Piper took a sip of her hot chocolate. "DAMN IT." She spilled some on her sweater as she sat the mug down on the counter. Grabbing a handful of paper towels, she dabbed the brown liquid from her cardigan before it could soak in too much.
She heard a lazy chuckle drift in from over the couch. "It's hot Mama; you have to blow on it."
Piper rolled her eyes as she grabbed both mugs as she went around to sit by her daughter. "How did you get to be such a smart ass Hailey Diane? I think you got it from Mama A."
The lanky blonde-haired blue-eyed teenager sat up and leaned forward to accept the mug from her mom. "You say that like it's a bad thing." Piper plopped down next to her daughter with a deep sigh. "I know you miss her Mama. I miss her, too." Hailey blew on her steaming cocoa sarcastically, if that's even possible, before taking a sip. "But you've always made the best cocoa."
"Tomorrow is Christmas Eve Hailey. Families are supposed to be together on Christmas. This just isn't right." Piper allowed her daughter to comfort her with a one-armed hug. "And teenagers aren't supposed to console their mothers."
"Mama A always said you were a little on the feeble side. She made me promise to always take care of you." Hailey looked at her mother impishly.
This made Piper giggle. "She did not call me feeble." She grabbed her daughter's mug and began to tickle her.
"She did Mama. She did. I swear." Piper tickled harder. "Okay, okay, I give. She didn't." Piper relented and Hailey took her mug and retreated to the kitchen. "She called you frail." Setting her mug in the sink, Hailey took off down the back staircase taking cover in her room.
Piper went to stand at the wide warehouse windows that, in the daytime, would amazingly stream in so much natural light. She looked out over the perfectly manicured courtyard. At night, she could flip on the lights which would illuminate each feature of the courtyard collectively or individually: the plants, the gazebo, and the various sculptures. On the wall of the warehouse was an amazing rendition of Alex's rose arm tattoo.
The courtyard had been Piper's wedding present to Alex. Pulling it off without her knowledge had taken a lot of secret arrangements and a great deal of help from friends. However, in the long run, it had been well worth it because the clandestine operation had gone off without a hitch. Besides, she had to top Alex's wedding present which had been their warehouse!
Suzanne was an excellent groundskeeper and had been with them for sixteen years. She kept the topiaries trimmed and the perennials in season. This year, she had taken great pride in helping Piper with decorating the outside of the warehouse for Christmas. There was a hole in Piper's heart that it had not been Alex, but when push came to shove Hailey was still here, and there had to be some normalcy for her.
Piper sighed as she turned to look around the top floor of the warehouse. She and Hailey had retrieved all of the totes containing the indoor Christmas decorations earlier that day. From the time Hailey had been old enough to help, the tradition was to spend all Christmas Eve day decorating. Piper was bound and determined that wasn't going to change this year.
Soft padded steps came up the rear steps. "Mama?" Hailey wrapped her arms around her mom. "It's okay Mama P. We can do this tomorrow just like always." Piper put her hands over her daughters arms and leaned into the embrace. Hailey could tell her words were still lacking the effect she wanted. "Mama? Can I sleep with you tonight?"
Piper's heart was suddenly filled with so much warmth and love that she thought it would burst. "Of course you can baby. I'd love that."
The mother and daughter pair awoke early the next morning. While Piper's heart was still heavy, she tried her best to shake it off. Their Christmas Eve day traditions were almost more exciting than Christmas Day itself. The morning started with fresh pressed hot apple cider, apple stuffed French toast, and lots and lots of bacon.
Next was the trip to the garden center to pick out the tree. Each year they selected a small, 2.5 – 3 foot tree which still had a canvas wrapped root ball, allowing it to be planted and live on. When Hailey was about five, she announced that it took Christmas trees, on average, ten years to grow enough for someone to want them in their house. That year she refused to go to the Christmas tree farm to cut down a tree, and the tradition of a living tree started.
