Dinner was a busy, noisy, lively affair. Maggie and Tommy chattered excitedly about Santa, but Harry was very quiet. Alex helped Molly with her dinner, talking intermittently with Mike and Denise, but Bobby was also withdrawn. His sharp eyes didn't miss anything, though.

When dinner was over and the children were excused, Maggie and Tommy hurried off to play with Harry following along more sedately. Alex set Molly on the floor and she crawled after her siblings, giggling the entire way.

Denise went into the kitchen with Alex while Mike and Bobby cleared the table and cleaned up after the children. Bobby still didn't have much to say.

"You okay?" Mike asked.

Bobby looked up at him. "Me? Yeah, I'm fine."

"You've been awfully quiet."

He shrugged. "I have a lot to think about."

"Want to share?"

Bobby glanced toward the kitchen. "No, not right now."

"Should I catch you later?"

"If you have a chance. It doesn't matter. It's nothing earth-shattering."

Mike lifted the pile of dishes and gave his friend a skeptical look. "That's your opinion," he said.

He carried the dishes into the kitchen and Bobby went looking for the kids to begin herding them off to bed.

By the time Alex and Mike joined him, the children were clean and in their pajamas. They had set out a glass of milk and a plate of cookies for Santa before he brought them upstairs. Denise called good night to him as she carried Sam and a fresh bottle to the room she shared with Mike. Tommy grabbed Mike's hand and dragged him toward his room and Alex took Molly from Bobby's arms. That left Maggie and Harry to Bobby. Both children went with him to Maggie's room and he tucked in the little girl. "What story do you guys want?" he asked.

"No story tonight, Daddy. Santa's comin'! We need-a go to sleep."

He smiled and leaned down to kiss her forehead. "Then I'll read you two stories tomorrow night."

"Okay," she replied happily.

He turned toward Harry. "Is that...Harry?"

The little boy was gone. "Is something bothering Harry?" he asked.

"He didn' say so to me," she answered. "He was kinda quiet, but he thinks a lot, like you do, and he gets quiet a lot."

"I'd better go tuck him in, before he tucks himself in."

He gave her another kiss and turned off the light. "Good night, Daddy," she said.

"Good night, mouse," he replied.

He walked down to Harry's room, but he wasn't there. He began checking the other rooms, but he was no where to be found and no one had seen him.

"Hold on and I'll give you a hand," Alex said from the rocker in Molly's room. Molly still nursed at bedtime, a routine in which both she and Alex took comfort.

"No," Bobby said with a wave of his hand. "I'll find him."

He leaned down and kissed Molly's soft curls, his eyes straying to the baby's mouth, firmly attached to her mother. Alex gently poked his side. "Go," she said playfully.

He smiled at her, then left the room. He returned to Harry's room. The little boy had been unusually quiet at dinner. Normally, he participated in the general hubbub, but he hadn't said much tonight. When Bobby was little, he often chose to hide from the things that disturbed him. Harry did the same. He walked over to the closet and slowly pulled the door open. Sitting in the back corner of the closet was Harry, hugging his stuffed rhino tightly to him. Ignoring the protest in his knee, Bobby sat beside him underneath the shirts and sweatshirts and two jackets that hung above them. "Hey," he said softly.

Harry grunted, but he hugged his rhino closer.

"Something bothering you?"

Harry shrugged.

"What about Dozer?" Harry named his rhino Dozer because he was strong, like a bulldozer. "Is something bothering him?"

He shook his head. "Dozer's never scared."

"But you still get scared from time to time, huh?"

Harry nodded. "Sometimes."

"And tonight is one of those times."

Harry nodded and a tear rolled down his cheek. He sniffed.

"What's got you scared?"

Harry was quiet. A soft sob escaped from him. "S-S-Santa," he muttered, his voice barely a whisper.

Bobby gave that some thought. "Santa's never been to see you before, has he?"

Harry shook his head. "My old daddy wouldina let him."

"Did anyone ever tell you about him?"

Again he shook his head. "No. Chrissmas is new, like birthdays."

Christmas and birthdays and laughter and a life filled with love...

"And Santa scares you," Bobby said quietly.

Harry sniffed again and wiped at his eyes with one hand, careful not to release Dozer. "Yeah,"

"Let's go sit on the bed, okay?"

"With you?"

"Yeah, with me."

