So I wrote this chapter in a week, after starting it two years ago. Changing the end of the previous chapter made it easier to write this one. As my drabble should be my focus, I cannot actually say when this will be updated again but I know it wont be another two years.
Christmas was a quiet, pleasant affair. The on-off family had been trying to get used to the way things had ended up, with the adults trying to keep it as upbeat as they could for the five year old. They were happy for the most part and were still comfortable sleeping in the same room. Mary Margaret with the help of a telephone counselling appointment had been able to identify some of the triggers for not only her anxiety but her night terrors, and she discovered that she only really got her night terrors when her anxiety was high. When she had faced a particularly stressful day she opted to sleep on the sofa not allowing David to talk her out of it. It showed they were both not as co-dependent as they had worried they were when they both managed to sleep relatively well when they were not on top of each other, and so they knew that if Mary Margaret were to return home when it was fixed, that they would probably be okay.
Christmas Eve had been quiet for the almost-family of three. David had allowed Emma free reign and she had decided to ride her bike down the street, with David jogging alongside her while Mary Margaret had made sure that presents were all wrapped and ready. She had been to the store and made sure everything was ready for the meal the next day and David had reluctantly agreed that she would cook. Emma had been happy with that decision, having a few memories plus having been told stories from Ruby that the previous year, David had almost set fire to his kitchen when he tried to cook too many things at once. He was slightly embarrassed when it was bought up by Granny during a visit to the diner, but took it in jest at the laugh it evoked from his girlfriend. That night, after a family viewing of Lilo and Stitch, Mary Margaret had been the one to bath and put Emma to bed, David wanting her out of the way to wrap his gifts that he didn't want her to see, and the little girl had told the woman that she loved her, for the first time since she had run from them. When Emma was finally asleep Mary Margaret had stuffed the stockings that for the last two weeks had been hanging in front of the fireplace, and placed one at the end of Emma's bed for when she awoke, a tradition that David informed her his mother had started. He told her that first thing in the morning, he and James would both jump on their parent's bed and open their stockings first. They would have a family breakfast, take a walk or bike ride, have their Christmas dinner early to mid -afternoon and then when everything was clean they would open presents and spend the rest of the evening enjoying them. They were traditions that David wanted to continue with his own family, but before he pressured Mary Margaret into it, he had asked her if she had any traditions she wanted to observe only to find the schedule of the day was very similar. They were both happy to let Emma run the day in any way she pleased as long as they fit everything in that they wanted to.
Mary Margaret, anxious about being with the family for their first Christmas together was not sleeping well and so she was awake when Emma pushed open their bedroom door. She leaned up so she could see what the young girl was doing, and saw that she was waiting in the doorway, as if hesitant to come in. She gestured to the girl when they made eye contact and followed her as she walked around to her side of the bed. She reached out a hand, happy when the little girl grasped it to climb up. Mary Margaret waited while she clambered over her to be in the middle and moved closer to the end of the bed to allow Emma enough space to cuddle up next to her daddy. She was surprised When Emma whined, clearly still sleepy, and shuffled closer to her, cuddling into her for the first time in a long time. For some reason it was easy for her to fall asleep then.
She woke to a flash. When she opened her eyes she saw that Emma was still asleep, curled into her and holding onto her pyjamas. She glanced up at David, still half asleep who was smiling at the picture he had just taken on his phone.
"Pervert." David chuckled at the comment and turned the phone to face her so she could see the picture herself. She could see why he had been smiling, it was already her new favourite picture of herself and Emma. She saw the time on his phone read a little before 7 and guessed that Emma would probably wake soon, her body clock usually waking her for school at that time. David glanced down at the child and back up at his girlfriend, and winked.
"Well Snow…" He spoke loud enough that an almost awake child would hear and watched her for any sign of awareness. "I was awake all night and I didn't hear Santa come down the chimney at all. Maybe he didn't come last night?" Mary Margaret felt the small girl twitch but did not know if she was waking. She grinned as David nodded for her to continue.
"Oh no David, does that mean that Emma is going to wake up on Christmas morning with no presents from Santa? Oh well. She did tell him that she would give them all up." The mention of it caused a warm feeling to rise in her chest as she felt Emma move so she was sat straight up. She wiped her eyes clear of sleep and folded her arms, glaring between her father and Mary Margaret. Mary Margaret couldn't help but grin at the grumpy look on the little girls face, the evident sleepiness making her look more adorable than angry.
