numb3rsflashfic | Hanukkah 1974 - Best Present Ever by Emma DeMarais (Challenge #4

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Title: Hanukkah 1974 - Best Present Ever (Part of the Hanukkah Series)
Pairing/Characters: Don, Charlie, Margaret, Alan
Rating/Category: NC17 (Default)
Spoilers: None
Summary: Little Donnie's Hanukkah gift came late but he loved it
Notes/Warnings: Read the disclaimer on my LJ

Little Donnie didn't get what he wanted for Hanukkah in 1974.

His present came late, as his mother explained to him it would.

He enjoyed his other presents, the wonderful food, and the lighting of the menorah.

He didn't play much with the dreidl his grandparents gave him though. Playing alone wasn't that much fun. His parents had promised him a little brother and he waited patiently for him to show up, always asking what was taking him so long.

His mother finally took him aside and put his hand on her belly, explaining that his baby brother was in there, and needed time to grow up before he could come out and play.

Donnie was fascinated. His brother was already here in the house with him. He just had to be patient and wait.

For a little boy, patience is so hard, especially for a lonely boy who desperately wanted to have someone to share his world with.

On the last day of Hanukkah, Margaret noticed a haphazardly wrapped gift that could only have been from her little boy's hands.

"What's this, Donnie?"

"It's for my brother," he answered simply.

Margaret smiled and together they found a special place to keep it in the baby's room until he was ready to open it himself.

+

Winter turned to Spring and Donnie watched his mother grow bigger week by week. He helped his father get the nursery ready, already preparing for his new role as big brother.

Shyly, he'd ask his mother's permission to put his hand on her belly and grinned madly whenever he was lucky enough to feel his brother kicking.

"That's my brother in there," he'd say proudly.

"Yes, Donnie," his mother would say with a smile. "He's your brother."

'Mine', he would think to himself.

Donnie woke one morning to find his grandmother sitting by his bed. As he rubbed his bleary eyes, she explained that his parents had to leave in the middle of the night and didn't want to wake him. His eyes popped open when she told him they were going to bring his baby brother home with them.

Beyond excited, he practically leapt out of bed, busying himself with cleaning his room and carefully arranging the toys in his brother's room for his arrival.

He had to wait a long time before they finally came home, but his enthusiasm never wavered.

When his mother walked through the door with a bundle in her arms, he bounced on the balls of his feet in excitement, impatient to see his new brother for the first time.

"Donnie," his mother said soothingly. "Come and sit down on the couch and be still a moment. You have to be careful with the baby, do you understand?"

Donnie nodded solemnly, remembering the lecture his father had given him on how to keep the baby safe. He knew he could do that. He'd never let anything happen to his baby brother.

He sat on the couch obediently and waited. His mother walked over to him and helped arrange the bundle in his arms.

"This is your baby brother, Donnie. His name is Charlie."

"Charlie..." he murmured, looking down at the tiny face. Charlie's eyes fluttered open as he yawned and Don saw his brother looking back at him for the first time.

"Hi there," he said quietly. "I'm your big brother, Donnie."

Little Charlie wriggled and broke free of his swaddling with one arm, reaching out.

Donnie put his hand out and let his brother grab hold of his finger. A rush of affection filled him and he looked over at his mother with a huge smile.

"This is the best present ever!"

+

As other family members arrived, Donnie patiently waited to hold the baby again. He watched as each person took their turn, making sure they all held him the right way, just like his father had taught him. Finally, once everyone else had gone home, Donnie ran to the special hiding place in the nursery and brought out the one remaining Hanukkah gift.

He brought it to his mother, eyes questioning.

"It's not Hanukkah yet, Donnie. Don't you want to wait to give it to Charlie later?"

Donnie shook his head decisively. "Charlie was here for Hanukkah, he just couldn't open presents yet. Besides," he explained with the logic of a child, "it's his birthday. He should get a present."

Not willing to crush her son's hopes by explaining the baby's inability to open presents, she merely suggested he help Charlie open it.

Gently, and with a patience Margaret didn't know he had, Donnie guided little Charlie's hands through each step of opening the gift.

Margaret gasped when the object wrapped inside tumbled out. It was Donnie's favorite blanket, the one he'd had since he was born. Although he'd grown too old for a security blanket, it still had held a place of honor with his favorite stuffed animals, at least until Donnie wrapped it up to give to his brother.

"That's a very thoughtful gift, Donnie."

"He's just a little boy," Donnie said knowingly. "He needs it more than I do now."

Margaret smiled and looked up at Alan, tears of joy welling up in her eyes.

"Come sit on the couch, Donnie," Alan said, taking the baby and the blanket from Margaret. As Donnie settled himself in, Alan unwrapped Charlie and wrapped him back up in Donnie's blanket. He laid Charlie in Donnie's arms, marveling at how careful his son was, holding the baby just like they'd practiced ahead of time.

Margaret came up silently behind him with the camera and they stood happily watching their sons together.

Little Charlie wriggled his way out of the blanket again and reached a hand up to his brother's face, his tiny fingers grazing Donnie's chin before closing around the finger offered to him.

"Just wait," Donnie said softly. "You'll grow up and we'll play pirates and cops and robbers together and everything. We'll build forts and ride bikes... I just have to wait for you to get bigger. I can do that."

Little Charlie let out a squeal of delight and Don beamed.

Keeping his voice low enough that his parents couldn't hear, he whispered, "I promised Dad I'd be a good big brother to you. I said I'd look out for you and keep you safe and I will."

When Charlie let go of his finger, he shifted the baby to his shoulder so he could hug him with his little arms. "I love you, Charlie."

+

Don has a photograph of that moment he keeps in his bureau. He looks at it often before he goes to work and remembers why the need to protect is so strong in him.

Charlie has a copy of the photograph in his desk at home. He never tires of hearing the story of his first birthday present - a present that sits in his bottom drawer, tucked away but never forgotten.

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