"Phil, get your lazy ass up." Dan shook me slightly.
My only response was a groan.
"Am I going to have to pull the covers off of you?"
As soon as I heard this, I found myself instinctively holding onto the covers as if my life depended on it.
"Oh, so you are awake." My eyes didn't need to be open to know that Dan had a smirk on his face at that moment. "That's nice to know."
I ignored him as I buried my head into my pillow.
"Phillip, I will not hesitate to pull those covers off."
"You don't want to do that. I'm just wearing boxers and socks."
"That's not really helping your case. In fact, that's only making me want to pull the covers off even more now."
I groaned again. "Five more minutes." I begged.
Dan sighed. "I'll only give you five more minutes if you promise me that you'll get out of bed when said five minutes are up."
"I pinkie promise." I held up my right pinkie.
"You better not break a pinkie promise." I felt Dan's pinkie wrap around mine as he said this.
"I won't." I moved my head from the pillow so that it wasn't muffled anymore to make sure that Dan knew that I was serious.
"Okay, either Ellie or I will be back in exactly five minutes to wake you up."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever." I sighed, wishing to spend the next five minutes in peace. "Just let me sleep in peace, would you pretty please?"
"As you wish." Dan laughed a little as he ruffled my hair.

*****

"Phil? Are you awake now? Dan sent me to come and tell you that your five minutes are up."
I yawned as I sat up and rubbed sleep out of my eyes. "Yeah, I'm awake now. You can go and tell Dan so that he doesn't come up here and literally yank me out of bed."
Ellie laughed a little. "Okay, I'll go tell him."
I watched as she turned and headed back downstairs. After she got out of the room, I closed the door behind her and locked it so that she and/or Dan wouldn't come in. I then went over to my closet and began looking at my clothes to see what I wanted to wear today.

"Gee, what a surprise." I laughed a little as I walked out into the kitchen after I finished getting dressed to find that Dan and Ellie were sitting at the table eating a huge plate of bacon together. "You know, I thought that I was only ever gonna live with one person who was obsessed with bacon."
"Oh come on Phil, you're no fun." Dan said to me while his mouth was filled with bacon. "Bacon is amazing. You're really missing out."
"But doesn't me not really liking bacon mean that there's more for you to enjoy?"
Dan's face lit up almost as soon as I said this. "It does! You're totally right! I'm now literally so glad that you don't like bacon that much!"
Ellie laughed as she picked up another piece of bacon. "Dan, you're funny. But you aren't as funny as Phil is. Phil made me laugh so hard while we were out yesterday."
I couldn't help but laugh.
"Now, that's not true." Dan smiled a bit. "I'm just as funny as Phil is. If not that, I'm funnier than he is."
"Prove it then!" Ellie smiled.
"I will later. Just not right now."
"Dan, you're so lazy." I rolled my eyes and smiled.
Dan's smile turned into a frown. "Phil, can we talk in our bedroom alone? There's something I need to talk to you about."

