Dalton Boys in December

For those that were in London, the Thanksgiving experience had been very different. Nick had been given the day off work, whilst all of his colleagues carried on working of course. He and Jeff had agreed to take Wes out of kindergarten for the day, so they could have some family time. After all, other than for the American ex-pat community, it was just the last Thursday in November… Sebastian would be performing that night, as would Mason; as for Jane, she was at work. She did not find that strange or wrong given that the rest of the metropolis was also at work. There were to be Black Friday sales the following day, but that was just the retail sector aping an American idea to try and encourage people to make purchases before the big Christmas rush, such as it was these days.

For that reason, Jane had been forced to decline her invitation for a Thanksgiving lunch at the Sterling-Duvals, but had encouraged Mason to go. He made her jealous by sending her a photo of the spread before him; Nick had gone all out with a roast turkey, home baked ham, candied yams and of course, a pumpkin pie he had made completely from scratch. The meal had begun at 1.30pm, which had meant Nick getting up very early in the morning to prepare it all, but it allowed the two actors to eat and recover before their shows.

Nick had made another pumpkin pie for each of them, so that they could share it with their castmates, although Mason decided to hide his and take it home for Jane. Just before their meal, Sebastian had called home to wish Dave and their daughter the best for the day; Elise would be spending part of it with her Uncle Julian as Dave had a match to play. The fact that he was not there did make Sebastian a little glum, but as his husband pointed out, he had around 4 weeks left until he was home and ready to celebrate a family Christmas, and that thought was a great consolation to him…

Once their guests had headed home, and Wes was taking a nap, Nick and Jeff made their own calls home to family and friends. They had Skype called Grace first, and she had been smiling broadly. This had a lot to do with the fact that this year none of the extended family had been descending on her, and thanks to the nature of Cooper's work, they had been able to decline an invitation to Ohio too. She had felt no pressure whatsoever in cooking the turkey breast joint for just her own little family, plus of course Pam and Nils. The latter had been a great help in the kitchen; the other two had been much more helpful in staying out of the kitchen…

The next call was to Mrs Duval, who after all the usual holiday greetings announced that she had talked to Sue, and she had been given the time off so that she could come to London for Christmas. Nick did his best to sound pleased about the news, although he was a little put out that she had not considered asking if it was okay for her to do so first…

Jeff's subsequent calls to his mom and dad, and to Elspeth, revealed that the same idea had entered the head of all of the grandparents, and they had also invited themselves for Christmas, and in the case of Elspeth, for New Year too, although she did offer to stay in a hotel if it would be putting them out. The fact that all of them had already booked flights without checking first left Nick and Jeff a little frustrated.

"If I was an evil person, I would go online, book us flights back to New York for Christmas, and tell them we had booked them weeks ago," said Nick, then realised that it was too late for that, as he would surely have mentioned it when they said they were coming…

Jeff nodded, then stated, "Of course, it is worse for you than it is for me; you are the one that now needs to cook Christmas lunch for seven instead of three. It is what it is though, and all that we can do now is smile, and pray that they all bring small, light gifts for the grandchild that is the real reason they are all coming thousands of miles for a couple of days…"

With Thanksgiving over, the attention of everyone did inevitably shift towards Christmas, but before that would come, there was an event that saw Thad travel to New York, albeit with a degree of reluctance, to stay with David and Mercedes. The first Saturday in December had been selected as the date for the premiere of Artie's first feature length film, Dalton Boys. Thad had agreed to be the one to attend, wishing to spare all the others from the glare of the press. He was not looking forward to it at all; he knew that Wes would be up there on the screen, talking to Artie just days before Nick and Jeff got married, and before he himself died. Thad had become used to his angelic presence, but this would be different; he would be up there, all too alive and so vital, not yet knowing that he had so few days left to live…

He was therefore not in the best frame of mind as he got dressed that evening in the outfit he had selected as appropriate; his dress Warbler uniform, as designed by one Kurt Hummel. He took care to ensure his hair was styled just so, though he thought ruefully that it was thinner now than it had been when he had been interviewed by Artie that week. Glancing at the clock, he was startled to discover that he was actually running late; he put down the comb, checked his reflection one more time, then ran down the stairs, intending to just grab his coat and yell a farewell to his hosts. He did a double take though when he got to the bottom of the stairs, and saw David standing there, also in his dress Warbler uniform, and with his own coat already on…

"I decided a couple of days ago that I wasn't going to let you go through all of this on your own. Best friends have to stick together, and face up to things that have hurt us as a team," said David. "I didn't tell you because you would have tried to talk me out of it."

