CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE: HOLIDAY SPIRIT

As November turned to December, Tom got very excited for Christmas. Unlike the previous year, he'd be able to give his kids a traditional holiday with all the trappings. By the Sunday after Thanksgiving, he already had a wreath on the front door and stockings hanging from the mantle. He would have loved to put up exterior lights on the house, but that was an unnecessary drain on the base's limited power resources. They couldn't have lights inside, either, but that wasn't going to stop Tom from having a tree. The following weekend, he and Jed went out with a few other sailors and coasties from the base to cut down Christmas trees.

While they were gone, Rachel and the kids worked on making ornaments. They'd found a couple boxes of brightly colored ball ornaments at a shop in town, but Rachel suggested that they have some personalized additions. They mixed up modeling dough from scratch, split the batch into chunks, and dyed each one a different bright color. Then they sat down at the counter to work on their creations.

"What are you making?" Ashley asked Rachel at one point.

She held up the blue sphere in her hands; she'd been adding green dough to the outside in the shapes of the continents. "When I was a little girl, we had a glass ornament shaped like the world. A light could go inside, making it glow." A sad little smile crossed her face. "Things around the world have changed a lot since then, but if we had a view of it like this… it's not all that different."

Ashley smiled. "It's pretty."

Sam held up his first ornament with a grin - a baseball. "See?"

They laughed - sometimes he was so predictable. "Good job, Sam," Rachel told him.

They made a few other 3-D objects, then rolled the remaining dough out flat and started cutting out shapes. As yellow stars, red hearts, green wreaths, and white snowmen started to pile up on a plate, Rachel was reminded of the previous Christmas. The time she'd spent with the children, making cookies and stargazing on Christmas Eve, would always have a special place in her memories. It was the start of when Ashley and Sam - and their father - had stolen her heart.

~ % ~

By the time Tom and Jed got back, the ornaments were hardening and the kids had moved on to making paper link chains to decorate the banister, mantle, and tree.

"Hi, Daddy!" Ashley and Sam called when they saw Tom come in the front door.

"Where's the tree?" Sam asked.

"Outside," Tom replied. "I need you guys to help with the furniture a little bit before we bring it in."

Rachel looked up from her spot on the couch, reading a book. "You already rearranged it this morning." He'd cleared a spot in the corner for the tree before he left.

Tom laughed sheepishly. "Yeah, that's not going to cut it."

Rachel rolled her eyes as she got up. "Go on, luvs," she told the kids. "Your father got carried away."

They rotated the couch and moved the chaise totally out of the way for the time being. The kids then went out front and 'helped' Tom and Jed carry the tree inside. Rachel stifled a laugh as she watched; the men carried the majority of the weight while Sam held the tip and Ashley oversaw the whole operation, telling them when and how to turn. Finally they got the tree settled in its stand in the living room. It stood just a few inches shorter than the nine foot ceiling.

"How do you get the star on?" Ashley wondered.

"Do we have one?" Tom wondered. Sam ran to get it from their box of ornaments in the corner. Tom caught his son around the waist and lifted him up on his shoulder so he could reach to put the star on. It was touching the ceiling when he was done, but at least it wasn't leaning over in order to fit.

The kids went to town with hanging the ornaments, while Jed supervised and Tom and Rachel sat on the couch to watch. She snuggled up at his side, his arm wrapped around her shoulders.

"Looks like you all have been busy," Tom commented as he took in their handiwork. "I like it. The house feels full, you know?"

Rachel laid her head on his shoulder. "You have no idea." They'd managed, but felt incomplete while he was gone. Life was just amazing now, and she could almost forget it hadn't always been this way.

"See what I made, Daddy?" Sam wondered, holding up his baseball ornament.

Tom smiled. "Yeah, buddy. Looks great."

"Careful, Sammy, it's not totally dry yet," Rachel warned him.

"I know."

Tom smiled as he settled back with Rachel and kissed her forehead. "This is just about perfect."

"Oh yeah?" Tom nodded. "You see the kids added a few things to the stockings?" she pointed out. They'd put each person's first initial in glitter.

"They've done a great job. And just think," he whispered, "Next year, there'll be one more up there." He gently slid a hand over her belly. The thought that their baby was growing there under his fingers was simply amazing.

Rachel smiled, threading her fingers together with his. "Yes, there will."

A week later, Rachel had another checkup with Emma. Her first appointment hadn't given them too much information; it was just too early. Rachel had tried to push her concerns from her mind, since there wasn't anything she could do about them. As her second appointment approached, however, the nerves came back.

"How are you feeling?" the diminutive red-head asked as she, Rachel, and Tom went into one of the exam rooms at the medical center.

"Fine," Rachel replied.

"She's anxious," Tom answered for her, and earned a glare from his wife.

Emma smiled. "That's perfectly normal." During Rachel's first appointment, they'd told her about the miscarriage. She was very sensitive to their concerns and had decided to try an early ultrasound now at just past 8 weeks in order to hopefully assuage their worries. "Have you had any bleeding or cramping?" she wondered as Rachel laid down on the exam table.

She shook her head. "No, nothing."

"Good."

Rachel unbuttoned her jeans and pulled her shirt up, and Emma put some gel on her lower abdomen to help with the ultrasound wand. She started the machine up and carefully scrutinized the picture as she moved the wand around. "There we go," she commented when she found what she was looking for. She turned the screen around so they could see the picture. "There's your baby."

