Here is what will probably be my last foray into the "Serendipity-verse" (unless I write some random Linda/Ray centric oneshots in the future because I kinda fell in love with them writing Serendipity and that's not the kind of pairing I can just throw together in a random oneshot considering the whole thing about them not actually having met in canon). I believe stories should end when they end, so while I really appreciate those of you asking for a full length sequel, it's just not going to happen. But that fic took place from January to November, so there never was a Christmas celebreation in it. Here is one now. It takes place three years after Ariel was born and I promise is overall a happy fic. (TRIGGER WARNING: MISCARRIAGE)

Ralph counted the bows to make sure he had enough for all the gifts, and aggressively began to tape the wrapping paper around the boxes. He had hoped that assigning himself a task would help keep his mind from wandering. Unfortunately, there was nothing to do that wasn't menial. Back when Christmastime was just him and his mom, they both had plenty of work, decorating the house, cooking, baking, and cleaning up. Now, their family had expanded to thirteen – well, eleven that could actively help out – and while sometimes having less to do was desirable, Ralph wasn't having that experience today.

Today was an anniversary. He hated anniversaries.

It was on what would have been his mother and Drew's fifth anniversary that she had realized that he was never coming home. Ralph had told Owen about that, a few months before they'd gotten together. Over time, he'd foolishly grown fonder of anniversaries. But Christmas was coming now. And it'd be the first Christmas the group would spend together in two years.

The previous Christmas season had been absolute Hell. And it had all started...

"November 23rd," Ralph mumbled to himself, only half aware that he was speaking out loud. "Ariel's second birthday. My mom and dad sit me down on the couch at home and tell me that I'm going to have a little brother or sister. But they don't want anyone else to know yet. Not until twelve weeks. Can I please keep it to myself for a little under a month?"

Ralph threw his arms around his mother. Walter shifted until he could hug both of them, together, and Ralph slid a hand from around Paige's back to press between their stomachs, knowing his little brother or sister wouldn't be kicking yet, but hoping somehow he or she or they would know that he was saying hi.

"June fourth," Paige told him, answering the question he was preparing to ask. "Before it gets too hot, though I suppose there is never a good time to be pregnant in California. Ariel was timed fairly well in that respect."

"If I remember correctly you threatened to not do it if Sly was going to ask you to be third trimester in July," Walter said. "So I guess I'm lucky this happened when it did."

Ralph's parents had tried for almost a year and a half prior to that pregnancy. It'd been amusing at first – Ralph was an accident, Ariel was conceived on the first try through a procedure that offered long odds. But then natural conception had taken seventeen months of planned action, and during that time, he'd seen his mother cry, he'd seen his father sit non – responsive for hours on the couch, and the household had been not so much strained, but just sad. Maybe it was a sign, Walter had suggested. Maybe it was a sign that she shouldn't get pregnant again, not with the radiation. It wasn't a sign, Paige had responded, he didn't believe in those anyway.

Ralph's hands started to shake as he continued to wrap the gifts. The most recent November 23rd – just a month ago – had stirred conflicting feelings. Sylvester's daughter had turned three. But it was also a year since Walter and Paige had finally announced their pregnancy.

Then there was the next painful anniversary. "November 30th..." Ralph said out loud, quietly, struggling to regulate his breathing.

"Walter!"

He never used his dad's name anymore. Not unless he was scared or angry. Right now, he was both. Walter never missed five calls in a row, never went more than a few minutes without calling back. Not unless lives were at risk. And they had no case today. The relief Ralph felt at hearing his voice manifested itself in the shouting of his name. "Where are you guys? Are you on a case? No one told me..."

"We're...we're at the hospital, Ralph. Your mom..."

"What about my mom?" Ralph shouted into the phone, frantic. "Is she okay? Is the baby okay?"

"She's fine," Walter said. "Or, she – she will be. At least." There was a horrible pause. "But the baby's gone, Ralph."

Ralph had seen both his parents cry before. But until he'd reached the hospital that day, he had never seen both of them crying at the same time. When he'd been taken to her room, when he'd opened the door to see them both in the bed, holding each other, tears streaming down both of their faces, he'd never felt so helpless.

And now, more than a year later, the memory was strong enough that Ralph pulled back from the table, leaning against the back of the couch, breathing hard, wondering if this was what his dad had gone through in the early days of missing Megan.

"December fifth," he panted.

