"Daniel, hold on! Yes... that's awful! Oh my. Of course, Ronnie, I'd be glad to help." Darren jotted something on the large orange Post-it notepad by the phone.

"You say there are two boys and two girls, parents and a grandfather? How terrible... I mean, I know it would be terrible any time of the year, but -- yeah, thanks... Do you have any sizes or anything? Know what they need most? Um-hm... mm-hm..."

Darren smiled when Daniel walked up behind him and put his arms around his waist, rested his head on the singer's shoulder, and watched as Darren made more notes on the fluorescent pad.

"Well, as it so happens, I can help with that, too, Ronnie. My landlord just happens to have a three bedroom available, as long as they don't mind ground floor. I think I can persuade him... Yeah," he nodded again. "Leave it to me. I've got your number in my cell; I'll call you soon. Bye, babe."

"I think I may be jealous," Daniel pouted.

Darren turned in the guitarist's arms and placed a chaste kiss on his lips. "Hey, no need. That was Ronnie, from the Red Cross. You remember, I helped with a benefit earlier this year." Daniel nodded. "Well, there's a Korean family. Just lost everything. Barely got the family out alive. I'd like to stretch the Christmas spirit out a bit. You don't really mind, do you?"

Daniel's face brightened with a wide smile. "What about Ben and the others?"

"I think they'll understand. Don't you? Besides, we've got three hours. If we hurry, we might still make it if we divide the shopping list." The singer favored his partner with a hopeful smile.

"Darren, you know I don't like to shop."

"Just let me go talk to Mr. Cohen and I'll be right back."

Daniel grinned as Darren practically ran out of the apartment. Then he wondered what the Diva had in mind. Sighing and shaking his head, he sat down to wait.

"It's all arranged. You sure you don't want to help me shop?"

Daniel gave a cynical raise of one eyebrow.

"Okay! That works," Darren replied a bit too happily for Daniel's comfort.

"Here's the key to the apartment. One forty-five. It's an amazing corner apartment. Plenty of room for four kids, I think." Darren's broad grin drew Daniel in, and he chuckled in spite of his misgivings. "I want you to take our Christmas tree down and set it up. Everything--lights, ornaments, garlands. I'll get some tinsel while I'm out, too."

"It's New Year's Eve, Daz. Not Christmas."

"I know, but Dimitri was telling me about this interesting tradition--"

"Who's Dimitri?"

"Daniel, you're interrupting." Darren frowned.

Daniel pulled his head down contritely. "Sorry," he mumbled.

"That's okay. You remember that wonderful Baklava we had the other day for brunch?"

"Yeah."

"Well, it came from Dimitri's restaurant. And he was telling me about this tradition--"

"So that's what took you so long?"

"Daniel!" The singer's voice rose warningly.

"Sorry," he sank into the couch and pinched his lips closed with his fingers.

"IN GREECE," Darren began again. "They have a tradition that St. Basil fills the children's shoes with presents at midnight. Well, these kids don't even have shoes right now. And I think the tree will just help brighten their new home. So. You set up the tree. Maybe put in a few groceries, or see if they have some type of gift certificate at the store. *I'm* going to the mall and get shoes, clothes, whatever else I can think of. Ronnie gave me everyone's sizes. I'll try not to be gone too long."

"This will take all night," Daniel moaned, but not very effectively. And to tell the truth, he could see why Darren wanted to do this.

"You can handle it. And you'd be surprised how fast I can shop when I have the proper incentive." Darren wiggled an eyebrow.

With a wave, Darren disappeared out the door. Daniel gave a huge sigh and went down to take a look at the apartment before he carted the boxed tree down. They had spent Christmas with family in Australia and come back to America to spend New Year's Eve with friends. Trust Darren to find a cause before the party. The tall man shook his head, a grin on his lips.

He opened the door and looked around the apartment.

Darren was coming out of his fourth store, arms laden. He'd have to go out to his car before he could finish the shopping. He had shoes, socks, pants, shirts and gift certificates for underclothes. He couldn't get the grin from his face. He hoped they appreciated his good intentions, and he hoped he hadn't made any cultural errors. That thought lessened the grin a bit, but he trusted they would understand.

After a balancing act between bags, boxes, and his trunk key, the packages were finally safe in his trunk. And with the huge grin securely back on his face, he headed back in for more shopping. He wondered for a moment how Daniel was doing, but that was quickly replaced by wondering what types of gifts the children might like.

Taking the orange paper out of his pocket, he called Ronnie's cell phone as he walked into the toy store.

Meanwhile, Daniel had gotten the tree together. Right now, he sat on the floor, legs akimbo, cursing the two strings of Christmas lights that had gotten tangled together during a year's hibernation in their spare closet. He could have sworn he wound them up separately last year. His long fingers, so dexterous on keyboard and fret, simply refused to function when confronted with snarled wires that seemed to go every which way.

