This sort of fits in after the first half of the epilogue, but four months post chapter 29 of It Can Happen in an Instant. I hope that makes sense.
A Christmas Special
Enjoy!
December 23rd
"Pipes, she's gonna freak. What infant doesn't the first time they actually meet Santa?" Alex exclaimed while adjusting her gray beanie at a stop light. The older kids could be heard arguing about who was getting coal in their stocking and Leah was rattling the toys on her car seat.
"She didn't freak out last year." Piper pointedly looked at her wife from the passenger seat of their SUV. The weather out was dreary and wet, but that didn't stop the two women from bundling up themselves and their children to make the trek to their local mall to meet Santa.
"Last year, she was two weeks old and just slept the whole time. This time she's more alert and able to take in the people around her."
"Mom?" Conner's voice floated in from the backseat.
"Yeah, bud?" Piper turned around as best she could. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Leah sucking on her pacifier while clutching the small stuffed giraffe that hung from it. It was hard for Piper to believe that her baby was a year old. Her Dr. Seuss themed party earlier in the month had been a hit among the family and friends that were invited.
"Can we stop and get some ice cream after we meet Santa?"
"Dude, its thirty degrees out and you want ice cream?" Alex chuckled as she pulled into a parking spot.
"I want ice cream, too!" Ellie was quick to throw her opinion out into the discussion.
"We'll see." Piper turned back towards the front of the car and unbuckled her seat.
"Do you still want me to go pick up those last few things while we're in here?" Alex's voice fell to a whisper. Leah's babbling easily covering up their conversation.
There were two days until Christmas and they had yet to complete their gift shopping, although this year was going a lot smoother than last year. The year previous, they had welcomed Leah into the world a mere three weeks before Christmas, causing gifts and the holidays to be put on the back burner.
"Yeah." Piper nodded. "I'll take them to get ice cream while you go shop."
"Okay." Alex chuckled and snuck in a quick kiss before getting out to retrieve the stroller from the back of the car.
Piper could only smile to herself as she watched her lover leave the front seat. It had been almost six months since their vow renewal and they were still in their honeymoon phase. It felt like a new, stronger, more intimate bond had been formed between them.
"Mommy! I see Santa!" Ellie was bouncing around from foot to foot as they moved up in the line. They were only two families away from their turn with Santa.
"I know, babe! Do you remember what you're gonna ask for?" Piper knelt down and placed her hands on either side of her daughter's torso so she'd calm down for a moment. It overjoyed Piper to see how excited her kids got for the holidays. Alex on the other hand counted down the minutes until it was over.
"I'm gonna ask for a dollhouse and a Barbie Jeep I can drive like a grown up." Ellie's eyes were wide and her smile was stretching across her features. Full day pre-school had started out bumpy for the middle Vause child, but had eventually turned into a hit. Each day she came home with many stories about herself or her classmates and always gave her family a mini lesson on what she learned that day. "And some flippers for when I swim in the bathtub."
Alex let out a snort out as she pulled Leah's sippy cup from the diaper bag.
"What about you, bud?" The blonde stood up and wrapped a hand around her wife's waist who was holding onto one of their youngest hands inside the stroller, while the other hand held onto the one of the handles on Leah's sippy cup. So far, the one year old still nursed periodically throughout the day, but the parents could tell she was beginning to wean from it. Leah practically ate everything her parents and siblings ate, yet still preferred Piper for a source of nourishment as well, and Piper was soaking every ounce of it up.
"I want a Nerf N-Strike Mega Mastodon Blaster and the Joker Manor Lego Set." Alex silently exhaled as she listened to her son list off what he wished for Christmas. In fact, she already had the Lego Set bought, wrapped, and placed under the tree. It had cost a pretty penny, and she knew the Nerf Gun would too if she could convince her wife to buy it. But she found the Lego sets worth it. There was something about watching Conner build Lego sets that relaxed Alex, and sometimes when he asked her for help, she found building just as relaxing. It had been their bedtime ritual for the past three years. He'd pull part of one out and assemble it on the coffee table for an hour after his sisters went to bed. "I also want the Lego Ferrari."
"You and your Legos." Piper smirked. She did have to applause her son. Four years, two little sisters later, and literally thousands of Lego pieces, thankfully neither one of the girls had got ahold of one. The blonde hoped to keep it that way.
"What about you Leah?" Conner peeked his head around the stroller causing a wide grin and small shriek from Leah. "Maybe Santa can bring you some baby toys."
"Santa got Leah a whole bunch of annoying, singing, light up toys that I seem to hear no matter where I go in the house." Alex mumbled, noticing that they were up next.
