Hey guys! BrittanaCanada and Domenic675 both sent in prompts for Skye's first Christmas with the family and it was the most-voted for prompt on the poll so I hope you guys like it! Skye deserves a happy little one-shot after those last two chapters :) I thought that since this pretty much covers the whole month of December, I would do little snippets of the days leading up to Christmas and then a big part of Skye on Christmas morning. Fair warning, it got kind of long and I wrote way more than I anticipated.
Don't forget to check out the poll on my profile page and vote for which one-shot you'd like to see written out next! If you have a prompt for me, send it in (either on here or on my tumblr page) and I'll add it to the poll and write it out!
Thank you so much for reading and as always, I own nothing (I wish I did) and all mistakes are my own xx
Skye was eagerly wiggling around on the couch. She was waiting for Wanda, Pietro, and Phil to get back from the airport and it was taking forever. She had really wanted to go with her dad to pick up her siblings but they were flying in the middle of the school day and it was the last day before her winter break so she wasn't allowed to miss it.
Nattie was sitting behind her, braiding and re-braiding her hair, while they waited. Her mom was in the dining room going over some papers from work and Trip was upstairs in his room. She couldn't keep still or focus on the tv screen in front of her but Nattie didn't seem to mind too much.
The door burst open and Pietro walked in and held his hands above his head, "Don't worry, the party has arrived. Please, hold the applause."
She squealed, scrambled off the couch, and ran towards him. He grinned at her and held his arms open. She jumped at him and he easily caught her and twirled her around. She giggled and wrapped her arms around his neck, "I missed you!"
He laughed and hugged her tight before setting her on his hip and leaning forward to hug Natasha, "I missed you too little one."
She looked over his shoulder and saw Wanda and her dad walking through the door behind him. She reached towards her sister and wiggled around until Pietro transferred her into Wanda's arms. Wanda kissed her cheek and smiled real big at her, "Hey little monkey."
She smiled and wrapped herself around Wanda. It felt really good having her whole family together again.
She tightly hugged her sister before leaning back a little, "You guys are going to be here for a whole month right?"
Wanda gave her a reassuring smile, "A little longer than a month actually."
"Yay!"
Pietro came up beside her and gave her a disappointed look, "Skye, why are there no Christmas decorations up yet?"
She scrunched up her nose, "It was just Thanksgiving!"
Her brother shook his head sadly, "That's just not a good enough excuse. Come on little one, we need to brighten the place up."
He waved his hands at her and she leaned over so that he could grab her out of Wanda's arms. They started walking upstairs with Wanda and Nattie trialing after them. She heard Phil shout from downstairs, "You guys haven't even put away your bags yet! Guys?"
The twins laughed and continued walking up the stairs and down the hall. They stopped below the attic door and Skye gulped. The attic was scary and she had never been up there before.
Pietro set her down and looked at all of them, "You guys wait down here, I'll grab the decorations."
She sighed in relief and watched as he tugged on the string and a flight of stairs appeared. He walked up them and they all waited.
Trip poked his head out of his room and smiled at them. He walked forwards and gave Wanda a hug, "What are you guys doing?"
Nattie pointed towards where Pietro had disappeared, "He couldn't wait five minutes before deciding that the house was under-decorated and he needed to change that."
Trip turned to Wanda, "What's your guys' deal with decorations?"
Her oldest sister shrugged and smiled, "Everything looks so happy and bright at Christmas. Our mom and dad used to drive us around at night so that we could see all the Christmas lights."
Skye grabbed onto Wanda's hand and intertwined their pinkies. She didn't know if talking about Wanda's real parents would make her sad but she didn't look upset, she looked like she was thinking about a happy memory.
Wanda looked down at her, "Isn't putting decorations up fun?"
She shrugged. She had never been that into Christmas. Sure, the songs were catchy and the lights were beautiful but the nuns always made them go to a really long church service and the one holiday that she had spent with a foster family, she was too young to remember. They always got a new toy though and they were allowed to hang up some ornaments on the Christmas tree so it wasn't that bad, it was just hard to have a fun Christmas in an orphanage.
