AN: So it took me long to update, but here it is.

Next post however will take some time, because it's 5% written at this point. So, well. See you in late February, I suppose ;) And no amount of hurrying me up will help here. In fact, it tends to have a detrimental effect.

liysyl, HarnGin: The Bennets definitely behaved outrageously and Lizzy was right to kick them out.

(3 chapters left until the end)

Christmas morning dawned bright - terribly bright - and it was full of noises like 'squee!' 'leggo!' 'mine!' and 'Momma!'. Therefore all parents (and godparents, and aunts...) migrated downstairs, yawning like crocodiles and slightly bleary.

The girls from Yola up were guarding the heaps of presents heroically, diving from time to time for some package in order to stave off the attack of the non-yet-reading kids. Finally, Charles, Jane and Mary had disabled the assailants, allowing the more lettered ones to play the role of pyjama-clad Santa's helpers, delivering the successfully defended presents to their intended recipients.

Elizabeth had curled up on the sofa, digging her toes in under William's thigh and wrapping her mobile hand around a cup of coffee, while Evan, obviously led by some chronicler's reflexes, took photos of everyone and everything.

Adele and Lydia looked rather surprised when each of them had received a few packages of their own, but Elizabeth had also espied some small items being placed in others' hands that had definitely been wrapped by her youngest sister - the violent pink and mint green of the wrap simply screamed 'Lydia'.

#

Jimmy was sitting and watching, fascinated, as the keys on the little plastic keyboard lit up to the rhythm of the song.

"It can be put on quiet and let him try to repeat the melody," Elizabeth advised and Mary fished out the instruction booklet from under the heap of paper, looking for the way to turn the volume slightly down.

Charles allowed Evelyn to run around in her dinosaur-shaped green fleece hat and knit gloves with felt claws and entertained Johnny with a package of Duplo blocks with animal figures. Yola and Bella were trying not to shake too much of excitement over a shared box of assorted beads and cords - a proper real set, not one of these store-bought 'jewellery kits' that anyone could have bought without thinking much about it, full of peeling plastic pseudo-pearls and uneven acrylic 'crystals'. Elizabeth had carefully chosen it by herself from her own stash and several online beadshops, picking the brands she knew would deliver the quality for reasonable price.

Jackie was still helping Rose and Mina to distribute the presents, and - to everyone's consternation - Adele joined them in the effort, quietly delivering the grownup gifts around the table.

Aggie was squealing with joy over the kid-sized sewing machine (fully functional!) while Nat sat on the floor by her chair, hugging an unopened box of Meccano construction set (5 different models of motorcycles). There were other presents for the younger twins waiting around them, but is seemed these two had hit the bullseye and Elizabeth was quietly proud of herself. Kitty was giving her an evil eye from over her own Meccano set of Pocket Bike, while Ted was trying not to collapse with laughter any time he saw his wife with a box of construction blocks.

In general, it seemed that her presents - although she failed to make as many as she usually did with her own two hands - were quite well received, including the varied artisan cosmetics she had at the last minute purchased on a whim at the local soap shop in Matlock.

She relaxed further and leaned back. Soon, quite soon Rose would find her main present. Considering the way she held on to Elizabeth's own guitar after the concert... Ah. Here it was.

A small lull in the general buzzing of all voices.

Mina looking at Rose with wide eyes.

Rose's wide eyes.

"Mine?" her voice broke suddenly. "A-ah, I...!"

"You got a guitar, just like you wanted, see?" Mina pushed the bagged instrument into Rose's limp arms. "You don't have to spend your prize money on it now!"

"I, but..."

"If it makes it any easier, the back of the tag says you are supposed to share it with me when I decide to finally start learning how to play it," the younger sister pointed out. "You should have look at it, hm?"

"I-I should?"

"Yes, you ninny. Open that bag and show us... oooh."

Elizabeth felt William's grip on her ankle tighten as Rose's eyes opened wide at the sight of the dark purple finish and dark blue details. She ran her hands over the coloured wood and fingered the woven strip decorated with floral pattern.

"Ooh, pretty!" her sister vocalised for the two of them, while Rose nodded frantically and sat down, cradling the instrument to herself.

Elizabeth sighed with relief, until the very last minute unsure whether Rose wouldn't see the gift as an attempt to pressure her into learning. A passing remark from Mina, saying with regret that their gift certificates were split between shops in such a way that Rose couldn't buy herself a guitar, provided a glimmer of hope, but that was only after the competition! While the guitar had been at the house already for a week prior!

