Wrapped In Your Love For Christmas
A Christmas Rheese story. Sarah and Connor travel to Michigan to visit Reese's family and then return to Chicago for New Year's. Drama and fluff ensures.
10 days before Christmas
Connor had just come out of surgery when his phone buzzed in his pocket, Ava had come in behind him to wash as they had just finished closing their patient. She'd told him she would be travelling home to South Africa to spend time with her family, as she seemingly hadn't seen them in almost a year.
Connor glanced down at the sceeen,it was a text from Sarah about their upcoming Christmas gathering at the apartment. Everyone was going since they would not see each other for a few weeks, actually, Connor had been saving up vacation time so he could really enjoy his time off. "Is that Sarah?" Ava asked. "You always make a face when it's her."
Connor rolled his eyes at her but if anyone knew him well enough it was Ava. Maggie would joke and call her his work wife, they had been butting heads for two years now, it only made sense.
"Yes, she just wants to make sure I don't forget anything for the Christmas dinner, you and Tony are still coming?" He asked.
Tony was a paramedic who looked like John Stamos that Ava had been dating for a few months now.
"We'll be there." She replied with a smile and left Connor alone to wash and go check on his post ops. He wanted to make it home early, to start off his vacation properly.
He made it out of the store in one piece, clearly everyone in Chicago was having some sort of gathering because it looked like a zoo in there. It clearly wouldn't have been easy for Sarah to go in with their rambunctious toddler in tow.
He made it home just before bath time, which was a moment he cherished with his son. He'd slowed down at work in the last few years to make sure he was a part of the small things in his child's life. He would never be like his father.
Their dog though was the first one to welcome him home though and that alerted Sarah too who was just coming out of the guest room with a bunch of decorations in her hands. "Oh, thank god you are home."
"Hi, busy day?" He mused, kissing her softly on the lips, his 27 year old wife was quite the sight to look at, she was not a doctor, but she had wanted to be one growing up, but instead had become a teacher at a nearby school which had turned out to be her true calling.
Sarah's brother who was working for Claire had introduced them almost five years to the day and now they had a child and had been married for almost four.
"The busiest." Sarah sighed. "I finished all my kid's presents for tomorrow's Christmas show though."
"It's at 10, right?" Connor said.
"You really don't have to stay for the whole thing, I know Christmas is crazy around Med." Sarah said, grabbing the boxes she'd just finished and piling them up neatly on the kitchen table.
"I want to babe, it's fine. I have surgery later anyway, I'll drive you in tomorrow and then get to the hospital." He said taking off his jacket and patting Petey behind the ear. There was a thud then and just like that they heard the sound of small feet crossing the apartment.
Nate, their 3 year old son had come out of his room at the sound of his father's voice. "Daddy!"
His son's dark curls were messy and he was already in his reindeer PJ's which meant he'd missed bath time, probably because Sarah had had way too much on her hands and wanted to settle the little boy so she could finish her work. Connor swiftly picked the Nate up as he started rambling about the Christmas show the next day, he was in Sarah's class this year so he'd taken it on himself to be the best helper. "Baby, why don't you show Daddy your elf ears?" Nate's eyes lit up at the suggestion and Connor put him down. He was full of energy even though it was almost time for bed, so it would be Connor's turn to settle him so Sarah could finish getting everything ready.
After having made him some dinner and eating together, Sarah kissed the little boy good night and Connor tucked him in, thankfully, his energy had died down and he was asleep in half an hour.
Connor came out of the room and went back into the kitchen where Sarah was just finishing up. "Okay, how can I help?"
Sarah sighed as she handed him the scissors and he in turn brought out a glass of wine.
It was definitely good to be home.
The next morning, Sarah got ready to go to school and Connor helped her load up the car with all her decor and their son in the backseat and then drove them all to school.
He still had to go in the hospital for surgery that morning as they'd be leaving for Michigan the next day.
