December seemed to fly by as the days shortened. As Christmas and the New Year was rapidly approaching the Echo Park Condos were a flurry of activity, especially the Woodcomb and Bartowski condos as the residents were in and out of each other's homes to decorate trees and cookies, enjoy comfortable evenings watching their favorite Christmas movies, and enjoy the season as a family.
Amid all the bustle, Emma's cast was able to come off and she had started her physical therapy which was located on the medical campus of the hospital and was quickly regaining her strength. By the time Christmas Eve had arrived, her physical therapist had given her permission to return to rounds, but with restrictions. Restrictions or not, Emma was just glad to do more than file paperwork all day and was eager to get back to doing rounds.
On the heels of a long day that had started with large influx of patients due to a multiple car accident on the I-5, Ellie was called in to the Pediatric ward to consult on a child who had sustained a brain injury under suspicious circumstances. Entering the room, she found a woman with shoulder length dirty blond hair wearing a forest green scrub top with 'Merry Grinchmas' written in a lighter shade of green and pictures of Dr. Seuss's Grinch scattered over top of it, a pair of black scrub pants, and a pair of comfortable black sneakers. The woman finished hanging an IV bag, adjusted the flow calibrator, then picked up the patient file, making some notes before turning to see Ellie standing in the door.
"Ellie," The older woman smiled at her, "I didn't hear your come in."
"The door was open," She shrugged and held out her hand for the file, flipping it over and looking over the notes contained within, "I was called down for this little guy, what can you tell me?"
"Poor little bubba," Emma sighed, "His grandma called emergency services this morning after receiving a call from her daughter. From what I heard; Grandma has long suspected her son-in-law has been being physically abusive to her daughter. Never touched the kids before, so she says, but that seems to have changed and he went off on Bubba here."
Ellie nodded, looking over the file which had catalogued the physical injuries the boy had sustained, mumbling as she read the chart which showed the kid had been given a light sedative upon admission so that the medical staff could treat him.
"Sedation should wear off soon," Emma advised, "Based on his age and weight, maybe a half hour or so?"
"Okay," Ellie nodded, "I'm going to have him taken down to imaging to get a MRI and a CAT scan, and we'll go from there."
Emma nodded and let Ellie know she would schedule transport as soon as the kid came around. Since Ellie was closest to the door, she followed the young doctor out of the room. "Alright, I'll give you a call when he's on his way."
"Thanks, Emma," Ellie nodded with a warm smile, "Hey, what time are your off?"
"Not too late," Emma shrugged, "5:30, assuming all goes well."
Ellie checked her watch and nodded, "Well, if you want to, you can join us for dinner. Chuck, Sarah, and Molly are coming over to eat dinner and make one last batch of Christmas cookies before Santa comes tonight."
"Sounds like fun," Emma smiled, "I'll swing by the house to change after my shift and meet you at yours."
"Good," Ellie grinned, "I'll see you tonight, if not sooner."
"See you then," Emma waved at her as they returned to their rounds. Forty-five minutes later, she was calling Ellie to let her know their patient was on his way to imaging and a half hour after that, she was clocking out and heading home to change.
Dressed in jeans and a comfortable Christmas sweater, Emma loaded her bags into the trunk of her new 2004 silver Camry and set off toward Echo Park. Since she was already planning to join the family the next morning, when Chuck and Sarah heard she was coming to dinner, they invited her to stay in Chuck's den which had a convertible sofa, so she didn't have to drive back and forth between her house and the condo.
"Geeze, Mom," Sarah chuckled when she opened the door, "What did you do; bring the whole house?"
"No, only half," Emma smiled and pulled her daughter into a hug, "It's mostly presents for you kids and the grandbabies."
"You only have one of those," Sarah pointed out, helping Emma store her bags.
"Clara's an honorary grandbaby," Emma shrugged.
"Uh huh…" Sarah gave her mother a wry smile, "You just couldn't help yourself, you just had to spoil both of them."
"Grandmother's prerogative," Emma retorted, patting her daughter on the cheek, "Now where is the at handsome hunny of yours and Molly?"
"Getting washed up and changed," Sarah rolled her eyes, good naturedly, "Someone thought it would be a fun idea to let the baby play with finger paint an hour before we had to meet their family for dinner."
"Just to be clear, 'someone' is me," Chuck added, descending the stairs, a freshly washed and changed Molly in his arms, "And he is very sorry for the bad parental decision."
"All new parents make mistakes," Emma gave him a faux pitying look, "That's how we learn, isn't it?"
"Yes, Emma," Chuck bowed his head as if contrite for his decision.
