Disclaimer: I own nothing

OMG I'm here! If I could only tell you all about what has happened in my life in the last few years... well, that would be its own story. The short of it is that I fell off my 3 story balcony and broke my back and now I'm paralyzed in my lower parts and in a wheelchair. That only happened 2 years ago so I have no real excuse for why it's taken me so long to come up with more to write. Anyway, that's my life, I hope you all are well. If you followed me from the very beginning of One Night To Change It All, you probably know that I'm a bit ummm... terrible at updating and I can be a bit all over the place. Lol I have holiday feels but I couldn't decide if I wanted to do Olivia and Alex's first holiday together or if I wanted to do the whole Benson-Cabot clan and just skip a few years ahead for that ficlet. As you'll notice I went with the latter, I just couldn't get the idea of fun and chaos of the first full family holiday. I hope you all will forgive the time jump. I do still want to write just Alex and Olivia's first holiday together so maybe one day that will magically come to me. For now however, I hope you enjoy the Benson-Cabot clan and their first whole families holiday with everyone including a 3 year old Lauren, 2 year old Thomas and ... Melanie, the swearing, drinking, adult toddler. I hope everyone has had a great beginning to 2021. This was supposed to drop over the holiday but, honestly, I was worn out and struggling with BAD pain so I had to put what I'd started on the back burner. But anyway thank you all for still being here with me. This story in the same story family as One Night To Change It All which was how we ended up here. You don't HAVE to read ONTCIA first but it might put things into context. If you don't read it first what you need to know is that Olivia and Alex are married with two kids and Melanie is Alex's best friend from college. Theo is a made up brother I created. Alexander and Catherine are the senior Cabots. This is all fluff and fun and some smut here and there. Just a plain old fun holiday read, ... in January. ;) Please enjoy the insanity of a Benson-Cabot Holiday weekend. Reviews would be very welcome and would probably breath life into me ;)

"Holy shit Al, what the hell did you pack?" Melanie swore as she carried one of Alex's bags to the SUV they had rented for the weekend excursion to the mountains in Vermont with all of Alex's family. "And why the hell can't your wife carry this shit out?"

"First of all, language..."

"They are 2 and 3 Al" Melanie rolled her eyes.

"Yes and if they start swearing I will bury you and and then let Olivia dig you up and bury you again."

"Ahhh the family the threatens together..."

"Second, would YOU like to currently be in charge of tiring out Thomas and Lauren so they'll sleep most the trip?" Alex said pinning Melanie with her trademark stare and raised eyebrow.

"What? You say you packed 57 dead bodies in here? That's great let me just carry that all out to the car for you," Melanie joked as she lifted another bag and carried it to the car.

Just as she was coming back in for another set of bags Lauren came sprinting down the hall naked as the day she was born intent on running out the front door with her mother running behind her attempting to call her name but failing due to her laughter. Swiftly Melanie grabbed the naked 3 year old and flipped her upside down holding her by the ankles.

"Hey Al does this bag go in the backseat or should we just tie it to the roof?" Melanie held Lauren up so her stomach directly in front of her face and blew a raspberry on the little girl's stomach turning her giggles into all out laughter. When Olivia finally reached Melanie and Lauren with a wiggling Thomas in her arms she held out her free arm and Melanie flipped the little girl upright and set her into Olivia's arms.

"Who wants to trade?" Olivia asked staring at her wife and Melanie.

"I'm still finishing packing the kids' things," explained Alex though if you asked Melanie or Olivia they'd tell you they thought she was packing rather slowly considering how organized the woman was. Olivia set her eyes on Melanie. If Melanie was a mean person she would have ignored the pleading look in Olivia's eyes but she took pity on the woman, plus everyone wanted Olivia to actually be awake for the drive to Vermont considering she was the driver.

Melanie made a comical over-dramatic sigh, "Fiiiiiiinnneeeeee, give them to me." Olivia gladly handed her daughter and son over to their Godmother. "Why is one naked and the other isn't?" She asked as she juggled both children.

