Megan woke up in a panic that she didn't hear the baby cry so she went to nudge Peter next to her but his side of the bed was cold and empty. Megan got out of bed and walked over to the cot to see that it was also empty so she grabbed her dressing gown to see Peter and the baby fast asleep on the sofa with an empty bottle lying on the floor.

Megan crept over to Peter and shook him slightly trying to wake him up. Megan carefully lifted the baby into her arms and continued to wake Peter up.

"Morning babe" peter mumbled as he opened his eyes.

"Morning and Merry Christmas. I don't want to you to rush but shouldn't we start the dinner and things so it's cook when everyone gets here until Lacey wakes up to open gifts" Peter got up only wearing his boxers so his rather toned chest which Megan loved knowing it was all hers and no one else's.

"Megan, why are you staring at my chest" Megan quickly adverted her eyes but Peter winked at her and went to their room to grab a t-shirt and trousers.

Megan changed the baby's diaper and changed the baby into a sleep suit which had the words "my first Christmas" on the front.

"Merry Christmas Mom and little sis" Lacey wrapped her arms round Megan and hugged her tight.

"Merry Christmas Lace, Merry Christmas big sister" Megan said as she held up the fresh and clean baby for Lacey to hold which she willingly did and kissed her sister's head.

"Merry Christmas Lace" Peter said now dressed and walking over to his girls and kissed their heads.

"Merry Christmas Peter, can we open presents please" Lacey looked at Megan who nodded her head and Lacey didn't need telling twice she walked quickly over to the tree with her sister in her arms.

"Do you want me to take her Lace" peter held out his hands for Lacey to hand him his daughter.

"Merry Christmas my wonderful daughter" Peter kissed her forehead and watched as Lacey opened her presents.

"Thank you mom and Peter For my presents I love them" Lacey beamed.

"I didn't really have much time to get you anything Peter, I'm so sorry" Megan looked embarrassed and kept her eyes to the floor.

"hey, Megan I have everything I have ever wanted and I don't need anything else I mean I have you, Lacey and my daughter the best gift you have ever given me so far" Megan smiled but she could feel her eyes tear up but she wiped away the tears.

Peter handed Megan small Box with a big bow on top so she removed the bow and opened the small box to see a Pandora bracelet with 3 charms already on there. One charm was for the baby because it had a silver dummy hanging of it and the 2nd was the letter L for Lacey and the 3rd was star engraved with the words "forever thine, forever mine, forever ours".

"Oh I love it..." Megan began to cry again and this time she let the tears slip down her cheeks as she walked over to Peter and kissed him passionately. Lacey smiled seeing her mother happy over just a simple but beautiful gift.

"oh gosh look at the time" Peter said as he glanced at the clock in the lounge getting up and walked into the bedroom and placing the baby in the cot and walking out and leaving the door a jar and walking in to the kitchen and starting the dinner.

A few hours later Megan and Lacey decided to change into something more Christmassy leaving Peter to take care of the food.

Lacey reappeared wearing a nice glittery dress and shoes which had mini killer heels the sort Megan would wear and Megan appeared wearing a red lace dress which showed of her curves and of course Megan had a pair of her killer heels on.

"Wow Megan... you look so... you know and Lacey look at you" Peter couldn't take his eyes of Megan in the red Lace dress. Megan smiled at Peter and walked over to him and hugged him from behind.

Lacey grabbed the cutlery off the side and began to set the table and decorate it with the Christmas table decorations which made it even more Christmassy.

There was a knock at the door so Megan went and opened the door to see Peter's parents at the door carrying bags full of gifts.

"Megan sweetheart you look wonderful, congratulations but most importantly how are you?" Jennifer Dunlop hugged Megan.

"I'm very well thank you, well please come in" Megan opened the door for Jennifer who stopped and called out to her husband.

"Bill, come on"

"Hi Megan darling how are you" Bill said with a thick southern accent

"I'm very well thank you Bill, oh gosh shouldn't I say Merry Christmas" Megan chuckled and closed the door.

"Mom, dad merry Christmas" peter said rather child like.

"Hi son, me and your father have something to tell you both"

"Ok, what is mom?"

"Well your sisters found out about their niece and well they wanted to come today and well your father invited them so I hope you don't mind"

"Of course we don't mind Jennifer, don't worry there's plenty of food for everyone" Megan said seeing a concerned Peter.

