I do not any of the characters or the ideas created by Tite Kubo, however my OC and original storyline belong to me.

Hello everyone and a very Merry Christmas to all of you all over the world. I hope you are all enjoying spending the day with your families and giving and receiving presents. Anyway this following short story was a request from 534667lc but I truly hope that all of you enjoy Delilah as she celebrates Christmas as a young child.

So please read and enjoy, and review (reviews would make lovely Christmas presents for me!) :)

"Little Lielee, Little Lielee wakey wakey…wakey wakey…it's christmas…it's christmas and the snow is so very beautiful"

A tiny four year old child was buried deep under her covers, and as she struggled to awaken from the warmth which was her slumber, she immediately recognised that voice, and she groaned:

"Wanna sleep…I wanna sleep GinGin"

And then from one moment to the next, she felt someone sitting on the side of her bed, and within moment a delicate hand began to caress her fringe, eventually giving her no choice but to whip the covers of her body and open her eyes to see Gin gazing affectionately at her.

"Go look…go look"

She frowned at Gin, since when he was excited he acted like a bubbly kid with wide eyes, and it was contagious.

She willed herself to pull out of the warmth of her covers and grabbed onto Gin's shoulders, which in turn made it easier for her to slip her feet into her slippers. And it was before she arrived by her window, Gin had moved almost in a flash of light, and pulled up the window.

Seconds later, she had stuck her head straight out and looked down to see a stunning sight. As the usual greenery and concrete roads that she was generally faced with, was lapped over in the frothy whiteness. And with the accompanying chill, she knew within seconds that this was none other then snow.

Then she felt as if someone was changing her from her pyjamas and exchanging them for much warmer apparel. Her attention was soon diverted away from the snow, and she turned towards Gin who had finished her outfit by tying a warm wholly scarf around her next:

"Lielee…"

"GinGin…" she cocked her head, intrigued at what surprise he had planned for her. And then suddenly, his two hands wrapped around her middle, and he lifted her in bridal fashion. Then without much effort, he began to make his way down the stairs all the whilst singing 'Oh snow…wonderful snow…!' And it was minutes later that the two of them had reached the bottom of the stairs, and he released her once they were by the entrance door.

Once there, the two of them glanced towards each other, and their eyebrows rose significantly, almost as if they were testing each other and then within seconds they began to run straight towards the snow, jumped up and buried themselves with the cold yet delightful frothiness.

Once there, they rolled around playfully, laughing in pure and utter bliss and exultation at exactly what time of the year it was. Snow was a treat for both souls, since it came by so rarely and allowed them to break free and relish in the simplicities of childhood.

Gin may have been all grown up, but when it came to Delilah, he was more then willing to revert to his playful nature over and over again.

It was not long after that the two of them were beginning to create the typical snow angels and once finished, Gin looked up and caught her eye, as they lay about in the snow regardless of their clothes becoming thoroughly soaked.

"Do you wanna build a snowman?"

In her four years of life Delilah knew that she could never really disagree with Gin, and it wasn't very long until the two of them had traipsed over to an undisturbed area of snow, and commenced on their project to create something most childish indeed.

And minutes later, the two of them had worked together to roll together massive ball of snow, which would no doubt become the base of their snowman. Then came the smaller ball of snow, which Gin had lifted on top of the base, and she clapped her hands together giggling in bliss.

Yet when it came to the head, Delilah had made her own ball, and without even needing to ask, Gin had lifted her up and help her place the head onto the nearly finished snowman. And Gin held her to his chest, laughing and placing kissing on both of her kisses:

"GinGin…he needs a face"

Gin merely grinned more widely and with one hand he continued to hold her up, whilst with the other one he reached inside his pocket, and proceeded to place two pebbles to give their snowman eyes, and caused Delilah to giggle in glee:

"Carrot…carrot…carrot…he needs a nose…a carrot?"

Gin reached inside his pocket and placed a fresh pointy carrot into the palm of hand, and she leaned forward and pushed it into his head. And with one finger she adding the final detail being his mouth, and their solo time quickly came to an end when they heard a familiar voice:

"Come on you two, if you stay out here much long, then little Delilah will catch pneumonia. She is still a baby after all"

Gin carefully placed her onto the ground, and the two of them turned around to see none other then Sōsuke Aizen cradling the love of his life and Delilah's mother, whose beautiful red tresses swayed in the cool wind.

"Daddy…Daddy…"

Delilah quickly bolted away from Gin's side and hurried straight into the awaiting arms of her parents. She felt so fortunate that they were her parents and they embraced her, and she welcomed their warmth after having spent so much time in the snow.

