It didn’t take long for the shirt storm to hit. Within a day the house was swamped with reporters trying to catch every move they made. They waited outside, sneaking up to try and get pictures through the window as the happy family finished with their Christmas decorations. One managed to get a picture of them putting ornaments on the tree. AJ told Brian “I need to get me a good copy of this. It’s a good picture!”
No one managed to get close enough to cause any actual damage, though. As sensational as the story was, the whole band figured that it would ride out on its own eventually. Until Christmas Eve when they were driving to pick up Mattie’s biggest present. In AJ’s family he said it was a tradition to get one big gift on Christmas Eve. So, they were taking Mattie to an animal shelter to pick out a dog.
The little girl was bouncing in her seat, clutching her stuffed monkey under one arm and babbling to him the whole way there. AJ exchanged a look with Brian as they pulled in to the shelter parking. There was amusement in both their eyes, and a happiness that seemed to radiate from them.
“Well Mattie my love, you ready to go pick out your puppy?” AJ asked. He turned in his seat once the car was parked so that he could look at her. Mattie bounced in her seat again. “Ya, ya, ya!” she called out.
The two adults were chuckling as they climbed out. Brian was the one who opened the back door and unhooked Mattie from her booster seat. He took her little hand and helped her from the car. “You wanna leave him here?” he asked her, gesturing to her monkey. For a moment she thought about it, and then nodded. Very carefully she put the monkey on her booster seat. “Stay, El’phant. Be all right back.”
Content now, she turned back to Brian and took his hand. AJ took her other hand, and together they went into the shelter.
One hour later they walked out with a brand new addition to their family; a younger Jack Russell terrier. The dog was only 8 months old, so it would grow with Mattie. It was currently curled up in Brian’s arms, sound asleep with its head on his shoulder. They had been surprised that, out of all the dogs, Mattie had picked the one that had made the most noise and had the most energy. But they figured it was appropriate for a child to pick their own dog.
“You know you’ll be back in a week at the most to get that other one.” Brian joked as he laid the dog down in the backseat on top of a towel they’d brought with them .The puppy just curled up and lay there, content to sleep. AJ was busy putting Mattie in her seat and snapping her belt on. “I may not!” he argued.
They moved to their own seats. AJ started the car as Brian joked “You can’t fool me. You fell in love with that pup, J! Admit it.”
“I admit nothing!”
“You’re such a freak.”
AJ gave Brian a wink as he pulled their car out. “Aint that the truth.”
With a laugh, Brian turned in his seat to watch Mattie as she smiled at their puppy. Her face fairly glowed with happiness. “Do you like your puppy, sweetheart?” he asked her. The smile that lit her face up was almost blinding. “Uh huh! Nice puppy, Da!”
“Yeah, he seems like a nice puppy. Do you know what his name is?”
For a minute or two Mattie chewed on her lip. “Happy!” she finally decided.
“Happy?” AJ asked her. “What kind of dog wants the name happy? Come on now, Mattie my girl, can’t you do better than that? What about Rex?”
“Happy!”
“Or Flash. Or Butch. What about Buddy?”
“Happy, Papa!”
AJ sighed theatrically and took the turn to their street. “Happy it is then.” The smile he gave her was as bright as her own. Brian knew that, as much as AJ may pretend sometimes, there was nothing he loved more than this little girl, and he would give her just about anything that she asked for.
A low curse brought Brian’s attention back to the front of the car. He looked out the window and felt his eyes grow wide. Son of a…the pressed had managed to actually swarm up on his lawn. Where the hell was security? They were going to have to figure out a way to get through the crowd of people with a child and a new dog.
“I’ll get Mattie.” AJ whispered, never looking away from the road as he started up the drive. “You get Happy. All we can do is make a beeline for the door. You’d think these fuckers would take the holiday off.”
“You’d think. I’ll try to push a way through, so you guys get behind me and stay there.” Brian ordered. They both watched as the press realized that they were coming up the drive. They didn’t even get all the way to the top of their driveway before their car was surrounded. Reporters were banging on the windows, cameras going off, and microphones were shoved against the glass. AJ pressed the power lock button quickly, before someone could try to open a door.
Happy woke up and started to growl and bar, his little frame fair to quivering. Mattie clutched Elephant close to her chest and tried to duck down behind him to hide. The flashes and voices were scaring her.
When they couldn’t move the car any further forward, AJ put it in park. He unbuckled and turned to unhook Mattie from her seat. He felt anger for the press stir when he saw how terrified his child was. Her whole body was quivering when he picked her up, and she quickly buried her face in his neck. “Shh, shh baby. It’s going to be ok. Da and Papa are going to get you outta here, ok? You just hold on to Papa and everything will be ok.”