Wanda was about to say something when Pietro carefully climbed back down the stairs with two boxes stacked on top of each other. He jumped to the ground and grinned at them, "Let's do this."
He opened the boxes up and everyone reached in and grabbed stuff and they went crazy.
Wanda and Pietro were experts at decorating. In under an hour, they had tinsel wrapped around the staircase, lights hanging around the bookshelf in the living room, little figurines placed all around the house, a wreath on the door, a happy-looking paper Santa hanging on the playroom door, and snow globes on every table surface.
Everything looked so bright and happy and Skye could feel excitement seeping into her.
She always tried not to get her hopes up around the holidays because she was usually let down but she had a feeling that this year would be different.
They were going to get a Christmas tree. Skye had never really understood why people put trees in their house to celebrate Christmas but she liked decorating it and it smelled good so she didn't question it out loud.
They were wandering around a tree farm and it was pretty chilly outside. She was wrapped up tight in her blue jacket and white beanie but she didn't object when Phil picked her up and cuddled her close to keep her warm.
They had been walking around for about ten minutes and no one could agree on a tree. Pietro and Trip wanted a huge tree but her dad didn't think that they would be able to safely transport it home. Her sisters wanted a perfectly symmetrical, mid-sized tree and her mom didn't seem to have a preference. Skye was happy to just sit back and watch.
Some of her happiness started to fade a little bit when her family went from friendly bickering to exasperated fighting.
They were standing in front of two trees. Her brothers were pointing at the tall, thin tree and her sisters were standing in front of a fat tree that was about as tall as Phil was.
Pietro was pointing to her sisters' tree, "That doesn't say Christmas! This," He pointed to his tall tree, "say's Christmas! Look at it! Imagine how many ornaments we can fit onto this bad boy!"
Nattie crossed her arms, "That won't even fit in our living room!"
Trip tilted his head, "It'll fit."
Wanda rolled her eyes, "Barely."
Pietro stood in front of her sisters' tree and gave it a dirty look, "Our tree is better than yours."
Skye shook her head and scrunched up her nose. She just wanted everyone to be happy again.
She randomly pointed to a tree and raised her voice so that everyone could hear her, "Let's get that one!"
Everyone turned to her and then to where she was pointing. She looked over to the tree she was pointing to and tilted her head. It was a smallish tree and its branches weren't exactly full, but it was cute.
May reached over and straightened Skye's beanie, "You want that one?"
She shrugged, "Yeah."
Trip gave her a look that clearly said that he thought she was a little crazy, "That sad little tree?"
She felt herself grow defensive. It wasn't a bad tree and there was nothing wrong with it. She unwrapped her arms from Phil's neck and crossed them over her chest, "Yes, and it's not sad Trip."
They walked closer to her small tree and stood around it. Nattie examined it and sighed, "It's alright. It might even look good with some lights and decorations."
Skye nodded and smiled proudly. Her tree was cute.
Her brothers weren't convinced though. Pietro spoke up, "Skye, there are loads of better trees around here."
She shook her head and dug her heels in, "No, what's wrong with this tree?"
Her brother waved at the tree, "It's small and crooked and there are some better trees that we can choose instead."
Skye frowned. She was small and she knew that her parents could have chosen any other kid to foster instead of her but they had chosen her and she was going to do the same thing for this sad little tree.
She shook her head vehemently, "This tree needs a home and I like it. We can give it a home, right daddy?"
Phil leaned in to kiss her cheek, "Of course we can sweetheart."
And that was how they ended up taking home the saddest, scrawniest looking tree in the whole tree farm.
They stood it up in the living room and put lights and decorations all over it. She proudly hung up the ornament that she had made in Ms. Hill's class in the direct center and Phil lifted her up so that she put the star on top of the tree.
They all stepped back and admired the tree when they were finished.
It was decorated with blue and white lights and silver tinsel. It was loaded with ornaments, some were store bought and some were handmade and had pictures or drawings on them. The star on the top was silver and had intricate designs in the center of it. You could still see some of the bare-patches where there were some missing branches but Skye thought that that just added character. She liked her tree.
She smiled and looked up at her family, "Well?"
Wanda grinned at her, "It looks great."
