00090. Christmas!

The night before Christmas, Ezekiel and his clones moved through the base. They worked in teams and carted around tons of wrapped presents for all the people currently living in the base. Over the past few months Ezekiel had spent his time finding out what everyone liked. Whether it was clothes, movies, games, guns, or anything else.

He compiled a massive list and with the help of his clones he went about ordering at least five gifts for each person in the base. Once he collected everything, he spent a couple days with his clones wrapping each present and tagging them for each person. Then he stored them in his training room till it was time to deliver them all.

Ezekiel and his clones finished while the whole base was still pretty much asleep. Besides dropping off presents to everyone's rooms. They even decorated the cafeteria for the event and set up a large Christmas tree. Underneath the tree was a single present for each person in the base and anyone who visited it often. Even Fury had a present.

Next to the tree was a banner that read, 'Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!'

vvvvv

1999 Saturday Dec 25th

Theo awoke earlier than normal and started getting ready for the day. It was Christmas and his family had the whole day planned. But first he needed to wake up his sister and his little brother.

If he was being honest, he didn't need to do anything. His parents would take care of it. But he loved his family and enjoyed helping them out. So he would always get up early to help wake up his siblings.

As Theo was getting ready, he shook his head as he looked at his clothing choices. He had already asked if he could pick out his clothes the next time he grew out of what he currently wore. His parents said they would let him help next time. But they didn't agree to him outright picking his own clothes unfortunately.

As Theo finished dressing in a blue t-shirt with some cartoon styled cars on it. He headed upstairs to deal with his sister and little brother. While his little brother wouldn't be an issue. Milly didn't like to wake up. Actually sleeping was number two on her list of favorite things, so it made sense. If you have to ask what number one is, you didn't know Milly at all.

Theo entered the room his siblings shared and went towards the dressers. He removed a set of clothes for his little brother first. Then found a set of clothes for Milly to wear. He laid them out next to each of their sleeping areas. Then he moved towards Milly.

She was sprawled out on her bed, blanket thrown to the side. Her head no longer on her pillow, with one leg hanging off the bed. Theo shook his head as he pushed her leg back into the bed. He then picked up her pillow and placed it on the floor with a few of her larger stuffed animals.

He poked her a few times to make sure she was fully asleep before he stepped back. He chanted lightly under his breath and waved one of his hands at his sister. After a few moments she slowly moved a little. He moved his hand a little more and she rolled slightly. He put a little more effort into the spell and she rolled off the bed completely. Theo canceled the spell as Milly fell.

Milly dropped a couple feet onto her landing pad and let out a grunt. After about ten seconds, Milly sat up. After she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. She glanced around before she focused on Theo and asked, "What happened?"

"You fell out of bed."

Milly looked down, then up at her bed. She looked back at Theo as she asked, "Why'd I land on my pillow and toys?"

"I tossed them down there just in case, while I picked out your clothes." Theo gave his sweetest smile as he finished.

Milly glanced down one more time before she said, "You da best Te-o."

Theo sweat dropped before he said, "I know. Now start getting changed while I wake up the little guy." Theo quickly turned to look at his little brother as he finished.

His little brother Isaac was still fast asleep. So Theo carefully checked to make sure his diaper was fine. If it wasn't, he would have to go get one of his parents. While he could probably change the diaper himself. He didn't plan to do that at all, that type of stuff was above his pay grade.

As Theo checked Isaac, it looked like he was changed sometime in the night, his diaper was still fresh. Theo then carefully dressed his little brother. Like Milly, his little brother slept like a log. So even though he was cautious, he didn't need to be. Once both his siblings were dressed, Theo helped Milly clean up her toys on the ground and make her bed.

After they finished, Theo headed downstairs followed by Milly. They would have brought their brother, but he was still sleeping. Plus Theo could only really hold him properly, it was awkward trying to carry him. Let alone carry him down the stairs. Actually Theo could easily do it, but he had to keep up appearances around his family.

Theo spent the next half an hour watching Milly as she played the video game he was working on. It was pretty much done at this point. But he still wanted to play test it more. Plus he needed to figure out how he was going to release it. Maybe he would just make a website for it.

His overall plan was to sell it to himself. Well the company he was making for his social media platforms. It appeared on paper, but at some point he should make it real. Heck he even owned property for it in Brooklyn. Maybe once the building was done, he would look into making it a real company.

At some point their parents woke up and came downstairs with their younger brother. Daniel stopped by Theo and gave him a kiss on the cheek before she said, "Thanks for getting Milly up and dressing Isaac. You're always such a big help. Your father and I appreciate it a lot, sweetie."

