This story takes place in the same reality/world that my story, Behind Blue Eyes is in. However, this can be read as a stand alone work too. But for those who are reading Behind Blue Eyes, this takes place in the next chapter of the story.

Rollins Got Run Over By A Reindeer

Seth Rollins didn't understand why his Aunt and Uncle couldn't come to Iowa, so they could have a normal Christmas of cold weather and possibly even snow, but no, not this year. This year they had to all go to Florida where his Aunt Mary and Uncle Andrew lived. His grandparents were already down there, having gone earlier in the week, while Seth was still in school. He'd be glad to see his grandparents, and really didn't even mind seeing his aunt and uncle and his cousins, but he didn't want to spend Christmas in a hot climate.

His parents were in the front seat of this rental sardine can on wheels, known as a Kia Rio, arguing about directions. His Mom was attempting to be the navigator, a map spread across her lap. Seth had told them to print out proper directions from the internet, but of course, they hadn't listened. I should have printed them myself and just handed it to them, so they could see how easy it is.

"I know we're close!" Seth's mother said. "But I think you missed a turn somewhere."

"You didn't tell me about any turn," his stepfather said.

"I'm doing the best I can," his mother replied, a slight whine coming to her voice. "If we could just get into town, I know how to get to their house from the town." She had stayed with Aunt Mary and Uncle Andrew for a few weeks last year, when Aunt Mary had surgery to watch and help her sister so Uncle Andrew could still work.

Both of his parents sounded exasperated and Seth was right along with them. They were on a road that seemed to be stretching out for miles with nothing but farms, pastures, and horses. And unless one of those horses was Mr. Ed, they weren't going to give them any directions into town.

As they continued down the road seeing horses to the left of them, woods and meadows to the right, Seth noticed a small sign on the right of them, with an arrow pointing straight up and written under the arrow, 2 miles to SPWA. "There's a place a couple miles ahead," he called to the front seat. "I saw a sign."

"It'll probably be another goddamned horse farm," his stepfather said, only to be scolded by his mother for swearing. Seth barely heard the exchange because his mind was was working.

S-P-W-A. The letters were spinning in front of him, seeming both unfamiliar and familiar. It was an acronym, but it wasn't a familiar one, like NASA or AOL. Yet, part of him was sure he knew what it stood for.

They rolled past another almost identical sign, the only difference being that it proclaimed that SPWA was only a mile away.

A large, white, farmhouse came into view. That's SPWA, Seth thought. And it probably is another horse farm. Why would the name of a horse farm be familiar? When it came to horses, Seth was neutral. He'd much rather have a dog than a horse.

As they drew closer to the farmhouse, they saw a young man taking mail out of a mailbox. Seth's father immediately speed up and pulled alongside of the mailbox, before the person could walk out of sight. "Hey!" his stepfather called out, leaning over Seth's mother and calling out the window.

The young man turned and Seth noticed they were about the same age, fifteen or so. He was one of the palest kids Seth had ever seen, with hair that looked almost strawberry blond in the sunlight. He walked closer to the car cautiously. "Yes?"

"We're trying to get to town," His mother said. "But we seem to be a little lost."

"The town isn't far." He was keeping some distance from the car, looking wary. Seth wondered if he was right in the head, because nothing about he and his family would make anyone think, "Dangerous" or even "Badass," much to his regret. "I'll go get Roman or Lance, they can give directions." He ran off before Seth's parents could say anything.

"I hope the kid doesn't just disappear," his stepfather muttered.

He returned, a couple minutes later, with another kid about the same age, or maybe a little older. But he wasn't pale at all, Roman-or-Lance had golden brown skin, long black hair and, Seth noted, with envy stubble on his face. Honest-to-god, 'I could grow a beard if I wanted to' stubble! Seth wanted to grow a beard in the worst possible way, but the best his face grew, was a bit of soft, fine hair that he almost never had to shave.

Roman-or-Lance had no problem walking right up to the car and leaning on the side. "Mox says you're trying to find your way to the town?"

He looks like a wrestler, Seth found himself thinking, then suddenly he knew what this place was.. "Samoan Pride Wrestling Academy!"

Roman-or-Lance peered at him in the back seat. "Yeah, that's here, were you looking for it?"

"No," Seth's stepfather said. "We're trying to get to our relative's house, we're spending the holidays there."

Yes we were! Seth wanted to shout, even though it was a lie. Anyone who was into wrestling knew about SPWA, it was the biggest wrestling school in the United States. They taught teenagers, with their parents consent, and even had special, summer, two week training camps, specifically for teenagers. Some of the greatest wrestlers ever had learned at SPWA, and and Seth would love to be one of them.