Her mom, dad, Nattie and Trip nodded in agreement. She turned to Pietro and gave him a questioning look. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and smiled at her, "You know what? I was wrong. This is the perfect tree for us."
She smiled back at him and turned back to her tree and admired it. She was happy that she had chosen the sad, broken little tree and she was glad that her family liked it too.
Her parents wanted her to make a list of all the things that she wanted for Christmas.
She didn't really want to do that. It just seemed kind of wrong to write down a bunch of toys that she wanted when she had everything she needed right in front of her.
Skye was staring at her blank sheet of paper and her mom and dad were both sitting across from her at the table, looking at some papers for work.
She twirled her pencil around in her fingers and rested her chin in her palm. She didn't know what to write.
May looked up and saw that she wasn't writing anything, "Come on Skye, we need to send that list to Santa so that he knows what you want."
She nodded and stared more intensely at her piece of paper.
She didn't know what to write. She had Alice and Mara and all of her other doll friends. She had all the crayons and coloring books she could ask for. She had a whole playroom full of toys for her to play with and her family had built her her own playground in the backyard! She couldn't think of anything else that she needed and it was such a drastic change from last year's Christmas.
Last year, she had just wanted a family. That was all that she had wished for and Santa had given it to her, even if he had been a little late.
Now she had a family, a mommy and daddy and brothers and sisters, and a whole bunch of toys. She was very happy with everything she had right now.
May was still staring at her and finally broke the silence, "Don't you know what you want for Christmas?"
She shrugged, "I have everything I want."
Both of her parents smiled at her and Phil set his paper down, "You can't think of anything for Santa to bring you?"
She shook her head and May gave Phil a look, "He'll just have to surprise you now won't he?"
Skye nodded and abandoned her seat in favor of May's lap. She grabbed her mom's hands and wrapped them around her waist, "I asked for a family last Christmas and now I have you guys."
May tightened her hold on Skye and leaned down so that she was gently resting her chin on top of Skye's head, "We are very very lucky that Santa gave you what you wanted."
Skye leaned into her mom and grinned. She couldn't agree more.
Skye's favorite part of the month was the gingerbread house contest.
She had never heard of such a thing until her mom had called everyone into the dining room and had seen five different gingerbread house kits laid out on the table.
Skye's eyes widened and she sat down at one of the chairs, "What's this?"
May smiled at her, "Every year we see who can make the best gingerbread house."
Wanda clapped her hands together, "You're looking at last year's winner."
Skye grinned and looked at the supplies in front of her. There was frosting in tubes, pieces of gingerbread that was supposed to build the structure of a house, and candy. She was excited. She had never built a gingerbread house before but it sounded fun and she wanted to win this competition.
Everyone got to work and Skye used some frosting to glue her house together. She patiently held the walls of her house together until they dried so that it wouldn't fall over. She learned how to do that when she made houses out of popsicle sticks in art class.
Apparently Trip never got that memo because the walls to his gingerbread house kept falling over.
She finished her outline of the house and started to decorate it.
She outlined a door and windows with frosting and made zigzag patterns on the roof. She placed candy on the outside of her house to make it look like a candy-garden and even frosted in a smiling gingerbread man.
She leaned back and admired her work.
She glanced up and laughed at what she saw.
Trip's walls were covered in frosting and he had given up on trying to make it a traditional house shape and instead made it look like a teepee. Nattie had forfeited halfway through and was now eating her candy and watching everyone else create their houses. Wanda's house was really pretty and Skye thought that she did a really good job with decorating it. Her oldest sister was poking fun at Pietro's house, which had smudged frosting all over it from where he had brushed against it with his arm.
She watched as her mom walked over and examined her house, "Wow Skye, you did a really good job!"
She smiled, "Thanks mommy. We make houses all the time in class."
May ran her hand over Skye's head, "It looks like it's between you and Wanda this year."
She nodded and watched May walk over and inspect Wanda's gingerbread house.
Her mom nodded seriously and made a thoughtful face before saying, "I think we have a tie!"
Skye squealed and walked over to Wanda. She climbed onto her oldest sisters lap and wrapped one arm around her neck, "I like your gingerbread house Wanda. It's really pretty."