'How was is it that Darren is always so adept?'

Daniel sighed and tried to concentrate on the task at hand. If he waited for Darren, nothing would get done and he'd never hear the end of it. And they'd never get to the New Year's bash Ben was throwing. This was their *first* New Year's Eve, and they had promised to kiss at midnight. He sighed. 'I should be ashamed of myself. I'm being selfish. These people have lost everything. Now that I finally have Darren, I hope to have him forever. There's always next year.' He sighed again. That wasn't helping the problem, quite literally, at hand. 'There should only be four ends, right? Why does it seem like I have ten times that? Hmm... perhaps if I push this through here?'

Working at the wires a bit more, the tangle suddenly came free. Daniel sat up straight and smiled broadly. Feeling quite smug at defeating the evilness that had been two tangled strings of Christmas lights, Daniel uncurled his lanky frame from the floor and began hanging the lights on the tree. Soon the lights were up, and he followed that with the garlands and ornaments. Turning the lights off, he plugged the tree in. A smile crept across his face as the lights winked at him, telling him he'd done a fine job indeed.

A knock at the door interrupted his reverie. He turned and opened the door.

"Darren?"

The mass of packages and bags shifted and Darren's smile greeted him. The singer's cheeks were red, though whether from excitement or cold Daniel couldn't be certain.

"How about taking these while I go down and get the rest."

"There's more? Darren--"

"There are seven people, Daniel. This isn't much." Darren thrust everything into Daniel's arms, not waiting to see if he had it all before he turned to go back to his car. "What about the groceries?"

Daniel scrambled to keep everything in his arms, wincing as one package hit the ground with a dull thud. Hopefully it was nothing fragile.

He was laying out the last of the packages as Darren came back in the door, a Sony PS2 under one arm and four bags divided between his two hands.

Daniel shook his head and laughed.

"What's so funny? Hmm?" Darren looked at him with one eyebrow raised.

"I don't know..." Daniel shrugged and took a deep breath to steady himself. "You... all this... just struck me as funny... sorry."

"I should think so." Darren replied.

He looked over the sorting Daniel had done. Chang-Sun Pak, Patriarch. Chin Pak, father. Mi-Ju, mother. Hopefully Ronnie had given him the correct sizes. Then he sorted through the gifts, taking the shoes out of the boxes and arranging the boxes and gifts around the Christmas tree, placing a tag by each. Jong, the oldest boy at fourteen. Then the girls, Yun-Hee and Sun-Hy, twelve and nine respectively. And the youngest son, Jasen, seven. He smiled at that one. They'd been in America just ten years, and had apparently decided to give their youngest a more American name. PlayStation, games, Barbie dolls, puzzles, Lego's, and of course, a selection of Star Wars toys. And gift certificates in case his choices were unacceptable. He'd also been given a letter stating everything could be returned without a receipt. Unusual, but when he'd explained his need, the store manager had been completely understanding and given him the letter without hesitation.

He looked at Daniel then, excitement bright in his eyes.

"Oh! I almost forgot!"

Daniel chuckled again as Darren bolted out the door, returning a few moments later with a vase of three long-stemmed roses, ferns and Baby's Breath.

"Couldn't get matching roses this time of night, Darren?"

Darren frowned at Daniel. "I'll have you know there is a reason they don't match, Mr. Smarty Pants. But you'll have to wait until we get the family here before you get to hear it! Now, Ronnie will meet us at the shelter so we can bring the Paks here. You got the groceries, right?"

Daniel shifted uneasily.

"Didn't you? Daniel! You've had all this time! What happened?"

"The lights..."

"The lights? The tree lights? We rolled them separately, how could they have been a problem?"

"But--"

"Come on, Daniel. We're going to be late meeting Ronnie. You drive, I'll phone her on the way. Really," he sighed. "I don't know about you sometimes."

"What now, Darren?"

"This cold is drying out my lips. I need more chap stick." Darren frowned at the selection. Why couldn't places be more imaginative in their selection of chap stick? Sighing loudly, he picked up a package of mint chap stick. It was a few minutes after ten thirty. If they hurried, they could at least get the family into the apartment by midnight.

They had purchased rice, cereal, tea and gift certificates. They didn't have time for anything that might spoil, and no place to keep it fresh while they drove to the shelter. Daniel drove while Darren rubbed the chap stick over his lips.

Ronnie met them at the door. Darren introduced Daniel and Ronnie introduced them to the Paks. They nodded and shook hands. The Paks seemed a bit uncertain. Darren noticed the youngest boy had mismatched socks. He knelt down and smiled gently. Then he pulled a pair of socks from one of the bags he'd brought with him, and tennis shoes.