"You have relatives around here?" Roman-or-Lance asked, "I might know who they are and how to get to their place, it's a small community."

"Ryan," Seth's mother said. "Andrew and Mary Ryan. They live in the Maple Farm Estates."

"Oh!" Roman-or-Lance said, nodding. "I know where Maple Farms is. It used to be a horse farm."

Of course it was, Seth thought, because everything around here seemed to be or have once been, a horse farm.

"You don't have to go to town to get there," Roman-or-Lance said, "instead, just go about two miles down this road, and take the first left. It curves around Lavery farms. Follow that for about two miles, and you'll find Maple Farm Estates on the right. It's almost straight across from where we are now."

"Thank you!" Seth's mom said, clearly relieved.

Seth wasn't sure who Mox was, but he was pretty sure Roman-or-Lance was the son of Nathan Reigns who was half of one of the most amazing tag teams ever, Samoan Pride, and his stepfather was about to drive off. Seth would regret for the rest of his life that he'd said nothing to Roman-or-Lance Quickly, he blurted out, "I wanna be a wrestler!" and even as the words came out of his mouth, he wanted to swallow them back. I wanna be a wrestler, but what I am is a moron!

Roman-or-Lance smiled. "Then, maybe you can try out to be trained here, someday. That is if you want to learn here."

"I'd love that!" Seth said.

"I don't think that's likely," Seth's mother said, "we're from Iowa, we're just visiting."

Seth wanted to die of embarrassment. She sounds like I'm going to be a kid forever! Maybe I can't go right now, but I can when I'm an adult!

"That kid wants to be a wrestler," Roman remarked as he and Mox watched the Kia driving off.

Mox shrugged. He'd hung back when Roman was giving directions, feeling uptight around strangers, even normal looking families, as that one had been. "Do you think he's got potential?"

Roman nodded. "He's lean. If he's got flexibility, he'd make a good high flier. And he sure seemed eager about it."

"Too bad he doesn't live around here," Mox mused.

Seth's aunt and uncle's house was a large one, but once you added in his family and his grandparents, and his aunt and uncle's kids, Sarah and James, the four bedroom house was full. The married folks and Sarah were occupying the bedrooms, which meant James and Seth would sleep in the sun room. Two cots and a rolling clothing rack had been placed there. Seth didn't mind sharing a sleeping space with James, he got along with him all right. He and Sarah were older than him, the both of them in college, so it wasn't like they really paid much attention to him.

As Seth unpacked, he looked out the windows, that faced the Lavery farm, but he wasn't really seeing the farm itself. Instead, he was seeing past it, at least in his mind, at SPWA and hearing Roman-or-Lance's voice in his head. "It's almost straight across from where we are now."

Seth's Aunt and Uncle had already set up the Christmas tree in the house, but after dinner, they went to decorate it as a family. The tree was one of those fake ones, that looked okay from a distance, but the closer you got, the more you saw that the branches were twisted wire and the needles were some type of plastic. Seth's family always had real trees. This fake tree had no smell, so Aunt Mary had placed pine scented air fresheners around the room that smelled like the cheap off brand version of Pine-Sol.

Somehow, Seth and his grandfather were the ones designated to prepare the ornaments for hanging, making sure they all had hooks on them. Seth didn't mind, it gave him a chance to talk to his grandfather. "Did you know the Samoan Pride Wrestling Academy is almost straight across from here? If you could cut through the property across the street and walk through it, you'd be right across the road from it!" Seth remarked as his mother came over and took all four of the ornaments Seth had prepared.

"Is that a fact?" his grandfather asked "No, I didn't know that."

Seth told him the story of how they stopped there and asked directions, ending with, "I really wish I could have at least seen the place. I-I know I can't go there now, but I'd just settle for a tour."

"Maybe, someday you can be a student," his grandfather said.

"Mom and Dad don't have the money to send me to Wrestling Camp." Seth reminded him. He wasn't upset by this, he was grateful that his parents and grandparents did what they could to encourage his wrestling, right down to letting him and his friends do backyard wrestling. They charged for these shows, but a good show was one where he and his friends could buy a hamburger, chili cheese fries, and a soda for each of them so they wouldn't have to split one meal. There was no way these shows would ever pay for something like a summer camp session at SPWA. Seth's family wasn't poor by any means, but from what Seth had heard, SPWA wasn't cheap, and there would be travel costs involved too.

"That doesn't mean you can't earn the money yourself, someday," his grandfather said.

"Oh, I know," Seth said, then paused as his latest batch of ready ornaments were taken by Cousin Sarah, so he had to go back into the box for more. "I'm thinking of getting a job this summer and start saving so maybe I can go next summer."

