A/N: so I know I said this wouldn't be out until december, but i got motivated and finished it and I couldn't wait any longer...so please tell me what you think.
Christmas With The Morgans'
The way Journey's life should be on Christmas 2005. Only thing you need to know: Courtney and Jason's wedding took place on the first try, therefore, Carly never got kidnapped and Courtney never lost her baby.
Courtney smiled as she listened to Hayley babbling away with her father as he carried her up the steps to change her smelly diaper. She took the few moments of peace and quiet as a blessing, as she was guaranteed not to have any for the rest of the day.
It was Christmas. A white, joyful, Christmas.
Their first stop would be Harbor View Towers to visit Sonny, Carly, Michael and Morgan and to feast on Christmas brunch and open presents. Bobbie and Lucas would be stopping by, and hopefully Mike.
Then around four (much to Jason's reluctance) they would move on to the Quartermaine mansion for Christmas dinner and gift exchanging. Courtney wasn't exactly thrilled either, but she wanted her daughter to grow up knowing her whole family; which unfortunately meant Edward. Or as Hayley liked to call him: Grumpa Ed. Even though it was just the way Hayley spoke, Courtney found it hilariously ironic.
She leaned her head against the cushion of the couch and shut her eyes, to top it all off, she was coming down with the flu and the last the thing she wanted to do was go eat scrambled eggs.
Thinking of scrambled eggs: covering her mouth, she rushed to the closest bathroom and relived the last thing she had eaten. Closing her eyes, she took a relaxing breath and waited until the nausea subsided and it was safe to stand.
She flushed the toilet and stood, making the short distance to the sink.
She took a good look at herself in the mirror. Her face was pale, and there were small circles under her eyes from the lack of sleep she got last night. Between finishing up wrapping presents, and her and Jason's…festive 'activities', she was lucky if she had managed to get more than four hours of sleep.
After brushing her teeth and splashing cool water on her face, she reemerged from the bathroom to find Jason (luckily), hadn't returned yet with Hayley. Taking a reassuring breath, she took a seat once again on the couch, and waited for their return.
She knew she didn't look her best: her face was pale, and her eyes were showing evident signs of fatigue. But she was hoping Jason didn't notice.
Of course, nothing got past him.
He stepped down from the final step and looked at her concerned, she was pale and her eyes were drooping, "You ok?" he asked, brushing a stray piece of blonde hair back behind her ear with one hand while trying to hold onto a squirming Hayley with the other.
She nodded shyly at him and gave him a small, reassuring smile, "yeah. I'm just a little tired." Jason looked at her skeptically not believing a word she had just said, "Really, Jase. I'm just tired." She bit her bottom lip and leaned in closer, "you kept me up pretty late, last night."
He grinned, remembering the events. "Yeah, I guess I did."
"Pesents!" Hayley yelled clapping her hands, causing her parents to avert their attention to her.
"You ready to go see Uncle Sonny, Aunt Carly, Michael and Morgan?" Hayley again clapped her hands enthusiastically. And the family headed out the door towards the Corinthos' home.
After coming home from their honeymoon and finding out Courtney was expecting, the newlyweds decided to find an actual house to raise their family in. And they did. It was a nice twenty-acre farmhouse that was a good fifteen minutes outside of Port Charles.
It was close, but yet not too close.
Courtney had spent most of her free time decorating and getting the house ready before Hayley's birth. Now she was either working at the Cellar (she now owned half) with Carly or at home with Hayley. And Jason had slowly made his way out of the business and had formed a legal business with Sonny. Not to mention, Rosie loved to run around and explore the acreage.
The drive to Harbor View Towers was silent, well except for Hayley's constant babbling. Courtney took in a long breath and closed her eyes, leaning her head against the back of her seat. Maybe she caught the flu from Michael who had it a couple days ago.
She popped open her eyes, a thought having just struck her. She was late, only by a couple of days, but she was indeed late.
Courtney pushed the thought to the back of her mind, she'd think about it later.
Keeping his eyes on the road, Jason periodically snuck sideways glances in his wife's direction. Her face was scrunched up and her eyes were studying her fingers, which meant only one thing: she was in deep thought.
"What're you thinking about?"
Courtney's head snapped up at his voice, "huh?"
Jason chuckled slightly, turning into the parking garage of Harbor View Towers, "I asked what you were thinking."
"Oh, um…The New Year's Party Carly and I are throwing at the Cellar."
Jason nodded, she was obviously lying but he decided to drop it for now.
With Courtney holding Hayley in her arms and Jason juggling the five (at least) bags of gifts, the Morgan family boarded the idle elevator and traveled to the respective floor. Hayley continuously squirmed in her mother's arms trying desperately to push the floor buttons and make them light up.
Jason chuckled at his daughter's actions, earning him a glare from his wife. "What?" he asked innocently.