There were books - everyone got at least two - cosmetics, some random gag gifts - William was given a huge block of eraser with a caption "FOR REALLY BIG MISTAKES" - scarves, small kitchen items - Kitty was a collector of novelty ice cubes trays, of all things - some stereotypically not age-appropriate objects (starting with Kitty's construction kit and ending with a sparkly set of pink and purple hair ties addressed to Elizabeth) and an extension box of marble run, matching the one the twins had fallen in love with in London. Richard and Evan received a machine that shot paper airplanes - "So that you also have an Air Force installation in your household" and were now wooing Jackie, who had just torn the wrapping away from a thick book of paper airplane designs (paper included).

Suddenly, Adele was approaching them on the sofa, holding a rather thick package of a vaguely big book-ish proportions.

"Aunt Lizzy?" she asked somewhat hesitantly. "I... this is for you. Both."

"Thank you, Delly," Elizabeth freed her of the object and watched her scurry back to where Rose and Mina were working out the recipient of yet another package.

####

The dining room was full of people. It was warm, it was loud, it was lovely. Georgiana sat on the floor next to Yola, who was now considering carefully which LEGO Technic box to tackle first, while Bella was already trying out her new brush markers on a piece of paper.

Georgiana's presents - in a small, neat tower placed safely by her hip - were all thoughtful, somewhat funny and rather fitting, but that really didn't matter. What mattered were the people. Elizabeth's family surrounded them, filled the big old house with noise and laughter and inappropriate remarks at the worst possible moments and they made it so alive. She could look back at the Christmases past and the best one she could find was when aunt Catherine had accepted an invitation from her brother and taken Anne with her - uncle Henry had carefully phrased it in such a way that she never questioned why William, Rose and Georgiana were not included in it.

Thankfully.

But this? This was the best Christmas ever in her life. Now and in the future. Even if other holidays would come, with more or different people or with more children, this one would forever be the golden standard of Christmases for her to hold others against.

She looked up when the atmosphere in the room changed.

Silence.

All the children stopped chattering, as one.

Elizabeth was crying, shaking in the circle of William's arms. Her face hidden in her hands, bent over a large book. William's hands all over her shoulders and back.

Oh, God.

She turned to see her nieces, who were now sitting, completely white-faced, Rose's guitar and Mina's knitting mill forgotten in their laps.

William pulled Lizzy closer, kissing her temple and saying something too softly for Georgiana to hear, but it seemed to settle her down. Rose and Mina still looked too terrified to move. Georgiana caught Mary's eye from across the room and nodded at the twins. Mary rolled her eyes expressively, checked on Jimmy (up to his elbows in a bucket of snowflake-shaped construction blocks) and rose to have a look the girls.

Oh, my. Lizzy took it much harder than they expected.

And she, Jane and Mary had helped.

She winced as she joined Mary almost at the same moment as Jane sat next to Elizabeth.

"I'm sorry, Lizzy," they heard her say. "I thought it was a splendid idea. They wanted you to have an album of the both of them... I brought over my photos and Mary found hers from the time when you were living with her, and Georgiana helped with Rose's part..."

Elizabeth gulped for air and shook her head at the same time.

"No-not..." she hugged Jane tightly. "I just can't stop... Oh, Jane! All of you, you... I just can't think!"

"Come on, kids," Charles stood up abruptly. "Let's make a little cleanup here, to make sure no toy is lost with the papers and we can let aunt Lizzy rest a bit, hmmm?"

He herded most of the little ones away, leaving Jimmy (still focused on his bucket of blocks) and the twins (still sitting stiffly, unsure how to proceed). Georgiana nodded at Mary and each of them put a hand on the shoulder of her respective goddaughter.

"Come on," they pushed a bit, making the girls stand up. "We have to talk to them. All of us."

####

Elizabeth didn't know what to say. She opened the album on the first page - Georgiana's old photo of both girls together, cribs side by side, each sleeping in her own little cocoon, and it still hadn't hit her yet.

But as soon as she turned the stiff cardstock, she felt as if her heart wanted to leap out of her chest.

Twins first birthday.

She had felt so poorly that week that she made a couple cupcakes to hold the single candles, and that much only because she knew that if she didn't do something, a certain someone would have bought an extravagant cake and lord (or lady) it over her to no end. This way she had at least marked her involvement.

Despite the fact that all she wanted to do was to curl up on a settee in the nursery and sleep.

Right now all she wanted was for everyone to stop looking at her in such terror. Including her own daughters. And her oldest sister.

