The days passed by blissfully, much to the happiness of the small family. Christmas was fast approaching on the city and for once, Alfred and Arthur were excited. In the past years, they had given each other little gifts. Usually, they were no more than coupon books (from Alfred) or short poems (from Arthur) since they couldn't afford many material items. This was fine with them and they spend the day together on the couch, watching the Christmas specials. They would order take out for dinner and call it a holiday well done.

However, now they had the two children to think about. Peter and Lily knew they wouldn't get much, if anything. This didn't have to be explained to them, they had lived for years not expecting anything for Christmas. Peter claimed the holiday was 'stupid' and Lily never made any comment. In the past years, she would just give Peter a hug and say "Merry Christmas" and that was a good enough gift for the boy.

But Alfred had gotten a small bonus for completing the case (and winning, by the way) and his bosses had been nice enough to give him a Christmas bonus. It wasn't nearly enough for anything special or huge, but he was going to make it work. Arthur gave the children five dollars each to buy presents and Alfred had given them another five. Because, honestly, what could you buy for three people with five dollars? Candy? Jeeze, Arthur!

Yes, ten dollars wasn't a lot, but the children were very resourceful. They had lived on the streets for a long time and knew how to make something last. Ten dollars would be more than enough. Now they just had to figure out what to get for Alfred and Arthur. And for each other, but they knew each other well enough.

Alfred was going to take them to the mall the day before Christmas Eve. Arthur yelled at him, saying that he always did things last minute and that his presents were already bought and wrapped. Alfred whined and complained, saying that he didn't have enough time to which Arthur shot back that he had plenty of time and spent it all in front of the television. Alfred thought it would be best to not mention how important seeing that episode was.

"Well, then get yourselves ready," Arthur sighed. "Lily, come here. I'll brush your hair for you if you'd like and straighten your bow." Lily smiled and came over, handing Arthur a brush. The Brit sat down on the chair and put Lily on his lap as he started to brush her hair. "You're so light, love. It's hard to believe you're ten."

"She needs some meat on her bones," Alfred commented as he passed by the kitchen to put the clean dishes away. "But don't you worry, kiddo. We'll get you some skin on those bones. That's why we need more hamburgers!" Arthur rolled his eyes.

"We need to get her to a healthy weight, not make her fat," Arthur said. "And hamburgers will make her and Peter fatasses like you." Lily giggled at the word.

"Language, Artie," Alfred reminded with a smirk.

"Oh, sod off. They've heard it before," Arthur grumbled and took out Lily's bow so he could start brushing her shoulder length golden hair.

"Someone's grumpy," Alfred commented, making Arthur turn around and glare at him. He put his hands up in defense and whined. "Dude! Sorry! Jeeze, what has you so upset? Christmas is in two days!" Alfred didn't realize that was the reason why Arthur was so upset. He had already picked up his gifts, but he didn't think they were very good and, though lazing around on Christmas with his husband was a wonderful way to spend the holiday, he still wished they could do something more especially now that they had children.

"Nothing," he sighed and Alfred frowned, but didn't press the issue. Arthur returned to brushing Lily's hair, something he loved to do, and Alfred finished with the dishes and went to his room to change into warmer clothes.

Lily noticed that Arthur seemed upset, but was too timid to ask, so she sat in somewhat awkward silence, the only noise being the brush going through her hair. He pinned up a section of her hair with his finger and picked up the purple bow. He paused and looked at it, feeling the frayed and worn fabric. She must have had it for a long time. It was, unfortunately, falling apart.

"Where did you get your ribbon, Lily?" Arthur asked after a moment and looked at the girl. She turned her head and smiled, but it was a tight and somewhat sad smile.

"My brother got it for me!" she explained. Arthur would have just nodded and accepted it as being Peter, but something in her tone told him it wasn't the other blonde boy.

"Peter?" he asked.

"No, my real brother. Peter's not my real brother." Lily got a far off look in her eyes and smiled a bit as she looked at the ribbon fondly. "My real brother, Vash. He got me the ribbon when I was three." Arthur blinked. So Lily did have other family? Well, if she was in an orphanage, they probably weren't alive.

"Really?" Arthur asked, intrigued. "I didn't know you had a brother." Lily's smile brightened. She loved talking about her older brother, but didn't often because Peter never seemed to care. He had told the girl that if they were going to start a new life together, she had to forget about her family or she would be held back. Lily never actually did that, but made Peter think she did.