"Don't 'what' me, Jase. If you laugh, she'll think it's funny and continue on doing it. And I'll end up being the bad guy by telling her no."
Whatever happened to 'tis the season? Jason mentally bit back the remark and decided to just nod; he cast his glance straight ahead, waiting for the elevator doors to ding open.
"Merry Christmas!" Carly greeted, enthusiastically when the Morgan family walked through the threshold of penthouse four. She eagerly reached for her niece, who just as eagerly went into her aunt's arms. "Hey there, sweetie."
"Hi!" Hayley exclaimed in the cheery voice she so often used when around her Aunt Carly. "Open pesens!" the fingers that were once being chewed on were now pointing behind her Aunt to the stack of gifts sitting on the coffee table; several of them with Hayley's name scribed on them.
Sonny grinned, "eager to receive her Christmas presents--"
"—Just like her mother." Jason finished, earning a playful swap in the side from his wife.
"I admit, I do like receiving gifts; but I also love to give gifts, too."
Michael rolled his eyes as he watched from his spot on the couch; sometimes adults had really stupid conversations. He heard his stomach growl demandingly, he wasn't used to waiting this long for breakfast. Thinking quick, he spoke up, "dad! I think something is burning in the kitchen!"
That broke up the conversation, well at least Sonny's part of the conversation. The middle-aged man went racing from the living room and into the kitchen.
Jason chuckled and turned his attention back to his wife, who was rocking back and forth on her feet. He nodded, he knew that stance: she wanted him to leave so she could talk to Carly alone. "I think I'm just going to go and see if Sonny needs any help, come on Michael." The redheaded boy jumped up quickly and followed his uncle, and Morgan was quick to follow.
Carly made sure the boys were out of ear-shot (namely, Jason), "ok, spill." Sitting Hayley on the sofa, she took a seat next to her and motioned for Courtney to do the same. "Something is obviously bothering you."
Taking a hesitant seat, Courtney glanced towards the kitchen before returning her gaze back to the woman next to her, "I think I'm pregnant." Hayley climbed on her lap and she began to nervously take the toddler's coat off.
Carly kept herself from squealing in delight when her sister-in-law didn't even give a smile, "well isn't that a good thing…I mean, haven't you and Jason been talking about having another baby?"
"Yeah…it's just, I don't know how the hell I'm going to get through the day. I'm miserable and I just want to climb back into bed and into Jason's arms…and I would like to get my hands on a pregnancy test and find out for sure."
"Well why don't you?" Carly asked, showing no sign of seeing the big deal in skipping Christmas with The Quartermaines'.
Courtney's eyes widened, "are you kidding me? You pretty much just told me to skip Christmas with the Quartermaines'; I would never hear the end of that one. And besides," she lifted the toddler up in her arms to keep her from getting into the bag of presents, "Hayley is looking forward to seeing her Grammy Lila."
Carly sighed, and she nodded. Her eyes wandering to the kitchen, "I guess we should probably go help set the table, you know Sonny; 'can't let the eggs get cold'…"
Courtney shook her head, "don't talk about eggs Carly." she closed her eyes and sighed, trying to block out the ever-so-common feeling of nausea.
The brunette cringed, "I'm sorry sweetie. I forgot how much eggs set me off when I was pregnant, it was that, tuna and pickles…" Courtney let Hayley down and rushed to the bathroom. Carly watched her retreating sister-in-law, and spoke out loud, "yep. She's definitely pregnant." Standing, she went to the door and peeked her head out into the hall, "hey Max."
Standing up straighter, Max nodded, "Merry Christmas, Mrs. Corinthos."
"Merry Christmas. You think you could do me a little favor…"
Carly grinned as she made her way to the kitchen with her niece securely in her arms.
"Daddy!" Hayley squealed and went willingly into the protective embrace of her father.
"Hey baby girl. You hungry?" he kissed the side of her head, smelling the Johnson and Johnson's shampoo from her bath last night. He glanced behind Carly, not seeing his wife, "where's Courtney?"
"Bathroom." Carly said, popping a grape into her mouth.
Jason nodded, his face showing the worry. "Maybe I'll go check on her. Even though she said she was just tired, she didn't look too well this morning."
Carly immediately began to shake her head, "Jase, give your wife some privacy, ok? Nature doesn't send a notice, it calls when it calls."
"Sounds like someone else I know." Jason finished just as Courtney came into view, looking as pale as she did this morning. "Hey…you ok?"
Courtney nodded, wiping the sides of her mouth, "I'm fine…and I'm starving." She grinned, eyeing her brother, "breakfast served?" suddenly, food didn't seem like necessarily a bad thing.
Jason turned to Carly and she shrugged her shoulders in response.
Sonny grinned, "breakfast is served."
