Brock loved Christmas. He loved the cheeriness that seemed to permeate the air during this special season. He loved the lights, the trees, the tinsel, and he especially loved the cheesy songs about Christmas.

But Brock had every right to hate Christmas. Growing up he had passed through various orphanages and foster homes. None of which particularly cared about celebrating Christmas or making it special for him. As one of his foster parents told him, at the age of 7, "Brock didn't have the luxury to be able to believe in Santa", so you could say Brock grew up quickly.

Brock grew up never having experienced a real Christmas, and that meant that Christmas day became just like any other day of the year, until Bravo that is.

Brock couldn't believe his luck when Bravo team chose him from Green team.

Bravo was different from the other Seal teams. Bravo had the fiercest and best reputation for getting the job done. But Bravo were also close, and that is what Brock admired about them as well, as the ability to get the job done.

Not having had anyone who really cared about him before made Brock believe that he wasn't worth caring about. In fact, Brock could probably come up with 101 reasons why no one could ever care about him, he genuinely believed he didn't deserve good friends or to be loved.

At the homes Brock had developed many coping strategies. It was best to keep yourself to yourself and for all intents and purposes go unnoticed. Keep quiet and say nothing. A habit he still found hard to break. Be helpful, don't draw attention to yourself and stay under the radar.

Don't smile, don't laugh, don't show emotion or weakness and most of all don't get attached to anyone or anything.

These were the lessons Brock learned at an early age and these were the lessons that never failed him. No matter where he went or what he did Brock was able to blend in and not be noticed. But these were also the reasons why Jason was fascinated by the tall curly haired man.

Adam had first tipped Jason off about Brock. Adam knew Jason needed a good fit for Bravo, someone that would bring the team together and be able to handle Sonny. They didn't need another "Alpha" male. They needed someone who possessed the strength and determination to succeed in the teams, but they also needed a certain personality that not many tier One operators had or were capable of having.

In the end Jason was quick to swoop in and snap Brock up, right from under the nose of Charlie team. Beau had nearly had an aneurism, but Jason didn't care. He knew who he wanted, and Blackburn had given Jason first choice.

Brock found it astonishing to see Beau Fuller, the leader of Charlie team coming to blows with the "mighty" Jason Hayes over him. Surely it was a mistake. Why would they be squabbling like kids to pick him?

Blackburn had, had to step in and split Jason and Beau up, however Brock's self-doubts were hard to allay, and Brock was grateful to slip away unnoticed to the locker rooms whilst the kafuffle carried on.

If Brock remembers rightly that was probably the last time that Bravo ever allowed him to hide away from them. Bravo soon made him realise that he was "worth" it and they were not going to let him go unnoticed no matter how hard he tried.

From yard BBQs to family parties, to just hanging in the bar to organised outings. Brock was included in everything. He struggled at first to accept that they genuinely cared about him and weren't inviting him just because he was in the team or because of Cerberus (yes, he believed they liked the dog more than him), but eventually it sank in that he was wanted and needed by this unusual group and their amazing families.

After last year's Christmas Eve incident, Bravo had taken more of an interest in Brock's life. After finding out that Brock had not experienced a "normal" Christmas, Bravo decided to make sure this Christmas would be like nothing Brock had ever experienced before.

They planned to make it a real family Christmas and include him in all their plans. In fact, Clay was the one who came up with the "Plan".

The "Plan" would start on December the 1st, which luckily happened to be on a Saturday. Clay had decided that the best way to start December off was with a traditional Christmas tree hunt.

Rays house was the obvious choice for all Christmas activities and Naima and the kids were easily roped into giving Brock his best Christmas ever.

After the Christmas tree hunt there would be:

Decorating the tree and the house

putting lights up on the house

Singing Christmas songs

making gingerbread houses

watching Christmas Movies

helping Jameelah and RJ write letters to Santa.

finding a suitable Christmas jumper

Christmas market shopping and drinking lots of hot chocolate.

And these were just the start of the suggestions. Of course, Sonny suggested a different kind of Christmas drink and going to the latest "club", however he was promptly overruled, Clay pointing out that this was not the type of "family" activity he had in mind for Brock.

