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“We did, we make a good team, but then we know that already,” I agree.
“What’s the time?” Peter asks.
Pulling out my phone, I’m shocked as I reply, “It’s twelve already. Everybody should be arriving any minute.”
Sure enough, as soon as I’ve finished speaking, the doorbell echoes throughout the house.
“Jynx, the guys, and the three stooges are here,” Jensen calls out, as he comes back from answering the door and Peter and I head to greet them.
“Three stooges?” D questions, sounding amused.
Jensen shrugs as he grabs me as I walk past and pulls me close, he then replies, “I got bored of listing everyone and I feel like the three stooges suit you, Alaric, and Ryan really well.”
“Well, he’s not really wrong,” Ryan agrees and adds, “Happy Christmas, guys.”
“Where are we putting presents?” Rome asks, struggling with the bags he’s holding, and he’s not the only one holding bags.
It would be easy to assume that because of the amount of bags that they’ve brought, they’ve gone over the top and thoroughly spoilt everyone, but there are twenty-five plus people coming, so realistically, they haven’t.
“Under the tree,” Trick smiles and points to where our presents for everyone are still sitting, ready for everyone to arrive.
I have gone over the top with the presents, but I can’t help it. I love giving things to people and making them smile. I’m also bad at thinking I’ve found the perfect present for someone and then finding something else that is even more perfect, and then I have to even it out so that no one is getting more than anyone else, and it’s just a giant vicious circle.
“Help yourself to drinks. They’re all set up on the table in the kitchen.” Rafe offers, and everyone streams through just as the door opens again, and Lyric, her men and, Noel Callen, and Marty all walk through.
We greet each other warmly, telling them the same things, and the house fills with laughter and chatter as someone turns the Christmas music up a bit louder.
As I’m turning around to grab a drink myself, the doorbell goes again, and I turn around to answer, greeting the parents with a round of hugs and happy Christmas. They place their gifts underneath the tree with everyone else’s, and because of the sheer amount of people, the presents are now spilling out into the front room, and it looks truly magical, especially since the fire is lit and the smells coming from the kitchen are just adding to the atmosphere.
Trick takes over and makes the introductions, and I can’t help but notice Kat and Jenny sharing a look and then staring at Alaric, who starts to look slightly uncomfortable.
“Are you okay, mom?” Trick asks, clearly picking up on the same thing and gaining the attention of everyone.
“I recognize you,” Jenny says, looking directly at Alaric.
Well, shit, Alaric was the one who came to pick us up to take us to Blackbreak Academy. Jenny saw him, and she has clearly used her best friend's link with Kat to tell her about him.
Alaric raises an eyebrow and then glances at us, unsure how we want to proceed with this one.
“If what my best friend is saying is correct, then you are the agent that took our kids to the academy,” Kat adds, giving him a firm look and making me smile in the process. We really should have seen this coming.
Atlas chuckles, “We knew you were too observant not to notice. This is my uncle Alaric, and he’s also an agent.”
Kat and Jenny share a look as Rob asks, “Is this one of those things that you won’t be able to tell us much about?”
Trick nods, “Yeah.”
Kat shrugs, “You clearly kept our kids safe, and we can see how much that you care about them, and they obviously care about you to have you here, so with that in mind, I say we drink up and get this Christmas party started.”
That right there is why we love them so much. They just let it go; Cash wraps his arm around his Mom’s shoulders as he says, “Thanks, Mom.”
The day goes really quickly, but somehow not as well. We may have a lot of people here, but the atmosphere never gets tense, and everyone gets along amazingly. The table set up gets a lot of compliments that have Peter and I beaming with pride. The food gets even more, and Rafe doesn’t stop smiling; he worked damn hard on the whole meal, and although he tries to pass some of the credit onto Riot and me, we don’t let him because when it came down to it, he did all the hard work all we did was cut up what he told us to and did the prep work, that was it.
The gift-giving is so much fun, and everyone ends up with a small pile of presents, including Callen, Marty, and Noel, who look genuinely shocked that they were considered. But then again, they still look shocked when the rest of us get them Christmas or birthday presents, and it's been years now, so really, their shock shouldn’t surprise me.
One of the more memorable gifts that was given was a pile of old recipe books from Rafe’s grandmother that his parents found in their stuff when they were sorting it and getting it ready for it to either be sold or moved to their storage. It’s easy to see how much that they mean to Rafe, and I honestly had no idea that his grandmother was that good of a cook; his dad jokes that it definitely skipped a generation because he can’t boil water.
After the initial mild confrontation with Alaric earlier, there has been no more tension, and in fact, I’ve even overheard Rich and Rob thanking him for keeping an eye on us when we were kids.