"I do," she said. "We're seven years apart. When I was three, he was ten and we lived with our mom in a different state. Vash was born in Switzerland and I was born in Liechtenstein. Our dad died before I was born and after I was born, we moved to America.

When I was three, I had a really cool ribbon with flowers and kittens on it! I love flowers and kittens," Lily giggled. "But I lost it at my preschool one day and I was real sad because I really liked it a lot. So Vash took all of the money he had gotten from chores, which wasn't a lot 'cause we didn't have a lotta money, and went to the fabric store and bought me that ribbon. It doesn't have flowers or kittens, but my big brother bought it for me, so I love it a lot!"

Arthur smiled at her and held the ribbon with more care as he pinned her hair again and clipped the ribbon in. "That was very sweet of him. You must be luck to have such a wonderful brother," Arthur commented and brushed through her hair again. Then, a thought struck him and he was almost afraid to ask. "Lily... Where is your brother now, love?" he asked kindly, hoping his tone indicated that she didn't have to answer if she didn't want to.

Lily frowned and played with the hem of her dress. "Well, when I was four, there was a fire..." she started. "Mommy died and Vash... I dunno what happened to him. Vash was at school when it happened and I was at home. I got out, but Mommy didn't and before I could get to Vash, they took me away to an orphanage." Arthur frowned. How could they separate children like that?

"Do you know where Vash is now?" he asked. Lily shook her head.

"No, but I like to think that he was adopted by a real nice family and taken to live in a big house with people who will love him!" She offered a tight smile. "And that's why I always wear that ribbon. 'Cause I hope that he'll notice and recognize it and realize that I'm his sister!"

Arthur smiled at her innocent hope. He finished brushing her hair and set the comb down, then hugged her tightly. Lily blinked, but smiled and hugged Arthur back.

"Awww! Someone's having a moment!" Alfred had returned and was grabbing his wallet off the counter. Arthur jumped at the sudden noise and glared at his husband.

"Yes, we were and you ruined it," Arthur growled and released Lily. The girl slipped off his lap and went to the front hall to get her coat. Peter came out then and got his own coat.

"You were having a moment?" he asked, mostly questioning Lily as she was closet to him.

"Yeah! Mr. Arthur hugged me," she smiled brightly.

"I didn't know he was capable of hugging," Peter smirked. Arthur stood up with a huff and put the brush away.

"I am extremely capable of hugging! I can show affection!" he insisted as he walked away from the drawer and tripped over Nugget, the cat, as he was going to his food bowl. The dog-like cat hissed and yelped, scampering away while Arthur let out a string of swears and curses. "Damned cat! Stupid flea-bitten animal! Dammit!"

"Alright, alright," Alfred sighed and helped stand Arthur upright. "You hurt, babe?" he asked with genuine concern.

"No, but—"

"Then it's all good! Nugget didn't mean to trip you up. He just wanted some food."

"I still hate that cat," Arthur mumbled.

"That's not very affectionate, jerk-Arthur," Peter smirked and Lily pushed him, not wanting the boy to get Arthur going when he already seemed upset.

"I can be...! Oh, blast it all." He pulled Alfred down and pressed a deep kiss on his lips. Alfred squeaked in surprise, but wrapped his arms around Arthur's waist, kissing back. Lily giggled and Peter went "Ewwww!" After a moment, Arthur pulled away and glared at Alfred. "I can be bloody affectionate." he snapped. Alfred laughed and hugged him, kissing his cheek.

"I know you can, babe. We were just joking around." He smiled at Arthur who rolled his eyes and gave him one last kiss.

"I'm going to take a shower. You guys have fun." With that (and a glare at Nugget), he made his way to the bathroom and closed the door. Lily went to the drawer to shut it, but a small napkin fell out and swayed in the air before landing on the hardwood floor. She frowned and knelt down, picking it up with a gloved hand and looking over the words.

"Mr. Alfred? What's this?" she asked, waving the napkin around.

"Lily, you don't need the 'mister'," Alfred reminded her and came over. He took the napkin from her and looked it over, his face falling. "Oh. Uh, Artie wrote that."

"It sounds good," Lily said. Peter rushed over at that and snatched up the napkin, reading it over.

