On the third day when he awoke Jaxsen lay in his bed for a moment listening to the sounds coming from the living room. He smiled. It was the sound of a family. His family. He pictured the scene in his mind. Sebastian and Nizhoni sitting on the sofa, his arm around her. It was a deep seated green cloth sofa with huge, pillow-like arm rests. When you sat down you felt like you were sinking safely into a cloud of comfort. Gramma Rose would be sitting across from them in her favorite armchair, an old, brown leather chair that matched nothing else in the whole house. Sebastian told him it was his father’s favorite armchair and his mother couldn’t get rid of it. He was sure they’d each have coffee cups in various states of full on the coffee table that was centered in the living room.

He listened as they laughed in their conversation. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly before climbing out of bed. He knuckled the sleep from his eyes as he walked into the living room. The Christmas tree was to his right in the eastern most corner next to a large window that faced the front yard. It was adorned with multi-faceted colored lights, glass ball ornaments that reflected the room back to him in red, green, and blue. Under the Evergreen lay stacks of gifts of all different sized boxes wrapped in colorful, festive wrapping paper. 

Tinsel hung from the branches that reflected the roaring fire’s light. “Hey, sweet boy,” Sebastian said as he received his morning cuddles.

“Morning, Daddy,” he said with a sleepy smile. “Morning, Zhoni and Gramma Rose. Merry Christmas.”

“Merry Christmas, muffin,” Rose said with adoration in her voice. She bent and kissed his forehead before heading into the kitchen. 

“Merry Christmas, Yanaha,” Nizhoni answered, smiling. 

Jaxsen looked up at Sebastian, his azure eyes bright. “Merry Christmas, Daddy. I love you.”

“I love you, too. Merry Christmas, Jack. I was wondering when you were gonna wake up, sleepy head,” Sebastian said, pulling the boy into his side a bit closer. Jaxsen wrapped his arm around Sebastian’s middle and smiled when Sebastian ruffled his hair. He absolutely loved when Sebastian did that. It made him feel special and he hoped it would never cease. “So, big guy, you wanna open presents first, or have breakfast first?”

Jaxsen’s smile brightened and widened. He wasn’t used to being the only kid. He always felt lucky if he got one gift, but mostly this day meant he got left alone. Before he could answer, Rose returned carrying a steaming cup and placed it before him on the coffee table.

“Hot chocolate. It's hot, so sip it slowly so you don’t burn yourself.” He smiled and thanked her and looked at all the presents under the tree.

“Daddy, can we do presents first?” He couldn’t help but feel the excitement as he bounced slightly beside Sebastian.

“If that’s what you want, sweet one.” He nodded and scrambled down off the couch. After taking a cautious sip of his drink he took a spot in front of the tree.  

With glee in his eyes he looked at Sebastian. “Come sit by me, Daddy.” Sebastian was more than happy to oblige his request. Jaxsen looked at Rose. “Can I pass them out, Gramma Rose?” She smiled from her chair that she’d turned to face the tree.

“You most certainly can, darling.” He giggled as he reached for the first box. When all the gifts were sorted to their rightful owners Jaxsen paused.

“Do we open them at the same time or one at a time?”

“Go ahead and open yours first, Jack,” Sebastian told him. He watched as Jaxsen opened each one, his excitement growing with every one. Sebastian had gone all out, as had Nizhoni in buying Jaxsen’s Christmas.

“Wow!” Jaxsen exclaimed as the picture display on the box came into view. At that moment Nizhoni snapped a picture. 

Sebastian smiled. “What is it you’ve got there, Jack?” He knew full well what it was. 

“A new gaming computer!” His smile split his face right in two. Jaxsen had been gaining interest in online gaming, but was limited on what he could do on Sebastian’s laptop, which was nothing special. It held his text files and emailed his books to his agent just fine and that’s all he needed. What Jaxsen held was an Alienware 17R3 with an Intel 6th generation Core i7 CPU and the latest NVI dia GTX 980M graphics. He’d done a bit of research before buying it and several sites claimed it to be one of the best gaming computers on the market. Taped to the box was a torn piece of paper. Jaxsen read the list. “What’s this?” he asked, detaching the paper.

“A list of games I bought for you to play. Just a few to start with. If you find more we’ll get those, too.” Sebastian couldn’t have been more thrilled with the excitement etched all over his face. He knew that in the two years before he came to live with Sebastian that he hadn’t had many good memories, and wanted now to shower him with as much as he could that would make him smile.

An hour later all the gifts had been opened and all around was wads of torn wrapping paper. With an ornery grin, Sebastian balled up a fist full of paper and threw it at Jaxsen, hitting him square in the shoulder.

“Hey!” he exclaimed, and tossed it back. The paper hit Sebastian right in the forehead. Jaxsen laughed as Sebastian over-dramatically fell backward. This ensued a fifteen minute wrapping paper fight that would become forever a tradition for every following Christmas. Once it was settled back down again Rose announced that it was time for breakfast.

“Hey, Jaxsen, come here,” Sebastian called from the living room. A bit before breakfast was completed Sebastian excused himself and left the kitchen. Jaxsen frowned curiously at Nizhoni who kept her expression suspiciously neutral.

“Go see what he wants,” she said with a smile. He got up and went into the living room, missing the smiles passed between Rose and Nizhoni.

“What is it, Daddy?” he asked.

“Looks like you missed one,” Sebastian said, pointing to the lone present that was behind the tree. Jaxsen frowned and walked up beside it.

“Where did that come from?”

“I don’t know. It was sitting there all lonely when I came back from the bathroom. 

“Who’s it for?” Jaxsen knelt down and lifted the box. It was light weight and made no noise when he lightly shook it. “It has my name on it,” he announced. 

