Abby sighed heavily as she rubbed the back of her neck and leaned back against the couch in her parents' living room later that morning. Across the room, her nieces and nephews were busy tearing into their presents, laughing and shrieking with joy as wrapping paper went flying across the room. Any other year, Abby would have been over there with them, on her hands and knees on the floor, enjoying the moment with the children. This year, though, she left that to her brothers and curled up on the couch.

She couldn't quite put her finger on what it was that was bothering her that morning. Despite everything that had happened the night before, she didn't think it was sadness or grief. She knew she was depressed, angry or even lonely, either. She just felt…off, as though there were some sort of void in her celebration that she couldn't fill with the children's smiles or her mother's cooking. Whatever it was, it didn't seem to fit into the neat categories of the emotions she was used to feeling.

"Aunt Abby, Aunt Abby! Look what Santa brought!"

Abby glanced up and half-smiled as she nodded at her oldest niece, who had rushed across the room with a sparkly pink skirt in her hands and was now twirling it in front of her. "It's great, Ellen. Really pretty."

Ellen frowned for a second before shrugging and hurrying back to her presents.

"Careful there, Abby. Try not to sound too excited for the kid, okay?"

Abby rolled her eyes and glared at Richie as he flopped down next to her on the couch.

"What do you want, Richie?"

"What do I want? Come on, Abby, it's Christmas. You could at least try to pretend that you're happy."

"I am happy," Abby insisted.

Richie frowned skeptically at his sister but simply shook his head and took a swig out of the beer bottle in his hand. "Whatever you say, little miss sunshine. How's Brody?"

Abby narrowed her eyes as she stared at Richie. "Why do you ask?"

Richie shrugged. "Just curious. You were with him last night, weren't you?"

"How did you…?"

"Well, you obviously weren't working or you would have just called Mom and told her that. So where else would you have been?"

Abby shrugged and crossed her arms over her chest, waiting for him to continue.

"So what is this? One night with Mr. 'I-hate-Christmas' and your Christmas spirit is dead?"

"I'm fine, Richie."

Richie scoffed. "Fine? Abby, you barely touched your breakfast, you're practically ignoring the kids, you're obviously distracted…it's pretty clear to everyone that you'd rather be somewhere other than here."

"That's not true."

"I'm just wondering what exactly he could have done that was this bad," Richie continued. "Did he yell at you? Tell you Santa Clause doesn't exist?"

Richie's laugh died on his lips as he caught the death glare that Abby was shooting him.

"Shit…was it really that bad? He didn't hurt you, did he? Because I swear to God, I don't care if he is my partner, I'll…"

"Richie, stop it," Abby interrupted angrily. "Why can't you just leave it alone? So what if he doesn't like Christmas?"

"You're okay with a guy who doesn't like Christmas?" Richie asked skeptically. "What happened to the whole 'nobody hates Christmas' thing?"

"Brody doesn't hate Christmas," Abby insisted. "And you shouldn't be so hard on him, he's got his reasons for the way he acts. Not everyone's as lucky as we are, Richie."

"What are you talking about? Did he tell you why he doesn't do Christmas?"

"So what if he did?"

"Well, you need to tell me. I've been trying to figure that mystery out since I met the guy."

"That's personal, Richie. Whatever John might have told me, it's between us, and it's none of your business."

"Why would he tell you and not me?" Richie asked in confusion. "I'm his partner."

"I'm his girlfriend."

Richie frowned. "I think that's the first time I've heard you refer to yourself that way."

"So what?"

"Nothing…it's just weird. I mean, the two of you have been a couple for a while now, but still…"

"Yeah, well, you'd better get used to it."

"Oh really?" Richie smirked as he realized that Abby had probably spoken without even realizing what she was saying. "You think this is going to stick?"

Abby shrugged coyly. "It might."

"What might what?"

"Nothing," Abby said quickly, glancing up just as Steve squeezed himself in between her and Richie and leaned back against the couch.

"Uh huh," Steve said skeptically. "So, Rich, did you force it out of her?"

"Force what out of me?"

"Whatever it is that's bugging you," Steve said. "Richie bet Donnie fifty bucks that he could get it out of you."

"You did what?" Abby glared across Steve at her brother.

"I, uh, I think I better go see if Mom needs help with anything in the kitchen," Richie muttered, quickly jumping up from the couch.

"Did they really do that?" Abby asked as Richie left the room.

"Of course they did."

"And so what's this? You sneaking in at the end to win the cash?"

Steve shook his head. "I don't bet on things like that, Abby. It's much more fun to stay out of it and watch you get mad at them when I spill the beans."

"You're all jerks, you know that?"

"Yup."

"Okay then." Abby nodded and let a comfortable silence fall over them as they sat side-by-side watching the kids play under the tree across the room. After a few minutes, Abby hesitantly broke the silence. "Hey Steve?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you think it would still be Christmas if we didn't have a tree?"

Steve frowned and stared at his sister. "Um…I guess so, yeah."

"What about without presents?"

"I suppose so. I mean, it would still be December 25th, right? That's Christmas, whether you want all the traditional trappings or not."

"Right." Abby nodded slowly. "But if we didn't have that stuff, why is it Christmas?"

Steve shrugged. "I don't know. I think even if we didn't have the decorations or whatever, Christmas is Christmas because the family is all together."

Abby shook her head. "If that were true, it would be Christmas every other week around this house, Steve."

"I don't think so. It's different on Christmas."

"Yeah, because of the tree and the presents and the decorations and all those trappings you just said we didn't need for it to be Christmas."

"Maybe so," Steve said thoughtfully. "But then again, maybe those things are just there to make us think about what we're doing."

"What do you mean?"

"I think that's the difference with Christmas…we think about being together. It's why people who don't live near their family get depressed at Christmas. Yeah, they're away all year long, but you just think about it more this time of year. Same thing with us. Yeah, we're together a lot during the year, but we really think about it on Christmas. That's what makes it different. I mean, come on. When we're huddled around the TV watching a Bears game, you're not exactly thinking about how great it is to have all the family together."

"I guess you have a point."

"Of course I have a point. I always have a point."

"Don't let it go to your head." Abby smacked him playfully in the shoulder.

Steve laughed and ducked away from her hand. "So what's this all about anyway? You're depressed because you couldn't figure out the meaning of Christmas?"

"I'm not depressed," Abby insisted. "I've just been doing some thinking, that's all."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure."

"Because if this is about a guy and you need a certain someone beaten up…"

"Hey, what happened to the Christmas spirit?"

Steve shrugged. "I'm offering to help someone I love. What's more Christmasy than that?"

"Okay, not only is it entirely not necessary, there is nothing Christmasy about you wanting to beat up the guy that I…" Abby's voice trailed off and her eyes grew wide as the realization of what she had been about to say hit her. "Oh my God."

"What?" Steve asked in confusion.

"Oh my God, that's what this is," Abby muttered as she practically jumped off the couch and glanced around the room. "I have to go."

"Go? Now?"

"I'll try to be back later," Abby said, already halfway toward the door as Steve watched her brush past their father.

"Where's she going?" Don asked.

"I have no idea," Steve said.

"What did you say to her?" Sheila asked as she walked into the room just in time to see Abby slam the front door behind her.

"I didn't say or do anything," Steve said defensively. "We were just talking about Christmas and then all of a sudden she got this deer-in-the-headlights look and took off. I swear, it wasn't me!"