Holder was niggled awake Christmas morning to a knock on the bedroom door, and a quiet "Hey, mom?" He glanced down to check on Linden, and found her curled up on her side, tucked under his arm with her head pillowed on his shoulder. She was sound asleep.

"Come in here, Lil' man." he called softly, cupping one hand over Linden's available ear to muffle the sound as best he could.

"No way." Jack sounded scandalized, he thought with a grin.

"Just come in," he called back impatiently.

The door crept open and Jack snuck in sideways, his eyes squinted shut and pointed firmly at the floor.

"Your eyes ain't gonna burn outta their sockets if you open them," he chuckled. "Let your ma get her beauty rest. What'd you need?"

"Regi just texted me. Wanted to know if we could go out on the boat tomorrow."

"And that couldn't wait until we got up?" he rolled his eyes. "You're worse than my kid, who is still sleeping, by the way. I expected her to be the antsy one this morning, not you."

"It's just.. In case she changes her mind," Jack admitted. "I haven't been out on the boat in years."

"So we'll go. Ask her what time. I gotta drop Kalia off at her mom's tomorrow night so anything during the day works fine," he suggested. But Jack didn't move. He was just standing there, staring at his ma, with a small frown on his face.

"What's wrong, lil' man?"

"I've never seen her like this. Or like she was last night. She's... different."

"Happy, I think, is the word you're lookin' for." But he'd noticed worry lines over her eyes since their fight, that hadn't been there before. As soon as Christmas was over he was going to address those, he decided. "It's a good thing, lil' man."

Jack nodded, then ducked his head and texted Regi back. At the same time, Linden hummed and shifted against him, starting to wake. "I'm glad she's finally happy," Jack admitted as he turned to sneak back out the door. Before he could, though, Kalia barreled right into him.

"Santa came, Santa came! Daddy wake up!" Kalia shrieked as Jack grabbed her and swung her in the air, trying to exit stage right. Kalia squirmed until Jack almost dropped her. As soon as she was back on her feet she took a flying leap onto the bed, and them. "Wake up daddy, Sarah! Santa came!"

"Toldja," Holder chuckled to Linden, whose eyes were wide open now and full of confusion. He wondered if she hadn't believed him.

Laughing, Jack finally came further into the room. He swooped in and grabbed Kalia, then carted her out of the room. "C'mon, munchkin," Holder heard Jack say as he swung the door partially closed behind him, "let them get up in peace. Let's go catalogue the presents and see who got the most."

Linden groaned, and buried her face in his chest.

"Rise and shine, my love," he murmured, then shifted so that he was on his side, facing her. "Remember what I said I was going to tell you?"

She blinked at him, "Is it really morning? Already?"

He couldn't help it - he snorted. "Seems so. Christmas morning, too," he emphasized, gazing into her wide blue eyes. "And I'm so grateful to start it, waking up with you in my arms. I love you, Sarah Linden."

"I love you too," she whispered, reaching up to kiss him. He let her, then let it get deeper, tracing her lips with his tongue, wishing for the teeniest second that his kid wasn't bouncing around the other room.

"I really want to wish you Merry Christmas proper," he said against her lips, "But I'm pretty sure we'd get interrupted." He sighed, pulling away. "C'mon, woman. We better get up before your kid corrupts mine."

"MY kid would never." she argued, then added cheekily, "besides, you've already done a good enough job corrupting yours."

"Oh, so that's how you think?" He teased, grabbing her as she laughed. He tickled her, enjoying her playfulness, then kissed her deeply one more time. "C'mon, we reaaalllyyy better get up before your kid gets the wrong idea about us again."

"Ohhh, I think he had the right idea about you," Linden disagreed pointedly, adding an eye roll before she darted away laughing, faster than he could catch her to retaliate.

"Holder. No Way ." Sarah stopped dead, staring in horror at the apartment. Sometime between when they went to bed and now, Holder had redecorated. Now she finally understood why he had just rushed to beat her out of the bedroom this morning, and what he needed all that mistletoe for. It was everywhere. Over the couch. Between the rooms. Under the cupboard. By the tree. In random places on the ceiling.

Holder was grinning from ear to ear, and he immediately did another complicated handshake with Jack, who looked far too pleased with himself. "Good job, Lil man," he congratulated Jack, who must have done the hard work.

"Mom, if you don't change your expression your face will freeze like that," Jack laughingly warned her, reusing a tired old threat she used to use on him when he was little.

"Come in here," Holder gestured.

"No way. It's like a landmine." There was no safe place to be. Not at the table, not on the couch. Nowhere. The room was a mistletoe time bomb.

"Ok," he agreed, then moved to stand beside her. She braced herself, because no way was he going to drag her into the war zone.

Except he didn't try. He just stood beside her in the doorway, looking down at her, grinning.

"Hey mom, look up," Jack suggested, with a grin that filled her with trepidation.

Slowly, she let her eyes drift to the door frame. She should have known. "Kiss," Holder stated, sounding exceptionally satisfied with himself. And before she could do anything, he ducked down to claim one. A long one. That made her toes tingle.