"I have to go to my mom."

"Your mom wouldn't want you to go home and sulk, Ralph. She'd want us to keep to our plans."

"You know what, Owen?" Ralph snapped. "I don't need your manipulative guilt tripping. Okay?"

"Oh my GOD, I am not manipulating you. I am trying to HELP you!"

"By telling me I shouldn't spend time with my mom? What about all that stuff when she was diagnosed, huh? Everyone was telling me, don't throw yourself into research, spend time with your mom, that's what she wants. She and my dad just lost their child and you think I should just go to the goddamn museum with you like we planned?"

"Don't blame this on the miscarriage," Owen snapped. "You've been distant for months, cancelling dates, not making plans in the first place. I feel like I'm the only one in this relationship."

"You know my parents were having a hard time. They'd been trying for MONTHS to get pregnant. Almost YEARS. Negative test upon negative test. I was being there for them. Now I have to be there for them again. And you SAID you understood."

"Look, Ralph, I just don't want to be in a relationship that isn't going anywhere. You used to come to me when you were struggling. You don't do that anymore."

"Well, now I see why not."

Ralph slid down the back of the couch until he was sitting on the floor.

"December tenth."

The breakup. The shouting, the frustrated sighs. Ralph's body jerked as he remembered how the sound of Owen's car door slamming shut had snapped through the air like a sonic boom.

He closed his eyes and pressed his fingers to his temples, not registering the quiet click that was the front door opening.

"Ralph?"

His mother's voice cut through his memories and drew him back to the present. Ralph looked up. "Hi."

He could see the concern for him in her eyes. "Ralph, are you okay, you're not..." she glanced at the unwrapped gifts. "What is it?"

"I'm just thinking about...stuff. You know how that is." Ralph put down the tape dispenser, not making eye contact, hoping his voice was casual enough.

"Oh, baby."

I'm eighteen, Mom. Ralph didn't protest. He was having thoughts that made him unstable, and he knew she knew it. "I'll be okay. I just need to get out of my head. How is she?"

"Oh." Paige lowered herself down next to him, stretching her legs out in front of her. "She's been pretty active this afternoon. Want to feel?"

Ralph reached over, placing his palm flat against the roundness that was beginning to form his mother's abdomen. Paige placed her hand over his, guiding it slightly lower. He smiled when he felt the patting against his hand. He looked up at Paige's face and smiled. "Active. Not all the time."

"It could be bad if they never stopped moving. The doctor said she seems to be right in the middle of normal."

Ralph nodded. He'd never loved the word normal so much until that was the word that was always used to describe the results, from the tests upon tests that the doctors had done on his mother over the past five months. "Maybe she'll be good at sports."

"Maybe," Paige said, with a smile and a little nod. "Maybe."

"Or maybe she'll be like me." Ralph couldn't help but hear how his hopefulness came through in his tone. "Mom, I'm eighteen," he protested as Paige reached out and tousled his hair.

"Maybe she will be like you," Paige said. "I know I wouldn't mind having another person in my life as special as you are."

Ralph smiled. "I love you, Mom."

Paige smiled, gently squeezing his knee. "I'm going to go to the garage and see how the three stooges are doing decorating it. Dad will be home late tonight; he and Cabe are going over some things downtown. You sure you're okay?"

"Yeah." Ralph knew his mom was well aware that he had been struggling over the past month, remembering the waves of pain that had come over their family the previous year. But she knew that he wouldn't talk to her about it. And she was okay with that.

She knew that he had someone else to share those feelings with.

"Hey girl," Paige said in a playful voice as she entered the garage.

Linda was standing on the stepladder hanging some mistletoe. "Hey!" She said, climbing down. "Merry Christmas Eve!"

"You too. I love what you've done with the place!" Paige teased, opening her arms as she surveyed the decorations. "This has always been my job," she commented.

Linda pulled back from the hug. "I'm sorry. Walter said..."

"He doesn't want me on ladders," Paige said. "And I don't want me on ladders either. My center of balance has never been this off before at five months. I'm sure you, Ray, and Sly will do a phenomenal job. No matter what my other half seems to think," she added with a laugh.

"How was your doctor's appointment today?" Linda asked.

Paige grew serious. "Good. They said everything looks good. They're looking at her with such a critical eye and...and everything is normal. And now that I'm this far along...we should be clear sailing."

