Rebecca woke up the next morning and smiled when she remembered it was Christmas Eve. Rebecca had heard Charles come home last night long after everyone else had gone to bed. Rebecca wondered what was going on in his head. She hadn't spoken to Angela about her time with Charles. Rebecca knew though that if there was anyone in this house who could get through to him and get him to open up it was Angela. Angela had that kind of open nurturing soul about her that made people want to be better.

Rebecca got up out of bed and realized how quiet the house was. Bethany, Jordan, Raquel and their mates and the kids must already have left this morning to go spend time with their mates families. Rebecca heard laughter outside and looked out the window.

A foot of fresh snow had fallen the night before and Lane, Joey, Laney, Angela and Jake were outside playing in it.

She could hear them talking and realized that Laney was pretending to be a slayer like her aunt Joey had been and she was hunting the rest of the family. Laney threw a snowball and though Jake could have easily dodged it he allowed it to hit him directly in the face. He put his hands over his face and fell to the ground laughing.

"I got daddy!" Laney shouted proudly. Angela grabbed a handful of snow and was going to dump it on Jakes head when his eyes flew open and he reached out and grabbed her legs and brought her down on top of him.

"I got mommy!" he shouted. Angela kissed him and he wrapped his arms tighter around her.

"Alright you two you're going to make the snow melt." Lane said matter-of-factly.

"Only two more to go." Laney said making another snowball in her gloved hands. She let the snowball fly and it would have hit Lane but he grabbed Joey and shoved her in front of him and it splattered on her cheek. Laney broke down into fits of giggles and Lane quickly jumped away from Joey who was swinging her fist out to punch his arm.

"You jerk! You sacrificed me!" she said in disbelief. Lane grinned sheepishly and held up his hands.

"If you wanted a noble protective mate you picked the wrong brother." he said. "I'm a selfish asshole." Lane waited for Angela to yell at him for cussing in front of Laney but she was still busy making out with Jake in the snow.

Joey admitted defeat and fell down into the snow. Laney looked at her uncle Lane with an evil little grin on her face.

"It's just me and you now pal." she said. Lane started laughing so hard that he was helpless to dodge the snowball as it hit him in the chest. He grabbed his chest and with all the drama and theatrics that one would expect from Lane he fell to his knees and then down face first into the snow. Laney shrieked triumphantly and ran in circles around them all.

Rebecca smiled and moved away from the window. She dressed in jeans and a cream colored oversized sweater and started downstairs. She stopped when a scent came to her nose. It was her tea... The earthy scent of that special tea that held so many memories for her. She wondered why Angela or Joey would make it. Both of them had made it clear to her how nasty it was.

She walked into the kitchen and was overcome by a strong sense of déjà vu. There was Charles standing in the kitchen. He had shaved his face and gotten a hair cut. His hair was now cut short above his ears the way he had worn it before Jake was born. He was wearing a pair of faded jeans and a grey sweater. He looked nervous when she walked in but he offered a smile and held out a cup of tea to her.

Rebecca's hand reached out for the cup automatically. Once it was in her hands he walked over to the table and pulled out a chair and motioned for her to sit down. She didn't' understand what was going on. Was she still asleep? She walked on weak legs to the chair and sat down. He walked around the table and sat down across from her.

"I didn't know if you still drank it but I remember how much you always loved it." he said pointing at the cup. She nodded but really she hated the tea she just loved what it had always stood for.

"I noticed there is not a Christmas tree up yet." he said trying to make conversation. He was more nervous then he could ever remember being. He had done a lot of thinking after Angela had left the restaurant the morning before. He had walked for hours through the park and looked back on his life.

Angela had been right and had opened his eyes. He had been lying to himself all these years when he'd said he no longer cared about his family or his mate. He had just been scared of feeling love because he had seen the pain it could cause if it was suddenly gone. Better to never let anyone in then to let someone in and then wake up to find them gone... That was the way he'd been living.

He even realized that now that he was here he didn't feel the drive or the urge to go out hunting again. He supposed that the only reason he had begun to hunt and kill so desperately was to keep his mind off of what really mattered in his life. He wanted Rebecca back. He wanted her to love him and he wanted her to see the love that he still felt for her.

He wanted to get to know his children and his grandchildren. He hoped that they would accept him in their lives because he had no intention of ever leaving again.

"Did you hear me?" Rebecca asked. Charles shook his head coming out of his thoughts and frowned.

"I'm sorry I was thinking. What did you say?" he asked.

"I said that Jake and Lane usually go out on Christmas eve during the day and find a tree and then we put it up at night once the rest of the kids come home from visiting." Charles nodded.

"I would like to go with them." he said. Rebecca looked down at her tea.

"Charles, I don't' understand what's going on." she said softly. He clasped his hands together on top of the table and sighed.

"I don't understand either Rebecca. All I know is that I'm starting to see things differently. I'm starting to see things like I did before..."

Rebecca fought the urge to reach her hand across the table and rub his smooth cheek to soothe the pain she saw on his face.

Before she could reply to what he had said Angela, Joey and Laney came into the kitchen wet and cold from the snow.

"Grandma it's time to bake cookies! Daddy and uncle Lane are going to go get the Christmas tree now." Laney said excitedly as Angela helped her out of her wet coat and gloves.

Charles looked at the door and then back at Rebecca. Rebecca smiled even though she wasn't sure if it reached her eyes.

"Go. You need to spend time with your sons." she said. Charles nodded and stood up. He started for the door then stopped and walk back to her. He pressed a quick gentle kiss to her cheek and then walked back toward the door. As he passed Angela he gave her a small smile and laid his hand on her arm.

