SiCela EstNoël
AnniKay

Sam/Mercedes/Puck

Disclaimer: I own Nothing…Murphy, Falchuk, and Brennen along with Fox and others own this fandom and all the characters there in…Anything you recognize obviously belongs to them

****THANKS to everyone who has taken the time to review! Your encouragement helps more than you know!****

Thank all of you for being avid readers & reviewers of my stories

Special thanks to Isis Aurora Tomoe who is my current Beta rock star
Summary: Winter Break for the College Sophomores of the Learning French Series.
A time to reconnect with family and friends.

Please Come Home for Christmas

Vince PoV

My fall semester did not go the way I thought it would…at all. I mean, yeah Finn was back and better than ever. Like for real…his handwriting no longer counted as a NSA code. He was given a cool position as sort of an intern or coaches assistant so he could still live in the athletic dorms with me and Elle. We'd gotten Worthington Hall, which was perfect. It was a five-story dorm that consists of four-person apartment style rooms that include two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen and a common area. The three of us were sharing a suite so I had my own bedroom and my own bathroom while Finn and Lauren had the other bedroom and bathroom. To be honest we were all a little shocked that housing had let a co-ed suite happen like that. But something told me if any one asked about it, they would claim that it was a clerical error. Just like, as far as the parents knew, Elle was the one with the single bedroom and bathroom. But I was pretty sure that all four of them knew we'd moved things around the second they walked out the door. They were smart like that. Not that it was a big deal, the beds were built in lofts they couldn't move them together or anything. If they had figured that out…well, I'd never ask and if they told me, I'd never tell another soul.

As far as school itself, things were going awesome. My grades at the end of the previous year had been a solid B+, so I was more than happy with that. I had gotten ten of my gen-ed requirements out of the way. I was on track to be able to finish those up spring semester and start working on my major and minors that same time. My advisor said that I was incredibly focused on academics for such a successful student athlete. I took the backhanded compliment in the vein it was meant, rather than getting defensive and upset. After all I was certainly a student athlete. I started my sophomore year as a starting cornerback and second string safety. We lost only one game during the twenty-fourteen season, so I was pretty damn proud to be a Buckeye.

Naw, the curve ball came at me from my personal life. I was so sure that me and Sasha were gonna be a Lauren and Finn type couple. But no. With all the scholarships she was using to pay her way…she needed to be focused, so she pulled us back to friendship status. The worst thing was that given the reason she needed to do it, I couldn't even be mad. She was at school to learn and to get her shit straight and her majors were incredibly hard and needed her devoted attention. So no, I couldn't fault her. It was hard though. Going back to being just her friend when over the summer, we'd gotten close enough that I could tell you how she sweet she tasted and just how pretty the sounds she made when she came were, was hard as hell. But I managed it. Momma used to say that when you did the right thing, no matter how hard it was to choose that path, God rewarded you. It was actually true. Because, while I'd passed my college algebra for business, freshman year, I was not looking forward to the calculus class I was taking fall semester…then damned if Sasha didn't have the same class. I'd been proud as hell of the B- I'd pulled in the algebra class. When midterms hit and I was making a letter grade higher in calculus…I stopped complaining. With that kind of improvement just from studying with her, I was too happy to just be Sasha's friend and study buddy.

Still a brother had needs and chicks on campus loved to get under a football player. But I had to cut that shit about half way through the semester. Nothing bad happened, but I woke up in a Pennsylvania hotel room and looked over at a girl who looked way too much like Lil Wayne for me to be comfortable with the fact that I had slept with her. She looked like the drag queen evil mowgui from Gremlins 2. But yeah, that happened. Damn those Everclear Jello shots. After that shit, I acted like my name was Finn Hudson. I went to the post win parties, but I didn't drink and I didn't take anyone back to the room with me. I'd been scared straight and thankfully only by embarrassment, not some STD or a Baby. I also took a tip from Sasha's book and studied more.

I took that extra time and got deep into my classes. I was able to engage in debates in my poli-sci class and completely read the entire play of Shakespeare's Othello…not a cobbled together mixture of Cliff's Notes, Sparks Notes and Pink Monkey…but the actual play. Granted I had a great translator to help me out with figuring out the lingo…I owed Kurt Hummel a serious thank you. So at the end of the semester before Elle, Finn and I went home to Lima I went online and got him a gift card for his favorite coffee place. On Christmas Eve, I slipped it to him and neither of us had to say anything for him to understand his help was very much appreciated…and his brother did listen to him even when he thought he didn't.

Over the course of the semester, I'd been constantly checking in with Netta. After meeting with the counselor at the school, she had checked herself into a real rehab in Dallas. I don't know how she paid for it. But when I mentioned it to Elle, she looked way too damn innocent. Lauren 'No one says my middle name upon pain of death' Zizes was many things…innocent wasn't one of them. That led to me wondering if a certain sister from another mister had put a bug in the ear of my doppelganger's little sister. Still after a doing a hundred and twenty days at an inpatient rehabilitation facility, Netta sounded…she sounded good. She was still mean as a cornered rattler, but that had never been the drugs. She sent me a picture and she had gotten her hair and nails done at the beauty school. She looked good. She looked healthy. Netta had put some weight back on…she looked like she was supposed to look. In fact she was looking to go to beauty school herself. She had always loved that beauty and fashion shit. Before she got in deep, she used to make good change as a kitchen-tican. I wasn't surprised when she didn't ask if I was coming home for Christmas. It was just a thing. She wanted me out of our dying home town. She wanted me to make sure I kept moving forward. Still we had good talks and it was all kinds of awesome to feel like I had a family member who actually gave a damn about me just for me, not for what I could do for them.

Preparation for finals was tempered by preparation for our Big Ten Championship game. We went out there and I got to show off my arm. Finn and I had been working on getting me back into quarterback shape and the coach loved the idea of having the starting quarterback, who was a great leader, but by the third quarter was a crap passer, start the third with a fall back, hand off to me and pass way down field to our receiver. So we did just that and I hit the guy right in the sweet spot with a ninety-four yard pass that he ran the two remaining yards in for the touchdown. We were already in one hell of a lead over the Badgers, so it was a no lose situation. And they never recovered. We won that game fifty-nine to zilch. Best of all it got me some serious notice from the sports writers. Of course, one of them hypothesized that I was just stepping up to the plate to fill a void left by my roommate and former teammate. Thankfully, another one brought up the fact that I had actually played quarterback at East Dillon under Coach Taylor.

I went into the study period for my finals feeling like king of the world. For a lot of people that would be a definite set up for failure. But I have a weird issue. Maybe it was because I'd grown out of my 'if I'm a sports demi-god, I don't need academics' phase. But whatever the reason, when I felt that high due to my on the field accomplishments, I worried damn near obsessively about my classes. I studied my ass off for my five exams and worked really, really hard on the one paper I had to write. I managed to get my exams finished on Thursday. Elle was done on Tuesday…mainly because she lucked into three paper classes and even with the NCAA Wrestling Invitational she'd kicked ass at in Vegas, she had those done, edited, revised and turned in by the end of the study period. Then she had gone on to start her exam period with a several individual wins even if the team itself lost against Missouri State. Finn finished his exams on Wednesday morning, so he and Lauren had me pack up before I went to take my last exam and they put my shit in the back of Finn's truck and picked me up outside the English and Literature building when I was done with my final exam. The three of us headed to Lima at four thirty and got there by six.

