Shake Up Christmas - Train.

"Wake it up, wake up the happiness. Come on all, it's Christmas time."

Note(s):
All human. Modern Day.
Features Katie and the siblings she would of had if Steve and Peggy had their happy ending, Elizabeth 'Lizzie' and Michael 'Mike' (featured in chapter 19 of I Hold On)

In hindsight, Steve knew this wasn't the brightest idea he'd ever had. He knew this probably would have been ten times easier if he'd just done it by himself. Especially given the fact that it was Christmas and all. He knew he was in way over his head. Way over. But he'd seen Peggy do it a thousand times, and she made it look so easy. She always came home looking the same as she did when she left the house. She didn't look tried, or annoyed, there wasn't even a hair out of place.

But Steve, Steve felt like a mess. He felt like his face was burning. His normally neatly kept hair was all over the place (at least he thought so, he hadn't exactly had time to look in a mirror). His clothes were rustled, his patience was wearing thin. He was trying so hard to keep his cool, but he could slowly feel it slipping away. And once again, he found himself wondering how the hell Peggy did it.

How the hell did she manage to go shopping by herself, with three kids all under the age of six?

Yes. Steve had taken the kids out and about before. But he'd never taken all three by himself. And if he did end up taking all three, Peggy, or Bucky, or Tony, or Natasha, or someone else was with him.

Bucky had offered to come. So had Natasha and a number of others. They'd offered to give him a hand with this little mission of his. But Steve had turned them all down. This was something he wanted to do. Just him and the kids. Because Peggy did it for him, he may as well do it for her. Honestly, he thought it was a really thoughtful idea. At the time.

It all started when the girls where younger. Katie was three and Lizzie was just a year old when Peggy took them shopping for Steve by herself for the first time. Peggy said it was something her parents did with her and her brother. One day they would go Christmas shopping for their mother with their father. Then they would do the same some other day, but reversed. They go shopping for their father with their mother.

So, every year, Peggy would spend a day Christmas shopping with the kids, and Steve would go a few days later, with the kids and Bucky.

Steve always brought Bucky. He never told Peggy, but he knew she knew. They just kind of agreed never to comment on it. Plus, it was easier and faster for Steve to get things done with Uncle Bucky watching the kids.

This year, however, Steve decided to give the whole 'shopping with just the kids and him' thing a shot. After all, the kids were getting older. Well, they weren't that old. Really, Katie would be the only one to really remember this trip at the age of six. Maybe Lizzie would, but she was still only four, and poor Mike was only two, so it was very unlikely for him to remember any of this.

Steve let out a sigh as he slowly pushed the cart through the overly crowded isle of Costo. Thankfully, Steve already had a few big gifts picked up a month ago. They were mostly on the hunt for smaller gifts and stocking stuffers. But that didn't make this trip any easier. They were already a good 45 minutes into the trip, and Steve would be close to done at this point any other year. But today, all the things in the cart were a pair of slippers, new gloves, and some socks.

They weren't off to the best start.

"What about this, Daddy?"

Steve glanced up and over at Katie. She had on her winter coat and cute boots, her long blonde hair hung in waves down her back as a red hat rested on her head. There was a bright smile on her face and her big blue eyes shined as she held up, what Steve was sure was the ugliest sweater he'd ever seen.

"I don't think mom would wear that monkey." Steve told her gently. A feeling of guilt started to build in Steve's stomach as Katie looked down, nodding slowly before placing the sweater back. Just as quick as the guilt started to grow, it was gone again as Katie moved onto the next thing she could get her mother.

"Mike! Stop!"

Steve's eyes snapped to the other side of the cart. Mike had Lizzie's white hat in his hands while Lizzie narrowed her eyes at him, blonde hair flying as she jumped to grab the hat from her brother. But Mike threw the hat into the air, causing it to land on the floor close to the cart.

Steve couldn't help but sigh as we walked over and picked up the hat.

"Michael." Steve gave his two year old son a hard look. "That's not nice. Tell your sister sorry."

Mike looked up at his father with big brown eyes before turning to Lizzie. "Sorry Izzie."

Lizzie took the hat back from Steve and placed in on her head. She didn't respond to Mike as Steve gave him one of his toys to keep him busy. All Lizzie did was send him a glare as she crossed her little arms, standing next to the cart with a crocked look on her face.

