Comfortable in an old sweatshirt of Lucky's she had "borrowed" a few months ago, Elizabeth stretched out on the couch. She was curled into Lucky's side, her legs resting across his lap. Her head rested lightly on his shoulders as she watched Cameron tear into the presents Santa had brought the night before. Catching sight of the smile, Lucky pressed a quick kiss to her forehead before returning his attention back to Cameron.

The night before had been tough. Elizabeth had tried to hide it as best she could, to hold it back as long as she could, but eventually he had heard her quiet crying well into the night. He had wanted to comfort her but was clueless as to how to go about it. No they hadn't expected either set of parents to initially react with joy to their news, but the outright hostility had thrown them both for a loop. And while Lucky felt it was obvious Steven wouldn't be thrilled, her brother's disapproval had obviously come as a shock to Elizabeth. Empty words weren't going to help her with this one, so he had settled for holding her close to him, trying to calm her with his presence alone.

When Cameron had come bouncing in with the first rays on the sun, for a split second Lucky considered sending his son back to bed. Elizabeth had barely fallen asleep and Cameron was ready to open every present between here and his grandparents' house. But she had surprised him, waking up and walking downstairs with Cameron eagerly. Either she didn't need that much sleep or she had fooled him into thinking she had fallen asleep. Judging by her quiet demeanor and the way her head was drooping on his shoulder, he was willing to bet it was the latter.

"You ok?" he whispered. "You can always go back upstairs if you want to."

Elizabeth met his eye slowly, smiling softly. "I'm fine. Besides it's Christmas. You don't sleep through Christmas morning."

"But..."

"Lucky I'm fine. Besides this is more about Cameron today than me anyways."

"Daddy look!" Cameron called out delightedly, proudly waving a new train set over his head. "Look!"

"I see. Santa picked out a pretty cool set there Champ." Lucky smiled. It had taken him the better part of three weekends to find that particular set but seeing Cameron's smile right this second made all the pushing crowds worth it. Seeing Cameron safely enthralled with opening another present, he looked back down at Elizabeth. "Well at this rate he'll be done in ten minutes. You can go back upstairs then if you want."

Elizabeth lifted her head up and arched one of her eyebrows upwards. "I thought we had to be on time to your parents or they would disown you. Don't we have to be there about lunchtime?"

"Who said we are going?" He took a sip of the coffee he had poured right before Cameron began demolishing through the wrapping paper.

"Lucky." She started cautiously placing her hand on his chest. "We can't skip Christmas with your family over this." It was incredibly sweet of him, but she couldn't let him do this. Not to mention she couldn't allow him to break Cameron's heart about not going to see his grandparents.

"Yes we can." Lucky leaned back far enough to look her in her blue eyes. "I knew they weren't going to be thrilled at first, but I'm not going to stand by and leave you open for attack about this. This is our decision, not theirs."

Elizabeth leaned forward and kissed him lightly on his lips. "I appreciate that but this is Christmas. Spirit of forgiveness and all that jazz."

"Guess that means you want to go see your family then?" He teased her.

She shot him a dirty look. "That is different. Not going to see my family won't disappoint a certain little boy. And there was no promise of Santa stopping by my family's place but I do recall your sister promising that to Cameron."

Lucky was about to voice a complaint about his sister once again sticking her nose in where it didn't belong when a knock sounded at the door. Carefully moving her legs off his lap, he stood up pointing a finger in her direction. "We aren't finished with this yet. We're not going."

"You're being ridiculous."

"Well I learned from the best." He smiled and easily ducked the pillow Elizabeth tossed at his head. Chuckling softly to himself, he opened the door, briefly wondering who would be stopping by on Christmas morning. The laughing immediately stopped when he noticed Audrey Hardy standing on his porch with an absurdly large shopping bag at her feet.

"Mrs. Hardy. What are you doing here?"

"Grams?" Elizabeth rose to her feet and padded her way toward the door.

Audrey smiled and pulled her granddaughter into a hug. Releasing Elizabeth, she immediately moved to pull Lucky into a similar hug. Noticing the confusion on the young couple faces when she finally released them both, Audrey motioned toward the interior of the home. "It's good to see you both. May I come in?"

"Sure. Sure. Of course." Lucky moved quickly to take the bag from her and usher inside. He saw the mixture of confusion and fear on Elizabeth's face as her grandmother walked past them both and sat on the chair. Making their way closer to her, Lucky snuck a peek into the bag and almost breathed a sigh of relief when he noticed it filled with presents.

Audrey smoothed out the fabric of her wool pants and met the expectant looks of the young couple and the questioning look of a three-year-old. "I know you are wondering what I am doing here. I didn't mean to interrupt your Christmas plans."

