"You are not really dressing her up in that, are you?"  Lance asked.

Darcy looked down at their daughter as she finished closing the snaps on the little Santa outfit, "Your mother brought it."

He rolled his eyes, "I never said my mother had good taste.  Don't we have a frilly dress or something we could put her in, I mean come on, there are going to be pictures taken."

"Oh stop it, she looks cute and we have a frilly dress for her to wear tomorrow," Darcy smiled at Schuyler as she lifted her off the changing table.  "Sky's ready for Santa, aren't you baby girl?"

Schuyler bounced and clapped her hands.


Lance rolled his eyes, "You realize, don't you, that she will hate us for years when she is older."

"They'll be blackmail pictures, pictures we can show her future boyfriends," Darcy set her on the floor and watched as Schuyler crawled over to her toys.

Lance walked up behind Darcy as she put away the baby wipes and wrapped his arms around her, "My parents offered to take Sky tonight, so we can have an evening off."

"That's nice of them," she turned around in his arms.  "But it's her first Christmas and I want to get up with her tomorrow morning."

"Yeah, that's what I told them," he kissed her.  "But it looks like we're not going to get to go sledding today."

"What?  Is it that bad?"  Darcy disentangled herself from him and crossed to look out the window.

"Yup, drifts up to seven or eight feet high.  The town is completely shut down.  We're snowed in," Lance scooped Schuyler up and carried her over to the window.

"I know you think I'm crazy, but that sounds great to me," she grinned up at him.

"You are crazy," he dropped a quick kiss on her forehead.  "But if you were sane, you would never have married me.  What is it with your family and winter?"

"I love snow, snowball fights, snowmen, snow angels, and then curling up under a warm afghan with a mug of hot chocolate and listening to the wind howl outside. It's great."

"I'll share an afghan with you," he whispered.

Shaking her head, Darcy lifted Schuyler out of his hands, "Honey, you need a cold shower."

"Where are you going?"  He asked.

"We're going to get some breakfast."

"Oh," he sounded disappointed.  "I thought you just invited me to take a shower."

Darcy rolled her eyes and shook her head, "Get dressed Lance."

*****************************************************************

Although she would never admit it, Nanny was happy to have some help.  Isabelle, Lucy, and Molly had helped with the baking and cleaning up.  Now, Nanny would never ask for their help, but if they offered, she let them, knowing it made them feel better.  But it was also nice having women closer to her own age, they had fun in the kitchen and after a few days, they had started sitting around the kitchen table after dinner, drinking tea and talking. 

Holidays on Arus had fallen to the wayside during the years of war.  Most of the Christmas traditions they now celebrated were brought to the castle by the members of the Force.  The tree, stockings, the carols, and Santa were all brought to Arus eight years earlier.  But with the castle full of children and family, Nanny began to truly understand the meaning behind the holiday and, although she covered it with a gruff exterior, she was loving every second of it.

At the moment, the kitchen was a flurry of activity.  Molly was making pancakes while Lucy toasted and buttered slices of bread and Isabelle cut up fruit.  Nanny stood beside Molly at the stove, cooking sausage and bacon.

"I was thinking," Molly spoke up.  "That today we could make a couple of coffee cakes so tomorrow morning all we'll have to do is warm them up, we won't have to worry about cooking while the kids are opening presents."

"That sounds good," Lucy said, stacking the neatly cut triangles of bread.  "It's my first grandchild's first Christmas, I'd rather not spend the morning cooking."

"Ach," Nanny muttered.  "That's no problem, besides I want to get an early start on tomorrow night's dinner."

The door slid open and Darcy wandered in, carrying Schuyler on her hip, "Good morning!"

"Oh!  Oh, will you look at Schuyler!  Oh, she looks so cute in that little Santa outfit!"  Molly dropped her spatula and hurried over to the baby.  "I'm so glad we were able to get a camera in town before we got snowed in.  Just wait until your cousins back on Terra see you."

"Lance is worried this outfit will warp her and cause her to hate us in later years," Darcy said, crossing to the stove to pick up where Molly left off.

"Oh no," Molly sat at the table, her granddaughter on her knee.  "It didn't warp, Lance."

Darcy almost dropped the spatula, "Lance?  You dressed Lance up like that?"

"Of course, and we have plenty of pictures."

"Did you bring them?"

"Of course."

"Don't get too excited, dear," Lucy told her.  "We have pictures of you and Becca too."

Darcy stacked the pancakes on a platter, "What?  You brought baby pictures?"