Olivia looked at Melanie and with an evil grin she stated, "Baths" and then proceeded to laugh out loud.

"What?! No! I take it back I want luggage, I don't care if you fall asleep during the drive, that'll be less traumatic than baths! Take them back!" Olivia just walked over to the remaining luggage and picked up two small suitcases keeping her eyes locked on Melanie and stuck out her tongue before walking to the car. "AL!"

"Nope, sounded like a fair trade, enjoy bath time," she smirked.

"You both are horrible, evil women, you're definitely meant to be together." Melanie sighed and stalked out of the room with two giggling, wiggly children in her arms. It wasn't that she didn't love bath time, it's just that it was always such a mess, at least when she did bath time. Olivia usually always came out of bath time a little more damp than she started and Alex somehow always managed to come out of bath time looking just as dry as when she started.

"She's right you know," Olivia said as she stepped behind Alex and wrapped her arms around Alex's waist. "We are definitely meant to be together," she whispered into Alex's ear before placing a kiss just below her ear. Alex relaxed her shoulders and tilted her head giving the other woman more skin to kiss, which she did until Alex spun around in Olivia's arms and wrapped her arms behind Olivia's head and pulled her into a kiss which instantly deepened when Olivia swiped her tongue across Alex's lips. Alex would never get over that first touch of Olivia's tongue against hers, it never failed to cause her to make a sound. The sounds Alex made ranged from a soft sigh of contentment to an instantly deep husky moan skipping all pretense of innocence. Olivia loved hearing the different sounds Alex made just from that first touch of their tongues; it was like a signal telling her what mood the other woman was in. This time the sound was a soft gentle moan, the sound Alex always made before they spent hours in bed making love until the sun came up or until the world beckoned them back to reality.

Olivia swiped her tongue once more against Alex's before she pulled back from the kiss, "don't make that noise Al. God you know what that makes me want to do."

Alex leaned into Olivia's space and placed her mouth right against the shell of Olivia's ear and husked out, "and what does it make you want to do Olivia?" She felt Olivia shiver and then Alex pulled herself out of Olivia's arms and turned back to packing the last things the kids might need.

"Melanie is right," Olivia groaned, "you ARE a horrible, evil woman."

"YOUR horrible, evil woman," Alex quipped back.

"Damn straight," stated Olivia before she pinched Alex's butt. "That's for teasing me."

"You loved it," Alex retorted with a smile. The flirting between both women was interrupted by a screech from another room. They both ran to find the cause of the noise. Olivia ran to the children's rooms while Alex ran to the bathroom the kids shared. She barely had time to take in the whole scene before she burst out into laughter. Lying flat on her back in the bathtub with her legs in the air flailing around was Melanie looking very much like a wet turtle stuck on it's back. On top of Melanie was Thomas and Lauren barely being held by Melanie as she flailed fully clothed. Olivia caught up with Alex and began laughing at the sight in front of her.

"Stop laughing you assholes and take your damned children," sputtered Melanie as she tried to contain the children so they wouldn't slip or fall and most importantly so their mothers could take them and so she could get up.

Unable to contain their laughter, each woman grabbed a towel from the rack then plucked a child off their swearing Godmother. Unfortunately that wasn't Melanie's only issue, the bathtub was filled with just enough water to drench her and then the rest of the nearly overflowing bathtub was bubbles making the bathtub very slippery. Every time Melanie attempted to gain traction to lift herself up her foot would slip and she would slide right back back down which only made Olivia and Alex laugh harder which in turn made the children laugh because few things were funnier to them than their mommies laughing.

"I swear to God if you don't help me get out of this damn slip n' slide you call a bathtub..." Melanie screeched out before she slipped and disappeared back under the mountain of bubbles. Tears streamed down Olivia's face as she tried and failed to contain her laughter and her now wriggling daughter who seemed so overjoyed at whatever the adults were laughing at that she had to get down at that moment because when you're three that's logical. Olivia passed Lauren off to Alex who was also laughing so hard she had tears running down her face but managed to handle both children well enough while Olivia attempted to help poor Melanie.

