Christmas In Georgia
For: Maggie (cherrybomb13) & Ashley (Kennedy's Friday Night Delight)
Pairings: Alex Shelley/Aiden (OC), Chris Sabin/Ashton (OC), Edge/Mollie (OC)
Year: 2014
Summary: Aiden invites her friends down to her family's house for a pre-Christmas dinner. Only, it's not as joyous as she wanted. In fact, it's far from it.

Part I: Welcome to Savannah

Lexie was at the front door the moment she heard a car pulling into the driveway. Alex and Aiden followed her, ready to greet their friends.

"You sure you want to do this?" Alex asked his wife, resting his hand on her back. "Is your mum sure she wants to do this?"

"It'll be fine, Ajay and Chris are staying at a hotel and I don't think Mollie will be around much," Aiden smiled up at him. "It'll be fine; she won't even know they're here."

"Mollie!" Lexie shouted, trying to reach the door knob. Alex wiped his hand over his face; he was worried because, while they were not as bad as they used to be, Mollie and Aiden were never going to be best friends.

"Let's go see them!" Aiden said excitedly to her daughter, opening the door and watching Lexie run out to greet the newcomers. The smile on her face was as genuine as ever and she could not contain herself as Adam pulled her daughter Annabelle from the car. Aiden lifted the two-year-old out of Adam's arms and cooed, "Oh, I missed you so much!"

"Mommy!"

After a quick hello to Adam and Mollie, and a kiss to her son Rhett, Aiden directed everybody inside. Lexie was holding free Mollie's hand, jabbering on about the television programmed she had watched earlier that morning, Adam was holding Rhett and Alex was carrying their luggage into the house.

"Mom's at the store, she won't be too long."

Aiden ignored the mumbled, sarcastic comments of Mollie.

Aiden stared out the window at her parent's land as she peeled potatoes at the sink. She always loved going home.

"Are you almost done, sweetheart?" her mum asked, peering over her shoulder.

"Almost," Aiden responded, going back to peeling. Her mum and Nana were the best cooking team she had ever come across and she was happy to be able to share that with her friends.

Originally the plan had been for her to bring up Alex, Lexie and the twins for a few weeks before Christmas before the twins went to Adam's for his turn at Christmas. It had been her dad's idea to invite Adam along, too – no doubt to make sure he was keeping in line – and Aiden had felt the need to extend that invitation to Mollie. Naturally that meant that Ajay, Chris and their kids were to come as well.

Caroline's reaction to hearing that so many people would be staying at her house was one Aiden had never seen before so she quickly had to explain that the Harters would be staying at a hotel. While that appeased her, Caroline did not much fancy the idea of having Mollie staying in her home. Aiden made her and Nana promise to be nice.

"Thank you," Caroline said when Aiden moved the potatoes to the table to be cut up. "Are those boys excited for the game?"

"You bet. If you hadn't been starving them all day they probably wouldn't even eat dinner," Aiden said seriously.

"They best eat." Nana said sternly. "We've been hard at work here."

"They will, I promise." Aiden laughed to herself. It was a crime not to eat Nana's cooking.

They bustled around the kitchen expertly, not getting in anyone else's way. It had always been that way; they all knew each other well enough to know where they were going and as such knew how to avoid running into each other. They all paused momentarily when they heard someone walking towards the kitchen. Mollie Jarrett appeared in the doorway, an unsure look on her face.

"Can we help you?" Nana asked, looking at the blonde with sceptical eyes.

"I was just wonderin' if you needed any help in here. I feel bad that you're doin' all the hard work," Mollie responded in a voice Aiden had never heard her use before. Aiden's surprise was written all over her face: Mollie Jarrett was scared.

"We're all good here. Can't have any inexperienced hands when we have such a limited amount of time to get this on," Caroline responded. Mollie bowed her head and left the three women to their cooking.

"She's trying to be nice," Aiden said for Mollie.