"Only because this will be even harder for you than it is for me," said Thad, who walked over to him and pulled him into a hug, his warm arms immediately reciprocated. Breaking apart, Thad went to put on his own coat. It was then that the doorbell rang, and David went over to answer it; on doing so, he just stood there in silence. That concerned Thad, and he hurried over, to find that there were six people on the doorstep - Colin, Edward, Seth, Skylar, Ethan and Drew, all in their dress uniforms…

"Beats sends his apologies; Dante is spending the night at Lachlan's, and Elliott is off work, so this is technically his honeymoon," said Ethan. That broke the silence, as they all laughed… "We decided that we needed to face this, all of us, eventually, and it might be better to do it as a group now, so we can support each other…" Thad nodded, and would have hugged each and every one of them, but then he remembered the time. Instead, they all made their way as a group, down the street, in relative silence, heading in the direction of Tribeca…

Artie was expecting Thad to arrive on his own at the theatre, so when the door opened and Flint had walked in, dressed in his best Warbler uniform, he thought that there might have been a last minute change of plans. He smiled at him as he walked over, just happy one of those boys was there, although he did see Kitty frowning as she saw him on the other side of the room. "Hey Flint! It is good to see you, if a little unexpected… Has Thad changed his mind, because I will totally understand if he has…"

"Not as far as I know; the rest of us have done though," Flint replied. "Tonight is going to be a tough one, reliving all of it, seeing Wes alive and knowing what was going to happen… We needed to be here though, to show the world that we survived all of it."

"What do you mean by the rest of us?" asked Artie, curious; before Flint could reply the door opened again and he had his answer. Kitty's frown turned into a massive smile as nine people in that familiar uniform walked in; the eight that had walked from the West Village together, and a lone traveller that they had found at the door…

Trent had thought long and hard about whether he should make the trip, and in the end he had spoken in confidence to first Burt, and then the President himself. Both had listened to him, and had then told him the same thing; he alone could decide on whether he should go, but they would back him up in whatever choice he did make. In the end though it was a chat with his husband that had decided the issue for him; Rory had pointed out that he was the only one of the musketeers around, and that someone really needed to go to represent Nick, Jeff and Sebastian, whose parts in the whole affair were much more painful. Then there was the fact that he had been the pivotal player in the way events proceeded. It would garner him some unwanted press attention, but he was tough enough that he could handle it now. He had to go for the sake of those from Dalton that could not…

As they had all expected, the film tore at their heartstrings from the moment it began; Artie had chosen to begin with the news footage from the time of the scandal, where Hunter had shown signs of roid rage to the journalists… The testimonies of all of those closely involved did little to help; it brought tears to their eyes. Worst of all was the moment none of them knew about until then; in the middle of his interview, Jeff suddenly broke down, blaming himself for the trail of death and destruction that had followed in Hunter's wake. None of them had expected it, and it brought all of them to tears…

Other moments made people sad for different reasons; Skylar's heart broke as he saw an articulate Seth talking in his dorm room, surrounded by his models, as it was a stark reminder of how much his best friend had changed. Then came the moment they had all dreaded - Wes. He was blissfully unaware then of what fate had in store for him, and the fact that he, like Jeff, started to cry as he blamed himself for events made them all cry, David and Thad holding onto each other from the moment that he appeared…

When the end credits began to roll, there was applause from around the theatre, which made them all happy for Artie; it meant that the invited critics had liked what he had produced. It died away though as the screen returned to a still of Wes, with a caption underneath - 'Six days after he gave this interview, Wes Montgomery was killed in Harvard by a drunk driver. This film is dedicated to him, the most loved and revered of the Dalton Boys.'

The surprise dedication was all it took to send Thad into a series of sobs that had the whole theatre looking at him, but he didn't care as David held him in his arms and let him cry. He was still tearful when he got him back home that night; Mercedes instantly told her husband that he should spend the night with him, knowing all too well the strength of the bond between the two of them in times like this. She knew like all the other spouses of Warblers that marrying one meant marrying them all…

Thad was still quite startled to wake up in David's arms the following morning. He managed to pull himself out of the tangle and make his way downstairs, to where Mercedes was feeding her son. "I am so sorry…" he began…

"No need to be; I anticipated that you would be emotional last night. I have seen a few reviews of the film online; they are all positive, all saying how it touched a nerve and made them see the whole affair in a new light. One even stated that he wished that his own school friends had the same kind of bond that you all have. I printed them out so that you could read them." Thad nodded, and went to get himself a coffee. Mercedes smiled at him, thinking too about Artie, and the fact that many of those that had written those glowing reviews had anticipations that a Golden Globe or indeed an Oscar might not be out of the question for his work. That would be a great coup for him, although she knew he would feel guilty to have won something like that on the back of the misery of others…

