Sharon woke at 8:00 Christmas morning to the sound of Emily and Ricky making breakfast and the smell of coffee. "Wake up, Rusty, it's Christmas!" She said excitedly, shaking his shoulder. She got up, slipped into her robe, and joined Emily and Ricky in the kitchen. Rusty groaned as he sat up. He felt even worse than he had the day before. His throat was unbearable, and he had a bad headache. He didn't want to call attention to it and ruin everyone's Christmas even more than he already had, so he went to the kitchen and sat at the table, trying to appear alert.

When breakfast was over, Sharon was ready to herd everyone into the living room to open presents when she noticed how flushed Rusty looked. With her shortage of sleep and excitement about Christmas, she had temporarily forgotten that he was still quite sick. This was the most miserable she had seen him look yet. She walked over to him and gently pressed her hand to his forehead. Her breath caught in her throat when she felt how warm he was. She dashed to her room for the thermometer, fairly certain that she was going to get a reading over 102. Sharon returned to the table, put an arm around Rusty, and held the thermometer under his tongue. He leaned weakly against her as they waited for the beep.

"102.8...Oh, no."

"Sorry..." Rusty murmured, burying his face into Sharon's side.

"It's not your fault, honey. You're going to be fine." Sharon cradled Rusty against her for a few moments, wondering what to do. She hated to bother the on-call doctor in Dr. Lewis's office on Christmas morning, but she also didn't want to drag Rusty to the ER if it wasn't necessary. If the doctor thought Rusty had an infection, she hoped he would just call in an antibiotic. Sharon put her hand under Rusty's chin and studied his face. "Is anything besides your throat bothering you? How's your stomach feeling?"

"Stomach's fine...Bad headache."

"Okay..." Sharon tried to keep the panic out of her voice. She went to her room for his medicine. "I'll take your temperature again after the Ibuprofen has had time to work, and then I'll call the on-call doctor. Let's get you back into bed." She refilled her mimosa and led Rusty back to her room, ignoring his protests.

"It's freezing in here," Rusty complained, as they got in bed. Sharon pulled the covers over him and wrapped him tightly in her arms, rocking back and forth. Once he was almost asleep, she settled his head in her lap and helped him stretch out. She kneaded his forehead with her cool hands, trying to relieve his headache.

Emily and Ricky cleaned the kitchen and went back to Sharon's room. "Mom, let's just wait until Rusty's feeling a little better to open presents and cook and stuff," Emily said, climbing onto Sharon's bed and situating herself behind Rusty. She unconsciously started rubbing his back.

"No-" Rusty started to say.

"It's okay. Really. We're not leaving until New Years Day, and we're in no rush for Christmas to be over, anyway," Ricky interrupted. "And we haven't peeked at our presents yet, either," he said to Sharon.

"Thanks, you guys," Sharon answered.

Forty-five minutes later, Rusty was sleeping soundly in Sharon's lap, and Emily, Ricky, and Sharon were talking about the trip to Park City Sharon had arranged for a long weekend in January, since they couldn't go for Christmas. All of Sharon's siblings and parents were coming, too, and they were planning a delayed celebration of Christmas. Sharon checked her watch, and realized she should check Rusty's temperature and call the doctor. He woke briefly as Sharon slipped the thermometer into his mouth, but was sleeping again before it beeped. His temperature had only gone down to 102.3. Sharon called Dr. Lewis's office and listened to the after-hours message, choosing options that got her call redirected to the on-call doctor.

The doctor was fairly certain that Rusty had an infection, so he called in an antibiotic, and instructed Sharon to bring him to their office the next morning if he hadn't improved, or if the nausea continued. Sharon eased herself out from under Rusty and lay him down so she could get dressed and go get the medicine. When she returned half an hour later, Emily was reading on her phone, still rubbing Rusty's back, and Ricky was sprawled out, taking a nap.

"Hi, honey," Sharon said softly, kissing the side of Emily's head. She gently woke Rusty, fed him a spoonful of the antibiotic, and made him drink a few sips of Gatorade. He went right back to sleep, not even bothering to ask what he was taking.

At 5:00 on Christmas afternoon, everyone was still piled in Sharon's bed, but now Emily was sleeping, and Ricky was playing around on his computer. Sharon had been reading and flipping back and forth between a couple of Christmas movies on TV, while Rusty slept in her lap, only waking when she made him take medicine or eat lunch. Sharon got up to cook dinner. The big dinner she had planned was going to have to wait, but she could cook a smaller meal in no time.

Once dinner was in the oven, Sharon went back to her room. Emily and Rusty were both starting to stir. Sharon climbed over Ricky to the spot on her bed where she had spent most of the afternoon. She brushed Rusty's bangs back from his forehead as he opened his eyes, relieved that he felt less feverish.

"How are you feeling?" Sharon asked, resting her hand on Rusty's forehead.

"A little better...ugh, my stomach," Rusty moaned. Sharon was alarmed before realizing it was probably the antibiotic.

"I'm sorry, honey," Sharon said, helping Rusty sit up and lean against her. "I hope it's just the antibiotic...Are you going to be sick?"

"I don't think so, just nauseous...What antibiotic?"

