A Ta'Narian Christmas

"Why do they spend money they don't... Never mind. I often don't understand these humans," Doc said.

"I'm going to set up everything at my house, including the preparations for the final meal. That is the third thing. We are supposed to eat then lie on couches and moan because we ate too much. I ran a list off for you both. All I ask is if either of you plan to use the decorations listed... just wait. I want this to be a surprise for all our mates. Is that agreeable?"

"Yes. I don't have a clue what to do anyway," Doc said.

Gibor laughed slightly. "I have the feeling we are about to learn."

They met with King Duran and permission was granted to study the star. The timing was perfect; they wouldn't be leaving until the holiday was over. After several hours of meetings Gibor, Doc and Keyno told King Duran what they had planned.

Finally they returned home. Keyno had joined Dale in the kitchen to prepare the final meal. When Dale dropped a plate on the floor, Keyno's hand slapped to his hip where his stunner would have been.

"What is wrong with you? You're as jumpy as a cat on a hot tin roof," Dale said.

"I am not."

"Yeah, right. If you'd had your stunner on you'd probably have shot me just then."

Keyno was horrified. "I would never do that, chosen."

"Oh for god's sake, I'm kidding. What's got you so on edge?"

Keyno frantically searched his mind and came up with the only thing he could think of... the upcoming mission.

"Well, as you know there is always some danger in a mission. A star going supernova is a big deal and it could result in a black hole."

"Is there really any danger?"

"Probably not, but having the mates and young there is a worry."

"And I know you, you'll take every precaution there is. So stop worrying about it. King Duran wouldn't let us go if it was unsafe."

"It's just an added worry. You, our young..." Keyno shrugged. "You are my family and I worry."

"Yeah," Dale said, emotions running across his face for a second. "But I promise I won't cause any trouble this time."

Keyno's small smile had Dale rolling his eyes. "Nice to know, love, but trouble seems to find you regardless."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Dale said as Keyno pulled him close and scent-marked him. "I can't help that. Best I can do is tell you I won't go looking for trouble."

"Good to know. Let's bathe the young and get them ready for bed," Keyno said as he pulled Dale to him and nibbled on his neck. "I have plans for you tonight."

Dale turned and hurried out of the kitchen. "Waiting on you," he threw over his shoulder with a sexy smirk.

* * * *

Dale had just finished feeding the young the next morning when Keyno came into the kitchen.

"Hey, Juan sent a com message wanting to know if you and the twins could come to the palace while I do a quick check on my starship. All the senior officers are meeting me at the spaceport," Keyno said.

"Sure, let me get the young ready," Dale said and gathered what things he needed. Keyno helped Dale buckle the young into the flyer and they left.

"I thought we were going to the palace," Dale said as they flew towards the spaceport.

"I'm just going to swing by and see if they have docked my spaceship, The Galaxy, yet," Keyno said as he flew closer, then made a lap around the space port. "Hmm, that's interesting, the transport ship from Earth has returned."

"Keyno, why the devil are we circling the space port? And why are Doc and Gibor landing? I thought you said we... Oh god, oh my god..."

There on the walkway was a female... a human female, an older human female with an older human male beside her. Keyno's Weapons Chief, Second Officer Malk, walked with the humans. Malk was a large sable-haired Ta'Narian with striking amber eyes. He was one of the few Ta'Narians who was bigger and more muscular than Keyno.

His mate, Kia, was from Ne Reyn, a planet that was ninety percent covered in water and whose inhabitants were amphibious. He had light gray skin the color of the sky after a spring rain, and his eyes were completely black. Even the sclera was black so that he looked like he had some kind of funky techno-punk lenses covering his eyes.

Long, dark cerulean blue hair hung in dozens of finger-thick braids but for several braids of sable brown that perfectly matched his mate's hair color. There was silver wire, as thin as fishing line, wrapped tightly around the ends of each braid and held tiny silver bells that chimed softly when he moved. Malk was speaking to the female, pointing at the flyer that was rapidly descending.

Keyno barely got the on the ground before Dale all but fell out of the flyer.

"Oh, oh, oh... Mom! Dad!" Dale raced up the walkway.

A feminine sob greeted him and his mom, Lyn, burst into sobs as Dale threw himself at her, lifted her off her feet and swung her around. Dale eased her back on her feet and Jerry, Dale's dad, patted Lyn on the back and discreetly wiped tears from his eyes as he hugged both his wife and son.