"I can't believe she's even in my house," Caroline grumbled, cutting viciously into one of the potatoes.

Aiden called out to everyone in the house, telling them that dinner was almost ready and they needed to take a seat at the table. The set up had been designed to keep Mollie away from Caroline and Nana for the sake of everyone who was going to be eating.

"This smells absolutely fantastic," Alex somewhat moaned as he inhaled the scent of Christmas dinner. "I need Christmas to be every day."

"If Christmas was every day you wouldn't be wrestling, you'd weigh about 600 pounds and wouldn't be able to move," Aiden teased, smiling up at her husband as he wrapped his arms around her waist.

"Would you still love me if I weighed 400 pounds?"

"No," Aiden answered with a small smile. "You'd have to find someone else."

Alex pouted at her playfully and quickly leaned down to kiss her. He pulled away when Lexie ran into the room and cried out in disgust at the sight.

"Is everyone coming, Lex?"

"Yep!" she exclaimed, sitting at the kids' table ready to bed fed.

Joey came running racing around the corner with Kenzie, Rhett and Annabelle in toe, all heading directly for Lexie and the kids' table. They all started clapping their hands excitedly in an attempt to make their food come out quicker, obviously led by Joey.

"Okay, okay, quiet down!" Adam sighed with an undertone of a laugh as he walked into the room.

A chorus of "we're hungry!" was let out by the kids just as Nana and Caroline started walking into the dining room with plates of food. They all started clapping again at the arrival of their meals. The adults took their seats, Aiden retreating into the kitchen to help serve, and Mollie walked into the room. She had been subdued since arriving in Georgia and it was beginning to unnerve everyone.

When everyone's plates were in front of them, grace was said and they began to eat.

"Ashton, Aiden was saying that you might retire from wrestling?" Ashton looked at Caroline and nodded her head.

"I'm ready to spend time with my kids, you know? I've done everything I wanted to do in the industry so I think it's time hang up my boots."

"I'm sure the kids will appreciate having their mother around." Everyone's heads turned to look at Caroline, the undertone of malice in her voice was not missed by any of the adults. She was very much a housewife and she expected other women to be the same.

Aiden was slightly appalled at her mother's behaviour but said nothing, not wanting to cause a fight.

"And what about you, Mollie? What do you do for a living?"

"I'm a family lawyer," she responded in a small voice. Caroline nodded as she remembered. She did not look impressed or like she cared at all.

Alex took Aiden's hand underneath the table and squeezed it.

He leant over and muttered into her ear, "This is going well."

The Red Wings vs. The Devils was playing on the television, so naturally everyone was gathered around to watch, everyone under the age of 40 anyway.

The three men– Alex, Chris and Adam – sat on the couch directly opposite the television while the women – Aiden, Ajay and Mollie – sat in any other seat they could find. The kids were scattered around the world, sitting anywhere other than on their fathers' laps.

Aiden and Mollie shared looks of exasperation as Ajay joined in the disgruntled groans and angry shouts of the men but it wasn't long before Mollie had joined in. Aiden was used to it, of course. She'd been with Alex long enough to see many hockey games and to now that nothing would stop him or his friends from yelling at the television set.

Annabelle crawled into her mother's lap, somewhat scared with all the loud noises, Lexie was as used to it as Aiden, and the boys were yelling whenever their fathers were.

"Isn't that a prime example of lady-like behaviour," Nana stated as she entered the room with a tray of coffees. Aiden bit her lip as she watched Mollie stand up and leave the room instantly. "Did I say something wrong?" Everyone watched as Rhett stood up and chased after Mollie.

Alex gestured for Aiden to move over to him and she did just that. As Nana left the room, Aiden curled up on Alex's lap and wished her family would play nice.

Aiden turned down the corner of her bed sheets and stood at the edge in silent contemplation. She was going to need to apologise to Mollie on behalf of her family even if they weren't sorry at all.