"Grams you're not interrupting." Elizabeth protested.

Audrey brushed off Elizabeth's protest with a wave of her hand. Taking a breath she made herself more comfortable. "Now I know I didn't say anything last night, mainly because I think quite enough was said last night by both sides. However I was going to talk to both of you when I saw you last night. Unfortunately that didn't happen." There was no judgment in her voice, but Elizabeth still felt the need to squirm in her seat.

If there was one person's acceptance and support she had wanted more than her brother's last night, it was her grandmother's. If her grandmother had come over here on Christmas morning to break her heart, Elizabeth didn't know if she could survive it.

"Mrs. Hardy, I can explain..." Lucky started, not wanting any more blame to fall on Elizabeth for their choices. He hadn't even entertained the notion of taking her back to her grandmother's house last night.

"Not that I blame you." Audrey continued as if Lucky hadn't spoken. "Jeff, Elaine, and Steven behaved terribly. Yes your announcement came as a shock but I am well aware all three of them know how to handle news with more graciousness than that."

"Grams?" Elizabeth ventured tentatively.

"And your sister." Audrey rolled her eyes. "I hadn't even thought she heard everything but apparently she considers your announcement the reason why she hadn't been able to talk with the doctor who was Santa last night." Audrey shook her head and refocused her attention on the two sitting across from her. "I wanted to apologize for my family's behavior."

"Grams it's not your fault."

"Maybe so, but I raised Jeff to be better than that and I helped raise the three of you as well." Audrey looked down at her hands briefly and then caught her granddaughter's eye. Elizabeth shared a nervous look with Lucky.

"I might not agree with your decision to not get married but it is your decision, not mine. This is your life and if you both feel this is the right decision then I will support you." Audrey shook her finger in their direction. "But that doesn't mean I have to like it."

"Yes ma'am." Elizabeth whispered, tears shining in her eyes.

"Come here." Audrey opened her arms and Elizabeth willingly went into them, resting her head on her grandmother's shoulder. "Merry Christmas darling girl."

Robin started to smile when she heard familiar footsteps slip into the room. He was trying his hardest to be quiet, but he was practically a giant compared to Morgan, and Courtney had moved out after the Christmas party. Still, she didn't want him to know she was awake. Was that breakfast she smelled? She felt her resolve break and let the threatening smile loose, her eyelids lifting.

"Well, good morning. Or should I say afternoon?" Patrick teased, setting the tray of food next to the bed and pressing his knees into the mattress.

"It's not afternoon." Robin pointed a finger at him, shaking her head.

"It could be. You don't know." Patrick went on, taking stock of her wild hair and deciding it'd be in his best interest to not comment on it.

"You made breakfast?" Robin asked incredulously.

"Yeah, well. Morgan and I needed something to do while you were up here sleeping." Patrick explained in a joking voice.

"You should really work on that subtly." Robin suggested, pushing the covers away and starting to stand up, barely missing the tray. "You don't expect me to eat all of this do you?"

"No." Patrick shook his head. "I was planning on stealing some of it while you were distracted."

"Distracted? By what?" Robin asked.

"By my devilish good looks of course." Patrick clarified, pulling her toward him and kissing her softly.

"Oh, yes, how could I miss those? Will you do me a favor?"

"Hmm?"

"Carry me." Robin begged, giving him a pitiful expression.

"What?" Patrick responded incredulously. "Carry you? This is Christmas, not your birthday."

"So? This is a day reserved for giving and goodwill toward man."

"And that refers to you being carried downstairs how?"

"Please? Pretty, pretty please with a cherry on top?"

"Okay, you sold me." Patrick got to his feet and slid his hands under her knees.

"I've got you trained. It's a nice feeling." Robin smiled, patting his cheek.

"You think that now. Wait until we move. We're spending the first twenty-four hours in bed." Patrick cautioned her, touching the tip of her nose.

"You say such nice things. Remind me to draw up the house rules after breakfast." Robin declared.

"House rules? What are you talking about?" Patrick actually stopped walking at the top step of the stairs.

"Later." Robin insisted.

"I always knew Elizabeth was a bad influence." Patrick laughed.

"You can't fool me." Robin shook her head. "You're starting to warm up to her."

"What? No. Not me." Patrick argued, resuming their descent down the stairs.

"Then why did you defend her last night at the party?" Robin wondered.

"I was defending Lucky." Patrick replied.

"I'm not saying you have to set up lunches and go shopping together. It's good that you can like my friends. It's a sign you're growing up." Robin patronized him lightly.

"I've never disliked Elizabeth." Patrick assured her.

"I know. You and Morgan's constant fight for my attention was enough of an example about how jealous you are when I even talk to another person." Robin continued.