"Thank you for helping me open my eyes." he said and then was gone. Rebecca pressed her hand to her cheek still feeling the heat from his lips and looked at Angela.

"What is he talking about?" she asked. Angela shrugged as she carried Laney's wet clothes over to the heat vent to dry.

"I guess he just needed someone to cut through his bullshit for him." she said.

"Mommy, you shouldn't talk that way." Laney scolded. Angela blushed and smiled apologetically.

"Sorry baby girl." she said. Joey walked over to the window.

"I hope Charles really is trying to make amends because with the size of the axe that Jake's carrying he could cut through a lot more then just his bullshit." she said. Rebecca and Angela looked out the window in time to see Jake glaring at his father. Charles was saying something and finally Jake gave a small nod and then slung the axe over his shoulder and started off into the woods with Charles and Lane on his heels.

"Grandma let's make cookies!" Laney pleaded. "I want to make a extra special one for grandpa Charles." Rebecca sighed. There would be time to think about Charles later right now she just wanted to bake Christmas cookies with her granddaughter and her two daughter-in-laws.

"I think this is a good one." Charles said looking up at the tree. Lane nodded in agreement. But Jake shook his head.

"Nope." he said. Lane blew out an impatient breath. It was freezing cold, the snow was damn near up to their knees out here in the woods and his stomach was growling.

"What the hell is wrong with this one?" Lane asked. Jake looked at the tree trying to come up with a reason it wasn't good enough. Really though it was a perfect tree. Just the right height and width and perfect fullness but he didn't want to tell his father he was right. Lane looked from Charles to Jake and then laughed.

"When did you start acting like a pissed off teenager, Jake? Not even Kayleb or Kaylee throws tempers like this. There is nothing in the world wrong with this tree you just don't want to let dad pick the tree we cut." Jake glared over at Lane. Then without looking at Charles he raised the axe and swung it with such rage and force that it sliced cleanly through the tree with one whack and the tree fell to the forest floor.

"There's your damn tree." Jake said. Lane hoisted the tree over his shoulder and started back toward the house.

"Why don't you two walk a little slower and try to work through your shit." he said over his shoulder. "We could all do with a few less temper tantrums around here." Charles chuckled and Jake put the axe back over his shoulder and glared at him.

"Since when do you think he's funny?" he demanded. Charles stopped chuckling and shrugged.

"I've always found Lane funny. I just hated laughing so I made him stay away from me." he replied. Jake raised his brow and then started walking. Charles matched his pace.

"Jake, what would you say if I said I want to stay around?" Charles asked. Jake's knuckles turn white around the handle of the axe but his voice was steady and calm when he spoke.

"I would say you can do whatever you want." he replied.

"Thank you." Charles said. Jake glanced at him quickly before looking ahead again. As far as he knew his father had never thanked anyone for anything.

"But I will say this. You cannot stay here if you are planning on going hunting still. We have finally found peace in this family. There are no more ghosts and crazy psychos from the past that are trying to seek revenge on the family and that's the way we want to keep it."

Charles was impressed by the man walking beside of him. He knew his son would probably rather chop his head off with that axe than have him move back but he was giving him a chance anyway while still letting him know what the ground rules were.

"I won't hunt anymore Jake. I don't want to." Charles said matter of factly. Jake grunted.

"What brought around that sudden change of heart?" he asked.

"The other night when I dashed here drunk and bloody my head was a mess. I had been stuck in such an angry and drunk fog for so long that I didn't even recognize myself. Things happened when you were an infant Jake. Things that caused me to change and turn into a man that I didn't like when I looked in a mirror. But it wasn't until I came back here and sobered up that I started to feel things again.

"The last few days I've felt emotions that I didn't think I could feel anymore. A lot of that is because of your mother but a lot of it is because of your beautiful little girl. My granddaughter." Jake smiled when he thought of Laney.

"Angela and I went out to breakfast yesterday." Charles said. Jake raised a brow.

"She didn't say anything to me about it." he said. Charles shrugged.

"Maybe she wanted to give me time to decide what I was going to do. Your mate is very smart and instead of telling you what you want to hear she tells you what you need to hear. Let's just say she opened my eyes." Jake was silent for a long time.

"I feel like I'm talking to a stranger right now dad. This isn't the you I've known the last 263 years." Charles patted his son on the back.

"I know and I know it's going to take time for me to fix the mistakes I made. But this is the real me. This is the man I was back before I lost my mind." Jake nodded. He wanted his dad to be telling the truth. He needed his dad to be telling the truth. He was silent for a long time and then looked over at Charles as they continued walking.

"Welcome home dad." he said. Charles smiled and wrapped his arm around his sons broad shoulders.

"Thank you son." They walked the rest of the way to the house in silence.

They could hear Laney yelling before they even walked into the kitchen.

"Uncle Lane stay out of the cookies! Those are for Santa!"

"I just want one! The man's fat, he'll be ok." Jake walked in just in time to see Laney slap her uncle Lane in the head with a spatula.

"Ouch!" Lane exclaimed.

"Serves you right." Jake said. "You should be ashamed of yourself taking Santa's cookies." Then he too reached out and grabbed one and popped the whole thing in his mouth at once.

"Daddy!" Laney said putting her hands on her hips and sticking her lip out at him. Jake smiled as best he could with his mouth full of the reindeer cookie.

"What?"

"Ok you guys get out of the kitchen this is a no man zone." Joey said shooing them all away. Charles still wasn't sure what to make of her. She had crazy red hair, was skinny as a rail and so short she barely came up to his chest.

He saw Jake and Lane make a run for it and decided he might as well follow suit. Maybe they knew something about her that he didn't.