"Good, now give me my grandbaby, you've hogged her long enough," Emma stretched out her arms to receive a smiling Molly into her arms.
"Daddy and me made pretty orn-ments," Molly announced proudly and pointed to the table where there were several plastic ball ornaments with a multitude of colors, some all one color, others a clash of colors, there were even a few that were an odd shade of brownish green, what Sarah used to call oobleck, that only occurs when the whole paint palate is mixed together.
"I see, which ones are yours?" She asked and then held tight when Molly tried to scramble down to pick up the still-wet decorations. "No, Sweetheart, point, don't touch, they're still wet."
"Okay, Grammy," Molly nodded, her Cindy Lou Who-esque pigtails bouncing with the motion. Emma was appropriately impressed by the ornaments that Molly indicated she had helped her Daddy make.
"We should probably get going," Sarah advised, pulling on a jacket and retrieving a much smaller one from the hall closet for Molly. "Ellie is expecting us to be there soon."
"Best not to make the crazy Christmas fiend wait," Chuck snickered, pulling on his own coat and waited while Sarah and Emma worked in tandem to get Molly's jacket on her. Soon they were making the short walk across the courtyard to his sister's door.
"Hey, come on in!" Ellie smiled at them when she answered the door, "Devon is almost done with dinner."
"It smells delicious in here," Emma remarked as she entered the condo.
"Chuck, could you go help Devon bring everything out to the dining room?" Ellie nodded toward the kitchen.
"Sure, Elle," Chuck smiled and headed off to the kitchen were Devon was attempting to remove a spiral cut ham from the crockpot as it continued to fall apart. "I like my meat falling off the bone, but that's a bit much, isn't it?"
"It cooked faster than I'd expected," Devon shrugged scooping a few more slices onto a serving plate. "While I'm doing this, Bro, would you mind pulling the green bean casserole and sweet potatoes out of the oven?"
"No prob," Chuck picked up the oven mitt and potholder that sat next to the stove and proceeded to pull the casserole dishes from the oven, setting them on the stovetop, "Do you want me to take these into the dining room?"
"That would be awesome," Devon gave him a grin as he scooped the last of the ham out of the crockpot. "I'll be right behind you."
"Alright, soups on!" Chuck announced carrying the green bean casserole out to the dining room and setting it down on the table in front of where Ellie and Clara were sitting.
"Uncle Chuck, that isn't soup!" Clara giggled.
"It's not?" Chuck looked at her wide eyed, "Oh, well my mistake." He gave her a wink and ducked back into the kitchen to return with the sweet potatoes, followed by Devon with the ham.
Devon and Chuck quickly served up small portions to their daughters before taking their seats at the ends of the table. Once the adults had served themselves, dinner started in earnest with various conversations being shared around the table.
"An interesting thing happened today at the end of my shift," Emma started, not realizing that her timing had her speaking just as the other conversations had quieted and wound up with the eyes of all the other adults on her. An awkward silence settled over the table before Chuck decided to break the silence.
"So, Emma, what happened?" He looked at his prospective mother-in-law as he scooped up a bit of sweet potato along with a bit of ham and took his time chewing.
"I was finishing up my paperwork when Bethany Callaway came by the nurses' station looking for me," Emma continued. Ellie and Devon's eyes went wide upon hearing the name of the hospital's Director of Nursing. "There was a recent opening in the NICU, and she was wanting to know if I'd consider it. She said the position is a specialist position and she's looking for an Acute Care Specialist or a Nurse Practitioner to help take some of the less critical cases off the doctors and support the nursing staff."
"Is that something you might be interested in?" Ellie inquired. "I mean you seem to really enjoy pediatrics and that position, especially in the NICU is really stressful."
"I told Bethany I'd think about it and I'm seriously considering taking it," Emma nodded it, "I loved my NICU rotations when I was in nursing school and again when I did my nursing clinicals, there just wasn't an opening at any of the hospitals and Westside was looking for a nurse in Pediatrics."
"My buddy Shawn Newsom is one of the NICU doctors over there," Devon spoke up, "He was telling me how overwhelmed they are over there since Kathy retired."
"And I still have at least 15 years left in me," Emma pointed out, "I think I can really do some good there."
"Mom, what is a nick-u?" Clara looked at her mother.
"It's a special area of the hospitals for babies who are really sick or really tiny and need to stay in the hospital until they are strong enough to go home." Ellie explained, "A lot of times it takes weeks or months until their moms and dads can take them home. Emma would be helping their families by taking care of the babies and teaching their families the best way to hold them."
