Theo

The slamming of the front door wakes me up. I don't even have to guess what's happening. Uncle Mason is probably heading back out after just a couple hours of sleep.

I push myself up and throw my glasses on before I head downstairs.

I can hear Aunt Tasha crying from the kitchen, and I breathe in preparing for the worst.

Two days ago, while we were making Christmas cookies with Mama, a deputy and his family were attacked by a wild animal. The same one we all saw at homecoming. One of the little kids was uncounted for, and that's where Uncle Mason has been. He's heading up the search party for her.

I make extra noise coming down the stairs and hope it's enough time for Aunt Tasha to do what she needs to do.

When I walk into the room, I see she's wiping her cheeks. "Morning, sweetheart. Happy Birthday," she says, putting on a fake smile.

"Can it not be my birthday today?" I ask in a pathetic voice. She cocks her head, so I add, "I really don't want you and Uncle Mason to pretend to be happy when you're sad about stuff. Can today just be Christmas?"

She looks hurt but nods. "I'm sorry, honey. Yes, it can just be Christmas... for now." 

I pull her into a hug, "I'm sorry about your friends. Did Uncle Mason have any luck?"

I know he'd be here if it was good news, but I have to ask. "No...sadly. I was praying, but sometimes it's out of our hands," says Aunt Tasha with a sigh. "Why don't you eat something. We usually let everyone sleep in and then head to Mama's house around 12."

I nod and pour myself some lucky charms, and stare out the window. I don't hear Riker, which is strange cause he's almost always barking these days. On the other hand, the woods look less inviting, so I don't blame him for being nervous about them.

******

"So Dad's gonna meet us at Mama's house?" Asks Mandy from the seat next to me. Bryce is in the front seat, and the three of us are squeezed in the back.

Aunt Tasha nods quietly. "Be extra nice to him today and to Mr. Madison. They've all had a rough time."

We all share a look and nod in agreement.

When we pull up to our grandma's house, we're already tired of each other, and it's barely 12 o clock. 

Bryce and Jackson hop out and run inside with Mandy and a box of gifts for Uncle Mason they need to wrap.  I take up the rear, my usual spot. Aunt Tasha pulls out the rest of the presents and slaps on a smile. 

As I watch her unload the gifts, I ask the question I've been saving for the right moment, "why don't you do presents in the morning? Or last night. Mom always let me open one present on Christmas Eve."

Mama walks in and hands me a cup of eggnog, "Your Papa used to love playing Santa. So they would sleep here every Christmas Eve, and we would do presents altogether. I guess the tradition continues." I nod. "Happy Birthday, honey," she adds and hands me a little box. "Open it."

"You didn't need to do this," I say quietly, but she just waves her hands for me to open the present. I Unwrap it and find a little stuffed toy. It's a little giraffe, and I feel a memory coming to me. I stand up and give her a hug and kiss. "Thank you, Mama."

She wipes my cheek, which has a tear running down it. "I hoped you'd remember that baby," she whispers and looks to a confused Aunt Tasha. "He came here when he was little, maybe 4. Anyways. He was napping in our room, and I went to check on him. He was snuggled up with this little giraffe."

I take over the story for her, "he was my favorite toy, and when we left to go to the beach, I told Mama to watch him for me." I pause, not remembering the rest of the story.

"Jenny and Papa had a fight at the beach, and she didn't come back," says Mama. "I saved this little guy for you. I forgot I had him until the day after Thanksgiving and decided he would be your present." 

"I love him," I say with a smile. "I've missed you, Longneck."

"Come on," says Mama and takes my hand. "Let's peel some potatoes." Aunt Tasha wipes a tear herself and says she'll be there in a second to help, but I don't mind. I love my grandma time while the other three are wrapping some gifts for their Dad.

During the wrapping session upstairs, Bryce and Jackson got into a shouting match over something. One of them whacked Mandy with the wrapping paper tube, causing more bloodshed. Aunt Tasha is upstairs screaming at all three of them, and I take the time to explore the house. Mama is working on the final touches for the turkey and stuffing. Uncle Mason texted that he was on his way here, so dinner is coming.

Aunt Tasha isn't a screamer, neither is Uncle Mason, but today she is in a MOOD. Dad would yell and scream a lot. Usually did my best to stay out of the way on those days. This is probably why I'm on the other end of the house looking at old pictures in the hallway leading to Mama's bedroom.

