Having left the sleigh behind, the trio followed Larry, the young elf who they discovered through Gus' inquisition, wasn't so young at one hundred seventy-two years old. He took them on a brief tour of the reindeer's habitat, then into the gift wrapping area, and from there into the workshop.

Justin and Gus were fascinated with everything. Brian was hoping he would remember it all when he woke up. Maybe he could use this in some upcoming ad campaigns.

After leaving the workshop, Larry escorted them into Research and Development. The room was filled with drafting tables, light tables, and easels. There were paints of the most vivid, extraordinary colors. Brian turned to find Justin and Gus both had stopped and were staring in awe at the elves hard at work with the materials surrounding them.

"Oh no you two. We are not staying here." Brian turned to Larry. "Where is this person you said would tell us what was going on?"

"Is there a problem?" came a voice from behind them.

They turned to find another elf approaching, an aura of authority surrounding him.

"Who are you?" Brian asked.

"I'm Bernard," the elf said. He turned to Justin. "It's been a long time since we've had a Santa so young. Come on. I'll show you to your new home. You can change into something that will fit better, at least for now." Bernard smiled knowingly.

"Um... I'm not Santa; my name is Justin. Justin Taylor."

"As of tonight, you're Santa. Who are your friends?" Bernard asked, looking to Brian and Gus.

"This is my partner, Brian Kinney and our son, Gus. And I'm telling you, Bernard, I'm not Santa!" Justin answered determined to make the elf understand.

Bernard looked Justin in the eye and said, "You're wearing the suit aren't you?"

Justin looked down at his baggy clothing. "Obviously."

"The other Santa vanished, right?" Bernard continued.

"Yes," Justin answered warily.

"You read the card, right?" Bernard prompted with a smile and turned to show them the way to Justin's new home.

"No," Justin responded causing Bernard to stumble to a stop in mid-turn.

A hush fell over the room and Brian's stomach flipped. He was certain that this was where everything was going to start downhill - rapidly. No one spoke or made a sound for a full minute.

"You didn't read the card?" Bernard asked breaking the silence.

"No."

"Dad read the card." Gus spoke up before Brian could stop him.

"Wait... you read the card?" Bernard pointed to Brian as he spoke.

Brian rolled his eyes when he responded. "Yeah, I read the card."

"Then why didn't you put the suit on?"

"You're joking, right?" Brian frowned at the elf. He eyed Bernard up and down taking in the elf's colorful outfit.

"Dad only wears clothes from the top designers. Dad II isn't so picky." Gus laughed and Bernard smiled at the youngster.

Another elf approached having overheard the conversation along with every other elf in the room.

"Who delivered the gifts?" the new elf asked.

"I did most of it." Justin wrinkled his nose thinking maybe he had done something wrong.

"Most of it?" the elf asked perplexed by the reply.

"Who are you?" Brian interrupted.

"Quentin. I'm head of Research and Development," he responded to Brian then turned to Justin once again. "What do you mean by 'most of it'?"

"Dad II took us with him a few times. It was awesome!" Gus answered, bouncing on his toes.

Bernard turned to Quentin and demanded, "How is that possible? If he didn't read the card then the suit shouldn't have worked for him... unless..."

Both Quentin and Bernard nodded knowingly. Whispers from the other elves began to fill the room.

"Unless what?" Justin and Brian asked simultaneously.

Quentin turned back to his workers and shouted, "Bring me the Santa meter."

A petite female elf dressed in red scurried over with a device about the size of a cellphone. She handed it to Quentin who accepted it and with a great deal of anticipation, pointed the device at Justin. He pressed a button and the device immediately began playing 'Santa Claus Is Coming To Town.'

'Ooh's' and 'Ahh's' filled the room.

"What does that mean?" Justin asked guardedly.

Bernard gazed at Justin, amazed. "It means you're a very rare individual... you're a true believer. It's extremely rare to find a grownup who still believes in Santa."

"Grownup." Brian smirked.

Justin blushed and playfully swatted Brian on the arm.

