“Kevin?” AJ said in disbelief, not believing that their eldest brother was standing right before him.

Kevin simply gave a warm smile in return, “You look a little too surprised to see me AJ.”

AJ could only grab him in a hug, “Holy shit man, I mean I am kind of surprised because honestly I didn’t think you’d be here too.”

“Well, why wouldn’t I?” Kevin asked as he gave a hearty pat to AJ’s back before he broke the hug. “I’m still your big brother, right?”

“I know, it’s just… I understand that you’ve been so busy with your family, especially your son that I figured that… I don’t know man, shit, it‘s just so good to have you here.”

Kevin smiled once more as he held his arms open, “Merry Christmas Alex.”

AJ stared at Kevin for a while, before he finally turned to see Brian, Howie and Nick standing behind him. Brian stood there smiling, while both Nick and Howie looked equally shocked to see Kevin there. “This… was the other part of my gift?” AJ asked.

Brian simply nodded, “Wasn’t a psycho killer or anything.”

“Wait,” Nick finally spoke out, breaking he and Howie out of their slightly shocked state, “am I the only one that’s really not understanding what’s going on here? I mean don’t get me wrong Kev, it’s really, really great to see you and all and I know we’re all glad to have you here, but I’m not understanding the linkage between Kevin being the other part of AJ’s gift.”

AJ sighed; he didn’t want to sound mushy, but he knew Nick needed an explanation. “One day after rehearsal, Brian and I were talking about the group and all that’s happened in the past couple years. I sat there saying how proud I was of us and what we’ve accomplished thus far, with just the four of us and had said that Kevin would be so proud of us, to which Brian reassured me that he was and always will be. From there I said if there was one thing I wanted… it was for us to come back together and just have it like how it used to be. It had been so long since we’ve last taken a time to ourselves, where it was just us, you know? And I said I’d give anything to get that back, and have it remain in tact.”

Howie looked over towards Brian, “That’s why you did all this.”

Brian nodded, “Brining us all home together for the holidays.”

“And AJ, you were being an ass about the whole trip idea.” Nick pointed out.

AJ flipped him off, “Whatever dude, you were being an even bigger ass.”

“Nick and Alex.” Kevin said in a warning tone as he gave them his infamous ‘look’.

Both Nick and AJ looked at each other, before they busted out laughing. “Never gets old!” Nick laughed as he gave AJ a high-five.

Kevin cocked an eyebrow, “You know what else doesn’t get old? Me being the big brother and bossing ya’ll around. So why don’t you two be nice younger brothers and go grab my stuff from the car and bring it in here.”

That immediately brought Nick and AJ to silence, the both of them staring at Kevin as if waiting to see if he was serious. Instead of Kevin cracking a smile, like they both hoped he would, he simply stared at them as he fished his car keys out of his pocket. He handed the keys over to AJ, “It shouldn’t take you guys long, and I better not hear the car start for any reason.” he glanced over at Nick as he said this.

AJ took the keys, “Brian, I don’t think I like my Christmas gift anymore.”

“Man, he must be getting so old that he forgot that I’m not 16 and I have my own super, uberly cool car to start and drive.” Nick pouted as he walked out the open door.

“Dude, your car will NEVER be as super, uberly cool as Kevin’s car.” AJ replied as he followed Nick out.

“And why is that?”

“Because Kevin’s car is an eco-friendly, go green, I-run-on-solar-power car.”

Kevin sighed heavily as he looked at his cousin and Howie, “Have those two not done any growing up since I left?”

Howie chuckled, “Funny you should mention that, because we were just talking about that. Told Brian the purpose of this trip is actually working.”

Kevin shook his head as he followed Howie and Brian into the parlor, “Speaking of the trip, looks like you guys went ahead and started the party without me.”

“We had to cous, would’ve blown the surprise if I kept them waiting.”

While Brian and Howie reclaimed their seats, Kevin sat down in the middle of the large couch, looking over everything that was set out on the coffee table. “Let me guess, Leighanne baked these goodies?”

“Why is everyone quick to wanna know and give credit to Leigh when it comes to wrapping gifts or baking cookies and whatnot? Would ya’ll believe me if I said I was responsible for everything?”

“No, but I would believe you if you said Leighanne left you in charge of Baylee while she wrapped gifts and baked cookies.” Kevin replied as he grabbed a cookie from the platter and took a bite of it. “And I know her baking anywhere, because she makes some of the best sugar cookies I have ever tasted. And her homemade royal icing is just perfect.”

Brian chuckled and gave his older cousin a weird look, “Okay Martha Stewart, do you want anything to wash that down with?”

“Milk please.” Kevin muffled out as he continued to munch away at the cookies.

Just as Brian rose from his seat and began to make his way into the kitchen, he was stopped by the sound of AJ and Nick struggling through the door with Kevin’s luggage.

“I think… Kevin packed away… a horse for us… to go horseback riding on…” Nick panted out as he placed the suitcase down.

