Standing the middle of the J. Edgar Hoover Building, Walter looked up at the Giving Tree feeling slightly depressed. "So many names, so many needy children." Taking a deep breath, he began looking for the children he'd like to help.

Every year he took a name off the tree for each of his nieces and nephews. Originally he'd tried to help children who were born in the same year as his siblings' children but with the oldest now twenty, he'd settled on looking for names that were similar. The younger children were still matched up by age.

Walter quickly chose Tomás age 10, Timmy age 8, and Anna Teresa 7 for his oldest brother James's three: Thomas, Timothy, and Theresa who were, or soon to be, all ten years older than the three chosen children.

Walter was contemplating whether to take 7 year old Adriana for his niece Joy or if he should continue going down by age and look for a Jane around 7 years as well, when he heard footsteps stop behind him.

"Need help there, sir?"

Walter turned to flash Agents Scully and Mulder a quick smile. "Take a name from this tree for starters."

Mulder blindly reached up and pulled Adriana from the tree, settling Walter's internal debate. "I didn't know you were into this sort of thing, sir."

Scully smacked her partner and pulled a name from the tree. "Ignore him, sir. Having trouble deciding which one to help?" she asked indicating the three in his hands.

"No. I take a name from the tree for each of my nieces and nephews."

Scully nodded and smiled but Mulder frowned. "Don't you have a big family?"

Walter nodded. "I have 17 nieces and nephews on my side of the family and Sharon had 5 so I usually pick 22 names from the tree."

"That's great, sir. Do you need help finding names?"

Walter smiled. "Sure. I have my brother Jamie's family done. Would you like to look for my sister Eleanor's children?"

"That would lovely. And Mulder will take a sibling as well."

Walter saw Mulder roll his eyes before nodding under Scully's glare. He decided to take pity on Mulder. "My brother Ivan has a son, John, who will be 15 just after Christmas. I try to find a similar name around that age. But John being so old, I'd probably look for a 5 year old. If you would do that, Mulder, it would be appreciated."

"Of course, sir."

"And me, sir?"

"Jane, age 17; Jeffery, 16; and Jill, 14. Feel free to be somewhat loose with the names but I'd like to keep the ages at the 10 year difference if you can."

With his two agents working on finding names, Walter set himself to second sister's family. Natalie had a girl Helen who was twelve and a son Henry who was 8. After a few moments of searching, Enrique age 8 and 12 year old Elena were added to Walter's pile.

Mulder quickly handed him a five year old John and took off. Walter could only smile as he noticed the man reading over Adriana's information as he headed for the basement. Scully finally handed him 7 year old Jana, 6 year old Geoffrey, and Gillian age 4. She seemed rather proud of herself for finding such close matches.

"Is it hard to shop for 44 children for Christmas?"

Walter shook his head ruefully as he spotted a nine-year old Andrew, one of Sharon's nephews. "I don't really shop for my real nieces and nephews. I usually send each of their parents money so they can get something they would really want. I don't really know what's fashionable in Kansas for teenagers. I only go shopping for these gifts."

Scully nodded but Walter could see she was disappointed in him. He felt the need to explain himself. "It was easier when there wasn't so many of them. And how do you shop for a twenty-year-old and toddler at the same time?"

Dana nodded again. "So who else?"

Over the next twenty minutes, Scully found names for his sister Sarah's children: Eric, 14; Adam, 12; Andrea, 10; and Eliza 8. Walter had to admit Dana had a knack for hunting out names. She's found a 10-year-old Andrea, Elizabeth age 8, Erik age 4 and a two-year-old Adam.

Walter was having a bit more trouble with his youngest sister's family. A Julie was found for Julia age 9 and 4-year-old Jeremy worked for Jeremiah. But 7 year old Joy and two-year-old Jacob were proving a challenge.

"Would you like me to do your late wife's nieces and nephews, sir?"

Walter nodded. "I have one done. That leaves Kate who's 17, Shane age 13, Mike who's 15, and 14-year-old Stacy."

Dana nodded. Sean age 3, Kathryn age 7 and Miguel age 5 were soon added to the pile of stars. Meanwhile, Walter had found a 3-year-old Jake, which he decided was close enough.

"Stacy and Stephanie close enough, sir?"

Walter grimaced. He usually didn't have so much trouble with finding names. Most years he did this over several weeks and at several different trees throughout the city. This year he wouldn't have time. Alex had suggested they take a Caribbean cruise over the holiday. Walter had agreed since it was their first Christmas together. Plus the trip was cheaper because of the dates.

Still, it would put Walter's personal Christmas plans on an accelerated schedule.

"If you don't mind, keep looking but keep that one in mind."

Walter squinted at the tree. There had to be 300 names on the 7-foot tree. Picking twenty plus names had seemed easy this morning when he'd seen the crew finish putting it up.

