-Saturday, December 15, 2:34 pm / Karkat & Terezi's house-

"Look at all this stuff. Look at it!"

Terezi dropped a three-inch binder bulging with papers and Post-It Notes on the kitchen table. "And this is only one class, Karkat. One class."

Karkat gingerly pushed the papers away from him. "And what class is this?"

"World Empires and Imperialism." Terezi sighed and plopped down in a chair next to her husband. "How the fuck am I supposed to tell the difference between the Roman Empire and the Roman Republic?! They're both just weird humans doing weird things in the same weird place, just not in the same weird time period!"

Grabbing the binder and opening it, Karkat began to flip through the notes and scan them. "Well, I watched some documentary on the Romans a while back," he recalled. "One of the main differences between the Roman Empire and the Roman Republic was that the Roman Empire had emperors."

"No shit."

"Anyway," continued Karkat, "the Republic had an elected council for a balance of power. And all free men could vote. Yeah, see, you wrote that down here?" He pointed to a barely legible note written in—what else?—red ink. "Why are you even taking this class if it's stressing you out so much?"

"Because I was stupid and chose history as my stupid minor!" She sighed and laid her head on the desk. "Whatever, I don't have to take this class next semester. Continue."

"...And the Republic came to a decline because the slaves and poor people were being abused and taken advantage of due to only the free men being able to vote. So that's why the Roman Empire happened."

"Why do you know all this stuff?" asked Terezi.

Karkat looked down and blushed, embarrassed. "Um...sometimes I watch the History Channel. And National Geographic. And Discovery."

"Don't be embarrassed about it!" Terezi playfully slapped him on the arm, which caused him to jump a bit. "Do you want to major in history?"

"Look, Terezi, right now all I'm focused on is having enough money so I can major in history," Karkat sighed. "I mean, sure, financial aid will cover some things, but we'd also have to start taking Katrina to daycare or something like that. I don't want to think about it."

"But, we do have childcare," Terezi chimed in. "Augeth and Obrina only work part-time. They can watch Katrina while we go to college and work."

Karkat sighed again. "Maybe I can take online classes, but right now it's out of the question, alright? I know how anxious you are about us getting 'actual' jobs—I am too, no lie—but if we want to get better jobs, then we have to make sacrifices right now. Okay?"

"Okay, fine," sighed Terezi, standing up from the table. "I'm gonna grab a snack. Then we can get back to studying."

-Friday, December 21, 4:58 pm / Rose & Kanaya's condo-

Rose: 19 weeks along

Roxy: 9 weeks along

Rose sifted through the gifts in the back of the utility closet, making sure Kanaya wasn't around to see them. Okay, I finished wrapping this one, I still have to wrap this one… she thought, quickly glancing behind her for any sign of her wife.

The phone rang and Rose groaned before digging into her back pocket to retrieve it. "Hello?" she said, closing the closet door and going to sit on the couch.

"Rose?" It was her mother. "Have you, by any chance...gotten a gift from Joseph and I?"

"Um...I don't think so?" Rose went over to the Christmas tree and looked over the already wrapped gifts. "No? Why?"

"Would you...mind coming over here to pick it up?"

"Mom, we're coming over on Christmas anyway. Why do you want me to come get it from you if we're going to see each other in four days?!"

"Just take my advice, Rosie," Roxy coaxed. "Trust me."

"This sounds really weird, but okay," Rose said into the phone. "I'll be there soon." She hung up the phone and went to grab her purse and keys. "Kanaya, I'm running over to my mom's to pick up something."

"Alright, but be careful," Kanaya told her from in the kitchen. "It's supposed to snow tonight."

Rose grabbed her keys from off of a hook on the kitchen wall. "It only snows one or two inches. I'll be fine."

"If you say so." Kanaya set the dishrag on the counter and went to kiss her wife. "See you later. Love you."

"Love you too."

Rose went down to the parking garage and got in her car. "Let's see what the radio has to say…" she mumbled to herself, switching on the radio and backing out of the parking space.

Nothing but cheery holiday tunes came from the radio. Absentmindedly humming along to the familiar carols, Rose continued on with her business as she drove the familiar route.

Twenty minutes had passed before the holiday songs were unfortunately interrupted.

"This is a winter weather message from the National Weather Service for the following counties:..."

The robotic, staticy voice was unfortunately familiar to Rose. It reminded her of the days she and her mom lived back in Rainbow Falls. Anxious to hear the news, she turned down the heater and turned up the radio.

"...Kitsap, Island, Pierce, King…"

So it was relevant.

"The National Weather Service has issued a warning for heavy snow which is in effect from 4 pm today to 8 pm Sunday, December 23."

"Shit." Rose glanced up at the sky, which was covered with heavy grey clouds. And I'm almost to Mom's house, she thought. It would be better to stay there rather than try to go back.