"Babe, Leah deserves gifts too." Piper smiled.
Alex was surprised her wife had even heard her.
"You're absolutely right, she does." The brunette picked Leah up out of the stroller, while glancing at the other two who were watching the family in front of them get their picture with Santa. "But we could've got her a shit ton more toys that didn't make noise."
Piper cocked her head to the side and chuckled. "What do you want our child to play with? Rocks?"
Alex shot her lover a glare, but before she could reply, they were being called up next.
…
Things were going so great. They had a great streak going. The three children all sat with Santa and took a group photo, and then came the individuals. The oldest child sat next to Santa and happily explained in detail what he wished for and took a picture. The middle child practically screamed in excitement the gifts she hope to receive and took a picture. But then there was Leah. Santa allowed Leah to sit with him for a moment or two to determine how she was going to react, but those wasted moments would've caused a lot less havoc had they actually used them to take a photo. In the group photo, Leah had sat in Conner's lap off to the side while Ellie sat in Santa's lap, leaving the infant to be more distracted in the arms of her brother.
Piercing screams and flailing arms were all the parents were focused on as the photographer attempted to calm Leah down with the puppet reindeer, but nothing seemed to work. The infant turned and attempted to roll away from the man in the costume.
"Oh fuck." Alex mumbled as she started to walk towards Leah to retrieve her. Piper could only giggle as she held onto Ellie's hand at the exit and paid for the photos. The one year old's arms instantly stretched out for Alex. Little sobs and a puddle of tears were shed into the crook of the brunette's neck.
"I'm sorry." The older woman apologized to the photographer.
"Not a problem. Happens more times a day than you would think."
"My poor baby." Piper chuckled as she ran a hand down Leah's back. The infant was still clinging to Alex for dear life. "Maybe next year will be better."
Alex looked unamused as she stared at her wife. She despised coming to see Santa. They had started when Conner was six months old and had been every year since. Her patience for coming to the mall for this whole ordeal was running thin, but she knew she still had many years of this left.
"Will some ice cream make you feel better?" Piper playfully pouted up at her lover. She knew how much her wife would rather be doing something or else. Alex would rather get the things they need and get out, not stand in line for forty-five minutes to see someone in a costume.
"Momma, Leah can have some of my presents since Santa's not gonna know what to get her."
Alex couldn't help but break her straight face and laugh at her four year old's remark.
"Okay, babe." The brunette dropped a hand down from her hold on Leah and smoothed her hand down Ellie's head. "That's very nice of you."
…
Thirty minutes later and a small scoop of vanilla ice cream, Leah was back to her grinning, bubbly self. No thought of Santa was present. While the children and Piper sat in the food court, Alex ran to the last few shops to purchase last minute gifts.
From Alex: Can you go ahead and take the kids to the car? The line in the toy store is freakishly long.
Piper arched an eyebrow up at the text. The blonde transferred the phone into her other hand to avoid her babbling infants grabby hands. She didn't know of any need to go into the toy store so she was instantly curious to what her wife was purchasing.
To Alex: Yes. What are you buying? Did the Lego store not have the Ferrari?
By the time Piper and her children made it to their car and got buckled in, Alex still hadn't texted back. Piper occupied herself by taking out the pictures they had taken today and couldn't help but laugh when she got to the last one. In the picture, Leah was stiff as a board trying to get away from Santa with a horrified look on her face.
The blonde had let another five minutes pass by and just as she was about to pull her phone out to call her wife, Alex was opening the back hatch of their car.
"Momma!" Leah grinned from her car seat.
"Hi, baby." Alex smiled as she set two large bags behind the backseat.
"What's all this?"
The brunette hadn't even noticed her wife get out of the front seat and walk around to where she was.
"Alex, I thought we agreed not to get him the Nerf gun." Piper closed the largest bag back up and turned to her wife with a slightly stern façade. "I'm afraid he's gonna break something with those little bullet things that come with it. Or hit one of his sisters!"
"Pipes." The taller woman smiled and closed the back hatch, leaving them out in the cold behind the SUV. This is what she loved about her wife. Piper was always so adamant about everything, she would passionately argue or become agitated if something did happen the way she wanted it. "Babe, the toy shoots foam darts, and you've seen how careful he is with his Legos…I'm positive he'll act the same way towards this."
Piper knew her wife was right.
"Okay, fine." The younger woman shook her hands in a done gesture. "But the second one of the girls comes crying that Conner hit them, it's being thrown away."
The blonde woman trudged off and got back in the car.