Jane said something and it forced her to answer, she wasn't sure what exactly and if it even made sense, but there was movement around them and Charles was herding the kids across the room. In seconds, Mina and Rose were standing in front of her, terrified to the bone that they had done something wrong and she was explaining to them that quite to the opposite, they were wonderful, so wonderful and she never ever wanted all of them to be separated, and that the present was lovely and she just couldn't really stop crying, but she was not angry.

They sank into a three-way hug, and with William's arms coming around them, Elizabeth finally quieted, her shivers subsiding.

"I'm sorry, Mom," Mina sighed into her shoulder. "I thought you... We wanted you to have them all in one place... And we..."

"They have captions," Rose blurted out. "All the important stuff."

A loud *snick* brought them back to reality and they all looked up at Kitty, who was standing there with a sheepish smile, waving a small square of paper in the air.

"You will have one more to add to that huge album," she handed the photo to Elizabeth and they watched as the picture slowly developed and focused in front of their eyes.

"And many, many more," William whispered into her hair. "I'm not letting go of you, ever again."

"You'd have to pry me off with a crowbar."

####

Mina spent the rest of the week either sleeping off the exhaustion of December or glued to her phone, texting with Teddy (who managed to convince her finally that his mother wasn't blaming her for the disastrous outcome of her gift and that she was in fact in awe of Mina's singing abilities) so Rose was mostly left to her own devices. Or rather, to their cousins' company.

The huge house allowed almost unlimited space to play hide-and-seek (with several restrictions added by the adults, starting with "no door slamming"), but the best moment came when the snow started to fall at last, despite the not-so-promising forecast.

The next morning Rose, helped by Dad, managed to unearth two differently sized wooden sleds (one with a backrest), two pairs of plastic skis and a few smaller, apple-shaped sled-like objects that she couldn't recall ever having used. Dad just sighed, smiled innocently and stripped the last one of its label.

"Yes, I bought them last week. Just in case."

In half an hour all the cousins (and her sister) were dressed warmly and toddling around the garden, gathering the snow and sending first shy snowballs towards each other - or their parents.

Jimmy, under Mom's care, started rolling up something that looked - if one was a tolerant cousin - almost like a snowman, while aunt Mary turned to have a rather deft hand at smacking people with well-aimed snow projectiles.

Pretty soon everyone except for Mom, Jimmy, aunt Kitty and Johnny was running around the lawn trying to scoop up some snow and lob it at someone else - a kind of all-on-all snow battle.

Then there was a walk up the hill and sledding down. Another walk up, some more sledding. Uncle Charles holding a shrieking Johnny - shrieking with laughter, fortunately. Evelyn throwing herself dramatically onto one of the plastic sleddies and getting stuck at the top of the hill because of the accumulated snow and the fact that she was much too light. Aunt Mary pulling Jimmy along on a path, using the high-backed sled. Yola trying to ski for the first time ever - good think the plastic skis could be attached to any shoes. Jackie managing to bring down an entire branchfull of snow directly on her head...

By the time Dad called them to go back to the house, everyone was slightly sore, rather wet, very tired and murderously hungry.

Just as they should be.

#

Rose would never know later who had brought the chocolate Santa Claus to the table, but the whole experience was rather eerie and Evelyn's involvement certainly didn't help. Also, someone would have to tell uncle Richard to check which child he was answering in the future.

On the third day of proper snow fun, when all the shoes were soaked through and the heaters all around the house were surrounded by drying trousers, jackets, hoodies and socks, Mom suggested hot chocolate. It was received with general applause, so Mom and aunt Jane disappeared into the kitchen in order to prepare the treat in sufficient quantities to satisfy all the hungry mouths. Other sweets were also brought forth and Sonia (one of the students Dad had hired to help), with Rose's assistance, served tea and coffee.

The chocolate Santa had been sitting there though that whole time and finally Jackie asked if it wouldn't be a good idea to maybe eat him because after all chocolate can't wait forever, right? The expiry date was checked and confirmed to be rather short, so it was quickly agreed that the heavy figurine should be divided into reasonable pieces with a knife.

Evan was dispatched to the kitchen in search of an adequate tool and came back equipped with a medium-sized, heavy... cleaver.

The next steps of the proceedings were documented by aunt Jane with her phone, allowing them to later review the progressive dismemberment of the chocolate saint.

Everything was coming along nicely and Jackie was already leaning forward in order to pick up a piece of red-tinted chocolate when Evelyn climbed one of the chairs, looked at what the grownups were doing and asked with displeasure "But, Dad, why are you murdering Santa?"

