Thank you all so much for your feedback.

Two Phantoms: Thanks, I was stoked to hear that you had been enjoying the fics, and also that I was able to instill a little "Aussie-ness" into you :). Oh, and in regards to Francie, you are welcome.

"Hey Syd," Vaughn called out Christmas morning. "Come and check this out."

Sydney exited the bathroom, wearing her dressing gown, her hair still wet from the shower. "What?"

"This." Vaughn was kneeling by the tree, a wrapped gift in his hands. "To Sydney and Vaughn," he read from the tag, "On your last Christmas. All the best for the future. Love, your Secret Santa's."

Sydney let out a peal of laughter. "Our Secret Santa's?" she asked, sitting on the couch.

Vaughn nodded. "It says it right here. One of them must have left it under the tree last night."

"Open it," Sydney said eagerly, and so Vaughn sat next to her as he went about removing the wrapping paper. Inside was a box that looked to hold an eclectic group of small items, each with a tag attached.

With a grin, Vaughn reached in and pulled out a pair of earplugs. "For when you are desperate for a moment's peace," he read.

Following suit, Sydney dipped into the box, grabbing a bog of wooden pegs. "For your delicate noses…if you catch the drift," was written on the accompanying tag.

Laughing, both Sydney and Vaughn proceeded to empty the box. It contained things such as coffee to 'Keep you awake after nights of no sleep', vouchers for hours of baby-sitting service to 'Give yourselves a break from the insanity' and much, much more.

Looking at the collection in the front of them, Sydney smiled in awe. "You know, and don't tell Weiss I said this, we really hot the jackpot with our friends."

Vaughn nodded in agreement. "I think I have to agree with you on that one." He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. "I also think that we should get dressed. If not, maman will be calling within the hour, wondering where we are."

He stood and then offered a hand to help Sydney up. She smiled at him. "Well Mr Vaughn, are you ready for our 'last' Christmas?"

"As ready as you are Bristow."

"Hey."

Sydney started slightly when she felt a hand on her shoulders. She and Vaughn had arrived at Juliette's about an hour before and for some reason, Sydney had ended up in the kitchen, staring out the window into the backyard.

Turning around she saw that it was Juliette who had approached. Letting out a small sigh, she smiled. "You scared me."

Juliette smiled back. "So I gathered," she took a step so that she was standing beside her. "What are you doing out here?"

Sydney shrugged. "I don't know."

Juliette's eyes narrowed slightly as she scrutinized her daughter-in-law. "Sydney, I like to think that we have a strong relationship. One where we can be completely honest with each other."

Sydney was a little taken aback by the seemingly random statement. "We do have that, Juliette," she replied.

"Well then, let me be frank. You don't look so hot, Sydney."

Sydney let out a small laugh. "Well, if that's not honesty…"

Juliette gave her a shrewd smile. "I'm right though, and to be honest, I'm a little concerned. Are you feeling unwell?"

Sydney shook her head. "I feel great, actually. Except…"

Juliette cocked her head to the side. "Except for what?"

"I haven't been sleeping all that well," Sydney admitted. "I keep having these dreams."

"What kind of dreams?" Juliette asked.

"Dreams that all have something to do with the baby," Sydney explained. "They started a few weeks ago and at first they were funny. Crazy. Typical dream kind of stuff."

"But?" Juliette pressed gently, her hand on Sydney's shoulder.

"But they've been getting more…well, let's just say that they're not funny anymore. And they feel so real."

"How so?"

"Like last night. I could hear this baby crying. I mean, it was screaming its head off as if it were in pain. And I was looking and looking but I couldn't find it. All I could hear was those screams and all I felt was this intense guilt- like I was the one who was causing the pain. I still felt it even after I woke up."

"Sydney," Juliette's voice was soothing. "They're just dreams."

"That's what Vaughn keeps telling me, but…I don't know." She looked directly into Juliette's eyes. "Why do I keep having them? I just can't shake the feeling that something is wrong."

"You are going to drive yourself mad thinking like that," Juliette said, her voice taking on a stern tone. "You should be taking things easy at this point in time. Stop worrying about a few meaningless dreams."

