Charlie greeted the latest attack with a renewed scowl. "I know that wasn't Jay who just nerf balled me in the back of the head, Georgie," she said. Her complaint was met with sniggering and another nerf, this one to the side of the head. "Right, enough of this," she stated and launched herself from the couch. Charlie deftly caught the next nerf that had been heading toward her and returned it from whence it had come.
"Charlie!" yelped Ruby, as her reflexes were a little slower than her sister's and so she wore the nerf right in the forehead.
"It's only foam," Charlie said. She caught the next one from Jay and lobbed it slowly in the air back at him. He snatched it from the air like a pro. "Nice catch," she said as she backed away. Catching one at a time was fine, but having three round on her together was beyond even her fine reflexes. There was only one option.
"Want some help Charlie?" Joey offered.
"No, I've got this," she reassured her. She ducked, weaved, successfully dodging one after another as she gathered the discarded nerfs from the floor and sent them back the other way.
"My god, is this Christmas or world war 3," joked Martha as an errant nerf narrowly missed her nose.
"Sorry love," her fiancée called out.
"Whose idea was the nerf collection for Jay?" Joey asked her.
"Who do you reckon?" Martha replied with a smile in her fiancee's direction. "It is days like this where I swear I have two kids in the house."
"Make that four kids," said Joey as Ruby screeched when three nerfs pinpointed her torso.
"Seeing the cousins having fun together like this, more than makes up for the noise and the open nerf warfare." Another nerf sailed close by. "Though, I am wishing we'd held off on opening all of the presents for just a little while longer."
"No way was Charlie ever going to wait for hers once Jay got home," laughed Joey.
Martha grinned. "Georgie's the same, though she'll deny it," she said.
"I bet nothing could ever beat her adoption present though."
"The only time I've ever seen Georgie that blown away, was the first time I told her I was in love with her," Martha said. "I was the same. We both knew it was coming, yet there was still this lingering doubt that something would go wrong, so when Morag brought the papers around, it was like this massive relief washed over us and then the realisation hit, that my son finally had two legal parents." Yet another foam projectile flew by her nose. "Make that one parent and one over grown nerf throwing child," she said with a roll of her eyes. "This could be a long day," she murmured.
"At least Charlie and Ruby will be out of your hair shortly," Joey said.
"Except that won't slow down the terrible two much," Martha affectionately said. "It's probably a good thing Georgie is planning an early night, because she'll need it after this."
"An early night on Christmas Day?"
"Did you see the little fishing vest Jay got for a present?"
"Yeah."
"Well, he wants to try it out, so granddad and Georgie are taking him out to the river to do some fishing at the crack of dawn tomorrow, hence the early night."
Joey shuddered at the idea of going fishing. "Yuck," she muttered. "I'm not sure if I'm ever going to have the same feeling about fish ever again after being trapped in that stinking boat by Hugo."
"I'm kind of glad Georgie didn't develop a fish phobia," Martha said. "Jay loves to go fishing and I'd have hated to see Georgie lose that time with him."
"Has she spoken much about her own experience that day?" she asked.
"No and yes," replied Martha. "No as in not as much as I'd wish she'd talk about it, yet yes as in, by Georgie standards, she's been far more open and willing to talk than she's ever been."
"She's come a long way since I first met her," Joey acknowledged.
"Georgie's a work in progress," Martha said. "A lifetime of keeping secrets and the pain locked inside of her, is a hard habit to break, but she's slowly getting there," she said. "She has finally begun to truly heal, yet I suspect there will always be a part of that scared, abused little girl inside her. It's who she is."
"At least that little girl is no longer alone," Joey quietly said. "And she now knows she's loved by many."
"Hey, what's going on over there?" Charlie called out. "It sounds suspiciously like serious talk."
"And you know what the punishment for serious talk on Christmas Day is," said Watson.
"Duck," Martha said to Joey, moments before they were both showered with Jay's entire nerf collection. "It's really not fair picking on a woman who can't get away quickly," Martha pouted afterwards. "Especially when my crutches aren't even within reach."
"Would you like me to kiss it better," teased Watson.
"Georgie!" Martha giggled as her fiancee started kissing her all over. "We have guests," she eventually pointed out.
"So?" Watson murmured against her neck. "They know how much I love you."
"How about we not give our son too much of an early education on that," Martha gently warned her. Chuckling, Watson made a huge sucking noise against her neck, before moving away. "You just had to do that, didn't you," she murmured affectionately.
"Of course."
"Can I kiss you too mummy?" asked Jay. Martha held out her arms and he climbed up. His kiss on her cheek was as loud as his mama's had been.