"It looks like the summary to some stupid fantasy novel," he pouted and handed it back to Alfred, though he wouldn't admit that the story idea sounded good. Alfred nodded and gently played with the old napkin.

"That's because it is. Artie always wanted to be an author, but gave up on it." Alfred sighed. "He used to write all the time, but stopped because he thought it wasn't gonna work out for him. And we needed money—we still do—so he decided to get a 'real job.' That's why he's in med school but I know he doesn't like it."

"So, tell him to quit and go write a book!" Peter suggested and Alfred forced out a small laugh.

"Would if I could, kiddo. But Artie won't. I've told him a million times to find something he actually likes to do, but he won't. So, he's stuck in med school." Alfred sighed and put back the slip of paper, pushing down the others and shutting the drawer. Only the frayed white corner of an old envelope stuck out, but he didn't care.

"Does he still write?" Lily asked. Alfred shook his head.

"He only writes those summaries, then beats himself up for doing so." Then, there was a small twinkle in Alfred's eye. "But I think that's gonna change." The kids exchanged glances.

"How?" the both asked.

"You'll see on Christmas," Alfred laughed. "Now, let's go." The kids smiled and followed him out the door.

"It's Christmas! It's Christmas! Wake up! Wake up!"

The small bed (it was supposed to be a full, Alfred called the furniture store full-of-shit) rocked and squeaked with the added weight. Alfred blinked awake and rubbed his eyes, looking at the blurry faces of two blonde children. He pat around the side of the bed and picked his glasses up off the mattress (Arthur always told him to put the glasses on the nightstand so they wouldn't get bent or broken, but he never listened) and put them on. Arthur groaned and rolled over from where he was nestled into Alfred's arm and looked up at the excited kids.

"Yes, yes it is. Now go back to sleep," he mumbled and rolled over, his back facing Alfred. The American laughed and sat up, pulling both children into a huge bear hug which earned him squeals and giggles.

"Come on, Artie! Don't be a Grinch. It's only six in the morning! These guys slept later than I used to when I was little." Alfred smiled and ruffled the kids' hair. They smiled up at him and hugged him.

"Can we go open presents?" Peter asked.

"Yes, please?" Lily begged. "Come on, Mr. Arthur! Please get up so we can open presents!" Both children were excited about getting their very first Christmas presents and they were even more excited about giving them.

Arthur groaned and sat up, running a hand through his messed up, ruffled blonde hair. Alfred combed through it to help him, but Arthur swatted his hand away. Alfred let out a whine of protest, so Arthur rolled his eyes and pressed a kiss to Alfred's lips. "Merry Christmas," he yawned and started to get up. The kids got up as well and jumped out of the bed, followed by Alfred who grabbed a blanket and wrapped it around himself.

"Could you please make making the bed easier on me?" Arthur asked with a frown.

"But it's coooold!" Alfred whined.

"Maybe you should wear more than shorts to bed, then," Arthur retorted. Alfred frowned.

"But I'm a hero!"

Arthur rolled his eyes and put on a bathrobe while Alfred kept his blanket. The family made their way into the living room where a small fake palm tree was set up. Alfred and Arthur didn't have enough to spare for a fake tree and certainly didn't have the money for real trees each year, so they used a medium sized fake palm tree they had gotten for their wedding and put Christmas lights on it. The presents were wrapped in purple, not very festive, wrapping paper under said tree and the Children ran to the corner where everything was.

Arthur came back from the kitchen with two glasses of hot chocolate for the children, a cup of coffee for Alfred, and a cup of Earl Grey for himself. He and Alfred sat down on the love seat while the children brought presents over to Alfred and Arthur, then got their own.

"Youngest goes fist," Peter declared. "Lily, go."

"Good," Alfred smiled. "That means the oldest goes last." He nudged Arthur who shoved him back. Alfred laughed and Arthur did as well, starting to get in the mood. Lily smile and started to open her first present from Alfred. Inside was a purple stuffed kitten from the toy store in the mall. She smiled brightly and hugged it to herself.

"Thank you, Mr. Alfred! How'd you know I like kittens?"