Wanda smiled at her, "Thanks little monkey. Yours is very pretty too. How about next year we team up and make the best house ever?"
Skye nodded excitedly and eagerly took the piece of candy that Nattie was offering her.
Skye was waiting in line at the mall with Natasha, Wanda, and her mom. They all went out for some girl time to watch a movie and had seen that Santa had been in town and her mom had insisted that she get a picture with him.
She was settled safely in Nattie's arms and waiting in line with a bunch of other little kids. There were a lot of people walking around the mall right now and it was kind of scary. Her mom said that it was because people were shopping for last minute Christmas presents.
She looked over to her mom, "How come Santa is here and not at the North Pole?"
May grinned at her, "Because all of the kids need to tell him what they want for Christmas so that he knows what to bring them."
Skye pondered that, "What do I tell him? I don't know what I want."
Wanda spoke up, "Why don't you tell him you want a new doll so that Mara and Alice could have a new friend?"
Her dolls did like getting new friends… "Okay."
They moved up in the line and finally they were next. Nattie set her down while May talked to the bored looking elf that was managing the line and taking the children up to see Santa. She looked up at Santa and was a little anxious. She didn't want to go up there all by herself.
Nattie reached down and intertwined their pinkies, "It'll be okay, we'll be waiting for you right here."
Skye nodded and gave her sister a grateful smile.
The elf ushered her forward and Skye looked back to May. Her mom gave her an encouraging smile so she took a deep breath and walked away from her family and towards Santa.
The elf placed her on Santa's lap and he smiled at her, "Hello, what's your name?"
Skye gave him an unconvincing look, "I know you aren't the real Santa."
Fake Santa looked surprised for a moment and Skye kept on talking, "I'm just pretending because it makes my mommy happy but I know that the real Santa is up at the North Pole making presents for us. You're just here to tell him what all us kids want for Christmas because he's too busy to do it himself."
Fake Santa chuckled, "You got me. Santa sent me here so that I could tell him what you want for Christmas so tell me, what is it that you're wishing for?"
Skye shook her head, "I don't need anything but can you tell Santa thank you for me?"
Fake Santa looked confused, "For what?"
She gave him a stern look. She didn't know Fake Santa and she didn't trust him enough to tell him that she was thanking the real Santa for giving her her family. She didn't even know where her courage to talk to this stranger was coming from, probably from the fact that he was working for Santa and she liked him, "He'll know what for, that's between me and Santa."
Fake Santa held up his hands, "You got it. What's your name so that I can tell him?"
"It's Skye."
The elf waved her hands and caught Skye's attention, "Smile for the camera."
She smiled real big and a flash momentarily blinded her. Once her vision returned to normal, she hopped off of Fake Santa's lap and turned back to him, "Don't forget alright?"
He crossed his heart, "I promise."
She nodded and made her way back to her family.
On Christmas Eve, she made cookies with her parents after dinner.
Her siblings were in the living room watching old Christmas movies and she was sitting on the counter watching May and Phil transfer the freshly bakes cookies from the hot pan to the cooling rack.
She nervously swung her legs back and forth, "Santa likes chocolate chip cookies right?"
Phil gave her a reassuring look, "Santa likes every cookie but chocolate chip is his favorite."
Skye let out a breath of relief, "Good."
She twirled a strand of her hair around her finger and looked over to her mom, "Do you think he'll know that I live here now? Last Christmas I was at the orphanage."
May walked towards her and stood between her legs. She untangled Skye's hair from around her finger and gave her a smile, "I'm sure he will baby, Santa knows everything."
She nodded absentmindedly, "Do you think I was nice enough this year?"
Both of her parents laughed and she gave them a look that told them that she wasn't joking. Her parents faces sobered and her mom kissed her forehead, "You've been a very good girl and Santa knows that."
Skye nodded again and hoped that her mom was right.
She leaned into May's chest and watched as Pietro wandered into the kitchen and reached for a cookie. She held out a hand, "Wait! Those are for Santa!"
Pietro pulled his hand back, "Santa's going to eat all of these?"