The month of December would turn out to be a busy one for all of them work wise. The Spotlight Diner was busier than ever; the offices of Vogue were one long whirl of activity as the web pages were constantly updated with the latest trends; and for those employed elsewhere, the normal day to day routines were disrupted by the fact that it was party season, and a long holiday ahead…

Two days after the film premiere, Trent and Rory went on Facebook to announce that they were officially expecting their second child, which was greeted with joy by everyone, although it was tinged with a little sadness for Nick and Jeff. They already knew that they would be out of the country when Sebastian became a father again in February, and now it appeared they would be absent when the same happened for Trent. All the baby talk also seemed to make Michelle a little down, but only Dani and Elliott noticed it, and they hoped that sooner or later Ollie would be able to rectify the situation and stop what seemed to be her growing broodiness…

There was little else that occurred at the start of the month, as everyone was tied up with making their arrangements for the holidays. Seth found himself persuaded to join Skylar and Julia on a trip to Ohio, where the young couple's families were coming together for the celebrations. Grandparents, Uncles, Aunts and cousins were all slated to descend on the Willetts house, and Skylar felt as if he needed an anchor there in the shape of his best friend. Seth had agreed, but on the condition that they travelled by train. He did not feel up to helping his friend on a drive, given that a spasm could affect him at any time, nor did he like the idea of being confined for a long period of time in one seat, as he would be on a bus or plane. The train would give him space to get up and wander about, and even potentially hide away from his friend if he felt a bad attack coming on…

In contrast, the other four residents of their house had all opted to stay in town for the holiday, a final Christmas in the big city, given that their moves to more rural locations had now been more or less confirmed. For Colin and Edward, this had even meant taking a trip up the Hudson Valley to meet not just the current owners of the business they were going to buy, but also the key people in the community that they would be serving, and call their home. In any case, Colin would actually be working on Christmas morning; he had been entrusted to run the pharmacy counter on his own for the first time that day, although he would have another pharmacist on call to help out if he had an issue…

David and Mercedes would be spending the day with Mrs Thompson; she had never been to New York for more than a night before, and so from the moment that she arrived on the 22nd, there would be a lot of sights for her to see. Mr and Mrs Jones would be coming too, but they were not arriving until the 24th. Mercedes was a little worried about the prospect, not because she had any qualms about catering for them all. After all, she would struggle to keep her mother and her mother-in-law out of the kitchen and if she was being honest, she was going to let them do whatever they wanted. No, her real worry was the fact that for the last few days she had felt nauseous in the mornings, and the last time that she had felt that way for so long had been about 6 months before her son was born. She was torn between delaying a visit to see her doctor, and getting through the holiday first, and getting the news as soon as possible. After all, it would be a wonderful gift to give her husband; letting him know on Christmas morning that she was expecting a sibling for their boy…

Just down the street, Drew was looking forward to Christmas with a joy that he had not known since the day that he had messed up his timings with a turkey, and had then spent the rest of his holiday sitting waiting to be seen in an E.R. Then there was the fact that in his opinion, this would be the first proper Christmas that his daughter had ever known, one with decorations, and presents, and happiness… All of that made him light hearted; he had taken Evie to see the tree and the ice rink at the Rockefeller Center, and her face hid lit up, thrilled at it all. The stores around it had made the most of their window displays too, and that had also attracted her attention, especially the Lego Store…

He had passed that information on to Ethan, who was secretly every bit as excited about the big day as his friend. He had been the one to invite the Symons' to join them for Christmas, and they had accepted; he had invited them to stay, saying that he and Drew could bunk in together for a couple of nights to save them hotel expenses. His only concern had been the Christmas meal, not wishing Drew to be stuck in the kitchen whilst he should be making family memories with his daughter, but Mrs Symons had anticipated that, and had offered to cook, just providing him with a list of all that she would need…

As for Thad, he had originally planned that he would spend the day at Dalton, hoping that nobody would put together all the pieces of the jigsaw and realise that he would be alone, more or less. The four boys that would not be heading home for the holidays would be spending the day at a charity event in Columbus, then would have their dinner with one of the school's governors. The Carmichaels would be spending the holidays with Aaron's sister down near Philadelphia; Dylan and his fiancée would be going to Vermont; Principal Lefevre would be visiting friends in Texas; and Mrs Thompson would be in New York…

With a week to go, and plans made for a day of peace and relaxation, disturbed only by a visit from a certain angel, Thad got a phone call from his brother. Ollie announced that he had Christmas Day off, and as it had been so long since they had celebrated together, he would love it if Thad could come to New York for the day. He would have declined but for the fact that he heard a note in his brother's voice that made him concerned, and so he accepted the invitation at once…

As the month went on and Christmas came within a week, so Sebastian's mood improved daily. He had if he was honest with himself, been counting down the days since the month had begun to the end of his contract with the National Theatre. It was not that he had not enjoyed being in London, and living once again with Nick and Jeff; it had reminded him of those carefree days back in Bushwick, when everything had seemed so secure and certain. He had spent some quality time with François, been to Paris, met people he had never imagined he would be able to, and most importantly, had had access to an unlimited supply of custard creams. None of that however had made up for the pain of being separated from his husband and daughter for so long. If he was honest, Isabelle bringing them over for those two nights had just made the pain all the greater after they had gone back home.