Brian scooped Happy up, and the two men braced themselves. With a deep breath, Brian opened his door and stepped out of the car. Instantly he was holding his hands up, asking people to step back and make room. Behind him, AJ and Mattie climbed out the same door. Flashes went off around them, and Mattie gave a soft cry, clinging closer to her Papa. It infuriated AJ, but there was nothing he could do when he was holding her to him.
They managed to get the car door shut and started to make their way through the crowd. People were swarming them and Mattie was shaking. Happy was half standing on Brian’s shoulder, barking at them all as if to let them know that he didn’t like what they were doing.
AJ felt hands come out, people trying to get his arm and pull him to talk, but he determinedly ignored them and made his way step by step toward the door. They were almost there when trouble hit.
One of the reporters stepped up to them and stuck his hand out, as so many others did, in an effort to get a part of them that they could then turn around and sell. AJ was well used to it. He had lost many glasses and sometimes even shirts or shoes this way. But this reporter took, straight from Mattie’s arms, her monkey Elephant.
The little girl’s arms stuck out, grasping at the air as she let out a shriek. It was loud enough to get Brian’s attention and have him turning to look at them. One look at their daughters devastated face had Brian looking around for trouble. Amidst her tears, AJ handed her to Brian. “Get her in the house!” he called out. During the transfer, Happy hopped down, shooting through the legs of the crowd.
AJ cursed roundly and took off, trusting Brian to get Mattie in the house. Now that he was unhampered he moved with much more speed through the crowd, off in the direction that he heard their dog barking. More than anything he wanted to be able to get Elephant back for his little girl, but he knew that it wasn’t likely. But Happy, now, that was different. He needed to get him back quickly.
Breaking through the back of the crowd, AJ froze for a minute in complete shock. He had found their dog; he also found the man who’d stole Mattie’s doll.
Happy had a hold of the ankle of the man’s pant leg and was pulling him hard enough that the man tripped and hit the ground. The little terrier let go, then lunged forward and, in one quick swoop, snatched up the stuffed monkey. Very proudly he jogged away from the man. When he saw AJ he let out a yip muffled by the toy and scurried over to him. He stood on his hind legs, putting his front ones on AJ’s knees.
A smile curved AJ’s lips. Ignoring everyone around him he scooped up the dog, toy and all, and cradled him in his arms. After taking Elephant from his mouth, AJ tucked the toy under his arm and lifted Happy again, nuzzling his nose. “Such a good boy. Look at you, yes, you’re such a good boy!” he told the dog. It amazed him that after such a short time with them, the dog had gone and rescued his daughters toy. They had been right to pick this one.
AJ turned back toward the crowd, and the smile was gone off his face. He held one hand out to silence the crowd. “I will say this once, and only once.” He announced in a voice that carried across the now silent yard. “You have every right to do your job. To ask questions and take pictures and get the story behind everything. What you don’t have is the right to be on my property. This is land that I personally own, and you are all trespassing. I have tolerated your foolishness, your stealing and pushing and everything else over the years. Let me make this very clear.”
Here he glared at them all, making sure that his point was understood. As if in accord with him, Happy growled. “I will not tolerate my daughter being treated this way. To have someone stand in her own yard, where she should be safe, and steal the most important stuffed animal she owns, is beyond low. This child is three, and you are tormenting her. You have been warned. Back off, or what comes next won’t be pretty. I will press charges, and I will get each and every person here for trespassing. Are we clear?”
Someone shouted something at him that he couldn’t make out, and Happy gave another growl in his arms. It took AJ a split second to realize that it wasn’t because of him that they were doing this, but something behind him. He spun quickly, and that managed to save him. An enormous branch whipped toward him, glancing a blow off the side of his head. It was enough to have pain exploding in the side of his head, but not enough to knock him down.
About that time was when security showed up. AJ hadn’t thought about Brian calling them when he went inside. As one of them bundled him up and into the house, he found that he was only grateful for them. “I want that mother fucker arrested.” He snarled as he was taken through the front door. “I want him arrested, and I want to press charges!”
Opening his arms, AJ let Happy loose on the ground, where he proceeded to run around them all and bark happily at the air.
No one was in sight in the living room, but when the dog took off down the main hallway toward a back room, AJ knew where his family was. They had set up a playroom on the lower level for Mattie to use.
