A/N: Paily family Christmas, because we all deserve it.
Each scene below is a different Christmas, a few years apart - in California together on Christmas Eve, at Pam and Wayne's with baby Elizabeth, and Christmas morning with Elizabeth and Alex.
"OK, our traditional Christmas pizza is here!" Paige announced as she came in the front door.
"Traditional?" Emily asked, clearing a spot on the kitchen bench for the centerpiece of their dinner.
"Well, it has ham on it," Paige pointed out. "That's Christmassy."
"True," Emily agreed.
Once Paige had put everything down and had her hands free, Emily gave her a hug and a kiss.
"Thank you for getting that," Emily said.
"Hey, no worries," Paige replied.
"You know, I'm still getting used to the lack of snow," Emily said. "It's a lot different over here."
"Do you still want to go see the fireworks later?" Paige asked.
"Sure, then I was thinking we could make our own fireworks," Emily suggested.
"Em, even in California that's illegal," Paige pointed out. "Plus in an apartment this size..."
"No, I meant..." Emily began, but Paige just grinned. She knew exactly what Emily meant.
Emily was still enjoying that thought as they sat down to eat. Emily had decorated the table with Christmas napkins and the scene was lit with Christmas candles. Their apartment always looked better in low light, anyway.
"Mom called again to make sure we're still good for tomorrow," Paige said as they dined on their Christmas fare. "She got the card and the letter from your parents."
"Did you tell her how impressed they were with the one she made?" Emily asked.
"Yeah," Paige replied. "She said it's just her little hobby,"
"Your mom makes amazing Christmas cards," Emily insisted. "I don't know anyone else who goes to all that trouble to do home made cards."
"She enjoys it," Paige said.
"It's really nice though," Emily said. "Anyway, I'm looking forward to seeing them again."
"They're still saying we don't need to bring anything," Paige noted.
"That's OK," Emily responded. "We've got the vegetables and the pie."
Paige just nodded.
Emily thought about the year they'd had together, the big move she'd made, and finally being in California. By the time she'd left Rosewood she hadn't been as desperate to leave, but it had still been invigorating to be starting a new life in a new place, with the girl she loved.
They weren't at Stanford together like they had once hoped, but they were following their dream, together, and that's all that mattered.
After dinner they curled up on the couch together and watched carols on the TV. Emily liked carols... well, really she liked everything Christmas.
Soon Emily found herself quietly singing along, only noticing it when Paige started to chuckle. Emily stopped in embarrassment, but Paige joined in and she felt better, until they were both heartily singing Christmas carols to each other.
In between Emily would lean in and kiss Paige, but only until the next song started and they had to resume their musical endeavors.
After a while Paige looked at the clock.
"Fireworks!" she exclaimed, and they both jumped up, grabbed their coats and headed out the door.
They were being held in the local park, just down the road. It was filled with people dressed up in an array of Christmas related outfits, including plenty of Santa hats.
"Oh yeah," Paige said, reminded by the scene around her. She grabbed her Santa hat from her coat pocket and put it on, as she always did.
They found a nice place to sit down, and waited, hand in hand.
Emily looked around her at all the friends and families enjoying Christmas together. There were lots of children having fun, running around and playing. This was what Emily wanted, though they would have to wait a while, until their situation was more stable. But Emily knew that this would be them one day, and if it couldn't be now then that was OK.
"Sorry you couldn't go home for Christmas," Paige said.
"I am home," Emily assured her. "This.. this is home."
They hugged a little, then it started. Their ears were assaulted by the sound of rockets firing, and soon the sky above them was bright ribbons of color, shining brilliantly then fading to wisps of smoke, which floated delicately in the air until the next burst of color.
Emily lost herself in the spectacle for the next few minutes, and as it faded she felt a strange kind of assurance, like this was for her and Paige, like it was an affirmation of the move they had made, and the life they had begun. Somehow as she sat there, holding her lover's hand, watching the beautiful lights above them, she knew they had done the right thing, and she couldn't wait for their next year together.
"Come on, Em, let's go" Paige was saying. "I'm still looking forward to the other fireworks you promised."
"Oh, don't you worry," Emily assured her as they got up. "They will be spectacular."
When Emily and Paige arrived at the Fields house, Emily commented approvingly that the old decorations were still laid out. There was Snowy, as well as Pingy and Wingy.
They had barely made it in the front door, however, when Pam swooped. After the usual hugs and Christmas greetings, it was "And how is my granddaughter?", and with that Pam had little Elizabeth in her arms, gently patting her.
Elizabeth's face lit up at the sight of her grandmother, and for a moment both of them made a series of happy cooing noises.