"What are we going to do?" Quentin swung the meter away from Justin, inadvertently pointing it at Brian. The device once again began playing 'Santa Clause Is Coming To Town.'

"What the... point that thing somewhere else," Brian demanded with a growl. He attempted to grab the device, but Quentin stepped out of reach.

"Wow, Dad!" Gus jumped up and down.

"Brian?" Justin smirked at his frowning partner.

"Unbelievable! Two true believers!" Quentin shouted. Shouts of excitement filled the room.

"There must be something wrong with it," Brian said self-consciously, shrugging his shoulders and shaking his head.

Recognizing Brian's discomfort at the revelation that he, too, believes in Santa Claus, Justin wrapped his arms around him, rose up on tiptoe and planted a soft kiss to the side of Brian's mouth.

"It's alright, your secret is safe with us," he whispered.

Brian wrapped his arms around his partner and gave him a proper kiss. The room filled with ahh's once again plus a few sighs added in here and there.

"They do that a lot. Dad's always kissing Dad II," Gus explained with a smirk worthy of his dad, but with an added sparkle in his eye.

"Well, that's good to know." Bernard tussled Gus' hair and grinned.

"I have a question," Quentin said to Gus. "Why do you call him Dad, too? Doesn't it get confusing?"

"Not at all. Besides, he doesn't look like a 'Pop' and I'm too old to call him 'Daddy.' Since he's my dad," Gus took hold of Brian's hand, "and Justin is also my dad, I decided to call him Dad II. I bet I'm the only kid with a Dad and a Dad II."

"Makes sense to me," Bernard stated and Quentin nodded in agreement. "Now let's get you to your quarters. You'll need to rest for the trip back tomorrow morning. Then you both will have eleven months to get your affairs in order. You have to be back here by Thanksgiving."

Brian opened his mouth to object. Justin stopped him with a touch to his cheek.

"Let's wait 'til we get home tomorrow. Then we'll figure out what's going on." He glanced at Gus.

Brian followed his partner's gaze and noticed that Gus was beginning to wind down from all the excitement. He nodded in agreement and followed with his family behind Bernard.

~*~*~*~

Gus bounded into his dads' bedroom bright and early Christmas morning and climbed onto the foot of the massive king size bed. For a few seconds he contemplated jumping up and down like he had when he was younger, but decided he was too old for that kind of behavior. He watched closely as he noticed movement.

Justin woke slowly. The first thing he noticed was Brian had him pinned to the bed, his head in the middle of Justin's chest with one leg wedged between his. Brian's arm was wrapped around Justin, his hand tucked snuggly under his left shoulder.

The second thing Justin noticed as he blinked his vision into focus, which he was certain was happening one eyelash at a time, was movement. The bed was moving. Not in any kind of horrible morning-after-a-long-night-at-Babylon-hangover-nauseating manner, just a gentle bounce, like someone bouncing on the bed without trying to disturb the occupants - too much.

Justin raised his head slightly so he could see over Brian. Gus smiled brightly and waved.

"You're bouncing again, Gus. You've been doing that a lot lately," Justin said groggily.

"There's just been so many exciting things happening lately, Dad II." Gus' smile brightened more than Justin thought possible.

The chuckle Justin gave at his son's response stirred Brian from his peaceful slumber causing him to groan. Justin snickered at the feeling of something wet on his chest. It wasn't the usual wetness that occurred when he and Brian were in bed. Brian had actually drooled on him in his sleep.

"Jesus, Brian. I never knew you could drool that much."

Brian mumbled something that sounded vaguely like 'fuck off' but Justin wasn't sure. He rubbed his hand up and down Brian's bare back in reply.

Gus stood up and walked to the head of the bed, careful not to step on either of his dads, and snagged a couple of tissues from the box on the beside table. He handed them to Justin before moving back to his previous position.

"What the hell?" Brian's head rose with a jerk having felt someone walking behind him on the bed.

"Thank you, Gus." Justin accepted the tissues and began to wipe up the drool on his chest.