"Here you are, Jasen." Darren said softly. "Why don't you see if these fit you?"

Jasen's face brightened and he looked up at his parents with an excited smile. He took the shoes and socks with a shy "thank you", then sat down and began putting them on.

"Here are yours," Darren handed a pair to the youngest daughter, and then continued passing them out until everyone had socks and tennis shoes.

The grandfather nodded and talked quickly in his native language, smiling. The parents nodded, smiling, answering back in Korean. Then Mi-Ju looked up, blushing.

"Pardon. My father was just saying it was nice to feel as a boy again. He loves the shoes you chose."

Darren's grin widened. "Thank you."

"No, thank *you*," Chin said. "You don't even know us. Why?"

Darren blushed then. "You needed help. And I can. Do unto others and all that Um, if you don't mind, we'd like to take you to your new home? Ronnie told me what you were making before. I think you'll be able to afford it. It's only twenty dollars a month more, and I've paid the first six months' rent so you have time to get back on your feet. Ronnie, we can fit four more into our Blazer. Can you bring the other three in your car?"

"Sure. Lead the way."

Darren made sure to give her the address in case they got separated. The mother, Mi-Ju and the three youngest children rode with Darren and Daniel. Daniel envied Darren his ease with strangers as the singer chatted amicably with their passengers. He checked the time while they waited in a traffic jam. Eleven fifty-five. Why there was a traffic jam, he didn't know. As late as it was, why were there so many--'Of course. Traffic has been re-routed for the New Year's Eve celebration!' Daniel let his head fall to the steering wheel with a thump.

"Daniel? Something wrong?"

"Oh no, no," he replied, sighing inwardly. 'There's always next year.'

Finally traffic was moving again. Just as they arrived at the apartment complex, they saw the first sparkles of fireworks in the distance.

"Oh my. I'm sorry, Daniel." Darren said regretfully.

The guitarist heard the pain in his partner's voice, and smiled brightly. "No worries, Dazza. It's all in a good cause. Come on, let's get everyone inside."

Getting the few groceries out that they had purchased, Darren and Daniel preceded the family to the apartment, then opened the door and stood back to let them enter first. Gasps and squeals brought smiles to the faces of their benefactors.

"You did so much more than what I expected, Darren!" Ronnie said, amazed by the twinkling tree and all the gifts.

"Now that we're all here, I'd like to explain the roses, if I may? Does Grandfather understand me?" Darren asked.

"I'll translate for my father." Mi-Ju answered.

"The pink rose is for sympathy. I am very sorry for your loss. The yellow is for joy, which I hope I have brought to you in some small way. And the gold and copper blend is for friendship, which I am hoping we can become. Friends." Darren finished with a bashful smile.

After Mi-Ju finished the translation, Chang-Sun Pak walked over to Darren, smiled and nodded, saying something Darren didn't understand. Jong Pak translated.

"My grandfather said he'd be honored to name you as friend."

The older man hugged Darren, then grasped the singer's right hand with both of his and shook it firmly.

Ronnie said her goodbyes then, telling the family to call in the morning if they needed help getting any necessities. Darren explained where the grocery store was located after placing the groceries and food store gift certificates on the coffee table. Then he handed the various mall certificates to Mi-Ju also.

Darren and Daniel took their leave then, after many hugs and handshakes, both young men promising to come back at the end of the week for a home-cooked traditional Korean dinner.

"I'm sorry we missed New Year's, Danny."

Daniel put his arm around the older man's shoulder and pulled him close. "That's okay, Daz. We'll have other New Year's, won't we?"

"Oh, yeah." Darren agreed, nodding his head.

They entered their own apartment then and after closing the door, the two men kissed deeply. When they finally broke the kiss, Daniel spoke first.

"Do you think I should call Ben?"

Darren draped his arms around the guitarist's neck. "Nah I doubt he's in any condition to remember an apology." He licked the long throat, and sucked on Daniel's lower lip a moment. "Besides, I've been trying to think how I can make this up to you."

Daniel shivered as the singer nipped the soft curve of his neck and moaned softly. He pulled Darren close, slowly rubbing their groins together, feeling the heat build between them.

"And... have you... decided anything?"

"Mmm hmm... I got a few... other things... today..."

"Oh...?" The simple sound came out more a groan than a coherent question.

"Yeah... remember those leather cuffs you've been eyeing?"

Daniel shivered in response as Darren continued licking and sucking on the younger man's neck, his hands now under Daniel's shirt, caressing the soft skin above the waistband of his pants.

"I found something else, too... that looks like fun... peacock feathers... I got four I figure... if they don't do... what I want... we could make... a boa, or something... what say... we go find out?"

"Ohh... yeah... let's..."

They captured each other's lips in another heated kiss before locking the door and heading to the bedroom.