"Everything is ready now. Let us go to the living room"

It was at that moment that Delilah turned her head back towards Gin and looked at him with wide and excited eyes, causing his grin to grow that much more:

"Ow its time…it's presents time"

He cooed causing Delilah to grin widely in anticipation.

….

Once the four of them had reentered the house, Delilah's mother and daddy had placed her onto a warm blanket already prepared on the couch. They then helped her out of all of her wet clothes, dried her with soft towels and helped her into a festive soft woollen dress. And Gin had placed a mug of hot herbal tea in her hands which had served its purpose by warming her up on the inside.

It was one they finished warming her up that they allowed her to slip of the sofa and quickly enough she, Gin, her mother and her daddy had began to make their way into the living room.

The room itself was quite cosy. To the left hand side there was the traditional fireplace, while to its left and also in it's exact parallel, there were cream coloured warm velvet couches. The large glass sliding doors providing an exit to the garden and its pond, were in exact opposite of where they had entered into the living room. But what had distracted her was just what her parents had done, as she had been meet with a truly astonishing sight!

At the centre there was a massive christmas tree decorated from top to bottom. Each of the branches were adorned in ornaments from gold, to silver to red. There were christmas lights which were delicately placed to swirl around the tree from the top of the tree right down to the bottom. Then there came the red tinsel which had been added in the same fashion, which the beautiful angel sat on top of the tree.

And lastly her eyes feel to the bottom of the tree, and her face grew into a massive grin. There were the presents and it was not before long that she began to giggle in excitement.

She turned her head to glance her daddy, then her mother and lastly Gin, and then without any sort of hesitation, she turned her entire body around and plunged herself forward wrapping her arms, as best she could, around the three of them. And it was not long after that they two had reached for her and embraced her as well.

It was a few minutes after the four of them had each taken turned in wrapping their arms around Delilah's tiny form, that they moved forwards and each of them sat around the Christmas tree. They would each participate in a truly western tradition, which all of them would most likely enjoy, since in the soul society the habit of giving gifts was not so widely celebrated.

Gin was the first one to make his move, as he reached for a smallish box which contained a card clearly stating that it was for her.

Delilah gladly received the gift, and spent a considerable amount of time attempting to peel of the wrapping without making a mess of it in the meantime. Her mother was quite fickly with these sorts of things, and since everyone around her seemed oh so blissful, the young Delilah wasn't about to spoil the mood.

And it was once she had succeeded in completing such a feat, that she was rewarded with what appeared to be a stack of colouring books and a large tray containing a respectable variety of colouring pencils.

Movements later, she lifted her head to see Gin's wide, wide smile, and she immediately crawled over to her, hugging him and saying:

"Thank you, Thank you, GinGin, I love…I love it!"

Gin hadn't responded immediately but instead he gladly wrapped his arms around her, and then said:

"We're going to have lots and lots of fun, little Lielee"

If Delilah would have seen her parents' faces at that exact moment, then she would have seen them smirking at Gin, since he too liked to engage in the same childish things which she did.

"Yes, GinGin…we are"

Once they broke apart, Delilah had given her gift to Gin and he was delighted to find that Delilah had created a well crafted scrapbook containing of pictures of the two of them getting up to all sorts of mischief, and there was no doubt that her daddy had already set up a camera somewhere hidden in the room which was taking snapshots of each and every one of their reactions.

The next gift that Delilah had received had been from her daddy, and they were a selection of paint brushes and accompanying paint, as it was no secret that even though Delilah had difficulties in grasping things like reading, she channelled her talent through art.

Her mother's gift had been slightly more practical, in the sense that she had given her a selection of books with stunning photography and simple explanations about wildlife. Because even though the soul society was more of less scare of such creatures, from the books which her daddy had introduced to her, her curiosity still remained and thus having these books would hopefully encourage her to interactive with them, when they read to her.

Her parents and Gin had exchanged gifts amongst each other, though it had been Delilah's gift to her parents which had proven to be the most thoughtful indeed.

It had been her mother who had originally received the wrapped gift from Delilah, and upon opening it, she had been left most surprised.

Firstly there was the wooden frame painted in gold which Gin had helped Delilah acquired, however the image within had been completely of Delilah's making.

Upon first glance, it appeared almost as if Delilah's mother and daddy were peering at a photograph which had all of them present and smiling. However the more they examined the image, the more they realised that they were in fact gazing upon Delilah's very own masterpiece.

"Sweetheart…?"

Delilah titled her head:

"What's wrong, Mama?" Delilah enquired in a truly innocent tone.

"You painted this?"

Delilah turned her attention to Gin, who was vigorously nodding his head, before answering:

"Ah, little Lielee can be very talented, it only takes the right sort of encouragement for her to achieve wonderful things"

Delilah quickly turned head from Gin, to her daddy and then her mother, then back again, confused as to why the three of their faces were beaming so much. And then the three adults moved towards her, and without any sort of warning, her parents had caught her and proceeded to tickle her of the feet causing soft giggles to come from her throat.

