This was inspired by a curiouscat who requested Norma and Alex trying for a baby, and the idea just kinda snowballed. Thanks for the idea!

FULL DISCLAIMER HERE - This is not your average Christmas fic. It's not actually gonna be Christmas time until the final chapter and there is going to be ALOT of angst and heartache before we get there. There's really not that much fluff (well, there's a little bit?) and some of the chapters will have trigger warnings as and when I think they are needed. If you genuinely think this is gonna BUM YOU OUT before Christmas, I suggest you plan to read Chapters 1 and 2 and then Chapter 6. That's a genuine suggestion. I ain't kidding.

Also, there will 6 chapters of this, posted in quick succession in the run up to Christmas, ending with the final fluff chapter on Christmas Eve.

Merry ficmas!


"We should have a baby."

Her hips were still undulating weakly against him, slowing to a stop as her breaths panted out against his cheek.

"What?" She breathed out, unsure of what she'd heard.

His hips twitched up into her unconsciously a couple more times, his hands sweeping up and down her back gently.

"Let's have a baby." He whispered again, and this time she was sure she'd heard him right, limply pushing herself up to look down at him.

"Are you serious?" She murmured incredulously, her mouth dropping open when he nodded seriously at her.

"I..." She started, her mouth flapping open and closed. "I... erm..."

She floundered, her eyes darting wildly around the room, coming to land on his face, his gaze still boring into hers.

"Can we not talk about this like, right now?" She let her eyes flick down to where their bodies were still joined and he nodded, holding his hands up to let her clamber off him.

He pulled the covers over himself, gazing at her expectantly when she glanced at him over her shoulder, making eye contact and then jumping up from the bed.

"Erm. I have to pee." She muttered, grabbing her robe as she passed it and disappearing into the bathroom.

When she returned a few minutes later, her satin robe wrapped around her, he was sat up against the headboard, waiting patiently and she couldn't help but smile at the sight of him. She clambered back onto the bed, sweeping her robe around herself as she settled herself cross legged, facing him, taking a deep breath.

"That isn't just something you decide on a whim-" She said finally, after the silence seemed to stretch on forever.

"It wasn't a whim." He said immediately, and she glanced up at him in surprise. "It's not a whim." He repeated seriously. "I've been thinking about this for a while."

"You have?" She asked dubiously, finding it hard to believe Sheriff Bulldog Romero had been harbouring a secret desire to be the LITERAL Big Daddy of White Pine Bay. He nodded shyly, crossing his hands on his stomach casually, like this conversation was no big deal.

"Since when?"

"Since..." He pondered for a moment, glancing up at the ceiling. "Christmas time maybe?"

"What?" She sat up straighter. They'd been married less than a month at Christmas.

"What?" She repeated, feeling her voice grow shriller.

She felt wholly unprepared for this conversation that he'd apparently been thinking about for months now. She tried to cast her mind back to Christmas, trying to look for clues of what he'd been thinking back then. It had been a strange sort of Christmas - There'd been so much happening, and they'd only been married a few weeks then. They'd spent most of the day in the car, going to visit a polite-but-distant Norman at Pine View, then visiting Dylan and Emma at Emma's father's, and then heading home to exchange gifts.

She fiddled with the earring in her earlobe, realising they were the earrings he'd given to her that day. She'd burst into tears when he gave them to her, tears that quickly dissolved into ugly sobs when the stress and tension of the day had finally caught up with her. She'd always loved Christmas, but there'd been no time to even enjoy their first one as a married couple - She felt a pang of guilt at the thought that he'd just been swept up into her crazy dramas. He'd held her then, shushing her and promising that next Christmas would be better. Nothing had made it seem like he was secretly planning on starting a family with her.

He gazed back at her calmly while she mulled all of this over.

"Alex, it's nearly March!" She pointed out, much louder than she intended to, and he frowned at her in confusion. She realised she sounded angry. She wasn't angry, she just felt a little stunned by this turn of events. It wasn't like the thought hadn't crossed her mind, but she'd never assumed he was thinking the same thing? For months now?