A few feet behind them, Kia walked with Chad's parents, Linda and Howard. Another heartbreaking shout echoed across the walkway as Chad ran to his parents. Gibor, Doc, Keyno and John stood by, waiting, all their young staying close. All of them had big smiles on their faces.

Chad was crying and hugging his mom and dad at the same time. "Missed you, god, I missed you both."

"Oh my Lord, I can't believe you're here," Dale gasped as he pulled away to run his hands over his mom's shoulders. "You came here, jeez, I can't believe you really came here."

Antigravity transports, several loaded down with huge boxes, floated down the walkway.

"Oh sweetie, we missed you," Lyn sobbed as she hugged him tightly, causing Dale to grunt. "Keyno? We missed you, too." Lyn held out her hand to Keyno and the twins, wanting them to join the hug fest. Szin and Raiden were soon darting around the adults' legs as Lyn placed both her hands on Dale's cheeks, wiping the tears away. "Sweetie, we have another surprise for you."

"What... what..."

Lyn turned Dale around so he was facing up the walkway to where the transporter was docked. She rested her hands on his shoulders and squeezed as he looked at the dark doorway. Another female stepped into the light with a man behind her. This female was younger, much younger than the first female.

Black dots swam in front of Dale's eyes as he struggled to breathe. It couldn't be, just couldn't be. "Susan? Susan!"

"Dale? Oh Jesus, Dale..." Susan darted down the walkway and launched herself at her brother. Dale wrapped his arms around her, taking her weight and somehow keeping his feet. Susan's husband, Evan walked self-consciously, holding their child, Lindsey.

Dale hugged his sister hard, smelling the shampoo she used, the same one she had always used. Sharp memories of his childhood assaulted him and the urge to cry started all over again. "But, but... how? I thought Evan wouldn't let you... I thought he hated the... How are you here?"

Evan stopped shy of the group, his face a study of grief. Tears swam in his eyes as he watched them. "I'm sorry Dale, so sorry. My not letting Susan come over when you were at your parents was wrong, stupid. Hurtful. My loving wife came very close to leaving me over that."

"I never should have let him stop me," Susan cried as she hugged Dale. "Biggest mistake of my life."

"Whoa, whoa, the last thing I wanted was to cause trouble between you guys," Dale said, pulling away from Susan.

"But that's just it, in my anger with how the harvest was done, and losing some friends... my best friend... I took it out on you. And man, I was wrong. Your mate, all these guys," Evan gestured to the group, "had nothing to do with the first few harvests. Malk was the first Ta'Narian I actually sat down and talked to..."

"Wow, really? Damn Malk, you..." Dale, eyes wide, turned to look at Malk, stunned. "I don't know what to say. Thank you."

"You owe me no debt of thanks; you befriended my mate and bought him out of his shell," Malk said. "This was the least I could do."

"And that's what got through to me. Malk told me everything that had happened since you left. You hadn't changed. You may look a little different, but you are still the Dale I've know ever since I started dating your sister. Plus finding out that many of the Ta'Narians didn't like the way the harvest was done helped."

"I'm... I'm just floored," Dale said.

"Even though I acted like an ass, Malk was nice enough to offer his help in finding my friends. Yes, I want to know about my friends, but the reason I'm here... god help me on another planet... is to say I'm sorry," Evan held out his hand. "Can we be still be friends?"

Dale loosened the death grip Susan had on his neck and stepped forward. He grasped Evan's hand and pulled him into his arms. "You're my brother-in-law. Of course we are still friends. You're family."

"Forgive me?"

"You bet."

Gibor and Dayo joined Chad and his parents. Doc, John, Malk and Kia were included and the group nearly took up the whole walkway. Mini-translators were hooked to the ear so the humans could understand what the Ta'Narians were saying.

The young crowded around Lindsey, the first female human child they had ever seen. Lindsey was older but Raiden and the others were as big as she was... all except Szin. Laughter from the young while they eyed each other and jokes drifted up the walkway as everyone talked.

"Okay, so what's really going on here? I figured it would take an act of Congress to get you guys here and what are all these boxes?" Dale asked then looked at Keyno. "You evil alien, I can't believe you hid this."

"I set up passage for them, and no, I didn't want you to know. I sent a message to King Duran requesting extra passengers on the transport ship that was leaving Earth," Keyno said as he hugged Dale. "Now you know why I was so jumpy."

"I told him if he was bringing your parents I wanted to request Chad's parents come also," Gibor said.

"I... ah, took the liberty of asking Dale's parents to invite John's grandparents. They, um, sent a message asking not to be disturbed again," Keyno said then looked at John. "I'm so sorry, John."

