I had to really scramble to finish this chapter so hope you like a little late Christmas at the end of January!

Chapter 29: Presents

"Mom! Dad! Wake up!"

Tom groaned, turning on his side. His eyelids were heavy as he attempted to open them.

When he did, he found himself face to face with both his wife and their blue hedgehog of a son.

Sonic sat on his chest, blinking owlishly. "Morning, Dad." He smiled widely.

"Mornin' bud." Tom tiredly yawned before reaching up and ruffling his son's quills. "Merry Christmas."

Sonic playfully pushed his hand away. "Tails and Knuckles are already downstairs. Can we open the presents now?"

"Wait 'till me and your mom get up first, okay?" Tom told him, sitting up and rubbing his eyes. "Then we can open presents."

"Okay, Dad!" Sonic chirped before zipping off in a streak of blue.

Tom yawned as he leaned back against the head of the bed. Maddie sat up, stretching her arms until she felt her bones pop. She then brushed her hair back with her hand, smoothing out the curls in it until it was flat.

"Merry Christmas, babe." Tom smiled, softly kissing his wife.

"Merry Christmas, honey." Maddie smiled, kissing her husband back. "Let's get dressed. Don't wanna keep the kids waiting."

Slipping out of bed, Tom and Maddie got their morning clothes on before heading downstairs.

Sonic was already by the tree, bouncing on the tip of his toes in excitement as he eyed the line of presents. Knuckles meanwhile sat on the couch, his arms folded over his chest as he tapped his foot impatiently.

"Not even bothering with breakfast, huh?" Tom jokingly questioned, to which Sonic shook his head with a wide grin.

"Where's Tails?" Maddie asked, looking around for the little fox.

"Right here!"

Sonic, Knuckles, Tom, and Maddie all turned to see Tails emerging from the fireplace. His golden yellow fur was covered in brown and black soot. In his gloved hands were a series of wires attached to a small device that looked similarly to his Miles Electric.

"What is that?" Tom asked.

Tails shook the soot out of his fur. "It's a motion capture tracker." He explained proudly. "I put it in the fireplace last night to see if I could catch Santa coming into the house."

"Did you find anything?" Knuckles asked, he and Sonic zipping over to his side.

Tails checked the device before sighing in disappointment. "Nope. Scans haven't found anything."

"I told you, you can't catch Santa!" Sonic exclaimed. "He's magic!"

Tails pouted. "But that doesn't make any sense!"

Sonic patted his head. "Doesn't need to make sense, little bro. Now c'mon! Let's open some presents!"

Tails rolled his eyes with a smile before he and Knuckles went over to their brother.

"And since it's Christmas, why don't you go first, Donut Lord?" Sonic suggested.

Tom shrugged. "Alright, if you insist." He said. He then reached under the tree and grabbed a present.

"For you, Maddie." He smiled, handing the present to his wife.

Maddie smiled. "Thanks, honey." She gently took the present and opened it. Her eyes widened. "Oh, Tom!" She gasped.

Reaching into the box, Maddie pulled out a silver necklace with three beads of blue, orange, and red.

"Oh, thank you, babe." Maddie smiled, turning to her husband.

"Merry Christmas, babe." Tom smiled back as he and Maddie came in for a tender kiss.

"Ew!" Sonic grimaced, covering Tails' eyes, much to the kit's protest. "C'mon, guys! In front of Tails?"

Tom and Maddie both rolled their eyes at their middle child's immaturity while Tails playfully pushed his older brother's arms off.

"Ooh! Ooh! This one's from me!" Tails bounced on his toes, grabbing one of the presents from under the tree and handing it to his father. The wrapping around the present was yellow with his signature two tails on it. "It's for you, Dad."

"And I, uh… also wrote something for it." Tails admitted, pointing to a small note on the box. He blushed a bit while his tails twitched nervously.

Tom gently took the present in his hands, giving it a light shake, before picking the note off the box and opening it up.

Dear Mr. Wachowski, Merry Christmas! I hope you really like the gift I got for you! I've never given a gift to anybody since I didn't have any family to spend Christmas with. But now that I do, I just wanted to say thank you for accepting me into your family. I love you, Dad. Merry Christmas. Love, Tails.

Tom looked up from the note with a warm smile on his face.

Tails was looking down, a shy smile on his face as his namesakes curled around his waist. He gently picked at the wrappings of his gloves as a small blush bloomed on his furry cheeks.

Without a word, Tom reached out and gently wrapped his arms around Tails, earning a squeak of delight from the little fox.

"That's really sweet, buddy." Tom said as he pulled away, lightly ruffling his bangs affectionately. "Thank you."

Tails giggled. "Merry Christmas, dad." His namesakes wagged happily. "Open it! Open it!"