Michael sighed exasperatedly; "finally!" he pulled out a chair and plopped down into it before reaching for the pancakes.
The Morgan-Corinthos clan enjoyed the home-cooked Christmas morning brunch. Silverware clanked, food was chewed and even a few burps were let out before the family moved into the living room to give and receive gifts.
After the race to see who could unwrap all of their presents began, all three kids were on the floor next to the Christmas tree, testing out their new possessions. Carly and Courtney were sitting on the black leather sofa admiring the scene, while Sonny and Jason had disappeared into one of the backrooms.
Courtney didn't actually catch why, but she was sure it had something to do with pool and 'guy talk'. Yeah, even though guys' didn't admit to talking about relationships and 'things' they did. Ever since getting out of the business for good, Jason had taken up getting Sonny into pool and the two were at it regularly on Sundays; even though today was Christmas, today was also Sunday.
Carly sat her empty mug on the coffee table and turned to Courtney who sat admiring her daughter. "How you feeling?"
"Huh?" Courtney turned to the brunette, "did you say something?"
Carly smirked, "I asked if you were feeling ok? You know, no more morning sickness?"
"You don't know if it's actually morning sickness, Carly. But no, not since before we ate."
"Well, you can find out for sure…" once again, CarlyBabes was up to her usual antics, but as always it was for a good cause. Standing, the brunette went to her purse that was sitting on the cheery oak stand next to the door, "I had Max pick this up." Walking back over, she handed the box to her sister-in-law.
Courtney's eyes widened, "you told Max! I haven't even mentioned it to Jason!"
"Relax, I didn't tell him anything. Besides, Max knows not speak to Sonny about these things…since it obviously won't create 'danger' anymore." The blonde nodded, her hands juggling the box back and forth. "So, what're you waiting for? Go take the test."
"What? I can't just take it now…"
"Why not?"
Courtney bit her bottom lip, trying to think of a reasonable excuse, "because…"
"Because nothing. Just go take it and hurry so I know whether or not I'm going to be an Auntie again." with a gentle nudge from Carly, Courtney stood from the couch and walked slowly to the bathroom she had previously run to.
Sonny cursed under his breath as he missed the shot and moved his cue stick from the table. "So how's Courtney?"
Jason looked up, "what'd you mean?"
"Come on, Jase. I'm not as blind as I was when you two first began seeing each other, something is obviously bothering her."
Sighing, Jason chalked his cue, "I don't know. She's says she's fine, but it's obvious to even Hayley that she's not doing her best."
"Is that it? Nothing going on between you two? She seemed uncomfortable and was avoiding eye contact with you during brunch."
Jason just shrugged, to be honest: he had noticed it to but had convinced himself he was just making things up. "Her hormones have been a little out of whack lately…and with Christmas and everything, I think the stress was just getting to her." Leaning forward, lining up his shot, he added, "I think she is a little mad at me for laughing at Hayley when she wanted to push all of the buttons in the elevator. She said something about making her the bad guy."
"I've heard that from Carly, too."
Jason stepped back from the table, looking for his next shot (of coarse, he got the previous one in). "No offense Sonny, but I always thought of you as being the bad guy, too."
"When it comes to junk food, yeah. But she's always saying something about how I don't make them clean their rooms or I let them play video games too long."
Carly heard the faint sound of footsteps and turned to see Courtney returning…with the box still in her hand, unopened. "What happened? I thought…"
Courtney shook her head and stuffed the box deep into her purse, "I'm going to wait until we get home tonight."
"Well how will…"
"I'll call you tomorrow."
Carly sighed, she knew there was no point in arguing with Courtney; she was just as stubborn as her brother, "ok."
As the day went on Bobbie and Lucas showed up and eventually Mike did too. More gifts were received and laughter shared until it was nearing four, time for the Morgans' to be heading towards the Quartermaine mansion for more gifts and dinner.
Courtney sighed and snuck a glance in the back seat at her sound asleep daughter, something she would like to be doing right now. "They're going to think we did it on purpose."
"Did what on purpose?" Jason asked, keeping his eyes fully on the snow covered road ahead of him.
"Let her sleep."
"She's twenty-two months old, of course she's going to be taking a nap in the afternoon."
"I know…"
"But it's the Quartermaines."
"Not all of them, just Edward." Courtney yawned, and reclined her head against the seat, "and Tracy."
"Merry Christmas!" Courtney greeted as they walked through the threshold and into the cheerfully decorated family room. Hayley had her head on her mother's shoulder, half a wake and Jason walked close behind, his hands full of gifts to be given.
Monica grinned, and rushed to her daughter-in-law's side, anxious to see her only granddaughter. "Merry Christmas. You want to come to grandma Monica, Hayley?" Perking up a bit, Hayley grinned, and went willingly into her grandmother's arms. "Looks like someone had a nap on the way here."