"Gus, what are you doing in here?" Brian looked at his son and gave a quick swipe to his mouth with the corner of the sheet. He looked back at Justin with a smirk. "You must be lactating, Sunshine."

"You shit!" Justin laughed at Brian's refusal to admit he drools in his sleep.

"Daaad! It's Christmas morning. We have to go see what Santa left under the tree."

Images flashed in Brian's mind - Santa Claus in their living room - on the roof with Justin and Gus - Justin dressed like Santa - a sleigh with reindeer - a workshop full of toys - and elves - a lot of elves. He shook his head.

"Well, I guess we better get up, Sunshine, or else our son will be bouncing off the walls." Brian pressed a brief kiss to Justin's lips.

Justin grabbed the back of Brian's head, bringing him in for a slightly longer, deeper kiss; one that made Brian wish they could stay in bed a bit longer.

Gus jumped off the bed, grabbed his dads' robes and flung them at the bed on his way out of the room with a shout of 'hurry up.'

~*~*~*~

Walking into the living room with his partner felt almost dreamlike to Brian. Gus was at the tree admiring his new ice skates; a hockey stick stood propped against the table next to the boy. He wondered silently if Justin had bought them and put them under the tree sometime during the night. Somehow that didn't seem possible. The alternative was even more annoying though.

Gus heard his fathers approach and put his new skates aside along with the hockey stick. He reached under the tree and began passing out the gifts, leaving the presents for the rest of the family to be opened when everyone arrived later.

It didn't take long for all the gifts to be opened. Gus reached under the tree for one last gift. He knew Santa wanted this particular gift to be opened last. He handed the small box to Justin.

"Santa must have left it last night... before he went away," Gus said softly.

Justin examined the box closely. It looked familiar, but couldn't be what he thought. He and Brian had agreed upon his return from New York that they weren't ready for this step yet.

"Brian?" Justin looked at his partner, bemused.

"What is it, Sunshine?" Brian looked up from the book Gus had given him about his favorite photographer.

"Didn't you put this in the safe deposit at the bank?" Justin held up the box.

"What the..." Brian nearly stammered, recognizing the little black box. "Where did you find that?"

"It was under the tree, Dad. The tag says it's to Dad & Dad II from Santa."

Justin opened the box, his hands shaking. Inside he found their wedding rings.

Brian moved closer to his partner, looking over Justin's shoulder. He couldn't believe his eyes. The box did hold their wedding rings. Brian knew it wasn't possible, knew that neither of them had been to the bank for anything more than making a deposit. He reached over and took the box from Justin's shaking hand.

"What do you remember about last night, Justin?" Brian asked in a rough whisper.

Justin swallowed hard. He knew what took place the night before, but was his partner willing to believe it.

"It really happened... didn't it?" Brian's gaze moved from the rings in his hand to the spot in front of the fireplace where he had knelt next to a body.

"It really happened," Justin whispered.

"Dad? Dad II?" Gus slowly moved closer. "Is everything all right?"

Brian removed the smaller ring from the box. He looked Justin in the eye as he slipped it on Justin's left ring finger. Then he removed the remaining ring. Handing it to Justin, Brian raised his left hand. A tear slipped down Justin's cheek as he slipped the ring on Brian's hand, never once looking away from the man he loved.

"Everything is more than all right, Gus. Everything's perfect." Brian leaned forward and kissed Justin deeply.

After a moment Gus cleared his throat; his fathers parted briefly before touching foreheads.

"I have a question." Gus watched his dads to be sure they were paying attention.

"What is it, Gus?" Justin asked.

"Which one of you is the real Santa?"

Meanwhile at the North Pole...

Quentin entered the conservatory. Bernard always went to the conservatory when he needed to think. He found him staring up at the stars through the glass roof.

"Which one is really Santa?" Quentin asked his fellow elf.

"We'll know once the change starts," Bernard replied.

Quentin winced. After watching the two men the previous night, he figured if it was Brian, the man's reaction would probably be heard at the North Pole... without benefit of elf magic.