"Aha! Stacia age 4," Dana said with no small amount of triumph.

Walter glanced over at her and noticed a star that had been tucked underneath a branch. As he reached for it, he couldn't help but smile in triumph himself. Joylynn age 7.

Walter took the last star from Dana and looked down at the pile in his hands. These 22 stars represented the next generation of the two families that he had the privilege to be apart of. In some ways, buying gifts for these children meant more than sending his siblings and in-laws $30 per child with a note saying "Put my name on whatever you buy with this."

"I'm a bad uncle.

"-Sir?"

Walter shook his head. "I'm sorry, Dana; what was it you were saying?"

Dana cleared her throat. "I said does Krycek have any nieces and nephews you need to get names for?"

Walter started. He hadn't thought about Alex's family. Of course he and Alex were living together but... "Alex hasn't really told me anything about his family."

Dana raised her eyebrows. "You've been living together for six and a half months."

Walter shrugged. "Alex isn't exactly open about his time before... well, before us."

"I see."

~*~*~*~*~*~

Walter carried the file folder containing the Christmas stars in his hands as he came into the apartment. He set his briefcase on the table by the door. It was Friday and he had no intention of looking at the work he'd brought home until at least tomorrow afternoon.

He called out to Alex before remembering that his lover had gone to see the Gunmen this afternoon and wasn't going to be back until later. Probably much later if the last time was anything to go by.

Walter sighed as he laid his folder on the table. He wondered if he should just eat by himself or wait. He'd worked through lunch today so he probably should find something to eat but if he did and Alex came home earlier than he expected...

Walter headed into the kitchen hoping they had something to snack on while he decided what to do about dinner. He couldn't help but laugh when he found a plate of apple slices next to a note on the counter.

Walter,
I'll be home at seven so we can have dinner together.
I made a salad but you'll need to make the main dish.
I love you.

Smiling gently, Walter went to start dinner. As he looked through the refrigerator, he realized that he hadn't made Alex dinner all by himself in a very long time. In fact, it was the first weekend that they'd lived together. He paused to remember.

They had watched a baseball game together. Alex had fallen asleep and Walter had left him to make dinner. He was cutting up the lettuce for the salad when he heard a sound coming from the door. He had looked up and grinned. Alex was smiling at him and rubbing the sleep from his eyes. His hair was sticking up at very angle imaginable. He was the most beautiful thing Walter had ever seen.

Walter shook his head and started making chicken. His cooking skills were much more limited than Alex's but he could make a great Chicken Marsala.

As he pounded the chicken, his mind went back to the conversation he'd had with Dana. Skirting the guilt he'd felt about buying gifts, or not, for his nieces and nephews, he settled on Alex. He knew almost nothing about his lover's family. In fact, if he hadn't known Alex had been born in Chicago, he wouldn't know anything about the Krycek family.

"Ouch! Damn it!"

Walter sucked his thumb into this mouth. He looked down at the meat mallet and chicken. Luckily, despite a mashed feeling finger, no blood had been shed and dinner hadn't been ruined. But if he wanted to make an edible meal, he'd better start paying attention.

~*~*~*~*~*~

With the chicken marsala in the oven to keep warm, Walter headed back into the living room. He'd set the table and had dessert chilling in the fridge. He was just waiting for Alex to get home.

He eyes fell on the folder of Christmas stars on an end table. He might as well use his time wisely.

Grabbing a notebook and pen from by the phone, he opened the folder on the coffee table. He began organizing the stars by gender and then age. Then he started looking at the wishes on each star to make shopping lists.

After only three stars, Walter sighed and set them aside. He was too distracted to really do this. "Damn it, Alex."

"What? I'm only fifteen minutes late."

Walter started. Glancing over his shoulder, he shook his head. "It's not that; I'm just distracted."

Alex grinned and tipped Walter's face towards his own. "Am I a good distraction?"

"Mmm. Always," he relied against Alex's lips.

"Good." Alex walked around the end of the couch and pulled Walter up. "Are we having chicken marsala and zabaglione?"

Walter shook his head ruefully. "You know me too well."

Alex grinned. "I would hope so. I am living with you after all."

"Yeah." Walter fought not to frown. He changed the subject to keep his mind off Dana's comments. "Did the Gunmen work up your appetite?"

"Oh, yeah. We worked though lunch. They're intense when they are working."

Walter took Alex by the hand and led him into the dining room. "Then we should get you fed."

~*~*~*~*~*~

Alex swirled the last strawberry through the thick yellow custard.

Walter wasn't sure if Alex liked zabaglione because of how it tasted or because he got to play with it. There was something very endearing about Alex making designs in his dessert.

Finally Alex popped the berry into his mouth is a deep moan of satisfaction. "Once again, Walter, this was amazing."

"Thank you Alex." Walter pressed a quick peck on Alex's lips before standing to take their dirty dishes to the kitchen.

