This chapter is set 3 months after the last one and features a flashback from 6 years earlier.
Plot: Ryan and Taylor celebrate a very eventful Chrismukkah...
"Gather 'round kids," Seth announced, taking a seat on the floor in front of the Christmas tree. Christmas, or Chrismukkah Eve was Seth's favourite night of Chrismukkah and he tended to get over-excited. "I'm about to tell the epic story of the best holiday ever invented, Chrismukkah."
Ryan, Taylor and Kirsten all rolled their eyes as they watched the Seth's spectacle from the couch.
"Seth? Why can't we just celebrate either Christmas or Hanukka like normal people?" Sophie asked, sitting down beside her brother.
Seth gasped, and brought a hand to his chest as if he was in pain, "Ouch, Sophie Rose Cohen. I think my heart just broke. How dare you say such a thing."
"Well it seems kinda stupid, celebrating two holidays at the same time," she explained as Emily and Lucy sat down beside her and Seth.
Ryan shook his head, "Don't go there Sophie."
"Yeah, we've been trying to get Seth to give up on Chrismukkah since he was your age," Kirsten said. "You're fighting a losing battle."
"Well, I'm going to celebrate Christmas," Sophie retorted, "just like every other normal family."
"Fine, disregard your heritage," Seth glared at her. "Be a traitor. I know who's not getting a dreidel in their Chrismukkah stocking this year."
"Okay, break it up you two," Kirsten interfered. "Can we at least try to have a nice Chrismukkah-"
"Christmas!" Sophie corrected her.
"Fine, Christmas," Kirsten sighed.
"No, no, no," Seth interrupted. "Don't side with her on this. We're going to celebrate Chrismukkah this year, and every year until I die."
"Why don't we just kill you now and save ourselves the trouble?" Sophie snapped at her brother.
Seth glared at Sophie and was about to respond with a witty comment when he felt a light tug on his sleeve. He looked down at Lucy, who smiled and said, "I like Chrismukkah Daddy."
Seth grinned and lifted the 3-year-old into his lap, "Thank you Lucy, at least one little girl in this family appreciates the miracle of Chrismukkah."
"Who wants their eggnog? Get your eggnog here!" Sandy announced as he carried a tray of mugs into the room. He set the tray down on the coffee table as Sophie and Lucy gathered around him, "Okay there's alcoholic for the adults on the left and non-alcohol for the kids and Taylor on the right."
"Thanks Sandy," Ryan said, leaning over and grabbing two mugs for himself and Taylor.
"Look who's decided to join us," Summer said as she entered the room carrying baby Matthew.
"Aw, Matthew's up!" Taylor grinned happily, holding her arms out to retrieve the baby.
Summer handed the baby to Taylor and took a seat on the couch across from her, sitting beside Sandy. Taylor began to coo at Matthew, making faces and tickling him.
"Taylor?" Summer said.
"Yeah?" she replied, not looking up from the baby.
"You are going to give him back aren't you?"
Taylor grinned, looking up at her, "Maybe. Only if I don't eat him first because he's so adorable."
"Actually we will be giving him back," Ryan said. "I think two more babies in our household is enough."
"I still can't believe you two are having twins," Sandy said, shaking his head in disbelief.
"I know, it's pretty crazy," Taylor agreed. "I don't know how we're going to handle it."
"Me either," Ryan nodded.
"Well, you'll always have me and Sandy to help you out if you need it," Kirsten offered.
"And me and Seth," Summer added.
"And don't forget me," Sophie said.
Taylor laughed, "Thanks everyone, that's very sweet."
"Okay everyone," Seth said, standing up from the floor, "Let's get the Christmukkah festivities started! Everyone get out your dreidels."
"We were supposed to bring a dreidel?" Ryan asked, nervously biting his lip.
"Yes," he replied. "How are we supposed to play the dreidel game and sing the dreidel song without them?"
"Do you have your dreidel?" Taylor questioned.
"Of course," he replied. "Summer, the dreidel please."
"I didn't bring your dreidel," she said.
"You didn't?!"
"No, I didn't even know we had a dreidel," Summer retorted.