"You're going to traumatize Jack," she chided him quietly as he rested his forehead against hers for a minute once he broke away from her lips.

"Jack's already traumatized. For life, and afterlife," her son suggested with a flair for the dramatic. She gave her head a small shake and rolled her eyes, hoping they both noticed. Boys. Honestly, she thought.

Holder just grinned at her for another few seconds, then tugged her into the living room. She cuffed Jack gently on the side of the head as she went by. "And you, stop encouraging Holder. He's incorrigible enough without help."

"Your ma loves that about me," Holder stated cheerfully. "Now, Miss Kalia, what time is it?"

"Present time!" Kalia yelled, rushing to the tree. The chaos began.

The morning flew by and before she knew it they'd gotten through presents - Jack had been very unconcerned that she'd shipped his gifts to Chicago, not knowing he was coming - and pepper jelly egg wraps for breakfast, per Jack's request and Kalia's quick agreement.

She was just finishing the cleanup when Holder checked his watch. "So, we have two hours before we have to be at Liz's," he told the room in general, then turned to Jack. "I want to take your ma to see something, real quick. You ok to stay with Kalia for a bit?" His daughter was sitting on the floor, surrounded by gifts, happily enjoying them all.

Jack agreed, and Kalia was so enthralled with her haul that she didn't even argue about not coming with them. A first in her experience with the little girl so far, because that girl did love being wherever her daddy was. It was sweet. Charming. Beguiling.

"We could stay here too," she suggested, because part of her really just wanted to sink into the couch and relax for a couple of hours. But Holder shook his head, handing her her jacket.

"I really gotta show you something. Come on, we won't be long." He tugged her out the door and to the car.

Holder was acting kind of antsy, she thought. Nervous maybe, even. He was quiet, for him, and his fingers were drumming on the steering wheel. The last time she'd seen him even close to this jittery, he had been using, and she knew that that wasn't the case now.

"What's wrong?" she asked him. "Where are we going?"

"Nothing's wrong," he told her. "And you'll see when we get there."

"The last time you said that we drove over two hours," she reminded him, thinking of the Leavenworth trip.

"It was worth it. And we aren't leaving Seattle," he said, his words short and clipped. He was definitely nervous.

She was intrigued, but she let it go because she'd never seen him like this before. Finally, he pulled into a neighborhood and parked beside a house with a temporary for sale sign out front. He got out, then opened her door. "C'mon," he cupped her elbow, as if helping her out of the car. He guided her to the edge of the lawn in front of the house, then gestured towards it.

"Realtor can let us in tomorrow so you can see the inside," he said, toeing the ground. "Inspection is booked for Monday, if you like it."

It took her a minute to process what he was saying. He got more jittery as she stared at him in disbelief, trying to comprehend what he was saying. "Holder, we can't afford a house in this neighborhood," she finally managed to say. It wasn't like it was the fanciest neighborhood in Seattle, but it was well above anything they could afford to look at.

"It's being firesaled. Almost half of market value. My realtor called me about it before it was even listed. I looked at it Monday," he glanced at her then and she realized that this was where he was trying to bring her when she resisted and started their fight, "and put the offer in Tuesday so we wouldn't lose it. It's contingent on inspection, financing - which will be fine -,and on you liking the house. So if you don't like it," he continued on, his words rushed, "then we can cut out and I lose 500 bucks - no big deal. We just have to tell them that part by tomorrow."

"But-" she started, hindered by her racing thoughts and the lump in her throat. She was pretty sure it was her heart. Oh God, she had to tell him. She couldn't let him do this without him knowing.

"I have a really good down payment," he interrupted her feeble attempt to voice her thoughts, as he bracketed her shoulders with his hands. "I've been planning for this for a long time. I want a yard for Kalia. And a dog. And I want all this for you too, now. For us." He was staring into her eyes, forcing her to maintain eye contact, his expression kind and hopeful, his words soft and earnest. " this is what I want to give you for Christmas. A house to grow old in. A home."

She couldn't speak. Her stomach was rolling and her heart was still stuck in her throat and she couldn't swallow. Or breathe. she cut her eyes to the ground because she couldn't bear to see the love and the hope on his face anymore.

He mistook her panic for anger. "Don't be mad, Sarah. I didn't mean to do it without you. It's just you...and… I mean… everything was crazy, and I just didn't want to miss out. If you hate it when you see it we can find another. But check out this listing, it's sweet. And Kalia and Jack would each have their own room, and it totally has a bathtub like the one in Leavenworth," he rambled on, "but if you don't like it it's fine. I have a good down and we can find something else together and we'll have our own home. And-"

"Holder," she managed to choke out, placing a hand on his cheek as she cut him off. Her hands were freezing and her whole body felt like it was encased in ice. She had to tell him, because he'd told her how he felt about things, and he couldn't make this big and expensive a decision without knowing. And she really hadn't wanted to ruin Christmas for him but here she was, doing it anyways. She took another shaky breath, met his concerned gaze, and offered him a helpless shrug as her eyes flooded with tears and her heart broke into a million pieces. "I'm pregnant."

Merry Christmas, everyone! (I can still say that, because today is Ukrainian Xmas)