25th December 2020

At 3am, they were woken up. Will groaned, despite being used to this. At just over one month old, Siena was a beautiful, charming little baby- who definitely took after her mum- but was a 'little devil' at night (in Will's words).

She likes to show everyone that she had a perfect set of lungs- despite Will telling her that they did not need reminding.

Fenisha, who had just woken up beside him, yawned and rolled over to face him.

"Merry Christmas," she murmured sleepily.

At 8, Siena woke up again, 2 hours after waking up at 6. This time, they didn't put her back to bed, and after changing her into some warm clothes, they carried her through to the living room.

"Don't forget we've got Ethan coming at one," Will said, as he started to get breakfast ready. They'd decided to ask Ethan over for Christmas, and as he was working the Christmas Eve night shift he'd agreed. Will's shift started at 8pm, so he had the whole day to be with them.

He usually went home for Christmas, and he'd decided to take some time off early in January to take them to meet his family. He hadn't told his family a lot about Fenisha, but he had told them she was pregnant, and when Siena was born.

At exactly 1 pm, there was a knock on the door. Will went to answer it, as Fenisha was currently feeding Siena.

"Hi Ethan, Merry Christmas!"

"Merry Christmas Will,"

"Come in, Christmas dinner is almost ready," Will said.

"Hi Ethan," Fenisha said as she came out of the living room. "Siena is asleep, so we should probably have lunch soon, then you can say hi to her,"

"Sounds good- and I know you said you didn't any presents but I thought Siena might want something,"

Will grinned. "Siena liked shopping as well... she might have got something for you too."

After lunch, which was comprised of the traditional turkey and other christmas-y things (the crackers were carefully cut open to avoid loud bangs which might startle the baby) they all went into the living room, where Siena had just woken up.

She settled quickly, and was quite content with being cuddled for the time being, so Fenisha passed her over to Ethan. He gave them a box that was wrapped in red and green wrapping paper, and a card.

After opening the card, which had a picture of penguins on it, they opened the box. It was a collapsible play mat for babies, which had a teepee- style roof with little animals dangling down.

"I wasn't sure what to get, but it said it's good for babies as they develop-"

"It's perfect Ethan. Thank you,"

Fenisha said, moving to hug him.

"Here," Will said, passing Ethan his present.

Will and Fenisha had given Ethan a dark blue stethoscope, which was engraved in the back with the words 'for love and laughter'.

"She will always love you, Ethan. Because you love her."

Ethan smiled. "Thank you," he whispered. "Thank you so much."

The cats were enjoying playing with the wrapping paper, while Ethan, Will and Fenisha drunk coffee (Fenisha with decaf) and watched Siena play on the play mat. She couldn't sit up yet, but was quite happy with laying on her back and pulling off the little animal toys that were attached by Velcro to the top.

"Shall we go for a walk?" Will suggested.

"Yeah, good idea," Fenisha agreed.

They looked out of the window- and saw a blanket of snow carpeting the streets.

It hadn't snowed since the night they'd brought their daughter home, despite the minus number temperatures they'd experienced all through December.

"Wow. I always used to dream of a white Christmas as a kid," Ethan breathed. "Do you still want to go out?" He asked.

"Yeah, it should be fine. We've got lots of blankets and stuff. It might snow again though," Will said.

"We should probably bring a waterproof cover for the pram just in case." Fenisha agreed.

They went out at 4, by which time there was enough snow to cover the ground in a thick layer, but it had mostly been cleared from the pavements so it was easy to push the pram along. The flat was a little way away from the centre of the city, so it took a while to get there.

They were along the river when they saw two boys playing on the ice.

"That doesn't look very safe," Ethan whispered.

Will shook his head. Suddenly, they hear a sharp cracking. His eyes widened. Running down to the river bank, he arrived just in time to see the younger of the two disappearing under the ice.

He knew what he had to do. Pulling off his shoes and coat (they would drag him under) he jumped in. Nothing could prepare him for the sheer iciness of the water around him. Looking around, he saw the child screaming and splashing in the water. He could only have been about 6.

In the distance, he heard his name being called. The child disappeared under the water again- he did not resurface. Trying to block out the mind-numbing chill, he dived under.

He'd done survival swimming in secondary school- which had been done in the Celtic sea in September. He'd thought that had been cold- but it was nothing compared to this.

He grabbed the boy by his waist, dragging him up to the surface, trying to resist the urge to fall into the shadowed depths of the river. Finally he resurfaced, coughing and spluttering. He heard voices- what were they saying? He couldn't focus on anything but the frigid, icy shock that hit his soaked head when he gasped for air.

He looked around; the ice had cracked all down the river, leaving shards of it floating like icebergs in the water. Weakly, he made his way for the edge, still dragging the child with him. His mind seemed to be frozen over- he couldn't think, all he knew was that he had to get to the edge.

The water was too fast though, the current too strong. The river was winning.

A cry jerked him into reality. Then he remembered a name. A baby. A woman. Love.

A new burst of energy erupted in him. He had to reach the bank. He grabbed a branch. His fingers were almost to cold to hold on, yet somehow he did. His other arm was almost frozen solid around the boy he was holding.

He felt the warm breath of a child on his neck. Strong arms reached for them, prising the young one from his arms. They reached for him next, pulling him out of the water, onto the snow.

The energy was all gone. He felt as if his breath was stolen away.

That cry again. That voice. Those hands. The other voice. He knew it from somewhere... a dream? No. A life. A life full of happiness, and smiles. For love and for laughter.

And he breathed.

Longer chapter to make up for not updating yesterday.

Well that was a massive twist! Bet no one saw that coming (I didn't either- it literally only came to mind as I was writing it!!)

Kind of hard to write seeing as it's Summer at the moment, so I rewatched s34 e22 (the one where Duffy dies) which kind of got me in the mood.

Merry Christmas (for 5 months and 2 days)