"Allura asked us all to," Isabelle told her.  "She wanted us to bring pictures and video disks so she could see what Christmas was like on Terra when you were all growing up."

"Oh," Darcy groaned.  "This has the potential to be very embarrassing."

"Ho, ho, ho!"


The door slid open again and Allura walked in, carrying Cady on her hip, "Good morning!  Oh it smells good in here."

"Hi, Sweetie," Isabelle kissed Cady's cheek, smearing lipstick on her face.  "Where are the boys?"

"Cady was hungry so Keith offered to get them dressed while I brought her down here.  I think he wants to prove he can handle the two of them alone," Allura paced the kitchen and popped a piece of sweet Arusian melon into her mouth.

"And it's driving you crazy," Molly smiled up at her.

"Nope, not at all," Allura muttered, checking to make sure her communicator was on.

"Do you want me to have Lance stop in the boys' room and see if he can help?"  Darcy asked.

Allura considered that for a moment, "Thanks, but no, I think he can handle it."

"Then would you please sit down, Allura, you're making me dizzy," Isabelle smiled.

She settled on the edge of a chair and started cutting up some pancakes for Cady.

"Why, uh, why does he feel the need to prove he can handle the twins alone?"  Isabelle asked, filling a cup with milk for her granddaughter.

Allura shrugged, "I don't really know.  I think it's some male ego thing or some kind of male bonding thing.  I don't know."

"Dear," Molly reached across the table and patted her hand.  "If he can handle the Voltron Force, I'm sure he can handle the boys."

Isabelle chuckled, "When my oldest, Gerald, was born, my husband decided to help me out.  The first time he put a diaper on, it was backwards."

"Felix once let the dog lick Lawrence's face clean, I was livid."  Molly spoke up.

Allura groaned and buried her face in her hands.

"Mama," Cady patted Allura's leg.

The door slid open again and Lance and Pidge walked in, followed soon after by Felix and Howard and Becca bringing up the rear.

"Do you think we should move everyone into the dining room?"  Nanny whispered to Allura.

Allura looked around, every seat around the table was taken, Lance was leaning against the counter, eating a strip of bacon and talking to his father who was standing beside him sipping from a mug of coffee.  Becca sat on a stool talking to Pidge while she munched on an apple.

"Nah, it's cozy and no one is complaining," Allura told the older woman.  "Cady, Schuyler doesn't want any sausage."

"I'll take it," Lance snatched the sausage out of Cady's hand and popped it into his mouth.

"Ho, ho, ho," Cady patted Schuyler's arm.

The door slid open and Keith walked in, a baby in each arm.

Allura jumped to her feet, "I was just about to come looking for you."

"What?  You don't trust me?"  He gave her a quick kiss as she took Gideon from him. 

"Of course, I do, sweetie, I just…it…well…"Allura wasn't sure how to finish her statement without insulting him.

"It's just that she was worried because it took you twice as long to get them ready as it takes her," Isabelle told her son.

"Have a little faith, Allura." Keith muttered.

"Yeah," Lance came to his friend's defense.  "I only helped him change Declan's diaper."

"You helped him?"  Allura asked.

Keith threw a strawberry at Lance, "When are you going to learn to keep your mouth shut, Lieutenant."

"I just held Gideon while he changed Declan, I didn't really help."  Lance threw the crust from his toast at Keith.

"Boys," Isabelle reprimanded.  "Stop throwing food or you won't get any presents."

"Pesents!"  Cady shouted through a mouthful of pancake.

********************************************************************

For the most part, Christmas Eve was spent relaxing and goofing off.  Pidge won the race down the main hall after Lance tripped Keith.  Four coffee cakes were made and one and half were eaten.  Instead of sitting around the table eating dinner, trays of cheese and crackers, vegetables and dip, and other little foods were brought into the rec room where everyone had gathered.

"Come on, just one," Lance whined.

"No, Lance, you can wait until tomorrow morning," Darcy told him.

"I don't think he can," Keith spoke up.

Darcy was sitting on the couch with her parents, Lance sat at her feet with Keith beside him and their two daughters playing on the floor in front of them.  On the opposite couch, Lucy, Molly, and Felix sat while Pidge and Becca cuddled together by the fireplace.  Allura and Isabelle sat in the wing chairs, each cradling one of the babies, and Nanny and Koran sat on love seat.  A fire danced in the fireplace while Christmas music floated around the room.  It was early evening and a relaxed calm surrounded them.

