The snow crunched under Sebastian's feet as he walked slowly through the forest, pulling the sled carefully behind him. The snow fell softly around them as the three Michaelis children watched in silent wonder. Ciel held them close, enjoying the time together.
"Mama!" Evian cried as a snowflake landed on his nose.
"It's alright, It's snow, it won't hurt you." Ciel assured him. Rachel and Vincent looked around curiously at the new sight before them and reached out to touch it.
"Is everything alright Ciel?" Sebastian called.
"Fine, the children aren't really sure what to make of the snow though."
"They will learn in time. Perhaps we shall stop and truly allow them to experience it."
"I'm not sure if they'll like that." Ciel replied.
" the children share many of your human traits, Evian enjoys chocolate just as you do, they can learn to like the season if we show them that they have nothing to fear from it."
"That's true I suppose. I just hope this isn't going to be too much at once."
"Mama!" Ciel looked down at his eldest son and saw the child smiling, he held up his arm to show his mother the snowflake that had landed on him. A moment later it melted, and Evian cast his eyes to the ground.
"All gone." He said with a frown. Ciel stroked the child's hair affectionately.
"My poor little boy, snow isn't meant to stay forever. It melts when it gets warm, but look around you Evian there is a lot more coming down, and some already on the ground." Rachel seemed to be enjoying herself now, amused by forest around her while Vincent seemed not to care at all. Ciel was intrigued by how different the twins could be when it came down to certain things, and how much alike they were the rest of the time. Sebastian stopped suddenly and quietly walked back to his family, he knelt down in the snow and pointed ahead of them.
"My little ones, it seems we are not the only ones enjoying this cold weather, we must be very quiet or we shall frighten them away. He whispered.
A doe had appeared, behind her a small fawn followed closely, they seemed to be looking for food. Evian grinned happily, and the twins watched through wide eyes.
After several minutes they were gone.
"Daddy?" Evian tilted his head to one side.
"That was a deer family my precious ones, a mommy and her baby."
"Mama, baby?"
"Yes Evian, just as you have a Mother to care for you, and love you, animals also have mothers." Sebastian explained. "Perhaps now would be a good time to let Evian stretch his legs." Sebastian picked his son up and set him on his feet in the snow.
"Daddy!" He clapped as Sebastian picked up a handful of snow and held it out to him.
"It is cold, but you may touch it if you like." Ciel also had leaned down to show the twins. Rachel was excited to touch the snow in her Mother's hand while her brother reached out slowly.
"Vincent, it won't hurt, I'm holding it and nothing's happening." Ciel told him taking the boy's hand and placing a small amount in it. Vincent didn't like it at first and pulled his hand away, but after another moment he reached out on his own to take more from his mother.
"You can do all kinds of things with snow," Ciel explained. " you can make snowmen, snow angels, snowballs, those are always fun to throw at people, your grandparents and I used to play in the snow when I was little. " Ciel packed the snow into a ball and handed it to Vincent before putting the boy on his lap and taking hold of his arm.
"Sebastian." He called.
"Yes my love?"
"If you do it back, you'll regret it." Sebastian turned to his mate.
"I have no idea what you-" Vincent's snowball hit the older demon's shoe earning a chorus of laughter from all three children. Sebastian sighed, he couldn't possibly be angry with his little ones for learning. A moment later another hit him, Rachel clapped and gave an excited shriek. Sebastian made one himself and handed it to Evian.
"Go on, you might as well throw one too." Evian grinned and tossed it, the snowball hit Sebastian's arm. Ciel and the children laughed once again. Sebastian smiled, he loved to hear the sound of his family laughing, even it was at his expense, Ciel seemed to have gotten his happiness back for the most part, the older demon had never known him to be so happy, this in turn made Sebastian happy.
" since we are out here, and already having a good time my dear ones, perhaps now we can look for our tree and along the way, we shall gather some twigs for snowmen later at home, would you like that?"
"That sounds like a really nice idea." Ciel agreed.
"Walk daddy!" Evian said taking Sebastian's hand.
"You want to walk with me, are you certain you would not want to be with your mother?"
"Daddy!" Sebastian couldn't refuse the request.
"Very well my son, come,.you may help pull the sled.
"Daddy!' Evian clapped. Ciel loved to see the pure joy that showed on his mate's face when one of their children wanted to spend time with him.
"Is it alright with you Ciel?"
"He's your son too, as long as you watch him and look after him, it's fine with me." Sebastian stood up and kissed Ciel before taking Evian's hand and walk with him to the front of the sled. Sebastian picked up the rope and allowed his son to take hold of it.
"Evian, we have a very important job, we must not let go of this rope, we do not want your mother and siblings to be lost in the forest, so hold it tight please."
"No lost." The young boy said gripping it tightly just as his father said. After journeying deeper into the forest, they stopped and Ciel got off holding both twins in his arms.
"Have you found one dearest?" Sebastian asked.
"I'm not sure, I think we should get a big one though, since the room is fairly large." Ciel said examining a large fir tree. He walked around it as the curious infants stared at the massive object through wide eyes.
"Do we really need one so-"
"Yes, since you invited so many people."
"This one is nice, it is not as tall as you may like but it certainly-"
"It's not even a tree, that thing is smaller than Evian, this is our children's first Christmas, and your idea, what happened to everything being perfect?"
"Mama!' Evian called pointing to a towering evergreen.
"It's lovely Evian, but that one won't fit inside. That one is too big, but it was a good try."
"This one is fairly large, what do you thing Ciel?" The young demon walked over.
"No, it has a bare spot over there, not going to work."
"We can always place it in a corner with that part to the wall, no one would know." Sebastian suggested.
"We would." After roaming the forest for another hour, and several imperfect trees later, the family found their perfect tree.
"I was beginning to think we would spend the night here " Sebastian commented placing a hand on the tree.
"Help Daddy!" Evian said rushing over to him.
"Put your hands on this part." Sebastian instructed pointing to the thick tree trunk. Evian did as he was told.
"Now we just need to push it." Sebastian applied pressure to the object and watched as Evian did the same. With a crack, the tree fell to the ground in front of Ciel.
"You did it Evian, I'm so very proud!" Ciel praised. Evian grinned, exposing his teeth.
"Evian did!" The child shrieked.
"Yes my son, you did. Come now, let us go home, we shall eat and perhaps later if your mother is feeling up to it, we will build snowmen in the courtyard." Sebastian instructed Evian to ride on the sled with his mother and the family made their way home. By the time they arrived, the children were asleep in Ciel's arms.
"That was quite an adventure for them." Ciel said carrying them inside.
"I am more than happy to have shared the expirence with you and our children Ciel. You all make me feel as if I am the happiest demon to ever live. I can't tell you enough." Sebastian said setting up the tree.
"I feel the same. I suppose the snowmen will have to wait for tomorrow though. Poor things, I think I'm going to let them sleep for a while. I can feed them when they wake up. Do you want to help me tuck them in?"
"Certainly. That is one of the joys of being a parent, I would not miss it for anything."
A/N: thanks to everyone for reading, reviewing and such. I never intended to write anymore about our little family. I don't want to over use them, but hopefully you haven't gotten tired of them just yet.
