Author's Note: Better late than job, life, blah blah, blah. I won't even attempt to explain the myriad reasons this chapter took so long. I will say that for those who haven't seen season 4 yet, I am incorporating a few of the new characters but am doing it in a way that will absolutely not spoil anything about the show or confuse you if you haven't seen it. They honestly just made one scene I was stuck on MUCH easier to complete from my end. So it's entirely safe to read. For those who have seen season 4, you have to know how much of a battle it was not to change an adorable something to reflect the show, but I had started this prior to season 3 so I'm sticking with what I have (besides, it's an AU). Enjoy!
"I haven't told him yet…..I think it would be a nice Christmas surprise...I really don't think he's going to react badly, trust me on this…."
Susan's back was to the door of their bedroom as she attempted to twist her hair into a messy bun while talking softly on her cellphone. She was so engrossed in the conversation that she hadn't noticed Jackson standing in the doorway. He didn't mean to eavesdrop; after sending Nicholas to get his coat from his room, he had wandered back to see if his wife was ready to leave the house for the morning.
In the long pause as the person on the other end of the line was obviously speaking, Jackson took the opportunity to clear his throat causing Susan to jump.
"Listen, I do need to run now so we'll talk soon, alright?" she said into the phone.
"Sounds like your surprise is serious business," Jackson said as she hung up.
Susan shrugged, smiling as she grabbed one of Jackson's sweaters and a scarf of her own from their closet. "It's supposed to be cold today," she said tapping her fingers against his t-shirted chest.
"Changing the subject, are we, darlin'?" He took her hand, interlacing their fingers and tugging her a bit closer.
"Now who's employing diversionary tactics?" Susan asked softly as her husband kissed her neck.
"What's a di-bershiony tactic?" asked Nicholas from the doorway. The boy was wearing his hat and coat, albeit with a few missed buttons.
"That," Susan said kneeling to fix her son's coat. "Is when a person tries to distract another person in the hopes that they'll reveal a secret because they're not paying attention."
"Why?" Nicholas asked as his mother brushed his hair back and replaced the knit hat on his head.
"Because sometimes a person is curious about a so-called Christmas surprise," Jackson replied pulling the sweater over his head.
"Daddy! You hafta wait for Christmas!" Nicholas' eyes were wide.
"Well then it's a good thing that it's tomorrow." Jackson knelt to tickle his son. As the boy giggled and shrieked, Susan stood, stretched, and tried but failed to hide a rather large yawn. Jackson rose with a still giggling Nicholas in his arms. "Stop for coffee on the way to the store?"
Susan shook her head, "I'll be fine. No need to go all the way over near H Division when we don't need to…" She trailed off, giving her a husband a look.
"It's just to sign some papers to wrap up this case."
"I thought Reid had taken care of that."
"He missed a page...or five," Jackson said, handing Nicholas to Susan and kissing them both on the forehead. "It'll probably take you longer at the coffeeshop than it will for me to get this done."
"I swear to god, Reid, this had better be the last one."
Jackson scribbled his signature on the twelfth form and passed it to Drake who huffed his agreement as he signed. As Sergeant Drummond unceremoniously dumped another stack of files in front of him, Jackson glanced through the blinds in Reid's office trying to gauge Susan's anger as she leaned against Artherton's counter while Nicholas sat atop it and seemed to be chattering away to the desk sergeant.
"Abberline insisted we have all of the year's paperwork done before the holiday," Reid said tucking another completed form into a file folder.
"And is Abberline going to explain to Susan why we're not home unpacking the groceries and getting the kid down for his nap?" Jackson sighed.
"Someone ought to," Thatcher said, a bit wide-eyed as he shut the office door behind him.
Jackson couldn't help but chuckle as he continued to sign each sheet and pass it to Drake. "Scared of my wife, Thatcher?"
"I wouldn't say scared," Thatcher said attempting to look smooth as he leaned against Reid's file cabinet. "She's just a bit….intimidating."
"She's always been perfectly nice to me," Drummond said, collecting the signed forms from Reid.
"That's because Mathilde has a crush on you," Thatcher blurted out. Reid paused, mid-signature, and looked up at Drummond with a raised eyebrow.
"I-uh-I'll file these now, Inspector." Drummond, now a peculiar shade of pink, nearly ran out of the room.
Attempting to hide his own laughter, Jackson stood and stretched, "We done here, boys?"
"We are," Reid said, also standing. "I suppose I best come apologize?"
"You're either going to get an earful now or when you bring Mathilde over later so probably best to get it out of the way," Jackson said, turning to open the office door but pausing before doing so. He turned back to Drake. "Before you get entirely wrapped up in this evening's plans." He paused giving Reid a knowing look. "Want to clue me in as to what Rose and Susan were on about on the phone this morning."
Drake shook his head, "Don't think they were - we were….busy this morning...went out to breakfast, and then I left her back at the house before I came here and she hadn't talked to Susan anywhere in between."
"Huh," Jackson said.
Glancing out at Susan and Nicholas in the lobby, Reid asked, "Something the matter?"
"No," Jackson said quickly. "I mean I don't think so. Just she keeps going on about some kind of surprise, and this morning she's on the phone insisting to someone that I'll be okay with it."
"Probably just some elaborate Christmas gift she picked up in Chicago," Reid shrugged.
"Probably means you're having another kid," Thatcher said. The three other men turned in unison to stare at him as he began to inch back toward the file room, "Hey Drum, you need some help with those?"
As Thatcher left the room Drake turned back toward Jackson who was staring staring wide-eyed, straight ahead. "Everything alright, American?"
"Christ, she's pregnant," Jackson said softly.