Laura and Ben texted us to meet them at BreadStix for dinner. As soon as we got there, we realized that Burt and Carole were there too. We had a great meal laughing and catching up…despite the fact that we'd just seen them about three weeks before and talked to them every day. "Hey, Vince, Laura says that she really only has enough work for you for a few days a week. If you want to earn a little more money, I could use someone who knows bikes at least two days a week. Maybe more once we open our new location over the summer." Burt stated during a lull in the conversation.

"That would be awesome." I said happily. I could make twice as much over the course of the summer and that would never be a bad thing. "Where is your new location going to be?" I asked curiously.

Burt and Carole and Ben and Laura went on to tell us all about the new venture the parents were undertaking with their retail park and shopping plaza. Finn laughed. "Wow that is great Burt. You can continue to see your long term clients at the old shop and get a whole new client base at the new one."

We talked for a while longer. There were many congratulations for both me and Elle about our wins. It was a great night. We headed home and got our stuff unpacked and relaxed. I was surprised to see that I got a text from Finn that wasn't a group one to Elle too. "Hey, Vince…I need to go to get Lauren something special tomorrow. Can you go with me?"

I texted him back that it wouldn't be a problem. I totally lied, it totally would be a huge problem. My sister from another mister was nosy as hell. If Finn was going to do what I thought he was wanting to do, I was just going to have to make it happen. The next morning, it turned out to be a non-issue anyway. Lauren took off to go and see her friend Brandon who worked at the freak-em store. Finn and I met up at the mall and we went through both of the jewelry stores there. None of them had anything that looked like my sister and his future. So we left the mall and headed to the free standing Shane and Co. store nearby. There things were tons better, but the simple truth was that he couldn't afford the kind of ring he really wanted to get her. He and I left and went to get lunch so we could look at things from a new angle. "Alright, you want Elle in your life forever right?"

"Yeah. She is the best part of me." Finn said sincerely.

I nodded. "Then you have time. Why don't you start smaller? This Christmas you don't do the full on engagement ring. You said that you have a thousand saved from the last three months. So why don't you spend about half and get her one of those smaller rings today and give her a 'promise' ring right now. Save the rest and save the same way you have been for a year. Next Christmas, you can give her a nice big ass engagement ring that she will love. I mean, I think that she will love anything that you give her. But you want to give her a big ass ring, so if you can save a grand in three months, you can save four grand in twelve."

His face lit up and he nodded. "That's perfect." He nodded. "Hurry up. I want to get her that pretty one with the swirls we saw at Shane's."

I got him settled down enough to finish his lunch and then we went back and got Elle her ring. Then I dragged him back to the mall so we could actually get gifts for the rest of our people too. We had a blast. We also caught an awesome sale at Macys. I was able to get Netta something she had dreamed about since I could remember, a designer pocketbook. So maybe it wasn't a leather one, but it was a legit Michael Kors tote. Finn reminded me that it wouldn't get to her before Christmas even if we sent it that day, so I might as well not fight the long ass line at the post office. That spoke to me. I hated post office lines. Laura got a nice scarf, Ben got a cool Bocce Ball set. He loved getting gifts that brought the family closer together. Thank God I'd already gotten Finn and Lauren's gifts. I still needed to print it on some nice paper and go and grab the stuff to give them their gifts, though. So, to keep the surprise I got it later that day when I was on my way to Laura's shop. While we'd been in the mall I'd found good gifts for Burt, Carole, Klaine and Mr. and Mrs. Anderson. They all came around Christmas Eve and the year before I'd not gotten any of them anything just because I'd not really known to. So I wanted to make sure that I had my act together for the second chance thing.

I was glad that I got there in time for the real holiday rush. The truth was that Harleys and Harley accessories were a popular gift. I knew that Sam and Mercedes had gotten Puck's through Laura's shop. Unless they were tricked all the way out, they weren't as expensive as a car and it was every man's dream to own one. Christmas was one of Laura's busiest times of the year. I helped where ever I could. I changed oil for men who were off work for a few days and could actually ride…even the snow wouldn't stop them. Changed batteries for some others. I explained to wives and daughters the differences in between Harleys and crotch rockets. I talked them through the choices between the lines and the customization options. I was glad I only worked two to close because with her extended holiday hours, if I'd been there from open to close like I had been during the summer, I'd have dropped from exhaustion. I could not understand how Laura handled it, but she did it six days a week. So I just tried to help out as much as I could.

When we got home, Ben had already gotten dinner together. His job with Cedes and crew had way more flexible hours and since he worked for home…that gave him even more flexibility. He was also making better bank. He and Laura were talking about expanding her shop into a real dealership rather than a shop where you could buy bikes. He confided the plan to me as I washed up and helped him serve dinner for the ladies. "But that wouldn't happen until twenty-seventeen at the soonest. Not only do we have to save up the franchise fees, we'd have to find a new location and, well, it's an involved process. Plus, Laura and I never got to have a real honeymoon. So I'm thinking that over the summer she and I might take a week and get away. I finally have the vacation time and I have the money to do something real nice, ya know?" I definitely understood that. The washer dinged before I could say anything though. "Hey, can you grab those sheets and move them to the dryer. Lauren can make the bed in the guest room up after dinner."

"Sure." I went to do as asked. I wanted to ask who was coming over, but decided to mind my own business. It would have been rude to ask. If they wanted me to know they would tell me. Of course, by the end of dinner, I had completely forgotten about it. In fact, between conditioning with Finn and Elle, working with Laura and helping Ben around the house. I didn't think about it at all until I came home from the shop the Tuesday before Christmas and found Netta sitting in the living room with a big ass bow on her head. "Netta?!" I know I got way too loud, but it was so good to see my sister with my own eyes looking hale and whole and hardy and most importantly clean and sober. "Girl, what are you doing here?"

I ran over and picked her up in a hug. "Man, Bug…you have some damn good friends." She laughed.

I hadn't even noticed that Finn was there. Until he and Lauren yelled out "Merry Christmas!"

It still took me a minute to realize that being able to see Netta and be with her for Christmas was my gift from Finn and Elle. I put Netta down and ran over and hugged my peeps. "You guys are awesome. I didn't even know how much I missed her until I just saw her."

"Awww…" Netta chuckled. "Did you miss your big sister, Vinnie?"

"Don't know what crack I was smoking…but yeah I missed your old mean self." I threw back at her. "But for real, how I mean I get the how. You're my Christmas gift. But still, what made you…" I said as I drew her over to sit down on the couch.

She just laughed and gave me a big hug. "Elle has been emailing me since you got back here last summer. She hacked your computer for my email address. We've been talking and I may have mentioned that I kind of missed my little brother." She threw Elle a quick smile. "Vinnie, I thought I knew that you had found some good people here, but Lauren and her mom and dad…they are…they really love you."

"Yeah, I lucked out with both my sisters. Granted that's because the Lord saw fit to saddle you and me with the most worthless biological father to ever walk the earth. But still both my sister and my sister from another mister are good enough to make up for him. How is Gold-Diggin' Daddy? I'm surprised that he let you come up here without him."

