A/N: Two additional people will be at the house on Christmas Day, Sarah's mother, Emma, and Chuck's mother, Mary. They may have less problems than the others, but they do worry; they're both mothers and grandmothers, after all.

Thanks to those of you that reviewed the Molly chapter.

For those that are questioning where Chuck and Sarah live, in "After You" Chuck moved to Florida when Sarah left him, to get away from the memories. After she re-joined him, they stayed there. You could read all about that time in the preceding song-driven story. On top of that, Ellie & Devon and their family stayed in Chicago. Emma and Molly moved to Florida to be nearer to Chuck and Sarah and their growing family.

Once again, MyNameIsJeffNImLost beta'd for me, straightening out my grammar and tense mess, as well as Americanizing where necessary. As always, any mistakes you find are all my fault.

Disclaimer: I don't own Chuck or the lyrics I have used, but, as always, recommend listening to the songs or even watching them on YouTube, as well as watching the show and videos of bison in Yellowstone.

After You, Christmess
Grannies

Granny Emma

When they found her Christmas mornin'
At the scene of the attack
There were hoof prints on her forehead
And incriminatin' Claus marks on her back

Grandma got run over by a reindeer
Walkin' home from our house Christmas eve
You can say there's no such thing as Santa
But as for me and Grandpa, we believe

"Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer"
Elmo & Patsy

Emma gets ready for her youngest daughter's arrival, by sprucing herself up in the bathroom. Got to look good for my girl!

She smiles at that thought and looks at herself in the mirror. Not bad for a seventy-year-old granny. She had wrinkles, but then most of the women she knew had them years earlier than she had. Her hair was still a dark blonde and, surprisingly, no gray. Even her son-in-law had gray hair. Hair that her daughter still loved to run her fingers through, when she thought no one was looking. Her Eagle-eyed mom saw, though.

She misses Molly when she is away, but it isn't as bad as when her oldest had left with her dad. She'd had many lonely years worrying about her daughter. First, she'd been worried her father was leading her astray. When she finally found out about the CIA plunging her daughter into danger, she didn't know if Sarah would survive.

Emma pushes that thought back to those dark recesses where she had always tried to bury them.

She focuses on her youngest who hadn't been away such crazy lengths of time, just months. She hadn't come home for Thanksgiving recess, but would be here for this one.

Back in September, Emma had gone on a touring holiday. Not abroad, but in the United States. She had waited until Molly had gone back to Harvard and then enjoyed being taken around some of the National Parks in the coach with like-minded people. One of her friends in the UK had been over on one like it and enthused so much, she decided she'd do one too. Emma had expected to show Molly photos of that holiday at Thanksgiving, but that hadn't happened. Sarah and her family were visiting Chuck's sister, so they weren't around either, so Emma had been on her own. A reminder of all those years when her eldest was with her dad or the CIA.

There had been some excitement when they were in Yellowstone Park. She and a number of the others in her party had to rush back to the coach when herd of bison got spooked and charged in their direction. They'd been told to stay in the coach, but the photo opportunity had seemed worth the risk.

Now it's Christmas time, Emma thinks back to that experience and remembers a Christmas song she heard when Molly was little. Well, thankfully she hadn't been trampled by that herd of bison, although that was closer than she would have liked. She will probably never see reindeer close up. She will, however, get to see all her family at Christmas time and none will have to wear black because she's been attacked and killed!

All her wonderful family together, something that hadn't been possible before Sarah saved her and Molly nearly fifteen years ago. God! Was it really that long?

She'd been there for Molly all her childhood. Emma would've done the same for her eldest daughter if she'd stayed. Of course, then she'd have still been Samantha. Little Samantha who was such an active, excitable child; into everything.

Emma still regrets being as strict as she had been. Pushing her daughter to do her homework, try hard at all her subjects at school, stay home rather than go out and play at all hours, always wanting ice cream and never wanting vegetables. If Emma had relaxed a bit, would her daughter not have run away with the parent who let her get away with things that her mom hadn't?

Maybe she would have stayed and watched her dad leave that last time. Emma would have loved her and kept her safe.

It would have been wonderful, but if that had happened, her daughter, now Sarah, wouldn't have met the love of her life. Whenever Emma saw Chuck Bartowski, she hugged him and thanked him for saving her wonderful daughter, who she loves so much.

Now that beautiful daughter was the mother of four lovely children. Emma had thought such a thing impossible for years. So had Sarah herself, but she is such a wonderful mother now. That spy mentality has all but disappeared, or at least it seems so.

Those four grandchildren love their parents and their grandmothers, both of them. Two women who had seen nothing of their children during their important formative years, but Mary, like herself, tries to see them and their grandchildren as much as possible, now.

Emma doesn't know whether Mary will be with her son and his family or go to Chicago to see her daughter and her family this Christmas. Nor does Sarah. Mary has always been a secretive one, appearing unexpectedly and then disappearing in the same way. If she isn't there, Emma will try to give her grandchildren all the granny love they want. If Mary is there, well, they'll share as they usually do.