"There's something we need to talk about." Dan said as he closed the door behind us.
"What is it?"
"We need to discuss whether or not we're going to keep Ellie."
"Yeah, I guess we do."
"Well, can we discuss that now?" Dan asked as he sat down on the edge of the bed. "We need to figure it out kinda fast because Christmas is coming up."
"Yeah, I suppose we can discuss it." I sat down next to him. I was so close to him that our legs were brushing up against each other.
"So, are we going to keep her?" Dan asked as he folded his hands on top of each other and placed them on top of his lap before he stared down at them.
"Well, whether or not we keep her depends on some factors." I informed him as I stared down at the ground. "First of all, do you want to keep her?"
"Um, well..." Dan hesitated for a few moments. "You know, now that you say that, I don't really know if I want to keep her or not. I guess I never really thought about that. I mean, she's only been here for a couple of days after all."
"I'm in the same boat as you." I kept looking down at the ground as I started slowly kicking my legs. "I've been too focused on making her happy to focus on whether or not I actually want to adopt her."
"If we do decide to keep her, this will be a huge step not only for us, but for our relationship too." Dan whispered. "We'll be dads. And I don't know if I'm ready to be one."
"Me neither." I whispered back, hating myself because I agreed with him. "But where is she going to go now? She needs a loving family."
"My great grandma could take her in." I continued to whisper. "She gets lonely sometimes so Ellie will be good company for her."
"Okay, so is that our final decision?" My voice was so quiet that I wasn't certain that Dan actually heard me until he spoke.
"Yes, I think it is."
I sighed. "I feel so bad. But, at the same time, I feel comfortable knowing that she'll be living with people I trust."
"Yeah." Dan sighed as well. "Let's not tell her though. Let's let her spend Christmas with us."
"Agreed." I nodded, even though actually admitting to not only Dan, but to myself as well that I wasn't ready to be the parent that Ellie needed in her life after her real ones left her caused me to feel pain in my heart.
"Phil? Are you okay?" I could hear just how concerned Dan was about me and that only cause me to feel even more pain.
"Yes Dan, I'm fine." I knew it was a lie and I knew that it was wrong for me to lie to the one person I loved. But I just wanted to move on from the subject we were currently discussing. I didn't even want to think about it until the time came.
Dan sighed, clearly realizing that it would be best to not push me to tell him whether or not I was actually okay. "Well, I guess I'll let you take Ellie to go and see your great grandma so that they can at least meet each other."

*****

"Phil, is your great grandma nice?" Ellie asked me as I pulled into the driveway of my great grandmother's house.
"Oh yes, she's very nice." I assured her as I stepped out of the car a few moments later. "You have nothing to worry about."
"Okay." Ellie got out of the car almost as soon as I did and I could tell just by the way that she spoke that she was nervous about going in there.
"Hey, it'll be okay." I said, trying to reassure her.
She shook her head. "What if your great grandma doesn't like me?"
"Don't say that. She will like you. She likes almost everyone that she meets. She loves meeting new people." I held out my hand towards her. "Now, come on, let's not keep her waiting anymore. She's been dying to meet you ever since I called her telling her that I was bringing a special guest with me."
"M-Me? A-A special guest?" Ellie asked in disbelief as she placed her tiny hand in my much larger hand.
"Why, of course. You're special, Ellie." I smiled as I began leading her up to the front door. "Even if you don't believe that you are, I will always think that you're special." Saying these words to her hurt me like agreeing with Dan that we were going to have her live with my great grandma had hurt me earlier.
"Thank you Phil." Ellie let go of my hand and wrapped her arms around mine at that moment. "No one's ever told me that, not even my mom and dad. In fact, I've been thinking about them a lot lately."
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah." She nodded slightly as she placed her hand in mine once more as we waited for my great grandma to answer the door. "I'll start missing them when I think about them. But then I'll realize that I have you and Dan and I won't miss them anymore. If they hadn't left me, I wouldn't have met you and Dan. And I don't know where I would be if I hadn't met you two. I think I wouldn't be happy like I am living with you guys."
"Ellie..." I trailed off as I felt tears forming in my eyes. I didn't want to cry in front of her because knowing me, I'd confess to her that Dan and I were going to have her live with my great grandma after Christmas. I didn't want her to know this until the time came because I wanted to give her a good Christmas first.
Thankfully, my great grandma answered the door before Ellie could question me on what I was going to say.
"Hi there Phil." Granny, a name that I've been calling her since I was small, gave me a smile as she stepped into the doorway. "I haven't seen you since the wedding. How have you and Dan been?"
"We've been great." I forced myself to smile. Thinking about the whole thing with Ellie was upsetting me more than I thought it was. "How've you been Granny?"
"I've been quite well." She seemed to know that my smile was fake based on the puzzled look on her face that seemed to ask me, "Are you sure that you're okay?" Nonetheless, she didn't question me. "Lonely, but well."
I looked down and saw that Ellie was hiding behind my leg. She was more nervous than I originally thought she was. I gently placed my hand on her back and gave her a small push so that Granny could see her.
"Granny, this is Ellie. Ellie, this is my great grandma." I kept my hand on her back so that she wouldn't be as nervous as she already was.
"Hi there Ellie." Granny bent down on her knees slightly so that she was more on Ellie's level. "Phil told me a little bit about you while him and I were on the phone. You're a really pretty girl, you know that?"
"W-What?" Ellie covered her face with her hands. "N-No, no one's ever told me that."
"That's such a shame." Granny frowned. "Well, Phil will be such a good dad to you and tell things like that on a regular basis."
"G-Granny..." I choked out, barely managing to speak because of what she had just said.
"I knew that something was wrong." Granny got up from being kneeled over slightly. "Come inside so that we can talk about it."
I nodded as I looked down at Ellie. "Ellie, I left my glasses in the car. Would you do me a favor and go get them for me?"
She nodded. "Where are they?"
"They should be in the glove box. Do you know what that is?"
She nodded again.
"Well, they should be in there. If they aren't in there, I more than likely left them at home."
"Okay Phil, I'll get them for you." She said right before she turned around and headed towards the car.
"Make sure you lock the car before you come inside!" I called after her as Granny opened the door, which allowed me to step inside. I felt bad for Ellie as I did because I didn't actually need my glasses as all. I had made sure to put in my contacts before leaving to go to Granny's house.
But there was no way that I was going to say what I planned to say to Granny within earshot of Ellie.