"Vinnie, I haven't seen Ornette since I left that apartment for rehab. I told him quite honestly that I'd lived my life with him and I'd lived it without him and I sure as hell preferred it without his dead weight hanging around my neck choking the life outta me." Netta grinned.

"And what he was gone when you got home?" I was surprised.

She nodded. "Yeah, along with my damn TV. No good bastard." She muttered. "But you know what, it was worth it to see the back of him. I really only cared because I was going to sell it myself to get the cash to move out of Dillon."

I know my mouth was hanging open. "You're moving out of Dillon?"

Netta nodded. "Nothing keeping me there. Momma's gone and I can take her urn wherever I go. Not like I've got a plot to go to and keep clean or whatever. Besides, if I stay there I ain't got no future. I was thinking about moving to Dallas and going to that fancy beauty school, Regency…they say they can get financial aid for their students, so I might actually be able to go."

"Whoa, that's awesome." I heard Finn say over my shoulder. Of course, Laura and Ben had given us space and privacy, Elle and Finn, however, not so much. "You know they have one in Columbus. It was on the way to my physical therapist." He reminded me. We both gave him a side eye. "What? If she is moving anyway, can't she just move to Ohio just as easily as she can to Dallas? Plus, if she moves closer they you two won't have to miss each other so much. I kind of really hate only seeing Kurt like five or six times a year. And he's only been my brother for six years."

I turned a pleading look to Lauren. "Don't look at me. I agree with Finn. There is a Regency beauty school really close to where Brandon lives too. His last roommate went there. Dude walked to and from the school." She got a wicked grin on her face. "In fact when I was down there the other day, he said that he was going to need a new roommie in January. His current one caught feelings for her sugar daddy and he is moving her into some condo near where he works so they can get together on his lunch break."

"Yeah, but I mean, I have to get a job and what about my car?" Netta scrambled to think things through.

I wasn't having any of that. "Look, I've not actually met Brandon. But if Elle likes him then he's good people. I know that he's a big ass, manly gay dude…looks like Superman according to Sam. So you'd be safe and I think that if you get out of Dillon and start working towards something real, you won't back slide into using again. As for your car. I'd say sell it, but don't nobody want that PoS. Leave it somewhere with the keys in it and let whoever will take it have it. You can find a job up here just as easily as you can in Texas. You have your high school diploma. You'd be working retail anyway, so you work retail in Columbus instead of Dallas." I pushed. "You don't know anybody in Dallas but maybe Jess, and I don't even know if she is still there."

"Let me think about it." Netta said cautiously.

Elle gave her a wicked grin. "Just to sweeten the pot, the place Brandon works at starts paying their part-timers at twelve bucks an hour. Full time is fifteen…plus they are twenty-four hours so you could work full time and do beauty school full time without scheduling conflicts. Plus, full-timers get pretty awesome benefits and they get a shift differential of an extra two bucks for the overnight shift."

"Damn, where does he work?" Netta asked leaning around me.

I shook my head. "He works at a Freak'em store."

"Yeah and he and Lauren are totally cool, so he lets her get our things with his discount." Finn accidentally overshared.

Netta looked at them like 'oooh, you so nasty'. So I gave her a look that clearly communicated, 'you have no idea'. I think we confused them when we started laughing. But thankfully family is fam and we just all rolled with it. Dinner that night was live. Laura and Ben and Netta talked about all the things me and Finn and Elle didn't know to consider about moving to a whole different state. Elle got in on it too. Soon they'd decided that when me and Finn were in New Orleans at the Sugar Bowl, Elle would take Netta to meet Brandon and see how they got along. "If he needs a deposit or first and last…I've got some money saved up." I offered.

"Yeah, for school." Netta grumbled back. "When you get back you'll have books and stuff to buy." She reminded me forcefully.

"I've got that covered. I mean, I've been working for Laura and I have some money saved. I can help if you need it." She opened her mouth to argue. "Netta…" I raised an eyebrow, "would you help me if the situation was reversed?"

"Of course I would. You're my brother." She sounded so offended so I just looked at her until she realized that she'd just basically said that I should do less to have her back than she would for me. "Fine…but only if I need it. There is a junkman in Dillon that will pay for clunkers. Now you tell me how school is going."

I allowed the subject change and I told her all about school and getting through my classes some of which were more of a struggle than others. I brought her up to speed on Sasha. We were still good friends. We'd had lunch together a couple of times since we'd both gotten back to Lima. We'd actually tried to find the time to go on a date, but she was working at Best Buy and our schedules just didn't sync up for it to happen. It was probably best that way because we would just be dating at home and the friends when we headed back to school. My heart wasn't that changeable. I'd dealt with the back track once. I wasn't doing it over and over again. When dinner was over I cleared the table and forced Netta to help me load the dishwasher. Primarily because it was loading a dishwasher. We'd only ever hand washed dishes in Texas.

"Remember when we asked Momma if we could get an apartment with a dishwasher?" I asked her with a smile.

She nodded and laughed. "Yeah, she said 'why should she when God had already given her two of them'."

We shared a laugh. It didn't take us long at all to get it loaded and started. But apparently we took long enough for Laura, Ben and Elle to have done some research into beauty schools. As soon as we joined them back in the living room, Laura asks, "How wedded are you to the idea of the Regency School of Beauty. We were looking at things and the Aveda Beauty School has a little more respect when you look over all the reviews. There is one in Columbus and it offers you the choice to go into basic cosmetology or to go deeper into the whole spa type aesthetician training. It is a little longer…but only like two weeks."

Netta looked confused. "I've mainly been looking at the Regency School because that is the one where I went for my makeover when I got out of rehab last month."

Elle nodded. She could understand that reasoning. It made sense. Netta associated the Regency School with happiness and being clean. That would make her loyal. But at the same time, she also needed to look at the bigger picture and look at what would be the best for her future. So we sat down and talked everything through with her about the two schools and which of them might be better suited. Come to find out that for what she was hoping to accomplish Aveda was actually the better choice. It would allow her to learn more about the underlying chemistry of beauty as a science. Netta had always loved science…well until she got to high school. That necessitated a change of plans that meant she would have to move a lot faster. She had to make a decision as to whether to apply to the school in Dallas or the one in Columbus sooner rather than later because if she didn't get her enrollment shit down before January fifth for the program that started the day after the MLK holiday…she would have to wait until April to start school.

There may have been some ganging up on her. Elle got Brandon on Facetime for the introduction and before even I could follow it, Netta had an interview with the manager of the Lion's Den store he worked at for the Monday after New Year's and he was down with having her for a roommate. He actually had been hoping to find someone who didn't do drugs, because his last two roommates had had their own addiction problems. "A recovering addict is much better than one who won't even admit that going through two fifths of vodka in a week is a serious problem." Netta smiled shyly so Brandon went on to reassure her. "No, I am for real, I kicked him out when I caught him filming me with my toy. Turned out he was going to post it on a porn site for some quick cash because he blew his stipend for the whole semester on booze. He needed rehab in the very worst way. At least you've already jumped that hurdle."

"Yup, I did a hundred and twenty in house and I have my thirty-day chip too." She said proudly. Then she smiled in a way I knew meant the next thing out her mouth was going to be wrong as hell. "So you said he was filming you playing with your toy…did you get it at the Freak'em store? What is it gonna be like if I can get hired?" I was a little bit surprised that she didn't ask anything more invasive. Maybe she was waiting until everything was locked down and she had her shit all together.

