Well we're back. I own very little.

Chapter 12: Early Christmas presents

I sat down at my computer and wrote an email to Aaron about everything that had been going on since we had last talked, from Matt showing up to dinner to his inviting the ducks to our trip here to finally Matt's Christmas present to me. Right as I sent it Dean and Fulton walked in. "Fulton my best friend in the entire world have I told you how much I love you lately." His eyes got wide and he looked at Dean. Dean looked back at him with the same look.

"Um why would you love me?" He asked tensing up.

"Not like that Fult jeeze you weirdo. What I mean is thanks for helping Matt with this. Seriously that's what I meant. Even IF, and that's a huge if, I felt like that about you I would never say it in front of Dean here. I ain't like that." I said rolling my eyes.

"Oh that's what you meant." Fulton said relieved. I tackled him in a bear hug which he returned. "You're welcome but like they probably told you this was all Matt's idea. He couldn't stand the fact that you were avoiding him and that you had gotten off on the wrong foot he said it was sorta a welcome home/ I'm sorry/ Christmas present."

"Who'd you send that email to?" Dean asked.

"Aaron why?" I answered.

"Am I ever gonna meet this oh-so-wonderful Aaron?" He said sarcastically.

"I don't know maybe." I said. I knew where this was going but just not how fast the fight would erupt.

"I just want to make sure that I have nothing to be jealous of." Dean responded. That was the fastest we've ever gotten into it and I knew it would just get worse. I shot a look at Fulton asking him to leave.

"Um I'm just gonna go down stairs holler if you need something." Fulton said picking up on the look.

"Could you take these to my room first please?" Dean said handing him a few bags. He nodded and walked out the door shutting it behind him. I waited a few seconds and then I looked at Dean who had his arms crossed over his chest and seemed to be trying to control his temper. Mine was buried deep but depending on some of his answers it might come up.

"Has the last week meant nothing to you!" I exploded turning to face him when I was sure Fulton was gone.

"Of course but..." He trailed off.

"Look you know I was pulled away from everyone I've ever been close to by external forces I won't pull away from what's already working for me." He looked confused. "Look Dean I know you're smarter than most of the Ducks and preppies give you credit for. I like you a lot I don't want to leave you. I won't do anything stupid to cause you to leave. I've been pulled away from Fulton by my dad's job, I was pulled away from Tex by team U.S.A. and my dad's job again, and I was pulled away from Aaron by Seth beating the living shit out of me. Dean I'm serious Aaron is just my best friend in Ohio. If anything you should be worrying about losing me to Tex. Aaron is no threat to you I've told you that, but if you keep acting this way Cowboy will become one." He took a step closer to me.

"Acting what way?"

"All jealous of something that is nonexistent." He stepped closer.

"So I have nothing to worry about." Now he's getting it.

"Like I told you Aaron is just like Fulton." He just stood there and looked thoughtful so I went on. "He's just a really great friend who understands me." He stepped closer again.

"Just a good friend eh?" He asked.

"Yes just a good friend who's always been there for me since the seventh grade. Who has also told me that we're too good of friends to consider dating me. He said it wouldn't work." Dean took one last step that closed the distance between the two of us and wrapped his arms around me. That was a quick calm down something must be up.

"Are you mad at me? I shouldn't have said that I just..."

"Dean you're right you shouldn't have said that it isn't fair to me or us." I said crossing my arms over my chest. He looked at the floor and I could tell he was hurt. "Yes Dean I am also mad at you because it hurts to think you don't trust me."

"I can fix that." He said gently.

"Oh you can, can you?" I asked skeptically.

"Yup." He tilted my chin up with one hand while keeping the other one on my waist and brought his lips with in inches of mine. "I'm sorry." He said kissing me gently. I leaned up into it but he pulled back. I pouted and sank back to my flatfooted stance. "How bout now?" He asked smirking a bit.

"If I said yes would you try to fix it the same way?" I asked.

"You'll just have to answer and see." He said with a mischievous smile on his face. "I'll ask you again are you still mad at me?"

"Only a little bit." I answered putting my hands on his arms. He leaned down again.