Emily who was a friend of Sarah and also a teacher greeted them and helped them take everything into the classroom. Connor left them and went to call Ava who was prepping their patient.
The show was wonderful and their little elf had done wonderfully as had all the other kids in Sarah's class and just as they were celebrating Connor got paged by Dr. Latham and Ava to get to the hospital. "I have to go babe, I'll see you tonight, alright?" He handed Nate to Sarah and kissed his wife softly.
The surgery and the rest of the day went smoothly and he was getting to leave just in time to make it home to help Sarah with their preparations for the night.
"Hey, I thought you'd gone home?" Natalie said coming into the lounge.
"Almost, I had to go check on Mr. Musky."
"Oh, how did surgery go?"
"Well, hopefully he'll get to meet all of his grandchildren." Connor smiled.
"Is there anything we need to bring over?"
"No, we've got everything." He told her. Natalie smiled, as a mother of two herself, she was thankful to get a chance to have some grown up time to spend with Will.
"I'll see you later then?" His friend smiled at him and headed out.
Sarah had just texted the sitter who was watching Nate at her brother's house when April and Monique arrived, without their boyfriends, Ethan who worked with Connor had a late shift and Mouse who was a friend of Will and Jay was running late.
The evening was a success, Natalie and Sarah exchanged pictures of the Christmas show, Emma and Nate were about the same age and in her class. Those two were inseparable and both women swore they'd date at some point in the future. That night Sarah got ready for bed while Connor checked on a sleeping Nate. "Are you checking me out?" Reese mused to her husband from her spot in the bathroom.
"Are you complaining?" He retorted playfully as he came in to wrap his arms around her. He put his chin on her shoulder and was quickly trailing kisses down her neck.
"Not when you kiss me like that, that's for sure." Sarah gasped as she turned around to face her husband. "Okay, sit, there' something I need to talk to you about."
"Okay…" He said, pulling away as her eyes met his. He sat on the bed and Sarah was on his lap. "I'm not even sure yet…" She began and Connor understood. "I bought a pregnancy test but I wanted you here before I took it."
Connor's eyes lit up. "But there are some ground rules Connor, if in fact, I'm pregnant, we can't tell anyone until after the holidays." Ah, he understood perfectly, Sarah hated being the center of attention, even with a brother and four sisters.
"Okay, fine, I won't tell."
"I'm serious, I don't want my mother or sisters to make a fuss of it, not before we are sure everything it's okay."
"It will be." He reassured her again.
"I know, I just want to make sure, alright?"
"Okay." He brushed his nose against her tenderly. She wiggled herself out from his embrace and took Connor's hand in hers and led him to the bathroom, making sure to check on Nate before they half closed the door.
Connor was a doctor, he knew the accuracy of home pregnancy tests and Sarah knew he'd make her go in once they returned home but for now the positive sign on the small stick just confirmed what Sarah had been feeling for weeks.
She was pregnant and the look on her husband's adoring face was all she needed to tell her everything was going to be okay.
"I love you so much Sarah." He said, capturing her lips with his.
"I love you too." She beamed, kissing him back and leading him out to their bedroom, before long there was battle of hands touching and discarded clothes, until a loud scream was heard from the baby's room. Connor offered to go check on him as Sarah gave him one last kiss and reluctantly returned to finish packing for their trip.
When Connor came back, she was already sound asleep.
One of his sister's drivers took them to the airport the next morning
Nate was settled between his parents and plugged into an iPad for most of the trip, which Sarah was thankful for, she had some time for herself and was able to process what they had learned the night before.
"You okay?" Connor asked softly, playing with her fingers.
"I freaked out a little yesterday, didn't I?" Sarah said with a small smile, eyeing their very focused son. His blue eyes, were focused on his Paw Patrol episode and had barely noticed Sarah playing with his curls softly.
"No, you didn't…" Connor said with a smile. "Well maybe a little?"
"Great." Sarah huffed.
"Babe, I'm kidding. It will be fine, I promise." Sarah smiled and squeezed his hand gently.