Harry got to his feet and shuffled to the bed. Bobby was a bit slower getting up, his knee screaming in protest as he got up from the floor. He limped over to the bed and sat beside Harry. Absently, he rubbed his knee as he thought about the best way to explain Santa's home invasion to his young son. Harry reached out and rubbed his little hand over his father's hot knee. "It hurss?" he asked.

"A little."

"You should take your med'cine."

Bobby smiled. "I promise I will, after we talk."

"Does Santa really come into the house?"

"He does."

"But you locked the doors, didn' you?"

"Yes. Santa is magic, though. He comes down the chimney where the fireplace is. He leaves presents under the tree and eats the cookies you guys left for him and then he leaves."

"Will Zeus bark at him?"

"Zeus won't even know he's here. He's very quiet. Besides, Zeus only barks at people he doesn't know or when he's scared. He'll know that Santa doesn't mean any harm. Dogs can tell."

"So Santa is...he's good?"

"He's very good. Every year on Christmas Eve he travels over the whole world, leaving presents under the trees of good children."

"I...I wasn't good 'nuff b'fore..."

"No, no...that's not true at all."

"But he's never come to me b'fore."

"That wasn't your fault, buddy, That was your parents' fault. They kept Santa away. But Santa remembers. He knows you're a good boy, and he's kept track of how good you are. He won't forget that he hasn't been able to visit you before."

Harry thought about that. "So he knew that my old daddy wouldn't like it if he gave me presents?"

"He knew."

"But now...now he can come, an' he knows."

Bobby nodded. "Yeah, he knows."

"I don' gotta be scared?"

"No, you don't. Maggie and Tommy aren't scared, are they?"

"No."

"And we'd never let anyone come into the house to hurt you, would we?"

"No."

"Okay, then. Climb under the covers here, and keep Dozer close. Do you want a story?"

"Can you tell me a story of Santa?"

"Sure. You relax and just listen."

Harry nodded and reached out to tuck his hand into Bobby's. His dark eyes watched Bobby's face and he listened to the warm, rich tones of his soft voice as he began, "'Twas the night before Christmas..."

Alex tucked her sleeping baby into her crib and walked down the hall. She heard the soft rumble of Bobby's voice followed by the quiet, higher tones of Harry's. Bobby had found him. She went to her bedroom and changed into a soft flannel nightshirt. Then she went downstairs to wait for Bobby.

He was limping when he came into the living room and he looked exhausted. "Everything okay?" she asked.

"Yeah, it's fine."

"Where was he?"

"Hiding. Santa's never come to visit him before and he was scared."

"Oh...poor baby."

"I wish Gomez was still alive so I could beat the hell out of him for what he did to that boy."

"He'll pay for his crimes."

Bobby grunted. "I told him that Santa remembers that he's been a good boy. He'll make it up to him."

"He'll understand more in the morning."

"Yeah. I recited 'A Visit From St. Nicholas' for him. He was asleep by the time I finished."

"Let's put the presents under the tree and go to bed. You look beat."

"Yeah, okay. I'll be right there."

She watched him limp to the kitchen and heard the rattle of the pill bottle as he got his medicine. He joined her in the family room and she slid her arms around him. "Are you sure you're okay?" she asked.

"I am. I'm just...He's had such a rough time. No kid should be afraid of Santa. I want to introduce Gomez to fear—real fear."

"Let it go," she said quietly. "Tomorrow will be worth it."

"Worth what?" came a voice from behind them.

Alex pulled away from him and turned her attention to Mike and Denise. She smiled. "Worth all the trouble. Seeing the kids on Christmas morning makes everything worthwhile."

Mike looked at Bobby as Denise said, "We wanted to help with the tree. Are the kids all sleeping?"

"Yes. Come on. The presents are in the basement."

Mike grabbed Denise around the waist. "Oh, no...you two wait here and we'll get the presents. Have some milk and cookies."

She laughed and he kissed her neck. Then he motioned to Bobby and they headed for the basement stairs. Once all the presents had been brought up, Mike went out to his car and added a couple more bags of gifts to the pile. "I'd already finished my Christmas shopping, but Denise wanted to get some things for the kids, so..."

Alex laughed and they began to arrange the brightly colored packages under the tree.