"That sounds like a good plan."

Seth nodded. "But I'd love a chance to just see the place now. You know, get to see the rings, the gym, just everything."

"Maybe we can," his grandfather said, as he separated a dove with golden glitter on its wings from the box and found a hook to put on it. "We'll be here a few days, it might be possible we could go and take a look."

Seth smiled, thinking how wonderful that would be, but he wasn't going to count on it. Tomorrow was Christmas eve day, and they were heading home on the 27th. That wasn't a lot of time and Seth was sure that his Aunt and Uncle had a lot of plans for everyone. But he was touched that his grandfather understood how badly he wanted to see the place.

"No!" Mox cried out, waking almost instantly. He sat up in bed, relieved that he was in the room he shared with Roman, not in the land of nightmares and his eyes went to the clock, noting it was just after midnight.

"Bro, bad dream?"

The window near Roman's bed was open, and faint light from the night sky streamed in, allowing Mox to see an outline of him. He was glad the light was so faint that there was no way his foster brother could see the combination of terror and embarrassment on his face. "Yeah, sorry," he muttered.

"This is the third one this week," Roman said, sounding more worried than annoyed.

Mox sighed, and sat up. He'd had a few nightmares when he started living with the Reigns family, not surprising, considering he'd spent the last eleven years of his life having been kidnapped and used as a living sex toy. But he had a family now. He had people who loved him, so why were nightmares more frequent?

"That could be a good sign," another voice, the voice of Lance Reigns, nine years old, and smarter than most adults, spoke up. Normally, Lance slept in his own room, but their grandmother was visiting for the holidays, and needed a room, so Lance was bunking with them on a cot. He sat up, yawning. "The increase in nightmares could be because you feel safe. You aren't always in fight or flight mode, so your mind can actually begin to process what has happened to you. Some psychologists would say this is a very good sign."

"Some psychologists are idiots," Mox mumbled.

Lance began to try to explain why Mox was wrong, and that there was evidence that increased nightmares was actually a sign of a healing psyche, but Mox didn't want to hear it. Lance wasn't the one having the nightmares, Mox was. He got out of bed. "I won't be able to sleep for awhile, so I'm going to run the ropes."

A sigh came from Roman's bed and Mox knew Roman was debating if he should try to talk Mox out of this. But Roman was tired. "Just be quiet," he finally said, "don't let Mom, Dad, or Nonna hear you going outside."

Mox had already put on a pair of athletic shorts, over his underwear and had taken a pair of sneakers from under the bed. "Don't worry, I will be."

Try as he might, Seth could not sleep. He liked sleeping in a cold, dry room and would often keep a window in his bedroom partially open in the middle of the winter so he would be comfortable.

Florida was too hot. Even worse, because his cousin had grown up here, and believed anything under 80℉ was freezing, James turned on a space heater. The room felt both hot and humid, as if it were August, not December.

Even trying to sleep on top of the covers, in nothing but a pair of boxers, Seth felt like he was going to melt. He sat up, the blanket he'd been laying on almost sticking to his back from sweat. Let's face it, buddy, you are not going to sleep tonight.

He could live with that, he'd be tired, but he'd make it through whatever activities the family had planned, but he had no clue what to do to help the time pass. Just lying in the dark would be way too boring. He had brought some books to read, but the porch only had one overhead light and turning it on would wake James.

In the dim light from the sky, Seth's gaze went to the door that lead to the outside, and an idea came over him. As quietly as possible, got up from the cot and got dressed.

Running ropes was a combination meditation and self therapy for Mox, and after fifteen minutes, his emotions were calmer and he was in the zone, that magical place where he could just work his body and banish all thoughts.

But, just because he was in the zone, that didn't mean he was completely unaware of his surroundings. The camp had several motion detector lights, and when Mox saw one going off towards the front of the house, he stopped running. He really couldn't see anything from where he was, except for the light. There was no one staying in the camps, so Mox was pretty sure this was a large animal, like a stray dog or a coyote. Both were known to knock over the garbage cans and make a mess, so Mox leaped out of the ring, intending on scaring it off the property.

Instead of a dog or a Coyote, Mox saw it was a person, standing as still as a statue on the driveway, probably shocked that they'd set off lights. Mox stuck to the shadows, moving closer until he recognized that this was the kid from the car that had asked for directions. His first reaction was to slip away before the kid saw him, or tell the kid to go away, but he also remembered that the kid liked wrestling. Maybe that's why he was here, because he wanted to see the place? Mox could get that. So, instead of running off, or screaming to the kid to scare him away, he stepped out of the shadows. "Hey."

