"It's Christmas Eve, there's 20 plus inches of snow outside, and you're in labor?"

"And after a phone call with a lovely 911 operator, it was going to be hours before they'd be able to get out here - especially for a 'non-emergency'," Sharon says with a smile, "And Emily decided that was the day to be clingy like a baby chimp."

"This picture?" Andy points to a picture of Emily wrapped around Sharon laying in bed, a look of serious discomfort on her face. Sharon nods and sighs.

"I had everything planned out already. I had my c-section scheduled, someone to take Emily for a couple days. I had pain medication on the horizon…and then my life turned into an episode of Little House on the Prairie."


"I don't get how you willingly did this twice," Sharon whines as she buries her face in the pillow in her arms.

"Aw mama," Emily pouts and pats Sharon's head. Kathy sighs and lifts the little girl off the bed, setting her down on the ground.

"Why don't you go see if Papa will let you play in the snow?"

"No, stay wif mama," Emily says, trying to pull herself back up on the bed. Sharon groans and drops her head back against the headboard, "Mama help me!"

"Mom, just let her stay," Sharon says. Kathy lifts Emily back onto the bed and the little girl moves over to her mother, resting her head on her shoulder as she wraps her arms around Sharon's bicep. Sharon leans over and presses a kiss to Emily's forehead, "I love you sweet pea."

"I wuv you too," Emily mumbles into Sharon's shoulder.

Emily continues to cling onto her mother as the day passes. As the setting afternoon sun bathes the room in a golden glow she takes a damp cloth from her grandmother and swipes it over her mother's forehead, pressing a kiss to her cheek.

"Better?"

"Much better," Sharon musters a small smile. Emily smiles back and kisses Sharon again. Kathy thanks Daniel as he hands her a stack of towels. He takes Sharon's hand and squeezes it gently, kissing her knuckles.

"How are you doing honey?"

"Been better," Sharon says, "Also please be aware this is your last grandchild. I am not doing this again."

"Two is perfect," Daniel assures her before picking Emily up. He presses a kiss to her cheek and bounces her, "You ready to go play in the snow?"

"Stay."

"No, we're gonna leave and go play in the snow," Daniel explains, "And when we come in your baby brother will be here."

"Icky," Emily shakes her head, sticking her tongue out. Daniel smiles and holds her out to Sharon.

"Give Mama a kiss." Emily leans down further and kisses Sharon on the cheek before wrapping her arm around her grandfather's neck. Sharon smiles and squeezes her daughter's leg, thanking her father as he takes Emily out of the room.

Daniel manages to get Emily into her snow suit and boots before tugging her hat on her head and putting her gloves on. He puts on his own boots before taking her outside, laughing as Emily launches off the porch, practically swallowed by the height of the snow.

"Where did little Emily go?"

"So much snow!" Emily exclaims, standing up fully. She grins at her grandfather before starting to play in the snow. Daniel sits on the porch swing and watches her play for a while before they both pause as an earth shattering scream filters out from inside. Emily's eyebrows raise as she wades through the snow over to her grandfather, "Dat Mama?"

"I think so," Daniel nods.

"Oh…"

"Why don't we go clean up and make some hot chocolate hmm?"

"Yeah!" Daniel pushes himself up and lets Emily inside after giving her a good dust off outside. He gets Emily out of all of her snow gear before sending her into the kitchen. He pulls a step stool over to the stove before gathering the things to make hot chocolate. After they mix all of the ingredients together Daniel gives Emily the spoon to stir as he gets down mugs, setting them on a serving tray.

"Should we taste and see if it's done?" Daniel asks Emily as he takes the spoon from her. Emily nods and smiles, leaning over to take a sip from the spoon when her grandfather offers it to her.

"Mmm!"

"You did a good job," Daniel says with a smile, pouring the beverage out into the cups. He looks behind him as Kathy comes into the kitchen a moment later, depositing an armful of towels into the laundry room, "So?"

"He's here, seems healthy. Sharon's doing okay, exhausted. Did we get anything for the baby for Christmas?"

"I don't think so," Daniel shakes his head, lifting Emily down from the stove, "We might have some of Emily's old stuff."

"We can look in a little bit. Did you ever get a hold of Jack?"

"No," Daniel sighs, "I called the office and the house. Office hasn't seen him in a few days, said he'd taken the week off…"

"God he is such an…" Kathy trails off looking down at Emily as she looks up at her grandparents with wide eyes, "such an A-S-S."

"Well, no matter what he's not getting here now, if he was going to make it at all. What do you need?"

"Do you want to grab the blue blanket from the hall closet?" Kathy asks as she sorts through their dish towels before throwing a couple over her shoulder. Emily tugs on her shirt as she rustles through the junk drawer, finding a couple safety pins, "What my darling?"

"Mama otay?"

"Mama is just fine," Kathy smiles and holds her hands out to Emily, picking her up. She grabs the other things she'd gotten from the kitchen before carrying her upstairs and meeting Daniel in the hallway. She opens the door to the bedroom and carries Emily in, setting her down on the bed next to Sharon.

"Hey, sweet pea," Sharon smiles. Emily crawls over to Sharon and looks down at the baby in her arms.

"Oh…baby."

"This is your baby brother," Sharon introduces. Emily smiles and reaches out, running her hand over her brother's head before leaning down and pressing a kiss to his cheek.


"She fell in love with him the minute she saw him. Now he was 'my baby'," Sharon says, pointing out the picture of the three of them sitting on the bed, Emily holding Ricky with a wide grin on her face, "We were pretty much stuck well into Christmas day. They sent over some paramedics to check everything out but we were doing fine so we just stayed…"

"That's quite an eventful Christmas," Andy comments, looking through the rest of the pictures of the family that Christmas, "What is that outfit made out of?"

"A t-shirt. My mom couldn't find any of Emily's old stuff and they hadn't gotten him anything for Christmas so she made a few outfits for him out of some of my dad's old t-shirts," Sharon laughs, "And he was wearing dish towel diapers for a couple days."

Andy laughs as she closes the album and sets it on the coffee table before snuggling into his side. She shakes the blanket out over their legs and wraps her arm around him, pressing a kiss to his jaw. Andy looks down at Sharon and smiles, rubbing his hand up and down her arm.

"I'm already loving this Christmas."

"Why?" Sharon arches her eyebrow.

"I get to spend it with you. Already a bonus. And I've already enjoyed this glimpse of things that I hadn't seen before. It's like getting to know a whole different side of you."

"Well hopefully it doesn't run you off."

"Not a chance," Andy smiles and presses a kiss to her lips.


[TBC]