"Yes she did. And now she's reenergized and ready to tear more wrapping paper." Courtney answered as she greeted Emily with a warm hug.
"Well then, she's in luck." Monica moved Hayley's gaze to the rather large stack of unopened presents sitting on one of the coffee tables, "see all of those presents, Hayley? Those are all for you."
Hayley clapped her hands together and grinned, showing off her dimples, "my pesents!"
"That's right, they're all yours."
Jason raised a brow, "you guys didn't have to go all out like that."
Tracy smirked, downing the rest of her eggnog, "who would've thought the brain damaged one would be the only one with the common sense. Before you know it, Hayley here is going to be just as spoiled as Emily."
"Tracy…" Alan began.
"I resent that!" Emily interrupted.
"So are you saying Dillon isn't spoiled?" Monica reiterated.
Lila shook her head, making her presence known, "this is Christmas. Can't we all try to get along for one day out of the year?" she turned her attention to her grandson, "Jason, I want to thank you for being kind enough to come, you too, Courtney. I know you guys' would much rather not come here."
Courtney smiled warmly, trying to ignore Tracy's demeaning stare, "Nonsense, Lila. Family is family…"
Tracy smirked, "So does that mean you're headed to Atlantic City, next?"
That was it. "Tracy…" Jason began, warningly.
"You mean to tell me he's speaking to me?"
"Tracy!" this time everyone, including Edward spoke the woman's name.
"Alice!" Edward yelled.
"She's not here, Edward. She went home to family." Monica explained.
"Since when?"
"Since yesterday. If you're ready for the pie, we can get it ourselves." Dillon finally spoke up, "it's really not that hard. Take a knife…oh wait; I'm getting ahead of myself. Open the drawer that's right under the cutting board, you take out a knife and then you walk about three and a half feet to your left where the pies are sitting…"
"Dillon!" Ned spoke warningly, trying to keep a straight face but failing miserably, "why don't we just go get it ourselves."
"Wise choice, my brother. I don't think grandfather can quite handle the task himself."
The two began towards the kitchen when Courtney spoke, "you know, I think I'll help too."
Lila began to decline, "there's no need…"
"Really, Lila, I'd be glad too." She turned to her husband who was still staring at Tracy, "you coming?"
He shook his head, "I'll stay here with Hayley."
"See, he doesn't even trust his own mother to hold his daughter."
Jason clenched his jaw, "I don't think they need my help, Tracy. And for your information, I trust Monica with Hayley."
Monica beamed from her son's comment, the two had begun to build up a relationship again, but she hadn't heard him speak his trust for her. "Thank you, Jason."
The blue-eyed man simply nodded in return.
Ned sighed, as he pulled out the plates, "sorry about mother, she just doesn't know when to shut up."
"Don't apologize, for her. She's a big girl, Ned, she makes her own decisions." Dillon said in return.
Courtney shook her head at the brothers, "it's really not a big deal. This might sound weird, but Tracy in some ways reminds me a lot of my mother."
"Really?"
The blonde nodded, "yeah. Not knowing when to shut up, having the habit of purposely pushing your buttons a little too far, just enough to make you snap. Not to mention, the 'I'm only doing what's best for you' act."
"Aw yes, I know that one quite well." Dillon sighed, "hear it about every other day."
"Yes well, we really should get back out there, before another argument starts." Ned grabbed the tray with several slices of pie, Courtney and Dillon quickly followed suit.
"I'm just saying…"
"Mother, will you give it a rest?" Ned said in more of a demanding tone than a pleading one.
Hayley grinned, "pie!" she reached for one of the plates, nearly toppling over the whole tray.
"Just wait a second, sweetie."
Courtney grinned as her husband came into view, and plopped warily onto the bed. "She asleep?"
"Yep. One bath, a bottle of milk and two stories later." He smiled as she cuddled up to him beneath the covers, "feeling better?"
Courtney bit her bottom lip; "you could say that…now that I know what's wrong with me."
Jason pulled back; looking her in the face, "what…what's wrong?" his voice seemed to reach a higher note at the end.
Courtney giggled, "Not like that…it's a good diagnosis. Remember, that conversation we had a while back?"
"Which one? We've had a lot of conversations."
Courtney rolled, her eyes, "trying to make this difficult, Morgan?"
"I'm talking about the one where we were talking about expanding our family?"
"Yeah…are you…" Courtney nodded, "you're pregnant?"
Courtney grinned, "yep." She reached her head up, meeting her lips with his, before pulling back, "merry Christmas, Jason."
"Merry Christmas…" he leaned forward preparing for their lips to meet again, when he heard it:
"Daddy!"
"To be continued." Courtney said between laughs.
Jason groaned, "You think this is funny? This isn't over yet." he stood from the bed and headed for Hayley's room.