"I paid sixty-five bucks for this thing…If it's getting taken away from him, then I'm gonna play with it and get my money's worth, dammit." Alex smirked and shook her head as she walked towards the driver side of the car.
Christmas Eve
"Did she finally go down?" Alex giggled from where she was sat on their bed in the master bedroom wrapping the last few gifts.
"Who would've thought that our one year old would be the last one to go to sleep?" Piper glanced at their alarm clock, noticing it said half past eleven. "I had all my money on Ellie."
The younger woman in the room plopped down on the bed next to her wife, exhausted from the day's events. They had Christmas dinner and gifts at Barbara and Jim's and had gotten back an hour ago. Their day was full of joy, laughter, and fellowship. All of Jim and Barbara's kids and their families were in attendance, causing it to be a full house. By the end of the night, everyone was swimming in a pool of wrapping paper and ribbon.
"Leah can have excitement for Santa too." Alex pointedly looked at her wife.
"Is there anything else that needs to be wrapped?" The blonde sat up.
"Uh, the Nerf Gun and I think that's it." Alex resumed wrapping the gift in front of her.
Piper looked sideways at her wife. "I think you can wrap that."
"Oh, come on...He's gonna love it. Shouldn't that be all that matters?" The brunette placed the last piece of tape on the gift and set it on the floor beside the bed. It had been two days since they purchased the nerf gun and Piper was still on the fence about it.
"Maybe we should've got him a smaller one instead of this gigantic one."
"What's wrong with this one?" Alex pointed to the toy that was sitting on the ottoman next to the window.
"Alex, it has a freaking shoulder strap because of how large it is and it uses batteries!"
"God, you're acting so pissy…" The brunette crawled closer to her wife's side of the bed, practically hovering over her. "It's making me kinda hot."
"Don't try to weasel your way out of this." Piper was almost nose to nose with her wife. Her façade turning into a softer one, yet her voice continuing to stay firm.
"He's a boy, surrounded by four females, Pipes. I'm sure he gets tired of seeing shades of pink and purple."
Alex was right. Almost all of the toys in the living room play area were either Ellie's or Leah's. Conner's toys usually had small pieces and those were left in his room. Out of the goodness of the boy's heart, he always opted to play with his sisters instead of staying in his room with his toys twenty-four seven.
"I see where you're coming from, completely!" Piper's agitation was quickly melting as she felt her wife's lips touch the side of her neck. "I just think we could've started out with something a little smaller…To test the waters."
"You already wrapped his new baseball glove right?" Alex's voice buzzed against her wife's neck as she continued to place small, barely there kisses down the column of it.
"Mhmm." Piper regained enough composure to cup her wife's cheeks and pull back. "Why do I always end up in this position?"
"What?" Alex smirked, taking off her glasses and throwing them onto the bedside table. Her face was free of any make-up, and Piper found her utterly stunning in this state.
"This." The blonde's eyes motioned downward to the space between them. "Anytime you want something, I end up here and you know I can't resist."
"Because you love me." Alex smiled as she sat up and began to unbutton Piper's pajama top.
Piper sighed, a slight smile on her face. "I do love you…" Her hand ran up Alex's forearm. "And I love our kids, and this apartment, and our life."
Alex stopped and paused for a moment, looking down at her wife's blue orbs that were full of love.
"I love you and everything we have too."
Christmas Morning
After the couples passionate round of love-making and setting up the living room for the next morning, they had predicted they would have approximately five to six hours of continuous sleep before they were either woken up by a crying baby or children coming in and jumping into bed with them claiming Santa had come.
Alex's prediction had been correct and at six thirty in the morning, they were woken up to the soft sounds of a whimpering baby filtering through the baby monitor. The brunette quickly got up to retrieve Leah before she woke up her sister who would immediately want to start their Christmas Day.
"Good morning." Piper whispered sweetly as Alex emerged from the closet after changing Leah's diaper and laid her on the bed. Leah was clad in only her diaper, a routine that had recently begun to happen. The infant let off so much body heat at night that she would rip off her own clothing. This habit caused Alex and Piper to stop co-sleeping because they too would wake up sweating when sleeping next to her.
The brunette climbed back in bed and pulled the comforter up over herself and her little one before tickling up Leah's belly, evoking a strong giggle.
"Naked babies are my weakness." The blonde pressed a kiss to Leah's cheek as she rolled to her stomach between them. She knew soon she would need to nurse her, but allowed her daughter to fully wake up before doing so.
"I'm afraid this is the last naked baby we'll have in our household until we get grandchildren." Alex droned, removing her glasses once more in hopes to at least doze until the older children woke up and the madness of the morning began. "And this naked baby makes any bed a sauna, just like her mother."