Sebastian smiled. “Well, by all means, don’t keep us waiting in anticipation.”

Jaxsen sat on the couch, his feet several inches off the floor. Sebastian sat on the coffee table across from him. His heartbeat raced in his chest as Jaxsen began tearing the paper. He frowned at the plain white box. It was rectangular and plain like what clothes were boxed in. He broke away the tape and lifted the lid. He couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t move. He read the first few paragraphs before his eyes were too blurry to see the black print. He’d read enough. 

“Is this-this…is this real?” It couldn’t be. Couldn’t it?

“It’s real, Jack,” Sebastian managed to choke out. Jaxsen launched himself into Sebastian’s embrace, clinging, clutching, and hugging him as tightly as he could. Jaxsen couldn’t stop the tears and he didn’t try. Sebastian held him tightly, tears falling from his eyes completely unnoticed. Nizhoni and Rose watched from the entryway to the kitchen, both of them smiling. 

Sebastian pulled back to look at Jaxsen and wiped the boy's cheeks. “Welcome home, Jaxsen. I love you. So much.” 

More tears fell from Jaxsen’s eyes, but he was smiling. “I love you, Daddy. Thank you.” And with that he buried his face into Sebastian’s neck. He was home. Finally. He belonged somewhere.

Nizhoni walked up behind Sebastian and knelt down sometime later. Smiling, she hugged him, kissed him on the cheek and said, “Hey, babe, how’s it going?” She was referring to the two-thousand piece puzzle he and Jaxsen were putting together. The puzzle was of a fire breathing dragon flying around a burning castle, a mage standing in the forefront, arms outstretched as if conducting the mayhem from afar. It was a gift from Rose.

“Great. Though I think he’ll have the whole thing done before I get this little corner completed.” Jaxsen looked up and grinned. Nizhoni smiled at him.

“You boys hungry?” 

Jaxsen looked up and flexed his biceps. “We’re not boys, we’re men. Here to eat you out of house and home!” He growled before stomping dramatically into the kitchen. Sebastian and Nizhoni watched him go with a chuckle.

“Hey,” he said to her and pulled her back, kissing her deeply. “I love you, Nizhoni Hosteen. Thank you for always being so supportive about…well, everything. I couldn’t have gotten through these last seven months without you.”

She kissed him again and smiled. “I love you, shijeidishjool.”

“So, mini muffin, are you ready for tomorrow?” Rose asked during a full meal of ham, potato salad, macaroni salad, deviled eggs, sweet potatoes and more.

“Tomorrow?”

“Well, Christmas day of course. Today you got things from the family. Tomorrow we find out what Santa dropped off.”

“I already know Santa isn’t real. One of the foster brothers I had told me,” Jaxsen said, casting his eyes. That wasn’t a fond memory he wanted to relive or remember.

“Nonsense!” Rose exclaimed. “I know him personally. Very good friends he and I.” Jaxsen laughed. “I’m serious,” she went on. “His wife and I were college roommates.” Jaxsen smiled and looked at Sebastian, who in turn nodded in a serious manner.

“It’s true. And Mom put in a special word for you, too.” Jaxsen smiled and blushed. He’d already gotten what he wanted more than anything, how could he possibly ask for or expect more?

“That’s right,” Rose added, “so you better behave. He’ll know if you’re speaking ill of the legitimacy of his existence; you understand of course, he’s rather sensitive about it.” Rose smiled and Jaxsen found himself smiling back. He had every reason to smile and he didn’t want to stop. It had been so long since he felt this happy, this at peace in three years. He slid out of his chair, dinner forgotten, and climbed into Sebastian’s lap. He smiled and wrapped his arms around Jaxsen, his hands overlapping across his abdomen. 

Jaxsen leaned his head back against Sebastian’s shoulder. His head was beginning to pound, the light in the kitchen suddenly very bright. Too bright. He closed his eyes and turned into Sebastian's chest. He moaned in pain at the movement. 

“You okay, sweet boy?”

“My head really hurts,” he whined, his arm going around Sebastian’s ribs, his shoulders covering the exposed blue orb.

“Yeah?” Sebastian said as he petted the boy’s head lightly. He glanced at the clock. It was still pretty early in the day. “You wanna go lie down, hm? I can come lay down with you till you fall asleep if you want.” Jaxsen nodded his head slightly. The headache crept up on him at fast, a dull ache beginning behind his eyes, before it suddenly overtook his entire being. It even hurt to blink.

“I don’t feel good, Daddy.” Sebastian kissed his forehead checking for fever. He had none.

“Mom, do you have any Excedrin?”

“In the medicine cabinet in the bathroom.” Sebastian nodded and stood. Nizhoni stood as well.

“Go get him in bed. I’ll bring you the meds and something to drink.” She kissed the side of Jaxsen’s head and went for a glass of water. Sebastian got Jaxsen into his night clothes and into bed when Nizhoni came into the room. She sat next to Jaxsen, coaxing him to open his eyes. Reluctantly he sat up and with a grimace swallowed the two pills.

“You gonna stay with him?” she asked as she slid her arms around Sebastian’s waist and kissed him. He smiled and returned the kiss.

“Yeah. I don’t want to leave him if he’s not feeling well.” 

She nodded. “I love you,” she whispered before kissing him again. 

“I love you, too, beautiful.” She smiled and blushed, as she always did when he called her beautiful. Though the word ‘nizhoni’ means ‘beautiful’ in Navajo, her paternal ancestry, when he called her beautiful it took on a whole new meaning. He watched her leave the room with a smile on his face. He didn’t know where he’d be if not for her. Actually, he did, and he couldn’t contemplate it. Instead he turned toward his son, shut off the bedside side lamp and crawled beside Jaxsen.