Double chapter upload. Go back to read CH 18 unless you have done so already.
Christmas morning brought with it a few things. For one, Vector, who had been staying at the mansion along with Rio, came running down the hallways at about six in the morning, yelling for everyone to get up so presents could be opened. I growled, snuggling into the comforter, trying to block out his voice. Droite wasn't fazed by his yelling; in fact, she was still passed out, amazingly, considering how loud her stupid cousin was being. After about ten minutes of this, Vector came knocking on our bedroom door, somehow unlocking it and barging in without much of a thought that maybe Droite and I were in the middle of something.
Well, we weren't, but both of us were pretty much naked as hell and Vector, being a guy and whatever, made it all the more uncomfortable for us. Or me, considering I was the only one awake.
"Rise and shine, cousins!" he yelled, pulling open the curtains to let in what little morning light was out. Droite snorted as she woke up, and I laughed slightly at that, pulling the covers tight to my neck so that the damn guy wouldn't be able to see anything.
My wife sat up, pulling the blankets with her and forcing me to shift lower into the covers, still trying to hide myself while she was perfectly okay with only having a couple of sheets to pull over her chest. She glared at Vector, yawning comically as she did so. "Dammit Vector, again with this shit? I swear, I don't understand why anyone can stand you, especially that wife of yours."
The orange-haired bastard turned around, having this smug look on his face. "I want presents," he said, like a child. I rolled my eyes from my position, wanting to snap his neck for that comment. "Now come on lovebirds, I want my presents now." Trotting out, he disappeared into the hallway, somehow remembering to shut the door behind him as he went.
"I wonder about the sanity of your cousin, Droite," I muttered as she laid back down. She turned onto her side to gaze at me, an amused expression on her face.
"He's not exactly the brightest crayon in the box," she replied. "But I have to admit, the pranks he's pulled in the past were quite clever."
"I'm starting to wonder when we'll ever see a prank of his." I was starting to lower my guard around him, which was bad considering what both Rio and Droite had told me from past experiences.
My wife sighed tiredly. "I don't know. He's been too calm lately—I'm wondering the same thing myself."
"Well, should we get out of bed before he comes back in here again?"
"Probably, although I really don't want to move."
We lay there for a few more minutes, content with listening to each other breathe and gazing into the other's eyes before we forced ourselves to actually move. A delicious tightness was in my muscles, and as I stretched, I felt better than I've had in several days. The bubbling sensation kicked up in my stomach again, and I dimly wondered if that was my intestines throwing a fit about dinner last night. Disregarding it, I got out of bed and hunted down a sweater and a skirt. Smiling, I left the room before Droite did, allowing her to finish getting dressed without me possibly getting aroused all over again.
The lights in the mansion were already on, stinging my eyes as I looked around. Freaking Vector, waking us up so damn early. He was such and idiotic child, despite being nineteen. I traveled downstairs, into the rather large sitting room, where a Christmas tree sat in one corner of the room while the fireplace was going. Yawning, I plopped myself onto a couch, staring with indifference at the tree and the presents put underneath it.
Vector came in a few moments later, bouncing off the walls as he skidded to a stop in front of the tree and knelt in front of it. I swear, if he were a dog, he'd be wagging his tail by this point. His energy level was so damn high, I didn't even understand how he could stay still for more than two seconds at a time. Following him was his wife, Rio, who looked equally irritated in her black nightgown. Taking her slipper, she smacked Vector over the head, sending him flying across the room into the wall.
I laughed, watching Rio take a seat opposite from me, arms crossed and slipper still in hand. Vector groaned from where he had face-planted the wall. God, it had barely been ten minutes and already things were getting entertaining. After a few more minutes of listening to the oldest of us moan and writhe as if he were giving birth to something, my spouse came in, wearing a white sundress type thing. Droite came over to me and plopped down beside me, her head landing in my lap.
"Dammit Vector," she grumbled, closing her eyes and feigning sleep. Rio rolled her eyes in response to that, still listening to her hubby throw a fit in the background.
Cecilia was the last to come along, since the staff of the household were holding their celebrations separately. She gave me a gentle smile, going over to the tree and dragging the presents forward so we wouldn't have to break our spines to find anything.
"You guys are such goofs," the older woman stated, kneeling beside the tree and sighing dramatically. I laughed slightly at that.
"Mom," Droite started, sitting up and gazing toward her mother. "I say Kai gets her presents first; after all, she's our new addition to the family."
"I agree." Standing, Cecilia came to me, patting my head and helping me off the fluffy couch. Turning to the still moaning idiot in the corner, she said, "Oi Vector, stop being a brat and come sit by Rio."
Despite being such a pain in the ass, he moved, sitting beside the blue-haired girl and rubbing fake tears off of his face. Cecilia led me to the tree, helping me lower myself down to the ground in order to get to the gifts, even though I probably didn't need the help yet. Picking up the closest gift that had my name on it, I plopped my ass on the ground and held it in my lap.
Okay, so this was from Rio. I took the golden ribbon off, plucking the wrapping off of the box. It pretty much filled my lap, so I dropped it to the carpet in order to better get into the thing. Inside the box were various baby things, such as a few outfits (all unisex colors, even though it was obvious that I was having a girl no matter what) and various baby toys and bottles. I smiled, lifting the stuff out of the box to inspect each one. My favorite outfit had a little dragon on the shirt, a little more boyish than some of the others. I didn't mind because dammit that was too adorable.