Theo smiled up at his mom as he said, "I'm just glad I can help."

Jacob spoke up from the kitchen as he said, "Theo, can you get Milly off the computer. We are heading to your aunt's in a few minutes for breakfast."

Theo looked up at his mom and hesitantly asked, "Pancakes?"

Daniel smiled in response with a slight nod of her head. Theo immediately moved next to Milly as he said, "You heard dad, we are going to Aunt May's."

"But I wanna finish my new house."

Theo hit the exit button to pause the game and looked right at Milly as he said, "Pancakes are more important."

"But…"

"Listen to me Milly, pan…Cakes."

Milly seemed to freeze for a moment as she realized what Theo said, before she asked, "We're eating cake for breakfast?"

Theo nodded as he said, "Pancakes."

Milly instantly saved the game and turned it off. She then jumped out of her chair as she said, "Let's go!"

Daniel chuckled as she watched her kids, before she said, "Alright, we'll leave in a few minutes. Go put on your shoes as we wait for your father."

Milly raced to the door and hurriedly tossed on her shoes as Theo took his time. By the time he was finished, Jacob came out of the kitchen. In his hand was a steaming cup of coffee. He traded the coffee to Daniel and took Isaac from her. Then the family left the house and went to May's.

The whole family was there, including Peter and his parents. As they sat down to eat, Milly asked, "Where's the cake?"

Everyone turned to look at Milly as Daniel said, "Theo might have told her we were having pan… Cakes for breakfast."

Some people chuckled as May placed a couple of fluffy golden brown pancakes on Milly's plate. Milly studied them for a few moments before she said, "This doesn't look like cake."

Theo had a couple placed down on his plate as he said, "Because they are pancakes. Not, birthday cake."

Milly looked over at Theo, like he had just ruined her whole day. Theo gave her a bright smile as he said, "If you don't want your pancakes, I'll eat them." Before he poured warm syrup over his own pancakes.

Milly watched as he took his first bite and his face went euphoric as he chewed. As she watched, her father put some syrup on her own pancakes. Before he poked her cheek as he said, "Just give them a try. They're your brother's favorite food for a reason."

Milly stared at Theo a few moments longer before she reluctantly stabbed her own food. She eyed the plain looking food for a moment longer before she put it in her mouth. A moment later her eyes lit up and she stared in wonder at her food.

It didn't look like any cake she'd ever eaten or seen. And Milly had seen a lot of cakes. One of her favorite things to do at the grocery store was to look at the cakes on display in the bakery. She would check them every time she went shopping with her parents.

But the thing in front of her now, this pancake. It was definitely not a cake. It might be light and fluffy like a cake was, but it didn't taste sweet like a normal cake. But that didn't stop it from being delicious when covered in syrup.

Milly looked back at Theo, he had already finished over half his food. She was so lost in thought about this new food that she had stopped eating. She glanced back at her food. The plain brown things weren't real cakes, the ones she loved. But they tasted good enough. Milly decided then and there that pancakes were a good substitute when she couldn't have real cake.

The rest of breakfast went smoothly as the family talked quietly and just enjoyed each other's company. After breakfast everyone gathered in the living room to open presents. Milly was the most excited of the kids, while Theo and Peter just waited patiently.

Most of the presents were pretty normal. Some clothes, toys and even a couple of books for Theo. The last presents for the kids were big boxes, all the same size.

Peter, Milly and Theo had to open them at the same time. As Theo pulled off the snowman styled wrapping paper he paused. He looked at the box and was confused for a few moments. Then looked at Milly and Peter and saw they were given the same thing.

Each of them was given a brand new computer. Theo's brain shut off for a few moments, he wasn't really sure why this happened. As he was stunned into silence, his father patted him on the shoulder as he said, "Hope you like it. We know you were talking about making your game playable with multiple people. We figured you would need more than one computer for that to happen."

"We have the spare bedroom upstairs setup for you already. That way all of you can work and play on the game when I watch you." May finished with a smile.

Theo looked at his excited sister and Peter. He then turned to his parents and extended family and said, "Thank you, everyone. This will help out a lot."

The next couple hours was spent setting up the three computers in the spare bedroom. Peter's dad Richard had some experience with setting up networks. So he was able to hook all three computers up to a small switch. Once finished, Theo loaded the game code and software up to each computer.

The rest of the day was spent hanging out with the whole family. Some light snacks were had for lunch as May and Jacob cooked a massive dinner for everyone. After dinner they settled down to enjoy each other's company and play some family games. Mostly card and board games. Consisting of teams with one kid and two adult partners.