Lance stuck out his lower lip, "Come on, Darc, it's her first Christmas Eve."

"Tell you what," Darcy leaned over his shoulder.  "If Cady's allowed to open a present, then Schuyler can."

Lance looked up at Keith who turned to his wife.

Allura smiled, "Alright, but just one."

Lance scooped Schuyler up and bounded over to the tree, "You get to open a present Sky!  Which one do you want to open?"

"Pesent!"  Cady yelled as she hurried over to the tree, stumbling a little in her long red flannel nightgown.

Keith followed her, "Just one, Cady."

"Not that one," Darcy said when Lance held a flat package out to Schuyler.

"Why not?"

"It's a d-r-e-s-s…"

Pidge snorted, "I can't believe you just spelled it out, she's ten months old."

"Yeah, but she's smart," Lance held up another package and Darcy nodded.

"Dis one!"  Cady held up a small present.

"No, that's not yours," Keith read the tag. 

Her lower lip started to tremble.

"The one in the red paper," Allura pointed to an oddly shaped gift.

"Oh wait!"  Molly dug into her bag and pulled out her camera.  "It's her first Christmas present!"

Cady wasted no time ripping at the paper and uncovering a white teddy bear wearing a pink dress and a pointed pink princess hat.  "Oh!" The little girl gasped.  "Pitty!"  She ran to Allura, holding the bear by the hat.  "Pitty Mama!"

Allura smiled at her and ran her hand over Cady's curls, "Yeah, baby, she's pretty."

Schuyler sat on Lance's lap while he helped her unwrap her gift, well, he unwrapped it while Schuyler tried to unstick the bow from her fingers.

"Look Sky!"  Lance held up the stuffed dog he had unwrapped, but she was too involved with the bow.  "Schuyler Grace, look, you got a puppy dog."  He tickled her nose with the little golden furball.

She squealed and held her hand up to Lance so he could pull the bow off.  The second the dog was in her hands, its nose was in her mouth.

"Mo'!"  Cady told her father.

"No more, Cady Bear, you have to wait until tomorrow morning, Santa's coming tonight."  Keith told her.

She tilted her head, studying him, "Pease?"

Keith grinned at her, "No."

She stepped closer and patted his cheek, "Pease Daddy."

"No."

Cady stuck out her lower lip.

"No," he laughed and lifted her on his lap.  "Did Mommy teach you to do that?"

Cady nodded, hugging her new bear.

"Teach her what?"  Allura asked.

"Teach her to get anything she wants from Keith just by smiling at him," Lance said.

"Hey," Allura declared.  "It took me many years to perfect that trick."

"And your daughter picked it up in just after a couple of years," Pidge said.

"So," Darcy said, watching as Lance waved the dog in Schuyler's face.  "I thought I heard something earlier about pictures of Lance in a Santa suit."

"What?"  Lance looked up.

"Oh, yes," Allura sat up straighter.  "I think we can out the boys to bed, then I want to see all the pictures you guys brought."

When Allura and Keith returned to the rec room, pictures and photo albums covered the coffee table and everyone had gathered around.

"You were so cute!"  Darcy held up a picture of a year old Lance wearing a Santa suit very similar to the one Schuyler was wearing.

"I was always cute," he muttered.

"Look Cady," Allura pulled the little girl onto her lap.  "That's Daddy."

"No," Cady said patting the photo of Keith at the age of five, standing beside the family Christmas tree and smiling.

"Oh, I want a copy of this," Darcy pointed to a picture.  It showed Lance around the age of eight, sitting beside the Christmas tree with a brown and white cocker spaniel, a big red bow on the dog's head.

"That was the coolest dog ever," Lance scooted over.  "That was Dexter, we got him when I was six.  He loved Christmas and birthday presents.  If we got him all excited, we could get him to rip open presents.  We used to get more presents opened early that way."

"Yeah, we'd hear 'Mom, Dad! The dog got into the presents, I guess since we know what it is we get them now!'" Felix said.  "That worked for two Christmases, when we realized what was going on we started putting gifts inside bigger boxes so if the paper got ripped off, they still didn't know what was in it."

"Sneaky," Becca smiled, flipping through one of the albums.

"Ah!"  Allura laughingly gasped.  "A potty training picture!"


"Where?"

Everyone leaned over the table, eager to see picture of their fearless captain sitting on a potty.

Sure enough, there was Keith sitting on a little plastic potty, wearing nothing but a proud smile and clapping.