His voice wasn't loud or angry, but the kid still whirled around, looking as if he might flee the scene. "I wasn't doing anything!" he cried out.

"Shhh!" Mox said, heading over to him. "Everyone in the house is asleep!"

"Sorry!" the kid said, lowering his voice. "But really, I wasn't going to hurt anything, I just wanted to see the place."

"Because it's a wrestling camp?" Mox asked. He was up close to the kid and they could both see each other clearly in the security lights. "I get that. Roman told me you wanted to be a wrestler."

"I-I do," the kid said, nodding as well. "So, that guy I met earlier is Roman, not Lance?"

Mox nodded. "And I'm Jon Moxley, but you can call me Mox."

"I'm Seth Rollins," the kid said, then added. "And you can call me, Seth."

Mox was normally reserved around everyone, but especially kids his own age, except for Roman. But this kid was different, this kid loved wrestling. Any kid who would sneak over here in the middle of the night, just to see the place, had to be almost, if not as devoted to wrestling as Mox was. Mox found himself relaxing. "I couldn't sleep, so I was running ropes. Do you wanna run them with me? Do you know how?"

Seth scowled for a moment, then shrugged. "I do some backyard wrestling with my friends," he said. "I-I haven't taken professional lessons like SPWA teaches, but I can wrestle."

"Okay," Mox said. "Let's go run the ropes."

"Can.. can I see a little more of the place?" Seth asked. "I mean, I'd like to get in the rings and run the ropes, but I really was hoping to see the place, too."

Mox shrugged and nodded. "We won't be able to see much outside in the dark, but I can take you into some of the buildings."

Mox was right, Seth couldn't see much of the outside, but most of the place had keyless entry pads and Mox had all the codes to enter them. He showed Seth the cabins the campers slept in, the dining hall, even the arena where they had shows on Saturday nights for people to come and watch. "It's to get wrestlers used to performing to an audience," Mox explained as he showed him around. "We don't charge for the show, but we do run a concession stand and that makes money for the camp."

"Have you been in any of the shows?" Seth asked. They were in the heart of the arena now, where the bleacher seats were set up, a ring in the center, even an entry ramp.

Mox shook his head. "Not yet," he admitted. "But Dad says I'll be trained enough, really soon, probably at the start of the new year."

Seth nodded, impressed by this. Yes, Seth had performed for people before while Mox hadn't, but looking around, Seth knew the shows here were about as professional as you could get without being in a real promotion. The self-taught wrestling he and his friends did, probably couldn't compare to what they did here.

Mox didn't say it, but he was impressed that Seth had wrestled in public before. Seth was trying to downplay it, telling Mox that their ring was home made and not very great, and how their weren't a lot of people there, but to Mox, performing for people was performing for people. Maybe Seth's backyard wrestling wasn't as professional as the shows SPWA put on, but still, Seth had performed in public before, and Mox had not.

By the time the tour was over, Seth realized that there was something different about Mox, that he wasn't quite like other kids their age. Mox had told him he wasn't really the son of Nathan Reigns, that he was a foster child, but the way Mox talked about his foster family, they might as well be his real family. Seth didn't ask him what happened to his blood family, getting the feeling that was a forbidden subject. Mox told him he didn't go to school, instead he was home schooled, via the computer and hoping to get his GED.

Seth realized he was trying to classify Mox as teenagers often did. Was he an in crowd guy? A jock? A nerd? And outsider? Seth considered himself to be an outsider and lately even more so. He didn't like to admit it, even to himself, but his friends were becoming less interested in wrestling. They still did their shows, but not as often. The fire they all had once was dying down for them, but not for Seth. His friends were starting to talk about being things other than professional wrestlers, but again, not Seth. His friends were talking about college and while Seth had the grades, he didn't want to waste four more years sitting in a classroom, when he could be wrestling. His friends were even starting to act as if maybe Seth's love of wrestling was a little… immature, now that they were older.

Mox didn't fit into any of the easy categories most kids fit into, but Seth decided he didn't care. Mox loved wrestling with the same fierce inner fire that Seth felt. Wrestling wasn't just something, to the both of them, wrestling was everything.

By the time the tour was over, and they were headed to one of the rings to run ropes together, Seth realized he felt more comfortable around Mox than he had around his oldest friends lately.

It was after two in the morning when Roman was woken up by voices coming from outside of his window. One voice he recognized as Mox's, but the other was a new voice, yet there was a slight trace of Midwestern accent in it, that rang a bell in his head. Then he realized the family he'd given directions to that afternoon had all spoken with Midwestern accents. That's when Roman knew that somehow, Mox and the kid in the backseat of the rental car had found each other and were out in the ring.