"You cooked. Let me do that."

"No, you rest. It won't take but a minute."

Knowing it would take longer to convince Walter to let him do the dishes than it would take Walter to do them, Alex headed into the living room. He plopped down on the couch with a sigh. "It has been a long day," he thought resting his head back on the couch.

Alex kicked his feet up onto the coffee table. With a groan of pleasure, he stretched his legs all the way down to his toes. Eyes closing in relaxation, he repeated the motion.

A soft thud caused his head to come off the back of the couch. Red, green and gold paper stars were scattered across the living room carpet. "Wha-?"

Spying a notebook, half open, revealing Walter's tight script made Alex more befuddled. Even so, he rose to collect the mess.

As he crawled across the floor to reach one of the stars that had slid under an armchair, Walter's legs came into view.

"Sorry. Knocked them off the table."

"It's all right. They're easy enough to organize."

Alex nodded and handed Walter the last of the stars. "What is this anyway? Another of Mulder's weird cases?"

Walter chuckled. "No but from the look on his face this morning when he saw me with these, he might start a file on me with this in it."

"Start? Don't you mean add to?" Alex made small sound like a muffled chuckle and stood. "But that doesn't answer my question."

"These are my Christmas children."

Alex nodded, even though he didn't really understand. "I'm with Mulder on this one."

Walter laughed. He sat on the couch and patted the seat next to him. "Come here. Let me explain."

Alex sat down next to Walter and rested his head on his shoulder. He watched as his lover flipped the notebook back to a page with two neat columns.

"This is a list of all my nieces and nephews." Walter gently ran his finger down the first column, almost reverently. "Every year I go to a giving tree and pick a star off the tree for each of them."

"But you sent their parents money for their Christmas presents."

"Yes, but that's so impersonal. I don't have a role in that. Which is fine because I really don't know what they want. But these kids on these stars, they might not get anything for Christmas. They need someone to come along and take their name from the tree. This is my good deed for the holidays."

Alex nodded. While he didn't really understand why it meant so much to Walter, he could see why Walter wanted to do it.

Looking over the list, he was amused to see how closely Walter had paired names. Gillian and Jillian. Jake and Jacob. Walter truly was trying to match a star to each niece or nephew. Shane and Sean.

"Walter, why is there a blank line before the last five names?"

Walter tapped the top part of the list. "These are my nieces and nephews. And these," his finger strayed to the bottom of the page "are Sharon's."

"You do this for your ex-wife's family."

Nodding, Walter replied, "Of course. Even if Sharon is gone, I was their Uncle Walt for many years. I still send them birthday cards and Christmas money. Why not have a Christmas child for each of them, too?"

"But you aren't part of their family anymore?"

"But I was once. And her sister still sends me a brother-in-law card for my birthday every year. I just-This is my way of honoring the families I've been a part of." Walter took a deep breath before continuing. "If you have any nieces or nephews, I'd like to get stars for them too."

Alex stiffened. He turned to look at Walter before saying, "I don't have any family." Pulling away, he rose from the couch. "I've had a long day. I'm going to bed."

"Well, Walt, you put your foot in it this time." He watched Alex headed up the stairs. He sighed as his lover disappeared from view. He'd pushed too soon. Clearly Alex wasn't ready to share that part of his life yet.

Sighing, Walter prepared for a rather lonely night.

"Walter? Are you coming to join me?"

Throwing a confused look over his shoulder, Walter slowly stood. Alex had just essentially given him a brush off and now wanted him to come to bed. He would never understand that man.

Slowly, he headed for the stairs and the bedroom. Still not sure what he could find, Walter was very cautious entering the bedroom. His fears were only slightly allayed when a naked Alex jumped into his arms.

"Alex, wha-?"

A tongue down his throat cut off Walter's questions. He couldn't really bring himself to stop Alex so they could talk. Especially not after Alex had gotten his hands inside Walter's shirt and was doing nasty things to his nipples.

Somehow they made it to the bed. Walter was not sure how. He was even less sure how Alex got his clothes off without stopping the kisses.

Truth was, he didn't really care. Alex was sex on legs normally. But seeing him so uninhibited was a whole other experience. Alex was... breathtaking.

Walter rolled them over so Alex was beneath him. "You are so..."

"Sexy?"

"I was gonna say hot."

Alex grinned and wrapped his legs around Walter's waist. "How hot am I?"

"So hot, I have to take cold showers every day," Walter moaned as he ran his hands up and down Alex's legs. He leaned down to lick one of his lover's nipples.

"Burn the house down hot," he said against Alex's lips as he pulled the lube from under the pillow. He slid his fingers back to enter Alex.

Alex arched and pressed back against the pressure. His back arched and he gasped and moaned.

"Call 911 hot," Walter whispered as he pulled his fingers away to slick his own arousal. They both gasped as Walter pressed himself into Alex.