By the time we went to bed everything was pretty well set. Netta had already gotten the email containing the registration paperwork and the stuff she would need to do to get financial aid after she was accepted into the program. She had actually graduated high school with a somewhat decent GPA rather than just having a GED so, at least according to the email, her admittance was a sure thing. Brandon was going to scan in the lease and send it to her. He was only asking for a hundred and fifty bucks for Netta's security deposit so we were good on that end. Plus, he was only charging her five hundred for rent and one fifty a month for her half of the utilities. It was way better than we'd been expecting.

Christmas Eve was pretty awesome too. Netta had gone with me and Laura to the shop. Dressed for the weather, but just a touch hood-chic hottie, Netta was pulling in tons of upsales with the dirty old white guys who were coming in to buy last minute gifts for other dirty old white guys. After just a couple of hours, Laura was teasing Netta that she would have to come back and work weekends for her since she was so good at the job. Netta just laughed and said that if she didn't get the job in Columbus she might just have to take Laura up on that offer. While we were at the shop, Ben and Lauren were doing the Christmas dinner shopping. Amazingly enough both groups thought that we'd gotten the better end of that bargain. The shop closed at one, so we were able to get home and get cleaned up.

Elle and Laura took care of setting the table and ordering dinner while Ben, Netta and I got as much done as we could for dinner the next day. The Andersons arrived first. They showed up with a bottle of wine as always. They never came without some kind of hostess gift, even though they were coming over to exchange Christmas gifts. Netta looked over at me and mouthed 'classy'. I couldn't help but agree. Mrs. Analyn found Netta charming. Apparently Mrs. Analyn had grown up in an area of the Philippines much like Dillon. A place that had once been prosperous, but whose glory days were long gone. She completely approved of Netta getting up out of there. "The further the better. If you only take a few steps away, they will end up trying to drag you back in." She told us calmly. It sounded like she was speaking from experience.

"That's why I had to get Vinnie out of there last summer." I heard Netta whisper. "When Laura called to check on him, I told her that being there wasn't doing him a lick of good. I asked her not to tell him that we'd talked. I didn't want him to think that I didn't love him and want him with me. But I could see the ambition getting sucked right back out of him. I've been talking to him and Lauren as much as I could to make sure I didn't start to back slide or well, I guess I didn't want to lose hope."

Mrs. Analyn nodded. "That was wise. I think that you can certainly share this with Vincent now. He will understand that you were doing it to help him. As he is now helping you."

"Yeah, he is a good kid." Netta said proudly.

"I would like to help you as well." Mrs. Analyn said with a smile. "When I came to America, I made friends with a lovely young lady who helped me tremendously. Like me she didn't have much support. Her mother had died not long before we met. Though she had never met her father, he was black and so her mother had been disowned. It had always been the two of them. Isabella Carter was my roommate freshman year. She became my best friend. She helped me so much and never allowed me to even say thank you. She would always tell me to pay it forward. After college, she got a very prestigious position with Marsh and McLennan Companies. I had just spoken with her the day before. We were going to have a spa weekend to celebrate her birthday just a few weeks later. The day after we finished making the plans a moron with delusions as to what Islam is following a bastard with a grudge flew a plane into the North Tower of the World Trade Center. The office where she worked was immediately in the line of impact. She never stood a chance. When her will was read, she had left me most of the wealth she had amassed. I put it into an endowed trust so that I would be able to use it to pay forward all the help she gave me. I tell you all that to say that every year, I use the interest from the trust to do something good in her name." She took Netta's hand. "This year, I'd like to pay your tuition for your beauty school."

"I…I…I…" Netta didn't know what to say. How to respond.

"Just say thank you, idiot." Elle said joining them. I don't know how much she'd heard, but she had definitely heard the tuition offer. "Student loans are hamstringing an entire generation. This is no different than applying for and getting a scholarship." Ornetta was still sitting there with her mouth hanging open, so Elle turned to Mrs. Analyn. "Ornetta is amazingly grateful and she will work very hard to make you very proud of her."

Blaine's mother was smiling happily. "I'm sure that she will. And, Netta, perhaps after you complete the school, you can return to Lima and apprentice with Jewel's Spa or with Veronica and Lamar at their shop. By then they will both have more space than they currently do and could probably take on more than one apprentice."

"Apprentice?" Netta finally croaked as I came out from my hiding spot to join them myself.

"You will find that as much as you will learn in beauty school, a lot of the tricks of the trade are best learned from a master in their field. Veronica has women of color coming all the way from Cleveland to have her do their weaves. Lamar is amazing at coloring hair. Look at Lauren, for example, her hair has highlights and lowlights, but Lamar has made it look completely natural. I know that Jewel's is not the biggest spa, but I have never met a single soul who had a bad experience with them."

"Oh, I'm gonna have to disagree with that one. Greta is a sadist. She loves to rip the hair out of people's skin. I think she enjoys causing others pain." Elle chimed back in, loudly.

Laura came over and laughed at her daughter. "Are you still whining about getting your legs waxed? You have to have gotten used to it by now." She teased her daughter.

Elle shook her head. "Yeah, I'm okay with the legs…it's that Brazilian that I am not down with. That hurts."

Thankfully, before anyone could dig in on that, dinner arrived. We all ate the delicious Thai food…Blaine's was still ridiculously spicy, but we saw that he'd gotten it from his mother. The food was good. The company was great. Mrs. Analyn told everyone about her decision to make Netta's course go a little smoother. Everyone was really happy for her. "I'm glad." Ben told Mrs. Analyn with a huge smile. "I was going to talk to Haja and Commune about sponsoring her. But if they had done it, probably she'd have been pulled into being Mercedes' hair person on the road. That wouldn't be a bad thing. But those industry folks do a lot of drugs. It might have been a bad thing for her to be around."

Not even Netta could argue with that. It was short work to clear the table then we headed to the living room to do our gift exchange. It was really weird to be opening gifts on Christmas Eve rather than Christmas morning, but were would be plenty to open the next day. That night we were really only opening the gifts form the others, and one gift from each other. Somehow Netta ended up opening the very first gift. She got really pretty nightgown from Kurt. It was a great shade of darker blue with white Hawaiian looking flowers on the bottom. "I had to guess at your size from a picture Finn sent me from Vince's room. I hope, I got it right."

"I love it." She smiled. Just to make him feel better, she checked the size. "It's perfect. I'm almost back up to my before smackhead weight…so I'm almost back to being a six."

Kurt's simile was very much pleased. He went next and found the Ryan Seacrest Distinction palm paisley tie and pocket square. "Oh, Vincent, I love these colors." He said happily.

"Glad you like it. You're so into fashion, it was kind of scary to buy you something on that spectrum." I said honestly. Just continuing the pattern, I reached down and grabbed a present and opened it to find that Burt had gotten me a really awesome Swiss Army knife with a hard wood case. "Wow, this is great." I told him as I started to go through all the different gadgets in the knife.

"Yeah, just leave it in your room whenever you fly." He advised me. "I lost one to the TSA…it was a damn good knife too." He grabbed a flat rectangular, wrapped package for him from Laura and Ben. It turned out to be a framed print showing a Mercedes Benz 'blueprint'. He smiled brightly and thanked both Ben and Laura.