Steve honestly didn't know which was worse. Katie was an over excited six-year-old and kept walking off to look for different gifts for her mother. Christmas was always Katie's favorite holiday, especially now that she was older and could understand the whole ordeal a bit more. Lizzie, meanwhile, seemed to pick today of all days to wake up on the wrong side of the bed. She was in a bad mood from the moment they left the house. She would hardly talk, and when she did it came out as a snap. She would just stand by the cart with her arms crossed, a sour look on her face. Steve tried everything to get her out of her mood and make the trip a bit more bearable, but nothing worked. At least Mike was getting a kick out of Lizzie's mood. Mike brought a whole new meaning to trouble-twos. Katie and Lizzie weren't this bad. Mike loved to pick at anything and everything, especially his sisters. And today his target was Lizzie, which wasn't improving her mood whatsoever. Or Steve's.

"Daddy! Look!"

Steve looked up and found Katie standing a few feet away, in the sea of people. He quickly pushed the cart towards her, making sure Lizzie was following. This trip already was turning out horrible, he didn't want to add 'losing your own kid' to the day.

"It's mummy's favorite chocolates!" Katie had a big, proud smile on her face. She was all but jumping up and down as she held the box of chocolates in her little hands. "Can we get it for her?"

Steve smiled as he added his head. "Sure thing Katie. Add it to the cart."

Katie ran over to the cart and dropped the box inside. The three items became four, and Steve felt his stomach flip. They had to pick up the pace or they would be in the store all day.

Steve pulled the cart to the side of the isle to get out of everyone's way as he sighed. Christmas music filled the store along with all the rustle and bustle of everyone moving around him. Steve tried to rack his brain for different things to pick up for Peggy for the kids. He'd already taken it upon himself to pick up a ring Peggy pointed out to him a few months ago along with a new jacket she asked for and a few other things just from him. So at least he didn't have to worry about any of that.

But as far little gifts from the kids, Steve was stuck.

"Lizzie," Steve turned to his youngest daughter, who was still standing with her arms crossed. "Anything you want to get mom for Christmas?"

Lizzie narrowed her eyes slightly and looked away from Steve, arms still crossed, and Steve was slowly losing his patience with her.

"Elizabeth."

Lizzie looked up sharply at her father. She stared at him wide eyed for a few moments before she pouted her behind lips slightly, uncrossing her arms.

"Sorry, daddy."

Steve couldn't help but send her a small smile. He wasn't one to stay mad at his kids for very long at all.

"Daddy!" Katie spoke up. She was now standing on the end of the cart, eyes bright. "Mummy said she needed new jammies!"

"Okay," Steve nodded. At least they were moving. "Then let's go look at the jammies."

Katie jumped off the cart. Her and Lizzie each grabbed onto the side of the cart as Steve slowly made his way towards the pajamas, which was more difficult than it should have been. But between everyone in the large store and trying to keep an eye on three kids, it took Steve a little longer to get there than he thought.

But he made it, and the moment he turned down the aisle, the girls took off to the table that housed all the women pajamas. Steve pulled the cart to the side as he watched the girls try and pick out a pair of pajamas for their mother, and he could already see where this was going.

Just as he thought, a few moments later the girls came running back to him. Each of them had a different pair of silk pajamas in their hands.

"We're only getting mum one pair, girls." Steve reminded them.

"We know, daddy." Katie nodded. "But I like these and Lizzie likes those."

"Mummy likes red, daddy." Lizzie handed him the pair she was holding. "She doesn't like blue."

"She se does!" Katie gave her sister a look as she too handed Steve the pajamas see had in her hands. "Right daddy?"

Steve looked down at the pajamas in his hands. Really, there wasn't much of a difference. They were the same style, but Lizzie's pair was solid red while Katie's was a light blue with small, white polka dots.

Glancing down at the girls, Steve found them watching him, waiting for his answer. Not wanting to get in the middle of this and have two crocked girls, Steve turned to Mike.

"Which one, Mike?" Steve asked as he held up the pajamas in front of the two-year-old.

Mike looked up from his toy. He looked at his father before looking between the two sets. After a few moments, he let out a laugh and placed his hand on the blue set.

"That!"

"Okay then," Steve handed the sets back two the girls. "The blue one it is. Now bring them back and Katie, get mom's size."

Katie smiled brightly before all but skipping off to get Peggy's size. Lizzie meanwhile, looked ready to scream but thought better of it when she saw her father's face.

"You can pick the next gift for mom, okay?" Steve promised her. Reluctantly, Lizzie nodded before turning around to place the pajama set back.

Moments later the girls came running back and Katie dropped the pajama set into the cart.

"Okay," Steve sighed. "What else?"

