Thank you for the reviews.

This... is something. I think I was originally going for a different angle for this but it became this... for some reason.

Set during 2012.

Day Eighteen
Wrapping

Rachel is bad at wrapping, getting frustrated with it and using way more tape than necessary, while Eddie is quickly wrapping beautiful presents and Rachel is equally jealous and in awe.

Word count: 1,731

Eddie couldn't help but let out a sigh after he carefully shut the door to the nursery after getting Connor to finally fall asleep. He cracked Isobel's door open slightly just to make sure that she was asleep and Eddie could finally say that peace had descended over the Lawson household.

It had been a trying year with Isobel not really understanding that Rachel was pregnant and, therefore, Rachel couldn't do the same things that they used to do together while Eddie was at work (especially in the later stages of the pregnancy). Then there was Connor's early birth and Rachel wishing that she had never suggested having another after both of them started to descend into their own personal postnatal depression. Isobel (only being two years old or 28 months) didn't understand any of this and Eddie could only imagine that her separation anxiety had stemmed from their depression. Meaning that Isobel loved playschool for the first couple of weeks before Rachel refused to fight with her when Isobel would refuse to go in, clinging to her.

It was something that Eddie had argued about with Rachel, leading to them to realise what was happening to them. So they came up with a routine. Just so they could try and keep their heads above water. Every other day, Rachel would go to Eddie's parents, just so she had some company as well as someone to help entertain Isobel while Rachel attempted to sort out all her problems regarding her feeling like she wasn't bonding with Connor like she had done with Isobel. Once Eddie was home, he took the kids off her, leaving Rachel to do something to relax, whether that was to read a book or to have a bath, while he attempted to sort out his worries about him and Connor.

There was a long road ahead of them but Eddie felt like they were making some progress every day (with more progress on some days than others).

He made his way down the stairs, with the thought that he needed to spend some quality time with his wife (before they forgot how to do that as well) when he heard her swear. A smile rose on his face as he stepped off the last step and moved to lean against the doorframe of the living room.

"What are you doing?" Eddie asked.

"I want to stay on top of it this year." Rachel said, still trying to do her task.

"Right."

"If we do a bit each night, then there won't be the rush to do it on Christmas Eve." She turned to him. "Oh, and your parents are going to have the kids tomorrow so we can finish up. Christmas shopping."

"A couple of hours to ourselves."

"I was thinking of getting them there for about half 10 and us having lunch out. Picking them up mid to late afternoon."

"They are being a handful at the moment," Eddie said as he walked into the room and sat on the floor, with his back leaning against the sofa, next to Rachel.

"I just didn't think that it would be this hard. I know…"

"Hey, we know why." He said to stop her from saying anything more.

"But why didn't this happen with Isobel?"

"Because Isobel was a normal enough pregnancy and Connor was early and you weren't feeling well throughout the pregnancy and she… for me, she was a girl and it seemed better. I don't know, Rachel. I don't know why it has been so much harder this time. But this is just… a blip. Connor will grow up and we will get better and before we really know it, he will be 18 and leaving home to go to university and we won't even remember feeling like this."

Rachel leant against him for a moment and Eddie couldn't help but feel the peace that he had felt upstairs, knowing that the kids were finally asleep. Her hand rested on his thigh as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders. He placed a kiss in her hair, glad that things weren't too bad that they couldn't be this way with each other.

"Okay, Lawson." Rachel said as she tapped his thigh. "I think it is about time you taught me the secret of wrapping."

"Really?"

"I mean," She said as she held up the present that she had just wrapped, "I don't think anyone would say that this is well wrapped."

"How have you got a bit still showing?"

Eddie watched as Rachel turned the present back to herself, noting where she hadn't managed to properly line up the wrapping paper and she hadn't overused the paper.

"Well, I'll have to unwrap it, won't I?"

Eddie took the present out of her hands to stop her from ripping the paper. They could use it for something else if it could be salvaged.

"Come on then, Mason. I think we will start with a box of chocolates." Eddie said, feeling determined that she was going to get it this time.

Rachel was sure at some point she would get the wrapping. It just seemed to not be at this point as she was trying to tell herself that it wasn't the end of the world that she couldn't seem to wrap the bottle of wine that they had brought for their sisters/sisters-in-law. She huffed before she realised that this could be the bottle for her sister, meaning that if it was wrapped awfully it would either take less time for Melissa to unwrap it and open it and to get drunk or it would take more time for her to unwrap it, open it and get drunk.

With Rachel remembering how Melissa had been around Eddie's family, she could only imagine that the day that Melissa, Philip and Katie were going to spend at Eddie's parents was going to be the same and Melissa only seemed to want to get as drunk as she could as quickly as she could. She could not be looking after a 29-month-old, a three-month-old and a 38-year-old. Meaning that the latter option was better for Rachel.

"Give me the tape." Rachel said.

"Why?"

"Because if there is going to be one badly wrapped present, then it is going to be Melissa's."

"What do you have planned?" Eddie said as he handed over the tape.

She didn't answer him as she found the end of the tape and placed it on the wrapping paper around the neck of the bottle before she just wound it around until she reached the top, where she cut it off and stuck it down before she moved to attack the bottom of the bottle with the sellotape.

"Rachel, darling, there is more tape on that than wrapping paper."

"And if my own thoughts are going to ruin Christmas, I am not going to allow Melissa to as well."

"Right."

"I… I can't have her getting drunk at another family gathering. The things she said last time."

"Wait, what did she say last time? Was this at Isobel's second birthday?"

Rachel had forgotten that she hadn't told Eddie, meaning that she must have been giving him a look of horror as she turned to him. It must have meant that Zoe hadn't said anything to him about it, like Rachel had asked her to do.

"It doesn't matter." She said, trying to brush it off.

"What did she say, Rachel?"

"She umm… She told me that she didn't think that this was me."

"What was you?"

Rachel took a shaky breath. "The whole… married with kids thing. I probably just took more offence because I was hormonal because I was pregnant and…"

"Rachel, you probably didn't. And you wonder why you are suffering if you don't think your own sister has your back." Eddie paused and Rachel was sure what was going to come next. "Wait, was that Zoe came to find me to tell me you were upset?"

"I asked her not to say anything."

"Then can I ask her? Because I am unsure whether I am going to get more out of you."

"Eddie, it's not a big deal."

"It is if it is still upsetting you. Rachel, I did mean our vows. That I will support you through difficult times, rejoice with you through happy times. I think we are currently in the difficult times."

"I didn't want to worry you."

Eddie reached over and took the bottle out of her hand and placed it to the side.

"I think we need to find Melissa a different present, don't you? And I'll have a word with the others. I am sure that they will understand. It isn't going to be like that again. Just because she is jealous that you have three sisters-in-law that you actually get along with because they don't use you like she does."

"I do always feel at home with your family."

"That is because you fit right in." He said with a smile.

She, somehow, managed to return it before she moved to sit next to him, hugging him from the side and resting her head on his shoulder.

"I've had enough." She said.

"Okay."

"But I wouldn't mind watching my wonderful husband as he beautifully wraps the last few."

"Of course, you wouldn't." He said before placing a kiss on her forehead. "Watching the master at work."

"Alright, just get on with it."

"Yes, boss."

Rachel was sure that there would be more to their conversation, even more so when Zoe had told Eddie what Melissa had said to upset her, but that could be why she was struggling with Connor and why she wasn't bonding with him like she had done with Isobel. But Rachel was more than content at that moment to sit there and watch Eddie as he expertly wrapped the presents that they had brought so far while making a plan of how to use their kid-free day and make it work to their advantage.