Since they'd given him a joint gift, they both went next after telling him that they were glad he liked it. Laura opened a DKNY 'Be Delicious' gift set from Finn, while Ben opened a Leatherback Writer 3 that allowed him to carry notes or whatever wherever he went. They were both really appreciative. Carole went next and ended up opening her gift from Ben which turned out to be a travel mug, two different double walled water bottle and a covered ceramic soup mug. They each had a different quote about being a nurse. She really like them. Though she did say that she would save the water bottle that read 'Brain of a Doctor, Heart of a Nurse' for using at home. I didn't know Cooper very well. But he did seem to really like the Sandalwood Art of Shaving starter kit I'd gotten him. Mr. William loved the cool wooden handled umbrella that Netta had found for him. Then he seemed a little jealous of the black Charter Club microvelour bootie memory foam slippers that Elle had gotten Mrs. Analyn.

After we were pretty much finished, Finn stood up and pulled the jewelry box from his pocket. He got down on one knee in front of Elle. "Lauren, you are more than I deserve. You are so far above me I probably shouldn't even ask, but I want you to be my wife. I figured that I should get you a ring that showed you just how much you mean to me…but engagement rings cost way more than I thought they did. I mean, I heard that save up for two months thing. So I saved up for three and thought I'd be able to get you something worthy of you. When I realized that I didn't have enough to get you a ring that you deserved, I got really discouraged. But then Vince told me to just get a promise ring as a promise that I will get you the ring of your dreams. So will you marry me, Lauren Zizes…even though it is going to take me at least a year to save up and get you a ring that is worthy of you?"

"Awww, you adorable idiot. I love you. Of course, I'm going to marry you. I finally have you trained." She told him accepting the ring. Then she proceeded to kiss him so deeply and passionately, that we were all uncomfortable. Still we could all see the love between them. They had gone through so very much to get to where they were, we all wanted them to have their happily ever after.

As the Laura, Mrs. Analyn and Netta crowded around Elle to look at the ring, we men congratulated Finn on their engagement or engagement to get engaged. I wasn't exactly sure. The rest of the night passed in a joyous revelry. The next morning was even happier. I got some really great gifts from Netta and the Zizes members of my family. I got a grown man watch, a great duffle bag for going back and forth to the gym. I got my sister there with us. Then there were the reactions to the gifts I'd gotten other people. Elle about lost her mind when she saw the ticket to the WWE Money in the Bank pay per view that was being held in Columbus that summer. She got even happier when I assured her that yes, I'd gotten Finn a ticket too. Netta almost jumped on me for the Michael Kors bag. Lauren's favorite Christmas carol was 'Let's Stay in Our PJs all Christmas Long' so we spent the morning lounging around in our pajamas. But no one wanted to be in them as we ate dinner so we changed into something comfy-casual clothes that we could eat in and then relax and play with our gifts. It was really cool, like a Norman Rockwell Christmas card for a new century.

The next day was pretty cool too. That morning, we all slept in then we got up, got dressed and joined the rest of Elle and Finn…and mine now too…crew and their immediate families at the Wyndham in one of their conference rooms. The pot luck was set up and we all ate drank and made merry. Lauren wasn't the only one sporting some new bling. There was a whole lot of joy being shared. I introduced Netta to Mrs. Dani and Mr. Benton and they showed her pictures of Kevon…I was kind of sad she couldn't see us together, side by side, that shit was hilarious.

Mercedes and her guys pulled us all together to give us our Christmas gifts from them which turned out to be tickets to South by Southwest over spring break and a flight to go there and get back to school. I really loved being cool with KAMA. They also gave out tickets to go to New York for that New Year's Eve party. I hated the fact that me and Finn couldn't go. We had to be back in Columbus on Monday to head down to New Orleans for the Sugar Bowl. Thankfully, Sam and Noah followed football well enough to have realized that we'd not be there. So they invited Netta and asked Elle to invite Brandon, since they had two more tickets. Netta tried to argue. Cedes wasn't letting her out of going though. "Oh no, you've gotta come. You need to meet Kev in person so you can see we aren't playing. There really are two of them. I mean, Vince even plays the same positions that Kev used to. Granted Kev didn't go to college playing…but still." Over the next ten to fifteen minutes, I watched Mercedes talk circles around Ornetta. Before Cedes was done, I was fairly certain that Netta thought that it was her idea.

The next morning, while the NYC crew was heading back to the city that never sleeps, Finn and I were winging it down to The Big Easy. The game was amazing. The Buckeyes came out with a seven-point win over the Crimson Tide. The fact that we were heading to the college football national championship meant that the party that night was straight up ridiculous. Elle had gotten Finn a tiger's eye and silver ring for Christmas, because in that crew, if a relationship was serious enough for the guy to get the girl a ring, then she got him one too. But where Elle had gotten her ring in front of the biological fam, Finn got his in front of the 'chosen' fam. It was really cool though. He was showing it off all night. Every chick at the party was talking about how cool it was that he was so deeply committed to his girl.

We headed back to Lima as champions especially since Coach Meyer, credited Finn with the drop back pass play that had gotten us that final touchdown and conversion. Still, conquering heroes or not, we ended up helping Netta get set up at Brandon's and everything. In the end, she hadn't even gone back to Dillon. She had gotten Virgil 'Big Meri' Merriweather, Jess' dad, to sell everything he could and he put the money in her account. He mailed her things like Momma's urn and Netta's clothes, but other than that he sold it all and managed to get her almost a thousand dollars. She used that to buy some furniture for her bedroom and to get the stuff she needed for school. It was all kinds of cool helping her get set up like the Zizes and Hudson-Hummels had done for me. It was a very positive king of vibe we carried into the National Championships. So even though the game was in Arlington…a stone's throw from Dillon…I didn't feel any of my usual angst about my hometown. My home was in Ohio. I was finally free. I ran like the wind in that game. We managed to beat the Oregon Ducks forty-two to twenty. The Buckeye were the national champions. Damn, freedom felt sweet as hell.

Darcy PoV

I was having the best year in the history of years. I graduated college. I got a bomb ass job that I loved. I was making a hell of a lot more than most of my classmates, especially considering how many of them hadn't even been able to find jobs by that point. I was living in a city most people dreamed of being in. I had a great roommate and the best bosses a chick like me could ask for. I was happier than I had any real right to be. In fact, the only complaint on the horizon was that I had the perfect thing going with a fucking sexy Cubano and I was probably going to ruin it by catching feelings even though we had both agreed that it was just a sexual relationship and love was for other people. Yeah, when I left Manhattan, to go home. I was actually really excited, but then I realized that it would be at least three or more weeks until I could see Lester again. That felt like a punch to the gut. It wasn't until then, that I realized that I felt way more for him than I was supposed to. To be honest it freaked me the fuck out. Like for serious.

