Chapter ten
Two, thankfully uneventful, months have passed and now the Adams Foster family are preparing for that magical time of year…Christmas.
Lena lies back on the bed exhausted. She has just come inside after spending the last four hours helping her dad Stewart, Frank, Brandon and Jesus with the outdoor Christmas lighting.
"I think we might have gone a tiny bit overboard." Lena laughs with her eyes shut as she hears Stef walk into the room.
"Oh, I know you did. You can probably see us from space." Stef sighs happily as she sees Lena sprawled out on their bed. She walks over and pulls back the covers on her side, "Honey, are you going to sleep outside the covers tonight?" Stef asks sarcastically.
Lena opens her eyes and glares at Stef but it doesn't take long for a smile to creep over her face, "I'll just go get changed." She mumbles.
"What I have planned for tonight doesn't need any clothes." Stef suddenly pulls Lena on top of her causing her wife to squeal, "Shhhhh! We don't want the kids to hear us!" Stef reminds her before covering her soft lips with a long, passionate kiss allowing it to deepen.
The following morning, the sun starts to peek through their curtains as Stef stirs from her blissful sleep, the best she's had in ages. She finds herself trapped in Lena's embrace as they lie close together, naked from the night before.
Lena slowly opens her eyes, meeting her wife's gaze. They both grin to one another before Stef leans down and gives Lena a good morning kiss.
"I suppose you're going to tell me we need to get up and go downstairs?" Lena whispers to Stef, her voice still husky from sleep.
"I really wish we didn't but I guess we do. It is Christmas Day after all!" As Stef speaks her volume rises from a whisper to nearly a shout. Lena laughs at her childishness; she can't help but remember that it's one of the qualities she loves most.
The two women pick out pyjamas and change quickly. As Stef goes to unlock their bedroom door Lena grabs her arm and freezes.
"What if Ali doesn't like it? What if it's too much for her?" Lena whispers to Stef, panic creeping into her voice.
Stef pulls Lena into her arms, "I'm sure she's going to love today, love her gifts and love the food you've made." Stef pulls Lena back so they're face to face, "But if it does get too much, one of us can take her to a quieter part of the house until she's ready to come back out, okay?"
Lena nods feeling silly as both she and Stef have had this conversation with Ali many times this past week, "Sorry." Lena begins to apologise as she goes back to hugging Stef.
"You have nothing to be sorry for. We can't help loving her." Stef whispers into Lena's ear.
Suddenly Lena pulls back and stares at Stef eyes wide open, "Did you hear what you just said?" Lena exclaims.
Stef looks at Lena confused for a moment until…, "I said we loved her!" Stef whispers harshly. She looks into Lena's eyes trying to gauge if this is a good or bad thing until Lena reaches out and takes Stef's hands in her own, squeezing them, causing both of them to smile widely, like school kids.
All four kids were waiting by the tree when Stef and Lena came downstairs that morning. They had decided that they would let the kids open up their presents first, before their parents came over, just to see how Ali will react.
The unending stream of presents is handed out one by one from under the tree and given to their owner. Only, Stef and Lena have noticed that Ali is simply placing hers in a pile beside her while the other three are readily tearing into theirs.
Stef gently sits down beside Ali, putting an arm around her back as Ali places her head on Stef's chest, her most comforting position.
"You don't have to open them all right now," Stef whispers to Ali while Lena sits herself down on Ali's other side.
"They're all mine…" Ali whispers softly looking at her pile of presents.
"Yes honey, all of them," Lena whispers back.
Tears start to flow silently down Ali's cheeks. Stef quickly picks her up and moves into the kitchen, closely followed by Lena.
"Please sweetie, tell us what's wrong," Stef asks, "You can tell us anything, remember?"
Ali nods and looks up to both of them, "I haven't had a t-toy that's been just m-my own since the f-f-fire."
Stef and Lena embrace Ali at the same time causing her to giggle a little. Both women pull away when Ali calms herself down completely. Lena wipes away the last remaining tears from her cheeks.
"What do you want to do now?" Stef asks Ali, "We can go upstairs if you want?"
Ali pauses for a moment to think, "Can I go back and open one of my toys, Stef?" she whispers.
Lena and Stef can only smile and nod as they watch her run back into the front room as the other three kids acknowledge her return happily. They too go back to join the kids, watching their happy faces as each opens another present.
Everyone turns around when Ali, who has unwrapped her first gift, gets up and makes her way over to Stef and Lena to show them what she got.
That evening, the whole family is sitting around the table. Lena is at the top of the table with Stef on her left, followed by Ali, Mariana, and Sharon, Stef's mom. Brandon, Jesus, Dana and Stewart sit at the other side of the table, with Frank sitting at the opposite end facing Lena.
"Squeezing ten people around this table was no small task," Stef smiles to Lena who had been stressing about it all week. The whole family laughs together.
"Both of you are just lucky to have such a beautiful family." Sharon pipes up as she places her arm around Mariana who does the same to her grandma.
Lena goes into the kitchen and comes back with two small brown bags which she places down on the table, "Now Ali you don't have a clue what's in this bag, but everyone else should." Lena smiles to Ali before starting to hand out an item to each kid.
Mariana turns to see Ali's confused face, "It's a Lena thing." She sighs before turning to wink at Lena, "Go on, open yours up."
Ali looks around to see Brandon and Jesus now wearing snowman bowties, and Mariana is wearing a Santa hat. She quickly opens hers, her excitement causing Lena and Stef to squeeze each other's hands and smile.
"So, what did you get, Ali?" Stef asks.
"Ohhh! You got a Santa hat like me!" Mariana grins with joy as she sees that she and Ali are now matching.
"And just before we start dinner, Ali wanted to continue on a tradition from her family," Stef says as she opens the second brown bag on the table.
"My mommy came from Northern Ireland…it's part of the UK. Every Christmas we would have crackers just like she did when she was a kid there." Ali smiled to Stef and Lena who were both filled with pride. Two months after the fire and Ali, with a lot of support from Stef and Lena, has been starting to speak about her family without being overcome by grief or anger.
"Wait, like the type you eat?" Jesus asks slightly disappointed.
Ali starts to laugh, "No, we pull them apart and the person who has the bigger piece, in the end, wins the tiny toy inside. They have jokes and paper crowns too and they make a bang!" Ali explains.
After the commotion of crackers, bad jokes and a gorgeous dinner, the family moves into the front room to open up more gifts. When all of the wine had been drunk and midnight was approaching, one by one their guests decided it was time to call it a night.
"Oh, Lena the food was delicious! And thank you for the necklace, it's gorgeous!" Sharon exclaims after maybe one too many red wines. She leans in to hug both Lena and her daughter before Frank helps her out to the car.
"Thanks again for coming." Stef says as she receives a hug from Dana and then one from Stewart, "You didn't need to buy so many gifts." she adds.
"Nonsense darling! We wouldn't miss Ali's first Adams Foster Christmas for the world!" Dana steps over to Lena as she finishes hugging her dad, "Lena come and give your mother a hug." Dana demanded but this time, white wine was to blame.
Once the house was semi tidied up, all four kids were marched upstairs to get ready for bed. When they're eventually tucked up in bed, Lena and Stef take some time to finally relax together on the sofa. Lena looks at her watch, "Midnight bedtime, not bad for Christmas I suppose." Stef laughs, Lena only ever wants the best for the kids and that includes a decent bedtime.
"Well, I think today was a great success," Stef says proudly, snuggling closer to Lena.
"I agree." Lena smiles thinking the day over in her head, "Ali had one small blip but who can blame her."