Eric's Pov:

We pulled up and parked in Delilah's driveway. Steven grabbed the bag of gifts from us and as usual walked in without bothering to knock.

"Uncle Stevie!" The twin cutie pies screamed running down the stairs and throwing themselves at him. He scooped both of them up and bounced them around.

"How are my little princesses? I know y'all have been super good so I bet Santa brought you guys all kinds of things." He cooed smiling when they nodded excitedly.

One of them looked and me and squirmed to get down. She came over and tugged on my hand. "Hi are you Uncle Stevie's boyfriend? Cause my daddy said his boyfriend was coming but we supposed to keep it a secret cause we're gonna surprise mommy with the happy news when school lets out for summer."

"I... Ughh Steven? A little help here?"

He laughed and dropped down to his knees so he was level with the girls. "Sasha, Kimmie this is Eric and yes he's my boyfriend but your daddy is right. We need to keep it quiet so we can surprise mama. You girls can do that right?"

They nodded and each one grabbed my hand. "Are you gonna be our uncle too?" Kimmie whispered.

"Umm well ahhh, How about we wait for that until we surprise your mom. Until then I can be your friend."

Sasha giggled. "You're too big to be our friend but we'll make a seption since you're Uncle Stevie's boyfriend."

"Shhh Sasha we're just apposed to say he's his friend. Member it's a secret." Kimmie whisper yelled.

I laughed as Sasha rolled her eyes and crossed her little arms. "Yeah but mama said the other day that they were boyfriends and that's why she invited him so how can we surprise her if she already knows."

Steven ruffled her hair. "Well she thinks that we like each other but isn't sure that's how we're going to surprise her. But we cant pull it off with out you guys cause you're just too awesome."

She giggled and pulled her sister down the hall to the living room. Steven gave me a quick kiss and grabbed my hand to lead me after the girls.

"Mama Uncle Stevie is here with his friend Eric" Kimmie said

"Yep his friend that isn't his boyfriend even though he's a boy." Sasha added.

I sighed and dropped Steven's hand as we walked in to the room.

"It's gonna be a long night." Steven muttered.

Delilah jumped up and rushed over to pull us both into a hug. "Merry Christmas guys! I'm so glad you made it!"

"Oh hell did you bust out with the loaded eggnog already?" Steven teased. Patrick did an exaggerated nod behind her back and mimed chugging a drink.

Delilah rolled her eyes and swatted Steven chest playfully. "Behave brat or I'll tell Eric all about how you used to suck your thumb and that time in the fourth grade when you woke up from a wet dream and-"

"Pat get a muzzle on your big mouthed wife!" Eric whined mock glaring at her.

"Yeah and after you tell him about that. I'll tell him about the time you tried to dye your hair blond but it turned green. Then how your prom dress got suspicious grass stains on the back. Or how you broke your arm in college because you fell out of a second story window after beer bonging a bottle of Aftershock." He shot back with a grin.

She snorted "Then I'll tell him about how you cried when you watched Bambi." She retaliated

Steven blushed and rolled his eyes. "Big deal all kids cry when they watch that movie. The hunter killed Bambi's mom and he was all alone."

She laughed and looked at me. "Yeah little kids cry not 13 year olds."

I busted out laughing. "Oh my god you're so lame!"

He laughed and slung his arm over my shoulder. "Like you don't have any retarded childhood memories? Hell you still go all incoherent when you get nervous. I can just imagine how you were when you were little."

"Um John dared me to eat dog food when we were like five and I choked on it. KT punched me in the throat really hard to get it out but obviously that didn't help. Thankfully our butler gave me the Heimlich which caused me to spit it out in Daniel's mouth. He cried and I gave KT a wedge. Then when we were like seven I was walking on top of the monkey bars and fell down busting my balls on the metal bar. KT had me convinced my junk was gonna fall off and I'd turn into a girl. That's about it though, otherwise it was all pretty boring until we hit middle school."

Patrick laughed and shook his head. "Am I the only one that was normal when I was little?"

"Normal is lame! Besides your mom told me that you peed the bed until you were nine so you never had a sleep over until you were in junior high cause you were scared to have an accident." Delilah teased.

"Well you pissed your pants when we went on safari before the girls were born because one of the animals scared you." He shot back with a smirk.

"Ewww mommy you peed on yourself when you were grown up?" Kimmie gasped.

Steven smirked and nodded. "She still does but she wears old lady diapers. Shh don't tell anybody."

"How about we go eat before uncle Steven and daddy get beat up by mama?" Delilah teased walking into the dining room with the kids.

"Ya know I like Delilah even more when we're not at school. I like her smart ass."

"Not better then mine I hope." Steven whispered nibbling on my ear before we rounded the corner into the dining room.

I pulled away and put a foot of space between us. "You better behave or you're gonna get busted." I warned.

He shrugged and laced his fingers through mine to pull me through the doorway.

"STOP!" Delilah screamed pointing a finger over our heads.

I tilted my head back and looked at the ceiling. "Why the hell do you have weeds tied with ribbon hanging in your doorway?" I asked still looking at them.