"Those people..." Doc sighed but John shushed him.

"I expected nothing less," John shrugged. "Fact of the matter is I don't want them here. They aren't my family, you guys are."

"Always," Dale said with a quick hug to John. "Okay, what's in the boxes? I'm dying here, guys."

"Every ornament, knickknack, rolls of wrapping paper, ribbon... everything I have that's related to Christmas. Years and years of Christmas memories," Lyn said. "We, all of us, are having Christmas here; our very first Ta'Narian Christmas, sweetie."

* * * *

Turned out it was a good thing Doc and Gibor, along with Malk, had their flyers at the spaceport. Keyno's, and the other three vehicles, were loaded down and Keyno still had to rent a small public U-Flyer to haul all the things the parents had brought with them.

Chad parents had some personal Christmas things with them, but the main celebration would be held at Keyno's home since he and Dale had more room. Dale's mom and dad, plus his sister and her family, were all staying with Dale and Keyno. After everyone got settled, they turned their attention to the mound of boxes.

"Good grief, Mom, you brought everything. Where's the kitchen sink?" Dale asked as he, with the help of Szin, unpacked a box. A roll of red wrapping ribbon had Raiden perking up.

"Keeping looking, I'm sure she packed that, too," Jerry said, completely deadpan. "Your mom got everything else."

A loud hiss and a low snarl rang across the room as Raiden attacked the roll of ribbon. Within seconds he had it wrapped around him as he rolled back and forth.

"I think Raiden just killed the big, bad red ribbon," Jerry said. Szin was giggling as Raiden tried to unwrap himself. Lindsey was watching Raiden's antics with a small grin on her face.

"Is the kitchen sink something that has to do with the Christmas?" Keyno asked, frowning down at a box. "I did not see that listed in my research."

"Yeah, and it's very, very important, too. Keep looking," Dale said as he dug through another box while Evan tried to turn a laugh into a cough. "We must have that or Christmas will be a bust."

"Dale!" Lyn smothered a laugh. "He's kidding, Keyno. It's an idiom meaning I probably packed things I didn't need. Dale, and his dad, are being smarty pants. Ignore them."

Keyno glared at Dale. "Brat."

"Oh, like that comes as a shock," Dale laughed, then looked up at Keyno. "Oh crap, don't you dare, fuzzball..."

Keyno launched himself at Dale, tackling him. He turned his body so that Dale wouldn't take the brunt of the fall as their bodies crashed together. Dale's screaming laugh got Raiden's and Szin's attention. As soon as he rolled them over so that Dale was on the bottom, Raiden and Szin jumped on Keyno's back. The squeals, growls, meows and giggles had both of Dale's parents laughing, too.

Raiden still had red ribbon wrapped around him and Szin had found a pair of Christmas antlers with bells Dale had worn years ago for a Christmas musical at school. Keyno managed to dislodge Szin and stood up with Raiden in his arms. He tossed the young up in the air to delighted shrieks.

"Code Red, Code Red! Unidentified life forms on the main deck. Man battle stations," Keyno yelled as he tossed Raiden into the air again. "Reverse engines and thrusts! All power to the shields!"

"Me next!" Szin hollered, tugging on Keyno's pants while Raiden flew up in the air. Once he got Raiden on the ground Keyno then threw Szin up in the air, not quite as high as he threw Raiden, then caught him and flipped him upside down before placing him on the floor. Both young were jumping up and down wanting to go again.

"Oh now you've done it," Dale laughed. "They're not going to stop until you fall to the floor in an exhausted, limp heap."

Lindsey tugged Keyno's pants leg and held her arms out. Dale bit his lip hard as he watched, tears in his eyes. You couldn't fool kids, they knew deep down who was good and who wasn't, and Lindsey wasn't afraid of Keyno. Everyone in the room held their breath.

Keyno looked at Evan. "May I? I will be very careful, I give you my bond."

"That means his word, and that's a big deal with these guys, just so you know," Dale said to Evan. Then Dale whispered, "You saw how careful he was with Szin. He'll be even more careful with Lindsey."

Evan nodded and Dale had to close his eyes at the smile that lit up Keyno's face. God, his heart hurt with joy. Keyno gently lifted Lindsey and tossed her several inches up in the air, nowhere near as high as he tossed Szin or Raiden. Dayo and Neo crowded around Keyno, too.

"She's not afraid of heights," Evan said, letting Keyno know he could go higher.