Snowflakes began to fall. Rather than speed up to get to Joseph and Roxy's house quicker, Rose slowed down for safety precautions. Ten more minutes, she thought to herself, making the exit into Maple Valley.

The snow had really begun to come down by the time she pulled into the driveway of her mom and stepdad's. Pulling her coat around her before stepping out of her car, Rose quickly locked it and jogged up to the front door.

Ding dong! Roxy ran to answer the door. "Rosie, come inside," she instructed. "Joseph left about an hour ago to run some errands, and I don't know where he is! And it's starting to snow, so I don't want him to get stranded!"

"Have you tried calling him?" Rose asked, taking off her coat and putting it on the back of her chair. "What kind of errands was he supposed to be running?"

"I don't know!" Roxy slumped down on the couch with an apprehensive sigh. "He won't answer his phone! I don't know if it's because of the snow or what, but it's really worrying me!"

"Mom, calm down." Rose was slightly worried as well, but she had gone over 22 years of her life hiding her feelings and was practically an expert at this point. "Did he say where he was going?"

"No, he just said he was running some errands!"

Rose calmly sighed and pulled out her phone. "I'm going to call Kanaya to see if she might know where he is, by any chance."

The phone rang a few times before Kanaya picked up. "Hello?" she asked.

"Hey," said Rose. "I'm at my mom's house. Do you know where John's dad is, by any chance…?"

"Believe it or not, he's with me." Kanaya put the phone on speaker so Mr. Egbert could talk as well. "He came here to give us something."

"Great." Rose put her phone on speaker as well. "Mom, he's with Kanaya."

"Oh, thank goodness!"

There was a shuffling noise on the other side of the line, which the Lalondes took to mean Mr. Egbert was going to speak. "I did run some errands, but I also went to take Rose and Kanaya's gift to the condo."

"...Oh.'

"Well." Rose stood up. "I guess I'm stuck here, and he's stuck there. At least until the snow lets up."

The snow never did let up.

Rose was officially "stranded" at her mom and stepdad's house, and Joseph at his stepdaughter and stepdaughter-in-law's. Aside from both parties obsessively charging their phones, tablets, laptops, etc. to prepare for the storm, Roxy had thrown some vegetables into a pot of broth while Rose was playing with the cat.

"He really seems to like you." Roxy turned off the stove and put the lid on the pot of soup. "Weren't you and Kanaya considering getting a cat?"

"Yeah, but then we found out about the…" Rose gestured to her stomach. "...yeah."

Roxy sadly nodded. "Are you...feeling any better?"

"Um...you could say that." Rose poked her stomach. "The little shits are still making me sick."

"Rose…" sighed Roxy. "Don't talk about them like that. They're your babies!"

"Well, you weren't much better. You almost sucked me out of your uterus and had me incinerated."

"Roseline!" Roxy sighed yet again. "I know you're still not exactly excited about becoming a mom, but believe me, I was in your spot at one point."

"Yeah, but you're the daughter of fucking millionaires."

"Rose, stop with the language." Roxy crossed her arms.

"Oh, come on. I've heard you when you're drunk."

Roxy shrugged. "Alright, fine. I guess we're both adults here." She sat down at the table across from her daughter. "I know it might sound weird, but I hated being pregnant with you. I didn't have a boyfriend, I didn't know who your father was (until recently), and I was pretty much all alone."

"Except for the financial support from your millionaire parents."

"Well, it's not like you're any worse off. You have the financial support from Joseph and I, and you live in a nice condominium that I literally gave to you. And you got to pick out the genes your babies will have."

Rose scoffed. "Mom, the whole sperm bank thing is a lie. Kanaya has a dick."

Roxy stopped. "What?"

"Yeah, Mom," Rose said, rolling her eyes. "Kanaya has a weird alien-penis-thing. We had unprotected sex on our honeymoon and I got pregnant. End of story."

"So that's why you've been so unenthusiastic about this!" Roxy shook her head and sighed. "I should have asked about it sooner! I'm sorry!"

"Well, better late than never." Rose scoffed and crossed her arms.

"Rose, why do we have to fight all the time?!" asked Roxy. "I know we haven't always had the best relationship, but we're mother and daughter and we're both adults. We should have this worked out by now!"

At that moment the lights flickered, then promptly went out.

"Well shit." Rose sighed again. "Look, Mom, I feel bad we don't really get along too, but I'm not feeling good." She grabbed her phone and flipped on the flashlight. "I think I'm going to be sick…"

"You and me both."

-9:58 pm / Rose & Kanaya's condo-

Kanaya and Mr. Egbert huddled around the small fire pit they had brought in from the balcony. With the electricity shut off and most of the "walls" actually being sliding glass doors, the condo became freezing pretty quickly.

"This is going to be a long night." Mr. Egbert took a puff of his pipe (which Kanaya had reluctantly allowed, but only after cracking open one of the balcony doors) and sighed. "I wish we could call Roxy and Rose to see if they're okay, but all the phone juice I have is what's left in this Mophie case."