"The on-call doctor called it in for you this morning. He was pretty sure you have an infection," Sharon explained, rubbing his back. Her other hand found its way back to his forehead. "It feels like your fever's gone down a bit. I'll wait until your stomach calms down before I take your temperature, though." Rusty nodded against her shoulder. The nausea subsided almost an hour later, and Rusty realized that he felt a lot better. His throat still hurt pretty badly, but it wasn't nearly as bad as it had been.

"How is your stomach?" Emily asked nervously. She had been prepared to bolt from the room if Rusty got sick.

"Better."

"Good," Emily said, relieved. "Not that it would have been the first time someone threw up in Mom's bed..."

Ricky rolled his eyes. "You don't have to bring that up every opportunity you get. I doubt anyone here will ever forget that it happened."

"She claims that throwing up in her bed is fine, as long as you tell her," Rusty said. "Don't eat on the couch, though, she'll scratch your eyes right out." Emily and Ricky started laughing hysterically, and Sharon tried to glare down at Rusty. She couldn't muster a proper glare, though. She reached for the thermometer.

"You're clearly feeling better, so let's see how your temperature is doing." She held the thermometer under his tongue, and was relieved when it flashed a reading of 100.8. "Much better. The doctor wasn't kidding when he said the antibiotic would work quickly," Sharon commented. She gave him his last dose of his antibiotic for the day. "You guys ready to eat? Dinner should be ready."

The morning after Christmas, Sharon woke up refreshed for the first time in a few days. She and Rusty had both slept almost all night. Rusty had woken at 5:00 to go to the bathroom, so Sharon went ahead and gave him his medicine before he went back to sleep, so the antibiotic could start kicking in. She reached over and felt his forehead, and didn't feel much of a fever at all. She leaned down and kissed his forehead for a more accurate feel. He was a little warm, but not hot like he had been for the last couple of days.

"I'm sorry, honey, I didn't mean to wake you," Sharon said, when she saw that Rusty's eyes were open.

"It's okay...I've got to get up before I get bedsores, anyway." Rusty's voice sounded better than it had since before his surgery. He and Sharon went to the kitchen, where Emily and Ricky were drinking coffee.

"Okay, let's try this Christmas thing again," Sharon said.

"How are you feeling?" Emily and Ricky asked at the same time.

"Much better. Thanks."

"All right, let's go see what Santa brought!" Sharon said excitedly. Rusty had noticed the gifts on the floor in the living room, but he hadn't looked that closely. He certainly wasn't expecting anything, so he headed to the couch to watch Emily and Ricky sift through their gifts. Ricky grabbed his arm and steered him torward his gifts.

"I have zero interest in chess, so those must be yours. Mine are over here." Rusty stared in amazement at the small mountain of gifts in front of him. Clothes, electronics, a new chess set, personal touches for his bedroom...And now Sharon was passing out the wrapped gifts from under the tree, and another small pile had formed beside him.

"Sharon, I-this is too much. I can't-"

"No, honey. This is your first Christmas with me. I had some catching up to do," Sharon said, cupping his cheek with her hand. After distributing the stockings, she went to the couch to open her own presents. She usually let Emily and Ricky know if she wanted anything specific, as they did with her. Emily was also good at picking out clothes and other things that Sharon would like, so she usually had a few surprises, too. The first gift she opened was from Rusty. It was a portable home ipod player, an A/V cord, and an iTunes gift card. Rusty watched as she opened it.

"It plays the music from iTunes on your phone, so you can get rid of those 18th century CDs. And, yes, you do have music on your phone. That cord will play it in your car, too."

"What..." Sharon looked at her phone. Rusty was right. She noticed all of her favorite songs, plus some she had forgotten about. "How did you do this?"

Rusty shrugged. "I have my ways." 'His ways' included spending hours transferring music from every CD Sharon owned to her iTunes on her computer, which Rusty knew she never even looked at. He was only able to do it after Sharon had gone to bed or when she was away from her desk at work, so it had taken several weeks. He had entered several of the artists into Pandora so he could hear similar music, and added songs that he thought she might like. He had updated Sharon's phone after she went to bed two nights before his surgery, knowing she wouldn't have a reason tap the music icon on her phone until now.

"Thank you so much, honey. This is so...Thoughtful," Sharon said, choking up. She had tears in her eyes. She composed herself and opened the rest of the gifts. Rusty had also given her a blue sweater, similar to one she already owned, but that had seen better days. It was one of her favorites, and she hadn't been able to part with it. Rusty had sought Emily's help on that one, and she had found one almost identical to the old one, and told Rusty how to order it. The gifts had cost Rusty a month's worth of allowance and service to Provenza, but it was worth it.

"Thank you guys so much. I love all of this," Sharon said to her children at large.

"Good. Because being Provenza's bitch for the month of November wasn't as fun as you would think," Rusty quipped.

Sharon's eyes widened. "This is what that was about?" Rusty nodded shyly. She figured he was trying to earn extra money for something, but she never dreamed it was for her. "Honey, please...Just ask me for an advance on your allowance next time."

Rusty smiled. "Nah...You ask too many questions."