Tirza and Severus left for Snape Manor, where they planned to spend the Christmas holidays. The Logans were due to be showing up and Tirza was bouncing around the room excitedly. Severus laughed at her energy and excitement and as she bounced by, tackled her. She squealed with laughter as he began tickling her mercilessly. After several minutes of 'torture', both were breathless and laughing.
"Well, the Logans will be arriving today. I say we go to lunch and then perhaps some shopping and then met them, hmm?" Severus asked her, smiling. "Yes! McDonalds!" she announces, beaming. She squishes him in a hug, which he heartily returns, kissing her little face. "Don't you ever wish to eat anywhere but McDonalds?" he asks after a moment. He burst out laughing at the horrified look on her face. "I'll take that as a no; come on, let's go."
After a nice lunch at McDonald's they go shopping, getting some last Christmas presents for the Logans. "AJ would love this dad," Tirza said, pointing to a Strawberry Shortcake night set. It included slippers, a nightshirt, a mask for sleeping and a special perfume to make her sheets smell like strawberries. "Can we get it for her?" Tirza asks, grabbing it. Severus chuckled as he inspected the items...the things little girl's liked! "Sure. And something for Serena too, we mustn't leave her out," Severus reminded Tirza.
Tirza dutifully began inspecting things that little Serena would like. "We need to get her two things dad, because it's almost her birthday! You didn't forget did you?" Forget to buy the present, yes; forget the day he delivered a baby...never! "That's right; we will need two gifts for her. I have no clue what to buy a small child, so you'll have to help me find something age appropriate," Severus told Tirza. She grinned. "No problem dad!"
She leads him throughout the entire store, and by the end of the search has found ten items. "Tirza, we cannot get all that for Serena. Pick two, and only two," Severus says firmly. Ten minutes later, Tirza is still gazing at all the items. "Come on sweetie, we need to get going, so hurry along please," he urged, running out of patience at her dawdling. Tirza finally picked out a sunshine yellow Care bear and a Care bear video. "Can I get one of these for grandpa too?" she asks, looking at Sunshine Bear. "Since he calls me sunshine?" Severus smiles. "I think that would be very nice," he tells her, kissing her head. However did she get to be so sweet? He wonders.
"Wait!" Tirza calls as they near the checkout. "Look!" She points to a large pink trunk, filled with wigs, dresses and shoes, all fashioned from the Disney princess movies. "No fair, I don't have that," she says sighing. "Perhaps we shall have to do something about that," Severus smirks. She looks up at him, her eyes wide. "Really? Oh please can I get it? Please please pretty please?" she begs. Severus laughs and smiles. "Yes, you may get it," he says, hugging her. "Woo hoo!" Tirza announces, dumping one of the trunks into the cart. "Now we shall check out and head to the airport," Severus tells her as they finally reach the check out lane.
Once they had paid and hit the street again, Severus shrunk them to pocket size and stored them away for later. "We need to be heading for the airport. Would you prefer the tube or a taxi?" "A what?" Tirza asked. "The tube is what the London people call the subway," Severus said. "It's very much like the one in New York." "Oh, the subway!" she says, understanding dawning. "There's a station over there I believe," Severus said leading her toward a busy intersection. "It should take us right to the airport." "Okay," she said. After a few minutes in the crowd, Tirza slipped her hand in his. "I know it's crowded but once we get below, the crowd should thin out a little," Severus commented as he neared the stairs. "Here we are."
"I'm just worried about getting trampled," Tirza giggles. "Uncle Mike teases me that I'm like mini-me from Austin Powers. Hey, I'm YOUR mini me!" she decides. Severus laughs, not quite sure what she was talking about, but she was indeed a small, female version of himself... only MUCH cuter. "This is a little different from the subway, but still cool," Tirza decided, looking out the window from their seat. "I thought you might enjoy it and I think we shall take the Logan's on it when we return because it takes us within 20 miles of the manor and then we'll grab a taxi." She nodded, and then fell over onto him.
"Whoa, I'm dizzy," she said. Severus righted her and then said, "The next stop is ours. Don't look out the window then." The train slowed. "When it stops we need to hurry. Here we go," Severus said taking her hand as the subway stopped. "It'll be fine once we get off of this." Tirza held his hand tight, almost getting trampled as they walked. As they reached surface level again Severus loosened his grip just a little; "Here we are." "Where's the airport?" Tirza asked. "Right over there," Severus said pointing to a big structure. "Come on, let's hurry," Tirza said, attempting to pull him along.