"Yeah. I've been..." He floundered a little. "letting the idea percolate." He grinned nervously at her. His calm demeanour finally seemed to be slipping in the face of her confused, almost affronted reaction.

"Pfft." She muttered quietly, and he opened his mouth to speak again, rolling his eyes when she held up a hand to stop him.

"We're too old to have a baby."

He huffed out a faux offended laugh.

"No we're not."

She crossed her arms in front of her chest, her gaze darting around the room like she was flicking through all the reasons not to do this. Alex's face fell a little.

"We barely know each other." She said halfheartedly, and he chuckled incredulously.

"You know what I mean." She added. "We haven't actually known each other that long."

"I know you well enough." He said quietly, casting his eyes down at his hands. "I know I love you?" He pointed out, shrugging and she cocked her head at his dejected face.

"I love you too." She reached out to lace her fingers with his. "But... I mean... We've only been married five minutes?" She observed softly, twisting her free hand in the fabric of her robe uneasily. She put on her cute little girl voice: "What if you get to know me a bit more and decide I'm terrible and crazy and you leave me for some simple, uncomplicated woman-"

He cut her off by reaching forwards and tugging her towards him, dragging her onto his lap. She'd been teasing him and they both knew it, but there was still a slight insecure undercurrent to what she'd been saying.

"I'm not going anywhere." He said seriously, wrapping his arms around her. Her hands draped loosely around his neck, and she pouted adorably at him. "You wont be getting rid of me that easily."

He could see her face beginning to soften as she settled her weight more comfortably across his legs, her thumbs brushing the shells of his ears while she considered for a moment.

"Do you know how much work a newborn is?"

He tried to keep his face neutral, pretending he couldn't hear the wistfulness in her voice.

"No. I don't." He said plainly. "I've never been a parent. I never wanted to be, not really. I never met anyone I wanted to have a child with. Not until you."

She gasped softly at his words, sitting back on his thighs to gaze at him seriously, her eyes shining a little.

Her fingers combed through the hair at the back of his neck, taking a moment to take it all in, while his hands absentmindedly stroked from her back down her thighs, exposed now the satin of her robe was spread open across his lap. When it seemed like she'd been quiet for too long, her eyes darting wildly around his face while she was lost in thought, he huffed out a sad little sigh, trying to fix a smile on his face.

"Look, I get it." He held his hands up, smiling warmly at her like it was no big deal. "You already did the whole baby thing. It's ok. Really." He said, fighting to keep the anguish and disappointment out of his voice. "It's ok that you don't want to. I just thought I'd-"

"I didn't say I didn't want to." She interrupted him gently, smiling at him, biting her lip. His face lit up, his hands sliding around her back to pull her closer.

"Really?" She nodded, beaming shyly at him, and he pulled back a little, fixing her with a sceptical look. "Are you sure? You went very quiet...?"

She rolled her eyes at him, trying to contain her happy grin.

"I was calculating how long it would take for my birth control to be out of my system."

He laughed happily, pulling her in for a searing, delighted kiss, his hands cupping her face.

"And?" He murmured against her lips.

"How do I know? I'm not a doctor." She giggled, and he stroked a messy curl out of her face, chuckling at her.

"Are we really gonna do this?"

"We're really gonna do this!" She agreed excitedly.

He kissed her again, his hands sliding down to toy with the belt on her robe.

"Do you think your birth control left your system yet?" He whispered, moving his lips along her jaw, licking softly at her pulse point.

"In the last ten minutes?" She muttered back, lifting her head to give him better access, her eyes drifting closed.

"Mm hm." He hummed out against her throat.

"Maybe." She deadpanned, as his hands undid her robe, pulling the satin aside, sliding his fingers around her bare waist. She shuffled forwards, settling herself on his growing erection, rubbing herself on him through the thin sheet between them.

"Like I said, Alex, I'm not a doctor." She shrugged innocently, arching her back as she ground herself down on him.

She gasped as he dipped his head, grazing her nipple with his teeth, then kissing the slight sting away.

"Well... can't hurt to try."