On the morning of his final show, he had packed up his two main cases, filled more with gifts for his family and friends than his own belongings; by the time that he had sat down for lunch with his two friends and their son, they were locked and tagged, ready to be taken downstairs the following day for his flight home to Newark. Nick had taken some time off, and had prepared his chicken tikka lasagne, knowing that it was an old favourite of Sebastian's. After the meal was over, they had exchanged small Christmas gifts, items chosen with that knowledge of each others preferences that only true friends had. They had decided that it was best to do the majority of their farewells now, when they had time, rather than in the morning when Sebastian was trying to get to the airport on time.

Then he was off to the South Bank for the final time, where the London based crew had organised a backstage party to mark the day. The show had been sold out well in advance, and the reception of the audience was as enthusiastic as it had been for the entire duration of the run. Then it was all over, and he found himself in a dressing room that he had stripped of all of it's personal touches the previous night. He had goodbyes to say to his fellow cast members, though he would see all of them again after Christmas, when he returned for a few weeks to Broadway before his self imposed sabbatical. As he sat on the tube home that night, Sebastian had to resist the temptation to grin like an idiot, as he delightfully thought of who he would be back in the States in 24 hours time…

The next day saw Sebastian heading to Heathrow with Jeff at his side; he had protested that he did not need an escort, but his friend had pointed out that he was actually heading to the airport to meet the flight that was bringing Elspeth over for the holidays. It did mean that Sebastian was able to save cash and take the tube to the terminal, as he had someone to assist him with his bags. As Jeff's mother's flight was arriving at the same terminal, his friend was able to take him right to the check-in point, where he pulled him into a tight hug. "Thanks for everything the two of you have done for me, blondie; not just for letting me stay, but for getting me into the palace and all that followed. You see that you take care of that husband and son of yours…"

"Likewise; it was good to have you around for a while. Give everyone back home our love, and remind them that we are missing them all."

"No problem, and I will ensure that I give Caleb a stroke from you if I get the chance too. Right, go and meet your mother. Merry Christmas!"

"Same to you, Seb. Safe flight!"

As Sebastian headed in the direction of security, Jeff headed in the direction of the exit from the arrivals area; checking his phone, he saw that Elspeth's flight had arrived on time about 15 minutes ago. Sure enough, he was barely at the door for five minutes when it opened and she emerged, a smile on her face the second that she saw him. They hugged, then Jeff took her case from her and headed back in the direction of the tube. They chatted away happily as they walked, looking to all the world like a normal mother and son that had never been parted to a casual observer. It was Elspeth's first trip to the United Kingdom, and as they walked the short distance from the tube at South Kensington to the house in Thurloe Square, he observed that she was looking around her constantly, drinking it all in. Still, all of that was forgotten later that day when she and Jeff headed to the kindergarten to pick up little Wes. He greeted her with such enthusiasm that she was nearly knocked off her feet. It would of course be only the first of such excited greetings for grandparents in the next few days…

Hours later, as his plane touched down on the runway at Newark, Sebastian was feeling a level of happiness and excitement that he had not known for a very long time. He did not usually rush to get off a flight, nor did he run to security so that he would be the first in line. Things were very different this time, and he was almost at the door as soon as the cabin crew prepared to open it. He wished that he could just run the moment that the door was open, along the air bridge and through the terminal into his husband's arms, but there was security first. It was quiet though, and he made it through quickly, then cursed as he waited for his cases. The moment he had them though he was off…

The moment he saw him he abandoned his cases to just throw his arms around his husband and kiss him, not giving a damn who saw their PDA. Dave was not surprised, although he had to try his hardest not to laugh at the speed that his husband was walking through the parking lot, anxious to be on the road back to Maplewood. As they pulled into the driveway, Sebastian's excitement became all the more obvious. "Go on," said Dave, "I will bring the bags."

That was all Sebastian needed to hear to unfasten his seat belt, jump out of the car and run through the front door and into the lounge, where his daughter was waiting in her Uncle Julian's arms. She squealed in delight as she saw him, and as Sebastian knelt down, Julian let her down too to run across to her father. He wrapped his arms tightly around her, and tried to ignore the tears that had formed in his eyes as he did so. All that he could think was how glad he was to be home, and that he was never going away on his own for so long again. In fact, as far as he was concerned, he was now strictly a Broadway actor…