"Jeez, can I do anything right?" the kid was saying, his voice a combination of exasperated and amused. "I thought I was better than you're saying I am."

"You are!" Roman heard Mox say, his voice sounding amused, but earnest. "You know a whole lot! You've done way more wrestling than I have, it's just that I take lessons from professional wrestlers who teach how to do every move in a certain way, the way that's believed to be the safest for both wrestlers. If you'd been able to go to a professional wrestling school, you'd be the one telling me how to do everything."

"Yeah, but according to you, I wasn't even running ropes correctly!"

"Well, you are now," Mox said. "And I've shown you the proper way to get back on your feet. I can show you some other things too."

Roman realized he wasn't going to be able to shut the window and go to sleep, so he got up and pulled on a pair of jeans. As he was heading out of the room, he looked over and saw Lance was sitting up. "Where are you going?" Lance asked.

"Outside," Roman said. "Mox is talking to this kid we met earlier."

"This late?" Lance asked.

"Yeah, this late."

"I wanna go with you."

Of course you do, Roman thought, not unkindly. "Well, get up and get dressed then. Just be quiet, because if Mom, Dad, or Nonna hear us, we'll all get busted."

The sky was just beginning to show signs that daylight was coming and Seth wished he had the power to make this night go on forever. He was having one of the best nights of his life, maybe even the best night of his life.

Mox's foster brothers, Roman and Lance had come down to the ring, and also started showing Seth various moves. Many of them were moves he'd done several times before, but they taught him the proper way. Lance was young, but he knew stuff Seth didn't know, and had no problems showing Seth some tricks for getting serious air to do some good, high flying moves. Seth felt he learned in a couple hours, what would have taken him months to learn on his own. And it made him want to go to a real wrestling school like SPWA more than ever.

"We do run summer camp for teenagers," Roman said. The four of them were sitting on the floor of the ring, resting after the energy they had expanded earlier. "They're overnight sessions, in August, two weeks long."

"I know," Seth said. "But I don't think we can afford it. I mean, we aren't poor or anything, it's just that.. you know, parents and all. My parents and grandparents are fine with me wrestling, but they aren't fine with the idea of spending a lot of money for what they think is just something I do for fun. I think they figure I'll outgrow it someday."

"Yeah," Roman nodded. "I get that."

"I don't," Mox said, shaking his head. "I think Seth has talent and his family should encourage him."

"They do, for the most part," Seth said. "Or, at the very least, they don't discourage me. But, I'll be sixteen in May, so I'm thinking I'll get a job this summer and maybe I can save up enough to come out here the summer after."

"That would be cool," Mox said, nodding. "By then, I'll be a regular in the shows here, so maybe we can have a rivalry in the shows."

"Roman works here in the summer," Lance said. "Maybe the three of you can team up and be a faction together. We can start another faction from some of the other students and the six of you can go to war against each other."

"That would be great!" Mox said.

Seth could see Mox's eyes were glowing, which showed not only that he was excited with the idea, but that daylight was coming soon enough and Seth had better head back to his Aunt and Uncle's house before the family woke up and realized he was gone. "I'd love that," he said, then sighed regretfully. "But, I have to get going. If I'm not back by the time people start waking up, I'm going to be in serious trouble."

"Do you think you could come over again before you have to head back home?" Mox asked, as they all rose to their feet.

"I wish." Seth sighed again. "But, we're heading home on the 27th and I think my Aunt and Uncle have our schedule pretty booked up."

"Shoot," Mox said. "I guess it's going to be awhile before we see you again. I really wish there was a way you could come out here this summer."

"That's never going to happen," Seth said, shaking his head.

"Well," Roman said as all four boys climbed out of the ring. "You never know, maybe they'll be a Christmas miracle or something. " Before anyone could comment, he changed the subject and asked if Seth had cut through the Lavery farm to get here.

"Yeah, I did," Seth said. They were heading towards the driveway together. "I hope I'm going to be able to do the same thing to get home."

"You should be able to," Roman said. "As long as you don't go near the barns where the livestock is, I don't think they'll mind, that is, if they even see you. The horses will still be in the stables. If they do see you, just tell them you didn't realize you were trespassing. They're nice people."

Mox watched until Seth was out of sight, having disappeared into a grove of trees on the Lavery farm. "I liked him," he said. "I wish he could come this summer."

"I do too," Roman said.

"Me too," Lance chimed in. "He's got a lot of talent, I think Dad would love having him as a student."

I should have asked them how much it cost to go to the school, Seth realized as he was heading back. So I'd know how much money I'll have to save. He had dreamed about going to SPWA, but now that he had seen the place and met Mox, Roman and Lance, he didn't want to make this a pipe dream, he wanted to make it a reality.