Britney Spears- Lucky is a well-timed soundtrack for what I'm seeing now.

Mama and Papa on their wedding day.

Both of them at some lake. 

Both of them on the beach with Uncle Mason and Mom.

Them graduating high school.

Uncle Mason's wedding, in a church.

My parent's wedding, at the DMV, but smiling.

Then pictures of all four of us. Mostly them. I stop popping up for a good 12 years.

I feel a hand on my shoulder and let out a loud, "oh fuck," as I whip around and jump away.

Uncle Mason has his hands up, showing he's not gonna hurt me.

I lank out my headphones, "sorry I didn't hear you."

Mama and Aunt Tasha are by the doorway looking concerned, and I see my cousins behind them.

"That's ok, buddy," says Uncle Mason calmly. "Come eat."

"Ok," I say back, but I pause for a second. Uncle Mason and my Mom are standing in front of that same lake from the other picture. "Mama! Where's this lake? You have two pictures in front of it."

She comes down the hall and smiles at the one I point to, "actually, there's three of them. Mason, do they know the story?" He shakes his head and looks at his kids. "Come here, you three."

Once we're all in the hall, she points to the third picture of a younger pair of twins and my grandparents.

"That's Jenny Lake in the Grand Tetons," she says quietly. No need to raise her voice cause we're all listening. "We stopped there on the drive out to Oregon when Papa got the job at the courthouse. I felt sick the whole drive until we stopped at this lake. I felt so peaceful."

"That's sweet Mama," says Jackson.

"A nice couple from Colorado took our picture, and then I threw up right there," she says and points to a bush in the picture. We all laughed. "The women joked that I might be pregnant, and that's when I realized that I was. So Papa and I sat down and talked about it. I was scared, but he was so thrilled. We'd only been married a few months. We drank some lemonade I made that morning and looked at the lake. Then he asked, what'll we name him?"

"Wow. Right away, asking about names," I say with a laugh. She nods.

"He was a lawyer, so he had to plan ahead. It was half the fun of being married to him. Anyways I said if it's a girl, let's name her Jennifer...after the lake. Papa suggested Teton for a boy, and I shot that down. Then He took a drink...looked at his glass...and said "mason" like a mason jar. We'd been using them to drink out of the whole way there."

"Mason and Jennifer," I say and smile at the young twins and then the teenage twins in the other two photos. "But you didn't know you were having twins then, so you were just planning ahead?"

She shrugs, "I needed to calm down, and thinking about it actually helped. When we found out it was twins, we had to come up with an extra name. So for girls, it was Jennifer and Amanda." She brushes Mandy's hair gently.

"And the boys?" Asks Bryce.

"That's where it gets interesting," she says with a smile. "It was Mason and Bryce." 

"Wow, really?" Says Bryce in a shocked voice.

Uncle Mason takes over and holds his wife's hand, "yup. We had a boy, and girl name picked out." He looks at me with a smile. "Your Mom was so mad when I told her. She wanted to name you Bryce, but he was born first. Plus, your Dad wanted to name Theodore cause he wanted to call you Teddy."

Aunt Tasha speaks up, "and Jackson is named after my brother who died in Iraq."

I start to feel a little left out, and Mama takes my hand, "but you're named after Papa. Theodore Elliot Bennett, your Mom, made sure that you got a family name too."

I think I feel my heart explode. I never knew that's why my middle name was Elliot. I asked Dad about it before, and he just said, "your mom picked it," and moved on.

"And that's the story of Jenny Lake," says Uncle Mason. "Maybe we'll go there this summer. Now that we've got all four of you."

"Hell yeah," says Bryce with a grin.

"language," snaps Mama and the happy feelings start to vanish. She cracks a smile before saying, "now let's eat some Damn turkey and open some damn presents." 

We all break into laughs and follow her out to the kitchen. I can't think of a better way to celebrate Christmas and my Birthday.

My phone buzzes, And I pull it out.

Danny- happy Birthday and Merry Christmas. I miss you.

Me- I miss you more.

Danny - :)

Ok, Danny would make this a little better.

******

"Sweet dreams, Theo. Happy birthday kiddo," says Uncle Mason with a tired voice.

"Night," I say back with a smile and move up the stairs. Today was a perfect day.