Uncle Charles froze - the cleaver in his hand mid-way through Santa's sternum - and looked in panic at his youngest daughter.

"Because it's after Christmas already," answered uncle Richard in a - by Rose's estimation - rather absentminded fashion. She heard one of the adults make a small whooshing sound of panicked inhale.

Fortunately for everyone the explanation seemed to satisfy the little elf and uncle Charles could proceed to cut the Santa up into edible chunks, if with less jocularity than he had presented before.

To add to the slight creepiness of the situation, Evelyn snatched a section of the Santa's head and spent the next twenty minutes nibbling on it with gusto. And making a lot of rather disgusting sounds.

Their family was decidedly weird.

Rose smiled and leaned back on the sofa, biting into one of the Santa's shoes.

It was very good chocolate.

####

A visit to the hospital freed Elizabeth of the cast and left her with a small, lightweight brace. And that in turn meant that on the thirty-first, early morning, she and William said their farewells to the family and drove to Lambton, where they switched to a rented car and turned towards to London.

"What do you think about Lydia?" she finally broke the silence as they joined the traffic on the highway. "I... I think she had improved significantly."

"She was markedly quiet. And Adele... Well, at the beginning she did behave as if she suspected us all of making fun of her, but on Wednesday she seemed as relaxed as the rest of the kids."

"I think being away from my parents did them a world of good," Elizabeth sighed. "Are you... I mean... About my parents..."

"Yes, they are still a pair of awful grumpy trolls, even from the distance of a week," he said decisively. "And I won't apologise for saying this."

She leaned back in her seat (not as comfortable as the Jaguar, by any means) and sighed.

"I hoped they would be different," she said, turning to the window. "I hoped they'd see how well everyone is together, how we are together, how good we are and that they'd just stop being so obtuse."

"Some people can't be reasoned with," he patted her knee blindly. "Now, get some sleep, love. It will be a nightmare on the plane, and the flight is three hours."

#

It was and it wasn't.

For one, William had sneakily upgraded their tickets to business class, which meant they had space, quiet (relative) and limited contact with their fellow passengers. And the flight was not that bad, as flights go, but still sleep was out of the question (the seats were nowhere as comfortable as the ones in their Jag, or even in the rental) and the changes in air pressure soon had Elizabeth searching her bag for ibuprofen, as he head started pounding in reaction.

Somewhere in economy a child reacted to these pressure changes by crying piteously and that didn't help at all, grating on her nerves terribly. Fortunately their descent at Helsinki wasn't interrupted in any way and pretty soon they were out, on the ground and retrieving their luggage.

"So, looking at the schedule Jane had written out for me, today we just have time to..." she frowned and then sighed in annoyance. "Yeah. Point one, switch your watch two hours forward. Our mobiles should do it by themselves..."

"Then we go to the hotel and get dressed up a bit," he interrupted her smoothly, "we have a table reserved in the restaurant on the top floor of our hotel, we will watch the city festivities from a safe distance, drink some champagne and then retire at a reasonable hour in order to venture out tomorrow. But first, let's pick up the car. It should be waiting for us already."

#

The restaurant offered a fascinating mix of Scandinavian and Russian dishes and trying to decipher the meaning behind their complicated names (and their English translations) took them most of the evening. Finally, by the time the dessert rolled around and they were faced with a small heap of varied sweets, the concert outside had started and they were settled with some tea, miniature cheesecakes, bilberry pies, almond shortbread, tiny star-shaped plum tarts and blini. The whole assortment was pleasant, even despite the fact that it was apparently offered with vodka - which they both hastily declined. Tea was good enough.

"And tomorrow, I suppose, we go for a walk?"

"Everything will be closed, so I think it will be a day for architecture," William agreed, sipping his tea. "Jane made some suggestions, for example the train station... Well, National Museum will be closed tomorrow, I suppose, but there are some areas of the town and several interesting churches that we could see."

"Then on Tuesday I have a strict order from Jane to go to the biggest local hypermarket available and check the home textile section, aisle by aisle. Not sure what she means, but I'm sure she has something specific in mind."

#

The light display was rather interesting, but as they retired to their room, Elizabeth felt the call of their bed was much stronger than her fascination with the colourful performance outside. Apparently, so did William.

"Are we becoming a middle-aged couple then?" she sighed into his arm as they burrowed under the covers and the city around them went crazy, celebrating the arrival of 2018. "No fun, early to bed..."

"I can definitely guarantee, Mrs Darcy, that going to bed with me is nowhere close to 'no fun'," he mock-growled as he pulled her flush to his body.