Still smiling, Tom tore the wrapping off the present.

Behind the wrapping paper was a small device with a singular button on it.

Tom raised a brow at the rather mundane thing, as it was about the size of a car key.

"What's this?"

Tails perked up. "Oh, it's a multi-functional hand-held device! Sorta like my Miles Electric but for more casual use." He then pointed to the small button. "Just press that and it'll ask you what you need."

Tom glanced down at the device, his thumb hovering over the button before gently pressing it.

From the device projected a bright light, forming into a holographic screen.

'Selection' it read on the screen in big white letters.

"It's voice activated, so just tell it what you want and it'll do it for you." Tails explained.

Tom stared at the screen for a moment. What should he ask for?

He thought for a long moment before he gave a light shrug.

"How abouuut… a fishing rod?"

Immediately the screen flickered off and a long metallic rod extended from the device, quickly transforming into a fishing rod.

"Okay, wow…" Tom admitted with impressed eyes. A smile graced his lips as he looked at Tails with fondness in his eyes. "Thanks, Tails."

Tails beamed happily. "I made sure the string on that would be strong enough to catch a shark!"

Tom chuckled, placing the device on the table. "Well, I doubt I'll ever catch a shark on one of my fishing trips but I'll keep that in mind."

While the others were chatting, Maddie reached over to the pile of presents. With great care, she picked out a random one from the pile.

"Knuckles! This one's for you!" Maddie called out after reading the tag. "And it's from Sonic and Tails."

The echidna looked surprised as he slowly took the present from Maddie, holding it carefully in his massive hands.

Sonic and Tails immediately perked up as they rushed over to their eldest brother.

"You both… got a gift… for me?" Knuckles asked softly, his voice almost a whisper..

"Yeah, we worked really hard to get this one for you." Sonic smiled proudly.

"Open it up! Open it up!" Tails exclaimed, jumping up and down.

Gingerly, Knuckles lightly tore off the wrapping paper. He made sure to be as gentle as he possibly could as he didn't want to accidentally crush his younger brothers' gift to him.

After pulling the wrapping in twine and opening the box, Knuckles blinked in surprise upon witnessing the gift.

Inside was a rock in the form of a horse. There were no signs of carving present on it so as far as he knew it was a natural rock. It was almost majestic in its formation, as if it were made for a miniature knight to ride into battle or simply to charge through the open fields where it came from.

"We know you have that little rock collection upstairs, so we thought we'd get you an extra special rock." Sonic said, slinging his arm around Knuckles' shoulders.

"Do you like it? Me and Sonic went all the way to Canada to find a rock like this!" Tails exclaimed excitedly.

Knuckles was silent as he stared at the horse-shaped rock in his hands for a long time. So long in fact that Sonic and Tails' earlier joy was now shifting to nervousness.

Seeing his brothers' growing doubt, Knuckles quickly snapped out of it and wrapped his arms around both Sonic and Tails, pulling them both into a tight hug.

"My brothers… you have given me a gracious gift." He whispered, his voice filled with emotion. "I am very proud to have you both as my brothers."

"Aww!" Sonic and Tails cooed before they hugged their oldest brother back.

"We love you too, Knucklehead!" Sonic smiled.

"Yeah, we love you, big bro!" Tails beamed.

Tom and Maddie smiled at the heartwarming sight, holding each other shoulder to shoulder.

Upon separating, Knuckles then reached under the tree and pulled out one of the presents from under the tree, this one wrapped in red wrapping paper.

"I have something for each of you." Knuckles stated, holding out the box. "These were only shared between me and those in my tribe…"

Opening the box, Sonic, Tails, Tom, and Maddie all peered in to see it.

Inside the box were a series of bracelets, all made from beads. Each of them had a small colored feather; red, blue, yellow, and green.

"In my tribe, these were symbols of our unity. It is a tradition that I wish to spread to our new tribe." Knuckles explained.

"Red is for you, hedgehog, for it represents purity." Knuckles stated, handing Sonic the bracelet with the red feather.

"Coooool…" Sonic smirked, admiring the bracelet.

"Yellow is for you, fox, for it represents courage." Knuckles handed Tails the bracelet with the yellow feather.

"Aw, thanks, Knuckles!" Tails smiled, slipping the bracelet onto his wrist behind the cuffs of his glove.

"Blue is for you, father, for it represents order." Knuckles handed Tom the bracelet with the blue feather.

Tom hummed, nodding his head in acknowledgement as he took the bracelet. "Well, that is my job."

"And for you, mother, is green." Knuckles said, handing the bracelet with the green feather to Maddie. "It represents life, harmony, and reassurance. Things that I believe represent you perfectly." He smiled softly. "Merry Christmas, mother."