As their thrusts together grew more and more passionate, Walter added one final description, "Long walk in the Sahara hot."

Alex moaned and pulled Walter's lips down for a passionate kiss as they moved together. Their tongues battled as they each got closer and closer to climax.

Alex broke the kiss and threw his head back as he came all over his stomach. As Alex's spasms pulled Walter over the edge, he gasped, "Trip to the sun hot."

Moments later, Alex rolled them over and slid off of Walter to lie curled up at his side. Walter made a small sound of pleasure and pulled Alex closer.

"Walter?"

"Mm?" Walter had never been one to have conversations after sex. He usually couldn't even stay awake.

"Walt."

"Uh, yeah, yeah. What?"

Alex grinned and pressed a kiss to Walter's cheek as he cuddled up beside him. "I was lying before."

"What?" Walter could barely get his brain cells functioning, let alone understand Alex's out-of-the-blue comments.

"Downstairs. I was lying downstairs. I do have a family." He raised himself up to smile down at Walter. "You're my family now."

Walter pulled Alex down for a quick kiss. "Thank you, Alex."

"And some day you'll trust me enough to tell me about the rest of your family."

~*~*~*~*~*~

Alex growled as he was cut off for the third time in ten minutes. "Don't know why I let you talk me into going to the mall on a Saturday."

"You wanted to pick up the cruise tickets. I said I could go alone."

Alex snarled as he whipped into a parking space, cutting off another car vying for the spot. "Let's just do this."

Walter suppressed a grin. He grabbed his shopping list from his Christmas children from the back seat. Alex had been adamant about going to the mall with him.

Yes, he had been excited to get their plane tickets and cruise info but there was something more. He'd seen Alex looking over his Christmas child list several times over the last three days.

Walter was taking it as an encouraging sign.

"Are you coming or what?"

Definitely an encouraging sign.

Walter nearly had to run to catch up with Alex at the mall entrance. He was only slightly able to keep from laughing outright.

"Why are you so happy?"

"Well, I'm with you. And we're going to get our cruise ticket for Christmas."

Alex grinned. "Yeah, Jamaica on Christmas; Martinique for New Year's Day."

Walter chuckled. "Don't forget swimming with dolphins on Christmas Eve."

Alex beamed and grabbed Walter's hand. "Well, hurry up them." He pulled Walter down the main concourse to the travel agency.

Twenty minutes later, it was Walter who was pulling Alex away from the travel agents. "Come on, it's lunch time. Now's the best time to hit the toy stores."

Alex groaned. They'd all ready talked about what Walter was getting each of his Christmas children. Alex thought clothes and a toy for each was too much. Walter had pointed out how disappointing clothes would be, especially if they were the child's only gift. Instead, Walter had compromised and agreed not to spend more than $50 on each child.

Taking out his neatly typed lists, Walter began planning his attack. Since the list was divided by gender, he thought he'd hit the boys section before going onto the girls.

Alex, however, had other ideas. "Give me one list."

"What?"

"If I take the girls and you take the boys, we can get out of here in half the time."

Walter grinned and handed Alex the list for the girls' toys. He was curious how Alex would handle it. Yes, there were ten girls compared to twelve boys but somehow Alex picking out dolls just seemed... wrong. Still, Alex took the list and a cart like a man on a mission. Walter shook his head and steered his own cart towards the Lego isle.

Fifteen minutes later, Walter dropped the last item on his list into his cart. He couldn't help but smile. With the exception of one, he'd been able to get everything he'd planned on. And truthfully, one Harry Potter Lego set was the same as another. Walter had even given the kid an upgrade, getting a bigger set than he'd asked for.

Whistling, he head toward the doll isle. He turned the corner and froze. Alex had at least a half dozen Barbie dolls lined up. He was looking between his list and boxes with the most confused look Walter had ever seen. Looking up and seeing Walter, he blurted out, "How the hell do you tell these apart?"

Walter laughed despite another shopper giving them a dirty look. "What's the name on the box?"

"Seriously? That's the only difference? I've been agonizing over this."

Walter shook his head. For someone who thought this was a dumb idea, Alex was putting a lot of effort into this. In fact, as Walter took Alex's lists from him, he'd gotten exactly everything on the list except for the two Barbie dolls. He grabbed the two in question and set the rest back on the shelf. "You did very well, Alex. It's hard at first."

"I can't believe little girls can tell the difference. They all look the same to me."

"I know. But you did great with the rest of the list."

"Thanks, Walt." Alex rested his arm on a shelf and his head on his hand. "I can't believe you've done this every year for the last twenty years. Alone."

"It gets easier with time." Walter began pushing the carts towards the checkout. "We should probably take these bags to the car."

"Then lunch," Alex agreed.

"Then clothes shopping."

