December 25, 2001 Tampa, Florida

When Nick was a child he never appreciated everything that went into being Santa Claus. Even when he was older and he knew that the man in the big red suit was actually his Dad he didn’t know what his parents had to go through in order to keep the facade going for the younger kids.

Christmas Eve had been an incredibly busy day making sure that Parker wasn’t solely focused on the presents that were sitting under the tree. They watched Christmas movies, did crafts, made cookies, anything and everything they could do to keep little prying eyes and fingers away from the perfectly wrapped gifts.

By the time they’d finished dinner (Chinese takeout – it was a Carter family tradition that Nick was keen to keep going even though he was technically the only Carter in the house other than the kids) everyone was exhausted and stuffed full of food, except Parker. He was still buzzing on a Christmas high, ready for more attention and more Christmas cookies. Two more movies and a few times reading through ‘The Night before Christmas’ and he was finally in bed asleep.

At that point Nick was longing for bed. His patience and tolerance for Parker’s excitement was only so high. He didn’t know how Tina did it. It might make him a terrible parent to think it, but sometimes Parker drove him crazy. He would have much rather spent his Christmas Eve playing Resident Evil and eating cookies himself instead of doing stupid holiday non-specific crafts. He very quickly grew tired of the whining, and the crankiness, right down to the way Parker said, ‘Daddeee’ like he was the worst person in the world for not mainlining the little boy with pure sugar.

Despite his sleepiness though, the night wasn’t over. He and Tina’s father then moved to the backyard where they started constructing a plastic play structure. Nick had picked it mostly because it was called an Adventure Lodge and it looked like something he wished he could play on. A two storey plastic castle had a small activity table on the inside and a slide leading to the outside. Attached was a set of swings and a glider, and, as per a special customization Nick had requested, the very end of the structure had a plastic basketball hoop.

Nick had been waiting for this Christmas for a while. For the past three years every time he thought of something cool to get for Parker he always got the response of 'he's too young'. Most of the good toys that didn't have the word educational written anywhere on them were for kids over three. Now though, since Parker was old enough to run, climb, and lift on his own, he could start getting him the cool toys, the toys that he wished he had when he was a kid.

The instructions looked pretty basic so Nick had promptly thrown them away once he took all the pieces out of the box. As it turned out though, it was a little more challenging to construct than they had anticipated and the two of them spent three long hours trying to figure out why they had extra pieces and what it could mean if they just "lost" them.

By the time they got it properly pieced together and covered with a tarp it was well after midnight but the night still wasn't over. Nick flopped down on the couch, watching as Tina arranged presents under the tree. They had both gone a little over the top with the gifts, but Nick figured if there was any reason to spend a lot of money it would be to spoil the kids.

"You just about ready for bed?" he asked Tina, watching her kneeling on the floor, her butt in the air as she tried to reach the presents in the back of the tree.

"Pretty much. Is there anything we're missing?" she asked, looking around at the piles of gifts.

Nick shook his head, not knowing if it was possible to add anything else to the mix. If they forgot a present then someone would just be getting it for their birthday, "I think we're good."

As soon as Tina stood up he was on his feet, heading to the stairs.

"Not so fast there Santa," Tina chuckled.

Nick looked back curiously, his dusty blonde eyebrow arched high, "What? I thought you said there was nothing else?"

Tina just grinned and pointed to the plate of cookies and carrots and glass of milk on the table, "Someone needs to eat those."

Nick pouted, staring at the plate, "Why me?"

"Because that's what Santa would do," she explained, moving over to kiss his lips quickly, "now start eating."

He let out a big sigh, staring the plate down. He had overeaten at dinner and had been snacking on cookies throughout the evening. He didn’t think there could possibly be any more room for cookies in his stomach, let alone three enormous chocolate chunk cookies at close to one in the morning.

"I'm not eating the carrots," he said as he picked up the plate, pushing the offending vegetables off to the side before starting with the first of the the cookies. He dipped them in the milk, hoping to get more into his stomach by soaking up the drink with the cookie.

"I'll take one for the team," Tina joked, reaching for the carrot sticks that were meant for the reindeer.

"Some team mate you are," Nick mumbled around a mouthful of cookie, trying to keep the crumbs in his mouth instead of on his shirt.

Tina rubbed his stomach as he polished off the last of the glass of milk, chuckling at the pitiful expression on his face, "Are you okay?"

"I ate too much," he whined, letting her pull him into a hug.