Brock, as expected, did not want any fuss when the members of Bravo team told him what they had planned. What Bravo didn't expect was a terrified Brock. Brock looked absolutely horrified as Clay explained the "Christmas plan" to him. Yes, Brock loved Christmas and yes, he was excited about the "plan", but Brock had no idea how Christmas worked, how he was supposed act and react, and this made him feel extremely uncomfortable. His teammates were all excitedly standing in front of him, clearly pleased with themselves and the "plan".

He couldn't disappoint them. He couldn't explain how scared he was to them. They'd just laugh and there was no way they would understand. He wasn't sure he understood himself, so how could he expect them to? So, Brock quickly schooled the expression on his face and smiled to them all, trying to reassure them that it all sounded amazing.

Trent went to look for Brock and found him in the kitchen trying to sneak out the back door.

Trent looked intensely at his best friend and frowned. "Where are you going?

Brock looked up, startled, and stopped moving. He shifted awkwardly and shook his head to ease the tension in his neck. "I'm not going anywhere". Then having thought about it for a second as clearly Brock was going somewhere he said "Well, I was uum, just popping out for some fresh air."

Trent gave him a considered look and then said with a sigh, "What do you want me to tell everyone?"

Brock looked away before replying "Just say I went out."

"Out?"

"Yeah, I just went out."

Trent looked thoughtful for a moment before commenting "Geeze Brock that's cold. Naimah's done everything she can to make staying here as easy as possible for you, for us all. I thought you wanted to be part of it. I thought you wanted to have the perfect Christmas?"

Brock looked at Trent, guilt written all over his face before he started to move closer to the door. Trent moved faster and placed a hand on Brock's shoulder, stopping him. "What happened. Why do you need to escape?"

Brock hung his head, shrugging his shoulders. "it's just too much. I just can't…."

"What will everyone else think?" said Trent. "Were you even going to say anything or just disappear?"

Brock didn't know what to say. He couldn't bring himself to look at Trent. He couldn't tell him how it felt to feel so claustrophobic, so awkward, so…. attached.

How could Trent possibly understand that he was starting to get attached to these amazing people and it scared him. It felt so alien, and he needed space. He needed to escape and run. He wanted nothing more than to grab Cerb and head for the hills and keep running until he worked it all out in his head.

Trent put a hand on Brock's shoulder, making Brock jump and breaking him out of his thoughts. Trent could feel the tension radiating from the younger man. He hated to do this to Brock, but there was no way he was letting him go. "Come on back in the other room. They're going to be wondering where we are. I will stay with you. I will stay close by."

Brock let out a large sigh, a look of anguish crossing his face. He was about to say something when RJ came toddling into the kitchen and spotted Brock. RJ let out an excited squeal and toddled straight over to Brock with his arms held out wanting to be picked up. Brock had become a massive hit with the little boy, so Trent was surprised RJ had let Brock out of his sight for this long.

Naima was close behind RJ. She spotted Brock and Trent at the back door and noted that Brock looked extremely guilty about something. Choosing to ignore whatever was going on Naima smiled at them both "There you both are! Come on, the food is ready. Grab a plate and help yourselves before Clay and Sonny eat everything. RJ leave poor Brock alone for five minutes."

Brock swallowed once and was about to say something when RJ grabbed his hand and started to pull him back into the lounge area. "Come on Uncle Broccoli. We need to get chicken dippers before Uncle Sonny" and with that RJ dragged Brock into the adjoining room where all the others were. A loud cheer of "Broccoli" could be heard in the other room as Brock joined them.

Naima looked questioningly at Trent.

"Is Brock, ok?" she asked quietly so not to be overheard.

"He's doing fine" said Trent honestly, then "He's just a bit overwhelmed with everything that's going on. He's not used to Christmas and people caring."

Naima nodded, smiled at Trent, and gave him a quick hug. "Thank you for stopping him. I hadn't realised he was so close to running."

"I hadn't either", said Trent honestly, "But I think it's RJ that saved the day. Let's just keep an eye on him and maybe calm the plan down a bit. Make it easier. Less overwhelming."

Naima nodded in agreement and herded Trent back into the next room, "Absolutely. We don't need to squash so many activities into such a small-time scale. Let's just enjoy the here and now, and make sure that RJ spends as much time with Brock as possible. Let RJ teach Brock what an amazing time of year it is to be surrounded by family".