Alex groaned.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Walter tossed his napkin onto his tray. He was still surprised Alex hadn't complained about having to eat in the food court. Usually Alex wanted a sit down restaurant, especially when the alternative was something like Taco Bell.

Still, Alex was attacking his pizza with gusto so Walter wasn't complaining. In fact the only thing he could complain about was that Alex seemed to be enthralled by something other than himself.

"What are you looking at?"

"Nuffink," Alex replied around a bite of deep dish pepperoni pizza.

Walter raised an eyebrow and looked over his shoulder. He couldn't see what had so captivated Alex.

Yes, the mall was busy and some of those teenagers certainly looked... interesting. The chains and piercing were definitely attention getters. But they were nothing compared to some of the things Alex had seen with his former employers. In fact, except that they were milling around the Giving Tree, which didn't really look like their thing, nothing about their behavior seemed abnormal for teenagers at a mall on a Saturday.

"Seriously, what are you staring at?"

Alex focused on Walter with an eerie tightness in his eyes. "I said nothing. What? You don't believe me?"

Walter shook his head. Something he really put his foot in his mouth. "No, Alex. It's just I've drug you around all morning doing something I wanted to do. If you were looking at something you wanted to go do, I'm more than willing to finish my shopping another day."

Alex shook his head. "You all ready are."

"Huh?"

"The Christmas cruise. I know your brother invited you home for the holidays, but you let me talk you into the cruise."

Walter grinned. "Jamie and his wife Jen invite me every year, but I never go. It's been awkward since Sharon and I got divorced."

"Your family took her side?"

Walter shook his head. "Nothing that... specific. I'll admit the marriage failed because of me but that's not the reason it's strained at home."

"Then what is?"

"Well. The good Catholic boy I was raised to be would not be divorced and sharing a bed with another man. They've never said it but my family is obviously thinking 'Where did Walter go wrong?'"

"Then why does your brother invite you home?"

Walter grinned. "We have a unique relationship."

"Is that why you call him Jamie and everyone else calls him Jim or Jimmy?"

Walter shrugged. "I never liked the name Jim. In ranch country, it's very common. But there was a Jimmy in my unit in Vietnam. When I got back-" Walter shook his head. "Jamie spent the summer sitting with me while I healed. When he noticed that flinched whenever anyone called him Jimmy, he asked to be called Jamie."

"It didn't stick?"

"No. Family and close friends called him Jamie for about a year. But people who we didn't see often didn't change. So when it stopped getting a noticeable response, everyone went back to Jimmy."

"Everyone but you."

"I just wanted him to know how much I appreciated the gesture so I kept it up."

Alex nodded. "So it's more than just brotherly love."

"Jamie is one of my best friends. That he's my brother is just a bonus."

Alex nodded. He thought for a moment and then said, "That's how I felt about Mikhail. Even though he was two years older than I was, he was willing to make me a part of everything in his life. I wasn't nearly so close with Nikolai. He was into his friends and then after puberty it was all about the girls for Nick."

Walter did his level best to pick his jaw up. For someone who just a week ago was saying that he didn't have any family, Alex had just revealed more than Walter had hoped for.

"Two brothers!"

"Nick and Mike, huh?"

"Well, even in an immigrant neighborhood, Mikhail, Aleksandr, and Nikolai were very Russian names for the early 60s. We all Americanized our nicknames very quickly."

Walter took a deep breath and then asked the question that seemed most important, "When did you see them last?"

"It's been years. I was always afraid to get them involved with the whole mess."

Walter nodded. "I'm sorry that stuff came between you and your brothers but I'm glad that stuff brought you to me."

"I am, too." Alex leaned over the table and gave Walter a quick peck on the mouth. "Let's go home," he said against Walter's lips.

"You sure?"

"Yeah." Alex grinned as he picked up his tray. "I can't very well ravish you here, now can I?"

~*~*~*~*~*~

Walter shook his head as he read yet another of Alex's notes:

Gone to see the Gunmen. Back for dinner.
Love you.

Of course, Alex hadn't put anything on for dinner so that meant Walter would have to make it. And he had no idea what actual time Alex would get home.

With a sigh, he reached for the meat mallet. As he laid it on the counter, he stopped. He really hadn't cooked any thing for Alex but chicken Marsala and zabaglione. No wonder Alex expected it every time Walter cooked.

It's time to surprise him, Walter thought and he reached up onto the top shelf for his oldest and most used cookbook. His grandmother, Granny Janny, had given him that cookbook when he got his first apartment in Hutchinson.

As he flipped through the book he stopped on page with singed edges. Walter smiled at the memory. He'd invited all of his siblings to his apartment for dinner. He'd even borrowed folding chairs from his neighbors so they could all sit together. He'd wanted to keep them from thinking he'd just left the family.

Instead, he'd cooked the chicken too long, caught a potholder on fire and nearly killed his entire family. Instead of a nice quiet evening of dinner and board games, they'd spent the night cleaning up the mess and eating delivery pizza.