Maddie smiled back. "Oh, that's so sweet of you, baby." She said, gently pulling the red echidna into a hug. She then gave him a soft kiss on the forehead. Knuckles' cheeks blushed as red as his fur at his mother's affection.

"Oh! That reminds me!" Sonic exclaimed before rushing over to the tree and grabbing one of the presents from under the tree, this one covered in blue wrapping. "I got this for you, Tails."

"For me?" Tails sounded surprised as he gingerly took the present Sonic handed to him.

Sonic nodded eagerly. "Yeah. I even put a little card on it." He pointed to a small red card hanging off the bow around the present.

Tails carefully plucked the card off and opened it.

Dear, Tails, Merry Christmas! I hope you enjoy the gift I got for you. Anything for the coolest little brother in the galaxy! We will always adore and cherish you no matter what. You're the chili to my dog! The pepper to my mint! Don't ever forget that. Love, you're favorite older brother, Sonic.

Tails beamed at the words in the card before setting the present down and pouncing on Sonic in a tight hug.

Sonic chuckled, gently hugging his little brother back. He nuzzled his chin between the fox cub's soft ears.

The two remained that way for a few seconds, with Maddie even getting a picture of them taken, before they pulled apart.

"Go ahead, open it!"

Tails gazed down at the present, feeling the smooth wrapping paper crinkle under his gloved hands. His tails subconsciously swished in anticipation.

He briefly glanced at Sonic, the blue hedgehog giving him an encouraging smile and a thumbs up.

Tails smiled back, feeling excitement and confidence swell back into his being.

Arms full of vigor, the young fox cub eagerly tore off the wrapping paper.

His sky blue eyes widened as a gasp escaped from his mouth.

In his hands was a Nerf gun gatling blaster.

"..." Tails remained silent as he continued gaping at his present.

Tom had a look of disbelief on his face while Maddie gave Sonic a slight look of disapproval. Knuckles remained as stoic as ever.

"Sonic…" Maddie spoke up, getting Sonic's. "I thought me and Tom told you not to get him any Nerf guns."

Sonic grinned sheepishly. "I know, I know. But this is his first Christmas and I wanted to get something special for him. Besides, what's the worst that could happen?"

As if in reply, Sonic was suddenly assaulted by a series of nerf pellets hitting his head.

Turning around, Sonic's eyes widened before he covered them with his hand while Tails aimed the nerf gun at him with the biggest, most evilest smile plastered on the eight-year-old's face.

"Oh no…" Sonic groaned, dread filling his being as he was quickly regretting getting Tails this present. "Guys? A little help?"

"I believe this is something for you to resolve, hedgehog." Knuckles stated, folding his arms over his chest while a smirk formed on his face.

"Yep, you brought this on yourself bud." Tom added.

There was a reason, Maddie had forbidden them from getting Tails a nerf gun of any kind.

Sonic slumped over with a groan before turning back to Tails with a nervous grin. "H-Hey, Tails? Why don't you… put the gun down…?"

Tails grinned. "You'll never stop me!" He hollered before firing the nerf gun again.

Sonic grimaced as he zipped out of the room with Tails zooming after him, Tom and Maddie laughing at their children's shenanigans while Knuckles shook his head fondly.

After they managed to get Tails to settle down, they continued opening the rest of their presents. Many of them received various gifts, followed by smiles, laughter, and lots of hugs.

Eventually near noon they had opened just about every present under the tree.

All except one.

"This one is from Sonic." Tom stated, reading the tag on it. "And it's to… everyone?"

Sonic nodded. "Yep. Decided to wrap up this Christmas with something special for all of us."

Nodding back, Tom neatly undid the wrapping paper around the present before opening it.

"Oh…" Tom remarked in surprise, reaching in and pulling out five little bird figures. "Nice." He smiled.

"Aw, that's really sweet, Sonic." Maddie smiled, taking one of the birds.

Tails and Knuckles, meanwhile, looked confused.

"Why are you so excited over miniature bird trinkets?" Knuckles asked curiously.

"They're turtle doves, buddy." Tom answered, handing him one.

"A turtle dove?" Tails asked as he received one as well. He held it in the palms of his hands, gazing awkwardly at it. "What's it for?"

"Well, I heard in Home Alone that turtle doves are a symbol of friendship and love." Sonic replied, taking a turtle dove himself. "As long as you have them, you'll be friends forever." He smiled warmly.

"Ohhh…" Tails and Knuckles both realized before smiling at their own turtle doves in a newfound appreciation.

"Merry Christmas, everyone." Sonic smiled as he pulled Tails and Knuckles into a tight hug.

"Merry Christmas, Sonic." Tails beamed as he and Knuckles hugged him back.

Their little group hug was soon joined by Tom and Maddie as the two parents wrapped their arms around their three alien kids.

And it was indeed a very merry Christmas.