"You did such a good job," she told him sweetly, "Maybe I'll give you a reward."

Nick looked optimistic for a moment then sighed, "I don't think I can. I'm wiped."

"Where's my date book, I need to write this down. The first time Nick Carter ever turned down sex!" Tina teased him and Nick continued to pout.

"I'll never happen again," he assured her, giving her a pat on the rear before the two of them finally trudging upstairs.

~*~

Nick was sure he had just closed his eyes when he felt something on his hand. The gentle tugging became a little more insistent and he begrudgingly opened his eyes and he could feel the lack of sleep burning in the corners of his eyes.

"Daddeee," Parker whined in that familiar tone and Nick decided right then that Christmas was canceled forever just so he would never have to hear his son use that obnoxious voice ever again.

"Parker," Nick groaned in return, sounding somewhat similar to the toddler, "What time is it?" he asked rhetorically moving so he could see the clock in the dark room.

"It's Kiss-miss time," Parker replied confidently, giving Nick's pinky finger a good yank for effect.

"Stop it," Nick chastised, pulling his hand free. The clock was sitting face down on the night stand and he turned it over, letting out a grunt when he saw that it was only 3:45.Grabbing him by the back of his footie pajamas Nick scooped Parker up and dropped him unceremoniously onto the bed between himself and Tina, who was still fast asleep.

"Pwesants?" Parker wondered, ready and willing to climb back over Nick and off the bed if it meant he'd be downstairs at the tree.

"Sleep," Nick replied, pushing the boy down onto the bed. Parker squirmed around but Nick trapped him in the blankets, wrapping his arms around him to keep him from moving. He laid his head back down on the pillow, more than ready to fall back to sleep but Parker was still fighting against him, trying to get up.

"No," the little boy protested with his favourite word, pushing against his father's arm.

Nick didn't respond, instead tried to ignore him but it became impossible when Parker let out a loud wail and promptly began sobbing as if someone had just kicked his dog.

The cry was more than enough to rouse Tina who bolted straight up in bed at the sound, looking around for the source.

"What's going on?" she asked, seeing Parker wrapped up in blankets under Nick's arms. Big, dramatic tears were falling down Parker's face and Tina turned on the bedside light and grabbed some tissues.

Parker let out a choked sob, "Daddy's mean!" he proclaimed and Nick rolled his eyes, letting the boy go.

"Yeah Parker," Nick said sarcastically, "I'm so mean. I only spent a few thousand dollars on toys for you this week."

"Nick...he doesn't understand that," Tina said in a warning tone, "What happened?"

"He wants to go downstairs and open presents and it's four in the fucking morning!" he snapped, his lack of sleep bleeding through in the form of crankiness, "He won't be getting any presents at all if he keeps acting like this."

The threat only made Parker cry harder, thinking that he wasn't going to get anything at all for Christmas.

With a sigh Tina pulled the boy into her arms, wiping away his tears, "You just have to talk to him. He's not a dog, physically restraining him isn't going to make him do what you want. He's a person."

"You talk to him then," he waved her off, "I'm going back to sleep, wake me up when it's time for me to go back to work," he said, rolling over so his back was to the two of them.

Tina pet her son's blonde hair for a moment, thinking about the commonalities between the two males in the bed, how impulsive and rash they both were.

"Parker," she said softly and he looked up at her with red, tear-filled eyes, "We can't open presents without Zoey and she's still sleeping. Do you think you'll be able to wait until she's ready to get up? She'll be really sad if we open presents without her."

Parker considered the request, not knowing that Zoey wouldn't know the difference and would never remember this holiday. He certainly didn't want to do anything to upset his baby sister so he agreed, "Okay but then we open pwesants."

"Yes, I promise," Tina smiled and kissed his forehead, "I think you should go give Daddy a hug and then lay down for just a little longer."

"Okay Momma," Parker whispered. He crawled across the bed to where Nick was laying on his side facing the door. He wrapped his little arms around his father's neck as best as he could reach and although he had been faking sleep Nick's hand came up to pat his arm, "Love you," he said, kissing Nick's cheek.

"Yeah I love you too," Nick sighed, rolling onto his back. The second Nick was settled against the pillow Parker climbed onto his chest, making himself comfortable with his head tucked under his father's chin. Another sigh and Nick rubbed Parker's fleece covered back, sending a look over at Tina in the dim light of the room so she would know he was sorry for overreacting. The last thing he needed was her mad at him on what was going to be an important Christmas.