Instantly Leah crawled towards Alex and pounced on her, babbling in her own language.
"Yeah, I'm talking about you." The older woman settled Leah to where she was sitting on her stomach. "I don't miss waking up to your diapered ass in my face every morning though."
"Alex." Piper chuckled while delivering a playful slap to her wife's shoulder.
…
Twenty minutes after Piper had got done with her morning nursing session with Leah, both Ellie and Conner came barreling into their room claiming Santa had come and ate the cookies they had set out for him.
The rest of the morning was spent in a sea of wrapping paper and ribbons. Conner had jumped out of his seat as soon as he opened each of his presents and ran around the living room when he opened his Nerf Gun. Instantly he had wanted to take it out of the box, but Piper had nicely asked to wait until his sisters were done opening their gifts.
Ellie insisted she open every toy and play with it after unwrapping it. Thus, leading to opening gifts taking twice as long as Piper and Alex had planned, but they honestly didn't care. They had no schedule to follow. They were spending the day with their kids, enjoying the Christmas Holiday while waiting for Piper's enchiladas to bake in the oven and the rice to cook in the slow cooker. The couple had agreed to a more nontraditional meal for their Christmas this year.
Leah on the other hand, had a better grasp of what Christmas was this year compared to last. Since she was not yet walking, but still cruising along furniture, it made it easier for her attention to stay on tearing off the wrapping paper a little bit at a time. The infant didn't really get that the presents were hers until Piper would take one out of the box and let her scope it out for herself.
What put the icing on the cake this Christmas, was what the kids (Mostly Conner) gave both his parents for a gift. When the couple opened the box, they were greeted with a photo album, and inside were the professional photos from their wedding six months previous. There were tears in both women's eyes as they looked at pictures of themselves, their family, the ceremony, and the reception.
"Babe, this is so sweet." Piper wiped tears from her face and pulled Conner down into her lap. None of her babies would ever be too big to be held. "Did Grandma help you do this?"
Conner nodded. "I used my money I got from grandpa for doing chores around his house and grandma helped me with the rest."
"Oh." Piper's lip quivered at the sincerity of her son's statement. There was never a day she wasn't thankful for being a mom to her kids or a wife to Alex. Conner was such an honest, and respectful boy for his age. He was a good role model for his siblings and he constantly got notes sent home for how helpful he was at school. The blonde was speechless as she enveloped him in a warm embrace. "Thank you, baby."
"Thanks, bud." Alex too had tears in her eyes. Leah and Ellie were standing at the edge of the couch observing the scene happening in front of them.
"I picked out the picture holder, momma." Elliott was sweet and adamant about her choice as she pointed to the white album that had the word 'Forever' in black, cursive on the front.
"I see, it's very pretty." Alex pressed a kiss to both her girls' foreheads. "Thank you."
"There's something else in the box." Conner said as he high-fived his momma.
When Piper picked up the box again, she felt around for something and her hand came in contact with the corner of what felt like a picture frame.
As she pulled the item out, she couldn't help but burst into happy tears.
Her prediction was right, it was a picture frame with the sweetest picture.
The photo was one of the five of them standing out in the vineyard outside of where they held their vow renewal. They all looked elegant in their wedding attire. The sun was setting in the background casting a soft glow on their skin. Piper was holding Leah in her arms, while Alex had her arm around them, kissing her wife directly on the lips. Ellie and Conner were standing in front with wide grins on their faces as the picture was taken.
"I didn't mean to make your cry, mommy." Conner's face immediately sunk and his hand went to wipe his mother's tears.
"No, bud. I'm happy. I love these pictures." She pressed a kiss to his temple before pressing one to the other two kid's faces. "Thank you so much."
Later on that morning after every gift was opened and the three kids were watching a Christmas movie, Piper couldn't help but feel so very blessed to be where she was in her life.
"I can feel you thinking." Alex mused from where she sat with her arms wrapped around her wife's torso. The two were currently cuddling on the chaise of their leather couch.
"Our first Christmas, we spent in my small apartment exchanging bath salts and baby clothes for Conner. Two weeks later we split up for two months. Now we're on our eighth Christmas with three kids, a cozy penthouse, and we're married. It's all crazy to see how far we've come and everything we've been through.
Alex chuckled against her wife's neck.
"I wouldn't do it with anyone else."
Piper smiled as she cuddled further into her wife and gazed at her kids interacting with each other on the floor.
Life was good.
A/N: Miss me? Maybe not, but I've missed this family so I wrote this small Christmas special. I hope you enjoyed it!
Happy New Year!