Clara nodded her understanding then turned to Emma, "Grammy Emma, you should do it." She stated earnestly, "If I had to be in the hospital for a long time, I'd want a gramma to snuggle me, and you give the best gramma snuggles."
"Well, there you have it," Chuck smiled, "You have to take the job now, didn't you hear, those babies are in desperate need of gramma snuggles."
"Seriously, mom," Sarah met her mother's eyes over the table, "You should take it. You love pediatrics, but your passion has always been for NICU work."
"I appreciate the support," Emma nodded.
"Hey, that's what family does," Ellie laid a hand on the older woman's forearm, "When do you need to give your final decision?"
"After the New Year," Emma informed them, "So I have about a week before I have to let them know."
"It sounds to me like you've already made up your mind," Devon observed, "But if you are still unsure, maybe see if you can pick up a shift or two I the NICU and PICU and see if that's still where your heart lays."
"That's not a bad idea," Emma nodded, "I'll see if they can squeeze me into a few shifts."
"Alright, enough shop talk," Ellie announced, "I think it's time to clean up dinner and decorate cookies while listening to Christmas music."
"Can we use sprinkles?" Clara asked eagerly, "Santa loves sprinkles."
"Sounds like Santa is gonna chip a tooth this year," Chuck murmured to Sarah who laughed at his cheekiness.
"Yeah, so long as we don't go too overboard," Ellie agreed, "We want Santa to be able to eat the cookies. Clara while the grownups are cleaning up from dinner, could you go get a couple of your craft shirts for you and Molly to wear?"
"Okay, mom," Clara slid out of her seat, helped Molly out of hers, and the two girls set off toward Clara's room.
Once the girls were out of earshot, the parents made quick work of cleaning up from dinner. Chuck and Sarah washed the dishes as Devon, Ellie, and Emma put away the leftovers.
"So, what's the plan for presents?" Chuck gave his sister a brief glance over his shoulder, hands deep in the soapy water as he washed.
"Same as every other year, but a little different since we both have kids now," Ellie shrugged, "I already have the family pajamas wrapped and under the tree and will put out the rest of the family and Santa gifts once Clara goes to bed."
"That's kinda what I was talking about, Sis," Chuck pointed out, "Should we do all gifts here or Santa gifts at our individual places then meet up for brunch and opening up the rest of the presents?"
"What have you done in the past?" Emma inquired looking between the two siblings.
"We've always opened our pajamas on Christmas Eve and exchanged the rest of our gifts on Christmas day." Chuck handed a plate to Sarah to dry off with the towel she had thrown over her shoulder.
"Only things that have changed over the years have been waiting for the Chuckster to get here after he moved out and waiting to watch The Twilight Zone until Clara went down for her nap after brunch and then to bed later that night," Devon added, "Clara knows we wait for him to open presents but can get into her stocking while she waits."
"Okay," Emma nodded as she gave the situation some thought.
"I think we should do everything together," Sarah turned to look at the other adults, "We may not always live this close, might as well take advantage of our proximity while we still can. Honestly it isn't that difficult to walk across the courtyard to open presents. Molly is so young, she's not quite to the stage of demanding to open her gifts first thing in the morning and won't be disappointed if there aren't presents under our tree. Why don't we just put all the gifts under your tree, since you have the larger living room and we join you in the morning?"
"I agree with Sarah," Chuck gave his girlfriend a smile. "Once the girls are both asleep, I can bring over all the gifts from our place, say around 10 just to make sure that Clara is asleep, and help with any assembly that still need to be done on the girls' gifts."
"Not a bad idea," Devon nodded, "It would be awesome to get help putting that bike together."
"And we got Molly a trike that still needs to be put together," Chuck shrugged.
"That's settled then," Emma confirmed, "Once the girls go to bed, we'll put all the gifts under Devon and Ellie's tree once the girls are asleep. And then get together to open presents at eight a.m?"
"Better make it seven," Ellie countered, "Clara is pretty patient for her age, but she is only five…"
Emma chuckled, "Good point, seven it is."
Once their plans were settled, the adults finished up their cleanup effort and Ellie pulled out the pre-cut and baked sugar cookies along with a few bows into which she portioned out a bit of buttercream frosting and, after taking a poll on which colors to use, added food coloring before handing a bowl to each of the adults to stir.
The kitchen table was cleared of all decorations and covered with a plastic tablecloth before the cookies, frosting, sprinkles, and other decorating utensils such as plastic knives, to spread the frosting with, were set out. Almost as if waiting for their cue, Clara who had one of her dad's old UCLA t-shirts on came back into the dining room holding Molly, who was decked out in one of Ellie's old high school spirit t-shirts, by the hand.