"I'm really sorry my sweet Maverick." He said brushing his lips against mine. He kissed me and pulled me close. He added a lot of passion to this kiss but for some reason it just wasn't enough. I moved to deepen it but again he pulled back. "It's time for lunch my Mav and Merry early Christmas."

"Damn." I muttered. He walked out of my room and I followed looking at the floor.

"Hey Lizzy I heard about your early Christmas present." I heard a female voice say. I looked up and saw Connie smirking from the couch.

"What early Christmas present?" I asked shooting a glance at Dean. He smiled and she looked confused.

"Did something happen between you two?" Connie asked. "Anyway your room I heard they redid it."

"Oh that Christmas present." I said turning slightly pink.

"Port what did you do to my best friend?" Fulton asked.

"Let's just say..." Dean started.

"We broke in my new sheets." I said smirking. Charlie and Jesse turned a bright red color, Connie looked like she wanted to burst out laughing, and Guy, Averman, Goldberg, and Fulton looked shock and my brothers just kinda stood there and looked uncomfortable. I looked at Connie and we both started dieing in laughter. Beside me Dean was chuckling and shaking his head.

"Lizzy..." Ben said trying to keep from laughing.

"What it's funny?" I answered when I recovered. "Lighten up Matt we weren't doing anything it's just fun to tease you guys."

"Yeah you know she isn't bound to tell you guys about her sex life it's personal." Connie added.

"Well the food won't serve itself." Matt said. Ben grabbed my arm and held me back in the living room. Once everyone cleared out he looked at me.

"Lizabeth I don't want you to joke about something like that, you know that's why Seth deemed it appropriate to beat you. You know I don't really mind what you're doing as long as you're careful but Matt's a lot like Seth personality wise, I mean he has a fast temper, and I don't want you to get hurt by accident. You understand what I'm saying Lizzy?" Ben said cautiously.

"Yeah I get it. Thanks Ben I know but you know it was it funny. And what is everyone doing here?"

"What's today?"

"Christmas Eve."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning movie fest. Duh ER use your brain." I said before walking into the less formal of our two dining rooms. Movie fest happened every Christmas Eve. It was where the entire family and some times the Ducks got together and watched one movie after another. One year it goes from oldest to youngest and then the opposite way the next year, every one in the family gets to pick their favorite and no one is allowed to complain.

"Aunt Casey it's nice to see you again." I said as I saw her enter from the kitchen.

"You too dear." She answered before her husband walked in. Aunt Casey had gotten remarried about three months after I had moved to Texas. Her husbands name is Justin Baker, she changed her last name but when Justin asked Charlie to do so also, Charlie got really mad and took off. Finally Justin backed off and Charlie relaxed. I didn't like or trust the guy but he seemed to make Aunt Casey happy.

"Justin." I said through gritted teeth.

"Elizabeth very nice to see you again." He sounded pleasant but I could see the dislike in his eyes. I guess he didn't forgive me for what I had said at their wedding reception. He had been introduced to me and I looked up at him and said 'I don't like you, I don't trust you and I'll have you know that I'll get your ass restrained if you do anything to hurt my cousin or my aunt and just so you know you'll never be an uncle to me and I won't refer to you as such.' He looked at me and shook his head. I guess my aunt and my dad heard it because my dad swatted my butt right after we walked out of the room and told me never to say that again.

"Well come on let's eat." Charlie said. After we ate lunch the door bell rang. All eyes fell on me.

"Why do I have to get it?" I asked.

"Just go answer the door." Matt said as we migrated back into the living room with the big screen Tv. I pulled it open and saw Adam and Jack standing there.

"Hey Cake-eater, what's up?" I asked leaning against the door way in typical bash brother fashion.

"You hang around Portman and Fulton too much Cup-Cake eater." Adam said referring to my old nickname that he gave me when he first saw my house because it was big just not as big as his.

"Ain't my fault Cake-eater Dean's too cute and I've know Fult too long to avoid him now." I said.

"ER." Jack said in flirting kind of way.

"Jack." I spat his name with a lot of venom.