Sydney knew that Juliette was probably right in what she was saying, the same thing that Vaughn had been telling her all along. But she didn't accept it, it was as if she couldn't.

Until she had her child, safe in her arms, these dreams would continue to plague her.

"I'll see you soon, maman." Vaughn said, wrapping her in a tight hug. "Thanks for today."

"It was nothing," Juliette replied nonchalantly. "You know how much I love having Christmas here."

Vaughn grinned. "Yeah."

"Oh, I thought that I'd drop by during the week. Give Sydney a little distraction from everything."

"That would be great," Vaughn said.

"You be there for her, Michael."

"Maman, there is no where else that I would be. You, of all people, should realise that."

"I do." She gave him a nostalgic smile. "You get more and more like your father everyday."

Vaughn's expression turned slightly sombre. "I really wish that he was here. I've never wanted that more than now…not even when we won that state hockey championship in high school."

Juliette laughed softly. "Michael," she put a hand on his arm. "I've said this many times, but he is here. As you said before, there is no other place that he would be. He's been watching you every step of the way- marriage, babies and hockey."

Vaughn smiled as he pulled his mother into his arms. "Love you, maman."

"Love you, too."

When they got home late that afternoon, Vaughn went out for a quick run.

"It's not fair," Sydney complained. "My feet are itching for a run."

"Well, come with me. We'll go for a walk instead."

"I don't want to walk, I want to run," Sydney replied, trying to sound as much as petulant child as she could.

Vaughn grinned as he gave her a quick kiss. "Well, we're on the home stretch, Syd. Won't be long before you can."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Sydney grumbled good-naturedly. "Just quit rubbing it in my face and go."

He was gone for about half and hour, and when Vaughn returned, he could find no sign of Sydney.

"Syd?" he called out.

"In here." Her voice came from the direction of the nursery.

"Hey," Vaughn stopped in the doorway. "What are you doing in here?"

Sydney looked up from where she was sitting on the rocking chair. "Just thinking," she replied.

"About what?"

"About how scared I'm getting."

"Syd, is this about the dreams? Because…" he trailed off as Sydney shook her head.

"This isn't about my dreams- though they're still freaking me out," she said with a small smile.

"So then what?" Vaughn asked, gently.

"It's like a fear of the unknown. We've never been parents before and in a few weeks time we are going to be thrown into the roles of our life. What if we stuff this up, Vaughn? It's not as if it's something that we can go back and redo. This is a living, breathing human being we're going to be in charge of. I know that we think that we are ready for this, but actually doing it is a whole other ball game."

Vaughn came across and crouched beside the chair. "You're not alone on this, Syd. I've been freaking a little too."

A look of relief crossed Sydney's face. "Why didn't you say something?"

Vaughn shrugged. "I didn't want to worry you."

Sydney smiled. "So then, what do you think we should do about it then?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing?"

"Sure. Every new parent surely experiences something like this and when the time comes, we are not going to have to do this alone. We've got our parents, Amy, Dixon, Keely and even thought they're probably as clueless as us, I'm pretty sure that the rest of our friends are going to be there to help as much as they can."

"I have a feeling that if Aunty Francie gets her own way, we're never going to see this baby," Sydney said. "Except when it's screaming it's head off or in need of a nappy change."

Vaughn laughed. "Yeah, well I have an inkling that Uncle Eric will be giving Aunty Francie a run for her money."

"Right," Sydney agreed. "And add Grandpa and Grandmère into the equation." She threw up her hands. "I don't know what I was so worried about. We're not going to be the ones raising this child."

With a grin, Vaughn stood up. "We need a veg out session. The couch with an obscene amount of movies. What do you reckon?"

"Sounds good to me," Sydney replied and Vaughn went to walk out of the room. "Uh, Vaughn." Her voice stopped him.

"Yeah?"

"Can you…" She gave him a conceding look.

"You didn't really think this through, did you, Bristow?" Vaughn said as he reached out, grabbed her hand and hoisted her out of the rocking chair.

Sydney pulled a face. "I know. I think I leave the rocking chair until after this baby is born."

"I think that's a good idea, Bristow."