A/N: This is totally a piece of fluff that I wrote last night when I couldn't sleep – it is totally out of sequence and is a sort of a one shot but it features my favourite family at the Barn and is hopefully nicely feel good Christmassy (or at least I hope so) I haven't given up on the rest of Unforeseen or Dearly Beloved –but I have just taken a short step away because I was having trouble "seeing" it, and have to see it if I'm going to like what I write. This kept popping in my brain – so here goes. I hope everyone has a really lovely Christmas xx

"I'm not going to and you can't make me"

"Come on Millie, stop it, you know we've gotta get it sorted ... I 'aven't got time for all this"

"Don't care, I'm not going to, I look stupid"

"Nah you don't ... who said that anyway?"

"Markie"

Millie snivelled, not entirely sure who she was most cross with, her brother or her mother or just the whole world in general for making her do all sorts of things she didn't want to do. Although at that moment there was the potential bonus of maybe getting her brother into trouble, and it wasn't going to make any difference, she was still determined she wasn't going to co-operate and that no-one could make her.

"Marcus James, get yourself in here right now, I want you"

Marcus had been curled up in the corner of the sofa lost in the library book he was reading. He would have normally ignored the first request from his mother in favour of pretending he hadn't heard her, but she had on her 'do as you're told ... or else' voice so he knew she wasn't going to let him off anything.

"What?"

"Don't say "what" like that to me"

Molly's response was automatic, she sometimes felt like a bit of a broken record, she said the same things so many times.

"You do" Marcus scuffed his toe on the floor and then looked up under his eyelashes and thought for a second "You do it all the time ... and Daddy does as well"

"Yeah well, that's different" Molly had a horrible suspicion that he was dead right and made a mental note to try and stop doing it and to tell Charles that 'n all, then changed the subject "We're not talking about me and your Dad, did you tell your sister she's gonna look stupid"

"Well, she started it"

"I don't care who started it ... why the f.. why can't you lot just be nice to each other? You wanna watch it or Father Christmas will hear you and he'll start lobbing things out the sleigh"

"Miss Crawford says that's a fantasy, and that there's so such ..."

"And you can shut up 'n all Chloe"

Molly glared at her eldest daughter where she was sitting at the kitchen table supposedly doing her English homework but was in fact drawing pictures of her current passionate obsession. She was currently lobbying for a pony of her own which her mum was adamant wasn't going to happen, but then that was what they'd said about getting a dog.

"Millie, please, will you just come here and let me see if I can sort this ... and take no notice of Markie he was just being ... a boy ... you're gonna look magic, well you will when I find a way of doing this, now just stand still for a minute"

Molly wanted to curse and throw sundry bits of wire, tinsel and pea stick across the room and then shout that she was giving up, she didn't care, and it wasn't like Millie wanted to do it and at this stage she'd be more than happy to say 'don't then' and mean it.

"What ARE you doing?"

"What does it look like? Oh shit, Charlie, is it raining? I hope you remembered to wipe the dog's feet? He'll be all muddy and I've just finished cleaning the bl ... floors"

"Yup, I remembered, so, what are you doing?"

"Making a halo of course, what does it look like? Gotta make it round with this tinsel wound round the edge and then put it on this stick so it sticks up above 'er head"

Molly grimaced and cursed under her breath as it slipped off the stick again and fell on the floor ... again.

"Do you want me to have a go?"

"'Feel free" She practically threw at him as she passed it over with a happy sigh "And ... and .. I've gotta make wings and stick bl ...blessed tinsel round them 'n all, and then Velcro the whole lot on this white nightie thing, 'n don't ask how I'm gonna do that"

"Amazon sounds good to me"

"Yeah tried that, it was me first stop, but they've only got these pink and bright green ones and these have to be white, and they're out of stock of course"

"Oh"

"Yeah ... Oh"

"I don't want to wear wings anyway Daddy, I want a crown like Marcus, I'd be a much better King than him" Millie gave Marcus a look that was full of daggers "But Miss Lvank said that only the boys can be Kings, that girls have to be Angels and things"

"Sexist"

"What does that mean Daddy?"

