Here's Chapter 3! Thank you to those who have reviewed and those who have favorited/are following this story. I hope you enjoy this installment!

As always, nothing but the plot and any original characters belong to me!

3.

Kyle walked out of the kitchen, completely unaware of his cousin's flustered state. "So, tomorrow is Christmas Eve. It's going to be pretty crazy for you to have to do your Christmas shopping then."

Sawyer shook himself out of his jumbled thoughts. "Christmas shopping? I don't need to do any Christmas shopping."

Kyle resumed his seat on the overstuffed couch. "No?"

"No, I took care of that while I was away."

His cousin leaned back and crossed his arms. "Really? You took care of it while you were away…..on a sailboat in the South Pacific?"

Sawyer grinned. "Yeah, actually."

"What, you wrote us all poetry or something?"

The young man gave his cousin an incredulous look. "Poetry? Really, Kyle?"

"Well, what else could you do for gifts when you're on a boat?"

"We weren't on the boat the whole time, you know." Sawyer leaned back and crossed his own arms. "We made port stops in Auckland, Christchurch, Dunedin, and Wellington." He turned his body a little more towards his cousin and propped his elbow on the arm of the chair. "Isn't it weird that there's a Dunedin in New Zealand, just like in Florida?"

Kyle nodded. "It's definitely not the most common of names."

"Yeah….it's not much like our Dunedin, though. Anyway, I did most of my shopping in Auckland, since it was right at the beginning of the trip. I figured I'd be pretty busy with research and stuff once we got started."

"Smart. What kind of stuff did you get?"

Sawyer's eyes lit up. "I can show you, if you want. Well, not yours, obviously….but I can show you everybody else's."

"Yeah, let's see what you got."

Sawyer jumped up excitedly, disposed of his plate in the kitchen, and jogged back to the bedrooms. He returned just a few minutes later with his arms full of what appeared to be a bunched up beach towel. He sat back down in the recliner with the bundle on his lap, then began unwrapping the top. "I couldn't get anything big, since whatever I got had to fit into my duffel bag."

He reached into the nest of fabric and pulled out a small octagonal-shaped wooden box with a paua inlay in the shape of a flower. "I got this for Mom." He pointed to the design on the lid. "This flower is called a 'Kowhai'. It's kind of the unofficial flower of New Zealand."

Kyle smiled. "It's pretty."

Sawyer nodded his agreement. "Yeah….you should see the real thing." He then opened the box and pulled out a metal chain attached by a ring to a beautifully carved heart-shaped pendant of delicate wood overlaying mother of pearl. He held it up for Kyle to see. "I got her this necklace, too. The carving is called Kowhaiwhai. It's an old art form of the Maori."

"Maori?"

Sawyer looked up from the gift. "Oh….the Maori are the indigenous people of New Zealand."

"Cool! Aunt Lorraine's gonna love that!"

Sawyer smiled and put the necklace back into the box, then set it on the coffee table. He reached into the towel again and pulled out another wooden octagonal-shaped box. This one also had a paua inlay, but it was in the shape of a bird. "I got this one for Hazel." As with his mother's box, he pointed to design on the lid. "This is a Kiwi. They are native to New Zealand. They're kind of funny little birds, but they are pretty cool….really unique. Like Hazel. I thought she'd like it."

Kyle smiled. "I'm sure she will." He cocked his head to the side. "Is there a necklace in that one, too?"

Sawyer grinned. "Yes, as a matter of fact." He opened the box and pulled out a sterling silver chain attached to a round silver pendant a little smaller than a quarter. Pressed into the circle were three vertical eternity symbols intersected by two horizontal eternity symbols, looking much like three interlocking crosses. "This is a Hapu pendant. The lady at the shop said that it represents extended family and friends who are like family." He let Kyle get a good look at it, then returned the pendant to the box and closed the lid. "I figured we were all kind of like family at the aquarium, so…."

Kyle smiled warmly at his cousin. "Wow, Sawyer…..that's really thoughtful!" He leaned forward with his elbows on his knees. "A special gift for a special girl, right?"