She didn't really know how much Santa ate. There were a lot of cookies and she didn't think that he would be able to eat all of them by himself, "Um, I don't know. How much does Santa eat?"
Phil pulled out a plate from the cabinet and set four cookies onto it, "I think four will be good enough. We can all share the rest."
Skye nodded and Pietro grabbed a cookie before shoving the whole thing into his mouth. Skye giggled and he looked over to her, "What's so funny?" At least, that's what she thought he said, his mouth was so full that his words were all muffled.
She giggled again and pointed, "You put that whole cookie in your mouth!"
Pietro chewed and swallowed before grabbing another cookie. This time he took a reasonably sized bite and grinned at her, "Come on little one, let's go watch a movie."
The offer was inviting but she shook her head, "I want to go to sleep."
Her parents and brother both gave her startled looks. May put a hand to her forehead, "Hm, no fever. Are you feeling alright?"
Skye laughed and brushed her mother's hand off of her forehead, "Yeah."
Pietro glanced at the clock, "You still have an hour 'til bedtime, you know that right?"
She nodded, "Yeah, but the faster I go to sleep, the sooner it'll be Christmas."
Her brother thought that over and shrugged. Her dad walked over and lifted her from the counter, "You can go to sleep after you take a shower and brush your teeth."
She nodded eagerly and tugged on May's hand so that they could go get ready for bed.
It was hard to go to sleep, the excitement over Christmas day was enough to make sleep evasive, but she finally fell into a deep slumber.
She woke up and immediately sat up in bed. When she looked out of her window she saw that it was still really dark so she must have woken up earlier than she usually did.
She pushed her blankets off of her and ran out of her room so fast that she forgot to grab Alice and Mara from her bed.
She skipped down the hall and eagerly opened her parent's bedroom door. She peered inside and saw that there were both still sleeping.
She tiptoed over to Phil's side of the bed and stared at his sleeping face. He was lying on his side facing her and one arm was hanging off the side of the bed.
She poked his cheek, "Daddy! It's Christmas!"
He groaned and kept his eyes shut, "Too early."
She poked his cheek again, "Come on daddy, it's Christmas!"
He groaned again, "Go tell mommy." He turned his face so that it was hidden by his pillow and Skye scrunched her nose up at him.
She made her way over to her mom's side of the bed and this time she climbed onto it. May was sleeping on her back so Skye straddled her stomach and leaned over her face, "Mommy! It's Christmas."
Her mom opened up one eye and glanced at her before shutting it. Her voice was gravely when she said, "It's very early sweetie."
She huffed, "But it's Christmas!" She didn't think that they understood the severity of the situation.
Her mom's eyes stayed shut and she covered her face with an arm, "Go tell daddy."
She let out a frustrated breath and climbed off of the bed. She needed reinforcements.
She wandered down the hallway and opened up Nattie's door. Both of her sisters were sleeping in Nattie's bed because Phil still hadn't put two beds into the guest room for when Wanda and Pietro were home from school. He kept saying that he was going to renovate and add some more rooms to the house but he obviously kept forgetting about it because it still hadn't happened.
She walked up to the bed and climbed onto it. She knew that Natasha didn't like waking up in the morning so she focused on Wanda instead.
She leaned over her oldest sister's face and poked her cheek, "Wanda, it's Christmas."
She poked her sister's cheek again and watched as Wanda woke up. She groaned, reached up to rub her eyes, and then opened them. They focused on Skye and Wanda gave her a sleepy smile, "Hey little monkey."
She grinned. Finally. Someone was listening to her.
"It's Christmas but mommy and daddy won't wake up. Will you help me?"
Wanda slowly sat up, "'Course I will."
Wanda glanced over to Natasha's sleeping form, "Maybe you should wake her up. She's not very happy when I do it."
Skye smiled and crawled over to Nattie. She straddled her stomach and poked her cheek, "Nattie, wake up."
She had to poke Natasha a couple more times before the redhead let out a whimper and slowly opened her eyes, "There's no way it's morning already."
Skye sat back a little, "It's morning and it's Christmas!"
Her sister turned her head and glanced at the clock that was resting on her bedside table. She made a surprised sound and turned back to her, "Skye! It's barely five o'clock! This does not count as the morning."