"It's great to have you back in town," Wayne said.
"Yes it is!" Pam said to Elizabeth, in her best baby voice.
"How was the flight?" Wayne asked.
"Not bad," Emily replied.
"Liz..." Paige began.
"Elizabeth," Emily corrected.
"...was a bit freaked out," Paige continued. "But she settled down eventually."
They headed into the living room, Pam softly bouncing Elizabeth up and down, to the baby's obvious delight.
Paige placed their box of presents at the base of the tree, among the ones already there. As she did so she noticed quite a number for Elizabeth, all labelled in Pam's handwriting.
Paige was still amused at how excited Pam was to be a grandmother. Wayne was happy too, obviously, as were Paige's parents, but Pam was something else. Every time they saw Pam in person she went straight for the baby, and of course whenever Emily and Paige were in Rosewood they had an open offer of babysitting. The maternal instinct obviously ran deep in the Fields family.
"Oh dear!" came Pam's voice.
Paige turned to see baby vomit dribbling down Pam's shoulder. Emily was already getting the wipes out.
"I'm so sorry," Paige said instinctively, but Pam didn't seem too concerned.
"It's OK," she replied. "Emily used to do this all the time."
After some cleaning up, they all sat down to talk. There was the usual discussion of sleeping, crying and feeding, but also some general catching up.
"So I hear congratulations are in order," Wayne said.
It took Paige a moment to realize he meant her.
"Um, yeah," Paige said.
"You must be so happy," Pam said.
"I guess so," Paige agreed. "I worked pretty hard, so it was nice to see it pay off."
"Paige is practicing for her post-race interviews," Emily suggested, cheekily. "She's qualified for the world championships and I'm busy looking for trophy cabinets while she's just, I don't know..."
"We'll see how it goes," Paige said.
"Exactly!" Emily pounced, actually pointing at Paige.
Paige was excited about it all, but she knew she had to keep training, just prepare for them like any other meet, not let it go to her head. Maybe afterwards she could be more like Emily.
Still, seeing how proud Emily was of her made Paige feel good. She sometimes worried about Emily, what she had lost, and what she had given up, but Emily didn't seem to care anymore. Emily could just be happy for Paige, and it meant so much to Paige seeing her wife looking at her like that.
"Well, we will all be there cheering you on," Wayne said.
"Yes we will!" Pam said to Elizabeth.
They sat down to dinner and talked some more, about when Emily would return to teaching, Wayne's plans now he was no longer in active service, and Hanna's news that she and Caleb had another one on the way.
Then it came present time. Their gifts to Pam and Wayne included a framed portrait of Elizabeth, of course. And Pam had fun showing Elizabeth each present they had got for her.
At the end, Pam said they had something special for Emily and Paige. Wayne presented them each with a small jewelry box.
Paige opened it delicately. Inside was a small brooch, quite old, looking like a swan but quite stylized, and decorated with... emeralds, maybe.
"Wow," Paige said. "It's beautiful, thank you."
She looked across to Emily, who had a ring, but with similar decorations. She was staring at it, covering her mouth.
"Emily can tell you the story," Pam said.
"These were my grandmothers," Emily explained. "Grandad got them for her when..."
"When I was born," Pam said. "They're actually older, though. We think they were originally his grandmother's."
"I remember Nanna used to wear them all the time," Emily added. "I always thought they were so beautiful."
"We were sorting out her things and we found them," Wayne explained. "They're supposed to be together, so..."
"So we thought they should go to the two of you," Pam said.
Emily was crying now, and soon Paige was as well.
"Thank you," Paige said again. "I don't know what to say."
"We're just happy to see them stay in the family," Pam said.
Paige had always known she was lucky to have Emily, but it was more than that. She was part of Emily's family now, and that was something special.
"Mama, Mommie, Santa's come! Santa's come!"
It took a while for Emily to work out what was happening. Who was making all that noise? As she slowly woke up, she realized it was her children.
"Can we open the presents now? Please?"
She dragged her eyes open.
"It's a little early, kids," Paige was saying.
Emily looked at the clock. 5:42. What? How? But then she remembered how excited she used to get on Christmas morning.
Still, she needed more sleep. It wasn't that long ago she and Paige had put the presents out.
"You know," she began, "sometimes when children don't let their parents get enough sleep, Santa comes back to take their presents away."
Emily could feel the look of disapproval from Paige even though she wasn't facing her, but Emily didn't care. It worked.
It seemed like mere moments later they came back.
"Mama, Mommie, can we open the presents?" Alex was asking.
"They're still there," Elizabeth added.
Emily looked at the clock. 7:00 exactly. It was time, and in any case Paige was already getting up.