"What are you talking about? We play it every year!" Seth whined.
"Relax Seth," Sandy said. "We can still sing the dreidel song. Come on son. Ready? One, two, three! I have a little dreidel..." He then motioned for Seth to continue.
"I made it out of clay," he finished.
They both began singing together, "And when it's dry and ready, dreidel I will play. Oh, dreidel, dreidel, dreidel, I made it out of clay. When it's dry and ready, dreidel I will play!"
Everyone laughed and clapped. "Very nice boys," Kirsten commented. "Just, don't do it again."
"Don't worry, I think I'm all dreideled out," Sandy said.
"Good."
"How about some Christmas songs now?" Sophie suggested.
"Good idea Soph," Summer smiled. "You can choose a Christmas carol."
"Okay," Sophie smiled. She thought for a moment, before beginning, "You better watch out, you better not cry. You better not pout, I'm telling you why."
Everyone joined in, "Santa Claus is coming to town!"
"He's making a list, he's checking it twice. He's gonna find out who's naughty or nice," Sophie sang.
Everyone joined in again, "Santa Claus is coming to town!"
"That was nice tonight," Taylor said as she slowly sat down on her and Ryan's bed and sat up against the headboard, resting her hands on her growing stomach. "It's nice having a real family to spend the holidays with."
Ryan nodded as he sat down beside her, "Yeah, I know what you mean. I didn't really have any happy Christmases when I was a kid."
"Well it's different now," she said, leaning her head on her husband's shoulder. "We have a wonderful family who love us and actually want to spend Chrismukkah with us."
"I could've done without the dreidel song though," Ryan laughed softly.
"Oh, you loved it," she replied with a smirk. They sat in silence for a moment, before Taylor spoke softly, "Do you remember our first Chrismukkah back together after I came back from France?"
"Of course I do," he said. "That was the day I asked you to marry me."
"Yeah, that was a good Christmukkah," Taylor said, recalling the happy moments they had shared 6 years earlier. "I still remember when I showed up at your apartment after coming back from the airport..."
6 years earlier...
"So, you coming to the folk's house for Chrismukkah Eve dinner tonight?" Seth asked through the phone.
"Of course, where else would I be going?" Ryan replied as he sat back on the couch in the living room of his apartment.
"I don't know..." he trailed off. "I just thought that maybe you'd be going to France to surprise Taylor."
"No, she doesn't want me to."
"But I thought you guys were back together now," Seth protested. "You know after the last visit and the whole 'I don't want to lose you 'cos I love you' thing."
"We are back together," Ryan said. "It's just Taylor's mother flew all the way over there to spend Christmas with her, so she can't come home yet. And she didn't want me to have to leave the Cohens at Christmas time so she wants me to stay in Berkeley..."
"Stupid Veronica, ruining everything," Seth muttered.
"Believe me, I'm annoyed about this too. I was really looking forward to spending Chrismukkah with my girlfriend for the first time in 2 years," he said, with a frustrated sigh. Suddenly, the doorbell rang. "Hey Seth, can I call you back?"
"Sure."
"Okay, bye," Ryan said, hanging up the phone. He then left the phone on the kitchen bench and headed for the front door. When he opened the door, he was pleasantly surprised, "Taylor."
She grinned, holding her arms up above her head, "Surprise!"
Ryan smiled, grabbing Taylor around the waist and spinning her around happily. "You have no idea how good it is to see you! What are you doing here? What happened to your mom?" He set her back down and picked up on of the suitcases she had with her.
"Oh please, since when does my mother make any extra effort to come and see me," she rolled her eyes, as she rolled her other suitcase into the apartment, closing the door behind her. She then wrapped her arms around Ryan's neck and kissed him passionately. When they broke away from each other she laughed, "I can't believe that you believed that lie."
"Well I didn't think my girlfriend would lie about something like that," Ryan said, glaring at her only half-seriously.
"Hey, I wanted to surprise you," Taylor responded, pulling him close to her, so that their lips were barely touching.
"I'm surprised," Ryan muttered into her lips.
