Hurting You, Killing Me
Chapter Eight:
Kitty's POV:
Christmas morning that first year with Danielle was amazing. I got up early that morning and made a huge breakfast. Johnny woke up first and sat down at the bar with a mug of coffee. Danielle woke up only a little bit later.
"Merry Christmas!" she trilled, walking into the kitchen.
"Merry Christmas, Sweetheart," I said, placing a plate in front of her.
Once she had finished eating, we took her into the living room to let her open her presents. There were tons of them piled up under the Christmas tree. Johnny and I always gave each other our presents on Christmas Eve, so we sat on the sofa while Danielle sat in front of the tree.
Johnny had the camera out and ready to take pictures. "Open whichever one you want," I said.
"You guys really didn't have to do this," Danielle said, her cheeks turning pink. "I didn't even get you guys anything."
"Danielle, you've given us everything by just being here," Johnny said. "Now open your presents."
Danielle smiled and picked up the present closest to her and ripped into it, smiling as she pulled out an art set, complete with an easel, paint, colored pencils, and glitter glue.
By the time she'd finished opening the presents, there was wrapping paper everywhere. All her gifts sat by her side, all but two, that is. She had her art set, some new sweaters, an iPod, a framed photo of the three of us for her bedroom, a lava lap, a teddy bear that Johnny was certain she would love, a snow globe of the Ghost Zone, and a lot of other stuff. "Wow," she said breathlessly. "Thank you guys, so much."
"That's not all," Johnny said. He pulled his present, wrapped in bright gold paper, out from behind his back and handed it to her.
She opened it slowly, gasping as she pulled out the bracelet Johnny had picked out for her. "It's awesome," she said, standing up and throwing her arms around Johnny's neck.
"I'm glad you like it," Johnny said, "but that's still not all."
"What?" Danielle asked, shaking her head. "What else could there be?"
I smiled and handed her the adoption papers. Johnny and I had wrapped them in sparkling red wrapping paper. Danielle raised her eyebrows, but opened them. Johnny had the camera ready and caught the look on her face as she realized what they meant.
Her eyes filled with tears and a huge smile broke out on her face. "You guys... you... adopted me?"
I nodded, and Johnny and I were both fully prepared when she threw her arms around us, hugging us tightly as she sobbed. I smiled at Johnny over Danielle's head, knowing he felt the same way I did; our little family was finally complete.