It was so strange to see his old family home again. It felt like coming home in a way, even though another happy family lived there. He parked the car in the driveway behind a black car that belonged to Lee and looked over to Rosa.

"Come on," she said. "Let's go see Mary."

He couldn't help the huge grin that spread over his face. He could finally see for himself that that she was happy and healthy.

"Now you can see for yourself, that Mary's just fine."

He rolled his eyes and got out of the car when she just smirked at him. It appeared that Rosa really had picked up some of his profiling skills. How else did she know so much about what went on his head? She said it was all women's intuition, but he wasn't so sure about that. He should know for sure given all the women he worked with and had worked with in his career. Perhaps there was a research project he could do for his next paper.

"Stop planning your next paper and come on," Rosa made "get moving or you're in trouble motions," with her hands.

"I'm coming," he said, irritated by her mind reading abilities.

She grinned at him and hurried up the walkway to the front door. He followed and the next thing he knew, he'd been unceremoniously dragged inside and hugged by Lee and Doris Goldstein. They herded him through a home that smelled of delicious edibles that only Doris could produce. His mouth watered despite the fact they'd had breakfast just two hours ago.

"Good to see you, Spencer," Lee greeted. "Merry Christmas."

"You too," he responded and smiled for her.

"It's so good to see you, Spencer," Doris hugged him again. "I can't wait for you to see Mary."

"Where is she?" He asked eagerly as a small boy ran out of the kitchen with a sugar cookie shaped like a Christmas tree in his hand.

"Spencer," cried Damien and hugged him around the legs.

"Hey, buddy."

He picked him up and hugged him tight. "It's good to see you."

"Santa Claus came last night."

"Yep," Spencer said. "I'll bet he brought lots of presents for you."

"Wanna see?"

Spencer nodded and let him back down on the floor.

"Here, let me take those for you." Kevin said to Rosa

Rosa handed over a small stack of brightly wrapped gifts to Kevin. "You didn't have to do this. I'm sure Santa will bring them a multitude of toys."

Kevin's smile lit up his face and his grey eyes twinkled under blond hair shot through with just a touch of platinum.

"We wanted to," Rosa said and Lee nodded. "We love the kids."

"Where's Mary?" Spencer wondered as Damien pulled him to the sofa.

"Right over here."

Spencer looked over to see Mary in Doris's lap. She wore a flowered dress with a light blue background and a light pink sweater. He went to her and picked her up from Doris's lap. "Oh my, you're getting so big.

Rosa blinked against tears as Spencer sat down with Mary. The child didn't cry, but seemed to be mesmerized by Spencer's eyes as he watched her carefully. Then she blinked and reached up to touch his cheeks. "Encer, hi" she said and Spencer flinched.

His heart began to trip hammer in his chest and his palms to sweat. "She remembers me."

"We have pictures of you in the house and every time Lee comes for a visit she talks about you."

Mary looked up at him and smiled. She said something intelligible to him and Doris grinned. "She wants her doll."

"Oh."

"It's in her bedroom. You remember."

"Yeah." He put her on the floor and she hurried away toward the hallway that led to her little room.

He followed her without noticing how the other's smiled after him. Her little room was different from the way he remembered it. It was all pink and white and full of stuffed animals and other toys. It was a bit unorganized, but she was two and he could see she was extremely happy with her surroundings.

She went directly to a doll that sat on a tiny chair made to resemble an old fashioned Windsor style chair. The doll had blond hair with ringlets that touched the shoulders, a white dress with pink roses that matched the rose on her painted porcelain cheeks and lip. She wore little white socks with lace at the tops and pink shoes. Her eyes were as blue as JJ's and she seemed to smile at him as Mary picked her up.

"Play," she said quite clearly and held out the doll to him.

He swallowed very hard. Playing trucks and putting together puzzles with Henry hadn't prepared him for this. Mary studied him very intently with eyes that were a beautiful blue. They arrowed straight into his heart, so he dropped down on a fluffy pink rug.

Mary crouched down with him and held out her doll. "Play," she demanded again.

He stretched out his long legs and took the doll from her. "Why don't I tell you both a story? I'm sure your friend would love it."

Mary studied him for a minute, then joined him on the rug. He thought for a few moments then said. "Once upon a time, there was a lovely little girl named Mary."

She grinned at him and pointed to herself. "Yes, you're Mary."

"Mary was born on a very special night called Christmas Eve. A lonely young man named Spencer –"

She pointed at him and he nodded. "Yep, that's my name."