"Stop squirming I can't even find you in all these bubbles!" Olivia yelled as she attempted to find a least one body part that she could use to hoist Melanie out.

"If I stop moving I'll drown damnit!" As Olivia was attempting to clear the bubbles to she could find Melanie; Melanie was trying to keep her head above the 3 inches of water and 8 inches of bubbles which only made more bubbles.

"It's like 2 inches deep, you're on your back, the water is barely going to get in your ears much less cover your nose and mouth! STOP MOVING!"

"I could drown in the bubbles!" Melanie sputtered still flailing.

"YOU'RE MAKING MORE BUBBLES!"

"No I'm not that's your fault!"

At this point Alex had to leave the room to put the children into their playpen because she was not holding it together and she figured this needed an ACTUAL adult if they were ever going to get Melanie out of the tub, plus she was laughing so hard she had a true fear that she might drop one of the kids.

Absolutely nothing had changed in the short moments Alex had been gone to put the children down, except that now Olivia was beginning to look like a bubble monster—the more Melanie flailed the more bubbles went everywhere including all over her wife. The swearing and yelling hadn't stopped either.

"I feel like I'm in a bad 3 Stooges episode," Alex sighed before she walked behind Olivia and placed her hands on her hips and gently moved her out of the way. With Olivia out of the way Alex was able grab the tub stopper and the removable shower head. She positioned it above the bubbles in the middle of the bathtub and turned the water on full pressure. If they had a swear jar Melanie would have filled it to the brim in just one sentence. She was using swear words that didn't even exist yet but they were definitely swear words. As the bubbles began to shrink and slowly dissolve Melanie's head and body came into view. When Alex was sure there was more of Melanie than bubbles or water she turned off the water. Melanie stared up at Alex from the bathtub, still on her back, her feet and hands had finally stopped their movement and all she could do was glare at Alex. Both Alex and Olivia were still trying to contain their laughter and both were mostly still failing.

"What. The. Fuck. Al!."

"It worked didn't it?" She answered smugly.

Melanie sighed, "Yeah, sure, fine. Help me out of this goddamn canyon of a bathtub!"

Alex grabbed a towel from the towel rack and held it out to Melanie.

"That's not HELPING AL! Pull me out of here!"

"Help me Olivia will you?" Alex asked and being the dutiful wife Olivia grabbed one of Melanie's hands while Alex took the other and between the three of them they managed to get Melanie standing in the tub. When she made a move to get out of the tub Alex held her hand up.

"No way, you're drenched. At least let me get a few more towels." Before Alex could turn and walk away Melanie grabbed her hand and pulled her into her arms and smothered Alex as much as possible without slipping and falling. "MELANIE!" Alex screeched. She was able to wiggle out of Melanie's "hug" and stood staring at her with her mouth agape.

"But Al I just LOVE YOU SO MUCH," Melanie said as she glared at Alex who was now using Olivia as a shield and her protector. Melanie stepped out of the bathtub and made her way towards Olivia who was backing up with Alex behind her.

"Melanie," Olivia warned but at this point in their lives Melanie knew a real warning and a not-so-real warning. This was the kind that had an unspoken challenge to it; or that's how Melanie always thought of it.

"It's you or her Olivia," Melanie smirked as she continued her advance on the two women.