"Good." Linda walked back over to the step ladder and collapsed it down. Paige followed, tugging at some tinsel to see if it was securely fastened. "That's a big relief, I'm sure."

"Yeah. Uh, Linda?" Paige turned to her. "I uh...I just wanted to thank you. Again. For everything."

Linda's face softened. They hadn't talked about it in months.

"Paige I uh...I heard what happened."

The other woman's eyes opened, but Linda knew they were staring out at nothing. "I know no one was supposed to know, but...I walked in on Walter talking to Cabe." She walked to the side of the bed and dropped to her knees. "Paige. I've never told anyone this. But four months into my marriage with Hank I...I lost a baby too."

Paige blinked, and it seemed to bring her back. Her eyes focused on Linda. "What?"

"I was just about ten weeks along, like you were. We vowed we wouldn't tell anyone. Ever."

"Oh. Lin, I'm so sorry."

"Don't be," Linda said. "In my case, it was probably for the best. But Paige..." she reached over and curled her fingers around Paige's. "It still hurt. And it's okay for it to hurt. And I know you know all this but please, if you need to and feel comfortable, talk to me. I'm always ready to listen and I've been through it too."

"Walter feels like he can't grieve. Or he can't show it in front of me. He thinks that'll make it worse for me."

Linda felt a twinge of guilt. When she and Happy had told Walter about dumping out and comforting in, back when Paige was initially diagnosed with her residual radiation problems, it had been good for him. But he still wasn't always good at figuring out what ring he belonged to. It didn't surprise her that he felt like he couldn't talk to Paige about his feelings on something like this. "Have you told him you want him to talk to you about it?"

"Yes. He says he's more concerned with how I'm feeling." Paige sat up. "Physically? I'm okay, now. It's been a week. But I just...I know he thinks I'm the only one who should be able to grieve. And he's grieving too but he's hiding it from me and I honestly don't know how to bring it out of him before he breaks. He's only broken once before. And he was a lot better after that, but it was still so hard for him to break. So hard." She sat up. "I know it'll happen again. We will have a baby. But that will never mean we didn't lose one."

Linda bit her lip. Paige would get pregnant again, yes. Paige and Walter would have a child together. That was all true. But it wasn't true for her. Ray was sterile. Yes, there were other options – sperm donor, or adoption, but she didn't want to carry a child that wasn't Ray's. They could still be parents, but Linda would never be pregnant again.

Paige knew that – about Ray. But her words weren't malicious. Linda squeezed her hand. "No, it won't. I know it won't."

Paige chose her words carefully. "I've thanked you a thousand times if it's happened once but...every time I go to an appointment and they say everything looks okay, every...every time I feel her move I just...I remember how dark I felt this time last year and you really, really helped both Walter and I."

"I'm glad you guys could talk to me," she said, reaching out for Paige's hands and squeezing them gently. "I love both of you so much. I uh...I said this to Walter the day I left Hank, but I'm really glad that I stayed friends with him, became friends with you...when he and I broke up, you know, it was just a thing you say, yeah, we'll be friends, always, sure, of course, blah blah blah. Every day I'm grateful that we are."

"I know when you first came into our lives I wouldn't have said this," Paige said, and Linda gave an understanding smile even before she finished the sentence with, "but I'm glad you stuck around."

Paige cocked her head, confused when Linda's eyes widened slightly. "You okay? You look a little uncomfor..." Noticing the way the shorter woman's eyes were tracking above their heads, Paige looked up too. "Oh," she said. "That's...that's the mistletoe." They looked at each other, Linda's right eyebrow slightly elevated. "Well I mean..." Paige shrugged. "We gotta, right?"

Linda smirked, leaning forward slightly. Paige leaned in and their lips brushed gently against each other. "Very nice," Paige said with a grin. "I'd recommend you to a friend."

"You know what the first thing Ray said the first time we kissed? Right after you guys got back from Texas, we kissed behind the airstream."

"What did he say?"

"He shrugged and said yeah, he'd do me for a Klondike bar."

Paige snorted. "He would."

Toby walked into the house and stopped, raising his eyebrows at the scene before him. "Are we running behind on presents or is this already another project?" He asked as he viewed the extensive machinery set up on and around the kitchen table. "Also, didn't we get a work room for you so this doesn't interfere in our ability to eat?"

"I need to keep an eye on this food we're supposed to bring and I'm likely to let it slip my mind if I was back there," Happy said, taking off her protective goggles. "Merry Christmas Eve."