He started thinking about what jobs he could possibly get, wondering what type of job he could get that would give him the most hours and pay him the best. His mind was so involved in trying to work things out, figuring how much he could make in a week, that he never heard the sound of hoof beats coming from behind him, until something large and very much alive, rammed into his back, sending him sprawling on his face. He let out a shriek of shock as he fell, which startled the creature so much that it ran right over him. Seth let out another loud yell, this one of both shock and pain and he remembered that he was on a horse farm. Did I just get trampled by a horse? Or a pony? It didn't whack me in the head, so maybe it's a pony. I think I just got trampled, by a fucking pony.

Roman, Lance, and Mox were heading towards the house when they heard the shrieks. Without a word, the three of them turned in the direction of the noise and ran to see what was going on.

Seth lay face forward on the ground, trying to figure out exactly what happened, when he heard the sound of hooves heading towards him again. Oh shit, what is this, a killer pony? Knowing there was no way he could get up and run from this creature, he closed his eyes, and tried to stay as still as possible, hoping the creature would hop over him and just keep running in the other direction. I'm being attacked by a stupid pony!

Then, the hoof beats slowed down, and stopped by his head. Seth kept his eyes squeezed shut and waited to see what would happen. Would the pony walk slowly over him, in order to crush his bones? Did ponies have sharp teeth? Would this pony take a big hunk out of his arm or leg or something? Ponies are vegetarians, aren't they?

The creature lowered its head and snorted a warm breath of air into Seth's hair. Seth tried not to shake, feeling stupid. He'd been on pony rides as a little kid, and knew ponies to be docile animals. But this pony had trampled him.

Then, he felt something nudge his shoulder. Not hard, but not gentle either. "Go away," Seth whispered.

The creature continued to push his shoulder, with its nose and finally, Seth opened his eyes and looked.

It wasn't a pony, it was a deer. A blue eyed deer, that when they saw Seth's eyes were open, seemed absolutely delighted, and gave him a swipe across his cheek with its tongue and nuzzled his face with its wet, nose.

Mox, Roman, and Lance came to a dead stop when they saw the animal standing over Seth's prone body. "Is that a deer?" Mox asked. He had seen a few deer in the woods of the academy, and none of them looked like this deer. This deer was a little smaller, but stockier. It's nose was broader, reminding Mox more of a cow than a deer and its fur was longer. But it had antlers, so didn't that make it a deer?

"That's not just a deer," Lance said, sounding bewildered. "That's a reindeer!"

"Is it going to eat Seth?" Mox asked.

"No," Lance said, "Reindeer are vegetarians. But what's a reindeer doing in Florida?"

The reindeer looked up from Seth and when it saw Roman, Mox and Lance, its head bobbed up and down, and it trotted over to them.

"Hey, Rudolph," Lance said timidly, staying near Roman.

The reindeer looked absolutely delighted that Lance was speaking to it, and pawed at the ground, looking much like a dog whose owner had a ball they were about to throw for him.

Mox took the opportunity to run over to Seth. "Are you okay?"

Seth groaned and struggled to sit up and Mox helped him. "I think so," he said. "But my back and shoulders feel like they've been tenderized. That animal isn't light I thought it was a pony, but it's got antlers. I think it's a deer, but I've never seen a deer like that!

"According to Lance, it's a reindeer," Mox said.

Seth stared at Mox in disbelief. "Are you saying," he began, then stopped, swallowed, and and started over again. "Are you saying, I just got run over by a reindeer?"

Lance was both mystified and delighted by the reindeer. He knew reindeer weren't native to Florida, he even knew that you weren't supposed to bring reindeer into Florida, because of Chronic Wasting Disease, which hadn't hit the native deer of Florida, but Florida didn't want to take any chances. But he also knew, without a doubt, this was a reindeer. A friendly reindeer who seemed to want to play with him and Roman.

"I think Rudolph, didn't mean to hurt Seth," Lance said to Roman. "I think he was lonely, saw Seth, wanted to play with him, and got carried away."

That's when Mrs. Lavery joined them, probably having heard Seth's screams and ran to investigate. "That's not Rudolph," she said. "That's Daisy, but when she performs, she's Vixen She's a female, and are we glad you found her! She's been missing since yesterday evening and Mr. Lavery and I have been worried sick about her!"

"I-I didn't find her," Seth said, painful struggling to catch his breath. "She found me."

Mox helped Seth to his feet, and much to his relief, Daisy the reindeer hadn't broken a leg. He still wasn't too sure about his ribs, but he could stand and move with minimal discomfort. Mox stayed near him and they walked over to Roman, Lance, Mrs. Lavery, and Daisy. Seth was beginning to realize Daisy hadn't tried to kill him, but he still kept a healthy distance.