"Yeah, come on, kids, let's go," Paige was saying as she bounced out of bed and threw on a dressing gown.
Emily followed suit and soon they were following, almost chasing, the children to the living room, and the tree in the corner.
Elizabeth and Alex pounced on the presents, but each started by finding a present for the other.
"This is for you," Elizabeth said, presenting Alex with a large wrapped box.
"Oo, oo," Alex responded, fishing through the assorted gifts for one for his sister. "And this is for you."
"Thank you," Elizabeth said.
"Thank you," Alex replied. "And thank you Santa," he added, looking up.
Soon they were busy unwrapping. Elizabeth got her dinosaur picture book and her Frozen play doh set, Alex his miniature basketball set and toy monkey.
Then they came to the big box, marked "To Elizabeth and Alex, love Mommie and Mama". They tore the paper off and squealed excitedly. It was the dollhouse they had seen in the toy store and both wanted and hadn't stopped nagging their parents for since. Almost as tall as Alex and shaped like a tree house, Emily actually quite liked it herself.
After that Emily got her present, a new pair of boxing gloves for her workouts. It was from "Paige, Elizabeth, Alex and Scruffy", of course, since Elizabeth always insisted that Scruffy was part of the family and therefore should be in on all the presents.
Paige then got hers, some new video games she'd been hinting at.
Finally, they had to go outside to give Scruffy his Christmas present. The dog sat patiently as Elizabeth unwrapped a bundle of toys and treats, then went from one to another, sniffing each and wagging his tail joyfully, before grabbing one of the new toys in his mouth and carrying it around proudly.
Despite Emily's better judgement, the children, including Paige, convinced her to let Scruffy come inside with them for the Christmas morning photo. Emily knew she would regret the when it came time to clean up, but everyone was so happy.
They all posed, Scruffy now decorated with a pair of reindeer antlers but not looking too fussed about it. Paige did the honors to press the button then run back to join them before the camera clicked. When Paige checked the photo, she discreetly showed Emily - Alex had put a piece of wrapping paper on top of his head. Emily just laughed. She liked it.
They all had breakfast, then the children spent some more time playing with their toys, or just playing with the boxes and wrapping paper. As usual, Paige was particularly keen to 'help' the kids play with their new toys.
Emily just sat for a while, watching the scene, the one she had dreamed of for so long. Her beautiful wife, her wonderful children, her family. She had to stop herself crying from happiness as she sat there, her heart filled with love. It was perfect.
Finally it was time for the children to get dressed.
"Thank you Santa!" Alex called out again as he went, clearly keen to show his appreciation.
Elizabeth leaned in to Emily and Paige.
"It's OK, I won't tell him," she whispered.
What?
Emily and Paige looked at each other, both puzzled, but Elizabeth skipped off with the satisfaction of a girl who knew something her little brother didn't.
In the afternoon they went for a walk into town, where a local choir were singing carols. It took Emily back to Christmas as a child, and she was happy to see her own children enjoying it.
Just after they arrived, the choir began began a new tune.
"Rudolph the red nosed reindeer," they sang.
"Reindeer!" Elizabeth called out
"Had a very shiny nose," the choir continued as Emily tried to shush her daughter, but to no avail.
"Like a light bulb!" Elizabeth sang, some of the other children joining in now.
"And if you ever saw it," the choir sang.
"Saw it!" came the response.
Emily looked at Paige and couldn't help but grin, however mortified she might be.
"You would even say it glows," the choir sang.
"Like another light bulb!" Elizabeth and Alex proudly sang, an addition peculiar to their family since a previous Christmas when Paige had forgotten what else Rudolph's nose was supposed to glow like.
There was nothing to do, and no one seemed to mind. In fact, people seemed to be enjoying it. This would be a story to tell everyone. Hanna would probably wish she'd been there.
After the show, the four of them went home and piled on to the couch. Everything was quiet for the first time all day.
Emily looked over to Paige.
"Should we...?" she began.
Paige nodded. Emily was excited now.
"So, has it been a big day for our little munchkins?" Emily asked.
The children nodded.
"Well, you know next Christmas will be even busier," Emily said.
"Why?" Elizabeth asked.
"Because next year we will be having another baby," Emily explained. "And by Christmas the baby will be a few months old."
The children suddenly sat up.
"Is Mommie having another baby?" Elizabeth asked.
"Actually Mama is," Paige replied.
Elizabeth clapped her hands excitedly, but Alex looked less impressed.
"Can we have another puppy?" he asked.
"Maybe not right now," Paige replied, as Emily chuckled to herself.
This was going to be another beautiful adventure, and she couldn't wait.