Chapter 36

Christmas Morning

Last night had been a night to remember as Piper lay in bed reminiscing on all the laughter, love, and fellowship she endured in at her in-laws house for Christmas Eve. Alan, Hector, and their soon to be one year old Lilly had arrived shortly after Jake's sister, Heather had been dropped off via taxi.

Heather lived in Japan, serving as an English teacher to Japanese children who were interested in pursuing a foreign exchange program in the United States. Piper had met her quite a few times while she was with Jake but she hadn't seen her since Jake's funeral almost four years ago. It had been a delightful time catching up with her and introducing her to Alex and Conner. Jake's younger sister automatically took a liking to Conner and Alex. She too had a significant other, Justin, but he wasn't able to take the time off of work to fly in with her.

Barbara had made an extensive Christmas meal consisting of ham, mashed potatoes, dressing, green beans, rolls, and a multitude of delicious desserts. There were thirteen people present including Jim's parents who came in from Massachusetts, and Barbara's mother who had come in from Connecticut, but the little one serving as number fourteen wasn't forgotten as Alan reminded everyone that Piper was eating for two.

At twenty one weeks pregnant, there was no doubt that Piper was pregnant when someone glanced at her. In the past couple of weeks, her bump had decided to pop out, making its appearance known. It had overjoyed Conner that he could now feel his baby sister moving about in his mommy's tummy and could also see how much she grew each week. He had taken pride in helping his mother measure the circumference of her tummy and recording it in the baby book for the little girl. It was their Friday night ritual.

As for Alex and the baby bump, she had no words to describe how enamored she was that she could feel her baby girl even more that they weeks went by. It excited her to see how involved Conner was being and she loved falling asleep to the soft roll she felt under her palm from where she laid her hand upon Piper's belly. Just last week at Piper's appointment after they had been granted approval of Piper traveling such a long distance while pregnant, Alex couldn't help but giggle as she thought about seeing her pregnant wife in a bikini. Plus, she was happy to get a week with just her, Piper, and their little girl before the baby shower and the eventual arrival. It had become a battle between her and Conner as to who the bump liked more and Conner was already mad that Alex would spend a week with his little sister and he couldn't. The game had helped the three year old get more associated with his sibling, but the couple also took that time to explain the responsibilities and the things that would be changing once his baby sister arrived. He even attempted to include his sister when coloring in his coloring book or helping Alex set the table for dinner.

Old stories were brought up from years ago and stories were brought up that included Jake and Piper, but the stories that Jim and Barbara took the most pride in telling was the story of Conner, Lilly, and their upcoming granddaughter that was expected to arrive in May. Every time Barbara told the story of how Piper went in to labor and how she met Alex, the couple couldn't help but feel blessed about how far they had come since arguing in front of the hospital as strangers to now being married, having one child, and another on the way.

When they had started to open the presents that were swarmed around the intricately decorated Christmas tree, the squeals of joy from Conner and Lilly were what Piper had loved most of all. Piper had been seated on the couch next to Barbara, Alex had been seated in between Piper's knees on the floor, and Conner sat in between his momma's outstretched legs as she helped him open his presents. Conner had tried to race Lilly to see who could open their presents the fastest but Alex had to slow him down and tell him she was probably more interested in the paper than the actual gift. The little boy had received a heap of clothes, trucks, Legos, and other various toys.

Piper and Alex received stuff for the baby, gift cards, jewelry, and sweaters, but the best present of all on the wintry Christmas Eve belonged to Jim and Barbara. Alex and Piper had recently settled on a name for their little girl and had thought of many different ways to reveal it to the grandparents, but it had been Polly who had given them the winner.

Barbara had been asking for an updated ultrasound picture rather than the one she had from when Piper was sixteen weeks along, with an arrow pointing out the baby was indeed a girl, but the couple had refrained from giving her a new one. For Jim and Barbara's Christmas gift, Piper had taken the most recent ultrasound picture from her twenty one week appointment that distinctly showed their little girls little features, and placed it in a shadow box. Around the ultrasound was pink ribbon and other girly items but what really stood out, were the scrabble pieces that spelled out their little girl's name.

When Jim and Barbara had opened the lid to the present, the tears immediately welled in the elder woman's eyes. The scrabble pieces spelled out,

"Elliott Nicole Vause."

Conner was quick to tell his grandma that she would also be called "Ellie". You could tell from the boy's enthusiasm that he had been ready to reveal his sisters name all night. Through the tears, Jim and Barbara wrapped the little family up and their arms and congratulated them over and over.

It had been Alex's searching eye that fell upon the name Elliott. She and Piper had agreed on the baby's name starting with an 'E' but hadn't found one that really stood out. When Alex had first looked at the name, she knew it was right. She had a feeling deep down that her daughter's name was meant to be Elliott. Thankfully, Alex was meeting Piper for lunch that day and as soon as Piper let the name roll of her tongue, she knew it was perfect.

