Part 8

Kyle looked up from the napkins Isabel had him folding when Maria came back into the kitchen dragging Michael behind her. "Sleeping Beauty awakes," he said with a teasing grin. "Awaiting true loves' kiss, were you?"

"You're just jealous because no matter how many princesses you kiss you still look like a frog," Max said as he helped Edward pull the table apart so they could insert the leaves the two Stevens' boys were carrying in.

"Alas, my liege, your supposition is sorely incorrect," Kyle denied, hamming it up with a really bad Shakespearean accent.

Liz laughed and Isabel rolled her eyes at his antics, which only encouraged him to continue.

Max was enjoying the moment so he played along. "So you haven't kissed that many princesses?"

"I've kissed many a fair damsel, however it has also been many a fortnight since that pleasure was mine."

"How come?" Eddie wondered aloud. "Aren't you an' Isabel married?" He motioned to her left hand and the rings there.

An uncomfortable moment of silence fell over the room and Michael stepped in, rescuing Isabel and Kyle before they had to come up with an explanation. "Who wants to talk about old married people? You guys must be involved in some kinda sports, right? Or maybe video games are your thing?" He didn't miss the speculative look they were getting from Edward as his gaze moved between the six of them.

Brian made a face. He could care less who was married to who. He studied Michael. It was the first time he had even really looked in his direction. The guy had this whole thing going on; he was totally cool, but also in control. He was like one of the superheroes in the comic books he liked to collect. He smirked. "That's for sure. Hockey rules here." He turned his head to look at his dad. "There's a game on tonight an' there's no way we're gonna miss it, right, Dad?"

Julia caught Edward's attention and gave a sharp, almost unnoticeable shake of her head, silently telling him to leave it alone.

As soon as the boys were sufficiently distracted and the conversation had been safely turned away from them, Michael's attention shifted to Julia. She was setting up a griddle on the counter and he mentally went over the items she had around her. She was making hamburgers for dinner – something he could make in his sleep.

He reached for the unopened package of hamburger at the same time she did and one side of his mouth quirked up in a half-smile. "Where're your seasonings?" She had been waiting on them hand and foot all day and making dinner was the least they could do.

She smiled and pointed at the cabinet in front of him. She didn't bother asking him if he was sure. She had a feeling he wouldn't be stepping in and taking over if he didn't want to. "Just about any fresh vegetable you might need will be in the fridge. Not a lot of it," she warned with a laugh, "but enough. Tomorrow's grocery day so things are a bit low."

He shook his head. "Fries?"

"We're lower on the frozen ones than I thought we were, but I've got half a bag of potatoes."

"Better than frozen anyway." He shrugged and turned to look at the people who were now his family. "Evans." He rolled his eyes when Max and Liz both turned to look at him and Isabel basically ignored his call. "Potatoes, peel. Parker, handle the drinks. Maria, cut the potatoes for fries when he's finished peelin' 'em."

Isabel shook her head when he looked at her.

"You're in charge over there."

"Oh, thank you for granting your permission," she said, her tone mocking as she bowed slightly.

"I'm sure you already know what you're doin'," he muttered. The Stevens family had no idea what they were in for letting Isabel handle place settings. Kyle was busy trying to fold napkins into some impossible design and he left him to it. "You two," he motioned to the boys, "let's get that table set."

"What 'bout me?" the littlest Stevens asked as she tugged on his shirt. "Don't you got nothin' for me to do?"

Michael looked down at Maggie. "You know how to make the perfect burger?" he asked.

"Is it the kind Santa likes?"

He raised one eyebrow in question. "How'd you know?"

Her eyes widened and she turned her head to look at Mama. "I told you he knows Santa," she whispered loudly.

Julia chuckled and nodded, watching as he organized things smartly. It was fairly close to the way she would've divided dinner duties up. His manner was perhaps a little gruffer than her personal style, but he was effective and the others listened and followed his orders.

Michael checked the refrigerator and then turned to Julia. "You guys like things hot an' spicy?"

"Within limits," she answered with a smile. "Edward and the boys like things a little hotter than I do."

"Yeah, an' Maggie doesn't eat anything hot," Eddie said while rolling his eyes.

"I do too," the little girl insisted.

Michael glanced at Julia for confirmation and nodded when she shook her head slightly. "Okay, tell ya what," he said as he grabbed one of the kitchen chairs and placed it in front of the counter a safe distance from and grease that might spatter. "I'm pretty sure Santa will understand if I share his secret burger recipe with you."

"Really?"

"Yeah, but you can't tell just anyone about it." He bit back a grin when she shook her head solemnly. "Okay, first thing we gotta do, chop all the secret ingredients up and mix the burger."

"Huh-uh," she said, dragging the word out.

"No?"

"We gotta wash our hands first, silly."

Michael started to tell her that was a given, but instead he just snapped his fingers and pointed at her. "You've done this before, huh?" He nodded when she just giggled. "Okay, you're right about that."

Julia waited until the two had washed their hands and he was tying the strings on Maggie's apron before she spoke. "Looks like you've got things under control, Michael. Is there anything you'd like for me to do?"

He waved her off with a glance. "Nah, take a load off. We got this."

"If you're sure." She chuckled under her breath when he just shook his head and set about chopping things up and scraping them in the bowl for Maggie to mix. The little girl loved to help out in the kitchen and she was pleased that he had included her in what was easily the most 'important' job of the evening.

"Santa's secret burger recipe?" Edward growled as he joined Julia at the other end of the kitchen to watch the organized chaos.

"Well, even Santa has to eat, Edward," she said with a teasing grin.

He shook his head when Michael started chopping up a couple of jalapenos. "She's not gonna be able to eat those burgers. That mix is gonna be too hot for her."