"You were telling Artie that your favorite animals were kittens and your favorite color was purple. So, I went and found a purple kitten," Alfred explained. "I know, I'm awesome! But, hey, it's just Alfred. No need for the mister, remember?" Lily nodded, but the last comment went right out her ear as she snuggled with the soft plush toy. Arthur and Peter both couldn't help but smile at her happiness and patiently waited for her to set it aside and pick up another present.

This one was from Arthur and as she unwrapped it, Nugget decided to make an appearance. He sniffed the purple stuffed kitten and nudged it before picking it up in his mouth. Arthur jumped up and swatted the cat away, making the large feline drop the small stuffed one and scamper onto Alfred's lap.

"Dude, don't be mean to Nugget!" Alfred whined.

"Don't be mean to him? Bloody cat nearly chewed up Lily's toy. I swear that... That thing is a dog." Arthur huffed as he sat down.

"He's a cat!" Alfred protested and Nugget let out a small 'meow' as though to prove that fact. Arthur rolled his eyes and mumbled a 'whatever' before returning his attention to Lily who pulled out a dress from the package.

"Clothes? Who gets clothes on Christmas?" Peter frowned in disapproval.

"A lot of people!" Arthur defended. He turned to Lily and smiled. "What do you think?" It was a pink and purple dress with flowers on it. She smiled brightly and hugged it to herself.

"I love it, Mr. Arthur. Thank you so much!" She neatly folded it and put it back in the box before putting it to the side next to the stuffed cat. She then picked up the last present, from Peter and carefully opened it. Inside was a package of ten Bic pencils and a small sketchbook. She looked at him in confusion.

"You always liked watching people draw," Peter shrugged. "So I figured you wanted to learn or teach yourself or something. You don't have to say you like it if you don't." However, Lily smiled brightly and hugged him.

"I love it! I wanted to learn to draw, but never did. My brother was the best drawer ever!"

"Oh, here we go again," Peter sighed, but he was smiling. She smiled back and set the present with the others, then picked up the kitten and held it. Arthur smiled at that and nodded at Peter to take his turn.

Peter unwrapped the first from Arthur. Inside was a dress shirt and blue tie. He frowned as he picked it up, wrinkling it. He wanted to say it was stupid and that you were supposed to get toys on Christmas, but Alfred gave him a look, so he said thank you very politely and went on to the next present.

The next one was from Alfred. Unwrapping it, he found two action figures, one Superman and the other Captain America. He picked up the action figures and held them up, smiling brightly.

"These are so cool! Thank you so much, Alfred!" he said and flew them through the air. Alfred laughed and smiled.

"No problem-o. I saw that you really liked Superman and I think you'll love Captain America," Alfred responded and Peter nodded, picking up the last present. He unwrapped it to find a full sized soccer ball. He looked at Lily who smiled shyly.

"You used to play it all the time when we lived at the orphanage. So, I thought you'd like to learn how to." Peter nodded and bounced it. It hit the ceiling and nearly crashed into the television. He grabbed it back quickly and shoved it under the table, then looked around as though it had never happened. Peter sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose and Alfred laughed, thankful the television hadn't been attacked.

"Thanks Lily," Peter said. "I love it." The two shared a hug making the two adults smile. Next was Alfred's turn.

He picked up a present from Lily and found a TY teddy bear with the Captain America logo. Lily blushed and said she didn't know what Alfred would want, but figured that he'd like something that referenced Captain America. Alfred gave her a huge hug and said that it was awesome and the best present ever. He then picked up Peter's present and unwrapped it, finding Superman underwear. Peter laughed and Alfred smiled, saying that he'd wear them like the hero he was.

Next was Arthur's present. Alfred looked at the strange boxed object and picked it up. It wasn't clothes, thank God. He unwrapped it and gasped. Inside was a square blue and silver GameCube. It had a dent in the side, obviously having been used before.

"Dude! You got be a GameCube?" Alfred smiled brightly at Arthur who blushed and nodded.

"Well, yes. You're always so obsessed with that blasted television and you always rant about the video games you play at Kiku's house, so I figured you'd finally shut up if I got you one," he huffed. Alfred set the GameCube down and pulled Arthur into a tight hug, kissing him gently. Arthur sighed and smiled into the kiss, pressing back.

"You're welcome," Arthur said with a smile after the kiss was broken. Alfred smiled back and handed Arthur his presents. There were three small presents, so he started with Peter's, wanting to get whatever prank it would be over with.