The children had all been put to bed after the Red Wings won 3-1 and she was ready for a good night's rest. The house would be near empty by dinner tomorrow and she was looking forward to it. That meant it was even sooner that she could go back to Detroit.

"Everything okay?" Alex asked as he walked in and turned off the bedroom light.

"Yeah, just thinking."

"You worry too much," Alex stated as he turned down his side of the bed. They both shimmied under the covers, Aiden's head automatically coming to rest on her husband's chest.

"I have good reason, too."

"Don't worry about Mollie. She's tough." Alex rubbed circles on Aiden's bare arm in an attempt to sooth her.

"She looks downright miserable," Aiden sighed. "I feel terrible."

"Mollie's miserable because she's trying too hard to be good. If she didn't care about pissing off Adam – pissing off you, even – she would be retaliating."

Aiden remained silent and let her mind reel. Christmas was supposed to be a joyous occasion. She supposed it was because Christmas day was still two weeks away and the joy had not yet started to spread.

When she finally did fall asleep she managed to dream of a perfect Christmas dinner with all her family and friends but when she woke up she was brought back into reality.

There was a subtle banging and slamming of doors down the hall that woke her up. Alex was already out of the bed and heading out the door to check what was happening. Aiden followed him hesitantly, unsure of what she was going to find.

"Mollie, you're overreacting," Adam groaned, wiping a hand over his face.

"No," Mollie growled at him. "If that bitch doesn't want me in her house I'm not staying."

"She didn't say that." Adam took hold of Mollie's suitcase stopping her from moving any further down the hall. Neither of them had noticed Aiden and Alex watching them.

"Have you been paying any attention at all? Since we got here yesterday all she and Nana have done is torment me and make me feel like shit. I'm leaving before I do something I regret, okay? I don't want to put the old bat in hospital."

Mollie snatched her suitcase back from Adam and continued down the hall ignoring his questions of where she was going and what she was going to do until their flight later that afternoon. When Adam turned around to see Aiden and Alex he punched a nearby wall.

"Not what you signed up for?" Alex asked with a smirk. "That's not even bad."

"Hey," Aiden scolded him with a slap on the chest. He held his hands up in defence. "Is she okay?"

"Just angry."

"She looked upset," Aiden said pointedly. "What the hell are you still doing inside?"

Adam took the hint and followed his wife out of the house. Alex hugged Aiden to his chest and kissed the top of her head.

"Honestly, she'll be fine."

The sun was setting in the sky when The Martins were saying goodbye to the Harters. Ajay and Chris had come past the house on their way to the airport to thank Caroline and Nana, again, for the dinner, and see Aiden and Alex one last time before they left.

"Thank you for coming down," Aiden smiled at her best friend. "It was good for everyone to be together."

"Yeah, of course. I don't think it'll be happening again, though," Ajay laughed somewhat awkwardly as she remembered the last 48 hours with a cringe.

"I don't want it, too," Aiden admitted honestly. "I think we'll keep it to Michigan next year."

Ajay nodded in agreement and went around hugging everyone one last time.

Aiden held Alex's hand while they watched the car disappear down the driveway and into the street. Everyone knew that this was the first and last time everyone would be invited to the Carlton household for any event. No one was particularly bothered.

Part II: Never Coming Back

Mollie exited the kitchen with gritted teeth. She had had just about enough of Aiden's family and she hadn't even been at the house for 24 hours. Adam's determination to stay there with the twins had made her cave but she was regretting her decision.

She turned a corner to see Alex walking towards her, his destination clearly the kitchen, so she took the opportunity to talk to him, and get some things off her chest. Alex noticed the expression on her face almost instantly. He had been on the receiving end of it many times before and most of the time it didn't mean anything good.

"When Lexi grows up..." There was no use beating around the bush with Alex. He knew her too well. "Are you going to just let Aiden's family tell her that I'm crazy and the reason her mother almost died or are you going to tell her the truth?"

