17. Christmas is for the Kids
'Verse: Kids 'Verse
Timeline: 11 years post-Kids in America (i.e. AU A Year In The Life: Winter)
Date: December 2015

"Uncle Jess! Aunt Rory!"

The kids came running at them the moment they got into the room, abandoning the Christmas tree that had their attention up to that point. Both Rory and Jess took that as quite the compliment.

"Did you bring us presents?" asked Gabriela, grinning a gap-toothed smile.

"Lotsa presents?" Timóteo checked, bouncing in place.

"Presents? Huh," Jess considered with a frown. "I don't know, did we bring these little monsters any presents, Ror?"

"Hmm, I'm not sure. Maybe," she said, going along with the bit.

"Why must you torture my children?" asked Paris as she came through from the kitchen. "I go to get cookies for you people and you're actually telling these two they get no presents?" she said with a mock glare.

"You made cookies?" Rory checked, peering at the treats on the tray in her hands. "You don't really bake."

"But Doyle does," said Jess knowingly. "Your dad made the cookies, right?" he checked with Gabriela and Timóteo who nodded madly. "Thought so," he said, grinning annoyingly at Paris as he took a cookie for himself. "Thanks, sis."

"Ass," she muttered and yet she was smiling all the same as she let Rory and the kids take a cookie each. "So, if Uncle Jess and Aunt Rory didn't bring you guys any gifts, I guess we should ask them why they bothered to show up at all." Paris smirked.

"Come on, Paris. You know we brought gifts." Rory rolled her eyes, before bending down to address the children. "Your mom is taking care of them, since Christmas is still a couple of days away. You have to be good to get them, okay?"

"We're always good," said Gabriela definitely.

"Always, always," Timóteo agreed.

"I don't know if I believe that," said Jess, smirking hard as two innocent, angelic faces blinked up at him. "Okay, fine, I do," he said, pulling two candy canes from his inside pocket and giving them one each.

"Great," said Paris with a sigh as her son and daughter ran circles around the living room, whooping and hollering. "A cookie in one hand, a candy cane in the other. Between the sugar and the artificial colouring, they probably won't come down off the high 'til New Years. Thank you, Uncle Jess," she said, rolling her eyes at him.

"Oops?" he said, watching his sister walk away.

"She's fine, she's just stressed out because she's busy and it's the holidays and everything," Rory reminded him, wrapping her arms around his waist. "Maybe we should offer to watch the kids for a while so she can take a break?"

"Sure." Jess nodded. "What?" he checked then, seeing the odd look on Rory's face.

"Nothing, I just... I was going to say it might make good practice."

"Practice for what?" asked Jess before a lightbulb went off in his brain and he got it. "Seriously? Are you?"

"Mm-hmm." Rory nodded even as happy tears filled her eyes. "That's cool, right? I mean, I know we said it was okay that it hadn't happened yet, but I did always kind of want it to and now that it has-"

She was stopped from saying more as Jess kissed her firmly on the lips, much to the amusement of the kids when they spotted them. Rory and Jess didn't mind at all.