Title: A Bagans-Groff Christmas

Pairing: Nick/Zak

Rating: G

Summary: Christmas morning in the Bagans-Groff household.

Disclaimer: Don't own – please don't sue. Blah, blah, blah.

Author's notes: Sort of sequel to 'Homecoming' and 'Family', but can be read alone. Merry Christmas!

A Bagans-Groff Christmas

Annabelle snuck across the hall to the nursery, trying her best not to make any noise. It was only 5:00 on Christmas morning, and her parents had told her not to wake them up until at least 6:00, but she was too excited to wait. She pushed open the door and clicked on the small lamp by the glider.

"Robert? Hey, Robert, wake up!" She reached through the bars of the crib and shook her sleeping brother's foot. The 2 year old sat up sleepily, rubbing his eyes with a pudgy fist. His face lit up when he saw the sister he adored standing by the crib.

"Hi, Nanna-el!"

"It's Christmas, Robert! Santa came and brought us toys!"

The little boy wasn't really old enough to understand Santa, but his sister's excitement was contagious.

"Santa toys!" He stood up and grabbed the crib rail, bouncing with excitement. "Out, Nanna-el? Pease?"

"Ok, I'll help you out." Annabelle gathered an armful of stuffed toys and tossed them into the crib. "Now, stack them like I showed you."

"Kay." Robert stacked the stuffed toys into a pile, then used it as a step to boost himself over the railing. Annabelle grabbed him around the waist and helped him to the ground. She took his hand and said, "We have to be quiet so we don't wake up Daddy and Papa. So shhhh."

The children crept down the stairs and into the living room. A pile of wrapped gifts sat under the tree, but their attention was drawn to the unwrapped gifts. A purple and white bicycle and a wooden train table sat in front of the tree, both with tags that read 'From: Santa'.

"Look, Robert! Look – Santa came! He ate the cookies and left us presents and put stuff in our stockings!" She pulled their stockings off the mantle and upended them. They sat on the floor and started looking through the contents. Annabelle received various kinds of candy and gum, lip gloss and headbands, as well as a bottle of her favorite bubble bath. Robert got animal crackers and candy, as well as four wooden trains to ride the rails of his new table. He pushed two of the trains over to Annabelle and carried the others to the play table.

"Pway twains? Pease?"

"Ok, let's play for a little while. Then we'll go wake up Daddy and Papa so we can open the rest of our presents."

The two pushed the trains over hills and down the tracks. They quickly became lost in their imaginary world and didn't realize that they were growing louder and louder.

"Oh no! My train is out of control! It's rolling down the mountain! It's going to hit your train, Robert! CRASH!"

Robert chortled with delight as his sister crashed the two cars together. His bubbly baby laugh made Annabelle giggle, and she hit the trains together again.

"CRASH CRASH! OH NO!"

"I certainly hope no one was on those trains."

Annabelle jumped at the sound of Nick's voice. "Daddy!"

Nick stood with his arms crossed, the slight smile on his lips betraying his attempt to look stern.

"We didn't mean to wake you up, Daddy. I'm sorry."

"Don't worry about it, princess. It's a good thing you didn't wake your papa up though. You know how cranky he can get."

"I heard that." Zak shuffled up behind Nick and smacked him on the ass. "I'm never cranky."

"Sure you're not." Nick turned and kissed Zak. "I don't know what I was thinking."

A tugging on his pant leg made Zak look down. Robert raised his arms and said, "Up, Papa?"

He swung him up in his arms and pushed the dark hair out of the baby's face. "And how did you escape your crib, you little spider monkey?"

"I helped a little bit, Papa, but he's a really good climber."

"I wonder where he gets that from." He cut his eyes sideways at Nick, who gave him a wide eyed look of innocence.

"So," said Nick, in a blatant attempt to change the subject, "who wants to open presents?"

Two little voices answered him. "Me!"

Zak put Robert down and smiled indulgently as his children tore into brightly wrapped packages. He grabbed a large black garbage bag out of the kitchen and sat on the floor next to Nick, stuffing paper and empty boxes into it. Nick gave Zak a new high tech audio mixing laptop to work on his music, and Zak gave Nick a top of the line set of rock climbing gear. When the wrapping paper stopped flying, the kids sat surrounded by Barbies, art supplies, dress up clothes, baby dolls, wooden blocks, chunky plastic cars and trucks, a water/sand play table, and a small basketball set. The kids flew at them, Robert launching himself at Nick while Annabelle plopped into Zak's lap.

"Thank you, Daddy and Papa! I love my presents!" She wrapped her arms around Zak and snuggled into his chest. Robert planted a sloppy kiss on Nick's cheek and said, "Tank you. Luff you."

Zak looked at Nick and smiled, running his hand along Annabelle's silky hair as he returned her hug. "Best Christmas ever, dude."

Nick shifted Robert in his arms and leaned over. "Almost." He kissed him softly as Annabelle hid her eyes and muttered, "Ewww, gross."

"Now, it's the best Christmas ever."

THE END