"Oh, so now you'll acknowledge other holidays beside the actual twenty fifth."

"Toby, Christmas Eve is an actual holiday. Yesterday was nothing. Do not say Christmas Adam," she said, holding up a hand in warning when he opened his mouth.

"It makes sense. Christmas Adam. Comes before Christmas Eve and is usually unsatisfying. A ha!" He said triumphantly when she snorted, rolled her eyes, and failed to hide her amused grin. "See? You like it. We'll celebrate Christmas Adam next year, I know I can get the kidlet on board. And Ariel. She goes along with whatever Collette says." He stopped, seeing his wife's grin and smiling back at her. They stood in silence for a few moments. "God, this year is so much better than last."

Happy nodded. "You can't get much worse than last year, so this year had a pretty good chance of being better – Sly could get us exact odds – but yeah. This year isn't just an improvement."

Toby walked around the table and kissed the side of Happy's head, just above her ear. "This year is good."

"Come here, doc."

Toby smiled, turning toward her and sliding his arms around her waist. She stepped closer and closed her eyes, her lips parting slightly in anticipation of his. Toby tipped his head down, kissing her soundly, hearing the tiny little moan in the back of her throat as he pulled her snug against him and flicked his tongue along her upper lip. She deepened the kiss, pressing her mouth hard against his as a hand slid up to the back of his head, curling its way around her hair.

"I love you, Happy," he mumbled against her mouth, feeling the fingers of her other hand twist the back of his jacket. One thing that always startled him about her, even after all this time, was how quickly she could change into an intensely romantic and passionate woman from a state of complete focus. Less than two minutes ago she was soldering and now she was completely melting in his arms.

He heard the sound of their front door opening, but ignored it. They might be kissing, but they were decent. He briefly removed his lips from hers to kiss along her jaw, hearing her sigh and feeling her warm breath near his ear. Then he placed his lips firmly back on hers, lightly sucking her lower lip into his mouth.

"Do you guys have to do that?" Collette asked loudly as they dropped their school bag onto a chair.

"We do," Toby said, pulling back and grinning, his arms still around his wife. "It's in the contract."

"That's right," Happy said, "the adoption papers make us your legal parents and that means the embarrassment never stops."

"And I can tell you that you've both spent the past few years doing a wonderful job at that. But...aren't you supposed to embarrass me in public, though? The three of us are alone in this house."

"Are you telling us we need to be even more embarrassing once we get to the party?"

Collette winced. "I walked right into that one, didn't I?"

"Three years later and you're still making the newbie mistakes," Toby teased.

"Fortunately it's the Christmas season," Happy said, "which means our present to you can be not making out at the garage tonight."

"Except under mistletoe," Toby said quickly. "All prior agreements are off under mistletoe. Mistletoe has its own rules."

"Okay but I am getting other presents too, right?" Their mock worry was completely betrayed by the accompanying smirk, yet another way their adopted progeny reminded Toby of Happy.

"You lucked out because we already bought slash made all of them," Toby said with a thumbs up.

Collette wiggled the tips of their fingers together. "Excellent."

Ralph was early for dinner, but he couldn't stay in the condo reliving the worst month of his life. But today...the memories of last year's Christmas Eve were...

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. This past month has been so hard, but it's been a million times more difficult without you."

"I know what you mean. I mean...I mean I'm not living what your family is living with. But these past two weeks...I could have been more understanding too, you know. I won't say you didn't frustrate me, hurt me, but...but I can't blame it all on you."

"Yes you can. I took advantage. I could have handled it better and I chose not to because I assumed you'd always be around. I...I want you to always be around. But because I make you want to."

Hands. Touching hands. Fingers curling around each other. Foreheads resting together.

"These past two weeks have been a taste of what life is like without you. I don't ever want to experience that again."

The door opened and the corner of Ralph's mouth turned up. "Hey."

Owen smiled. "Hey."

"I hate anniversaries," Ralph said, shoving his hands in his pockets.

"I know." Owen stepped closer, his hands on Ralph's waist. He lightly bumped his nose against Ralph's. "I know you do."

"But, uh," Ralph said with a small smile, "I do like this one."

Owen nodded. "Happy one year back."

Part II will be up by Christmas, but I can't say right now exactly what day. In the meantime, feel free to drop a review, and hope you all enjoy the rest!