"And what's that Mollie?" he asked, crossing his arms defensively over his chest. It was a bad move and he instantly knew it, fury shooting through her bright blue eyes.

"That you all lied to me!" she all but shouted at him, looking around to make sure she hadn't drawn any attention. She spat at him, "You know damn well I wouldn't have done any of those things if I'd known you were married or that she was pregnant. I'm a pretty terrible person sometimes but even I wouldn't sink that low. And the twins... I'm the reason they're alive if you can't remember. Step momma Mollie made sure mommy Aiden didn't make the worst decision of her life and go through with an abortion - now the worst decision of her life is simply marrying you."

"It's always so great to talk to you, Mollie." He uncrossed his arms and continued towards the kitchen. He had been willing to hear her out but her inability to keep her smart comments to herself had put him off. He didn't want to argue with her. He was tired of arguing with her.

"No, Pat..." Mollie reached out, taking hold of his wrist and turning him around so she could continue talking. Sincerity suddenly filled her voice, though her usual hint of malice was not missing, "I just don't want them to grow up thinking that their step-mother is Satan reincarnate and you know damn well that Nana and Caroline are going to teach them that."

"Why do you call her Nana if you hate her so much?" The question came out of Alex's mouth despite all of the other things he wanted to say.

"Because I don't actually know the old bat's name." Mollie answered flippantly, a careless shrug accompanied it. She noticed yet another wreath hanging on the wall and she rolled her eyes.

"Right..." he couldn't help but turn around to see what she had rolled her eyes at. He had the exact same reaction to the wreath. "I'm not going to let them think that, okay? I know how much you love them and they should know that too. And as if Adam would ever let them think that about you." Mollie smiled at how genuine Alex was being, it had been awhile since they had had such a serious conversation.

"I offered to help, you know?" She sighed, thinking about Caroline's reaction to her offer. "I'm kinda worried they're gonna spit in my food. Or maybe put some arsenic in it. Their good books are something I'm never gonna be in."

"You weren't exactly nice to Aiden; can you blame them for not trusting you?" Alex asked her, watching her face distort at the mention of his wife. They had agreed to be civil but he knew very well that did not mean Mollie was going to warm up to her any time soon.

"I apologised like 2 years ago. Aiden forgave me. They hold grudges longer than I do." Mollie frowned as Alex laughed at her. He thought that was a bit of a stretch.

"Go see if Adam needs any help with the twins, okay?" He said when he realised he had run out of things to say. Mollie noticed that he was struggling and shoved his shoulder.

"If I weren't engaged I might try something with you just to piss them off." The cheeky wink she included at the end of her statement didn't amuse Alex at all.

He responded, deadly seriously and as equally grim, "I wouldn't put it past you."

Alex turned his back on Mollie, so she made her way into the rumpus room, gagging at the sight of the Christmas decorations. She was no Grinch but there was such a thing as too much and, in her eyes, The Carlton's were the worst offenders.

Adam was sitting on one of the long couches, watching the pregame for the New Jersey Devils and Detroit Red Wings. Nana and Caroline had made sure to start cooking dinner early so that the boys could watch their teams face off.

She made her way to the couch, curling up beside Adam. It was her way of hiding.

Rhett had followed Mollie from the living room after another argument with Nana had caused her to leave. He had caught her just as she was turning the corner into her and Adam's bedroom. He was great company until he fell asleep on the bed about twenty minutes later.

"I need to take you back to your bed." Mollie brushing Rhett's hair out of his face. She was lying on her side, her head probed up on her hand, looking over her soon-to-be step-son. He was already fast asleep. "As much fun as you are, I'm tired and it ain't safe for me to fall asleep with you here. What if I was to roll over and smoosh you or you rolled off the bed? Everyone would really hate me then."

She leant forward and kissed his cheek. Rhett moved in his sleep but showed no signs of waking up.

