Yes, I know, it's not Christmas yet! But what can I say? That kiss last night/the elf pictures this morning/and a little conspiring with Lisa gave me some inspiration :)
hope you enjoy it :)
--mtc. (:
---
All I Need for Christmas is Family
As he sat on the floor in front of the beautifully lit tree, he couldn't help but smile at his wife and daughter. Never in a million years had he ever expected to be looking forward to Christmas morning simply to enjoy being with his family, a wife and child, as they opened gifts and enjoyed the company of one another.
He sat back in admiration, their tree the perfect backdrop as Lindsay sat with Lucy in her lap, both girls dressed in new Christmas pajamas that Lindsay had insisted they start as a family tradition. Danny had at first rejected the idea, claiming that he didn't want to be "one of those people". But he had of course obliged, and now that he saw how cute his wife looked in the red, green, and white striped pajama pants with the matching red long sleeved shirt decorated with candy canes, and his daughter in her adorable fuzzy red onesie with the candy canes scattered about it, his matching candy cane pajama pants weren't so bad after all.
Laughing, he gazed around their living room. There was more Santa and candy cane wrapping paper than carpet, their leather couch now adorned with red and green bows, and the amount of toys and baby outfits that were scattered about would most definitely not fit in Lucy's nursery. Grandma and Grandpa Monroe had outdone themselves by mailing in a ride along pony, along with a note demanding pictures of their grandbaby as soon as possible. Lindsay's brothers had of course sent their share: a pink cowgirl hat and matching baby cowgirl boots, the perfect outfit for riding around on her play pony all day. Of course, the Messer's had also outdone themselves, with Louie practically buying out the baby section of every New York sports team; their daughter would be the biggest Yankees/Mets/Giants/Rangers fan in the whole daycare. And he couldn't forget about his mom, who had single handedly created the biggest pile in their apartment. Clothes, baby books, toys beyond all imaginable. He made a mental note to write a note to the local Toys R Us to apologize for wiping them clean of any merchandise they had hoped to sell to more than one customer.
Turing his gaze from the gifts to his girls, he smiled at the giggling baby and grinning wife sitting a mere two feet away from him.
He reached over to the box he had just opened, a new digital camera from his mother for capturing every single moment of her grandbaby's life.
Perfect.
Snagging the bow that had previously topped the box, he motioned for Lindsay to move the bubbling baby girl towards him, and she smiled as she realized what he was doing. He placed the red bow on top of her head and both Danny and Lindsay giggled and smiled widely as their daughter's face went from confusion to amusement. She patted her hands on her mother's lap and giggled, filling the entire apartment with the joyous noise, and Danny snapped the perfect picture right before she could remove the bow from her head and thrust it into her mouth.
"Here baby girl, why don't you chew on this?" Lindsay laughed, exchanging the bow for another of Grandma Messer's gifts: A stuffed puppy with a red bow around his neck. Almost immediately, she teethed the few teeth she had poking through with the dog's nose. Danny laughed and reached across to grab her from Lindsay's arms, exchanging their daughter for a small box. Lindsay looked at him questionably but hopeful as she attempted to guess what was in the box, teasing him as she shook it near her ear and giggled at the look of anticipation in his eyes.
"Would you just open it ya goof?" he giggled, growing impatient.
"Danny, I told you not to get me anything. You and Lucy are all I need," she replied as she blew a kiss at the baby girl who was now clawing at her father's dog tags.
"I know I know, but since when do I ever listen to you?" He stuck his tongue out at her as she began to slowly undo the ridiculous bow that he had clearly tried to tie himself. He watched in anticipation as she finally removed the lid of the box and pulled back the tissue paper that was neatly folded around the object. He grinned hugely as he saw her eyes grow wide and her mouth drop.
"Danny, it's beautiful." She lifted the silver chain out of the box, revealing the small heart pendant on the end of it. Carefully she cracked open the locket, revealing two photos: One of she and Danny from after their wedding, and one of Lucy taken only days before. The three smiling faces staring back at her were enough to bring tears to her eyes. Scooting through the piles of discarded wrapping paper and the baby toys, she moved into Danny's already open arms, his smile forming into a kiss as his lips met her cheek, kissing the tear away.
"I love you," he whispered. "And little Lucy does too, ain't that right Luce?" he asked the little girl who blubbered in response and clapped her hands noisily. He took the chain from her hand and helped her to put it on, the pendant laying across her shirt and catching the sun just right.
