"Can we get a Christmas tree?" Trubel asked out of the blue as they all sat together having breakfast one morning.

Nick looked up at her over his coffee mug and smiled then looked at Adalind and raised his eyebrows in a look encouraging her to share her own thoughts.

"Fine with me," Adalind said smiling as well. "It can't be very big given our space, but I think it would be nice to add a little holiday cheer around here."

Trubel smiled widely. "And, I bet Kelly will love it," she said leaning over and tickling him in the swing he was bouncing in near the table. "All those shiny lights and ornaments."

It was Saturday, and for once, Nick actually had a day off, so he suggested, "We can go pick one up after breakfast."

After they had cleared the table and all gotten dressed for the day, they piled in Nick's truck. It felt oddly normal. They were an unconventional family at best, but a family nonetheless. Nick thought of Trubel like a little sister, and while he and Adalind were still sorting out where their relationship might land, they were doing a good job of coexisting and co-parenting.

It was only a few weeks before Christmas, so the tree lot was abuzz with activity. Nick strapped Kelly into a carrier onto his chest, and the four of them set out to find a tree. They quickly settled on an about four-footer that would fit perfectly into the space at the factory. Within a half hour they had paid, and the workers at the lot had tied it on top of Nick's truck for the trek home.

They stopped at a Target on the way back to the factory to buy decorations. Kelly had fallen asleep, so Nick stayed with him in the car while Adalind and Trubel ventured into the store. They made quick work, and in about 15 minutes returned each carrying several bags full of goodies. Before long they were back home and carrying in their Christmas treasures.

Kelly woke up ready to eat, so Adalind fed him on the couch while Nick and Trubel started the decorating process. Nick got the tree carried in and place in a holder with some water while Trubel fitted the tree skirt around it. They worked on stringing on several sets of lights while Adalind finished feeding Kelly and transferred him into a bouncy chair so she could join in. The worked together hanging several boxes of ornaments, and pretty soon has a beautifully decorated tree.

They all stood back to admire it while Nick picked up Kelly and took him closer to look at the shiny ornaments and lights. He seemed to really enjoy them. Adalind grabbed her phone and said, "Look this way," to Nick. Nick turned around as she asked holding Kelly close to the tree as Adalind snapped a few photos. Trubel approached her and held out her hand. "Let me take a photo of the three of you," she offered. Adalind hesitated. All day had felt so natural and been so fun as they were truly enjoying a family activity, but she and Nick were not a couple and a family photo might be crossing the line. "Oh that's okay," Adalind said trying to sound aloof. "You should hop over there," she suggested instead.

Nick both anticipated and could see her hesitation and confusion. He knew that she had been trying so hard to not cross any boundaries with him, even though the boundaries were still somewhat undefined. He interjected. "No, you should come over here," he said to Adalind. "Kelly should have a first Christmas with his family photo." Trubel smiled triumphantly as Adalind looked at him a bit stunned. She was also touched. She knew how hard all this must be for Nick, but he had just been so great.

"Okay," she finally conceded and walked toward them. Nick held out the arm that wasn't holding Kelly encouraging her to stand next to him, and he closed his hand on her shoulder and squeezed it gently. It was all she could do not to cry she was so happy.

"Okay, everyone say Merry Christmas," said Trubel. Nick and Adalind said it in unison, which caused Kelly to giggle, allowing her to take an adorable family photo.

Trubel passed the phone back to Adalind, who resisted the urge to immediately look at the photo.

The rest of the day and evening were pretty normal – lunch and dinner, tending to Kelly, a load of laundry.

When it was time for bed and Kelly was settled in, Adalind did grab her phone to look at the photo and smiled. They all looked so happy, like a real family. But still something was missing. Suddenly, she longed for Diana. She got these waves of grief sometimes that hit her out of nowhere. She started to cry. Nick opened the door a moment later, and she wiped her eyes and set the phone on the table trying to hide her sadness, though she knew he had seen her.

"What's wrong?" he asked gently as he walked towards her.

There was no use in lying about. "I'm okay," she said back. "I was just thinking about Diana as I was looking at those photos we took earlier. I don't even have a picture of her."

Nick softened as he looked at her. As a father now, he couldn't imagine what it would be like to lose Kelly, and he felt so guilty in the role he had played in taking Diana from Adalind.

"I'm sorry," he said meaning it. "I can't imagine how much that hurts." He then reached out and pulled her to him in a hug.

She immediately melted into his embrace. "Thank you," she said and took a deep breath as she settled her head against his chest listening to his steady heartbeat.

"I promise I'll try and help you find her," he said. Adalind just nodded into his chest.

He held her for a few minutes longer until she was the one to pull back. "You're a good man, Nick Burkhart," she said looking up into his eyes. "Kelly and I are very lucky to have you in our lives."

It was Nick's turn to be touched. Adalind had thanked him many times for helping her and Kelly, but she had never said it in quite that way.

All he could do was smile at her. As their eyes lingered a little too long, and the tension in the air increased, Adalind was the one who dropped the embrace and excused herself to use the restroom. They settled into their evening routine finding comfort in lying next to each other.