"My mom made me bring him." Adam said apologetically.

"Don't worry about it." I said ushering them in. "Take your shoes and coats off and come in. Matt ain't heating the street." I said. They did as I asked and walked into the living room. "Um well for those of you who don't know this is Jack Burton I met him the other day and he's kinda friends with Adam. Jack this is my Aunt Casey, Charlie's mom, her husband Justin Baker, my brothers Matt, Chris, and Ben, and the Ducks. Charlie, Connie, Guy, Jesse, Averman, Goldberg, my best friend Fulton Reed and my boyfriend Dean Portman. Have a seat we're just about to get started." I said. Looking around the room I saw Aunt Casey, Justin, Guy, and Connie were on the couch; Ben, Charlie, Adam, Jack, Jesse, and Chris were spread out on the floor; and Goldberg, Fulton, and Dean were on the other couch. I sat down in Matt's lap in my dad's old arm chair and looked across the room.

"Last time we did this I do believe Dad started making it your turn this year." Matt said prodding my back.

"Actually Fulton, because he is my best friend and practically family, is 4 weeks younger than me so he gets to go first." I corrected.

"Lizzy..." Fulton started.

"Fulton we go through this every year we do this. I've known you since I was in diapers you are practically family just go stick the movie in the VCR." I ordered. He sighed but got up and did so. Chris tossed the remote to Charlie and designated him the official VCR master for the night. He fast forwarded it to after the previews and Fulton dimmed the lights. We had almost every movie made on tape and we left most of them here for some reason. Anyway we sat through that one and it was really good and then once again Matt poked me in the back. "Would you stop poking me." I said "I'm going." I stood up and looked through the movies and finally found the one I wanted.

"What's it gonna be this year Fire-arm?" Chris asked. "Scary, horror, love story, comedy, classic, or Disney/kid movie?"

"You'll see." I said putting it in the VCR and letting it play. I sat down in Chris's lap and leaned into him.

"Ooo the creepy movie it is." Ben said as the title 'The Sixth Sense' flashed across the screen. Once that movie finished it was about 7 and Aunt Casey said that they would only stay till after the next movie which happened to be Charlie's favorite Chucky movie 'Child's play 3.' I looked around the room and Connie had a death grip on Guy's hand.

"Hey Cons you want to go upstairs?" I asked slightly begging. Her eyes were wide when she turned to me and nodded.

"What's wrong? Don't like scary movies?" Fulton teased.

"You know we can't stand the 'Child's Play' series it's way to creepy for us." I answered. We hightailed out of there and upstairs to Dean's guest room.

"Where are we?" She asked looking around the room.

"I'll give you one guess after you turn the stereo on." I said. She did and once she heard 'You ain't seen nothing yet' come out of the speakers she smiled.

"Portman." She said smirking.

"Yup. Don't worry we haven't done it yet and I don't want to."

"He's amazing isn't he." She said.

"Yeah he's the best. Well actually if I had to rank them in order of most loveable I would have to say Tex has the top spot. Nothing can compare to how Tex made me feel." I said as we sat down on the bed.

"You still love Cowboy?"

"I don't know it's really complicated. I mean I still have feelings for him but I don't know if I ever loved him. Extreme like yes, major crush definitely, but love is complicated. I mean we only split up, over the phone mind you, because my dad transferred to Ohio. If we hadn't moved I might still be with him. We said right before he left that we'd pick up where we left off when he came back but right before the last Iceland game we moved. I believe he was getting ready to go to practice."