Emma is looking forward to seeing little Liam with his enthusiasm for Christmas. The girls are at differing stages in their lives, but will enjoy it, just not as loudly as their younger brother. Whatever happens, the Bartowski atmosphere is always special.

Her second daughter is on her way home from Harvard and will be here soon. Then they'll drive over together, tomorrow.

Harvard. Both her girls have gone there, even though she hadn't known that about her eldest until much later. Two brainy kids.

She hoped that Chuck will get home in time. Sarah had told her about him being away. She knows Sarah feels lost without that loving husband of hers.

Anyway, she'll have her mom, whatever happens. Her mom who hasn't been trampled by any hoofed animals. She chuckles thinking about that.

Granny Mary

Sshh! Sshh!
On a night like this, when it's a silent night, a quiet night,
we slide on by in the blink of an eye;
bringing Christmas cheer on a spylent night.
A spylent night,a quiet night, agents work out of sight.
A spylent night, a holy night, all is calm and all is bright.

Spylent Night
Adaption of traditional carol for children's Christmas musical "We Three Spies"

Christmas is both a difficult time and a joyous one.

Mary had spent so many of her Christmas's away from her family. Thinking about that almost makes her cry. It doesn't of course. She never cries, but had she been the weepy sort, she would have mourned those missed times in that way, for sure.

Of course, it hadn't just been Christmas she had missed, or Thanksgiving; it had been all their lives from the time she had gone on that mission that should have only lasted a month. Almost seventeen years away from her children! All those birthdays gone and parties missed. Then there's their time at school; the school events they took part in, the school reports, meeting the teachers to hear how amazing they were, and she knows they had been.

If she hadn't been away, the burden on Ellie's shoulders would have been just those of a normal teenager, not a surrogate mother. Stephen wouldn't have faded from their lives, either. They would have had a normal family life.

Chuck might have been more outgoing, rather than the boy who hid himself away, as much as he could. He might have had girlfriends while at school. He certainly would have been more athletic. Mary would have pushed him. Ellie just hadn't had time for such things with all she had had to do for them both.

If all that had happened, Chuck may still have gone to Stanford, but maybe he wouldn't have met Bryce Larkin and all that horror show that following might have been averted.

She could be deluding herself on that, though. The CIA still had its claws in the Stanford faculties and may still have targeted her son, but Larkin might not have been involved and the whole Chuk-Jill-Bryce debacle may not have happened. If Chuck had been taken into the Company, would he have survived the training? Maybe. He would have been different, if she'd stayed at home.

However, she is very proud of who Chuck has become after all that he has gone through. All that had brought him together with a deadly CIA assassin who, like Mary herself, had fallen for her asset. She, however, didn't stay in the Company. She did what Mary should have done, all those years ago. Sarah had left and stayed with her husband and children. Cherishing them.

Seeing Chuck and Sarah loving their children made Mary so happy. Happier than she could have expected, certainly not during those years in Russia.

She needs to focus on the positive aspects of what she experiences with the family and not dwell on those unhappy thoughts of her past.

She really hopes her son will return in time. She knows how his wife struggles without him. No, that's unkind. She misses him terribly. Those two are what they say, joined at the hip, they really are. Both great at what they chose to do, but when they are together, they achieve so much more. They are the perfect team. Not only that, their happiness is catching; when they are happy together they make everyone around them happy.

She had been wary of Sarah Walker, but when she got to know her, and spent time with her, she could see that there was far more to her than the cold agent persona she presented. Mary knows her son has the ability to draw the best out of people and he made Sarah better, or maybe he just brought out who she had been before the CIA submerged that person.

Sarah has obviously helped Chuck with his insecurities; insecurities that Mary herself had created and Steven and Bryce enabled to blossom, in their own ways. Sarah made Chuck believe in himself and his abilities. From what Ellie had told her, that was already happening before the two of them became a couple.

They are obviously good for each other and the resulting four children are growing up in a positive family atmosphere. A loving one.

And that is the atmosphere she will be immersed in this Christmas. It will be good. Very good.

A/N: Two women who were, in their own ways, going to make the most of seeing their offspring and loving the family they would be with over the Christmas period.

The song used for Emma appealed to my sense of humor; not a happy song, but delivered as if it was. Fun. I went on a touring vacation by coach a few years ago and people did take risks around the wildlife, particularly in Yellowstone. Bison ignored us most of the time, except when they wanted to use the road, then we were the trespassers. We didn't see any stampedes, but do know that people getting too close upsets them. You can find videos of that on the Internet.

The other song, for Mary, is part of a musical written for kids that has been performed by the children at schools in the States. It's called "We Three Spies" and you can find performances on YouTube.

Next chapter will be about Chuck and Sarah's youngest daughter, Kathryn Bartowski, who is eight-years-old.

This one had two people preparing for the celebration, what did you think? Let me know in a review.