"You have the most adorable name. Rhett is such a southern name, I love it. Don't tell your momma I said that, okay?" she smiled down at him. "Rhett and Annabelle. And Savannah. I can't believe Alex let her get away with that one. If I ended up with Alex he wouldn't have let me name my babies southern names but that doesn't matter anymore, does it?" Rhett moved around again, appearing to shake his head. Mollie went with hit. "Right you are. One day you're going to be a big brother because your daddy and I are going to have some babies and they'll have gorgeous country names – at least I hope so. Do you think your step daddy would have liked the name Clementine? I don't think so."

Images flashed through her head as she began to imagine her future.

"What about Noah? Do you like that name? Noah and Rhett. You'd raise some real hell, wouldn't you? Of course, Noah would be me settling because there is no chance in hell I'd be allowed to call my son Sawyer." She lay back on the bed, staring at the ceiling for a few moments before she decided that it was finally time to take Rhett to his own bed. As she sat up, she saw a figure standing in the doorway. "How long have you been standing there?"

"No daughter of mine will ever be called Clementine." Alex pushed off the door frame, stepping into the room and sitting down at the edge of the large bed. "You wanted three kids, right?"

"Three or four... But I don't think I'll get four of my own." She looked down, again, at Rhett and ran her fingers lightly over his cheek. "Adam has three kids, even if Ajay adopted Joey. The last thing he needs is four other kids running around underneath his feet."

"Might kill him in his old age," Alex stated casually and Mollie shot him a glare. "You don't think three's enough for him?"

"I want my own," Mollie sighed, lifting Rhett up. "I love the twins. I love Lexie, Kenzie and PJ... But I want my own."

"The last thing the world needs is a Mini Mollie running around," Alex joked, standing up and walking to pick up Rhett.

"No, I've got him." Mollie gently lifted the toddler up, resting him on her hip his head resting against her shoulder. "The world has a Mini Patrick. I'm sure a mini Mollie can't do any more harm than that."

Alex said nothing, but he followed Mollie as she carried Rhett to his bed. He watched from the doorway as she tucked the child in and kissed his forward.

"I hope you get three of your own. Even if they're not with Adam. You deserve what you want." Alex told her when she walked towards him. Her smile was as real as it had ever been.

"Once upon a time that meant you." She reminded him, pushing him out of the way so she could shut the door. "I was convinced we were forever, you know?"

"So was I," he revealed. "But I think this worked out for the best, didn't it?" Mollie looked up at him as he rested against the wall casually. She sighed but nodded, conceding.

"Everyone's happy. That's all that matters." She began walking down the hallway and Alex followed behind her, they were headed to the rumpus room with everyone else as they recovered from the exhausting hockey match.

"And you might get to have a daughter named Clementine."

"Yeah," Mollie nodded enthusiastically. "I'm glad I got rid of you." He put his hand on her cheek and gently, playfully, pushed her away from him.

They went their separate ways down the hall, ready to go to bed.

Mollie left the door open, knowing that Adam would come in shortly after.

Mollie woke up early the next morning, looking forward to a coffee alone. She slipped out of the bed quietly, not wanting wake up Adam, and tiptoed down the hall to the kitchen.

Her hand flew to her chest and she jumped back when she saw Caroline already in the kitchen mixing up what looked to be pancake batter.

"Yes?"

"I just wanted to get a coffee," Mollie sighed, stepping into the kitchen, moving around Caroline. Caroline didn't say anything, she just watched silently as Mollie gathered everything she needed.

Just as Mollie was leaving the room; Caroline began to speak.

"I'm glad you've given up trying to steal Patrick away from my daughter."

"That was years ago," Mollie responded quickly.

"I'm not so happy that you're spending so much time with my grandchildren." Caroline started to mix the ingredients together much quicker and more aggressively.

"They're his kids, I'm his wife."

"It's not unusual for married couples to spend time away from each other in this century. You didn't need to come with him."

