Written in 20 minutes. No time for edits or typos.

A few weeks later, Elizabeth was sitting at the table, struggling to wrap the last gift that needed to go under the tree. She usually did a pretty decent job of not shopping until the last minute but despite eight years of being a mother—she’d never managed to finish wrapping before Christmas Eve.

Now it was nearly midnight, and she still had to put the boxes under the tree. She wrinkled her nose as she stared at the closet where she had hid the gifts while the boys were in school that day — she hadn’t been able to hide them at home since Cameron had learned to climb.

The door opened then, and a rush of swirling ice and wind came through as Jason entered, closing the door softly behind him. “Hey.” He joined her at the table, brushing a light against her lips. “Sorry, I’m late. It took longer than I thought to put together the bike.”

“But it’s in the garage?” Elizabeth asked, wrinkling her eyebrows. “It’s the only thing Cameron really asked for—”

“It’s in the garage,” he confirmed. He stripped off his jacket and tossed it on the hook. “What else can I do?”

“I just need to finish wrapping this last one, then I can start putting things under the tree—” She nodded at the closet door. “Everything is in there if you want to start, and I’ll be over in a second—” She handed him the key to the closet, and he went to unlock it.

He stared at it for a long moment, then turned to her with raised eyebrows. “Did you leave anything in the stores?”

“Listen. At this age, it’s about quantity. When they’re teenagers or grown adults, I can start cutting back.” The last box in her hands, she went to the tree and set it down. “Let’s do Cameron’s on this side, and then Aiden on the other—”

Jason handed her boxes, and she arranged them—they worked in silence, hoping to get everything done quickly and quietly so that boys wouldn’t wake up — it had been incredibly hard to get Cameron to sleep that night, and Aiden always fed off his brother’s energy.

Halfway through the closet, Jason hesitated with a box in his hand. He looked at her, then looked back at the tag. “This is, uh, it says Jake—”

“Oh.” Elizabeth took the brightly colored gift, smoothing her thumb over his name. “I should have—I—” She cleared her throat. “Last year—it was the first year—” She paused. “I had ordered something for his birthday, and it came after he died. It was the first time I saw him—I saw him riding the little bike I’d bought for him—and I—”

Jason put his arm around her shoulders, drawing her close. “I’m sorry.”

“Last year, when I went shopping, I didn’t mean to—but I bought something for him. I got home from Wyndham’s and I just—I wrapped it, and I put his name on it. And I felt good about it. Because if I don’t buy presents for all of them, it’ll be like I don’t have three boys anymore. And I guess—” A tear slid down her cheek. “It’s silly.”

“It’s not. I know how much you love Christmas.”

“Jake did, too. More than Cameron. He loved the magic of it—that last year—when he was just three—it was the first year he didn’t cry sitting on Santa’s lap—he was so excited, and he babbled on for ten minutes about everything he wanted—”

Elizabeth sat on the sofa. “I know it gets easier to live with it,” she told him as he sat next to her. “And it has—I mean, I don’t think about him every day. But someone will ask me how many kids I have—and it’s wrong to say two. I have three beautiful boys. I had—” She put the gift on the coffee table. “I’m okay. Christmas is hard. But I don’t want Cameron to know it. I don’t want him to think about this as being a sad time.”

“He won’t. And one day, he and Aiden will be grateful you kept Jake’s memory alive for them. For all of us.” He kissed her, pressing his forehead against hers. “I don’t have enough memories of him,” Jason told her, his voice a bit rough. “That’s my fault.”

“Well, I’ll share all mine. You gave me that beautiful boy and kept him safe for me all those years. You always brought him back to me.” She touched his face. “It’s okay. We’ll put this upstairs with last year’s gift. And the birthday gifts I bought.”

Elizabeth scrubbed her hands over her cheeks. “I forgot to ask—you were supposed to meet with Diane to finalize the ELQ stuff today. Did Tracy sign over her shares?”

“Yeah, Diane has it ready for you after Christmas. She was kind of curious why Tracy was giving you another ten percent—”

“I still wish you’d take it—you’re the Quartermaine—” She grinned when he scowled at her. “I’m kidding. It’s okay. I’ll hold on to the extra fifteen percent, and then divide it among the boys when they’re old enough so they have equal shares.”

“Diane also told me that Sam has a hearing after Christmas about custody,” Jason went on as Elizabeth started to put away the trash and supplies she’d used for wrapping. “Tea is fighting her on custody—”

“Hard to blame her. I think, even if I knew the truth, I’d want to keep my baby. Six months is a long time.” Elizabeth sighed. “But she’ll get her baby back.” She looked at the Christmas tree, smiling at the paper chains that decorated it. “It looks a lot like that first tree, doesn’t it?”

“Yeah.” Jason stood her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders to draw her back against him. “With an angel to watch over things.”

“It helps,” Elizabeth murmured. “To think of Jake being safe with Emily, you know? She’ll take care of him until we’re together again.” She took a deep breath, looked at him and smiled. “We’re going to have a great Christmas. I can’t wait until the boys get up tomorrow.”

“Me either.” He kissed her again. “Let’s get cleaned up and get some sleep before they get up at dawn.”

——

Meanwhile, in Greece…

Nikolas Cassadine sighed and pushed open the door to the cottage on his estate. It was a small and modest set of rooms, tucked away from any visitors.

“Hello? Anyone here?”

“Uncle Nikolas!”

A little boy with blonde hair and blue eyes dashed out of the back room, followed by his nanny and another man with dark hair and dark eyes.

“Hey—” Nikolas lifted the boy into his arms and smiled at him. He looked at the older man. “Father.”

“Nikolas. Jake and I were just getting ready to have dinner. Will you join us?”

“Sure. Yeah.” Nikolas looked at Jake, flincing slightly as he smiled. He looked so much like Elizabeth.

Soon. Soon, he’d be able to bring her son back to her.

THE END

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