"How about this one Mama?" Hailey was bundled in her winter clothes and had taken off her gloves to lightly touch the branches of the small evergreen. Her blue eyes sparkled as she looked up at her mom. They both knew the decision was always Hailey's, but every year they went through this. Normally Alex would banter with her acting like she hated the selected tree and would go off to find the ugliest, scrawniest one on the lot she could just to tease her daughter.
Piper nodded without hesitation. "I think it's lovely baby."
Soon the tree was purchased and loaded. Then the pair stopped off at their traditional diner for Christmas Eve lunch before heading home to decorate.
Back at the warehouse, Hailey and Piper managed to get the tree into the freight elevator and to its place on the third floor. They worked together to decorate the third floor. Flashing colored lights lined the front windows. Various surfaces of the home were covered with Christmas craft projects from Hailey's younger years. And petite figurines scattered every surface of the loft to include snow men, Santa Claus, reindeer, and penguins – lots and lots of penguins.
Teeny, tiny shiny balls were carefully hung on the small tree. Hailey looked at her mom as she pulled out the decoration they always saved for last. She looked at Piper with a small smile combined with a grimace. Piper walked over and placed one hand on the other side of the tiny angel, and together they placed it atop the miniature tree. That had always been Alex's favorite part because it signified the end of the Christmas decoration process.
"It's okay Mama P. You know she'd want us to do this." The two took comfort in each other's embrace.
After a brief period of silence, Piper shouted. "Do you know what time it is?"
They both yelled together. "IT'S COOKIE TIME!"
The next big tradition was making gingerbread cookie men from scratch, of course. In keeping with Vause tradition, Piper and Hailey made a complete mess of the kitchen. Normally it was Alex who would inevitably start a flour fight, and the entire family would end up in a fit of giggles.
Once the cookies were in the oven, Piper and Hailey settled on the couch with the Christmas albums. This was the time they used to reminisce of holidays past. Back when Piper and Alex first started dating, Piper organized separate albums for special events. Each family member had a set of albums for her birthday, there was also one for Fourth of July, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. This allowed the drastic changes in the family to be evident from year to year.
Christmas was Piper's favorite holiday, so those were the dearest to her heart. Once her mom settled next to her, Hailey pulled the first one into their laps. Her moms looked so young, especially in the photos of the days before she came along. The first set of pictures were from their first Christmas in Costa Rica. Piper repeated the story of how Alex had taken her there for Christmas and how they had also spent New Year's Eve in Belize. Of course neither Alex nor Piper had shared with their daughter the full story behind the hell that had started during that trip.
Hailey flipped to the divider page that said Year 2. She looked over to her mom who was staring into the distance, seemingly not focused on anything. "Mama? Are you okay Mama?"
Piper slowly brought her eyes back down to her daughter. "Hey baby. I know it's tradition, but I'm not sure I can handle any more tradition right now. What do you say we save the pictures for later? I want to enjoy them with you and not be all gloomy."
Hailey gently closed the album and stacked it on the other one on the coffee table. "I bet the cookies are ready to escape the oven!" Hailey scrambled up and ran into the kitchen to check on the gingerbread men.
Piper hated disappointing her daughter. But damn it. Families are supposed to be together on Christmas.
"One for Mama A. One for Mama P. One for Hailey. And one for Santa." Hailey said this each year as she selected four differently decorated cookies from the batch and placed them on their special holiday plate. The rest she wrapped in colorful cellophane to go with them to Grecco's.
Bella had long since retired from being the chef, but Tony had definitely inherited her cooking skills and was a maestro in the kitchen. They always hosted a traditional Italian Christmas Eve dinner with the Vause family. It had been this way every year since Alex and Piper got married. Families are supposed to be together on Christmas and these Grecco's and Vause's had always been family.
Piper felt odd walking into the restaurant without Alex. She could not remember a time when this had ever been the case. Regardless she knew that Tony and Bella were excited about seeing her and Hailey again.
Christmas Eve dinner at Grecco's was always a light meal with a lot of fish rather than meat, the "Feast of the Seven Fishes". Bella cooked her special pumpkin gnocchi served in a butter sage sauce. As usual with family meals, there was quite a spread of food despite it being a "light meal".