"They aren't due for another half hour," Severus commented. "Then why are we so early?" Tirza asked. "I was afraid that we would have trouble with the tube or their plane would be early," Severus told her. Tirza looked around, excited. "McDonalds!" she shrieked. Severus laughed. "We just had lunch there silly! Why don't we wait till they get here then we'll grab a fast bite before heading to the manor?" Severus offered. Tirza sighed. "Okay. Or we could just get a pop!" she offers. He sighed, thinking about it. "Alright but only get a drink for now because I don't want you not to eat when the Logan's get here." and then he added, "and we might split a bag of those good looking cookies."
Tirza looked thrilled and they ended up with cokes and cookies. Severus glanced at the time a bit later and began to clear up their mess. "They arrive in about 10 minutes so why don't we go watch the plane land?" he offered. Tirza nodded and pulled him towards the plane. Severus allowed her to lead him till they got to the main board. "It's this way," He said, pointing her toward the right after quickly scanning the board.
A few minutes later, Tirza spotted AJ before Severus could and took off running. He ran to catch up with her, almost hitting an elderly lady in a wheelchair, who angrily took a swipe at him with her large purse. "Slow down!" he shouted above the din as Tirza tackled AJ. The girls crashed into each other, but giggled and hugged, completely ignoring the adults completely. Chris was holding a squirming Serena on her hip. "How are you Severus?" "I'm doing well thank you," Severus commented. "Shall we go for the luggage?"
The girls were talking a mile a minute and AJ grabbed Serena. "Thanks," Chris said gladly relinquishing the baby. "But remember it's to crowded for her to walk." mike suddenly grabbed all three girls and swung them around. "Oh, there's the luggage!" mike said he quickly put down the girls and grabbed a few bags. Chris grabbed Serena's seat and her pushchair and then turned to Severus. "We still have a pink duffle bag and a big blue bag to come."
Serena had wriggled away and the two girls were chasing her down. "AJ!" Chris exclaimed. "You know better than to let her get away from you!" the girls finally caught her and came back, looking guilty. "Here I'll take her," Severus said handing Tirza the pink bag and motioning for Mike to give them another bag so he could take the blue one. Severus swung Serena up in his arms. Serena giggled and poked his nose. "Dad," Tirza whined. "We shouldn't have to carry all this." Severus rubbed his nose and playfully patted Serena's face. "Well you shouldn't have let Serena walk off."
"We didn't let her...she did it all on her own," Tirza stated. "Yep," Amy agreed. "She fought us off." Serena giggled, and then wriggled, trying to get down. "Oh no you don't," Severus said, getting a firmer hold on her. Serena spit at him. "When we get outside we can put her in this," Chris said pointing to her stroller. AJ giggled. "Daddy gave me a ride in that yesterday, it was really fun, mommy yelled," she told Tirza, who burst into giggles. "Serena no," Chris admonished. "I'm sorry Severus; she's just started that thanks to her big Sister." AJ and Tirza giggled. Serena poked Snape's nose again.
"I could see why," Severus commented. "It's alright Chris, no harm done." "Hey, are you insulting me?" AJ asked. "Who me?" Severus asked innocently, sharing a wink with the adults. "Yeah you buster," AJ says "I could get you arrested you know," she smiled knowingly, winking. "I doubt your father would do anything of the like," Chris said with a laugh. That had been AJ's threat for years for bullies, who usually believed her! "You never know," mike said with a wink to the girls.
AJ giggled and jumped on mike's back. Tirza tried to do the same to Snape. "Hey!" Severus exclaimed, almost dropping Serena while Mike reacted almost the same, but almost dropping the luggage. The girls giggled, mike rolled his eyes. Chris sighed and Serena started screaming. Snape quickly starting rocking her and saying soothing words like, "those girls didn't mean it" and, "I promise not to do that again."
"Serena, hush!" AJ said, "you're giving me a headache again!" "Well you know," Chris commented. "If Tirza hadn't jumped on Severus and you your dad she wouldn't be screaming." Tirza blushed. "Sorry," she mumbled, embarrassed. Chris gave Tirza a one-armed hug, acknowledging her apology. AJ rolled her eyes as Serena continued wailing. Mike hoisted AJ onto his back and gathered the luggage. Tirza looked at Snape, wanting him to do the same.
Severus had finally gotten the screams down to whimpers and said to Tirza, "I can't do it right now, we'll have to wait till we get out of here and I can put her in her chair." Tirza nodded, feeling slightly left out. Chris took Tirza's hand, and she smiled up at her. They all headed for the exit and Severus sighed deeply. He had a feeling this was going to be one loooooooooong Christmas vacation!