"Good," she replied, between kisses. After a while, she pulled back a little, so she was looking into Ryan's eyes. "I missed you so much Ryan. I'm never going to France without you again."
"That's good, 'cos I was actually planning for us to be joined at the hip from now on," he said.
"That sounds amazing," Taylor said, unable to take the smile off her face.
"You know what?"
"What?"
"We've still got a couple of hours before we have to be at the Cohens' for dinner," he said suggestively. "So I was thinking that we start implementing that joined-at-the-hip thing right now."
"Oh really?" Taylor said, raising one eyebrow. "Does this happen to occur in the bedroom?"
"As a matter of fact, it does."
"I was hoping so," she smiled seductively. She quickly kissed him on the lips and smirked, "Come on." She grabbed him by the hand and they ran to the bedroom.
"Wow, I definitely missed that," Ryan commented, as Taylor rested her head against his chest.
"Me too," she replied, snuggling into Ryan's arms with a contented sigh.
"Taylor."
"Yeah?"
"You know how I was talking about us being joined at the hip?" he said.
She looked up at him, "Uh-huh. A very good idea I might add," she grinned.
"Yeah I thought so too," Ryan said. He hesitated for a moment before continuing, "Listen, I've been thinking a lot about us over the last few months and I've realized that I don't ever want to live without you in my life ever again-"
Taylor sat up suddenly, "Really?"
Ryan also sat up and nodded, "Which is why I want to ask you something. You can say no if you want, I mean there's no pressure to say yes or anything."
"Yes!" Taylor exclaimed, throwing her arms around Ryan and hugging him tightly.
"You don't even know what I'm asking you yet," he said as they pulled back from each other slightly.
"I think I do," she smiled. "You're trying to ask me if I want to move in with you."
"Uh, well that would be part of it," Ryan replied, "but it's actually something bigger than that."
"What are you-" she started.
"Wait, don't say anything just yet okay," he interrupted, reaching over into the drawer in his bedside table. He then pulling out a little black, velvet box. Taylor gasped. "I love you Taylor Townsend," Ryan began, nervously opening the box to reveal a diamond ring. "Will you marry me?"
At this point, Taylor was in tears, "Really? You really want to marry me?" she whispered with sob.
Ryan nodded, "Why? Don't you want to marry me?" He suddenly got very worried.
"Of course I want to marry you!" she exclaimed happily. "My answer is yes Ryan. Yes, yes, yes! I would love to marry you."
He grinned. "A simple yes will do," he replied, recalling back to the day he had first asked her out and spoken those exact words.
Taylor rolled her eyes, "You should know by now that nothing is ever simple with me," she smiled, kissing him passionately. "I love you."
"I love you too."
"I seem to remember that we made it to the Cohens' place an hour late that night," Ryan smiled.
"Come on, I'd just come back from France and we were engaged, we had to make an entrance," Taylor replied.
"Good point," he agreed. "Anyway, I think everyone was just happy to see us together again so they weren't too mad about us being late." Taylor nodded in agreement.
"Mama! Dada!" Emily called out excitedly as she ran into the room as fast as she could. Lady followed close behind, wagging her tail happily.
"Baby, what's the matter?" Taylor asked as the little girl jumped onto the bed and sat down on Ryan's lap.
"What's up Em?" Ryan added.
"I can't sweep," she explained
"Sweep?" he repeated in confusion.
"Sleep," Taylor translated.
"Oh."
"Why can't you sleep sweetie, did you have a bad dream?" Taylor asked, brushing Emily's blonde curls off her face with her hand.
"Santa coming," Emily told her mother.
"You still have to go to sleep Emily," Ryan said. "In fact, Santa doesn't visit little boys and girls that aren't asleep on Christmas Eve."
Emily looked shocked, "No!"
He nodded, "Yeah. If he sees that you're awake he'll skip our house and we'll have no presents tomorrow."
"Oh no!" she exclaimed.
"That's right oh no," Ryan laughed. "Why don't you take Lady and run back to bed quickly, before Santa sees that you're awake. Daddy will come tuck you in in a minute."
Emily nodded quickly, before jumping off the bed and quickly running out of the room.
Taylor laughed, "That was mean."