"I didn't mean it daddy… I really wanted Snow to be happy but elves don't make happiness so they must have made something for me?" She went from pouting to upset as she looked to the other adult. "Wait was I on the naughty list? Because I was mean to Snow?" Mary Margaret couldn't take the upset any longer and gathered the small girl into her arms, hugging her tightly, but briefly. David was still smiling, knowing that as soon as she saw the presents that were there for her, her sadness would be forgotten.
"Well sweetheart, I think if you had woken up in your own bedroom you maybe would have seen that Santa filled a stocking for you. Maybe if Daddy went to check downstairs he'd see if Santa left him a stocking too." Emma immediately brightened and David helped her off the bed as she ran to her room. David raised a brow at her and she simply tilted her head in the direction of the doorway causing him to stand and head downstairs. Emma had returned in that time, dragging her stocking that was stuffed to the brim behind her. Mary Margaret got up to help lift the little girl and her stocking on the bed, tucking her in with the stocking on the top of the duvet. She waited until David was back with his and sat in the same position, before she allowed them both to dig in. David was beaming like a child at the prospect of his but wanted to watch Emma open hers first. The pair watched as she unwrapped a hairbrush set, some stickers and colouring pencils, candy canes, a reindeer bell from Santa's sleigh, some bath bombs and bath slime, some gift cards and some puzzles, something which Mary Margaret's teacher side couldn't help but add in. The last thing in it was a card which held gift vouchers for date nights, one with David and one with Mary Margaret, to use whenever she wanted over the next number of months. They hadn't wanted to go overboard, knowing that some children in her class would be receiving significantly less and they didn't want her to be a normal five year old and brag about how much Santa bought her. Mary Margaret was glad she had made David taken her gifts to her class in for the temp to hand to parents, and although she had been concerned some parents may think she was overstepping, she had received a few calls from grateful parents and knew most of them had not been offended. As Emma pulled out the card and opened it, Mary Margaret caught David's eye, blushing as he mouthed that he loved her.
Emma gently pushed the items away from her and jumped up, hugging Mary Margaret quickly before she hugged David, jumping again so she was kneeling on the bed, facing her father. "It's your turn now daddy! What did Santa bring you?" Mary Margaret took a minute to pick up all the torn wrapping paper, stuffing it temporarily into the currently empty stocking to dispose of later. She had picked and wrapped the items in David's stocking, not wanting the little girl to blab. He pulled all the little gifts out first, ready to unwrap them all, or let Emma help, and Mary Margaret sat back, not wanting to get in the way.
It had been harder for her to shop for David. Not only were there less targeted gifts for adult men but the majority of vices that she had found in her research, alcohol, cigars, ammo were not relevant to David. Instead, most of the stuffers were things he could use at work. She watched as he unwrapped a portable charger, a gift set of hair gel and shaving cream, hand warmers, a pocket flashlight, beef jerky, gum and playing cards for when the station was quiet. David had made sure not to make a mess with the wrapping, and had been passing each piece to Emma to put in the stocking as she had seen Mary Margaret do. Leaving the father daughter pair to talk, Mary Margaret climbed out of the bed, taking the stocking of paper with her to throw away as she began to prepare breakfast. She heard Emma ask David if Santa had bought 'her Snow' a stocking as she started down the stairs and the use of the nickname caused tears to well up in her eyes. She hadn't expected when she moved from Maine that six months later she would be celebrating Christmas with her own little almost-family, and the look on their faces as things she had specially chosen for them, even the small things had warmed her heart.
She had found a recipe online for a Christmas breakfast wreath and pulled out the ingredients for what was effectively cheesy eggs and bacon in pastry. About half an hour later, she heard David and Emma coming down the stairs, David whispering at the little girl to hush, only for him to step on the squeaky step causing Emma to giggle. She had busied herself cooking the bacon and eggs on the skillet, wanting it to be in the oven before she got distracted by the two blondes she loved the most. She sensed the pair in the doorway but didn't turn, waiting for them to make the next room as she put the breakfast together. She had put it in the oven when Emma finally got bored of waiting for her attention and called for her. "Snow?" Mary Margaret poured two fresh glasses of juice before she tuned, handing one to David before looking down at Emma, holding what looked like two pieces of paper.