The flight home wasn't very long. Minneapolis-St. Paul was a pretty big deal so there were always flights in and out of the Twin Cities. I had cheated for real though. I hadn't told my parents exactly when I would be flying in. If I had, they would have forced the issue of them picking me up from the airport. Instead, I'd arranged a rental car for myself. That would give me freedom of movement for the time I was home. The drive from the airport to Dennis' and Mom's house wasn't very long. I had timed things so that I would miss both rush hours, be able to get in, get my stuff put away in my room and have everything be a fait-accompli whenever whichever of them got home first. It almost went according to plan. I got there, parked, let myself in, sent Mercedes, Hudson and Lester texts to let them know that I'd arrived safely. By the time I had gotten my bags in, I had heard back from all of them. Lester was off shift so he and I ended up texting like mad so nothing was put away when Dennis got home. In fact, I was still wearing my coat. I was so deep in the text I was sending that I didn't even realize that my stepfather had gotten home until he leaned over my head where it was resting on the arm of the sofa and cracked "Hey Darcy-gal…why don't you take off your coat and stay a while." I jumped up gracefully, okay so the reality of that was that I fell off the sofa, cracking an elbow and both boobs on the coffee table, but then I scrambled to my feet so I could hug the man who was the best father in the world even if he didn't have to be.

"Let me just finish letting Captain Caveman know that I made it home safe and sound." I hedged the truth by about an hour. I quickly told Les that my parents were home…a half-truth but still…and gave Dennis my undivided attention. When Mom got home, Dennis and I were on the floor in front of the coffee table laughing so hard that we could barely breathe. It was totally my fault too. I had told him the story of Puck and Sam getting into a twitter beef with some super-nerd from Springfield about the real nature of Captain America and Bucky Barnes' relationship. All three of my bosses were major Stucky shippers. "So then Mercedes and I had to spend the next twenty minutes talking Puck out of posting a picture of his ass. Yeah, he totally wanted to moon the guy long distance."

"Well, I'm glad you succeeded. I have never not regretted mooning someone in person, let along digitally." Dennis started to chuckle just as he was getting his breath back.

"Dennis Lewis, are you telling our impressionable Darcy about your heathenistic past." Mom chided jokingly.

We had a blast over the next couple of weeks. I'd gotten there in enough time to help decorate the house for Christmas. We talked to Aunt Laura and Uncle Ben a few times before Lauren made it home. I also had plenty of time to figure out what to get my mom. Dennis was easy…I got him the very best, newest, most awesomest laptop on the market…well, I got him all the best possible components so he could build it himself. He much preferred things that way. Christmas morning, Mom opened her iPad and I felt like the best daughter in the world. I'd almost not gotten it because I knew I was in for trouble when she figured out how to work Facetime…but I decided to take the risk. It would give her all the functions of a computer without being one. She hated having to even touch a computer after spending all day on one at her job I totally didn't understand it. But that was how she felt, so I felt that as her daughter, it was important that I support her insanity. After all, once she got sober, she'd always supported mine.

Still everything wasn't all super-duper, well adjusted, family time. I did work some time. It still tripped me out that I could call what I did 'work'…four hours every morning and four hours every afternoon. I was able to stave off two attempts at denigrating Mercedes by some Latina with an obsession with gold stars. I was kind of getting sick of her when the drama with the autograph bitch went down. When the same chick latched onto that to try and throw some 'bows at my bosses, I finally had had enough. I went to see Dennis at his job. Two hours with a nice and secure cable internet connection and the fastest processor to be found in Minneapolis and I had both an alias and a name. Estrella de Oro was the handle of Ba Raquelle Hueva which was the alias of one Rachel Berry. That name was really familiar to me. But it still took me a while to place it. When I finally realized that it was actually the name of a former member of Lauren and my bosses' high school glee club, I had a hard choice to make.

I decided that I needed more information. So I went through her entire online presence, real and fabricated. That bitch struck me as totally cray-cray. So I shot Lester a long email detailing all that I had found out and shot it to him asking him to pass it along to Hector. Mr. Gutiérrez was awesome. I mean, his GUI was the best and there was no one with kung-fu like him…other than me and my friend Ravi from MIT. But Ravi got paid a hell of a lot of money to make sure that no one had better kung-fu than him. Probably…if I were to be completely honest, I would have to admit that Hector had Ravi beat, but loyalty compelled me to never admit that out loud. I wasn't yet sure what to do with the information. I didn't want to be a snitch if the bitch was a threat. But if she was, cyber stalking could get the little brat some serious time.

Christmas day was very different as a quasi-adult than it was as a child. We slept 'til ten, where when I was little I'd be up before the sun. Granted some of those early Christmases had been depressing as all fuck, but I'd made it through and ended up having like seven great Christmases before becoming too old for the ass crack of dawn wake ups. There were huge mugs of coffee, rather than smaller mugs of chocolate and there were less gifts under the tree, but the ones that were there were deeply meaningful, well thought out and way more expensive. Like the brown leather Fossil Sydney work bag, matching saddle bag purse and small wallet my mother had gotten me. Or the ridiculously beautiful garnet and diamond locket I'd gotten her that had a picture of me with PopPop and Grandma from way back and one of me, her and Dennis that Lauren had taken of us at my graduation. The iPad just hadn't felt like enough considering that I hadn't even made a ding in my bonus, let alone an actual factual dent. Dennis had gotten her a really nice pair of peridot and emerald earrings. Mom loved the symbolism of having their two birthstones together like that.

But I had gotten myself a really nice present while I was looking for jewelry for Mom. I had been trying to avoid Mall of America. It was just too big, too loud, too many stores…just too much and coming from me that said a lot. But no matter how many boutique jewelry stores I'd gone too, I couldn't find anything that spoke to me. Finally I broke down and hit the biggest mall in the history of mallage. Finally, I found the perfect thing in Macys. While I was there I didn't just find a wicked cool pair of Beats by Dre wireless head phones, on sale; my me present…I also found a perfect dress and shoes for the New Year's Eve party Brantley had set up for our bosses to be seen at and Mercedes had already told me that I was going to whether I wanted to or not.

Not that I didn't want to go. Partying like a rock star for free was totally my jam. Hell for the first time in…well, ever…I'd even have a date for the thing. Rangeman's New York office ran the security for the club. They had what basically amounted to an open invitation to be there whenever they wanted. So Lester would totally be my arm candy while I smoozed with the rich and famous. KAMA wasn't going to be the only artists in the house either. I had it on good authority that both Drake and Lil Wayne would be there too. That club was banking KAMA, Weezy and Drake fans to spend more than enough to make the two plus million they had to have forked out to have those six famous musicians present.

Yeah, Brantley had been super excited when he called the bosses about going for the deal. He hadn't realized until he got the contract in that it was five hundred grand each, not for the group as a whole. So basically one day into the new year, and Brantley will have made the bosses over one point three million after they gave Haja his seventy-five grand and Brantley himself got his cut of just a little over seventy-one thousand dollars. That wasn't bad. I was happy as hell for him. Especially since he was looking to take on booking of one to two hustling bands…his way of reaching back to help those in need…and he wanted to pay me to handle their social media. All on the up and up and with full consent of our magnanimous, benevolent employers. Those three were serious about all of us making as much bank as we wanted to as long as it didn't interfere with their business. I liked that about them.