"Yeah, Daddy what does it mean? And careful ... don't forget Little Miss Women's rights will be in there like a rat up a drainpipe tomorrow telling Miss Whatsit whats what"

"Well, it means ... umm ... that we're paying too much for ... never mind, it means there aren't many ... ummm ... parts for boys in the Nativity so you have to, you know, let them have the ones there are ... you'll be a lovely Angel"

"There are lots of boys in it, shepherds and Kings and the innkeeper ... and I won't be a lovely Angel"

"Course you will and it's better than being ... dunno ...a donkey or a ... sheep innit?"

"No, Mummy, I'd like to be the donkey, that'd be cool"

"That head thing the donkey has to wear is all hot and sweaty, Simeon did it last year and he said it was stinky"

Charles and Molly both turned and smiled gratefully at Chloe, thanking her silently for her help. Neither of them recognised her intervention for what it actually was, an attempt to score some brownie points in operation pony.

"Who's being Mary this year Mills?"

"Rhiannon" Millie pinched her nostrils between her thumb and index finger giving her sister the recognised gesture for something or someone being a bad smell "Miss Lvank said it was her ... reward or something for being good, for doing as she's told all the time or something stupid"

"No danger of you winning that then is there Millie?"

"No, don't want to be Mary anyway, Daddy, it's boring"

Charles was laughing, he adored her feistiness, she reminded him so much of Molly when he'd first known her.

"Why would being Mary be boring?"

"She doesn't have anything to say, all she does is sit there all quiet with Joseph and pretend to have a baby which she sticks in this crib thing, and it's not even a real baby, not like Livvie, it's just a doll .. so Miss Lvank said it didn't matter when she dropped it on it's head at the rehearsal" Millie was now giggling evilly at the memory "She said she's got to be more careful when we do it in front of the Mummies and Daddies" Millie was her usual mercurial self and was suddenly all smiles as she climbed up on Charles' lap "Shall I tell you my words Daddy?"

"Lovely"

Millie went into full dramatic mode and recited her one line at the top of her voice with gestures which struck him as a faintly garbled pronouncement of the impending arrival of baby Jesus, but wisely decided to keep his mouth shut, trusting that the overpaid and sexist Miss Lvank would sort that out before the performance.

"Have you got any words Markie?"

"Yes, I'm got to say Frankincense when it's my turn to put my present in front of the doll" He paused waiting for his sister who coveted his gold cardboard crown with the glass beads stuck on it to comment, but she didn't as his father smiled and nodded at him. When he'd been Marcus' age, he'd have died a thousand deaths at the thought of doing anything like that in front of other people..

"What is Frankincense Mummy?"

"No idea, ask your father" Molly caught the look on Charles' face "Or second thoughts Chloe can google it for you on my iPad"

"What's Chloe's star turn in this concert?"

"The big kids are playing carols on their recorders and singing so if you ask her nicely I'm sure she'll give you a bit of a preview, she's been practising Little Donkey all afternoon ever since she got out of school" Molly couldn't stop giggling at the expression of sheer horror that appeared on his face and went into whisper mode even though Chloe wasn't listening, she was concentrating her attention on the iPad "Could still do with a little bit more practise if you ask me, still they've got a few days yet"

"God help us"

-OG-

"Where are you?"

"Just parking the car, sorry, sorry, got a bit held up"

"Just hurry up and get your bum in here, Millie will never get over it if you're not here to see her do her bit"

He was hot and more than a bit sweaty as he sat down by her on a chair that was designed for a child's backside, but which was an aisle seat to allow for his long legs and which she'd reserved by sticking her bag and coat on it and by glaring and muttering that one's taken at anyone who dared to try and sit on it or move it. Charles stood up again and hastily stripped off a couple of his layers before sitting down again gently steaming in a school hall which felt badly overheated to him after the bitter cold rain and sleet outside.