"Those things are terrible for the battery, you know," Kanaya said with a bit of an eye roll. Adult humans, especially those past the average midlife point, could be rather clueless when it came to some things, in particular electronics. "It's just like if you leave a laptop plugged in all the time. If it's always connected to a power source, it weakens the battery. Kind of like...a child."

"How so?"

"Well…" Kanaya had to think for a moment to come up with the analogy. "...if a child is dependent on their parents for too long, they won't be able to live on their own. Like the battery. If it's always connected to power, it never learns how to run on its own, so to speak."

"Interesting analogy. I like it." Mr. Egbert too another puff of his pipe. "You know, Kanaya, I think you and Rose will be great mothers."

"You really think so?" asked Kanaya with a sigh. "I'm not so sure, to be honest. I never grew up in...in this kind of culture. It was never intended to be my responsibility to care for anything other than my own lusus."

"Lusus?"

"She was like my mother," Kanaya explained. "Her original job was to produce offspring for Alternia, but she gave up that job to take care of me."

Mr. Egbert nodded. "Karkat has told me about that. Can I ask you a question? How did you all get your names? I understand they're not exactly… 'normal', as we would say."

"Oh, certainly," Kanaya said with a laugh. "We're literally named by our lusii grunting or gurgling or whatever sound they make. Some of us got lucky; others, not so much."

"That's a reasonable explanation, I assume," Joseph said, though still unsure. "Do you and Rose know what you're going to name the babies yet? Roxy and I are talking, although, we still have a while to decide."

Kanaya shook her head. "No idea." She paused. "I'm...worried about Rose, though. I don't think she's taking care of herself like she should be doing. Not in the unhealthy way, but...not taking things seriously, I guess?"

"Have...I talked about Maggie?"

She curiously looked at her stepfather-in-law. "Isn't she...John's mother?"

"Was," Mr. Egbert sadly corrected. "She passed away from breast cancer when John was five. She was actually pregnant. But the cancer was so bad the doctors were afraid it would affect the baby, so they had to perform an emergency c-section. The baby didn't make it, and she didn't, either."

Kanaya just sat there, absorbing his words. "I'm so sorry, Mr. Egbert."

"Like I said before, call me Joseph." He sighed before continuing. "I'm almost worried the same thing will happen to Roxy. Not so much the breast cancer, but because neither of us are exactly in the prime childbearing age, I'm afraid there will be some complications."

"I'm sure everything will be fine, Joseph." Kanaya stood up. "Would you mind not smoking that? It's getting cold in here and I'd like to close the door…"

"Oh, not at all." Mr. Egbert tamped down the tobacco to extinguish it, then set it down on the plate he had taken from the cabinet. "Anyway, I think it's getting late. Do you have any extra blankets for tonight?"

-Saturday, December 23, 1922 / Minneapolis, Minnesota-

A spoon clinked against a glass which caused everyone in the room to look up. "May I have everyone's attention?"

The room went silent as everyone looked up at the balding man standing at the front of the room.

"I'd like to propose a toast," he continued, "to Miss Crocker."

Though the entire thing was an act, the Condesce was actually flattered as everyone turned to look at her. A human? Actually proposing a toast to her? Without her forcing him to?

"Miss Crocker has practically saved this newspaper with her wonderful baking column," he continued. "So this is for Miss Crocker, for her marvelous contributions to the Minneapolis Gazette. Cheers!"

The Condesce smiled and accepted the toast from her "colleagues", followed by thanks and congratulations. It had only been a year, but she had already had a small portion of Earth wrapped around her finger.

-Tuesday, December 25, 9:54 am / Joseph & Roxy's house-

"I'm dreaming of a white Christmas, just like the ones I used to know…"

Roxy hummed along to the Bing Crosby record as she unwrapped the gift Joseph had just handed her. "Oh, thanks so much!" she exclaimed, holding up the thick novel. "The Warlock of Struj Trium! I've wanted to read this for forever!"

"You know what?" Joseph grabbed Roxy's hands and pulled her up off the floor. "Come on."

"What?" Roxy was confused, but still followed her husband into the study. "Joseph, we still have presents to open!"

"I know." Mr. Egbert took the needle off of the record and sat down at the piano. "You know the words. Come on."

"What?!" Roxy's face turned red. "I'm not going to sing!"

"Aw," sighed Mr. Egbert. "I guess I won't be able to hear your beautiful singing voice…"

"Fine!" Although her face was bright red, she laughed.

Mr. Egbert hit an opening chord as Roxy hesitantly opened her mouth.

"I'm...dreaming of a white...Christmas…"

"...Just like the ones I used to know!" Mr. Egbert winked.

"Where the treetops glisten, and children listen...to hear sleighbells in the snow…"

blep bloop

yey

merry late christmas

Thanks to godlessAdversary and RexyKai for reviewing!