"What do you have there sweetheart? Emma looked down at the bag and back up at the woman, the look on her face one of questionable excitement.
"It's for you Snow. I'm sorry Santa didn't bring you a stocking but me and daddy made this for something." Mary Margaret knelt down to talk to the little girl directly, handing her the juice as she accepted the papers that were folded into cards that was handed to her. She could feel that David was watching them but focused on the smaller blonde, as she turned over the first piece. The image bought tears to her eyes. There was a crudely drawn set of three stick figures holding hands, with a large red heart drawn around them. Inside the card was a quote from one of Emma's favourite movies, written in the neatest version of her childish scrawl. Underneath the 'Ohana means family' was a neater written 'family means nobody gets left behind. Or forgotten' which David had clearly added. There was one final note at the bottom of the inside, written in pencil by David and sketched over by Emma, reading 'Merry Christmas Snow, Love Emma'. She placed the card down as she pulled Emma into a tight hug. Emma was clearly not expecting it and so yelped as some of her juice spilled, but Mary Margaret did not care as the hug was tightly returned. She cleared her throat as she pulled away, wiping the tear that had fallen, pressing kisses to Emma's cheeks and forehead, leaving the five year old giggling. She picked up the papers again, ready to put them on the fridge. "Wait Snow, look at daddy's!"
Mary Margaret stood straight, glancing up at David who looked sheepish and he signalled down to the girl as if to say it was her idea. The front of the second card was another similarly drawn image, except the three people were realistic and clearly identifiable as the three of them. The quote inside was from a different movie, this one reading 'never look back, darling. It distracts from the now' with a longer message written at the bottom. Reading 'on our first Christmas as a family, and the hope of many more, with all my love' meant that more tears fell, and this time she was drawn into a hug by David who whispered his love to her as she let her tears fall. It was the sign that she had been looking for that she was doing the right thing.
The oven timer beeped surprising the three of them, and the older two jolted apart, David grabbing a cloth to clear up the spilled juice while Mary Margaret took the wreath from the oven. Together the three enjoyed the homemade breakfast while talking about their plan for the day. Emma questioned if Ruby and Granny would be joining them for Christmas dinner, and then pouted for five minutes when she was told no. The only thing that stopped her sulking was Mary Margaret informing her that Ruby would be there the next Christmas. The adults shared a glance at the awareness that Ruby was going to be spending the New Year in Australia, but she had plans to visit for a week before Emma went back to school.
Emma, excited for the rest of the day, got herself ready for their walk without much of a fuss. As Mary Margaret was sat on the stairs tying her sneakers and watching Emma tie hers, David told them he needed to do something outside and winked at Emma, leading Mary Margaret to tickle the girl trying to find out what their secret was. The doorbell rang and Mary Margaret stood to answer it laughing when she saw David on the other side, wearing a cycling helmet that was too small and holding a bike with a ribbon tied around the handlebars. It took Mary Margaret a second before she registered what she was seeing before she realised what was going on. "Merry Christmas Mary Margaret!" Emma was laughing at Mary Margaret's surprise and clapped her hands together as she took the gift in. "Little Miss picked and purchased your helmet, she wanted to make sure you were safe during our Christmas day bike ride." When the woman had finished examining the bike she hugged her boyfriend and his daughter in excitement, helping Emma on with her helmet and protective pads. They made their way outside where David had made sure all three of their bikes were waiting and put her own helmet on, showing Emma she had picked one that fit perfectly. Within a few mins they were out on a Christmas Day bike ride around town.
Having spent at least two hours outside enjoying the unusual winter sun, and then having waited another couple of hours for the dinner to cook, the family of three had enjoyed their dinner without much communication. As Mary Margaret had cooked, the two Nolan's cleared and tidied, and then it was time for Emma's favourite part of the day, the presents.
While they had been cleaning, Mary Margaret had removed the gifts from under the tree, putting Emma's in a pile, making sure all of David's were accounted for, leaving the ones that they had bought for their friends under the tree. Having only known the family a handful of months, Mary Margaret was nervous about the gifts she had purchased, she knew that they would enjoy them, but she didn't want to be over-compensating or missing the spot completely. Emma was almost vibrating with excitement at the prospect of presents, and Mary Margaret was pleasantly surprised to see her wait patiently in the doorway until she directed her to her pile of presents. As the teacher of young children, Mary Margaret had seen enough instances of upset children when some bragged 'Santa' had bought them multiple presents whereas he had only brought others one or two, and so she had discussed with David and they agreed that they would only label a couple from Santa and they would tell her that the rest were from them and their collective friends.