"Have you got your phone ready?"

"Nah, not allowed, they're doing some official one so we don't 'ave to"

"So we can pay for it you mean" He shook his head "Don't miss a trick do they?"

"There is that"

The lights in the main hall were switched off leaving only the lights on the stage when the five little girls walked out all dressed in white with tinsel edged wings and halos with Millie in the middle looking totally angelic which was somewhat belied her behaviour in the car earlier when she'd been trying her best to wind a very nervous Markie up to fever pitch. But she looked like butter wouldn't melt in her mouth as she looked over the hall that was chock full of parents and adoring grandparents who were all making a collective sigh of appreciation for how sweet they looked and Molly felt a pang of guilt that they hadn't invited Penny and Bill, as well as a whole load of regret that Belinda and Dave, and Nan as well, weren't there to share it with them.

Millie was word perfect as she delivered her line in the right place in a voice that rang out as clear as a bell, and then grinned happily at her mum and dad and Charles shook his head in delight, his face wreathed in a smile that was a mask of pride. He'd been relieved when he realised that the line made perfect sense when it was part of a five line sequence from a group of angels rather than a stand alone announcement. He sneaked a little sideways look at Molly and like him she was filled with a mixture of pride and a need to weep as she sniffed and started rooting around in her bag for a tissue.

"Okay?"

"Yeah, got something in me eye, that's all"

"Yup, me too"

Marcus hesitated before he stepped forward to central stage and delivered his word in a soft little voice while looking fixedly at the floor and Molly found herself saying it with him silently, willing him on as he took an agonised peep at all the people sitting in the hall and then hurried back to his place by the shepherds with a look of intense relief that is was over. She wished that he would look up at the audience, although she knew that for someone as shy as him that would take a bleeding miracle, but she wanted to give him a big grin and maybe a thumbs up. She knew what it had taken for him to do it, how he'd been dreading it, so was really proud of him, she sometimes felt she was the only person in the world who understood her little boy.

The recorders were every bit as excruciating as Charles had feared. He always maintained that recorders were included by the teachers in order to torture the parents who were then forced to sit and listen without sticking their fingers in their ears and that they were distinct disadvantages in being like him, a music lover. Although Chloe had inherited his ability to sing really beautifully in tune, unlike her mother, playing the recorder was something else, although to be fair he had to admit it was impossible to tell who was playing the screechy wrong notes. The teacher providing the piano accompaniment was doing her best to drown as much of it out as she could with the judicious use of the loud pedal.

And then a row of angels and shepherds and kings and the innkeeper with Mary and Joseph in the middle all formed themselves into a line and sat cross–legged at the front of the stage until the bigger children could form a line behind them. The first notes of the final carol rang out and they dimmed lights on the stage, a signal for the children at the front to stand up as they all began to sing.

"Away in a manger, no crib for a bed

The little Lord Jesus lay down his sweet head

The stars in the bright sky looked down where he lay

The little Lord Jesus asleep on the hay"

Charles felt the tears prickle at the back of his eyes and had to swallow really hard as he moved to hold Molly's hand. He'd been to school concerts before, but this was the first Nativity featuring his children that he'd ever been to. He'd always been unable to attend when he'd been in the army, and he wasn't prepared for the emotion that he felt when he looked at them, the girls, Millie looking adorable with her halo all wonky and her missing teeth and Chloe getting more grown up and looking more like her mother every day. She was an absolute clone of Molly, and then there was Marcus who looked exactly like he had as a small boy, Marcus who was in fact him all over again. Molly tightened her fingers on his and he turned his head to smile down at her, knowing from the watery look in her green eyes that she was feeling exactly like he was, and felt this overwhelming surge of love for all of them.

"