"Aw, Captain, looking good," Lance grinned.

"I wouldn't get cocky if I were you," Molly produced a Polaroid.

"Oh my God!"  Darcy gasped, snatching the picture.  "I have to have a copy of this!"

"Oh geez," Lance muttered, looking at the picture of himself sitting on a potty and wearing nothing but a little red fireman's helmet.

Darcy leaned over and kissed his cheek, "You're so cute."

"But is he cuter than this?"  Lucy slid a photo across the table.

"Oh, nothing is cuter than this," Lance picked it up and studied it.  A petite little dark haired girl grinned up at him as she sat on a potty.

"How about Keith getting his first bike?"  Allura asked.

"Or Lance with his first guitar?"  Darcy pointed to a picture.

Pidge watched as everyone giggled and gasped over the pictures, reliving happy times passed.  He couldn't help but feel a twinge of jealousy.  Over the years the Force had become his family but it was times like this he missed his own.  He knew he would talk to Chip tomorrow, they always spoke on the holidays and their birthdays and whenever else they could, but at this particular moment, he longed for embarrassing pictures and happy memories of his own.

Becca turned to him and saw the pensive look on his face.  "You okay?"  She whispered.

He nodded and flashed her a weak smile.

She laced her fingers with his, "Wanna see my embarrassing potty training picture?"

He scooted closer to her, "Yeah."

Becca flipped through pages of happy Barlow memories, "Ah, here it is."

He smiled down at the sweet round face of the little girl who would grow into the woman he loved.  Her hair had darkened over the years from pale blonde to the light brown it was now.  His heart gave a lurch and he suddenly realized how much he wanted a family.  The quick, intense feeling almost knocked the breath from him.  He had never really thought about having children, he was still young and he hadn't thought he was ready to marry.  But as he looked around at his friends and their happy marriages and beautiful children, he was overcome with jealousy.

"Pidge?"

He looked up at Becca.  Everyone else was talking loudly and laughing, they didn't notice the two of them at the end of the table.  "What?"

"You look a little pale, you okay?"  Becca spoke in a low voice.

"Uh, yeah."

She reached up and stroked his cheek, forgetting they weren't alone, "What is it?"

He shook his head and handed her the photo album, "I'm going to get a drink, you want anything?"

"I'll come with you," she stood and turned to the others.  "You guys want anything to drink?"

"No."

"No, thanks, Bec."

"I'm good, but thanks for asking."

"I'll take a soda."

"Nope."

"No, thank you."

Becca nodded and followed Pidge out of the rec room.

"What is it?"  She whispered, taking his hand.

"Nothing, I guess I'm just tired."

"And you're a lousy liar."

Pidge blushed slightly, feeling foolish and selfish.  He didn't want to put a damper on anyone else's holiday spirit, most of all Becca's.  "Really," he assured her.  "Nothing is wrong."  He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close, kissing her temple.

Becca wrapped her arm around his waist, still not convinced.  He had been in a good mood earlier while the girls were opening their presents and everyone was goofing off.  But as soon as they got out the pictures…

"Oh, God, Pidge, I'm so sorry."

"About what?"  He asked, opening the door to the kitchen.

"I didn't even think, we're so thoughtless," she walked over to the cabinet and pulled out a couple of glasses.

"Don't worry about it, Bec," he told her.

"No, I will worry about it because it's Christmas and I love you and I want you to be happy," she insisted.

He smiled at her and pulled her to him, loosely wrapping his arms around her, "I am happy."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

He shook his head.

"Do you want to ditch everyone else?"

He nodded and kissed her.

"Or we can just stay here," she murmured as lips skimmed down her throat.

"Mm hm," he walked her back until they hit the counter.  He picked her up and sat her on the counter so they were more level.

Becca wrapped her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist, pulling him closer to her. 

"Ahem!"

Pidge jumped back, red-faced.

Becca buried her face in her hands and groaned.

"I thought you were bringing me a soda," Lance said.  "Oh, it's Christmas, I'm not going to tell on you," he teased as he crossed to the refrigeration unit.  "But you're going to want to come back before your father starts to wonder where you are."

"Yeah, yeah yeah," Pidge muttered.

"And you better watch out," Lance sang as he backed out of the kitchen.  "You better not cry, better not get caught making out, I'm telling you why! Santa Claus is cooooming to tooooown!"

Becca threw her head back and laughed as she took Pidge by the shoulders and pulled him closer, "He's going to get nothing but coal in his stocking."