A/N-The title of the chapter tells you when I was trying to write/post it.

Until a certain program figured out what I needed to be doing on Christmas.

Tron was waiting for Flynn the moment the arcade's door opened.

Kevin Flynn looked up to see his oldest friend on this side of the screen; a slow, easy grin on his face spreading at the welcoming smile that Tron flashed at him.

"Greetings, program!" Flynn said, teasing Tron with his usual greeting.

There was a small sigh before Tron spoke.

"I have mentioned that's not actually what we say when meeting each other," Tron told him mildly.

"Ah, this is more fun; especially when you make that face."

The tall security program nodded slightly.

"I thought you were not going to visit the Grid during this User interval," he said, his tone questioning. "Something about a User celebration?"

"Yeah, Christmas," Flynn replied, looking away for a moment. "Hey, I want to see if I can code up a Christmas tree or something…."

"Flynn?"

"Yeah, Tron?"

"What is Christmas?"

Flynn turned back to look at Tron.

"What?" he asked, startled.

"What is Christmas?" Tron repeated, patiently. "What is the purpose of the User celebration?"

"What is— Um, well…" Flynn scratched the side of his nose and ducked his head. Looking back up at his friend, he spoke.

"Well, it's a User celebration that originated to honor the birth of a special child and show that people were glad of the 'gift' of the child." He looked around the stark, glowing lines of the Grid as though searching for someone else to take over the explanation. Seeing no one else nearby, Flynn began speaking again. "Nowadays, it has become a time when families get together to show that they care about one another. Usually, you give a gift as a sign of love and appreciation. It doesn't have to be big, or elaborate—just something that show you spent time thinking about what that person likes."

Tron wasn't moving, his face thoughtful.

"So, this Christmas is spent with family?"

"Usually, yeah…"

"And—from what you told me previously—families are groupings that are joined by close relationships; like you and your dedicated partner…Jordan?"

There was a small, pained tightening of the skin around Flynn's eyes at hearing his late wife's name.

"Yeah," Flynn said, his voice a little rough. "Jordan and I were a family; and then our family got a little larger when Sam was born."

"So, your son was also your family. Is he still family even though you are no longer connected by the link of your dedicated partner?"

"Of course he's family! You don't stop being family, Tron. That's what being part of a family is about…we're always there for each other." Flynn told the security monitor, his voice both a little surprised and heated at the suggestion that his son might no longer be family.

Tron stopped, standing in the middle of the almost empty plaza, the slightly far-off, almost distracted look on his face that said he was running several intricate logic processes at the same time plainly visible to Flynn. Before Kevin could wonder exactly what it was that Tron had been thinking, the security program snapped back to attention.

"Come on," he said, grabbing Flynn's arm and pulling him off to the side. "I need you to code up a short-cut to the portal…right now. You can make it a temporary one if you want; however, you need to code it NOW. We have to get you to the portal immediately."

"What's wrong? I can—" Flynn began, only to be cut off by Tron.

"You can fix everything from the other side, Flynn, but I need that short-cut." Tron's voice was adamant, allowing for no argument.

Kevin knelt down and, casting a worried look up at his friend, began accessing the base code of the Grid to write the short-cut. It was a hurried job, nothing pretty to look at; however, it would allow them both to reach the portal faster than anything else in the system.

As soon as the last lines of code were solidly in place, Tron was heading into the short-cut; dragging Flynn along with him.

"Would you just tell me what's going on?" Flynn tried to yell, even as he caught the baton that his friend tossed to him; only to have to rezz up his lightcycle to catch up to the one that was already shooting through the tunnel of the short-cut at a breakneck speed. A picocycle later, Flynn was pulling his lightcycle level with Tron's. Once again, he tried to get Tron to tell him what was happening; why they had to reach the portal when he had just entered the system. The only answer he received was a quick shake of the head and a resolute look on Tron's face as the system monitor accelerated again and began to pull further ahead.

Several nanocycles later, they reached the end of the short-cut. Tron was off the light-cycle immediately, not even bothering to derezz it back into its baton form before leaping up to catch one of the ladder rungs that lead to the system's surface and beginning to climb."

"Tron!" Flynn called, beginning to worry and feel exasperated all at the same time. "Buddy, would you just tell me what's happening?"

Tron's voice came echoing back down to him. "We have to reach the portal, Flynn! There's no time to lose!"

Worried now, Flynn grabbed a ladder rung as well and began to climb.

When he neared the surface, there was a black-gloved hand waiting to help pull him up. "Hurry," came the tense command. Together, they both ran to the edge of the portal's beam.

"What's wrong?" Flynn said, turning to face his friend as he pulled his disc off in preparation for activating the portal. "What do you need me to do when I get out there?" Next to them, the portal was a roar of sound and light that seemed to make its way into their very being.

"You said Christmas was a time for families and friends," Tron told him. "That the gifts you give should be something that you believe the other will enjoy receiving…"

The tall monitor program grabbed Flynn's jacket and pulled him closer; close enough for Flynn to hear him say, "This is my Christmas present to Sam…tell him that for me…" right before Tron shoved…

Flynn felt himself fall backward into the portal's beam, felt the portal read his disc and activate—taking him apart and porting him back out of the system…

He came back to himself with a gasp, almost falling out of the desk chair when he did so. It was a moment before he recalled Tron's last words to him.

"This is my Christmas present to Sam…tell him that for me…"

Flynn ran his hand over his face as he realized what Tron had done…and what he had done.

Kevin had left his son alone on the first Christmas without his mother. Jordan would have chewed a strip off of him for skipping out of a family holiday, yet he had tried to do just that. He blinked back tears as the thought of his wife sent a fresh pang of loss through him.

Kevin wouldn't have his wife around this Christmas; however, Sam had almost spent the first holiday since her death without both of his parents.

"I screwed up, babe," he said to the empty room. "I screwed up bad. If Tron hadn't…" He stopped, and a wry chuckle slowly, quietly crept out of him.

"Trust that stubborn security program to figure it out," he mumbled between chuckles. "He understood what this holiday was about before I did…"

Kevin took a deep breath and stood up, the chair sliding back as he did so. He looked down at the lights blinking at him on the monitor screen of his desk and, in a soft voice said, "Merry Christmas, Tron." He turned and walked to the door of his private lab. He had a son to spend Christmas with…because that was where he belonged on Christmas.

Behind him, three glowing words appeared on the monitor screen….

"Merry Christmas, Flynn…."

A/N-Happy New Year, everyone.

PS. The idea for the 'short-cut' came from one used in Shirozora's excellently written work, "We Are Pilots".