"What? That's what my mother always told me to get me to go to sleep on Christmas Eve," Ryan replied. "Besides, it worked didn't it?"
"Yeah, yeah bask in your glory," she teased.
Ryan smirked, kissing Taylor quickly on the lips, "I'll be back in a second," he said, standing up from the bed. "Okay Emily, Daddy's coming. You better be in bed!" he called out as he left the room.
Taylor sighed happily, before lying down on her pillow and pulling the covers around herself with a shiver. She laid there peacefully for a moment, until Ryan came back into the room. "Emily's in bed," he announced, climbing into the other side of the bed. "I don't know how long she's going to stay there though."
"I wouldn't worry, I think you scared her quite a bit with the Santa thing," she replied sleepily. "I think we've seen the last of her tonight."
"I hope so," Ryan said with a yawn.
"Goodnight honey," Taylor said leaning over to kiss him. "Merry Chrismukkah."
"Merry Chrismukkah Taylor," he responded.
"Wow!" Emily exclaimed as she ripped open one of her presents. Ryan laughed, as he videotaped his daughter.
"What's that Emily?" Taylor asked from her place on the couch. The little girl shrugged. "It's a new dollhouse for your dolls silly!"
She grinned, "Yay! Daddy open?" she asked her father.
"A bit later honey, why don't you open the rest of your presents first?" Ryan replied. Emily nodded, grabbing another present from under the tree. "Wait a minute Emily, that's Mommy's present remember?"
"Oh, oops."
"Why don't you go give it to her?" he said, smiling at Taylor.
Emily jumped on the couch beside her mother and held out the present. "For Mommy."
"For me?" Taylor asked, as Emily nodded fiercely. She unwrapped the small box and lifted up the black velvet lid to reveal a necklace. "Oh it's beautiful Emily, thank you very much," she said, hugging her daughter happily. "Did you pick this?"
"Yep," she nodded.
"You did a very good job, I love it," she replied. "Now why don't you go give Daddy his present?"
"I got a present?" Ryan asked, turning off the video camera and placing it on the coffee table. He then took a seat beside Taylor.
Emily went over to the tree and began searching for the gift. Eventually, she found it and brought it back to her father, handing it to him excitedly, "Open it Daddy!"
"I'm opening it," he replied, trying to open the present as fast as he could.
"This wasn't my idea so don't blame me," Taylor said.
"Oh no, what is it?" he asked, removing the lid of the box. He pulled out two tickets. "They're tickets."
"Uh-huh," Taylor nodded. "Did you see what they're for?"
Ryan read one of the tickets, "Sky-diving? You got me sky-diving lessons!"
"Yeah, it was Summer's idea," she explained. "I got two tickets so you could take Seth with you."
"Something tells me Summer suggested this so Seth would have to jump out of a plane," Ryan said. "There's no way he's going to do it, he's scared of heights. He'll start crying like a baby."
"That's precisely why Summer and I thought of this," Taylor said. "We thought that you'd get to go sky-diving, and have something to tease Seth about for the next 50 or so years."
"Thanks honey," Ryan said, kissing her on the cheek. "Something tells me that this is going to be the funniest Chrismukkah present ever."
"You like it Dada?" Emily asked.
"I love it, thank you very much Em," he replied, giving her a quick hug. She then ran back to the Christmas tree and began opening the rest of her presents.
"Wow, look at her go," Taylor commented. "She's opening those presents like it's an Olympic sport."
"Yeah, I guess she's growing up," Ryan replied.
She nodded, "Too fast, unfortunately." Suddenly the phone rang, and Taylor reached over and grabbed it, answering the phone with, "Merry Chrismukkah!" she listened for a moment before continuing, "Oh hi Frank. Merry Christmas." She paused again, "Yeah Emily's having a great time opening all her presents. I'll just get Ryan for you. Bye." Taylor held out the phone to Ryan, "It's Frank."
He took the phone off her, "Hey," he said into the phone. "Merry Christmas."
As Ryan continued talking to his father, Taylor smiled, happy that Frank and Ryan were getting along well. Suddenly, she felt a sharp pain in her abdomen. She winced and grabbed her stomach.