"Now we'll always be wit ya, right there next to your heart," he told her, wiping the last happy tear from her face.
"I'll wear it always," she whispered back, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek.
Suddenly rushing out of his lap, she maneuvered herself around the back of the tree and pulled out a flat, rectangular box handing it to him. His eyebrow arched up as he eyed her grin.
"I thought we agreed not to get each other anything, huh?" he grinned at her, shifting Lucy so that she was sitting in his lap, leaning up against his chest for support.
"Well you clearly abided by that rule," she smiled at him as she fingered the heart shaped pendant around her neck.
He rolled his eyes jokingly and mimicked her earlier actions, shaking the box carefully as to not rustle the baby in his lap or breaking the contents of the box. Finally he exaggeratedly tore into the wrapping paper, revealing a box whose top was quickly flung across the room. He had to stop to take a breath as he stared into the box. With an ordinary frame and some finger paint, Lindsay had decorated it pink and white, the words "Daddy and Me" written across the bottom of the frame while her daughter's tiny handprints made up the top corners. The picture was Danny's favorite of him and his daughter: They had taken a family trip to Rockefeller Center only weeks before to see the lighting of the tree, and Lindsay had snapped the most precious shot of Danny pointing to the tree, holding Lucy in his arms, all bundled up in her winter snow suit. Her eyes were wider than the lights on the tree, and the smile on Danny's face was priceless.
He grinned up at his wife as he pulled her into another hug.
"Thank you," he said simply, because that was all that needed to be said. She smiled back in response before plopping down next to him, his arm automatically dropping around her, pulling her closer to his side.
They stared out at the mess in front of them that entirely covered their living room. Looking at each other, all they could do was laugh.
"Why don't we leave this for another day?" Lindsay suggested. "It's our first Christmas together as a family, why spent it cleaning up?"
Danny needed no more convincing.
As they were about to get up, almost on cue there was a buzz at their intercom. They stood up in sync and made their way to the box on the wall.
"Merry Christmas!" they said in unison, followed by some of Lucy's babbling.
They were returned with a laugh on the other side, followed by six familiar voices. "Merry Christmas, Messer's!" The voices of Mac, Stella, Hawkes, Flack, Adam, and Sid met them, and they knew they were in for an interesting day.
"Hey guys," Danny chuckled.
"You gonna let us up Mess, I'm freezin' my butt off out here!" Don replied.
"Oh quit your complaining Flack, hold your horses," Danny joked back as he pressed the button to let them up.
Five minutes later, their already Christmas-crowded apartment was now crowded with six extra people, six people that they hadn't been initially prepared for, all bearing gifts for the newest addition to the lab. After the welcome hugs and Christmas wishes, the boxes were torn into with help from all, leaving Danny to contemplate how long it would be until they ran out of space in their apartment.
However, he couldn't help but chuckle as he stared at the strange array of gifts from the crime lab personnel. Flack had gotten Lucy a pink basketball, baby sized of course, but had secretly snuck in the matching baby sized basketball hoop, getting an eye roll and a death stare from Danny. Mac and Stella bought her a Playskool police car with real working sirens; too bad for them the only amusement she gained from it was that she could fit the tires in her mouth, gaining a laugh from the crowd. From Hawkes, she got a baby sized doctor kit, from Sid a book about the human anatomy (leaving not only Danny and Lindsay, but the rest of the party confused), and from Adam a doll that acted like a real baby, right down to the diaper changes.
Danny stared dumbfounded as he read the description on the box of the doll. "Adam, we've already got a poopin' machine over here, why would we want a doll that does the same thing?"
"I don't know, my niece wanted the same thing so I figured I'd just by two," he shrugged. Danny patted him on the shoulder and placed the box amongst the dozens of other toys.
"Thanks buddy," he laughed.
They moved into the kitchen, Lindsay and Stella scrambling to find enough food to entertain the guests considering the short notice they had had that company was arriving. Eventually they mustered up some hot chocolate, and hidden in the back of the refrigerator, Lindsay found two packs of place and bake cookie dough.
"So that's where that was hiding!" Danny exclaimed, reaching out for the pack, Lindsay pulling it away and smiling as he sulked in defeat.
"Danny has a bad habit of eating all the cookie dough before I can bake it into actual cookies," Lindsay explained to their coworkers.
"Aww, is Danny being a bad boy? Does he need to be sent to his room?" Flack joked, giving his friend a fake sad face.