"Oh my god, Dale," Susan said looking at Szin, "Szin found those antlers from the musical, remember that? I was a snowman in that thing. I hated that outfit, I looked like a goof."

Evan rolled his eyes. "Please, I was Santa. My mom used a pillow to make me fat. I felt like a dork."

"Lord, I had forgotten that," Dale said as they watched Keyno. "We were like what... 4th grade?"

"I have pictures around here somewhere, let me see if I can..." Lyn said as she went to get up.

"No!" Dale, Susan and Evan yelled together.

"Oh you three, they weren't that bad. Besides, Keyno would probably like to see what Dale looked like as a kid. And take a break," Lyn added.

"Aw man, you just had to bring the photo album, didn't you, Mom?"

"That's what parents do, Dale; we live to embarrass our kids," Lyn said then turned to Keyno. "Keyno, take a break. I have some photos of Dale when he was younger. Would you like to see?"

"I would, thank you," Keyno said as he eased Lindsey to the floor.

Susan had been smirking when their mom brought out the pictures but she didn't stop to think about her pictures being included, or Evan's. They had been friends, then more, and all that had been recorded. Susan wasn't smirking now. There were pictures of Chad, too, which sent Gibor searching through the stacks of old photos.

"You were a cute young," Keyno said as he looked at Dale's school pictures.

Of course, Lyn had pictures from all the grades and Keyno was mesmerized.

"I like this, but why are you in the sink?" Keyno asked. He perused a picture of Dale as a baby sitting in the kitchen sink getting a bath and grinning from ear-to-ear.

"He had gotten muddy so it was just easier to rinse him there," Lyn said. "Plus I could see Susan outside playing, too."

Then Keyno found one of Dale sitting on the commode when Lyn was potty training him, again grinning.

"Interesting," Keyno said.

"What?" Dale asked. Keyno turned the picture around so Dale could see.

"Oh my god, Mom," Dale made a grab for the picture. "You swore you burned that. Gimme it, Keyno."

"I don't think so, chosen. I like this one very much." Keyno held Dale off who was still grabbing at the damning picture. "I do believe Cielo would like to see this."

"You... you wouldn't dare," Dale gasped.

"No?" Keyno asked with a smirk.

Susan laughed hysterically, poking fun at Dale until Lyn found one of her in the same position. Evan had begged for it causing Dale to laugh.

"Oh man, can we move on to something a little less embarrassing? Let's get all this Christmas stuff up," Dale said.

"Okay, first off, what are we going to do about a tree? We always bought one," Jerry said.

"The trees here aren't like the ones on Earth," Dale said. "We could do a search for a picture of a Douglas fir and reduplicate it, but it wouldn't be alive."

"I think you should use what's here," Susan said. "This should be your tradition, make it fit who you are, not who you were."

"Keyno? All the land in the back is ours; do you have a problem with cutting down a tree for this?" Dale asked.

Keyno stood up. "I would prefer not to kill a tree. We could dig something up and sustain it easily. After this is over I could return it to the woods or we could keep it here in the house."

"Well, it would certainly fit inside, it looks like a jungle in here," Evan said, looking around. "But I like it."

"Yeah, think jungle cat," Dale laughed.

"That explains it," Evan said.

"It's beautiful," Lyn said. "And it fits you, too. You always had a thing for plants."

"Makes me want to get some plants for the house when we get back," Susan said.

"Dale takes care of all this, and the plants we bring back from other planets," Keyno said. "I have a tree in mind. If anyone wants to go with me..."

Gibor, Doc and Jerry quickly stood up. Everyone else stayed and started putting up the decorations and getting the lights out. Once outside Keyno went to the outdoor parking for the flyer and retrieved a tool to dig the tree up without destroying the root ball. He also brought along an Antigravity transport.

"I guess men and their garages are universal," Jerry said.

"What do you mean?" Keyno asked.

"Go to just about any garage in the country and you'll find tools in it. Even here, millions miles from home... here's a male and his tools." Jerry slapped Keyno on the back. "It makes me feel like we have something in common, besides grilling."

"I updated my grill since I last saw you. Dale wanted me to tell you," Keyno said.

"Hot damn, I can't wait. Let's get this done so you can show me," Jerry said.

Keyno led the other three to the tree he had in mind. It was ten feet tall and the trunk was a deep purple. There were plenty of branches and the leaves were a lighter purple, almost lavender, and lacey. The very tips of the leaves were silver.

"Oh man, yeah, no way we can cut this down," Jerry said. "It's beautiful."