"Spencer found Mary at a church and took her in from the bitter cold winter's night. Now, Spencer didn't know very much about babies, except for his little godson Henry, but he knew there were many people that could help Mary. So he took her inside to talk to the nice priest. Soon a smart, stunning and sassy police detective arrived and helped Mary and Spencer."

Mary reached for the doll. Spencer relinquished it to her and continued with his story. "There was no place for the tiny baby to stay, so Spencer agreed he'd take care of her with Detective Rosa's help."

"Rosa," said the child and grinned at him.

"Yes, she and Spencer fell in love with Mary and wanted to keep her for themselves, but they couldn't so they gave her to Doris and Kevin who love her very much. Then Mary got a pretty new doll that she can play with and tell all her secrets to. You know what, Mary?"

He noticed that she was babbling to her doll and not really listening to him, but he continued. "You're the luckiest little girl in the world."

Mary put the doll on the floor and got to her feet. "Want daddy?"

He got up and took her little hand. She looked up at him and then preceded him out of the room, tugging on his hand as though she had business that was much more important than telling stories or playing with dolls.

"Hi," Lee and Rosa said together when they reappeared in the living room. "That wasn't very long.

"She wants her daddy."

Kevin was in his easy chair. He sat, up, grinned and held his arms out to her. She hurried to him and he pulled her into his lap. "Hello, my princess."

She threw her little arms around him and kissed his cheek. Spencer watched her interact with her adopted dad, and tried with all his might to clamp down on the jealousy that sprang into his heart.

"Hey, Spencer," Lee interrupted his thoughts. "What's with the ice on Rosa's finger?"

"Oh my," Doris exclaimed. "You're getting married."

"Yeah, um, we were going to tell you but…"

"You were distracted by Mary," Lee finished for him.

"Yeah."

"That's so great," Lee squealed.

She grabbed Rosa in a hug and they jumped up and down like a couple of high school girls. Spencer observed them with a bemused expression until Damien climbed onto the sofa next to him. "What's getting married mean?"

He was saved by Doris. "It means that Spencer and Rosa will be a family and have kids."

He coughed into his hand and Lee began to laugh as he looked at Rosa who was smirking in his direction. "Hm, kids, that means plural," Lee teased. "Just how many children are we talking about?"

"We aren't talking about anything," Rosa said. "It's none of your business."

Lee chuckled and drew Spencer into a bear hug. "Congratulations."

"Thank you."

"Why don't we have birthday and Christmas presents?" Doris suggested.

"I think that's a wonderful idea," Kevin said. "Damien, why don't you get the gifts?"

The little boy jumped down and hurried over to the tree where Kevin had placed the gifts. He brought them to Spencer, who took the square package from the top of the little stack. "This's for you, Damien."

The little boy ripped off the paper and crowed with happiness at the sight of a Star Wars Lego kit. "Mama Dorie said we can see the movie after the New Year."

"Wow… that sounds like fun."

"Do you like Star Wars, Spencer?"

"I do."

He didn't realize that Lee, Doris and Rosa were taking photographs. Damien thanked him after Doris reminded him.

"You're welcome."

He turned to Mary and watched intently as Kevin helped the little girl pull the paper of her birthday and Christmas gifts, one a 150 piece wooden block set and the other a talking Sesame Street Cookie Monster figure. The tearing of the paper was a kind of music to his ears that made him smile hard.

"Told you it was gonna be okay," Rosa said as she snapped more pictures.

Mary squealed with happiness at the sight of the Cookie Monster doll which made Lee laugh.

"She loves Cookie Monster, "Doris said. "Every time I turn on Sesame Street, she won't leave the TV."

"Ookie Onster," Mary said and hugged the doll."

"Thanks for the tip," Rosa said to Doris.

"You're welcome."

Doris brought in an entire spread of goodies to nibble on and they all watched Mary and Damien explore all the gifts they'd received.

"How was your Hanukah celebration this year," Rosa asked.

"It was wonderful." Kevin said. "Damien made it fun because he's so curious now about Judaism."

"Children are much less judgmental when exposed to more than one belief system in their formative years."

"We want him to know both and when he's older he can make his own choice. We don't want to stand in his way."

"Same thing for Mary," Doris said. "She was left at a Christian church, after all. I have to believe that whoever abandoned her feels most comfortable with Christianity."

"I'm glad you were there," Kevin directed to Spencer. "These children are the greatest blessings of our lives."

Rosa reached over and squeezed Spencer's hand tightly. He smiled at her and she grinned back with sparkling eyes. He couldn't wait to have her as his wife and maybe in time a baby to make it complete.