"Can we kiss you now as well?" Joey cheekily asked and laughed when Martha flipped her the finger behind her son's back.
"Looks like Jay isn't the only one who's picked up a few things from Mama Georgie," chuckled Charlie. This time, she wasn't so quick to duck from the unexpected nerf attack her cousin suddenly launched at her.
"Oh god, here we go again," Martha said as it became Jay/Georgie vs Charlie/Ruby. "Oh well, at least today will be a lot quieter than tomorrow."
"I thought fishing was meant to be a quiet sport."
"For them, yeah, but while they're sitting twiddling their thumbs waiting for the fish to bite, mum and I are going to be tackling even bigger fish," she said. "We're going to the city to brave the Boxing Day sales."
"Are you crazy!"
"Absolutely," Martha replied with a grin. "We do it every year."
"Same here," Joey sheepishly admitted. "I could never pass up a sale."
"You going this year then?"
"Charlie has to work tomorrow, so I'm not sure if I'm game to go it alone."
"You're more than welcome to join us," Martha said. "Ruby too."
"Ruby can't," she said. "Turns out Xavier can't come around to see her today, so Ruby's spending the entire day tomorrow at Xavier's place, watching the cricket with him and John."
"Same with Georgie and Jay," said Martha. "Once the fishing is over, it's a day in front of the telly watching the cricket."
"Ah, choosing to risk your life at the shops makes even more sense now," Joey knowingly said.
"Damn straight," she said. "You really should come with mum and I and we'll make a day of it."
"Sure, why not," said Joey.
"Ok you ratbags, game over," Charlie's voice suddenly boomed from across the room. "It's time for some of us to go."
"Piker," chanted Watson. "You're running because you were losing."
"No, we have a lunch to get to."
"Yeah, yeah, excuses, excuses," Watson grinningly taunted her.
"Did we win mama?" Jay asked.
"We annihilated them," she said and held her hand out for him to high five.
Charlie went to object at her declaration of victory, but the look of delight on Jay's face held her tongue, just as she suspected her cousin had planned. "Victory is yours today," she graciously conceded to Jay. "But I'll get you on the rematch." If possible, the look of delight on his face grew even more at the prospect of another nerf war. Chuckling, she kissed his forehead. "Be good for your parents today." He nodded.
With hugs and kisses goodbye, the trio gathered up their presents and moved onto their next house call.
"Whoever said preparing Christmas meals was a hardship was clearly lying," Joey said as she placed the plates and bowls of food into the centre of the table. They'd been home for an hour after spending a relaxing afternoon at Irene's, enjoying her hospitality and catching up with Aden and Belle. "It's an absolute breeze."
"Of course it is when all you have to do is serve up leftovers someone else has cooked," Charlie pointed out. Her cousin's earlier prediction had proven accurate. When it had come time to leave Irene's place, she'd loaded their arms with food, food and even more food, not that any of them had complained, since it had been so delicious the first time around.
"I still had to make the salad," Joey said. "We really should find a way to repay Irene for all that she did today," she said. "Perhaps we should invite her over for tea one night."
"How about we host the New Years' Eve party and invite her, along with everyone else," Charlie suggested. Her brow rose at the look of concentration her words had brought to Joey's face.
"She's working out the cooking roster to see whose turn it is on New Year's Eve," Ruby knowingly said to her sister. "It's yours by the way."
"Damn, didn't even consider that when I suggested it," muttered Charlie.
"I think it's a wonderful idea to host the party," Joey said.
"You would now," Charlie murmured.
"However, since it will be our first New Years as a family, I think it only fair that we all do the cooking and preparation for the party," Joey said, to the nodding agreement of her girlfriend and sister. Joey then grinned toward her girlfriend. "You can still do all the cleaning up though."
"I knew there'd be a catch," she said. The kiss Joey planted on her lips made up for it though.
"Bloody hell, even the dinner table isn't safe from you guys anymore," Ruby said with an exaggerated sigh.
"If only she knew all of it," Joey whispered to Charlie, who grinned and blushed at the same time. More than once, when they'd had the house to themselves, the bedroom had proven too far away for them and so they'd made do with the table. Same with the couch, the lounge chairs and pretty much anywhere else where the mood had overtaken them.
Ruby glanced from one woman to the other. She suspected something, but chose not to enquire. Some things were better left unknown.
"I say we have a toast," Joey said. She raised her glass, as did the others. "To the Buckton/Collins Christmas meal, may we have many more of them."
"As long as someone else does the cooking," the Buckton sisters said together. They all laughed as they clinked their glasses together, their first Christmas as a family a raging success.
Next chapter, it's New Years Eve