"I knew that that smile of yours was fake." She sat down in that oak rocking chair that she's had ever since I was a baby. "I knew that there was something wrong."
I sighed, placing my elbows on my knees as I did so. "Yes, Granny. Something's terribly wrong."
"I thought so. Now, tell me everything."
I sighed once more, struggling to hold back tears just like I had done when Dan and I were talking earlier. "You said to Ellie that I'd be such a good dad to her."
"Yeah, I did..." Granny trailed off, clearly confused because I had brought up this out of all things. "Is that what's wrong, Phil? Because I don't see anything wrong with what I said."
"Yes, it's what's wrong. Your statement was wrong."
"Care to explain as to why?"
"Granny... Dan and I... We're not going to keep Ellie."
"What?" Granny was shocked to hear this. "But you said that you were going to spend Christmas with her and make sure that she has an amazing Christmas."
"I know. And I'm still going to do those things." I looked down at the ground, not wanting to make direct eye contact with Granny. "But Dan and I agreed that we weren't ready to be dads."
"But where do you plan to have Ellie live?"
"Well..." I forced myself to look up at Granny. "Dan and I were kinda hoping that she could come and live with you. She could be nice company for you."
"Yeah, I suppose that's true." Granny started to slowly rock back and forth in her chair. It wasn't until a few moments had already passed when she spoke again. "I'll take her in then."
"Thank you so much Granny." I stood up and walked over to her before I pulled her into a hug. "I owe you so much for this."
"Oh Phil, you don't owe me anything." She hugged me back as tightly as she possibly could, which wasn't exactly very tight at all since she was so old and her aging body had sapped away most of the strength that she had in her youth. "I'm just glad that you're making sure that Ellie's going to a place where she'll be loved."
"It's the only thing that I want." I held back both sighing and tears. "But let's not tell her just yet. I want her to be happy."
"Phil?"
I heard Ellie's little voice a moment later before Granny had the chance to give me a response.
"Did you get my glasses?"
She nodded as she walked over to me and placed them in my hand.
"Did you make sure that you locked the door before you came inside?"
She nodded again.
"Thank you." I smiled at her as I held my glasses in my hand, not wanting to put them on because I had my contacts on.
"No problem." She smiled as she sat down next to me.
"Hey Ellie, do you want to see pictures from when Phil was a baby?" Granny asked the young girl.
Ellie smiled and nodded excitedly. "Yeah, that'd be awesome!"

