((Thanks for the reviews! Wow, I didn't think it was good enough to merit those great reviews, and one of the longest reviews I've ever gotten! Then again, the author usually is the toughest critic. Please keep 'em coming! If you have a reccomendation for a song, or you have an idea you'd like to see written, tell me via review, and I'll make every attempt to fit it in.

As usual, I own nothing. Sadly. Maybe for Christmas?

Nah, I'm kidding.

This one's going to be more general, though there are still pairings. It's a future fic, so don't get confused.

And I'm sure you already knew this, but all the one shots aren't connected in any way.

The pairings mentioned in this one will be Larry/Megan, Don/OC, and Charlie/Amita.))

Sleep well, little children,

wherever you are;

Tomorrow is Christmas

beneath every star.

"Daddy?" The voice of a little girl piped up from the back seat of the car, causing Don to twist his head away from the road for a moment to glance at his daughter. The little girl, dressed in a red dress, white stockings, and black shoes was happily kicking her feet to admire the way her shoes shone in the winter sunlight filtering through the window.

"Yes angel?" he asked, shifting his attention back to the road just in time for the traffic light to turn green.

"Where're we goin'?" Her voice came out in a light chirp of a question, and her brown eyes shone with curiosity.

"To see Uncle Charlie and Aunt Amita and everonye, remember peanut?"

"Are Aunt Megan and Uncle Larry and Grandpa goin' ta be there too?"

"Probably, pumpkin."

"Oh. Will I get presents?" Her feet stopped their kicking when her father didn't answer. "Daddy? Stop laughin' and tell me!" Her facial expression had quickly gone from a smile to a scowl.

"She is just like you," Don said through a chuckle, looking over to his wife, who simply shot him a glare from blue-gray eyes.

"Daddy!"

"If you're good, pumpkin. Now try to get a little sleep, alright? There's still another hour left to drive."

"But Daddy, I don't wanna sleep."

"Well then pretend to, sweetheart. What is so funny?" he finally said, turning to his giggling wife, who shook her head, unable to answer through bouts of laughter. Tucking a strand of straight brown hair behind her ear, Michelle Eppes finally managed to speak through her laighter.

"I'm sorry," she said with a laugh. "You two are just so darned cute." Don glared at her, which caused Michelle to wrinkle her nose at him teasingly.

"Mommy, we're not cute."

"Oh really, Miss. Maggie? Then what are you?" Michelle asked, turning around to peer at her daughter around the seat. Maggie had sat up straight in her carseat, eyes shining.

"We're charming!" The five year old stated, proud of the use of the new word. Biting her lip so as not to laugh, Michelle asked her daughter,

"Who told you that, sweetie?"

"Papa!"

"Papa, hmm?"

"Yep!"

The family was only now returning to Los Angeles from a visit to Michelle's parents, Maggie's "Nana" and "Papa," a ways outside the city. Michelle turned her head back around, glancing down at the stack of Christmas cards in her lap, digging beneath her seat for the pen that had just fallen. Gripping it carefully, she wrote a message in each card, sighned it for all three, and placed it in the envelope, marking the names of their recievers on the fronts.

"Mommy?"

"Mmm?"

"Can you turn up the radio please?'

"Yes, sweetie."

"Thank you."

Now busily singing along to the Christmas carols playing through the radio, Maggie was passably distracted.

Soon the snowflakes will fall

and tomorrow you'll see

Every wish, one and all,

waiting under the tree.

"Mom! Avanti took the ribbon from me!" The young boy of about six whined, his pout touching his eyes. A curly mop of black hair sat messily atop his head, no matter how many times his mother had attacked it with a comb.

"I did not! I had it first, but he...he took it from me!" The five year old girl said, looking on the verge of tears, her large, dark eyes shining with annoyance.

"Alright, you two..." Amita said finally, looking at her children. "I have an idea. Brennan, bring me the ribbon."

Holding out the long peice of green ribbon to his mother, Brennan and his sister watched, wondering what it was their mother was going to do. Picking up a pair of scissors from the table beside her, she cut the peice of ribbon exactly in half, handing one peice to both children. "There," she said, setting the scissors down. "Now you both have a ribbon." With impish grins the two ran off, the peices of ribbon streaming behind them. The inevitable "My peice is longer," soon echoed around the house.

"They're both the same!" Amita called after the two in exasperation, running a hand absent mindedly through her dark hair. Shaking her head, she stood up, walking to the large Christmas tree in the corner, in order to fix a peice of drooping garland. When Charlie came up behind her, slipping his arms around her waist from behind, she nearly jumped out of her skin.

"Peace on Earth, hmm?" he said jokingly. Amita laughed.

"As long as they're not screaming at each other."

"Don't jinx it."

Amita laughed and turned her head to place an affectionate kiss on her husband's lips.

"They're being good." She said smilingly, enjoying the moment of peace. Sighing happily, she leaned back into Charlie. "Avanti's going to like being a big sister," she said, placing a hand on her stomach. Charlie smiled into her hair, covering that hand with his.

"Are we going to tell everyone tonight?"

"Mmm. Might as well, everyone's going to be together."

"MOM!"

Amita grimaced. The peace certainly hadn't lasted long.

Sleep well, little children,

pleasant dreams through the night;

Tomorrow is Christmas,

all merry and bright.

"Lauren! Let's go, we're leaving in a few minutes!"