She shrugged and Nattie tried to close her eyes and go back to sleep but Skye wouldn't let her. She reached down and tickled Natasha's sides and her sister's eyes popped back open, "You play dirty."
Skye shrugged but felt a little guilty, "I'm sorry but mommy and daddy won't wake up."
Wanda stood up and motioned Skye forward, "Come on little monkey, we can go wake them up."
She sighed and climbed off of her sister and the bed. She took Wanda's hand and was about to walk out the door when she heard a reluctant groan, "Wait, I'm coming."
Skye smiled and squealed. They all walked down the hallway and Wanda motioned towards Trip and Pietro's room, "I'll wake up these two while you go wake up mom and dad."
Nattie quickly intertwined their pinkies and kept walking towards their mom and dad's room. The redhead leaned down and whispered, "Wanda's going to have a terrible time trying to wake those two up. We got off easy."
Skye nodded and they entered their parent's room. Phil's face was still hidden by his pillow and May had turned onto her side.
Natasha flicked on the light switch and Skye squinted at the sudden brightness. Both of her parents groaned and Nattie lifted Skye up so that she was standing on the bed, "It's super early but we're all up and waiting on you guys."
Her parents snuggled deeper into their blankets and Nattie gave her a look, "Skye, you know what to do."
She smiled and started jumping up and down on the bed, "Mommy, daddy, it's wakeup time!"
She jumped up and down until two hands snaked out from underneath the blankets and held her still. Phil pulled her forward and trapped her arms by her side, "Okay, we're up."
Skye squealed and waited for both of her parents to climb out of bed before tugging on their hands and leading them downstairs. She paused halfway down the staircase and her mouth fell open in surprise.
Her brothers and Wanda were already sitting on the couch waiting for them. They had turned on some lights and the Christmas tree was still shining brightly so Skye had plenty of light to see the massive pile of presents sitting under the tree.
She knew that this family would be different than all her other families, that this Christmas would be different than all her other Christmas's, but this was unreal.
Her parents both tugged on her hands and she limply followed behind them to the couch. They sat down and she stayed standing and staring at the tree and all the brightly wrapped gifts underneath it.
She pointed at it, "Those… are for us?"
She heard May laugh, "Yes."
She turned to stare at her parents, "All of them?"
Phil chuckled, "Yeah."
She looked back to the tree. She had never seen a tree have this many presents underneath it before.
Her siblings got up and all sat around the tree but Skye stayed where she was. May gently pushed her forward, "What are you waiting for sweetie?"
She hesitantly walked forward and sat down by Natasha. She wasn't really sure what to do in this situation.
Nattie handed her a present and she took it and set in on her lap. She looked around and saw that everyone else was opening a present. Trip had handed May a card and she was reading it and smiling while Pietro and Wanda were laughing and yanking the paper off of each other's presents. Natasha and Phil were both looking at her.
She looked down at her present and her fingers itched to tear into the prettily wrapped gift. She focused on Phil, "Can I open it?"
Phil nodded and she smiled.
She made sure to read the tag on it to see who it was from and saw that it was a gift from Santa. She ripped into the shiny wrapping paper and gasped in excitement. It was an American Girl doll that looked just like her. It had brown hair and eyes and was even wearing little black combat boots that looked like Skye's favorite pair.
She held the boxed doll close to her chest and walked over to her parents, "Look at what Santa brought me!"
She waved the doll in their faces and they both smiled at her. May reached forward to brush Skye's bangs out of her eyes, "It looks like Santa knew just what to get you."
She nodded and wiggled herself in between both of her parents on the couch. They gave her confused looks but Phil wrapped an arm around her when she leaned into him.
May turned so that she was facing her, "Skye, don't you want to open the rest of your gifts?"
She raised an eyebrow hopefully, "More? I have more presents?"
Phil rubbed his hand down her arm, "Well yeah. I think Santa got you a few more things and then you have some gifts from all of us."
She started squirming excitedly in her seat, "Really?"
May laughed, "Really."
She hopped off of the couch and ran back towards the tree. Halfway there, she turned back around, "I can open them now, right?"
She needed to make sure.