By the time they were done with the tree, after a lot of rearranging and a lot of laughter, it was almost midnight. Mike trotted to the kitchen and returned with four glasses and a carton of egg nog. He passed out the glasses and filled them. "To Christmas with children," he toasted.

They wandered into the living room. "Oh, what time is it?" Denise asked.

"About five til twelve," Bobby answered.

"It's a Wonderful Life starts at midnight," she said, eyebrows raised.

"We can watch it upstairs..." Mike started, but Alex cut him off.

"You don't have to—it's my favorite Christmas movie. Let's watch it down here."

She searched for the remote and turned on the television. Finding the station, she and Denise settled on the couch. "Come on," she said to the men.

"Give me a minute," Bobby said. "I'm going to step outside."

They watched him go out onto the back deck. "Is he okay?" Mike asked.

"He says he is. He had to explain Christmas to Harry, and he's a little upset that Harry's never had a Christmas before. His knee is acting up and it's been a long day."

Mike set the egg nog on the coffee table and started for the door. As he got there, he turned. "Oh, I forgot to tell you...Carolyn is going to be bringing Sean by in the morning. She wanted to go to Arizona for the holidays, but I told her I wanted Sean for Christmas. That was a fun discussion. She said she'd come by around nine."

Alex nodded. "That's fine."

Mike gave her a grin, then stepped out into the cold.

Bobby looked over his shoulder when the door opened. Mike joined him at the railing. "Watching the snow fall?"

"And thinking."

"About?"

"Life in general. Harry was hiding in his closet."

"In the closet?"

Bobby nodded. "I used to hide in the closet when I didn't want 'them' to find me. He was afraid of Santa."

"Gomez did a number on him, and he had years to condition him for fear. It's gonna take time to recondition him for love."

"You sound like a shrink."

"Hey, no need to be insulting. And I learned all that mumbo jumbo from you."

"Nice to know you listen."

Mike grunted. "Your knee still hurting from that little chase we had the other day?"

"Yeah. It'll be okay."

Mike watched him raise his smoke to his mouth. His hand was shaking, and he couldn't tell if it was from the cold or not. "Buddy, you need to calm down before they notice."

"I know. I'm trying. That's why I'm out here."

After a few minutes of silence, Bobby asked, "Have you ever liked Christmas?"

"Yeah, sure."

"As a kid did you like it?"

"Well...no, not so much. Just another excuse for my mother to drink and fight with my dad."

Bobby nodded. "In my house, it was dad who drank. Mom was...unpredictable. One year, she came out of her bedroom Christmas morning, saw the tree and thought the apartment was on fire. She attacked it with a fire extinguisher after she called the fire department."

"What'd they do?"

"Took her to the hospital. I slipped out the back and took off. I didn't want to see that again."

"Haven't you gotten to like Christmas as an adult?"

Bobby shook his head. "No."

"No? Not even with the kids?"

"No. When Maggie was little, Christmas was a shadow of what life could have been for me, if I hadn't let Alex get away. Then, we were together, and Tommy came along. That Christmas you and I were on the run from the feds, remember?"

"Oh, yeah."

"And the Christmas that Molly joined us? Remember that one?"

"Bobby..."

"I kinda hoped this one would be different, but...it won't be."

"How do you know that?"

Bobby took another drag and said, "Because this one might very well be my last."

Mike didn't know what to say to that. If nothing else, Bobby was a realist. Maybe too much so. Silence hung heavy between them as Bobby finished his smoke. Then they went into the warm house and joined their wives on the couch.

Bobby felt better, calmer and less wound up. He propped his leg up on the coffee table; his knee had settled into a dull ache. He tucked his arm around Alex and his hand brushed Denise's arm. Alex settled against him and Denise gently stroked his fingers before she settled against Mike.

Warm, comfortable and reassured, Bobby snuggled against Alex, settling his other hand in her lap. She curled both of her hands around his and lightly stroked his palm and the inside of his wrist. He rested his head against hers.

On the television screen, George Bailey was stopped from dying in the icy river by Clarence, and Bobby idly wondered what life would be like with a guardian angel. He found that funny and he softly laughed.

"What's so funny?" Alex asked.

"A guardian angel. People would really think I'm crazy if I started talking to my guardian angel."

She smiled and reached over, lightly running her fingers over his cheek. She resumed caressing his hand.

Clarence...

His mind began to drift, and so did he.