"Our little Delilah is truly a miracle to behold" her daddy mused, but his eyes sought out her mother's and she merely nodded in agreement, and followed suite by smiling.

Everything was going well.

….

It was a couple of hours later after that Delilah found herself following her daddy to the dining room. She had had breakfast, spent a bit of time reading a christmas tale in her daddy's lap and even fitted in a nap. Sure it was a Christmas Day, but considering she was only four in human years, resting during the day was still an important part of her day.

Like any curious four year old, she couldn't help but wonder if her mother and Gin had somehow worked together and it was soon after that the two of them had entered into the dining room, and Delilah let out a silent gasp.

The dining table had been so perfectly lain out. From the centre of the table there was the large platter containing the large roast chicken which made her mouth water. And around it were plates which had roast potatoes, vegetables, Yorkshire puddings.

In front of their allocated places at the table, she could see and smell the creamy soup. Though what really amazed her was the fact that both her mother and Gin were adding the final touches, and since they both donned aprons, she quickly realise that they had in fact worked together to create this delicious meal.

And it was Gin would had spotted them first, and said quite clearly:

"Late Christmas lunch is served"

Her mother merely smiled and Delilah followed suite, since she was happy that her mother was having one of her better days.

Quickly enough the four of them had assumed their places around the table, with Sōsuke Aizen at the head, Delilah's mother to his left and Delilah to his right. Whilst Gin had occupied his usual sit to her empty side which just happened to be her left.

Once they were comfortable in their seats, they had set to work consuming their creamy soups and Gin watched her intently, no doubt pleased that she had willing accepted the spoon and was gradually eating her soup. Yet whether she would be able to use a knife and a fork for the second course of the meal had yet to be seen.

It was roughly fifteen minutes after they began their meal, that Sōsuke had risen from the table and distributed the meat, the vegetables and the rest of the roast onto each and every one of their plates. Meanwhile Gin had immediately stepped into action, but cutting up Delilah's food into little pieces and eventually pouring just enough gravy over the top.

Yet when it came for Delilah to accept the knife and the fork, she found it difficult to hold onto the food which such utensils until seeing her despair, her mother called out to her:

"Come on my dear, we wouldn't be upset if you dig in"

Sōsuke eyed his lover fondly and Delilah immediately took this as an invitation to starting stuffing her face which using her hands. It would only be the following year when her mother would really crack down on her using cutlery, but until then they let her enjoy herself.

For the rest of the main course, the four of them spoke about the good times and delved into the tradition christmas stories, and by the time that Gin had placed that large slice of caramel chocolate cake in front of Delilah, that her face, hands and parts of her dress were covered in the food which she had been consuming.

It was within a matter of moments, that she had scuffed the entire slice straight into her mouth and Gin's face was simply beaming at how readily Delilah was eating the cake he had specifically made for her.

And once they had all finished their meals, Sōsuke and Delilah's mother made their way over to Delilah, smiling and gently cooing:

"Our little girl has had fun" her mother commenced.

"Our little girl will probably appreciate a nice warm bath" her daddy had added.

….

And as it turned out both of her parents were correct, as Delilah found herself happily splashing around in the soapy bath which they had prepared for her some twenty minutes later. Both her mother and her daddy worked together to cleanse her body, whilst Delilah's attention was mostly on the rubber duck which swam around her.

Sleepiness was already rapidly setting in when they had helped her out of the warmth of the water, and when onto dry and dress her. It was little things like this which Delilah really enjoyed since it made her feel both loved and secure all at the very same time.

It was not long after that, that Delilah found herself climbing up the warm bed covers and waiting as both her parents sat by her bedside, and spent ten minutes delivering a bedtime story, christmas style.

And both she was finally drifting of, she willed herself to murmur the words which had been on her mind for quite a while.

"Mummy…Daddy…Gin…can we have another christmas next year?"

She heard her daddy's soft chuckle and an accompanying affectionate peak on the forehead:

"Oh I shouldn't see why there would be a problem"

Once her two parents finally said their goodbyes and left, Delilah's eyes fluttered open and in the moonlight she saw a familiar figure standing over her bed. And she murmured:

"NightNight GinGin and Happy Christmas"

She heard Gin's soft chuckle and his silky voice:

"Nighty Night, my little princess Lielee…and a very merry christmas to you too"

Ah the good times when Delilah was still oblivious to all the complications which existed in her life. I hope you enjoy this side Christmas special and please do check out the latest chapter of 'Hidden In Plain Sight'.

Anyway I wish you all a very Merry Christmas!

dedicatedwriter21