*****

"...And that was when he decided to try on a dress." Granny explained to Ellie as she pointed to a younger version of myself wearing a purple dress. "His mum told him that he was cute but that he wasn't a little girl. The look on his face after she said that is something that I'll never forget."
Ellie looked back at me and smiled. "You're so funny Phil."
Granny laughed. "Yeah, he sure is funny, isn't he? He's been funny ever since he first learned how to talk."
Ellie laughed as well. "Do you have any more pictures?"
"Oh yes, I have plenty." Granny informed Ellie excitedly as she stood up and went over to where she kept all of her photo albums. "I'm so glad that you asked because the photo album I have from when Phil was a teenager is priceless. There are so many good photos in there. You'll laugh so hard that your sides will hurt."
I groaned as she grabbed the dreaded photo album that contained photos from my teenage years, which I definitely consider to be the most awkward years of my life. There were many, many photos in the photo album that Granny currently had in her hand that I would just love to either tear to shreds or burn.
"Granny, this is why I didn't bring Dan over when we first started dating." I groaned again as she sat back down in her rocking chair and opened up the photo album. "Ellie's only been here once and you're already showing her all of my pictures. I thought you were just going to show her my baby pictures."
"Oh hush Phil, your pictures from when you were a teenager aren't even that bad." Granny scoffed a bit while letting out a small laugh. "Besides, I don't get why you don't like it when I pull out your pictures and look at them."
"It's because they're all so embarrassing." I ran a hand through my hair and immediately looked away from the photo album when I saw the very first picture. "Especially these pictures."
Ellie laughed. "Phil, they aren't embarrassing. You look funny in all of these pictures. Your great grandma was right when she said that these photos were really funny."
"Oh no, not you too!" I covered my face with my hands. "Literally everyone loves my pictures and think that I either look cute or funny."
"It's because you do." I knew that Granny was smiling at that moment without even having to look at her. "You shouldn't be so self-conscious about your old photos, Phil."
I shrugged. "I can't help it."

*****

"Did you have fun today?" I asked Ellie as I got into the car and put my glasses back into the glove box before closing the door behind me.
She nodded. "Yeah, I had a lot of fun today. We should go to your great grandma's house more often because she's so nice."
I smiled, pushing the fact that that was going to her new home after Christmas was over to the very back of my mind. "Well, my family and I always have Christmas at her house every single year so you'll see her again then."
"Yes!" Ellie cheered as she buckled in her seat belt. "Now I'm even more excited for Christmas than I already was!"
I chuckled slightly as I buckled in my seat belt as well before placing the key in the ignition. "I'm so glad you're excited. You know, Christmas is my favorite holiday."
"Really?" Ellie asked as I turned the car key and allowed the car to start up before putting the car into drive and backing out of Granny's driveway.
I nodded as I looked to see that a sunset was nearby. I was shocked to see that Ellie and I had been at Granny's for that long. Time seemed to fly by as Granny showed Ellie all the photo albums she had of me and shared funny stories about me that made everyone, including me, laugh. I almost wished that I had the ability to turn back time and do it all over again. "That's right. I've loved Christmas ever since I was little. What about you? Do you like Christmas?"
Ellie shrugged slightly. "I kinda like it. My mommy and daddy always had to work on Christmas so I would always get stuck going over to my grandma's house and she absolutely hated Christmas so she never got me or anyone else any presents." She sighed. "My mommy and daddy would drop me off at her house and all my grandma would say to me was, "Find something to entertain yourself so that you aren't bothering me.""
"Oh Ellie..." I trailed off, not really knowing what to say to make her feel better. "That's horrible. I'm so sorry that you had to go through with that." I forced myself to give her a reassuring smile. "But hey, I can promise you that Christmas won't be like that for you this year. You'll be with Dan, me, my great grandma, and all the other members of my family that you have yet to meet."
Ellie smiled as she looked out the window. "Thank you so much Phil. You've done so much for me and yet I've done nothing to return the favor."
"I wouldn't say that." I glanced at her through the rearview mirror. "You've done so much more for me than you think you have." I smiled as I said this, realizing that I meant every single word that I said.