Mollie inhaled and exhaled deeply a few times before she clutched her mug tighter in her hands and left the room quickly.

She walked back into the bedroom to see Adam still fast asleep in bed. She sat on the bed, pushing herself up to the headboard, staring into space as she sipped at her coffee. Her shuffling around woke Adam up, his arm dropping over her legs as he rolled over.

"Morning, babe."

Mollie raked her hand through his hair and sighed, "I'm never coming back here again."

"Whatever you want, Moll. Whatever you want."

Part III: Let's Get Away

Ajay couldn't help but roll her eyes. She had stepped aside just to check into the hotel and in that short span of time her eldest son was chasing his sister around the hotel foyer. Her husband was sitting on a couch, their infant son in his arms as he watched the other two run around.

"I'm so sorry," Ajay apologised to the receptionist. "Josh!"

"What?" Chris looked up quickly; she only used his real name when she was angry.

"Can you please stop them? They're going to break something."

Chris put PJ back into his carrier and jumped to his feet. Catching Mackenzie around the waist, he sternly told Joey to cut it out.

Ajay checked them in, looking over her shoulder occasionally to see if Chris still had control over the kids.

They had been invited down to Georgia by Aiden to have a pre-Christmas dinner with her family. Aiden had offered for them to stay at the house but Ajay knew that five extra bodies would create an unnecessary hassle for Aiden's parents.

"I'll take PJ," Ajay said as she walked back over to her family, taking hold of PJ's baby carrier. "Can you bring our bags?"

Joey took off towards the lifts, full of energy after sleeping on the flight from Detroit. As expected, Mackenzie ran after him – she always copied her older brother. Ajay and Chris followed behind them, their pace had gotten quicker since Joey came into their lives – they now walked at an above average speed to keep up with him.

"Are we going to Aiden's later?" Joey asked, almost running up the walls of the lift. Ajay was holding Mackenzie to her leg in attempt to have some control of her kids.

"We're going for dinner, Joey."

"I want to see everyone; can we go now?" Joey asked quickly, bouncing out of the lift as soon as the doors opened.

"Number 34, bud," Chris said, knowing that Joey was ready to race them to the room. "And we have to get settled first."

It wasn't until 4 that they made it to the Carlton house. Joey was bouncing around excitedly, looking forward to seeing Lexie again even if it hadn't been a long time.

All Chris wanted to do was sit down and have a beer. He loved his kids but when they weren't at home with all their toys and distractions, they were exhausting.

The door was pulled open and Aiden was on the other side, a huge smile on her face.

"Come in!" She said, rustling Joey's hair as he hugged her leg before doing the same to Mackenzie. She hugged both her friends and took PJ from Ajay's arms, kissing the top of his head. "Everyone's just through here."

Joey and Mackenzie had already run down to the living room and wasted no time in convincing Lexie and the twins to show them where the toys were.

"Pre-game!" Chris shouted, dropping onto the couch, sitting between Alex and Adam. Both men turned to look at him but said nothing – all three of them looked straight back at the television.

Ajay, who cared more about the actual game that she did about the pre-game, turned to Aiden and rolled her eyes. She'd talk to Alex and Adam when they weren't so caught up in the television.

"Dinner's soon," Aiden said over their heads. They all nodded and made a noise to let her know they heard her.

Ajay followed Aiden into the kitchen and greeted Nana and Caroline with hugs and kisses like they were her own family. She offered her help but it was rejected because she was a guest in their home and shouldn't have to lift a finger. So she took a seat and watched as the other three women cleaned up.

"Mollie's here, isn't she?" Ajay asked, Nana and Caroline ignored her. Aiden turned to face her and nodded.

"She's around here somewhere. Could you find her and tell her that dinner's up?"

Ajay got to her feet and wondered through the house, taken aback by the number of wreaths she saw hanging around. She enjoyed Christmas as much as the next person but decorations were something she tried not to overdo.

