By the way, I really enjoyed writing a certain part of this chapter, see if you can guess which part.
Tonight was Christmas Eve and Jasmine was getting all cozy into the blankets that were on the couch.
"Jasmine, are you sure you don't want to go to sleep in your own bed?" Laurel asked as she finished tucking her daughter in.
"No, I want to see Santa." Jasmine insisted and Laurel rolled her eyes as she double checked the plate they'd set out with cookies with Santa to make sure Jasmine hadn't eaten more than the one she and Oliver had told her she could have.
"Mommy, where's daddy." Jasmine asked.
"He's, uh, out with some friends." Laurel said, since Oliver was currently out with the rest of the team.
"Doing what?" Jasmine asked.
"Something that you are not old enough to ask about yet." Laurel said and Jasmine just nodded, since even though she didn't understand, she recognized mommy's stop asking questions look and tone.
"Good night sweetheart. When you wake up, Santa will have brought you everything that was on your list." Laurel said as she kissed Jasmine's forehead.
"Where's Princess?" Jasmine asked and Laurel smiled as she looked on the floor near the couch and saw her daughter's favorite stuffed canary and picked it up.
"She's right here baby. Have a good sleep." Laurel said as she pulled the blankets up to Jasmine's chin and kissed her one last time before going upstairs.
Later on that night, after Jasmine woke up to see her daddy come home and he'd kissed her goodnight, she woke up again after hearing someone else in the living room and she sat up and this time, she wasn't disappointed when she saw someone putting presents under the tree.
"Santa!" Jasmine shouted happily as she got up and ran over to the St. Nicholas.
"Ho, Ho, Ho." 'Santa' said as he took Jasmine in his arms.
"I knew you'd come." Jasmine said with a grin.
"Hello little girl." Santa said.
"My name is Jasmine Olivia Queen." Jasmine said.
"I know. You were at the very top of my nice list this year." Santa said and Jasmine grinned.
"Did you bring me lots of toys?" Jasmine asked.
"Yes, but you can only get them if you go up to your room and go to sleep like a good little girl." Santa said and Jasmine nodded.
"Merry Christmas Santa." Jasmine said as she hugged him.
"Merry Christmas Jasmine." Santa said as she let go of him and after grabbing Princess, she went up to her room to go to sleep.
When Santa was sure Jasmine was asleep, he went outside through the door to find Oliver waiting for him.
"Thank you so much for doing that." Oliver said as he pulled out his wallet.
"My pleasure. You have the money right?" the Santa asked.
"As we agreed." Oliver said as he pulled out the cash that was owed and paid the Santa, who then left.
The next morning, Jasmine came running back downstairs in her PJs to see all the toys Santa had brought her after she went to sleep and she was not disappointed. There were, in her eyes, a hundred presents underneath the tree, (in reality, there were only 20).
"Mommy, daddy, look." Jasmine shouted in joy at all the presents as Oliver and Laurel came downstairs, Oliver fully dressed, since he'd been up for an hour, while Laurel came down, wearing a robe over her pajamas.
"Looks like Santa really delivered this year." Oliver said as Jasmine made a grab for the nearest present only to have Laurel grab her.
"I want to open my presents." Jasmine complained.
"I know, but we have to wait until we go to Grandma and Grandpa's to open presents with the rest of the family, since that means more presents." Laurel said and Jasmine immediately perked up.
"I don't know Laurel, maybe we can let her open a few presents here." Oliver said and Jasmine looked at her pleadingly.
"Fine. You can open your presents from Santa now, but the rest of them have to wait until we go to Grandma and Grandpa's." Laurel said and Jasmine nodded as she got to work on tearing away the wrapping paper.
"Why did you do that?" Laurel asked.
"Because I think we deserve one memory of Christmas, just the 3 of us, before we get a new addition." Oliver said, referring to Laurel's stomach.
"You ready to tell them all today?" Laurel asked and Oliver nodded.
"We also need to tell them that we've moved up our wedding to the first week of January, so we can make sure we get married while your dress still fits." Oliver said and Laurel nodded.