They'd had a blast teasing each other, especially Walter about his cooking skills. He'd wanted to reconnect with them and he had. All they'd had to do was spend some time together.

"Maybe that's what I need to do now. I mean get away from our baggage and expectations for each other. Just spend some time together on neutral ground."

As a plan began to form, Walter propped up the cookbook. This time he was finally going to conquer Chicken Kiev.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Walter sighed as he signed another report. He and Alex were leaving in just over a week for their cruise and he was trying to get as much work done as possible before he left. Kim was able to handle a lot of the paperwork and AD Reynolds from Computer Crimes was going to be overseeing his agents for the duration, but Walter wanted to make sure that neither was overwhelmed for those three weeks.

Walter wasn't exactly pleased though. He hadn't been home before 8 PM at all this week and it looked like he was going to be spending all day tomorrow, a Saturday, working on reports.

The intercom buzzed just as Walter finished with another report. He reached for the button as he reached for yet another report. "Yes, Kim."

"Sir, there is someone here to see you."

Walter froze. "I wasn't aware I had any appointments this evening."

"You don't, sir."

"Then have whoever it is make an appointment for next week. Then you can go home."

Walter had started to read the report when the door opened. "Kim, I said you could go home."

"Actually, I was hoping I could get you to come home early."

Walter's head snapped up. "Alex! What are you doing here!"

Alex grinned and took one of the chairs in front of Walter's desk. "Do I have to become an agent again to see you, Assistant Director Skinner?"

"Alex, you know I'm just trying to get ahead so things are not so nuts when we get back from our cruise. I know it sucks but-"

Alex shook his head. "No buts. It just flat out sucks. However, you can make it up to me."

Walter raised an eyebrow but didn't comment.

"Come home with me now. I promise you can come back tomorrow afternoon."

"Tomorrow afternoon? Do you have plans for the morning?"

Alex shook his head. "You do."

"I do?" Walter thought over his calendar. He hardly ever scheduled anything for Saturdays since that was his day with Alex.

"Yes. You need to finish shopping for your Christmas children."

"Alex, I finished that last Sunday."

Alex pulled a list from his back pocket and handed it to Walter. "I looked over your lists and noticed you forgot a few."

Walter reached for the list. "I didn't miss anything I checked when I got home last Sunday. Are you sure?"

"Take a look."

Walter opened the list and froze. It was a list of six names. It looked like the first half of his own list but... "Alex?"

"My nephews."

"Alex..."

"I, uh, had to have the Gunmen look up my brothers. Mikhail married the girl he was dating the last time I talked to them. They have two boys, Alexandr and Anton. My little brother Nikolai, however, has... well, he's had some lady troubles. He's on his fourth marriage. Got a son with each of his wives, including an eight-month-old."

Walter stared at the list. As he looked at it, he noticed that this list wasn't exactly the same as his own. While Walter had only had to list the names and ages of his nieces and nephews to be sure he got the right ages, he knew all of their birth dates. Alex obviously hadn't had that familiarity because each name was followed by a birthday.

"Interesting names for Russian children: Hunter, Blake, Quinn, Parker."

With a wry smile, Alex shook his head. "My brother's not very inventive. They're his wives' maiden names. But they all have Russian middle names."

Walter could only nod. He was still shocked that Alex would do this. Three weeks ago, he didn't even want to acknowledge that he had family and now he...

Alex was looking for a way to reconnect. Just as Walter had been thinking he needed to do.

Walter cleared his throat before speaking. "Um, I was thinking that this next summer I would rent a place at the beach for a week, invite all of my sibling, nieces, and nephews out, spend some time with my family away from our all of our baggage, get to know them all again. Would you like me to include your brothers and their boys?"

"Do we have to wait till this summer?"

Walter laughed. "We could invite the adults out before then but the kids will have school."

"I love the idea."

Walter grinned. "Good. Now, let's go downstairs and see if we can find six names to go shopping for tomorrow."

~*~*~*~*~*~

"Walter, hurry up! We need to drop off the gifts before we leave for the cruise!"

Walter grinned into the mirror. Alex had turned psychotic about the gifts. They had spent hours arguing about wrapping paper to use.

Walter was loving every minute of it. Sharon had always shaken her head at him and let him do that portion of his Christmas shopping alone. Even when Alex hadn't understood, he'd wanted to be a part of it. Now that Alex had a stake in it too, he was taking his role seriously.

"Walter, get down here!"

At the bottom of the stairs, Walter stopped. Alex was pulling their stack of Christmas gifts out of the living room corner towards the boxes and dollies they'd brought up last night to deliver the gifts.

"The list on is the end table. I'll read off the names and you check them off."

"All right, Alex." Walter picked up the pad and pen and watched as Alex slid two matching packages into the box. Each child had two matching boxes and they'd used five different kinds of paper so each box would hold at most ten gifts.