The adults were eager to see Emma open her gifts first, and so told her to dig in to them. She had screeched in delight at Santa's gift of a camera that printed polaroids and an oversized blanket hoodie and had begged David to facetime Ruby to thank her for set of koala, kookaburra and kangaroo plush toys she had sent all the way from Australia. It was the day after Christmas for Ruby when she called but the pair had spent ten minutes excitedly chattering until Emma had politely thanked Ruby for the gift again, and informed her she wished to call Granny to thank her for the bath bomb making set she had gifted her. But the best reaction by far, whether real or exaggerated by Emma in respect to them, was to the gifts she got from her daddy and 'her Snow'. They had both had to explain the paperwork that they had tucked into gift envelopes but when she understood what the STEM gift subscription from David and the 2-day passes to Disneyland parks for January she had jumped up and hugged them both tightly, repeating thankyous in her appreciation.
Once she had finished opening the rest of her gifts she had been given permission to play with them, but she instead had sat patiently, wanting to watch the adults open their gifts, which they decided to take in turns. David went first, opening a framed picture Emma had created with scrabble tiles, spelling their names, interconnected. Of course Mary Margaret had helped with the spelling but Emma had made the design herself and she had added little drawings of hearts and flowers around the outside. David immediately stood and placed the piece in the middle of the mantel, grinning at Emma's clear happiness at his appreciation of it. Emma was almost vibrating with excitement when it came time for Mary Margaret to open her gift from Emma. David had been hesitant when Emma had first explained what she wanted to do, but Emma had been insistent that 'her Snow' would love it, and so he had happily helped her purchase it. She had denied any help for wrapping it and so Mary Margaret was easily able to identify which gift was from the little girl. The woman was speechless when she pulled the paper away from the glass, seeing a picture that had been created from the photo of Regina, Robin and Roland that lived on their mantel, the difference in this one being that Mary Margaret had been drawn into the image alongside them. It had been drawn in such a way that it was like she'd been in the picture to begin with. For what felt like the hundredth time that day, tears began to fall, and Mary Margaret opened her arms for Emma, who stood and ran right to her. They had a whispered conversation that David could not hear which ended when Mary Margaret pulled Emma onto her lap, both looking to David for him to open his next present, this one from his girlfriend. The Dodgers tickets that she had tucked inside a gift envelope came as a surprise to him. He had mentioned once, during one of their first meetings that the Dodgers were his favourite sports team, but it had not been mentioned since, and so it was surprising to him that she remembered. Mary Margaret was happy that she seemed to have been right on point with the gifts she had chosen. The adults spent a little more time opening other presents from their friends, Emma eventually getting bored with watching. She picked up a book that she had been gifted and began to read it as Mary Margaret tidied the room. David had gone to the kitchen to prepare dessert for the three of them when Mary Margaret went in to throw away the trash. When she turned to leave she was cornered by David who pulled her into his arms with a grin.
"You have been spoiling us Miss Blanchard. You better be careful, Emma and I could get used to this kind of treatment." Mary Margaret rolled her eyes, accepting the kiss that he offered, sliding her arms around his waist.
"Don't start expecting it, if we're going to have Christmas together for the next 50 years, we'll need to learn some moderation. Maybe next year I'll just get you socks." She giggled at the look on his face, squealing as his hand slipped down her back and squeezed her backside. She slapped his hand away and stepped back, whispering so Emma could not hear them over the Christmas movie she had turned on. "Nuh uh mister, hands off until Emma is in bed. Then I'll be able to properly thank you for the bike with a workout of your own."
"Snow can you help me?" The call from the main room and caused Mary Margaret to turn around before David could kiss her again. She turned back in the doorway and blew him a kiss, before making her way to the little girl. Emma had opened one of her gifts and was having difficulty putting the batteries in, which Mary Margaret helped her do quickly. Instead of playing with the gift, she wrapped her arms around her friend and teacher and hugged her tight. "I love you Snow. Thank you for making this the bestest Christmas ever. I'm glad Santa bought you your smile back."