He carefully opened the present and when nothing exploded, he looked inside. Inside was a small sewing kit from the dollar store. It wasn't a lot, just needles and some thread, but he smiled. "How did you know I like to sew?" he asked.

"I saw the sewing stuff when I put snow in your underwear drawer," Peter responded bluntly. Arthur's eye twitched. So that's how his underwear got all wet. But, it was Christmas and not the time to be yelling at him. Besides, Peter would find some other way to get in trouble within the week. There would be plenty of opportunities to yell at him.

"Well, thank you Peter," Arthur smiled and hugged the boy who hugged back with a smile, though Peter wouldn't admit that later. Arthur then picked up another present from Lily and opened it. Inside was a Twilight Sparkle pony doll from the series My Little Pony. Arthur smiled brightly. "Lily, how did you know I watch this?"

"I woke up early last Saturday and saw you watching it and you looked like you really liked Twilight so I got it for you." Lily explained. She had stayed back, wanting to watch with him, but too embarrassed to ask.

"Well, I love it, love," Arthur said and hugged her tightly. "And you're welcome to watch it with me if you ever wake up early again. Lily nodded happily and Arthur picked up his final present. He unwrapped it to find... A blindfold. He looked at Alfred in confusion mixed with anger. Surely he wasn't stupid enough to give him something like this in front of the kids.

"Put it on." Alfred smiled, ignoring his husband's look. Arthur opened his mouth to protest, but Alfred took the blindfold and put it around Arthur's eyes. Blinded, Arthur flailed and shouted, Alfred just laughed.

"Come on! Your present is this way." Alfred stood Arthur up and guided him out of the living room, careful to not let him bang into anything. The children followed, excited to find out what the present would be.

Alfred entered the small study and took Arthur's blindfold off. "Merry Christmas Arthur," Alfred whispered. Arthur gasped and covered his mouth. On the desk was a white, very old desktop computer. It was turned on, the noise filling the room. It had to have been a 1995 desktop, nothing fancy, but everything Arthur wanted.

Wordpad was opened on the screen, the only words being 'Start writing, Arthur...'. Next to the computer was a binder. Arthur went over to it and opened it. Inside were laminated pages with every single on of his napkin summaries in it. He turned to face Alfred, his eyes filling with tears.

"Y-You... You..." he stared and Alfred smiled.

"I want you to start writing again, Artie!" Alfred said. "You're great at it and now you don't have an excuse not to. Please?"

Arthur smiled and started to cry, walking over to hug Alfred. But Alfred wanted his hug now and ran to him, picking him up and twirling him around. He kissed Arthur gently and deeply and Arthur kissed him back, wrapping his arms around the other's neck. The kids smiled at their parents, watching as Alfred wiped away Arthur's tears of happiness and kissed every inch of his face.

"I will. I promise I'll start writing again," Arthur said and hugged Alfred. Alfred smiled brightly and kissed his head. He looked over to the kids and motioned them over. They smiled and rushed over to join the hug, laughing as Arthur started to cry again, saying how much he loved his family.

The rest of the day was spent playing with their new toys (except the soccer ball; Peter was banned from using it inside) and figuring out how to steal the neighbor's wi-fi. Alfred set up his GameCude and played Mario Kart with the kids. Arthur joined in, but wasn't very good at it so he gave up. They ordered take out for dinner and the kids were allowed to stay up an extra hour.

Alfred and Arthur laid in their bed, Nugget at their feet curled up and asleep. They smiled at each other and held each other close.

"Merry Christmas, Artie," Alfred mumbled and kissed Arthur's cheek.

"Merry Christmas, git," Arthur sighed and returned the kiss.

"You happy we adopted the kids now?"

"Who ever said I wasn't?" Arthur glared, but smiled. "But, yes. I am very happy with my family."

"I love you, babe."

"I love you too."

YAY FOR UPDATING!

WHOO! Soooo? What did you think of my Christmas fluff? And Artie's present?

And yes, I have been watching My Little Pony. GO BRONIES :D

Uhm, I know there's more I /should/ say, but I don't know what. So, PLEASE PLEASE review. Please? This story isn't getting a lot of love and it's my favorite to write (aside from my FrancexJeanne) one. And this one is my best written one (okay, that's not saying a lot) but please review? I hate begging. But pleeease? ;-;