"How can she be a girl?" Roman was asking, petting Daisy who seemed to be thrilled to have a crowd around her. "She's got antlers."

Mrs. Lavery laughed. "Both males and females have antlers," she explained. "And male reindeer usually lose their antlers in November, so Santa's reindeer were all female." She turned her attention to Seth. "We are so grateful to you that I don't have the words! Reindeer are only allowed to live in Florida for 90 days a year, and they have to be carefully watched over. Daisy is one of our friendliest girls, the kids love her. But we were taking them to an event yesterday, and as I was leading her to the trailer, my husband started the truck and it backfired and put Daisy in a panic, so she ran off. We searched our property yesterday, but we couldn't find her. We were going to ask your dad if we could check out your property today." She nodded towards Roman, Lance, and Mox. "But thanks to you, young man, all's well that ends well."

"Glad I could help?" Seth said, as if he wasn't quite sure if he was telling the truth. "But I gotta get back to my aunt's house." He looked at his three new friends. "If they're not up already, they will be, soon."

"No way," Roman said, shaking his head. "You're coming back to our place. Mom will be up by now, and she's really good at first aid. She can check you out to make sure you don't have to go to the hospital.

Seth knew, looking at Roman, that it was useless to argue. My parents are going to kill me.

An hour later, Seth was sitting in the Reign's kitchen, waiting for someone, his mother or stepfather to come pick him up. Jen Reigns had checked him out, and determined no bones were broken, but that it was likely Seth would be pretty bruised for a bit.

"Image though, the story you'll be able to tell about this," Lance said, looking almost disappointed that he hadn't been the one who Daisy had trampled. "You got run over by a reindeer. On Christmas Eve day!"

Seth didn't feel so lucky. He had let Mox, Lance and Roman tell the story of how he'd come over to see the camp, and how as he was heading home, he got trampled on by a reindeer. A friendly, happy, reindeer named Daisy, of all things. Mr. Reigns, listened solemnly, until they got to the trampling part, then the corners of his mouth began to twitch and Seth knew he was trying not to laugh. I don't see where being trampled by a reindeer is so funny, he thought, grumpily.

But when Mr. Reigns had been brought up to speed, he asked if Seth's parents had a cellphone and if Seth knew the number. Seth had his own cell phone, but he'd left it back at his aunt and uncle's house. So, he wrote down the number for Mr. Reigns, who went to his office to call.

When he returned to tell him that one of Seth's parents were on the way, and he didn't know which one, Jen was rubbing liniment on his back, trying to loosen the muscles.

"That's the stuff," Sefa said, nodding. "That's the best stuff in the world for sore backs. It's horse liniment."

At this, Mox broke out with a laugh, no doubt remembering how Seth had told him he'd thought Daisy had been a pony at first. When everyone looked at Mox, he shrugged. "At least it wasn't reindeer liniment." This made everyone but Seth laugh too.

Seth still thought Mox was a great guy, but at that moment, part of him wanted to punch him in the face.

Seth's stepfather came alone to pick him up, and as they got into the rental Kia to head to his aunt and uncle's place, he expected to be read the riot act. Instead, his stepfather was quiet, until he pulled into the driveway. "If your mother asks," his stepfather said slowly. "You tell her that I yelled at you all the way home. And we'll just pretend that I told you that you were stupid and irresponsible, and that if you ever tried something like this again, you'll be grounded until you're eighteen. Does that work for you?"

Seth looked at his stepfather and nodded. "I can look as if I've been yelled at," he said, giving his father a hangdog look. "But why aren't you going to give me the lecture?"

"Because we should have known that your aunt and uncle's house would be too hot for you to sleep, because it was too hot for me and your mother. And we really should have realized that having a wrestling camp nearby was going to be irresistible. And, if we wanted to get technical, you could say you hadn't been forbidden to go there. It's a weak argument, but it's the truth, we knew the place existed and we didn't tell you not to go there. I don't know how that argument would hold up in court, but we're not in court, and I'm not a judge, I'm your stepfather."

"You're more of a father to me than my blood father is," Seth said, truthfully. "I wish you were my real father, not him."

"You might have just given me the best Christmas present I ever got." His stepfather reached across and tousled his hair. "Because I think of you as my son. But, now you do know… don't go over there again while we're here, unless we give you permission. Do I make myself clear?"

"Crystal," Seth said, nodding.

The Reigns family was finishing up lunch when Mr. Lavery came over. Lance had gotten up to let him in and lead him into the kitchen. Mox tried not to scowl, hoping that Mr. Lavery wasn't going to suddenly get mad that Daisy had trampled Seth. That deer might be rare and valuable, but it was Seth that got trampled!