"Anna Teresa, Jana, Joylynn, Kathryn, and Gillian in Box 1."

"Check." Walter flipped over a page and wrote the contents of the box. "Is that box marked with a 1?"

Alex grabbed a marker and wrote on the top of the box. "Yep. Ready for Box 2?"

"Shoot."

"Stacia, Sean, Jake, and Jeremy in Box 2."

"Got it."

"Box 3: Julie, Andrew, Tomás, Timmy, and Geoffrey."

"Check."

"Miguel, John, Erik, Adam, and Patrick in Box 4."

Walter grinned at Alex's first mention of the names they'd picked for his nephews. The unusual names for four of the six boys had made them difficult to find.

"Box 5: Alex, Anthony, Henry, Brian, Ean."

"Ah," thought Walter, "Must have gotten to the newer half of the pile. These are all for Alex's nephews." Alex and Anthony had been great matches for little Alexandr and Anton. Henry, Brian, Ean, and Patrick had been okay matches for Hunter, Blake, Quinn, and Parker but not great. Next year, when he had more time, Walter vowed to find closer name matches even if he had to go to every Giving Tree in the city. But for this year it worked.

"Which leaves Elena, Enrique, Andrea, and Elizabeth in Box 6."

Walter nodded and looked over the lists. "Got them all."

"Wow! I still can't believe we bought two gifts for 28 kids!"

Walter grinned and lifted three boxes onto each dolly. "I still can't believe we wrapped 56 gifts in one night."

Alex grinned. "Yeah, we're nuts." He pressed a kiss to Walter's lips before pulling way, "Get the folder with the stars and we'll go spread our insanity."

~*~*~*~*~*~

Walter looked out at the deep blue of the ocean. The first rays of sunlight were streaking across the waves.

"It's beautiful."

Walter nodded and hooked his arm around Alex's waist, pulling his love closer to his side.

"You don't like it." Alex sounded disappointed at the prospect.

Walter shook his head and pressed a kiss to Alex's temple. "It is beautiful. What's not to like about Jamaica?"

"But?"

"I guess I miss the snow. I've always had a white Christmas. I didn't realize how much it meant to me until now."

Alex nodded. "Mike, Nick, and I had a snowball fight every year on Christmas Eve."

Walter grinned. "After we opened gifts and had breakfast Christmas morning, we would go out and play in the snow, even Mom and Dad. We used to go sledding and make snow angels."

Alex grinned ruefully. "We didn't have enough yard for snow angels."

"Next year, we'll go somewhere with plenty of space for snow angels. We'll spend the day making them."

"Maybe in Kansas?"

"Maybe. Or Chicago?"

Alex eyed Walter for a minute. Neither had mentioned getting into contact with Alex's family except for the night they'd gotten the Christmas stars for Alex's nephews. Finally he conceded, "Maybe."

Alex rested his head on Walter's shoulder as stared out at the waves. He took a deep breath as the entire sun broke the horizon. "So do you want your gift now?"

"I've all ready got it. I've had it for eight months now."

Alex laughed and pressed a kiss to Walter's jaw. "I love it when you get sappy. But I think you might like this better." A small box was lifted from the pocket of Alex's robe.

Walter grinned and ripped through the bright red and green paper. He pulled the top off the box and stared for a moment at the jeweler's box inside. He tipped the smaller box into his hand and slowly popped the lid.

"Alex."

Alex took the box from Walter's limp fingers and pulled the gold ring from box. "I know we can't get married in the US or even here in Jamaica. But I... I want everyone to know you're taken. If you would wear this ring, I..."

Walter put his hand over Alex's mouth. "Yes, I'll wear it, Alex. But now my gift for you is gonna seem measly compared to this."

"I have you in paradise. I have more than I could ever want."

Walter kissed Alex gently and then whispered, "I love you. And the first open jewelers we find, we're getting you a ring too."

Alex laughed. "I love you, too. Now what did you get me?"

Chuckling a bit himself, Walter walked over to his suitcase and pulled out a box carefully wrapped in bubble wrap. As he pulled the protective lining from around the gift he looked over at Alex and grinned. "I think we used the same paper. Is that bad?"

Alex came up beside him and swatted his arm. "Ok, so I was being anal at the Christmas children's gifts. Sorry."

Walter shook his head. "I thought it was sweet. Sharon never really understood it so she didn't help. It was nice to have help."

Alex grinned. "Since I was a good boy, Santa, can I open my present?"

Walter raised his eyebrow but handed over the gift without comment.

Alex methodically took the paper from the box and folded it to be set aside. Finally, he lifted the lid and pushed away the tissue. The back of an oak picture frame stared up at him. He reached in and realized the frame was one of those tri-fold frames.

"Here let me help you." Walter took hold of the box so Alex could lift with two hands.