"Hey man, don't be so sure being sent to your room is so much of a punishment anymore," he replied winking at Lindsay as he pulled her into a hug, trying to maneuver the package of cookie dough out of her hands as he did so.
"Not a chance Messer," she whispered as she chucked the pack of cookie dough towards Stella.
He placed a kiss to her ear and kept his arms wrapped around her, glancing at the circle of friends around him. They were all sipping their hot chocolate, talking and laughing, enjoying each others company. Danny and Lindsay shared a laugh as they watched Adam hold Lucy. The look on his face as she placed both hands on the sides of his face and a slobbery kiss on his cheek was absolutely priceless. Moving quickly, Danny snapped a picture, creating protest from Adam and requests for copies from everyone else.
----
"Why don't you boys go outside and play while we try to scrounge up a decent meal?" Lindsay suggested as they munched on the last of the cookies. When they had bought their new apartment, they had purposely bought one on the first floor, both so that they could avoid stairs with the stroller and baby supplies, and so that they would have easy access to the small yard they shared with the surrounding apartments.
Without hesitation, the boys grabbed their coats and shoes and ventured into the snowy yard.
The first snowball was thrown before Adam had his shoes tied all the way.
Shaking the snow from his hair, he pretended as if nothing had happened, bending down to tie his shoe and gathering a ball of snow and chucking it at Danny as he stood up.
It was only when he noticed the four men doubling over in laughter, Danny included, that he realized he had missed his target. Staring him down with a look that said "Your ass is mine" was his boss, white fluffy powder covering his head. The color quickly drained from his face, matching the color of the ground around him, but no faster was he preoccupied with the safety of his job than the men were teaming up and creating mock "forts" on either side of the yard, engaging in a snowball war like they were ten years old again.
Lindsay and Stella were nearly doubled over laughing as they stared out the small kitchen window, watching their coworkers pummel each other with snow. Lucy sat in her highchair which Lindsay had placed by the back door so that she could look out, and giggle at the flying snow.
"You know, a year ago I never would have thought I would be spending Christmas with Danny Messer and our child," Lindsay said as she boiled water over the stove.
"I always knew you two would end up together," Stella replied with a smile as she gave Lindsay a warm hug.
Reflecting on that thought as the women maneuvered around the kitchen in silence, Lindsay smiled, remembering the first time she met Danny, their first date, their wedding, and Lucy's birth among other things. This Christmas was another memory she could now happily add to her ever-growing list of moments she would spent with Danny, and now their daughter.
----
After the boys had brushed off the snow and come in to share the meal Lindsay and Stella had concocted, they all helped clear the living room of the discarded paper and bows and organize the piles of Lucy's gifts to a corner in order to make room to sit around the living room.
With newly filled mugs of hot chocolate, the lights dimmed except for the Christmas tree, and soft Christmas music playing in the background of their conversations and laughter, it was more than any of them could ask for. Lindsay and Danny sat cuddled up on the love seat with a sleeping Lucy cuddled on both of their laps. Without objection to their request, Mac had gladly snapped a shot of the happy family, still dressed in their matching Christmas pajamas.
It eventually grew late, but they all managed to convince Danny and Lindsay to set the timer on the camera and take a group photo in front of their tree. After a few shots, they finally got a nice photo that didn't have Adam with his mouth hanging open mid-sentence or Sid looking the other way. It would be a nice addition to the ever-growing wall of team photos on the corkboard back at the crime lab.
After a series of hugs, holiday wishes and goodbyes, the Messer's were finally alone. Exhausted, they smiled down at their sleeping daughter and carried her off to her crib, plugging in the plush light-up Christmas tree that was seated on her window sill above her crib. Danny wrapped his arms around Lindsay as they stood above their daughter's crib watching her tiny chest rise and fall.
"Merry Christmas, Linds," he whispered.
She sank into his warm embrace as he placed a kiss to the top of her head.
"Merry Christmas, Danny. I love you," she replied.
He hugged her tighter and, knowing that they would eventually have to sleep at some point, took her by surprise and scooped her up in his arms and carried her to bed. She was out before he could tuck her in all the way.
As he lay there watching her sleep, tucking her hair behind her ear and holding her close, he could only smile as he thought on to the years ahead; the joyous holidays to come with both of his girls and the memories they would build together.
As he finally closed his eyes, he realized that he didn't need anything more in his life.
All he needed to survive was his family.