As it turned out, Mr. Lavery wasn't upset at Seth, quite the opposite. The reindeer were owned by him. While the rest of the year, they lived on a farm in upstate New York, the ninety days they lived and worked down here was what brought the primary income into house. They were a horse farm, but apparently, there was far more money to be made renting out reindeer from Thanksgiving until New Years, especially when you were the only ones allowed to keep reindeer in Florida at all.

"If Daisy hadn't seen him and gone to him, we'd be in more trouble than you could imagine," Mr. Lavery said. "Not only would we have lost one of the most valuable animals we own, but we also would have put the farm and our livelihood in jeopardy. We'd probably lose our rights to even have our reindeer come to Florida at all. So, whether he meant to or not, that kid cutting through our property was a Christmas miracle."

"We're glad to hear that," Sefa said. "But Seth isn't staying here, he's visiting relatives over at the Maple Farm Estates. He's the one you should be telling all of this to."

"I know that," Mr. Lavery said. "But my wife and I were talking, and we'd like to pay the kid back in some way. Maybe he wasn't seriously injured, but he was banged up and bruised up by Daisy. And well, we'd like to get him something really special for the holidays to say thanks and sorry. The wife and I don't know the boy, but your kids do," he paused, looking at Roman, Mox, and Lance. "Can you think of something we could get him? Something he really wants, but thinks is out of his reach?"

The three boys looked at each other, nodded, grinned and looked at Mr. Lavery. "Are we talking one of those new Xboxes that just came out, grateful?" Lance said. "Or are we talking new car grateful?"

"Something between there," Mr. Lavery said. "Let's say a clean, reliable, low mileage used car."

"Then we know just the thing," Mox said.

Seth thought he did pretty good that Christmas. He had gifts waiting for him at home from his parents and grandparents, because it seemed silly to have to bring all these gifts on a plane, just to have to bring them back. But his aunt and uncle had bought him a Playstation and his cousins had bought him games. Seth was pretty confident that a new TV for his basement hangout was in his gifts at home. He had nothing to complain about.

But when Seth thought the gift giving was over, his stepfather handed him an envelope with his name printed on it, in an unfamiliar handwriting. "What this?"

His stepfather shrugged. "Someone dropped it in through the mail slot yesterday. You were asleep."

He had taken a nap in the afternoon, the nights activities having exhausted him. "Why did you wait for now to give it to me?" he asked.

"Because it says don't open it until Christmas on the back," his mother said.

Seth wondered if it was a card from Mox, Roman, and Lance and opened it. Indeed there was a card, but it wasn't from the Reign's boys, it was from the Lavery family. A card with a Christmas tree on it, that had been dusted with glitter to make it sparkle. Inside was an inscription wishing him a Merry Christmas, and another envelope. There was also a short, handwritten note:

Dear Seth,
We wanted to get you something for Christmas
that would show our gratitude for letting our
Daisy find you, and our regret that she ran you
over. We talked to the Reign's boys, and they
all agreed this was the perfect gift. So, Merry
Christmas, and we hope you enjoy it!

Even more puzzled, Seth opened the second envelope and pulled out the contents.

And gasped.

There was a piece of heavy, cream colored paper, with a border of scroll work, making it look almost like an award or a diploma, but this was a gift certificate, good one two week summer session at SPWA. And if that wasn't enough, there was also a gift card from an airline, and even though there was no amount on the card, Seth was sure it had enough for him to fly to and back from the camp. He gasped, his first thought was that his parents might not let him go, not after the stunt he'd pulled, but he looked up and saw his mother and father, his grandparents, even his aunt, uncle, and cousins, watching him, looking happy for him, and Seth knew they knew what was in the envelope before he did, and they approved.

"Oh wow!" Seth exclaimed, just staring at the gift card and gift certificate, not quite able to believe his eyes. He was going to SPWA. Not next summer, not when he was an adult, but this summer. Two weeks of intense training, two weeks of really being tested to see if he had what it took to be a great wrestler. And Seth was going to show them that yes he could, he could be the best, no scratch that, he would be the best.

He remembered Roman mentioning Christmas miracles, and smiled. If this was what Christmas was like in Florida? He'd be happy to come every year.

Even if every year, he had to get run over by a reindeer

Author's notes: The information about Florida and Reindeer is fairly accurate. There is a Lavery farms and they do own reindeer. The state of Florida only allows Reindeer to be housed in Florida for 90 days. Anything else I've written about the Lavery farms and the Lavery's themselves are products of my own imagination.