AN: This is a bit overdue. I have been having some laggy computer issues. Either way - here is some holiday cheer to tide you over until I can update NMA. And don't worry ;) It's coming.
"Aria! If we don't leave in…" Ezra thrusts his arm out so that his wrist stretches out beyond his sleeve, "exactly five minutes, we're going to be late and I'm not taking the heat for you this time."
He hears Aria sigh from up the stairs and rolls his eyes, shoving his hand back in his pocket. He looks down at his dress shoes, minding the way his pants meet the laces.
"Is everything else in the car?" she calls down the stairs.
"Yes," he says, drawing out the 's' as he rocks on his heels.
"And you got the boxes out of the garage for Emily's girls, right?"
"Aria, everything is packed up and ready to go. This is all we're waiting on."
He can't hate her for being as generous and thoughtful as she is…but as much as he wants to remember this and relax, he's having a hard time seeing past the hands on the clock.
He hears her sigh again, this time louder, and a door slams, followed closely by a light, scampering of feet.
"Honey, please stop running," she hollers. "Go wait by the door with daddy."
Ezra takes a few steps forward so that he's standing at the landing of the stairs.
"Come one sweetie, mommy's trying to find Simba."
A little girl who is no more than three carefully approaches the top of the stairs, her tiny, socked toes creeping over the edge, carefully surveying everything below. Ezra eyes her with uncertainty.
"Be careful…" he warns. "Do you need help?"
"No, me do it," she says as she eases herself onto the floor and proceeds to scoot, bouncing her body up in exaggeration each time her bottom lands on a stair.
"If you wanted to help me look, we might make it on time," Aria says as she exits a room, pulling the door behind her. She gives Ezra a look as she descends the stairs, scooping the small girl up as she passes and propping her on her hip for the rest of the trek down.
"Simby," says the small girl, bouncing lightly at her mothers hip. Her dark curls bounce in her face, falling out of the small bun that was at the crown of her head not ten minutes ago.
"Yes," Aria says, bumping her nose to her daughter's. "Mommy's trying to find your Simby."
"Simby!" she says again, this time bouncing harder. She throws her body back a few more times with excitement before Aria sighs and puts her down.
"I'm sorry," she says to Ezra. "Make sure she doesn't run off this time? I'm going to check the laundry room once more."
"Babe, she'll be fine without him."
Aria scoffs as she watches her tiny human dart off into the living room.
"Says the daddy who had to drive all the way home and get it the last time we made this mistake."
Ezra chortles, his temper easing, a little stress wearing away as he remembers that incident not long ago. "You raise a fair point," he says. "We're not going to be able to just drive home this time either. Okay, I'll get her shoes on. Try checking the pantry too. Last week it was in with the onions."
"I just wish she didn't like to hide it," Aria says under her breath as she walks through the kitchen toward the laundry room.
Just as she's about to open the door, she hears a gleeful cheer erupt from her daughters chest, followed by a peal of tiny, giddy laughter.
"Simby!" the little voice cheers.
Aria turns on her heel. At seeing the little girl holding the small lion cub over her head, she throws both arms above her own head and shouts, "that's my baby girl!"
Ezra smiles between the two and leans down to pick up the diaper bag he'd let fall to the ground, holding two pink shoes in his other hand. The youngest Fitz starts to barrel across the room and Aria bends down, running to meet her half way. As she scoops her up, her phone begins to ring.
"Ez," she says, spinning to face him. "My phones in my back pocket, can you answer that?" She reaches out and takes the shoes from him in exchange for answering the phone.
He pulls the phone out of her pocket and lifts it to his ear. "Hey, Emily…yes," he looks at Aria as he speaks, "we absolutely could not leave without Simba. Yes, we're leaving now. See you soon. …wait, what? All right…yeah, I'll tell her. Bye."
He slides the phone back into his wife's back pocket and draws her toward him before letting go of the fabric. Once her hips are square with his and their daughter is happily pinned between them, playing with her stuffed lion cub, Ezra cups Aria's face and leans in, stealing a chaste kiss.
"Can we leave now?" he whispers on her lips, the words both serious and teasing at the same time.
"Yes," Aria says, stealing one more kiss before backing away. "That was Em?"
"Uh-huh," Ezra says, following her out the door and locking up behind them. "She said the front door is unlocked; she and Alison are headed out to the lakefront and we can just let ourselves in. She also said that if you don't hurry up, she's going to let Hanna have the room next to us. Is there something I'm missing here?"
Aria is halfway in the car, strapping her daughter into her car seat, but when those words land on her ears, she picks up speed and quickly shuts the door behind her when she's finished.
"Trust me, we do not want to be in a room next to Hanna." They both walk around the car, getting into their own seats and Ezra starts the engine as Aria finishes her thought. "She and Caleb are on again and when they're on, there are two things you can count on. A lot of sex and a lot of fighting…which typically means little to no peace and quiet for anyone else."
"Yeah, that's not what I want to spend my weekend listening to," he says. He reaches a hand out to the GPS on the dash and hits a few buttons, queuing up directions to the cabin. "You ladies ready?" he says to the car at large. He glances into the rear view mirror and catches his daughters eye. "Baby girl, you wanna go see your aunties?"
"Auntie Pence?"
Aria laughs at the butchered nickname. She turns in her seat a little as Ezra starts down the road. "Yes, we've got to beat Auntie Spence there before Emily lets Hanny have our room! Are you excited to give everyone their presents?"
"Yes!" she says, nodding, her curls a whirlwind of a mess.
"Mommy should have fixed your hair before we left," Aria comments, wrinkling her nose and causing a small giggle to emit from her daughter. She turns around and reaches for Ezra's hand. "Sorry I made us late. I'll buy you some earplugs if Spencer beats us there."
Leave a review and let me know what you thought. This was lightly inspired by a post on Tumblr by liarsforlife18.