Everyone was making the most of the evening, enjoying the company as best they could despite being an incomplete family. Nobody addressed the elephant in the room and frankly, Piper was glad because she was barely holding it together.
About halfway through the meal, a car pulled up outside. The sound of various doors slamming caught Tony's attention. "Dannazione! Don't they know we are closed? This is family time!" He threw his napkin on the table and went to deal with the unexpected patron. The family continued to pass bowls and plates around the table and eat.
A few moments later, footsteps signaled Tony's return to the dining room. Then the sound of someone clearing a throat stopped all of the chatter around the table. All eyes turned to the new person. "Christmas Eve dinner without me?"
Hailey was the first to react as she launched out of her chair, knocking it over backwards. "Mama A. Mama A. You're here. You made it!" Hailey wrapped her arms around her mother as Alex tucked her arms beneath her daughter's and swung her around as they both laughed.
Tears were streaming down Piper's face before she could even move. Alex released their daughter and walked over to Piper's chair, squatting down. She tucked a loose strand of Piper's hair behind her ear and used the pads of her thumbs to wipe tears from her wife's face. "No crying Pipes. I'm here." She pulled Piper up and gave her a fierce hug.
"But… how?"
Alex shook her head and smiled at her wife. "That's not important right now. What's important is that I get a plate of food before you guys eat all the good stuff!" Bella had already placed a full plate in front of Alex's chair. Everyone took their places and began eating again. This time, the conversation came much more easily and definitely was more lively.
"The news says JFK and, well, all the NYC area airports are still closed. Apparently the weather is getting to a crisis level there. The storm is wreaking havoc all over the east coast. How did you get out Al?"
"Well, after I talked to you yesterday, Michael and I decided to try to rent a car and drive out of the city. After trying several rental car agencies, we finally found one that had a single four wheeled drive pick-up that they would let us rent only if I took out maximum rental insurance. That along with a huge tip got us on the road yesterday."
Hailey was passing out cookies to everyone as Bella poured the coffee. "Why didn't you call Alex? The last two days have been miserable because I thought we were going to have to spend Christmas with you stuck sleeping on the dirty floor of an airport." Piper had her arm wrapped around Alex's and was not letting go.
Alex chuckled as she bit the head off her gingerbread man. "These cookies are great Hailey. I'm glad you baked them." She placed a hand on Piper's. "Babe, first you would have done nothing but worry about us driving in the blizzard. Second we drove non-stop for a day and a half. What if we hadn't made it? Your disappointment would have been worse."
Giving her wife a kiss, Piper announced, "Well, you are never allowed to take another business trip this close to the holidays again. Deal?"
"I promise." Alex's chuckle was deep and throaty.
As the Vause family pulled up to the warehouse, Hailey took off without waiting for her mothers or helping them unload Alex's bags. "That little brat," Piper grumbled as she lugged a suitcase to the freight elevator. Once the luggage was successfully loaded, Piper and Alex squeezed in and took the creaky journey up to the second floor to drop Alex's clothes' bags. Then they continued to the third floor with the sack of presents Alex had brought from New York City for the next morning.
As soon as the doors opened, Christmas music flooded into the space. Hailey had turned on all of the sparkling lights and was standing by the tree. Tears moistened Alex's eyes as she looked around. "It looks just like it does every year, just like in my mind when Michael and I drove all night to get home. I think it would have broken my heart if you two had not decorated."
Alex took some more time to look around. "Ummmm there's something missing." Confused, Piper glanced at the decorations as she was sure she and Hailey had completed everything. Alex motioned to the tree. "Where is the angel?"
Hailey stepped forward with her hands behind her back. "I took her down." Bringing her hands around, she offered the angel towards her moms. "Together. We need to put her up together. That's the way it's always been; and that's the way it always will be."
Both adults were now crying as they moved to the tree to join their daughter in placing the angel on top. Hailey wrapped her arms around both moms and buried her head in between them. "We have a new tradition Mama A. Now we go through the albums on Christmas Day because families are supposed to be together on Christmas."
A/N: Happy holidays to all the readers out there. Here's a little fluff to start your holidays.