Her parents laughed and nodded at her. She let out an excited laugh and sat back down by Natasha. The redhead handed her another gift and Skye tore into it.
It took them a little while to get through everyone's gifts and by the time they were finished, everyone was showing each other what they got.
May was collecting tissue paper, empty gift bags, and wrapping paper and looked around when she was done, "Is that all of them?"
Skye suddenly stood up and held out a hand, "Wait!"
She ran up to her room and grabbed what she needed before running back downstairs. She climbed onto the couch next to Phil and handed him her present before motioning May forward and handing her her gift.
Phil opened his first and smiled.
In class, they had chosen one of their favorite people and were supposed to write about why they loved them so much. She had chosen Phil and Ms. Hill had helped her write about why she loved him and had given her special glitter glue so that she could decorate it.
She anxiously waited while he read through what she had written about him. She really wanted him to like it.
He looked up from her present and pulled her in for a hug, "This is amazing Skye, I love it so much. Thank you sweetheart."
She let out a relieved breath and hugged him back tightly.
She heard Natasha speak up, "What does it say?"
She pulled away from Phil and he handed his present back to her, "Why don't you read it?"
She gripped the paper and shyly read from it, "My daddy is my favorite person in the world because I love him and he loves me. He keeps me safe and gives me Spongebob bandaids when I get hurt. He taught me how to ride a bicycle and we both make breakfast together all the time and it's really fun. I love spending time with him and I'm happy that he's my daddy."
She smiled proudly and knew that all the words were spelled right because Ms. Hill had helped her.
Phil pulled her in for another hug and took his present back from her and held it gingerly to his chest. She was really happy that he liked it.
She turned to her mom when she heard her say, "Is it my turn?"
Skye nodded and crawled over to where May had sat down on the other end of the couch. She climbed into her mom's lap and May opened her gift in front of them.
She opened the tiny jewelry box and nervously waited for May to say something. She was quiet for a couple of seconds so Skye started to ramble anxiously, "Daddy helped me pick it out, it's okay if you don't-"
May cut her off, "No! No, I love it. It's beautiful and perfect and I love it."
Skye smiled brightly and let out a sigh of relief. She stared down at the pretty silver locket and saw May's fingers brush over the intricate rose design on the front. Her mom opened up the locket and Skye leaned forward so that she could point to the pictures inside, "That's a picture of me and you and that's a picture of me and daddy so that we'll both be with you wherever you go."
It had taken a while to find the right pictures and fix them so that they were small enough to fit into the small locket but Skye thought that they turned out very nicely. The picture of her and May was one that Phil had randomly taken of the two of them. Skye's front tooth was missing and she and her mom's faces were pressed closely together and they were both smiling. The picture of her and Phil had been the one where he was wearing a tiara and she was wearing her Captain America outfit. They were both making silly faces, he was sticking out his tongue and she was crossing her eyes, and Skye really liked that picture.
She looked to see May's reaction and saw that her mom's eyes looked watery.
She turned around in May's lap and put a hand on her cheek. May shook her head and laughed, "I love it sweetie, thank you. Can you put it on me?"
Skye nodded and clasped the necklace around May's neck before both of them admired it. Skye tilted her head and smiled, "I like it on you."
May leaned in and pressed a kiss to her forehead, "Me too."
Everyone else came over and admired May's new piece of jewelry and they all thanked each other for the gifts that were given and received.
She felt happy. Actually she felt more than happy and it wasn't just because of the presents, it was because her whole family was here together and everyone was content to just sit by one another and laugh and enjoy each other's company. It was great and Skye wanted this to last forever.
Phil stood up and clapped his hands, "Chocolate chip pancakes?"
Everyone else stood up quickly and Skye nodded eagerly, "Yes!"
Her dad laughed, "Let's go."
What'd you guys think? It was hard to fit in all the various Christmas activities into one chapter but I think that a majority of them are in there.
If you have a prompt that you'd like to send in, you can do that either on here or on my tumblr page and I'll add it to the poll and then write it out! Thank you so much for reading and an extra thank you to everyone who takes the time to leave a review. You're all beautiful angels and I really appreciate it :) xx -Ariel