Once they landed, Lillian Reese was there to pick them up. She was the oldest of Sarah's sisters and herself had 4 kids.
She had come solo to pick them up though, no husband in sight either, all of them were actually staying on her mother's farm. The woman had remarried and had had Sarah's 3 other sisters with her second husband and the man had decided to buy a farm for the kids to grow up on, away from the city.
Connor grabbed the bags while Sarah carried Nate and led Petey who had come along for the trip. "You made it." Jesse Reese mused hugging Connor once they had entered the house, she was 17 and the youngest of the brood who Nate adored. "Ah, there is my fav, come on bud, let's go find your cousins."
"And there he goes." Sarah sighed.
"Well, not even you can fight cool Auntie Jess." Connor said wrapping her into a hug and kissing her softly.
"If she fills him up with sugar, I'll kill her."
"Who are you planning on murdering?" Lilian asked coming in behind her. "Ah, is Nate a goner too? I actually haven't seen my kids for two days."
"Right, so where's Mom?"
"Work."
"You are kidding?" Sarah said, though not surprised.
"Well, she said she was working late so she could start her vacation properly." Lilian said.
Connor fought the urge to look at Sarah because, he'd done the same thing the day before, guess Sarah couldn't really compete with her lawyer mother and doctor husband. Sometimes, she was thankful she hadn't opted to become a psychologist like she had originally planned.
Then on cue, her mother walked in, carrying her suitcase and with the phone to her ear, arguing with someone.
Sarah knew that too well and so did Connor whose father was almost the same about him work. He had been the one Rhodes to drift completely away from the family business, his older brother and sister had been working with their father for most of their adult lives. Connor had even opted to leave home and go to Med School in Mexico when he had turned 18. He and his father didn't get along well, even now, Cornelius seemed to disapprove of every decision in his child's life.
He was not Gabriel or Claire.
"Children, good you are here. Where's Justin?"
"He was taking another flight Mom, remember? Sophie had to work."
"Oh, right." Susan said with a look at both her daughters. "Well, where's Jess?"
"Kid duty." Lilian mused to her mother. She took after Susan the most and yet was a stay at home mom, picture perfect like Sarah and Jess liked to joke about. Everyone went about their way and began to unpack for the week they'd be spending home. Sarah and Justin had moved to Chicago together while their sisters had remained in Michigan.
Sarah and Connor were meant to stay in Sarah's old childhood bedroom like all the Christmases before and it yet seemed odd to Sarah the place looked the same as it had been when she had left it at 20.
"Did your sister call?" Sarah asked Connor.
"Was she meant to?" Connor mused.
"Funny, she's calling you to make sure we don't cancel New Year's."
"Can't we just go to Hawaii this year?" Connor said hopefully, getting something out of his pocket.
"Connor, you didn't…"
"It's five days, right after New Year's." He said before giving her a chance to scold him for trying to avoid yet another gathering with his father. "I'm going to need it after having to deal with Cornelius."
Sarah moved closer to him, wrapping her arms around his waist. "You are a good son, even if he doesn't deserve it."
"Tell me about it." Connor said kissing her softly. They stayed linked into each other's embrace for a minute until Jess came striding in.
"Oh, don't mind me, sorry. Do you have another sweater for Nate? We had a little situation." Sarah rolled her eyes at Jess but then handed it to her. When you had a 3 year old, packing extra did wonders. "So, Daddy is home. He asked me to come find Connor, you can come and help us while the girls get here." She told Sarah.
Connor really liked Sarah's stepdad. He was all that his father had never been and well, he'd taken on 3 kids when he had married Susan, Cornelius had barely been around after his mother had died and shoved them all into the hands of a nanny.
"So, how's the hospital?" Tommy asked. "Heard you applied for some sort of surgical rotation or something?"
"Yeah. We have a few projects coming up for Gaffney." Connor replied, proud of himself, he was 32 and a cardiothoracic surgeon. "Work is good."