When she did find Mollie, the blonde was sitting at the bottom of the staircase, playfully preventing Joey from walking up the stairs. Ajay picked her son up and lifted him over Mollie who ducked down. He shouted his success for the whole house to hear.

"What are you doing back here?"

"Hiding from Aiden's psycho family. They all think I'm Satan's Mistress. Too bad Satan knocked up their daughter that one time."

Ajay stretched out her hand and Mollie allowed herself to be pulled to her feet. "Dinner's ready."

"Time for more family fun," Mollie said sarcastically, pulling Ajay into a hug. "Save me!"

"Since when are you afraid of anything?" Ajay asked her. "Just put on your bitch face and own it."

Ajay watched as Mollie stormed out of the room, Rhett chasing after her.

"Did I say something wrong?" Nana asked before she left the room.

"Should I be offended?" Ajay asked with a confused look on her face. "I feel like I should probably be offended."

"It wasn't for you," Aiden groaned. "How long do we wait?"

"20 minutes," Alex answered easily. Adam sent him a quick glare and he shrugged. "What? There's a lot of history there, I know her pretty well."

"I'd appreciate it if you let me answer questions about my wife," Adam bit back.

"Maybe if you knew her better I would."

Before anything else could be said, Chris stood up and forced Alex to sit back down, calmly telling him to let it go.

Everyone returned to their seats, Ajay sitting on Chris' lap as they shouted at the television together.

Ajay had to forcefully keep her mouth shut when Alex rose to his feet when the game finished and wandered off in the direction of Mollie. He always managed to one up himself on the scale of stupid.

"Is he fucking kidding me right now," Adam growled, rising to his feet to follow and give Alex a piece of his mind.

"Sit your ass down," Ajay said sternly. "Your caveman instincts aren't going to help."

"That's my wife," he said through gritted teeth, taking another step.

"He might be the dumbest person I know," Ajay said, referring to Alex as she so often did. "But he's also married and he's already almost fucked that up more than once. Sit down and don't cause a scene."

Alex hadn't returned by the time Ajay and Chris decided they should leave – the kids were falling asleep and two people carrying three kids was as difficult as it sounded.

"I like it down here," Chris said as he drove them back to their hotel.

"It's nice," Ajay agreed, looking out the window and admiring the houses they were driving past.

"What would you say about moving down here?" The question caused Ajay to look at her husband with a horror-struck face.

"Move to Georgia?" she asked in a harsh whisper, making sure that she didn't wake up the kids. "Why the hell would we want to move to Georgia?"

Chris kept his cool; he didn't want to wake the kids either. "Georgia's nice. The weather's good and the people are friendly-"

"The people are friendly back home," Ajay cut him off. "It's too hot down here, anyway."

They stopped at a red light and Chris wiped a hand down his face. Ajay raised an eyebrow at him, daring him to argue with her. He kept his mouth shut.

They had only planned to stay for one night, knowing that Mollie and Adam had done the same. Mollie was the only one acclimatised to a Southern winter and it didn't take long for Ajay to become fed up with the warm weather. She knew it had been a good idea to only book a room for the night.

Chris on the other hand was enjoying the change of pace. He liked Florida enough and was always confused when Ajay complained about the weather. She'd been there as long as he had, after all.

"You're not still thinking about moving down here, are you?" Ajay asked, wrapping her arms around his waist. Her chin resting on his shoulder.

"A summer home, maybe?" He put his hands over hers. They were staring out the window of the hotel, watching the world move beneath them.

"In what universe can we afford two homes?" Ajay laughed in his ear. "We'd be too far away from anyone."

"Yeah, that's the point," he joked. Maybe he meant it. "The feeling will pass, don't worry about it." He lifted Ajay's hands up and kissed the palms of them.

"Christmas wouldn't be the same. No snow."

"Yeah, deal breaker right there."