After thanking her, I found another gift, this one from none other than Vector. I prayed that it wasn't some prank, placing the circular box on the ground a little ways away from me just in case. I opened it cautiously, but found something that surprised me, and not in a bad way. Inside was a dragon statue, the large creature having light blue skin, dark blue armor, and a brilliant red crest on its head. It was beautiful; something unexpected from Vector.
"Geez, Vector, you sure went all out," Rio commented. The bastard rolled his eyes.
"What, I can't be nice every now and again? Plus she's pregnant; I draw the line there." Sitting back in the couch, he gave me a smile. "Enjoy it, Kai. That thing cost me an arm and a leg to get."
"I don't see any of your limbs missing," I stated rhetorically, taking the statue from the box and placing it beside the items Rio had given to me. Before he could answer to that, I found the gift that Droite had gotten me. It was small, but I didn't mind. I popped it open, pulling out a necklace that looked like it was custom made; two dragons, one with wings of a butterfly (at least, that's what it reminded me of) was curled up in the grips of one with wings similar to the one on the statue. On the back of the pendant was our names, carved into the metal and gems along with the date of our marriage. Tears came to my eyes, but I pushed them away and gave a loving look at Droite.
"You're welcome," she said without me needing to say anything. Without further word, I placed the necklace around my neck, feeling its weight against my chest. The last one was from Cecilia—and like Rio's, it was packed with baby essentials. Since she knew the process of how I'd gotten pregnant and whatever, she had all girl things inside. Giving her a heartfelt thanks, I got off of the floor, gathering the stuff I'd gotten and hurrying back up to my room to put it somewhere safe, along with getting the present for Droite that I'd managed to get a yesterday—the day after we had moved in.
Checking to see if the gift was still inside, I rushed back out, now only having the big cylinder box in my arms. I heard Vector cackle from down below; he must have pulled something off and I was glad I'd missed it. I trotted into the living room, seeing that Droite, who had been on the floor opening stuff from the others (butterfly themed outfits for her and jewelry), covered in silly string. Oh, Vector, you stupid bastard.
"Droite, I got your gift right here," I said, setting it down with a bit of difficulty. The object inside shifted slightly as I did so, and I bit my lip, hoping that no noises came from inside. Droite raised an eyebrow, brushing some of the silly string out of her face and opening the box.
Her eyes lit up as she lifted the tiny black kitten out of the box, an over-sized bow on its head. With a girlish noise she brought the meowing animal to her chest and clutched the kitty.
"How'd you know that I wanted a cat?" she asked, snuggling the animal. The cat meowed and tucked itself into her chest.
"Gauche and Mizael helped with that," I replied. Even though we weren't on great terms with the fiery redhead, he was still willing to help me get a gift for Droite. And that little black kitten had been what Droite had wanted for a while. Despite the fact that I had a bird, the kitten was still little, and we'd be able to get the two accustomed in no time. "It's a little girl, just like you wanted."
"Oh, Kai, thank you so much." Holding the kitten in front of her face, she looked over its brown eyes. The cat meowed, wiggling its limbs. "I'll name you... Morpho. Sound good?" The kitty purred in response. "Morpho it is then."
While Droite continued to love and squeal over Morpho, I took a seat beside the two on the floor and watched the others get their gifts. Rio had gotten some ice creature themed stuff, including an ice cream set with little snowflake monsters on them. Vector got various prankster things. And a Hotwheels set, which was odd for his age, but considering his mental condition it wasn't a surprise. Cecilia hadn't gotten anything, saying that she rather get herself stuff than bothering people for it.
We went back to our rooms after that, too exhausted to do much more. Droite was still cuddling her kitten, adoring the animal like no tomorrow. I sighed, wondering just how much the poor kitten was going to get spoiled within the next month.
"Morpho is perfect, Kai," Droite spoke as we entered our room. I yawned tiredly and for dramatic effect.
"I know, that's why I got her for you." I went to the bed and fell onto it, too damn tired for this right now. "Can we please sleep? I need energy for the day's celebrations."
"Yep. Let me just put Morpho to bed." She took a collection of blankets from a nearby cabinet and placed them in a free drawer towards the bottom of the dresser. She settled the kitty into the nest of blankets, where Morpho crashed, her head snuggled into the blankets.
Galaxy protested a bit, but he shut up after seeing me and Droite on the bed together. I found Droite, pressing myself against her to warm up. Her hand went to my stomach as she lowered her mouth to mine. After that, we both passed out from exhaustion.
The rest of the day went along well. At noon, Droite and I got ready for the flux of relatives and friends that would be coming in to give us gifts. I got much more stuff, along with surprising some of Droite's relatives because of my new state. I didn't mind their strange looks; it was something I'd grown accustomed to with being married to another girl and pregnant. Many parcels and rations of dessert later, the day ended with the closest people to us hanging out in the living room, eventually falling asleep on each other.
All in all, it was a great day. I could only imagine how interesting it would be with a baby thrown into the mix.
Welp, we've hit the mark. 50000, guys. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, since now that NaNoWriMo has pretty much ended, I'll be speeding this story's timeline up so I can get it done faster. Review!