Ryan noticed this and began to worry, "Taylor, are you okay?"
"I don't know it just hurts," she replied. She looked down at her stomach worriedly. "Oh no, Ryan I think I'm in labour."
"Frank, I'll call you back," he said into the phone, hanging up without waiting for an answer. "What do you mean you're in labour? Your due date's not for another month."
"I know, but with twins they sometimes come early," Taylor said, taking deep breaths in attempt to stay calm.
"A whole month early?" Ryan asked, starting to panic. She nodded. "Okay, we have to get you to the hospital," he said, standing up from the couch. "Oh no, what about Emily?"
"We'll have to take her with us," she replied. "Don't worry, we'll call Seth and Summer, and Sandy and Kirsten on the way there and get one of them to meet us there and they can take Emily."
"Okay, let's go," he said, leaning down to help her off the couch.
"Ryan, don't you think we should change first?" Taylor suggested. "We're all in our pajamas."
"Are you kidding? The babies are coming, there's no time to change!"
She laughed, "Honey, they're not coming right this second. Go put some clothes on and change Emily's clothes then we'll go okay?"
"Are you sure?" he asked. "Cos I don't know how to deliver a baby Taylor. If we don't make it to the hospital I don't know what we're going to to."
"Yes, I'm fine," she said. "Now go, quickly."
"Okay, come on Emily," he said, lifting her up into his arms. He then quickly made his way towards the stairs.
45 minutes later, Ryan and Emily rushed into the emergency room of the hospital. Ryan approached the nurses desk and set Emily down.
"Can I help you?" the nurse asked glumly, obviously annoyed that she had to work on Christmas Day.
"My wife's in labor, she's having twins," Ryan said.
"Okay, and where is your wife?"
He turned around, "What are you talking about she's right-" he suddenly realized that Taylor wasn't behind him. "She was here." Ryan said to the nurse, who gave him a strange look.
"You lost your wife?" she asked.
"No, I didn't lose my wife," he replied. "I just have to go find her." He picked up Emily again, and began to walk the way he came, only to see Taylor be pushed by in a wheelchair in the opposite direction by another nurse. "Taylor!" he exclaimed, changing directions so he was walking beside the wheelchair.
"Hi," she replied.
"Where'd you go?"
"I lost you back at the entrance to the hospital," she explained. "Luckily Susan here"-she gestured to the nurse- "was nice enough to bring me in."
"Oh my God, I'm so sorry honey," Ryan started. "I was panicking and-"
"It's okay, really," Taylor said as they approached the nurses desk. "Right now, I need you to calm down and try not to panic. Do you think you can do that?"
"Sure," he nodded.
"Name?" the glum nurse asked.
"Ryan Atwood," Ryan replied.
"That's great, but are you having the baby today?"
"No," he laughed nervously, "of course not. I didn't-I wasn't-"
"Uh, maybe you should ask me the questions," Taylor said to the nurse. "My name is Taylor Atwood. We called from the car, Dr Miller's expecting us."
The nurse typed something into the computer, then looked up, "Okay, Dr Miller has requested that you be put into Labour Room 4, which is a private room, for the time being. Susan will take you there now. Once you're in your room, the doctor will come and check on you."
"Okay, thank you," Taylor said, smiling politely as Susan began to wheel her away. Ryan followed, walking beside the wheelchair carrying Emily. Taylor looked up, "Ryan, are you okay?" He nodded. "There's no need to be nervous, everything's going to be fine," she said, looking up at him with a smile.
He smiled back, "Okay."
"Ryan!" He and Taylor looked up to see Sandy and Kirsten walking towards them.
Ryan looked down at Taylor. "You go see them, and I'll meet you in the room okay?" she said.
Ryan nodded, "I'll just be a few minutes. I love you." He kissed her gently.
"I love you too," she replied. "And remember, don't panic."
"Right," he said as Taylor was wheeled away. "That's easier said than done," he muttered to himself.
Next chapter: the twins arrive! Any name suggestions? Boy and girl names would be great cos I haven't decided what the babies will be yet :D