Once Alex reached the threshold of the door Olivia told her to run and opened her arms for the onslaught that was about to happen, willing to take the heat for her wife. What she didn't expect, though she should have, was that it wasn't one or the other like Melanie warned. The drenched woman darted under Olivia's open arms and after Alex. What ensued was a three person chase around the house that came to an abrupt stop just after the three women ran past their visitors that they had neglected to notice until they heard "ALEXANDRA! MELANIE! And I can't believe I have to say it, OLIVIA!" Alex stopped first and just like the 3 Stooges movie she seemed to have been transported into, Melanie came to a slamming halt into Alex's back, and Olivia into Melanie. They all looked over to where the voice came from and there stood Alexander Cabot, Catherine Cabot, Theo Cabot and a woman that none of the 3 women knew. Alexander pinched the bridge of his nose in an attempt to keep his composure because all he really wanted to do was laugh at how ridiculous the three women looked. Catherine had a look that clearly said she didn't even know what to think. And Theo wasn't sure if he should be laughing or embarrassed given that the woman next to Theo was his girlfriend that had yet to meet his family. To her credit, the girlfriend just stared without any expression. She had heard so much about Theo's sister the ADA and her wife the police lieutenant that she wasn't even sure these were the right people.

After a few quiet seconds Alexander finally spoke, "I would ask what on earth is going on here but I'm not sure I even want to know." He fixed his eyes on Olivia, "I expect more from you Lieutenant," he winked at her before asking "if the monkeys are out here where are the adults, and by that I absolutely mean my grandchildren?"

All three women pointed to the playroom at the same time. Alexander left to find his grandchildren. Catherine who, unbeknownst to anyone during the chastising had taken out her phone. She snapped a quick picture of the three women before walking down the hall to the playroom her laughter bouncing off the walls.

"Georgia," Theo reached for his girlfriend's hand. "I'd like to introduce you to my sister the VERY esteemed ADA and her wife the VERY PROFESSIONAL Lieutenant with the Special Victims Unit," he said as he pointed out the two women. "And that's all," he finished.

"What the hell dude?" Melanie scoffed. "Afraid once she meets me she'll realize she's been dating third place in the family?"

"I might be, if you were actually family," he retorted.

"I'm as much family as you are... sorta. Whatever... Papa Cabot said he'd give me away at my wedding, so I'm basically your big sister." Melanie finished her sentence and stuck her tongue out at Theo.

"Ha, that would have to mean you'd actually keep a girl around for more than a day. The day you get married will be the day I give in and call you family. Georgia, the middle of the weirdo sandwich is Melanie, I'm not sure how we got her but apparently we're stuck with her now. Don't hit on her Melanie," Theo warned.

And because Melanie is who she is, she grabbed Georgia's free hand and bent down to kiss it, "Enchantée Mademoiselle." Both Theo and Melanie knew her flirting was just hollow flirting and there was nothing behind it. Melanie joked about a lot of things but when it came to the Cabots, they gave everything to her and she would never betray what they had given her. But it was always fun to tease and torment Theo.

The elder Cabots returned to the group with their beloved grandchildren. "So what are the chances you three have gotten everything done and we can all leave soon? Once you all dry off that is," questioned Alexander.

"Actually dad," Alex started, "we were right on schedule until we let Melanie take over for tubbie time. I had just finished packing the last few things, all the other bags are in the car and you two clearly found the clothes the kids were going to wear. So minus the drenched clothes, we're ready." Alex knew the drenched clothes negated everything else but was sticking with the confidence of claiming they were ready.

"The three of you have 5 minutes to dry off, get changed and be walking out of the house with everything you need," ordered Alexander. "5 minutes ladies, no longer," he said as he stared at Olivia and Alex.

"Yeah no making out you two, we're on a schedule," Theo added as he laughed.

Four minutes and forty-five seconds later all three women were outside the house, Melanie and Olivia were getting babies sorted into baby seats as Alex locked the house. Once she was sure the house was locked and the alarm was on she walked over to Olivia.

"We still have fifteen seconds," she pointed out.

"Not in front of my eyes you don't," shouted Theo. "God you'd think 2 kids would take the energy out of you but not you two you're like..." Theo was stopped by a snowball straight to the face. "Alright, who did that?!" No one answered as they all climbed into the various cars they'd be taking but if any of them had looked closely they'd have seen Catherine Cabot dusting snow off her gloves with a smirk.

A/N Turns out I'm incapable of writing a ficlet. hahaha