"Oh thank you and we are sorry that it is rather short notice" Bill put the presents under the now bare tree and Jennifer walked in to the kitchen to see Lacey setting the table.

"Merry Christmas Lacey sweetheart" Jennifer walked over to Lacey and hugged her.

"Merry Christmas Mrs Dunlop" Lacey hugged the blonde lady back.

"Call me grandma, so Lacey I bet you're pleased to be a big sister"

"Ok, if you are sure grandma .Oh yeah I love it"

"That's my girl" Jennifer patted Lacey on the back and walked over to the couch with Bill and sat down.

"Can I get you both a drink?" Megan asked.

"I would love a whiskey and Jen would love a gin and tonic please love" Bill said politely

Megan went and got the drinks and mixed the gin and tonic and poured the whiskey for Bill and walked back over to them and handed them their drinks. A few minutes later there was a knock at the door so Megan opened the door to see her mother standing there with gifts and 2 bottles of wine which she handed to Megan who took them and opened the door for her mother.

"Hi mom, merry Christmas"

"Merry Christmas darling, well where are my wonderful granddaughters" Joan asked looking behind Megan.

"The baby is asleep but is due a feed soon but Lacey is in the kitchen with Peter, come in" Megan shut the door behind her and took deep breaths and put on her false smile.

"Merry Christmas Peter darling and where is my Lacey?"

"Hi grandma" Lacey rushed over to her grandma and gave her a massive hug and lead her towards Jennifer and Bill.

"Joan, it's lovely to see you again" Jennifer said as she took a sip of her drink.

"Thank you, it's lovely to see you too" Joan sat down with Lacey.

"Would you like a drink Grandma?"

"I would love some red wine please Lacey" Lacey left Joan talking with Jennifer and Bill.

"Can I get a red wine for grandma please mom" Megan smiled and opened the red wine and poured a glass for her mother and handed it to Lacey.

After Joan being at Megan's for 2 hours Megan was going crazy and fed up of listening to her mother's stories that she had heard over a million times so she excused herself and went to the bathroom and began to sob because everything was getting on top of her and she was exhausted and everything was getting on her nerves. Megan took some deep breaths but that wasn't helping so she just did the only thing that she knew would make her feel better which was to cry.

Joan Hunt noticed that Megan looked tired and she remembered what it was like to feel exhausted and putting on a cheerful face when all you wanted to do was cry and cry so she excused herself and walked over to the bathroom to hear her daughter sobbing. Joan tired the door which wasn't locked so she poked her head through the gap and saw Megan sitting on the floor crying. Joan walked into the bathroom and closed the door and got down on the floor and placed a hand on Megan's shoulder only to feel her shrug it off.

"Megan darling it's going to be alright shhh come on" Joan removed a piece of auburn hair out of Megan's and tucked it behind her ear.

"What are you doing in here, I wanted to be alone"

"Megan I remember those day's when you are just so exhausted but having to put that smile on your face not wanting anyone knowing that you just wanted to cry and cry, I've been there with you of course" Joan placed her hand on Megan's shoulder once more time but this time Megan didn't shrug it off so Joan put her arm around Megan only to feel Megan lean into her and she could feel her sobbing hard.

"That's it baby let it out, I'm not going anywhere" Joan stroked Megan's hair trying to soothe her

"I'm worried that I will do the same thing to this baby like I did with Lacey, I mean always put my job first then Lacey second and of course because of that I lost Todd and I'm worried I will lose Peter the same way"

"Megan, you have learned from those mistakes and I know you won't let that happen again and look at Lacey she forgave you ages ago and you didn't know it. You can't be worse than me as a parent. I mean you have always been career orientated I mean look at school and college you put them first before anything else. Peter will never leave you and if anything he will support you and love you unlike Todd" Megan's crying began to subside but Joan could feel the wet patch that Megan now had created by her tears.

"Megan... I... Love you, more than you realise and it hurts when you shut me out like you do when all I want is to have you as my daughter again like we are meant to have but I know you hate me"

"Mom ... I don't hate you. I love you mom but I was never able to tell you that because you were never an affectionate mother when I was younger but you have changed why?"

"I realised what a huge mistake that was because of it I lost you for over 20 years and you have only just forgiven me now and I couldn't bare not seeing or hearing from you again. So please don't shut me out anymore please Megan... I want to be part of your life again and be the mother I never was to you" Joan felt Megan nodded to say that she can be part of her life again.

Megan and Joan stayed like that finally forgiving each other and being the mother and daughter they never were.