"I helped Molly get her shirt on," Clara announced proudly.
"And you did a wonderful job," Ellie praised, "You are such a good big cousin."
"If I'm a really good big cousin, does that mean I can have a baby sister?" She asked hopefully, big blue puppy dog eyes aimed directly at her parents who looked a little uncomfortable for a minute as Chuck, Sarah, and Emma tried to hold back their snickers at the precocious child's inquiry.
"Tell you what, Clare Bear," Devon recovered first, "We'll think about it."
"Babies take a long time to come, though," Ellie added, "So you will need to be patient."
"But Uncle Chuck got a baby right away," Clara protested.
The younger adults were at a loss as to how to explain this to the little girl, but Emma gave them a reassuring smile and held out her hand to the girl, "Clara, come here," Clara followed her, still clutching Molly's hand in her own as Emma took a seat on the couch, lifting Molly into her lap and indicating for Clara to sit beside her. "I know it seems like your uncle got a baby right away, but that's just because Molly was already here when he met her and her mom. Sarah had to wait almost a year for Molly to be born when she found out she was coming. Just like your mom had to wait a long time for you to come along, but no matter how long they take to get here, it's worth the wait. I have no doubt that when the time comes you will be a great big sister and will teach Molly to be a wonderful older cousin like you are. I know it's hard to wait, sweetheart, but I promise when the day comes it won't seem very long at all. Until then, you can practice by helping Molly and teaching her how to be a smart, funny, wonderful little girl like you are."
"Okay, Grammy Emma," Clara nodded, "I can do that."
"I'm glad," Emma smiled, "Now, why don't you start by showing her how to decorate the best kind of Christmas cookies?"
"Okay!" Clara hopped down and waited for Emma to set Molly on the floor before the girls went running into the dining room to make cookies under the watchful eyes of their parents.
"You know, you were really good at explaining that to Clara," Sarah spoke softly as she wrapped an arm around her mother's shoulders, giving her a light squeeze.
"To be honest, I've had that talk, or something like it, waiting in the wings since you were a little girl," Emma gave her only child a warm smile, "But your dad took you off on your adventure before you ever started asking those kind of questions."
"Well, I'm glad I finally got to hear it," Sarah kissed her mother's cheek, "Now why don't we join in on the decorating, it looks like a lot of fun." She gestured to where Clara was showing Molly the best way to put sprinkles on a cookie. After the cookies were decorated and he favorites picked out and plated up to be put out for Santa, the family gathered in the living room to open one present each.
"So," Ellie spoke up as Chuck handed out the packages, "This is an old Bartowski tradition, on Christmas Eve we each open one gift before going to bed to wait for Santa to come. Go ahead an open them."
Everyone tore into their packages, the girls got night gowns, Clara's was red, green, and white plaid and Molly's was red, green, and black. The parents all got matching pajama pants as their daughters along with red long-sleeved t-shirts for the Woodcombs and green shirts for Chuck and Sarah. Emma's pajama pants were navy blue with a white snowflake pattern and a navy long-sleeved t-shirt with a snowman on the front.
"Can Molly I and wear our jammies now?" Clara asked eagerly.
"How about we all go change into our Christmas jammies before we watch our movie?" Elie suggested.
"We're going to go back to our place to change and we'll be back," Chuck informed his sister as he scooped up Molly into his arms while Sarah gathered their pajamas and followed him across the parking lot. A short time later found them back in the Woodcomb's living room and watching 'A Charlie Brown Christmas.'
The moment that the disillusioned Charlie demands to be told what Christmas is about, Emma leaned over to Sarah, "This has always been my favorite part." The whole family sat in rapt silence as Linus began reciting the famous Biblical lines from the Book of Luke.
By the time the kids make Charlie Brown's bedraggled tree beautiful, both girls are fast asleep curled up in their parent's arms. Devon carried Clara up to her room while Chuck gathered Molly in his arms, thanking his sister in a soft voice for a great Christmas Eve and promising to be back in a little bit to help with putting out gifts. Once they were sure that both girls were down for the count, Emma stayed back with Molly while Chuck and Sarah returned, with the gifts from them and Emma, to Ellie and Awesome's home. Ellie and Sarah set to work stacking up the colorfully wrapped gifts under the tree while Chuck and Devon were hard at work assembling the bikes for the girls as well. It only took about an hour to finish up their covert holiday set up, and after exchanging quick hugs, Chuck and Sarah departed and all the adults went to bed, looking forward to the events of the next day.