"Just watch what he's doing. He's got two separate mixes going on. There's nothing hot in the second bowl."

"The jalapeno will take care of that. If Maggie eats that she'll be up all night."

"He seeded the second jalapeno."

"So?"

"So, without the seeds it won't be hot. And look at how much fun Maggie's having over there, making Santa's favorite burgers."

"Um-hmm. I'm gonna go check the weather."

She caught his shirttail and gave it a tug. "Hurry back, dinner's almost ready," she said with a wink.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

They were just getting ready to sit down around the table when Isabel stopped them and had them sit in the correct places. Maggie frowned at the spot she had been given and she shook her head as she looked up at Isabel. "I wanna sit with Michael," she insisted.

One look at the little girl's mutinous expression and Isabel knew she was going to have a fight on her hands. Since dinner was already finished she gave in gracefully and had everyone shuffle down one seat, making room for Maggie between Michael and Maria.

"This's like musical chairs," Kyle said, laughing.

"Can I say grace tonight, Daddy?" Maggie asked as she settled into her chair.

Edward glanced at his wife before nodding. Usually he said grace before dinner and it was rare for one of the kids to ask to say the blessing.

"Thank you God for dinner an' for all of our new friends. But most of all, thank you for Michael who knows Santa. Amen." She glanced at Michael when he remained silent amid a round of 'amen's'. "An' now you gotta say 'amen' too," she whispered.

The others just grinned and bit back their laughter as Michael followed her directions and uttered a quiet "amen". Maria reached around Maggie's chair to rub his arm, hoping to ease his discomfort at the unexpected attention.

"You know your way around a kitchen," Edward observed as everyone started piling the toppings of their choosing on their hamburgers.

Michael shrugged and slathered horseradish sauce on the top bun.

"Me too, please." Maggie handed her hamburger bun to Michael. "He knows Santa, Daddy."

"Hey, see if Maria will pass the pickles," Michael said. He waited until she was busy with that to glance at Julia and motion between the jars of mayonnaise and horseradish sauce.

Julia leaned in close to him to whisper, "Mayonnaise, with just a touch of horsey sauce."

He nodded and spread a thin layer of the spicy sauce on the bun before switching to the mayonnaise and covering it. "You manage to get the pickles away from Maria?" he asked when he reached over to place the bun on her plate so she could finish dressing her burger.

"Not yet." Her eyes widened at the pickles Maria had layered on her hamburger. "Wow, you like pickles a lot, huh?"

"Julia, you liked pickles like that when – " Edward started, but a well-aimed kick at his left shin silenced the rest of that comment. He held his hands up in confusion. Jeez, was it a state secret that she'd devoured pickles by the jar when she was pregnant with Eddie?

Liz had a feeling she knew exactly where he had been going with his statement but she just grinned and shook her head. "Maria always suffocates her hamburgers with pickles. She drives fast-food places crazy because they never put enough on their burgers."

"Keep digging that hole, Edward," Julia warned quietly.

The telephone rang before he could respond and he excused himself to go and answer it, thankful to be given the brief reprieve. He returned a few minutes later and took his seat, glancing at his wife before resting his forearms on the table and clearing his throat in a request for silence. "That was Dean," he said as he glanced around at their guests. "He hasn't had a chance to get to your van. He got busy before it was brought in and things just didn't slow down. He expects to get to it first thing in the mornin'."

Julia watched the looks flying back and forth between the six of them and she knew they were trying to figure out what they were going to do now.

"So, we're gonna have a sleepover?" Maggie asked excitedly.

"Hey, if you guys are gonna hang out we can watch the game together," Brian said.

Michael was scrambling to figure out how to handle the situation. The Stevens family had been welcoming; they had taken them in and fed them, given them a place to sleep, and helped them get a tow for the van, but they couldn't just continue to take up space on their floor at night.

Maria could see the burden of this new information weighing heavily on Michael's shoulders and she wished there was a simple solution for once. He was carrying the weight of every decision that had been made since they had left Roswell, since Max had declared that he wasn't a king and that he wasn't making decisions for everyone anymore. It wasn't fair for him to carry that responsibility alone but it was something he did without complaint.

"I'm sure there's gotta be a hotel by the shop where our van's at," Kyle spoke up. "Whatcha think, El Capitan?"

Maria could feel the tension in Michael's muscles as he considered their outgo at a hotel versus their other options.

Julia could see them struggling under this new information and she imagined they must be trying to determine their next course of action and how they would make it to the next day. Even now not one single one of them spoke up to ask for help and she wondered why. It wasn't an issue of pride, she was certain of that. There was some other reason, something deeper that prevented them from speaking up and asking.

"Oooh, Mama, can all us girls make Christmas cookies for the pajama party?" Maggie asked excitedly.

Julia smiled at her daughter. "Why don't you ask Daddy, sweetie," she suggested.

Maggie looked at Daddy, her expression all innocence and hopeful excitement. "We can do that, Daddy, right?"

Edward cleared his throat. "Well, Maggie… there's um…"

"We can make your favorite kind."

"I'm sure you can and that'd be very sweet, but…" He glanced at his wife, looking for help and not finding it.

Maggie looked at Mama again. "Mama?"

Julia smiled at her youngest before glancing at her husband. "We'll see after I talk to Daddy." She knew his plans for their day alone had been disrupted and he was feeling neglected. She nudged his knee with hers under the table to get his attention. "Edward, may I see you in my office?"

"Your office?" he echoed as he looked at her. Oh, no, he groaned silently. He could practically see the wheels turning in her head and he knew what was coming. He hung his head in defeat for a few moments before straightening up, pushing his chair back and standing. "Would you all please excuse us?" He pulled Julia's chair out as she stood and then followed her from the room.