"Dinner is almost ready. Go wash your hands."

Vermont at Christmas was the tradition it had been for several years, since before Javi was born. They started the vacation tradition two years before Stephen died. Every year on the 20th of December, everyone would make their way to the house to spend the week. When everyone arrived it was time to put up the tree which was always Javi's favorite. The last three years, Verna had joined them and insisted on making dinner. This makeshift family was the best for Olivia. Adding Verna to it had been more of a blessing than she thought it could be.

"I thought dinner was after church service?" Fitz stood up asking them.

"No, it's before, Fitz! We have dinner and then we go to church. Come on man!" Javi shouted at him from the hallway on his way to the bathroom.

"He's right, babe," Liv leaned over the couch to kiss his cheek before the doorbell rang. "Can you get that? I'll get Javi."

"Sure, but I really hope it isn't carolers. Any more singing from them and I might lose it."

"I agree! No more carolers!" Liv shouted back at him.

Hearing the bell again and again. "We get it, you're at the door!" Fitz shouted before opening it. "Mom?!"

Before Fitz could get her name out of his mouth, Lily had him wrapped in a hug so tight he could hardly breathe. "Sweetheart! I'm so happy to see you!"

Gripping her in a tighter hug, Fitz was thrilled she was here. "George! What are you guys doing here?"

"Liv invited us," George told him as they hugged.

"Yes, yes, dear. Olivia called a couple of weeks ago and flew us out here. We're you're Christmas presents," Lily told him. Getting the front door closed, Fitz took their coats and hung them up on the rack. "Now, where is this wonderful girlfriend? I can't wait to see her in person."

Stepping out from the hallway, Liv went over to them and rubbed Fitz's back lightly. "Merry Christmas." She laughed and kissed his cheek. "So good to finally meet you two. Come in, we're just about to eat dinner. I was worried Lucas wouldn't get you here in time. You must be hungry."

Introducing George and Lily to everyone, Jerry tried to avoid any contact with them until Verna kicked his leg under the table and motioned her head towards them.

"Jerry, lovely to see you," Lily smiled at him.

"Oh, yes, of course, you too. George," Jerry acknowledged him and nodded his head.

"Nice to see you, Jerry."

"Verna, glad to see you here too. How are things?" Lily asked her. Jerry, George, and Fitz all looked between themselves and the two women, attempting to read how this night would go. Seeing them smile at each other and have a pleasant, at least at the moment, meeting. "Well, are we all here, Olivia? I don't know about any of you, but I could eat a horse!"

Sitting at the table, everyone getting along, Olivia couldn't have hoped for a better outcome. Shocked as she was with Jerry, she knew he'd be on his best behavior. If not, he would have to deal with Verna later.

"Would you like to join us for church service?" Liv asked Fitz, Lily, and George. "Or you can stay here."

"Of course, I'm coming with you, Livie. It's our first Christmas together, I don't want to miss one minute of it," he told her. "Mom, you want to join us?"

After they returned from candlelight service at the church, Javi was given his Christmas Eve present. Getting him changed into his new pajamas and settling him down for the movie was always a task and this was no different.

"Come sit with me and daddy, Javi," Kim smiled and tried to get him over to her and Huck.

Shaking his head, Javi grabbed his blanket and moved between Fitz and Olivia. "I'm good with Fitz," he told her, surprising everyone in the room.

Before the Grinch had even thought about stealing the presents, Javi was asleep leaning against Fitz. Taking him to bed, Kim and Huck said their good nights and went off. George followed a few minutes later.

"Go ahead, I'll be in after a while, I want to talk to everyone," Lily told him and kissed him goodnight.

Sitting in the living room, Liv turned on the fireplace and sat with Fitz on one couch, Verna and Jerry on another, Lily across from them.

"Well, this is… different." Jerry laughed trying to ease the tension he could feel in the room.

"Ten years is probably going to feel different, Fitzgerald," Lily smirked sipping her hot chocolate. "But avoiding the issue isn't going to be of any use."

"Mom let's not fight, please. I want to enjoy this."

"No one is fighting, dear. I'm just pointing out that we haven't spoken in ten years since you married that witch and now, I'm here with George. And he's here with Verna. This was always going to be uncomfortable. Whether it's Christmas or July 4th. I'm glad you invited us out here, Olivia. Thank you for that."

Olivia nodded and smiled leaning against Fitz. "I wanted to give Fitz a great gift."

"And you did," Fitz smiled and kissed her lips. "Are you ready for bed? I think Santa comes in just a few hours."

Looking over at Jerry, Liv didn't want to leave him there alone with Verna and Lily unless he was okay. Seeing him nod his agreement, Verna waved her off as well. "I probably won't sleep but I can get some work done." Getting up with Fitz, she told them good night and went around to Jerry, "no bloodshed, and don't wake Javi," Liv whispered in his ear and kissed his cheek.