Slowly, Alex opened the frame so all three pictures were facing him. The images that stared back at him appeared to be painted portraits but Alex knew they couldn't be.

The middle section contained a picture of Walter and Alex with Walter's arms around Alex's waist. The other two sections each showed a family. Families Alex suspected to be his brothers. "Walter, how-?"'

"This one is Mikhail, Sheryl, Alexandr, and Anton. This one is Nikolai and his boys." Walter cleared his throat. "I had the Gunmen get copies of family photos. I don't know how exactly. Then I sent Kim down to the mall with the frame and the photos. You know that kiosk where the guy does the pastels of the photographs."

Alex could only nod in wonder. Walter had given him his family.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Walter leaned against the railing of the deck as he stared out over the beach and the Atlantic Ocean. Despite forecasts all week of rain, the weather had fully cooperated for the Skinner/Krycek-Krylov family reunion.

Despite having twenty-eight kids from ages 16 months to 22 years not to mention ten adult couples, no altercations had yet to break out. Walter had expected some sort of bad behavior from Sharon's brother Robert but he'd been surprisingly good natured the whole trip.

When he'd sent the invitations to Sharon's brother and sister, he hadn't expected either to come. Yet Robert and his wife Alison seemed to be having a great time beating his brother Ivan and wife Harriet at bridge. Sharon's sister Louise and husband Mark had kicked butt at Charades last night and were currently beating Walters sisters Sarah and Abbigale and their husbands Nicholas and Travis plus Alex's sisters-in-law Sheryl and Claudia at Pictionary.

"Hey bro."

Walter looked over his shoulder at Jamie. "Hey. Did you win?"

"No. Jen says I suck at pinochle. They're gonna play five handed now and I'm to stay way."

Walter had to laugh. Jen was like their sisters Eleanor and Natalie who took pinochle seriously. Walter still thought neither Elly nor Nat would have married Jeff or George if they hadn't been as serious about the game.

"Well, you're welcome to help me keep an eye on the kids."

The kids who were over 16 were seated around a table on the deck, playing poker with M&Ms. It looked like Alex's nephew Hunter was quite the little card shark. He had the largest pile by far. Jamie's oldest, Tom, had long since lost his entire pile but he was allowed to stay and be dealer.

The younger children were playing on the beach and in the waves. While Walter trusted the kids over 10, he was still keeping an eye on the little ones. But so far, except for a little bit of slapping, none of them had been inclined to swim too far out or play too roughly in the waves. Most of the younger kids were making sand castles under the watchful eyes of Alex's nephews Anton and Blake.

In fact the only child not playing on the beach was Parker. The sixteen month old was currently taking a nap on his daddy's lap. Mike, Alex, and Nick were lounging together on the far end of the deck. Alex was stretched out on the hammock while Nick and Mike were seated on either side on Adirondack chairs.

The three boys had been inseparable the last few days. Despite a somewhat strained visit in early March, the Krylov boys had become closer than even Walter had imagined. They chatted on-line at least three times a week with emails in between. On any given night, Alex could recite what both his brothers had done that day.

Maybe they were just making up for lost time, but Walter knew Alex couldn't have been happier with his brothers. Alex felt like he'd regained his friendship with Mike and he was closer than he had ever been with Nick.

Walter's smile widened as Alex laughed at something his younger brother had said. Alex had been more open and expressive since he'd reconnected with his brothers.

Jamie nudged Walter's shoulder and he returned his attention to his little brother. "What?"

"You. Two years ago, you wouldn't have anything to do with the family. Now you've got us all together having the time of our lives."

Walter nodded as he scanned the beach again. "I guess my priorities changed. I realized how important family is."

"Well I'm glad you did. I missed you."

Walter swung his arm around Jamie's shoulders and pulled him into a headlock. As he rubbed his knuckles over the light smattering of hair that remained on Jamie's scalp, he replied, "You'd better have."

"Let got of me." Jamie pushed Walter away. "Even at 55, you're still a pain in the ass."

"I am not half the pest you are," retorted Walter.

"Oh, yeah. We'll see about that."

Walter and Jamie began slapping at each other, a parody of every girl fight ever put on prime time TV. While the members of the Skinner family recognized the playing for what it was, Alex was up and across the deck in seconds.

"Break it up. What's with you two anyway? I know you can both fight better than that."

"I was just reminding my baby brother that he doesn't have the lock on being the family pain in the neck."

Ivan shouted through the open door. "Oh, trust me, Walt, we know you're a pain in the ass."

"And don't you forget it," Eleanor added.

James laughed. "Yeah well, let's make that a lucky pain in the ass."

Laughing, Walter looked around. Everyone was here because they had been an important part of his life. All those smiling, joking, concerned faces made Walter realize that he really was the luckiest man there.

He pulled Alex close enough for a kiss and whispered, "Especially the lucky part."

THE END

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