"That's crazy. Now, hop down and let's get to those presents." Patrick demanded playfully, glancing under the tree where half of Morgan's body was hidden. "I think we lost Morgan in the presents."

"I can't get this one in the back." They heard Morgan say. His head was buried so his voice was muffled.

"What makes you think it's for you?" Robin teased, tickling the back of his neck until he raised his dark head and met her stare.

"It's a bike, Robin. If it's not for me, who's it for?" Morgan wanted to know.

"It could be for Robin. You two are about the same size." Patrick reminded them. They responded by sticking their tongues out at him.

"Leave the bike for now. I see you sorted the presents." Robin replied proudly.

"Yeah. It's easier that way. I don't want your boring presents in the way of mine. Who knows what Santa brought me." Morgan reasoned.

"I can't argue that logic, can you?" Patrick asked.

"Nope. Can't. Here." She scooted him his section of presents while Morgan started tearing away at his.

"What's in here?" Patrick gingerly shook the biggest box he found.

"A package of Lego's. Only the best for my sweetie." Robin lied, her smile so wide it showed teeth.

"If you give a mouse a cookie…" Morgan stared at the book in confusion. "What's this mouse doing with my cookie?"

"I think you'll like that book." Robin told him.

Morgan flipped open to the first page and started reading, inadvertently ignoring his other presents.

"Hey, why don't you see what else Santa brought you." Robin suggested, nudging his larger presents toward him.

"Okay."

"No way!" Morgan yelled as he held up his newest present. "A Spi-Dog?" His eyes jumped from Robin to Patrick, not sure who he should be thanking.

"That's a gift from both of us." Robin told him. "If you'll keep digging, you'll see the iPod." Morgan picked out the tiny portable media player with a red silicon cover and blue stripes, his mouth dragging the ground.

For the next ten minutes, they watched him disassemble each perfect bow—Robin's OCD showing through—and cut through the mess of tape—Patrick's contribution—with his fingernails, his headphones shoved into his ears even though they hadn't any music for him yet. Multicolored paper flew in every direction until finally all of the lids had been lifted off of the boxes. He had separated clothes from toys, games from books, and so on.

Having waited for Morgan to open his presents, Robin and Patrick now took a moment to open theirs, only the shrill sound of the phone interrupting their plans. Robin scurried over to it and put it to her ear. "Hello? Merry Christmas! Yeah, just a second." She motioned for Patrick to take the phone.

"Merry Christmas." Patrick repeated, listening for a second to determine the identity of the caller. "No I haven't. A little later. I know. I don't know where they could be—yes. Yes, okay. We'll be there." He ended the call almost as abruptly as he had started it. "That was Aunt Laura. She's worried that we're the only ones who will be at Christmas dinner."

"She should be worried." Robin shot back, folding her arms across her chest. "They were downright ridiculous last night."

"Hey, they were just surprised." Patrick defended.

"There's a big difference between being surprised and being cruel. Last night they were cruel." Robin emphasized the last word, her eyes narrowing at the memory.

"I agree they could have handled it better." Patrick nodded. "But you've got to understand, this has already happened once."

"Of course I remember. I was there last time, same as you." Robin reminded him.

"Do you have to fight?" Morgan interrupted, his brown eyes the size of marbles.

"No." Robin shook her head. "I'm sorry baby."

"Are you mad at each other?" Morgan asked.

"No." This time it was Patrick who answered. "We just disagree about something. We shouldn't have fought in front of you."

"Are you going to open your presents?" Morgan wondered. "I worked really hard on them."

Robin and Patrick shared a guilty look and made their way over to where he was sitting.

Robin's thumb slid across the small metal picture frame, her heart in her throat. It was a picture of Morgan, Kristina, Cameron, and her at Chuck E. Cheese's the day she met Elizabeth. There was a giant gray mouse behind them with a goofy expression on his face and Morgan had obviously cut the picture out of the original frame otherwise it would have been multicolored. "Morgan, I love it. It's going on my dresser." She promised, wiping away tears.

"Elizabeth helped me with it. She said she had the picture taken and then forgot to give it to you." Morgan clarified simply.

Patrick turned the Matchbox car in his hand so that he could study the writing on the side. The car was white and the number was done in blue. 52. His eyes caught Morgan's in a startled fashion and the little brunette smiled smugly. "You raced in high school, remember?" Morgan's response had the three of them laughing. As if Patrick could forget drag racing through high school. Photography had just kind of fallen in his lap.

"It's great! Thank you Morgan." Patrick replied with a smile.

"It's just a car. Don't get mushy on me or I'll tell Uncle Luke." Morgan warned playfully.