"Good, good." Tommy smiled as they walked over and gathered fallen branches and wood. "And Nate's getting big, are you two planning on moving out of the city soon?"
"Not really no, Sarah's work is near and so is the hospital, Chicago can get hectic if you don't live near your job."
"I hear you kid, but it's better to raise him outside the city." Tommy said, his tone was kind but Connor knew he was making a point of it. When they came back, the remaining girls in the Reese family were home. Lucy and Samantha, completed the brood. It always amazed Connor how Susan Reese had happened to have so many children but Tommy had for sure made her feel like she could handle that and more plus a busy career and Sarah had admitted to him that even though she was busy, she always made time for them.
Connor sometimes envied that but loved to be around her family around the holidays.
Finally, Justin who worked with Claire Rhodes and Sophie who was a nurse at County in Chicago had made it home too.
Connor and Justin were actually good friends, he had been the one to accidently bring Sarah over for drinks one night at Molly's and the rest had been history.
"Dad didn't harass you all day, did he?" Justin asked as he and Connor grabbed on the horses and helped saddle them in for the kids to ride in. "You know how he gets."
Connor laughed, spotting Sarah who held Nate in her arms, the rest of their nieces and nephews gathered around expectantly. Grandchildren that ranged in all ages so Sarah got a turn with Nate and then Connor.
It was the highlight of his Christmas holidays, to just be able to enjoy his wife and son. "What?"
"You shouldn't be riding babe."
"Come on, don't start to go all doctor on me okay? It's still early, plus we don't want anyone to know, remember?" Connor rolled his eyes but then she kissed him so he wouldn't protest. That afternoon, Tommy and Susan took all of their grandkids to the movies while the grownups enjoyed some alone time with their respective spouses.
"So, when are you guys leaving Chicago?" Lilian asked Connor and Sarah. Oh no, here we go, the same speech Tommy had given them.
"Why would we want to? Connor's career's taking off and Nate is happy at school."
"Yeah, but don't' you guys want what we had?" Her sister asked.
"Oh, don't start Lil, Connor grew up in the city and he turned out fine." Justin pointed out.
"Right, but…"
"Drop it Lil. It's a sore subject, I thought we weren't going to be at each other's throats as it's Christmas…"
"I'm only saying that Nate loves it when he comes here, no wonder since he's always in that apartment…" Connor glanced over at Sarah who was curling her fists.
"It's not a crime to live in an apartment Lil."
"Well, it's not like you can't afford a house," Sam said sipping on her glass of wine. Sarah rolled her eyes and stood up, breaking away from Connor's embrace.
"Oh, come on, we didn't mean anything by it, right Connor?"
"I'll be right back." He excused himself as he heard Justin scold his sisters.
He found Sarah on the porch and wrapped a blanket around her. "They'll never get over the fact Justin and I decided to become city people." Sarah scoffed. Connor wrapped his arms around her from behind as she melted against him.
"Don't let them get to you Sarah, they just care about you."
"And love to meddle." She said.
"I thought that was what sisters did." Connor mused trying to lighten up the mood. "Let's just enjoy these last few days, okay?"
"Can't we just go home?"
"What and not be able to go to your old tree house?" Connor said. "I'm pretty sure that's where Nate was conceived." He said with a smirk, pulling her closer into him.
"You're incorrigible." Sarah turned around as Connor began to kiss her neck and captured his lips with hers.
"But you love me."
"That I do." Sarah said, kissing him again when they broke apart for air. "So much, that I'm going to put up with my sister's nagging for you and Nate for a few more days."
"Good." He said, taking her hand and leading her back inside.
The next few days went by in a blur, between being busy for dinner and wrangling the kids, Sarah was even able to register when Christmas Eve arrived, but she woke up to a horrible headache, Connor was asleep beside her when she slipped into the bathroom and sat down. It took her a minute to register her husband was beside her a moment later.
"Sarah? What's wrong?" He knelt down and grabbed her hand.