The shopping trip lasted at least another good hour and a half. Once they had the pajamas settled, they moved on to a new work outfit for Peggy. It was more or less the same as the pajamas. Both Katie and Lizzie picked out a pair but they went with Lizzie's pick this time, and Katie wasn't too happy about that. But it was just Steve's luck. As if one moody little girl wasn't enough, Steve now had two. They then moved onto things to get Peggy's stocking. At this point, Katie and Lizzie were just throwing things into the cart. Random things that Peggy wouldn't even use. Things that Steve didn't even know what it was used for, honestly. He spent more time telling his kids no than anything else. Plus, he also had to deal with Mike taking random things off the shelves when he wasn't looking and throwing them into the cart.

Needless to say - and even though he was happy with everything they had gotten Peggy - Steve was beyond happy when they finally made their way through the crowd and towards the check out. But that relief soon disappeared when he saw the lines before him. Though there was all 16 cashes opened, the lines were insane. Steve managed to find a shorter line, but there were still six people in front of him. This normally didn't bother Steve though. He was usually good with lines and long ones didn't bug him too much. But today, at this moment, he had three tired and grumpy kids around him. And Steve felt like he was about to lose it completely.

"Daddy," Lizzie started to whine from the cart. Steve had to put her in there because she'd started to complain she was tried and wouldn't stop until he placed her in the cart. Really, she'd been whining the whole last half of the trip. She went from being moody and not looking at him to sulking in two seconds flat. "I'm hungry."

"Me too, daddy." Katie agreed as she held onto the side of the cart.

"I know." Steve had to basically bite his tongue to stop himself from snapping at his kids. Instead he tried to give Mike his pacifier as his son looked up at him with big, wet eyes. The girls weren't the only ones who were hungry and tired. "We'll get something when we leave here."

This did nothing to stop the kids from whining and complaining, however, especially Lizzie. She had no problem with nagging her father while Katie made a little comment every now and then and Mike just kept looking up at Steve like he was about to bawl any moment.

Finally, they made it to the counter and Steve started to load the items up. He tried his best to ignore the kids as they kept going on and on, but his patience was close to nonexistent at this point. Even the old lady at the checkout gave him a sympathetic look.

"They're cute kids." She commented as she checked the last of their things. Steve couldn't help but hear the unspoken 'at least' that he was sure the women wanted to add to the end of the sentence.

Still, Steve gave her a tight smile as he handed her the money. "Thank-you."

Steve never left a store so fast in his life. They walked outside to find light snowflakes falling from the sky as the day was slowly getting darker. He grabbed onto Katie's hand before pushing the cart towards the truck. As fast as he could, Steve buckled all the kids in the back and turned on a movie to keep them busy before going to the back of the truck. He stopped for a moment. With his hands placed at the back of the truck, Steve closed his eyes and took a few deep breathes.

How the hell did Peggy do this?

His kids were good kids. It was something that he was really proud of, they way they were raised. But they were always just that; kids. And kids got grumpy and tired and didn't want to go shopping for hours on end. Steve knew that. And as bad as the trip was, it was done. They had gifts for Peggy and everyone was still standing. Somewhat.

With a sigh, Steve opened the back of the truck and loaded everything into it before turning in the cart and then climbing aboard the truck.

They lived a good forty-five minutes to an hour away from all the stores, so to make the ride less painful - and to wait and give them something to eat before they get home like Peggy said - Steve stopped at the closest McDonalds and got them each a happy meal.

Fifteen minutes away from home and all three kids were fed and passed out in the back seat, which Steve was thankful for. He made a stop at Bucky's to drop off Peggy's gifts until he got a chance to wrap them. He'd normally stay for a bit too, but with the sleeping kids in the back plus how tired Steve was himself, he just wanted to get home.

Soon enough, Steve pulled into the driveway. He turned off the truck and got out only to find Peggy walking down the front steps.

"How'd it go?" Peggy asked as he came over and gave him a light kiss.

Steve looked down at his wife, and all the tiredness and frustration he'd being feeling suddenly disappeared when he thought about their children sound asleep in the back seat of the truck and how excited they would be when they watched their mother opening her gifts Christmas morning. And how excited Peggy would be knowing her kids picked the gifts out themselves.

Steve smiled and pulled her in for another kiss.

"Great." He smiled down at her. "It went great."

A little sweet and cheesy chapter to start the story and chapter 1/3 of the Christmas chapters. Hope you guys enjoyed.

For those of you who are new to this story, hello! A little info for you, this story can go hand and hand with my story "I Hold On" which you can check out in my profile. However, you don't need to read it to follow this one (but you should... LOL)

All social media links are still in my profile, and I'll see you all on the 22nd with Christmas chapter #2 :)

Don't forget to review!