When I get to my bedroom, I unload my gifts and pull off my hoodie. Looking around my room, I actually kind of feel like I'm home. But, it's at this moment that I see a face in the window, and I can't help but shout out.

I'm in a panic until I realize it's Danny, but the damage is done as Uncle Mason pushes open my door and flips on the light. "Theo. What's wrong?" He shouts, looking around.

I'm still shocked by what I saw, but I use that to my advantage. "It's fine. I'm fine. I got freaked out by a Shadow." He looks around my room with the light on. He can't see anything that could scare me, so I push on with a bit of sad truth. "Sometimes Dad would sit in my room in the dark and wait for me when he was mad....and....and I thought I saw him and I got scared, but I'm ok."

Uncle Mason's face softens from family protector to loving parent. He pulls me into a hug and rubs the back of my head softly. "It's ok, Theo. He's not gonna hurt you. I promise."

I nod, "I know. I'm sorry."

"I love you. Sweet dreams," he says and closes the door behind him.

I lock it and turn off the lights and run to the window. Danny's head pops up with I open it.

"I'm sooooo sorry," he says quietly. "Scoot over so I can climb in, please."

"What the hell are you doing here?" I say back in a whisper and shift over to give him room.

He gives me a side-eye and then shakes his head, "you really think I wasn't gonna see you on your Birthday? Even if it was for two minutes. You have the sweetest smile, and I want to make sure your Birthday ends with one."

I lean in and kiss him. "That might be the nicest thing any guy has ever said to me."

"Don't worry. I'm full of sweet stuff," He says back. "Your room smells strange. What is that?"

I roll my eyes and groan. "Don't ruin this, Daniel. My room smells fine. Oh, here. Merry Christmas." I grab a package from my desk. "I got it yesterday. Seeing as we JUST decided to go out. I thought you needed a present."

"Nice. Did you open your present yet?" He asks, and I pull the unopened gift from under my bed. "You go first," he says quietly.

I pull off the wrapping paper and see a picture of Brenden, Bryce, Danny, and me from our first hockey game together. We won 2 to 0, with Bryce Scoring one goal and Brendan assisting the other. Danny and I were a perfect team defending; I turn to him, "Danny...I love it. Thank you."

He pulls me in close and kisses me again. "That was a great game. I'd never clicked with someone like you on the ice." He puts his arms around me and nuzzles my neck, and takes a deep breath.

It's actually kind of cute how loving and affectionate he can sometimes be. Different than Chris was....but I need different. I need someone good.

I kiss him again and then whisper, "open yours now."

"Ok," he says, and even in the dark, I can see the smile on his face. He opens the wrapped box and pulls out four erasers. "A butterfly?" He asks, holding it up to the open window and squinting. "A fox...maybe.....a fish? And a pig. You won me more animals for my collection?"

"I did. That's four almost perfect skeeball games right there," I say back with a chuckle.

"Theo....this is perfect. You know I love my little Theo Zoo," he says quietly, and I nod. "Kiss me. It's late, and I have to get home, but not without that."

"Yes, sir," I say back and lean in for a passionate kiss.

After a few minutes of kissing, I pull back. "Ok. You need to go before you get in more trouble. I want to see you tomorrow."

"Deal," he says and opens my window.

I realize something just as he climbs out. "Oh, here's your shirt," and I toss it at him.

He catches it and tosses it on the bed, "you keep it. It smells like me, so you'll have me around." 

I climb over to the window and kiss him again. "I like your smell. Text me when you get home."

He smiles and whispers, "I promise." Then he climbs down the lattice and runs to his car. I can see it from here, but it blends in with the night.

I close and LOCK my window cause, for some reason, I keep leaving it open, and it's cold as fuck outside. Then I change for bed and wait for his text.

My phone buzzes as I start to lose the battle

Danny- my boys, are all safe and sound on my window.

Me- just like my wolf.

Danny- :) 

Me- did you get in trouble?

Danny- Nah. Dad knew where I was going. He just didn't realize it was a surprise.

Me- ok good.

Riker starts barking at something.

Me- ugh, that dog is barking again. I hate it.

Danny- damn. I'm sure it's a deer or something.

Mrs. Johnson is calling him inside now, and he thankfully stops.

Me- ok, he's inside now. I'm going to bed.

Danny- sweet dreams, baby. Happy Birthday. I'll text you tomorrow, and we can do something.

Me- "do something."

Danny- that and an actual date.

Me- deal.