Steven groaned, Patrick laughed, the girls giggled and Delilah heaved an impatient sigh.

"Damn boy, that's mistletoe and you know the rules."

"Is that supposed to mean something to me?" I asked totally lost finally looking back at everyone.

"I don't think that's a good idea Del." Steven said looking like he wanted to laugh.

She pointed back at the weeds above us and glared at him. "Look here jack ass. I put that shit up specifically for you two idiots. So just kisses your secret boyfriend that cant be your boyfriend until after graduation."

Patrick laughed and nodded. "It's the perfect loophole. You two just happened to be standing under the kissing plant so your noisy sister can actually see y'all kiss without it being anything more then holiday tradition."

I snorted. "Ahh I get it. More of the 'I think I know something that I'm not supposed to know but have no real proof so I can play stupid' plan right? Jeez why don't you just pinkie promise to keep a secret and we'll be real with you?" I asked rolling my eyes.

"Why not put those lips to better use then back talking your Dean?" She drawled with a lazy smile.

"By kissing the Dean's brother in her house? Are you sure you're not trying to get some dirt on me so you can finally expel me?" I teased.

She snorted. "Like I couldn't have done that ages ago if I'd really wanted to."

Steven rolled his eyes. "Del Eric and I are dating and I know you're trying to stay neutral by not actually knowing but cut the crap it's obvious that you know. Besides this was a little over the top just so you could get your pervy fan girl on by watching me kiss a boy."

I swatted his arm. "Don't pick on your sister."

"I wasn't. What she can poke, prod and tease the hell out of me and you but I can't pay her back?" He grumbled.

I looked back at Del and she crossed her arms. "You're a butt head Steven Gregory Becker. Everyone else gets to see how adorable Eric and you are together but just because of my job I cant and I know that before I said I couldn't know and truthfully I shouldn't but come on guys! I wanna see my bubba happy." She pouted and batted her lashes at me.

"He was just messing with you. We're not dating cause that could get everyone in trouble. Nope we are platonic friends and since this is your house and you hung the crap up there it's only fair we go along with the holiday kissing festivities." I said grinning when she clapped her hands.

Patrick laughed and Steven smirked.

"Give me a holiday kiss baby." he whispered pulling me to him and sealing my lips to his. It started slow and sweet but built up until it was a full on hot kiss.

I pulled away breathless and laughed at the smug look Steven had.

"That was one hell of a platonic kiss." He murmured pulling me to the table and to the seat next to him.

We served our plates and the girls thanked us for their gifts which they had opened while we were all joking around about our childhoods. Delilah said it wasn't necessary that I got the girls anything but it was really sweet and thank you.

Patrick and Steven discussed his upcoming trip and went over some of the things Steven was thinking about for the renovations he had in mind. While the girls talked to each other about all their gifts and wishing everyday could be Christmas.

Delilah shot a look at Steven and nodded her head to the side for me to follow her out. I made sure the guys were still busy discussing work and slid out of my seat and followed her into the kitchen.

She was at the island cutting up slices of cake and putting them on plates.

"Umm you wanted to talk to me?" I asked walking over to the opposite side of the island.

She looked up and smiled. "Okay soooo I just wanted to say welcome to the family and thanks for making Steven so happy."

"I thought we talked about us being platonic an-" I trailed off when she waved her hand and walked around to stand in front of me.

"Look honestly I hate lying but I hate being out of the loop even more. You and Steven being together could get him fired, you expelled and me fired if it became known that I knew and did nothing to fix what the school would consider a problem."

My mouth dropped open. "Is this where you tell me to stay away from your brother?"

She slapped my arm and rolled her eyes. "No Eric, I pulled you in here to say that I'm glad you two are happy and I'm happy for y'all and I know I've made it kind of obvious to us, as in the family that I know because duh I'm not stupid but to the outside world I cant know. Us having this little conversation in here is so I can tell you that you two have my full support and I'll do my best to keep everything under-wraps. It also gives Steven plausible deniablilty if the shit hits the fan. And whatever conversation I have with him will be in private to ensure you have plausible deniability."

"Couldn't you just talk to us both then tell us to keep our traps shut?"

She rolled her eyes. "No because I have different things to say to each of you. From now on I need you to make sure that when you're at school you and Steven act appropriately. I'm not saying that to be an asshole. Steven getting fired isn't that big a deal but you need to graduate and I'd hate to see anything ruin that. So no more lunchtime treats for the both of you got it?"

I laughed and felt a blush work it's way up. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

She rolled her eyes then shot a quick look into the other room. "Okay I know I'm being a total nosy ass and you don't have to answer this but I gotta ask. This thing between you and him, it's serious right? You're not just toying with each other right? I mean you wouldn't take this huge of a risk unless you really cared about him right?"

I looked over my shoulder and smiled as I watched him play with his nieces. "Yeah it is, I... I really care about him and I'm not just playing with him. It's real."

She grinned and gave me a quick hug. "Like I said, welcome to the family Eric. I'll expect you to join us once a week for family dinners. No more blowing me off. Now help me get this cake out to everyone."