As Piper lay watching the snow fall slowly outside, she felt Ellie roll around from where her hand was perched underneath her bump, and Alex's hand soothingly rubbing soon after the movement subsided. The blonde hadn't even noticed that Alex was awake until she felt her hand rubbing against her. She wasn't even sure how long she had been watching the snow while feeling her daughter move around. Turning her head, she was greeted with the sight of her wife looking directly at her with the most loving look.

"Merry Christmas." Alex whispered as she moved to place a soft yet passion filled kiss on her blonde's lips and then moving down to kiss her baby bump.

"Merry Christmas, Al."

"How long have you been up?"

The older woman shifted to where she was on her side with her elbow supporting her and pulled the cover's up and over her and her wife.

"Maybe forty-five minutes? I had to pee, plus I went to make sure our son hadn't started ripping through presents without us." Piper adjusted to where she was on her side facing Alex.

"He's gonna flip shit when he sees that tricycle." Alex chortled. "I guarantee it."

Piper smiled at the thought of her son getting excited over the Cars themed Lightning McQueen tricycle that she and Alex had picked out for him. Between the movie "Cars" and Legos, Conner wasn't obsessed with much else. When the Cars movie disc had been scratched and couldn't be played anymore, Alex thought the kid was going to blow a gasket from the way he got upset, but that problem was quickly remedied as she picked up a new one the next day.

"She's quiet this morning." Alex murmured after a few minutes of silence and observing the lack of movement under her palm that was still splayed across Piper's stomach. Usually when she and Piper woke up, her daughter was full of energy.

"I ate a couple of Oreos when I got up, so that's probably why."

Alex heartily laughed at her wife's confession. The brunette couldn't count how many packages of Oreos she's had to buy since Piper found out she was pregnant. It was the one craving that Piper constantly had and couldn't get rid of.

"So you're saying she's in an Oreo haze?"

"Yeah." Piper laughed. "It works when I need her to calm down for a little bit. Although I do love how much she moves around. Conner was lazy. Every time I went to my appointments the doctor would have a hard time getting him to move to where we could see him. I couldn't find out his gender until twenty weeks because of it."

Alex smiled and looked out at the now larger snowflakes until she heard Piper sniffle. When she looked down, she was greeted with the sight of large tears rolling down her wife's face.

"Pipes." Alex scooted closer. "What's wrong?"

This wasn't something new. Piper's hormones had been everywhere throughout this pregnancy. One minute she could be laughing and the next she could be crying from a commercial on television.

"Jake never knew that we were expecting a boy. I found out a week after he passed…You… You were there when we found out. You were there when we found out at implantation, and you were there at the ultrasound."

"Oh, Pipes." Alex kissed away Piper's tears and placed a gentle kiss on her lover's lips. She had learned it was best to let Piper cry it out and not try to reason with her. It would only end in rage, but Piper would soon apologize for her hormones.

Eventually after Piper calmed down and Alex had got her to laugh a little bit, they were greeted with the pitter patter of Conner running down the hall to look at the presents.

"Here we go." Piper breathed as she pecked Alex once more before taking her lovers hand and walking down the hallway to meet their son.

Just as Alex suspected, Conner was infatuated with the tricycle from the moment he laid eyes on it. The little boy had even rode it up and down the hallway for ten minutes before he opened the rest of his gifts. Every present he opened came a shriek of joy as he sat between Piper's legs this time, and Alex sat beside them handing him one of the thousands of presents they had bought him.

This Christmas, the couple didn't feel one bit bad about buying Conner more than plenty of gifts. His world would soon be turned upside down once baby Ellie arrived and his parents wanted him to be as content as he could possibly be. They also knew that he would get more gifts when his sister made her appearance but for now, they soaked in the last Christmas with him being an only child.

Alex and Piper had exchanged gifts after they had gotten back from Jim and Barbara's. They had both bought something for Elliott but also bought something for one another. Piper had given Alex a new suitcase that had her initials embroidered into the side and a cropped leather jacket from Neiman Marcus. Alex had given Piper a spa pass, another wedding band to go on the other side of her wedding ring, and an iPhone. The iPhone wasn't necessarily a gift as it was a peace offering. A few days ago, Piper's phone had been sitting near the bathtub when Alex had accidentally knocked it in. Piper at first had been livid, but the pregnancy hormones had kicked in and within five minutes she was perfectly fine.

By the time all the gifts were opened and all the paper had been picked up, each family member was content at what they had received over the past two days. Even Elliott, the family member who wasn't even born yet, received her first car seat that she would be brought home in, and a Moby wrap.

The household was content and would remain so until Piper and Alex left for Cambodia in two days.

A/N: This chapter ended up longer than I intended so Cambodia will be all of the next chapter.

I hope the name is acceptable. I like 'E' names for some reason.

Happy 4th!

Cheers.