"Right." Wait! No! Sawyer blushed furiously as he set the box next to the other one already on the table. "I mean…um….Hazel's my best friend….she was the first friend I ever really had – other than you, but you don't count since you're related to me – and I just thought…"

Kyle smirked. "I get it, Sawyer….it's okay." He gestured to the bundle. "What else have you got in there?" Oh wow….Sawyer likes Hazel! He LIKES likes her! How could I have missed that before? He thought back over the past Summer and was startled to realize something else. Hazel likes Sawyer, too! He felt like a complete idiot….it seemed so obvious to him now. Well, they do say that hindsight is 20/20.

He wasn't quite sure what to do about these new revelations, or even if he should do anything about it. Sawyer and Hazel were teenagers, and teens tended to not appreciate adults - as weird as it sometimes still was for Kyle to think of himself as an adult - interfering in their personal lives….no matter how much they may like the particular adult. Anna would know exactly what to do about this. Woah! Where did that come from? Why am I thinking about her right now? He shook his head to try to clear his thoughts. FOCUS…..on SAWYER, Kyle!

Sawyer looked up from rummaging around in his stash, completely oblivious to his cousin's state of mind. "I got this for Mr. Haskett." In his hands was a mahogany box that he opened to reveal an antique brass nautical compass. "I got it at a little antique shop in Wellington. I thought he could use it on his sailboat….you know, since Rufus broke his other one."

"Sawyer, that is awesome! I'm sure he'll love it!"

The teen ducked his head. "I hope so." He set the box on the table with the other gifts, then once again reached into the makeshift bag. He had a mischievous smile on his face as he pulled out the next item. "I got this for Dr. Clay."

Kyle noticed his cousin's expression and eyed the small nondescript box somewhat suspiciously. "What is it?"

Sawyer handed him the box. "Take a look."

Kyle opened the box, surprised and a little confused at the same time by what he found. Staring up at him was the white face of a man's chrome wristwatch. Why in the world would this make Sawyer grin like that? He was about to comment when Sawyer spoke again. "Take a good look."

Kyle did. It's a really nice watch, but I don't…..wait, what in the world? "The numbers are backwards! It goes counter-clockwise!" He looked back up to see his cousin nodding with a huge grin on his face.

"Before I left, Dr. Clay told me this story about his first boat trip to Australia and New Zealand. He said that everyone kept telling him that the toilets in the Southern Hemisphere flushed in the opposite direction of the ones in the Northern Hemisphere – that they flushed counter-clockwise."

"Do they?"

Sawyer chuckled. "No. The design of a toilet is the only thing that determines which way the water will go down…..it doesn't matter if you are in New Zealand or New York. Dr. Clay tried to explain that to people, but they just told him that it was only a matter of time until he saw that he was wrong – that once he actually got down there, he'd see."

Kyle chuckled with his cousin. "I'm sure that Dr. Clay will get a good laugh out of this, then."

He closed the box and added it to the collection of gifts slowly filling up his coffee table. "Got anything else in that magic towel of yours? What about Dr. McCarthy? Did you get anything for him?"

"Yeah, I did. There was this custom bowtie shop in Christchurch. I got him a couple of silk ties - one is red with little blue dolphins on it and the other one is green with little brown kiwis on it." He reached down into the bunched up towel and brought out the bowties for the college student to see.

"Nice….definitely a good gift for him. Anything else?"

Sawyer started carefully returning the gifts to the soft fabric piled on his lap. "Well, there's yours, but I already told you that you can't see it. I have a couple of t-shirts in my duffel bag for Uncle Max and Aunt Alyce. They specifically told me that if I insisted on bringing them something back, that is all they'd accept….and postcards. So, I got them some of those, too."

Kyle shook his head and laughed lightly. "Yup, that sounds like my parents."

Sawyer smiled and nodded. "The rest are just some small odds and ends for people at the aquarium."

"Well done, Sawyer. I'm impressed." He grinned impishly. "But I'll bet the ladies would still have appreciated some poetry, too."

Sawyer threw a pillow at his cousin, then got up and started heading back to the bedrooms with his precious cargo. He glanced at a clock on the wall. "It's getting late…shouldn't we be heading to bed? Our plane leaves at 5AM tomorrow, right?"

"Right!" Kyle collected their empty soda cans and put them into the recycle bin in the kitchen, before following Sawyer down the hall. "Set your alarm for 3AM, okay? I want to make sure that we get to the airport early enough to get through all the TSA security without a problem."

Sawyer nodded sleepily as he turned into the bedroom that was his for the night. "Okay. 'Night, Kyle."

"'Night, Sawyer. It's great to have you back!"

TBC