"I think I remember that day. Ever since we met he was always fun to hang around with and real funny and always had a smile on his face. He became quick friends with Fulton too. I don't think Fulton ever knew that Cowboy was dating you. I don't think that Fulton knew Cowboy knew you until you showed up and explained what happened. We all knew Cowboy had a girl though. We spent some time just getting to know each other and it turned out besides Guy, Cowboy was the only one that had a girlfriend. Charlie was the one who asked the question. He's like 'alright next question, who has significant other?' Cowboy was confused until Fulton leaned over and said that Charlie meant if he had a girlfriend. Cowboy's hand slowly went up as did Guy's and mine. Charlie looked at Guy and he's like 'we all know who you're dating but Dwayne what is she like?' You should have seen the smile on his face. Portman said sarcastically 'Awww I bet she's real sweet.' Dwayne looked directly at him and replied 'Yeah she is sometimes.' Fulton was like 'Sometimes? She got a mean streak or something?' Dwayne was holding back laughter. 'Something like that, but you should see her pitch a baseball I would not want to be on the receiving end of one of those pitches.' 'She plays a guy's sport?' Guy had asked, to which Dwayne replied 'She says she only pitches baseball because she used to play hockey but she lost her brother awhile ago and he's the one who taught her to play and she just couldn't play anymore.' 'Guy you know Lizzy played baseball occasionally when we couldn't play hockey.' Charlie had put in. 'Yeah I know she could also kick our asses at hockey, baseball, soccer, football, and video games. Good thing she's crappy at cards or we'd really have a problem.' Guy answered. Something sure flickered across Cowboy's face but I couldn't tell if he was thinking about you and that maybe you knew them some how or if he was just confused about something. 'Hey Cowboy she got a name?' Julie asked him. He looked around and said 'yeah it's Elizabeth.' I told him it was a beautiful name. I still remember his answer which was quote 'A beautiful name for a really beautiful girl.' 'Well good for you.' Charlie had told him. It was a few days later when he came to practice all torn up. Charlie asked him what was wrong but he shook his head and said he didn't want to talk about it. Fulton found out later what had happened. Fulton came back and just said the Cowboy was really torn up because his girlfriend had just called to say that she was moving to Ohio because of her dad's job."

"Wow I can't believe all those similarities and no one picked up on it."

"I think Charlie might have and maybe Adam but no one else. Did you ever tell Cowboy about us?"

"Well sorta I told him that I had a cousin named Charlie who played hockey and I used to play with District 5 in Minnesota but we never actually got to talking about them. Connie you remember how you made me swear not to say anything about what you told me when we were 11?"

"Yeah."

"Does it still happen?" I asked looking at her. She dropped her gaze to the floor.

"Yeah occasionally when I come home." Connie whispered.

"Cons why don't you stay here for the rest of break?" I asked quietly.

"No I can't I'll probably get in trouble for being over here tonight."

"Cons don't blame yourself for what's going on it isn't your fault. Look what happened to me when I said something."

"You got torn away from your friends."

"Yeah but I gained more friends and reconnected with old ones. Connie you know I won't say anything I already swore to you that I wouldn't but you got to be careful."

"I know thanks for caring ER."

"Yeah so what do you want to do now I mean it's another hour before that horrible movie is over?" She shrugged so we just sat and talked about anything and everything that came to mind. Finally Charlie knocked on the door. I knew it was him by his voice.

"Lizzy, Connie the movie is over you can come down now." I opened the door and studied his face looking for any trace of a lie. I couldn't find one so we walked down stairs and true enough the movie was over.

"Who's next?" Fulton asked.

"I think we're gonna go now." Aunt Casey said standing up.

"Thank you for coming and we hope you enjoyed the show." My brothers and I chorused at the same time.

"Thanks for inviting us and we did. Your father has trained you well." She replied smiling. We all smiled and the Ducks burst into laughter. Once it died down I looked at Ben and then to Dean and back to Ben. He knew what I was asking and he nodded. His look said boyfriends get rights too.

"Who's next you asked I do believe the old rule still stands."

"You mean the one where girlfriends have the same rights as family?" Matt asked.

"Well yeah but we have to make as slight adjustment to that rule." I said.

"Why I think it works just fine." Chris said.

"Yeah but come on that's only because I was only 5 when Dad made it up to accommodate for Matt's girlfriend."

"No I think Chris is right I mean why should we change a long standing tradition just for you?" Ben put in, "Besides you got your exception with Fulton."