"Comin' mom!"

Soon the sound of footsteps came down the stairs quickly, and the seven year old skidded to a halt at the end of the staircase, nearly bumping into her mother.

"Sorry mom, I accelerated too fast, and the gravity pulled me down the stairs."

Megan quirked an eyebrow at her daughter.

"Oh really?"

Lauren nodded her head quickly.

"Well let's not accelerate so fast next time, alright? Go get your shoes on."

Lauren, at seven, was a bit different than other children her age. She was the spitting image of her mother, to the extent that Megan sometimes felt as if she was looking at an old picture of herself when she looked at her daughter. However, Lauren had inherited Larry's brains, and was several grades higher than your average seven year old, though her social skills were something she had also inherited from her mother. She wasn't as awkward in social situations as one would expect her to be. When Lauren had succesfully found her shoes, Megan sent her off to the car.

"Larry?"

"Coming."

"Those two," she muttered, shaking her head with affectionate exasperation before heading out to the car herself. After making sure Lauren was securely buckled in the backseat, mother and daughter waited for about five minutes before Larry finally emerged from the house.

"What were you doing in there?" Megan asked, raising an eyebrow slightly at her husband after he came back from putting the wrapped gifts in the trunk.

"Oh, nothing. Nothing at all." He replied breezily, starting up the car to Lauren's giggles. Immediately, Megan's suspicion was piqued.

"What are you two up to today?" she asked, though not expecting an answer. They often did this to her, plotting random things with those two brilliant minds. "Larry?"

"Yes Megan?"

"You better not be convincing my little girl to go up in a space shuttle."

Soon you'll hear the bells ring,

time for dreams to come true...

It was almost odd that the two cars pulled into the driveway at the same time, though it was a happy oddity. Michelle helped Maggie from the backseat, and the minute the squirming five year old was free of the buckles she was running toward the other car. Megan, Larry, and Lauren had already gotten out of the car, though Megan was soon attacked by a running five year old.

"Auntie Megan, Auntie Megan!" she exclaimed, tugging on her godmother's hand until Megan's full attention was on her.

"Hi there, Maggie," Megan said, bending down to give the little girl a hug. "Why are you so excited?"

"'Cause it's Christmas, and I'm gonna get presents!"

Megan laughed, placing a hand affectionately atop her goddaughter's head.

"Yes you are. In fact, you'd better go keep an eye on Uncle Larry and make sure he doesn't drop any of those presents."

Maggie's eyes widened before she took off around the car, now talking animatedly to Larry as he pulled the gifts out of the trunk.

"Lauren, will you go help your dad bring in the presents please?"

Lauren nodded, walking off to help with the stacks of gifts, carefully side stepping around Maggie's excited zig-zagging walk. Megan smiled before turning back to Don and Michelle. Don had his arm around Michelle's waist, and she leaned into him, looking tired.

"You two look worn out," she observed as the three made their way to the door behind Larry and the kids. Michelle nodded, yawning just then, as if to emphasize her point.

"Just a little," she said with a smile. "How are you three doing?"

She and Megan had become friends easily, especially after Megan had saved her life once. She had repayed the favor when she helped Megan out of a sticky situation a few years ago. The course of events had led to Megan being named Maggie's godmother. Charlie was named her godfather.

"We're all good. They're plotting something again."

Michelle, Don, and Megan all shared a laugh at this, soon joining the group at the doorway. Excited Maggie knocked, and the door was soon swung open by Amita. Soon, the children had all ran off to play while awaiting presents, leaving the adults to talk. Alan had just come back from a golf game, and after hugging his grandchildten sat down with the rest. The evening was spent with laughter and talk, good food and even better company. The gifts were all opened, and the air had been filled with the happy shreiks of children and the more reserved murmurs of thanks from the older crowd. After the presents had been opened talk resumed as the children played. Eventually, Charlie cleared his throat, and he and Amita stood, catching the attention of their friends.

"Amita and I would like to give you all some...extremely good news."

"You're getting married?" Don asked, earning a smack on the arm from his wife. There were a few chuckles before Charlie spoke again.

"Maybe you were too drunk to remember, Don, but that already happened. Amita, would you like to tell them?"

Amita nodded, giving Charlie's hand a squeeze before turning to Alan.

"You're going to be the grandfather to four kids soon." she said with a smile. There was almost silence for a moment before the hugs and exclamations of congratulations. Talk from then on among the adult women was mostly about names and baby showers. It wasn't until about midnight that the house really settled down. The children had all fallen asleep, Maggie curled up in her mother's lap, Michelle's head resting on Don's shoulder, looking as if she were about ready to fall asleep as well. Avanti was snoring lightly, contently nestled against Charlie's side, and Brennana had fallen asleep with his head on his mother's shoulder, and Lauren mimiced his pose with her own head resting on Megan's shoulder. Alan,and Larry, the only ones not pinned down by an asleep or nearly asleep form brought glasses of wine for those who were, and Alan raised his glass to make a toast.

"First off," he said with a smile, "Merry Christmas."

The sentiment was echoed by the others before he contined. "Hopefully we can have plenty of others together. But that's not what I wanted to make a toast to." he paused, looking around the room, his gaze langing on each child in turn. "To our futures."

"To our futures," they echoed as one.

As the world wakes to bring

Merry Christmas to you.

((Sorry if the toast was a little much. I couldn't help myself. ))