"No promises from me," he laughed and kissed her cheek. "Get some sleep please."

Lily watched the two interact before Liv and Fitz disappeared down the hallway. "Should I ask what that was? Your girlfriend is right next to you, Jerry," Lily rolled her eyes at him. "Typical, I suppose."

"Liv is like his daughter, Lily. There's nothing going on with them. And I'm his fiancé now," Verna told her, holding up her ring. "Fitz is right, we don't need any fighting here."

"I'm not fighting, Verna. Actually, I'm very happy for the two of you. I think it's been too long for you two to be apart."

"You're joking right?" Jerry sat forward on the couch gaging her reactions. "You never wanted us together and now you are all the sudden okay with it, happy even? What happened to Lily?"

Not surprised at his response, Lily nodded and finished her cup. "I've been thinking about this a lot. Since Olivia said you two would be coming as well for Christmas as usual. I didn't want anything to go wrong for Fitz. He's definitely in love with her and I didn't want any chaos to be between us or around the boy." Switching her crossed legs, Lily looked down the hall making sure no one was around them. "I love my son, without a doubt. He's the most wonderful thing in my life. I wouldn't change him at all. I would change how he got here, how his life started. I love you for giving him to me, Jerry. What I don't love is that I allowed our parents to force us to get married. I've seen how it's destroyed Fitz's relationship in the past and with that witch. Us being together destroyed his hope of a normal relationship. Maybe Olivia can fix his perception of that."

"Livia is anything but normal, Lily." Verna smacked the back of his head and gave him a glare. "Ouch! I just mean she doesn't have normal relationships anymore. But I do see that Fitz has been better for being with her."

"Not that anyone is asking for my professional opinion," Verna started, "both of them are happier than I've seen them in years. I know Fitz never wanted to be around Jerry but since he started dating Olivia, they have regular dinners. Just the two of them. Olivia's a godsent for both of them. No matter how she ended up being Fitz's secretary."

"Wait a minute, Olivia is his secretary? And their dating? Guess that apple didn't fall far from the tree," Lily remarked and rolled her eyes before looking at Jerry. Putting her hands up in surrender, "sorry, sorry, comments to myself. We aren't fighting."

Rubbing his hands over his face, Jerry sat back against the couch looking at the ceiling for a moment. "I get it. I was a horrible husband, and a terrible father. But if you remember, I wasn't that until you met George. And I'm not pointing blame at anyone, we both have faults. I think Olivia might have told Fitz about you and George. He didn't want anything to do with me until they started dating and a bit after. Whether he knows or not, I don't know."

"I think I'm going to head to bed," Verna told them, taking herself out of the conversation.

Staying silent for several minutes after she left, Jerry stared at the fire in the fireplace thinking of what he could possibly say. Doing the same, Lily couldn't fight the smile as she remembered parts of her marriage to the man across from her.

"Remember when Fitz wanted to sleep in the fireplace when he was five?" she asked him.

"Yeah, he was determined that he was going to catch Santa coming down the chimney. But you told him Santa would always look down first and if there was fire or a child there, he wouldn't come, and he'd take his presents for some other kid to have."

"It worked. Until he left his army men standing guard on the ledge and on the floor."

"Those hurt to step on."

"And you almost woke him up when you yelled." Lily smiled over at him. Letting out a heavy sigh, she moved over to the couch where he was and sat where Verna was. Taking his hand, she gave it a light squeeze to turn him to her. "If it counts for anything at all, even forty years later, I am sorry for cheating and pushing you away. I know that drove you to another woman and that started the disaster."

Holding her hand in his, Jerry shook his head and looked at her directly. "Whether you cheated, or I cheated first, it doesn't matter. I should have held myself together more."

"I should set things straight with Fitz. You never should have taken the blame for our divorce. Fitz shouldn't hate you for something that I did. Something that I caused. It's not fair to you. I've let this go on far too long."

"You don't need to. I'm pretty sure Livia told him and that's why he started talking to me. The last thing I wanted was for him to think anything horrible about his mother. I think that would have broken you beyond repair. Fitz loves you too much to think anything horrible of you, even if he does know now. I saw the way his face lite up when you walked in tonight. I'd never take that away from him."

"Jerry, I swear you can be a heartless bastard, but you can also be the sweetest person in the world," she told him. Laughing at the comment, Jerry wiped the stray tears from her cheeks and kissed her forehead. "You might have been a terrible husband, but you have always been an excellent father. Even when Fitz hated you, you were always there for him. Someday, I hope he sees that."

Sitting back with her, Jerry put his arm around her shoulder, and both stayed still looking at the fireplace again. "We made a pretty impressive kid."

"I'm glad we got him."

"Could you do something for me?"

"Sure, what is it?"

"Help me convince Fitz he should run for President."