I looked at Matt who just sat there amused. I guess he was staying out of this one. I turned to look at Charlie who sighed and put his hand over his heart. "You know if you love me you'd add those two little words to the rule." Charlie nodded. I knew Ben's look had told me Dean should get rights too but he would never go against Chris. "Come on Chris don't you love me?" I asked with my puppy dog pout. Chris sighed heavily and looked at Matt. Matt just sat there smiling. His look was saying 'you started it now finish it.' Chris growled. "Aw Matt you got a little doggie does he do tricks too?" I asked. I said the same thing every time someone growls at me. Matt gave me a warning glance.

"Alright fine. Add your two stinky words."

"Which would make the rule: all girlfriends and boyfriends have the same rights as the Jacobs/Conway family do." I said stating the entire rule.

"Doesn't that mean it's Portman's turn seeing as how he's older than Charlie but younger than Ben?" Connie asked.

"Yup Dean go pick out a movie." I said walking towards the kitchen.

"Hey Teddy get me some more Coke would you? Since you're going that way any way." Matt called. I brought out his Coke and my root beer and plopped down on the couch where Dean had been sitting earlier. Dean looked at me and then back at the movies.

"Come on Dean just pick one." I called.

"Alright keep your shirt on." He said.

"Bet he only said that because Matt and Chris are in the room. You know he wants to see you without a shirt." Fulton whispered in my ear before Dean turned around.

"I knew it was a good thing to date my best friend's best friend." I responded as Dean pulled me off the couch and took my seat. "Grrr." I said. He pulled me back down in to his lap.

"You belong right here and I ain't letting you go now." He said as the title rolled across the screen.

"You just couldn't resist could you?" Fulton asked. Dean shook his head and shifted a bit.

"Talk to me Goose." I whispered right as Tom Cruise said it in the movie and that started it all.

"The defense department regrets to inform you that your sons are dead because they were stupid." Dean said right as Charlie paused the movie and looked at us.

"Yes?" I asked.

"Shut your mouth you're louder than the speakers." Charlie said gently.

"Yeah guys I know you've seen the movie over a zillion times and you know all the lines of Maverick and Goose by heart but don't ruin the movie for the rest of us." Fulton said.

"Sorry." Dean and I said at the same time. We kept our voices down and around 11 the movie ended.

"Hey I'm gonna go home thanks for um letting me stay and all." Jack said standing up. He seemed nervous. I looked at Dean and he seemed to be pissed. I stood up and walked with Jack to the door.

"I know what happened between you and Dean to make him hate you and you to be scared of him. He doesn't know I know that you stole his last girlfriend and he beat the crap out of you. But um thanks for not saying anything." I said. He smiled and put his shoes and coat on. "Are you gonna be ok walking home this late?"

"Yeah I'll be fine it's not that far from here. Maybe I'll see you around school."

"Maybe." I said as he walked out the door. I went back to the living room and Dean looked at me. I sat down and motioned for Ben to pick his movie. He did and I leaned back against Dean. "Nothing happened I swear." I whispered. The movie started and Connie laid down with her head in Guy's lap letting him stroke her hair. During the movie most of my friends started dropping off in weird yet perfect blackmail style. After that movie the only ones still up were me, my brothers and Dean. Fulton had his head on Goldie's shoulder and Goldie had his arm around Fulton. Charlie had his head on Adam's stomach and Adam's arm was across Charlie's torso and his head was in Jesse's lap. Guy had shifted so he was laying down on the couch and had his arm around Connie's waist who was laying in front of him. Dean shifted under me again. I turned and looked at him. "Something wrong babe?" I asked.

"Um I just got ta go pee." Dean said sheepishly.

"You should have said something." I said standing up and walking to Matt. I sat down and sorta curled up in his arms. Dean came back and slouched on the couch. Ben's movie ended and Chris put his in. Turned out to be 'Sleeping Beauty.' I knew the only reason he put the movie in was because it always put me and Ben to sleep. Which it did, I fell asleep about halfway through it and so did Ben.

So we finally meet Charlie's step-dad. It took so long because I just remembered he had one and it's setting up for something in a few later chapters. I would have updated sooner but I haven't been feeling too well and now although I'm in some pain I'm updating. So if you decided you feel the need, review, it would be nice. Thank you for taking the time to read this and all the past chapters.