My time with Mom and Dennis flew by pretty quickly. They were happy to have me home. I decided since I was home for such a long time and had the cash, I would go ahead and finally do something with my childhood bedroom. Thankfully, they were cool with me updating the room. I mean, I understood that it was my room so they hadn't changed it, but there were still Nirvana and Pearl Jam posters on the wall for Christ's sake. So Mom and I took a few hours on a Saturday and we went to a great flea market and had a blast. We came back with some actual art work done by local artists for my walls, a new rug, and thanks to a quick stop by Bed Bath and Beyond a new comforter set that really made it all work. When I got back to my apartment in Harlem, I actually found myself missing my room in a way I hadn't experienced since freshman year. It was weird. However, one thing I didn't miss was sharing one bathroom among three people or the fact that their water heater hated me. No matter how long I gave it after they were up and dressed, I always ran out of hot water half way through washing my hair. Yeah, it hated me…if the machines rose up while I was visiting my parents, I would not be spared.

Even though I'd told Lester my flight information, I never expected to see him waiting on me at LaGuardia. I was almost ashamed at how freaking happy I was to see him. Like, just coming home from a war dropped all my shit, well not my messenger bag…it had my laptop inside, and ran and climbed him like a tree, happy. Yeah, I did that shit. But there was something that stopped the embarrassment train in its tracks, we met in the middle. That meant that I hadn't been the only one happy to see him. He'd missed my ass too. Yup. Any messy, uncomfortable emotions fucking up what was supposed to just be no strings attached boning…were certainly shared. More than certainly…indubitably. So much so that, after we grabbed my thankfully unmolested or stolen bags, he didn't take me the thirty minutes back to my apartment. Instead he drove me an hour and half to Trenton to his apartment in the super secure Rangeman building.

I looked over at him in confusion. We'd been talking and laughing and I hadn't paid any attention to how long we'd been driving or even what direction we'd been going. "I want you to meet some people. And I want to see those amazing tits of yours bouncing in my bed for a change." He said simply.

I was still so shocked, that I let him pull me out of the car and into the elevator. "My stuff…" I looked back.

"Trust me, no one will bother anything in this garage." He laughed. I noticed that he pushed the five on the button panel. What really surprised me was that there were eight buttons on the panel, but only one, two and five were selectable as far as I could tell. "Security firm. If I clicked my fob, other floors would be accessible." He answered my unasked question.

"That's cool." I breathed a little stupidly.

As soon as the door opened on the fifth floor, I was greeted by a wall of black. A breathing wall of black. My eyes traveled up until I saw the same logo that adorned Lester's shirts. I kept going up until I finally saw something other than the wall of black cotton…instead it was a neck…I was pretty sure that was a neck…that seemed to be hewn from mahogany. Before I could stop myself, words escaped from my lips. "Whoa, there, big fella. I think if there were two of me, I could stand on my own shoulders and still be shorter than you." I poked his chest…that was one seriously hard pectoral muscle. "I'm as tall as you are wide and yet there isn't any fat on you is there?"

Lester, brave, foolish Lester patted the big guy on his stomach and chuckled. "That's why we call him Tank. Tank Sherman, Darcy Lewis, Darcy Lewis Tank 'Never say his first name upon pain of death' Sherman."

I laughed. "You know; my cousin Lauren feels that same way about her middle name. Which I can never understand. I mean, Amelia is an awesome middle name. Amelia Earhart was…she was the first lady of flight. A total feminist icon."

Tank looked down at me gave me a smile in greeting and then smirked at Lester. "You brought Ms. Lewis to meet with Hector and Ranger?"

Lester shook his head. "I brought her to see where I live and spend a little time getting to know the people I care about. I didn't know that Hector and Ranger wanted to see her until I was already at the airport waiting on her."

If I thought that the look Tank had given Lester before was a smirk…the look he gave him when he heard that was so smug it had transcended a smirk and went into a whole new stratosphere of superciliousness. "Well, well, well…maybe now that you've found yourself a woman, you'll stop harassing Hal and the boss. Ms. Lewis, it is definitely a pleasure to meet the woman who had Lester running up and down the highway every time he could string two days off together." He told me with a grin.

Next thing I knew this huge man had taken my hand so gently I couldn't even imagine that those huge hands could be so gentle and put it in the crook of his elbow. As we headed towards the head honcho's office, Tank barked at someone named Junior to go and get my bags out of Lester's car and take them to his apartment. Lester just cracked a smile and tossed the guy his keys. I walked into the office and finally had faces to put to names. Ricardo Carlos Manoso was hot like fire. He really was too attractive to be real. So I told him so. Then I think I ruined it, "Yeah…I hope that I never have to keep my mind right when you, Lester and Roman are in the same room. Still though A-plus-plus on your genetic makeup. BT-Dubs, do you guys only hire men that are a seven or up on the hotness scale because if you need a chick to be on your selection committee…look no further…been ogling cute guys since two-thousand and four."

Ranger gave me a long look. Then he turned to Tank, "after this meeting me and Babe will be going off line. I am taking her to Point Pleasure. I do not want her and Ms. Lewis in the same building."

I think I was insulted. "Hey, my boss Lady Cede says that Ms. Plum was really nice and a hoot and a half. The second that I realized where we were I started looking forward to meeting her." I pouted adorably.

Lester laughed. "Maybe next time, Gorgeous…give Bobby and Ella the time to Beautiful and Gorgeous proof the joint."

Hector looked at the other three men who were all looking a little worried. He chuckled and spoke in almost too rapid for me to follow Spanish, "La Bonita and Angelita will be fine…as long as Angelita's Abuela is kept far, far away."

I understood what he said, but I didn't get what was so funny about it, so I decided to let it slide. "So Lester's cousin-slash-bro in arms-slash-bossman…what's the what?"

"I was hoping to talk to you about developing a social media presence for Rangeman." Ranger said bluntly.

I raised an eyebrow…or tried to only raise one…didn't work so well. "Well, color me confused. Because given the way I could only find you guys in the Better Business Bureau…I assumed that you had gone out of your way to ensure that you had no online presence."

"We had. However, we have begun to lose out to companies who are able to receive and place reviews online. It would seem that despite having the best BBB rating in the field…" Ranger started.

I continued for him, "People prefer anecdotal and subjective…often tangential reviews to the dry BBB reports."

"Basically," Lester agreed, "we have enemies, so while we need to have the company have a presence to grow Rangeman…we cannot have individual presences."

I looked at them thoughtfully. "That should actually be very easy. Why isn't my man Hector handling it for you?"

"Because I don't want to." Hector bluntly stated in his native tongue. "The one time I looked at a twitter feed, I wanted to find the asshole it belonged to and earn another tear drop."

"Yeah, that sounds like a good reason to avoid it." I returned.

Ranger took control of the meeting back with ease. "We will provide you with an encrypted and protected laptop for your use that will be as untraceable as Hector can make it. For maintaining a twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn account for Rangeman, we will pay you twelve hundred and fifty dollars a week, gross. You would be on our rolls as a contract worker therefore it will not impact your current employment any more than a few hours a week. However, that will mean that you'll receive a 1099 not a W2."

I gave him my resting bitch face look. "So what it the catch?"

"We'd ask that you not use our laptop to hack any federal databases." Tank tossed out.

"I don't know that I can make that promise. I need to keep check on the old biological bastard. He likes them young and isn't above getting them hooked on some foul shit to make them stupid enough to fall for the crap he's shoveling. If he ever gets careless enough to get caught I want to know. Social Security is the best jumping off point for that."

Hector gave me a look that would have been chilling if I didn't realize that I wasn't his prey. "La Bonita, I will keep an eye on him for you. Maybe if he gets careless, we can make sure that he gets caught."