Christmas Morning

They had all agreed not to buy each other Christmas presents. Adalind had insisted considering she didn't have any of her own money right now and refused to buy Nick a present with his own money. They did buy Kelly a cute exersaucer as he was big enough now to support his head and could stand in it and play. It had all sorts of things attached to it that he could pull and chew on, and he loved it.

Monroe and Rosalee had invited them all over for dinner, so they packed up and headed to meet the usual gang – Hank, Wu, and Captain Renard were all there too. They had a lovely meal and ate and drank and chatted until pretty late.

They arrived home around 11. Kelly was passed out in the car, so they were able to easily transfer him into his crib. Trubel turned in quickly, tired and full from all the wine and food. Nick let Adalind go first in the restroom to get ready for bed and then joined her a few minutes later, but not before retrieving something he had hidden in a tall kitchen cabinet that only he could reach.

He closed their bedroom door quietly behind him while hiding a gift behind his back. Adalind was sitting on the edge of the bed plugging up her phone to its charger and getting settled in. He joined her sitting down beside her. It was then, she realized he was up to something.

"What are you hiding?" she asked quirking her eyebrows.

"Okay, don't get mad," he started. "I know we said no gifts, but I got you a little something."

Adalind frowned and looked at him sternly. "Nick," she whined. "I thought we agreed."

"It wasn't expensive, I promise," he said and handed her a beautifully wrapped small square box.

She tried to act displeased but she couldn't help but smile. It had been a long time since anyone had given her a gift, especially someone she cared about.

"Well, open it," Nick prompted.

Adalind did as she was told and untied the ribbon to open the package. She got the wrapping off to find a pretty silver box. She opened it and nearly couldn't breathe. It was a folding picture frame with two side-by-sid photos; the first was the photo that Trubel had taken of her, Nick and Kelly in front the Christmas tree. She would quiz Nick later on how he had gotten the photo off her phone. The other photo was of a little blonde baby girl sitting in front of some blocks and playing with a necklace that was floating in the air. "Diana," Adalind finally managed to squeak out staring at the photo.

"It's not recent," Nick started, but after you told me you didn't have a photo of her, I remembered that my mom had sent one in an email once. I deleted the email from my account, but I always saved our communications to a protected hard drive. So, I got the old computer out of storage, and sure enough I still had it." He paused, and when she didn't say anything, he added "you deserve to have a picture of your daughter."

Adalind hugged the gift to her chest and turned to face him. There were tears streaming down her face. "Thank you," she said as she threw her arms around his neck and pulled him close. Nick laughed into her hair and said, "You're welcome." As she pulled back to look at him again, he cupped both sides of her and used his thumbs to wipe away her tears. Once again they found themselves lingering, looking at one another. Overwhelmed with emotion and touched by Nick's thoughtful gesture, Adalind ignored her head and listened to her heart. She leaned forward pressing her lips to Nick. She had a feeling Nick was never going to make the first move, even if he wanted to. He was way too logical. She decided she could be the one to take a chance. If Nick completely rejected her, she figured she could just chalk it up to getting caught up in the emotions of the gift and move on.

The kiss was somewhere in between a peck and full-blown passion. It lingered a bit, and when Adalind pulled back to gage Nick's reaction, his eyes were still closed. He opened them slowly and blinked a few times as she looked at him, searching his face for answers. Was that okay? Do you want this too? Have I ruined everything?

When the pause became long enough to be awkward, Adalind figured she had made the wrong move. She looked away and down, and said, "Sorry, I got carried away," she settled on saying quietly. "Probably a bad idea, right?" she added looking back him.

Finally, he found a response. "Probably," he said as he grabbed her face and pulled her back into another kiss. Adalind smiled into the kiss and immediately put her arms back around his neck. Okay – so this was happening. They were mutually agreeing to ignore the million reasons they could probably both think of as to why this was a bad idea. And, it was amazing. The kiss quickly turned hungry – the result of months, and maybe even years if they were really being honest, of pent up tension that had been increasing daily.

The passionately made out for five or ten minutes when Nick finally pulled back. They both struggled to catch their breath, and Nick leaned his forehead against hers.

"We should probably slow down," he suggested almost as a question. Adalind nodded her head in agreement. "Yeah, good idea," she responded still dazed. They finally looked up in each other's eyes, and both immediately burst out laughing.

"Good," Nick said. "We both agree this is kind of nuts right."

"Absolutely," Adalind responded smiling. "Who would have thought?"

"So," Nick asked running a hand through his hair. "What now?"

The blurred lines of their relationship were only ten times more smeared now.

Adalind gently reached over and took Nick's hand in hers. "Let's just see what happens," she suggested. "We don't have to have all the answers tonight."

Nick nodded at her logic. She was right. The truth was that he had spent so much time rationalizing in his head why he and Adalind shouldn't and couldn't be together that he was totally unprepared for the possibility that maybe they could make it work.

"Sounds like a plan," he responded and leaned forward and kissed her again, much more gently.

"Merry Christmas, Adalind."

"Merry Christmas, Nick."