Clint said, his voice soft.

"Is it…" Raul hesitated. "Is it still ok to be sad?"

"Sure it is," Clint assured him.

"But… it's been four years."

Clint sighed softly, and put the cup down for a moment.

"You'll always have those times when you'll be sad…no matter how old you are, or how long it's been. Sure, you may not become as sad as you used to be; it gets a little easier over time. But those moments will never really disappear. And that's ok. As long as we're able to accept it, and move on. And when we get to Heaven some day, we'll see our loved ones again. Until then, we'll just have our memories, both happy and sad."

There was a moment of silence. Then Raul hugged the older man, who pulled him tight. "Thanks Clint," the boy whispered.

"Clint?" Raul asked, his face still pressed against Clint's chest.

"Yeah?"

"You think we can sing 'Away in a Manger' together again with Christmas?"

"Of course," Clint nodded with a smile. Raul nodded satisfied. They continued doing the dishes.

"Rematch?" Raul asked in a much chipper voice, when they were done.

"You're on," Clint replied. Nancy had drifted off again a little while they had finished the dishes, the conversation replaying in her head. But when they sat down at the table, she woke up again.

"Hey Nancy,' Raul said, seeing her awake.

"Hey, was I out for long?"

Clint shrugged. "Oh, only since a little before Raul beat me three to one."

Nancy looked at Raul. "Wow, that's good."

"Yeah," Raul said with a grimace. "But then Clint beat me four times in a row. So now I want a rematch."

Clint and Nancy chuckled. "Bring it on," Clint said.

They played again, this time Nancy and Raul joined forces, until finally Clint admitted defeat. Just as Nancy and Raul were high-fiving each other, the door opened and Nate and Beverly walked in.

"Seems someone's happy," Beverly remarked. "Did everything go well?"

"Yeah, everything went fine." Clint nodded.

"Great. Thank you guys so much."

"No problem. Happy to help out."

"Raul, bed time now," Nate said, and grudgingly Raul nodded. "Goodnight Nancy, goodnight Clint."

"Night Raul."

They watched as he went to his bed room.

"Do you guys want something to drink?" Nate asked, but Clint shook his head. "Nah, got an early shift tomorrow. I'd better get going."

"Yeah, me too," Nancy nodded, trying to hide a yawn.

"Ok, see you two tomorrow then."

They said their goodbyes, and Nancy and Clint went back to their floor.

"Good night," Clint said, when Nancy had opened her door.

"Good night," Nancy nodded, watching him walk towards his own apartment. "Clint?"

"Yeah?" he said, turning around. "Thanks for everything."

"You're welcome," Clint smiled. Their eyes locked and for a moment they just stared at each other, conveying what their words had not covered. Then they blinked, breaking the moment, and Clint turned around again to go to his own apartment.

TBC