We continued negotiations. Once we were all happy with the terms, one of which was that I got to have Lester to myself for every three-day weekend for the whole first year of said contract. Tank offered me an extra five grand in gratitude for getting him out of Trenton so much…but I was seventy-seven percent sure that he was just joking. Lester took me down to four and showed me his apartment…we started the tour in the bedroom. I didn't see anything else until the next day. After we got up and showered, we sat on his couch and exchanged Christmas gifts. Ultimately, I'd had some serious trouble picking gifts for Lester. The man already had whatever he wanted. But I allowed my girly side to figure out what I would get him. Girly side said to get him shit to make sure he brings his ass home every time he has to go out and bring in some dumbass criminal who just isn't smart enough to do his bid and get that shit out of the way. So I went online and found him a wicked cool pen, made by a knife company that could, in a pinch, do a hell of a lot of damage. The next thing I got him was a three part, layered, tactical jacket that was actually three lightweight jackets that could be layered to offer enough warmth for Les to be comfortable all the way down to below freezing temperatures. But what made up my mind to spend the three hundred bucks was that each layer had a Kevlar shell inside to add an extra layer of protection for him in the field. I wanted to get him a gun, but then in my reading I realized that not only was buying guns more involved than I thought, not as involved as it probable should have been but still, there was an element of personal preference that I just didn't have enough information to be able to be sure that I'd get him the perfect thing. So instead I got him a really awesome crossbow. Like ridiculously cool, I may have held it in the hunting goods store and felt immediately like Darcy the Vampire Slayer. I'd more than reached the limit I set for myself for his gifts, but then when I was getting Mom her awesome locket, I'd seen a watch that just screamed LESTER SANTOS…it was a Ferrari for Christ's sake. So I got him that too.

I was feeling all kinds of anxiety about how much I had gotten him. I was kind of cool on spending that much since I'd actually used my Amazon gift card from the bosses for a couple of his gifts. But I knew that he wouldn't know that. Plus, I had four boxes for him in my checked baggage…one of them was really, really big. Since I was starting to lose my 'Damn that man gives the best fucking orgasms' high, I made him open his gifts first so that the waiting could fucking stop. He grabbed for the biggest box first, because, of course he did. Thankfully, his eyes lit up like it was still Christmas morning when he saw the crossbow. "Holy Shit." He breathed. "I've always wanted one of these since back in the day. We got to use them a couple of times in weapons training."

I couldn't help but smile. "I'm glad…I was sure about it, but I figured that since I wasn't sure about your preferred hand gun specs, I'd go for it. If you hated it, I'd just take it back and pretend to be Buffy or something."

He gave me a dirty leer. "You can still play Buffy…but we'll pretend I'm Armand from Interview. Angel was too morose, Angelus was too evil, Spike was cool, but this Cubano/Rican sure as hell ain't that Anglo." He teased.

Lester went to hand me one of my gifts from him but I shook my head. "No, I'm going to need you to open all your gifts before I actually vomit from nerves…that would not be a good look."

He gave me a weird look then took my hands. "Look Gorgeous. I know we haven't said anything…but you are not alone in worrying that the gifts you got say too much and show too much. Okay?" I looked in his eyes and may have freaked out about what I saw there. I was pretty sure that he understood it. Finally, I nodded. "Alright, so I will open one more then you can open two of yours." He grabbed the smallest box, which contained the deadly pen. "I'm starting to sense a theme." He glanced over at me.

"Yeah well, I figured that I would get you gifts that make it more likely that you will be able to continue to give me massive amounts of orgasms for the foreseeable future." I hedged my bets, admitting a little, but not enough.

"It's really cool. I'll feel like I should introduce myself as Santos, Lester Santos every time I carry it. Plus it will help with the naked feeling I get when I have to go to a client meeting somewhere that I cannot go dressed." He laughed. I had learned that particular bit of Rangeman lingo a while back. They didn't consider themselves fully dressed without two guns and a couple of knives on their person. "Now you." He smiled and passed me a gift bag. "Ummm, before you open that…never mind just open it."

I shook off my surprise at his moment of nervousness. He was seven years older than me. I thought that he had his shit together too much to sweat the small stuff. I should have realized that he wouldn't have been nervous for something small. In the bag, all I saw at first were two red and white jewelry boxes. They contained two different sapphire and diamond bangle bracelets that were about three quarters of an inch wide each. They were definitely from the same designer and there wasn't a doubt in my mind that they were real, like really, really real. "Wow…I mean…these are beautiful. I've never owned any real jewelry before…well that isn't true. I had a pair of diamond stud earrings but they disappeared from my dorm room." I babbled in his general direction. "These are really expensive." I blurted out. At least I felt better for having spent so much on him.

He looked me deep in my eyes and simply replied, "You are worth all I spent and more."

Okay then. "Okay then." I accepted his statement as sincere. Not that Lester couldn't dish out lines, but his tended to be more of the cheese variety. "So back to you now?"

He shook his head. "Nope…I said you had to open two." I looked at the two bracelets that I'd put on my wrists. "One bag means one gift. But can I say that I'm loving seeing you in those and nothing else." I laughed but took the next gift bag he handed me. Again inside the bag was a red and white box. That time the box held a pair of sapphire and diamond earrings. They were large rhombi of filigree silver with the sapphires and pave diamonds set in the filigree. The large rhombi were suspended from the silver and sapphire stud with a pave diamond length, just long enough to hold one more sapphire. I loved them immediately.

"These are going to great with my dress for New Years' Eve." I said once I finished gushing a little stupidly.

Lester laughed. "I thought so too when you sent me that pic of it. I got you the sapphires because I thought that they were the same color as your eyes right before you cum your hardest."

We finished opening our gifts. In addition to the bracelets and earrings, I received another, thicker bangle from the same designer with blue topaz and diamonds. Apparently, my eyes were normally the color of those stones. My last gift bag contained a five carat asscher cut sapphire surrounded by a halo of pave diamonds pendant on a twenty-two inch chain. We both loved our Christmas gifts and were sure that the other had given us the best gifts we'd ever received. We made love, acknowledged as such, for the very first time. Amazingly, it was just like the times we'd fucked for the last month or so before I went home. Which meant that the emotional shift had happened before Thanksgiving. I guess our bodies knew our hearts before our minds would accept what they were screaming. He took me back to Harlem Sunday evening. Before I left Rangeman's Trenton office, I'd signed a very lucrative contract to handle establishing and proliferating Rangeman's online presence. Monday morning, I was in my office getting shit handled for both of my bosses. I was really having the best year ever. I couldn't wait to see how the next one was going to shape up.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Allow me to set forth an offer that I truly believe is too good to be refused.

Chapter 3 is actually Chapters 3&4
If I receive enough reviews for this and the next posting, meaning I receive 13-14 reviews (1 review per 1000 words) I will post the second half of chapter 3 on Monday August 29th...and post the real Chapter 4 (Number 5) on the following Thursday, which will give you three new chapters in one week.

You think about it and leave me a comment if you'd like to receive an extra chapter next week.

If you'd like you can go back and reread the author note and imagine a thicker black woman in her later thirties trying to sound like Marlon Brando from the Godfather. Even I have to admit it was ridiculously funny.

TTFN,
Anni