"My head…" Connor searched the first aid kit they'd brought for something that Sarah could take, something that wouldn't harm the baby and led her back to bed, Nate who was still asleep when they came out to the room was cuddled in the blankets and Sarah lay back on bed with him.
"Try and get some sleep babe, okay?"
"What if something is wrong?" She was Sarah Reese, she had to ask.
"Nothing is wrong, you are just stressing over your sisters and your Mom." He assured her. But somehow the pain didn't subside during the morning and Connor began to get worried, so much so that he called Natalie just to make sure.
She told him to take her to the nearest hospital and that officially became a concern for him, headaches could mean a number of thing but were never good. "Mommy, is it your tummy?" Nate asked her as he cuddled with her on bed, Sarah hadn't realized she'd been grabbing her stomach. "Daddy can fix you, can't he?" Nate said, then turning to Connor whose heart sank. Jess and the girls offered to take the kids to see Santa while Sophie and Justin went with Connor and Sarah to the hospital.
"Her blood pressure is a little high." The nurse said, Sarah and Connor looked at each other like they hadn't been told anything new. "How far along are you?" Justin and Sophie were the only ones who knew about the baby and she trusted them.
"I'm not sure, I took a home pregnancy test a few days back."
"Did you have any complications in your previous pregnancy?"
"No." Sarah replied. Connor squeezed her hand reassuringly.
"We'll do a sonogram now just to make sure." The nurse said reassuringly and then called for the doctor, who Connor instantly intercepted and then so did Sophie.
"They can't help it, can they?" Justin mused at his sister. Sarah smiled. "How are you feeling?"
"Better, I just hope they don't keep me overnight. I don't want to wake up in hospital on Christmas Day."
"I'm sure they won't."
"We're not doctors Justin..."
"Right, but we do know babies, I'm sure it's nothing."
"It's not, nothing…"
"Sarah, you are freaking out, that doesn't help."
"Okay, Mrs. Rhodes, let's see then, this is Dr. Mars, I'm sure you have an OB at home but it's just a quick scan."
Sarah laid there like she had done four years before and heard it, the heartbeat of their new baby. "Everything seems normal. Baby's signs are normal too." She said with a smile. "It was probably just the stress of the Holidays, if someone tells you they are not stressful when you're pregnant they are lying." Sarah smiled. "As your husband is a doctor and your sister in law is a nurse, I think you are in good hands…" Sarah smiled at Connor who couldn't take his eyes off the screen. "But try not to worry so much, alright Sarah?"
Sarah smiled, feeling Connor's lips on her forehead.
No one asked too many questions when the two couples returned from the hospital and Christmas Eve dinner went by without a hitch.
"Let's get you to bed buddy, the sooner you are sleep, the sooner Santa will come." Connor told his son as he tucked him in bed, with a bottle of milk and his stuffed elephant he loved in hand.
"Can Santa help you make Mommy better Daddy?" Nate asked. He was a very articulate 3 year old.
"He sure can, he has magic, doesn't he?" Nate nodded.
Sarah came out of the bathroom and cuddled beside her son for a few minutes, Connor went out to answer a call from Gabe. When he came back, Sarah was sitting beside their son's sleeping form. "I love him so much." Sarah said. "I know I've been stressing but, it's just that I want him to be happy."
"He is Sarah." Connor told her softly. "He's one happy kid who has two parents that adore him and we have more love from where that came from. Even me who didn't have the perfect role model."
"You are an amazing Dad Connor."
"And you are the best mom, stop worrying so much, okay?" Connor offered her a kiss and they left the room quietly.
"Oh, there you two are, come on, let's have a seat." Tommy offered as they all sat around the fireplace.
Sarah fell asleep and barely registered when Connor took her back to the room and tucked her in bed. His lips brushed her forehead tenderly and Sarah drifted off to sleep, the prospect of her child's happy face the next day and finding out the new baby was alright which gave her hope on what was to come.
Rheese celebrating Christmas Eve. Happy Holidays everyone. What did you think?