Both of them were transfixed by the image. Barely more than a grainy, white blob, it was still the most beautiful thing they'd ever seen. Rachel reached with one hand to touch the screen, slowly tracing a finger over the baby's head and body. "That's it's heart, right?" she wondered, pointing to a little flickering spot.

Emma nodded. "Yep. It's nice and strong. Baby looks great. I'll do measurements in a sec to try nailing down your due date."

Tom leaned over and gave Rachel a kiss. "You're amazing," he whispered to her.

"I think you were involved in this, too," she replied with a smile.

Emma smiled. "It's 50/50 responsibility, right up until she goes into labor. Then it's all your fault, Dad."

Tom laughed. "Yeah, I've heard that one before."

~ % ~

Emma printed out a photo for them before they left. Rachel couldn't stop looking at it. She hadn't had this before. She hadn't made it this far into her pregnancy before the miscarriage. It was reassuring and terrifying at the same time; this was exactly what she'd hoped for, but also uncharted territory.

"I think we should tell the kids at Christmas," Tom told her as they walked home. "I know you wanted to wait longer, but… they're going to be so excited."

Rachel smiled, though it didn't quite reach her eyes. She was still worried, but knew Tom was right. Ashley and Sam were going to be ecstatic. "Alright," she agreed. "We'll tell them at Christmas."

On Christmas morning, Tom was expecting to be woken up by his children knocking on the door. He was not expecting to wake up to the sound of his wife getting sick in the bathroom.

"Babe? Are you okay?" he asked as he got up and headed over to her.

Rachel weakly nodded from her spot on the bathroom floor. She still felt terrible, but tried to force a smile to reassure him. "Yeah. I'll be fine."

Tom got a cool, wet rag for her. "I was hoping this was going away."

The nausea had been intermittent; some days she felt fine, some days she was getting sick the whole day, and some days were in-between. Rachel hoped that the inaccurately named 'morning sickness' would start to fade over the next month. "It could be considered good sign, actually," she told him. "I'm getting adequate nutrition and my body's producing the right hormones."

Tom shook his head in disbelief; not many women would have such a positive outlook. "That's one way to think of it."

There were multiple, energetic knocks on their bedroom door. "Daddy! Mom! Merry Christmas!" the kids called from the hall.

Tom went over and opened the door. "Merry Christmas, monsters."

"Where's Mom?" Sam asked, looking around for Rachel.

"In the bathroom. Why don't you guys head downstairs and get your stockings?" he suggested as a distraction. "We'll be there in a minute."

The kids didn't appear to notice anything amiss. "Okay!" Their feet thundered away down the stairs.

Tom returned to the bathroom to see Rachel slowly pulling herself up off the floor. "Are you okay for this?" he asked as he reached to help her. "You can stay up here in bed; I'll get the kids to bring their presents up."

Rachel shook her head, though instantly realized the quick motion was a bad idea. "I'm fine. It's Christmas; let's go."

~ % ~

Downstairs, Sam and Ashley had taken their stockings off the mantle and were inspecting the boxes under the tree. "Hey!" Tom cried as he watched Sam pick up a box and shake it to check the contents. "One of those could bite you, you know."

Sam's eyes widened and he gently put the box back down. "Really?"

Tom laughed. "No." They were not getting the kids any pets; life was crazy enough already at the moment.

This Christmas was a little less meager than the previous one, but most of the presents were still practical. Each of the kids got some new clothes. Ashley got new supplies for making jewelry. Sam got a baseball bat and was very excited to start playing on a team in the spring. The kids had made art projects for their parents which proudly got displayed on the mantle.

"There's a couple more here," Tom said as he pulled two small boxes out from under the tree. He handed one to Sam and one to Ashley. The younger of the siblings immediately tore into his gift, but stopped when he saw what was under the lid.

"Dad?" he asked.

Tom had taken a seat on the couch with Rachel. He could hardly keep from having an ear-to-ear grin break out, knowing what was about to come. "Yeah, Sammy?"

Sam held up the t-shirt he'd just received; the front bore the message 'I'm the Big Brother'. "Why did I get this?" he started to ask, but trailed off on the last word as it dawned on him. "We get a baby brother?!" he shrieked.

Tom tugged at his ear, pretending to have hearing damage from his son's loud, high pitched voice. "Ow. Yes, you are going to have a baby sibling in July. What do you guys think of that?"

Sam jumped to his feet and started dancing around the room. Ashley pumped her first in the air. "Yes, yes, yes!" they cried.

Rachel and Tom laughed as they watched their pure joy. "Apparently we didn't need to get them any other presents," he commented to her. "The rest of this stuff was a waste."

"Is it really a brother?" Ashley asked.

"We don't know yet," Rachel replied. "The baby's still too small. But we'll be able to find out soon."

"It's a brother," Sam confidently declared.

Tom chuckled. "You're sure about that?"

He nodded. "It's a brother."

Rachel was still looking a little green, although she continued to protest that she was fine. Tom insisted that she take it easy on the couch while he worked on breakfast. Ashley and Sam decided to keep her company; they had lots of questions about the baby.

Tom put some sausage in a pan and took out a few eggs to scramble while a mug of tea steeped for Rachel. Once the tea was ready, he headed back into the living room to give it to her. The scene that awaited him made him freeze in the doorway.

Rachel and the kids were all halfway asleep again, curled up together on the chaise. Ashley and Sam each had a hand over her still-flat belly, eagerly wanting to be close to their new sibling. With all their worries and all the things that could still go wrong, moments like these became even more precious.

TBC...

A/N: I'll be away from the internet all week, so the next chapter will be up next Sunday.