A quick look at the security let AJ know that it was the regular crew. “Tim, would you mind?” AJ asked, gesturing down the hall. The tall, balding man gave him a wide grin. It was well known he loved that little girl from the times he met her on his security detail, and he never minded popping down to keep her occupied when necessary.
Once Tim had set off down the hall, the others spread out to secure the house and disband the press outside. One followed AJ, wanting to keep him safe. AJ ignored him and went straight to his kitchen where he stuck his head directly under the faucet, cursing the whole while. “I want that fucker, Damon. I want to kick him in his God damned balls. Fucking coward can’t even man up to what he’s doing!” The water hit the cuts on his head and AJ cursed even more.
“What the hell are you doing?”
AJ jerked his head at the sound of Brian’s voice, effectively slamming the faucet into his already sore skin. He popped out clutching that spot on his head and swearing.
Brian grabbed a towel off the counter and strode forward. He took AJ’s hands away from his head to press the towel there. “You’re bleeding.” He said simply, his eyes boring in to AJ’s. “Why?”
“That stupid cock sucking son of a bitch hit me in the head with a fucking log.”
“A log?” Brian chuckled. He dabbed at the side of AJ’s head, mopping up the blood. It didn’t worry him too much to see the amount of blood. He knew from experience that scalp wounds bleed more than anything else, especially the superficial ones. “Probably a twig.”
AJ twisted to glare at him, but Brian held his head still so he could keep cleaning it. AJ had to settle for rolling his eyes and snorting. “A fucking twig, are you kidding me? They caught that shit on camera. Happy going and kicking the dude’s ass and bringing me back Elephant. Then I was talking to them, telling them to basically stay the fuck away from here, and someone shouts and I turn, and this fucking log clocks me in the Goddamn head! Fuck!” The last pat came out as a shout when Brian touched a particularly sore spot.
Very calmly Brian parted AJ’s hair to look and see if the cuts were clean. “Keep it down or Mattie will hear you.” He chided quietly. With a sigh he moved AJ closer to the window. There he started to pick out small pieces of bark. There were a few pretty nasty spots but nothing really bad. It was all easy enough for him to clean.
As he did so the security guards came back in. “Everyone’s off the property, and the guy who hit you is in a cop car, Mr. McLean. No need for you to make a statement, seeing as how all of it was on camera.”
“We’ll make sure the grounds are secure and then we’ll patrol through the night.” The group leader said. His name was Tyler, and he was fast becoming a friend of theirs. “You two sleep easy tonight and enjoy your Christmas morning.”
AJ was already shaking his head. “No, I won’t have it. Not a one of you is working through the night tonight. Tomorrow is Christmas, and I know for a fact that most of you have families. Tyler, your grandkids will be here. Go spend time with them, we’ll be fine!”
After much persuading, they finally managed to get the guards to leave. By then Brian was done bandaging AJ’s head, and the two set off to find and soothe their daughter.
~~~~~~~
Christmas morning, AJ woke to a pounding headache, and something slurping all over his face. He brought his hands up, batting at the thing that was licking him. It took a second to realize it was a dog. It took another second to realize that it wasn’t Happy. That brought AJ fully awake, and his eyes snapped open. Standing in the bed on his chest was a beautiful German shepherd puppy, the same one that they had seen at the shelter when they’d got Happy.
Happiness spiraled through AJ as he sat up, gathering this practically newborn puppy up in his arms and nuzzling him against his face. It had been love at first sight in the shelter, but AJ had convinced himself that it was Mattie’s present and her time. He had kept saying he’d come back in a week, after the holidays, and if the shepherd was still there he would get her.
With a wide smile he looked up just as Mattie laughed and rushed toward the bed. Happy followed with her, and Brian was close behind. Soon the bed was a chaos of puppies, a kid, and the two adults.
“S’prise!” Mattie was calling. “Merry Christmas, papa!”
“Oh, merry Christmas to you too, pretty girl.” AJ said, scooping her into his arms and covering her with kisses. She laughed and broke away from him, going to roll through the sheets with the two dogs who were avidly sniffing one another.
AJ turned toward his lover, smiling and cuddling in to him. He tipped his head up to give Brian a kiss. “Thank you.” He whispered. Brian’s smile was soft and sweet, and had AJ’s inside melting. “You needed something to perk you up after yesterday. So Mattie and I went and got him this morning. They were happy to let us take him. I just wanted it to be a good Christmas for all of us.”
AJ looked back over at where Mattie was lying on the bed and laughing, with both dogs trying to lick her face. “This is the best Christmas I’ve ever had.” He said. The two men cuddled together and watched their family, enjoying their first Christmas together.