Hunched over, AJ shook his head as he tried to catch his breath. “No dude… he packed away… your guys’… whole damn family farm…”

Brian simply laughed, “Well, I hate to break it to you guys, but Lord Richardson has found Leighanne’s sugar cookies, so uh, one, he won’t be moving anywhere for quite some time, and two, you guys should just go ahead and take his luggage upstairs into one of the rooms because he’ll only be asking you two do it .”

“Are you fucking kidding me Rok?” AJ asked with a heavy sigh, “Because if you aren’t, I was dead serious about no longer wanting my Christmas gift.”

“You guys know you miss his dictatorship. Besides, he has me working too, so don’t feel too bad.”

“Oh yeah… what does… he have you doing?” Nick heaved out as he began to drag Kevin’s suitcase up the flight of stairs.

“Lord Richardson enjoys his sugar cookies with a tall, cold glass of milk.” Brian replied as he quickly made his way into the kitchen, luckily able to escape the protests he knew would be coming from his two younger friends.

He stood in the kitchen for a while, releasing a chuckle when he finally heard the groans of protest rise from AJ and Nick as they struggled up the stairs. Shaking his head, he opened the fridge to grab the gallon of milk, then reached up into a cabinet off to the side to grab a tall glass. As he poured the milk into the glass, he made sure to fill it to the brim so that his cousin wouldn’t keep sending him back into the kitchen for refills. After staring at the filled cup for a while though, he realized that his cousin could finish the drink in one gulp if he wanted to, so he decided to take the cup AND the gallon of milk out with him.

“Your drink, my lord.” Brian said as he walked back into the parlor, seeing that Kevin was still attacking the cookie platter, while Howie drank his cold cocoa.

Kevin brushed the crumbs from his lips as he reached out to grab the filled cup Brian was handing over to him. “Thanks.” he said before he placed the glass to his lips, finishing his drink off in one gulp, as Brian had anticipated.

“And of course, I came prepared.” Brian chuckled as he poured Kevin another glass of milk and had placed the gallon down on the coffee table.

“You are too kind.” Kevin voiced out as he took another swig of his milk, sighing at the feeling of the cold liquid washing the consumed sweet cookies down.

“So, how was your trip up here?” Howie asked as he took another sip of his cold drink.

“Wasn’t too bad, started to snow slightly on the way up, but everything else was smooth sailing. Now, leaving my house to come on this trip was a different story. Mason would NOT let me leave.”

Brian laughed, “That’s daddy’s boy. How did you finally get him to let you leave?”

“Tell him that daddy had to go help Santa Claus and that I would return with a gift especially for him from Santa.” Kevin answered before he munched away on yet another sugar cookie. “Okay, someone needs to take these cookies away from me or else I go home with a gift I wasn’t intending on giving my wife, which is giving her insulin shots to administer to me.”

“Not to get off topic, but where did Nick and AJ disappear off to?” Howie asked no one in particular.

“I had them take up Kevin’s stuff.” Brian responded, “To which that should’ve been done a long time ago.”

“Nick!” Kevin shouted, to which he heard no answer. “Alexander!”

They fell silent to see if they would hear a response, to which they only heard AJ’s soft voice, asking why Kevin had to use his full name. “I can hear you AJ.” Kevin said with a sighed, “So stop ignoring me you two.”

“What?” he heard Nick’s voice whine.

“What are you guys doing? Why aren’t you two down here yet?”

“Because we’re tired.”

“Tired? I just got here, don’t you guys miss me?”

“Uh… yeah, yeah we do.”

“Nick misses you the most and shouldn’t be tired at all because my ass drove us here, and he didn’t do jack shit but sit in the passenger seat, change the radio stations and doze off.”

“Oh thanks a lot asshole.”

Kevin rolled his eyes at the two bantering back and forth, “So, are you guys coming down to visit with me?”

“Uh… there’s always tomorrow Kev.” that was AJ who replied. “And we know you’ll still be here when we wake up in the morning.”

“I hope he flips the mattress over, with you on it.”

“Fuck off Nick.”

“Well,” Brian sighed with a chuckle, “that went over well.” he rose from his seat and began to collect the dishes that littered the coffee table.

Kevin only gave a small malicious smirk, “I got those two, I’m gonna be their morning call for tomorrow.”

As Howie continued to stare at the two Kentucky cousins, a grin began to tug on the corner of his lips. “Thanks Kev, for coming all the way out here, and thank you Bri for planning this whole trip. I just know this was something long awaited and long needed, and now… here we all are, together for the holidays, and it all feels like how it used to be. I just know this is gonna be a great trip and it feels… it just feels great having us all together.”

Brian nodded, “This is gonna be a great trip… one hell of a trip, but a great one nonetheless.”

Kevin simply smiled as he stared at his two younger brothers, “Yeah… and it feels damn good being back together.”