Placing a hand on the shorter man's shoulder, Reid said, "Jackson, though he doesn't always succeed in the execution, Thatcher does like to joke around and I'm fairly certain-"
"-the damned fool hit the nail right on the head," Jackson cut Reid off. "No wonder she's been so exhausted."
"I'm fairly certain that's jetlag and grief," Reid interjected. "Remember that she has just been to Chicago and back for a funeral."
"And Rose did say neither of them were able to sleep on the flight," Drake added.
Jackson rubbed his forehead as Reid continued, "Jackson, you use medical knowledge to track down criminals every day, it ought to be fairly easy to figure out whether or not this adds up."
Even in his panicked state, Jackson couldn't resist a devilish grin, "If you're asking if we've been trying for another one, Reid, not consciously, but there's no lack of effort in that department."
Drake rolled his eyes and Reid merely shook his head, "With that bit of unnecessary information now unfortunately burned into my memory, I think we're through with these forms and may now proceed with a Christmas Eve off work."
Reid flung the office door open and strode into the lobby hoping Jackson would follow him.
"Uncle Edmund!" Nicholas exclaimed, swinging his legs from his seat on the counter.
"Hello Nicholas," Reid said, bending to hug the boy. "Are you excited for Christmas?"
Nicholas nodded vigorously, "Mama says that Santa Claus is coming after I sleep."
"After you sleep this evening, love," Susan said. "You still need to take a nap before we get ready for Mathilde's concert so if your father doesn't have to do anymore work on Christmas Eve-" She glared at Jackson and Reid. "-we'll go home and lay down for a bit before everyone comes over."
"Sorry Darlin'," Jackson said giving her a quick kiss before picking up Nicholas. "Ran into a few snags with the, uh, paperwork. Did you get your coffee?"
Susan shook her head, "Just some herbal tea. I'm going to try to get a bit more sleep while he's napping."
"I am sorry for the delay," Reid said as Jackson shot him a pointed look. "And I promise that we are truly done with work until after the holiday."
"I suppose I forgive you this time," Susan replied with a wink to Reid. "We'll see you and Mathilde a bit later then.
"It's a rather complex and delicate matter really," Jackson said, holding blade steadily just above the carcass on the tray as Reid and Drake looked on. "One false move, and the whole thing goes to hell."
"And here I thought you'd be an expert in these matters," Drake quipped, more to Reid than Jackson.
"What in god's name are you doing?" Susan asked moving past the men to retrieve one of Nicholas' juice boxes from the refrigerator.
"It's apparently both a complex and delicate matter," Reid deadpanned as Jackson continued to make tiny incisions in the skin of the uncooked turkey.
"It's called sealing in the flavor before we cook this thing," Jackson said.
Susan nodded, wrinkling her nose as she moved back toward the living room, "Just make it quick, the sight of that thing is liable to make me sick."
His surgeon's steady hand preventing him from slicing the turkey in half, Jackson couldn't keep his eyes from widening as he turned to watch his wife as head into the living room.
After a moment of silence too long, Reid shrugged to Drake and gently pried the knife out of Jackson's hand as the American remained perfectly still. Drake slide the tukey pan from the counter and deposited it into the oven while Jackson muttered to himself, attempting calculations by ticking off numbers on his fingers, before finally declaring, "we're talking July? June maybe, right?"
"For what?" Drake asked.
"What do you think?" Jackson hissed. "For when my second-born is born."
Ignoring Jackson completely, Drake turned to Reid, "He's still on about this?"
"So it would seem," Reid replied sidestepping the American to assist Drake with preparing the next dish headed for the oven.
"The way I see, the pro is that with Nicky's birthday in the spring, there's enough time between the kids that they won't be fighting over parties and gifts and such like Daniel and I had a habit of doing," Jackson began, more to himself than Reid or Drake. "Now of course, the downside is that I had thought to take the three of us to France this summer, kind of an early birthday present for Susan, but if we've got a little one coming -"
Reid couldn't resist rolling his eyes as the American continued. Before returning his attention to the kitchen, he glanced into the living where his daughter was just wrapping up a story of her own.
"And then the snow queen and her fairies came to the rescue of the trapped baby reindeer," said Mathilde, perched on the edge of the couch a few feet away.
Nicholas stopped drinking his newly obtained apple juice juice long enough to ask, "And then he went home to his mama?"
Mathilde nodded as much as she could as Susan sat behind her on the couch finishing a rather elaborate braid in the girl's hair.
"Can you tell me and Mr. Wolf another story Tilde?" Nicholas asked, the toy sitting on his lap.
"Just so long as you don't smudge this," Rose said, putting a final stroke of pink polish on the girl's nails.
As Mathilde began another story, about how a friendly ghost named Alice helped a lonely child on Christmas, Susan finished the braid and squeezed her shoulder before moving from the couch. "Do you mind keeping an eye on him for a moment so I can get dressed for your show?"
"Back away, American," Drake said back in the kitchen, shooing Jackson away from the the bowl he was adding ingredients to. Leaning against the pantry door with Rose now between him and Drake's concoction, Jackson decided, perhaps foolishly, to reintroduce the topic he had only moments ago dismissed.
"When you and Susan were traveling yesterday, did she happen to mention this supposed surprise?"
"If you're asking whether she told me she was pregnant, the answer is no," Rose said casually and a bit too loudly for his liking.
"Who's pregnant?" Mathilde asked sauntering into the kitchen, followed closely by Nicholas.
"No one," Rose replied.
"You're sure?" Jackson asked in a low voice as Mathilde informed her father that she needed to be at the auditorium in 15 minutes and that she ought to be the one to drive them there.
Rose shrugged, "As sure as a person can be without asking outright."
"Mama, you look pretty!" Nicholas said as Susan re-entered the room in a formfitting black dress and heels.
"That she does," Jackson said. He placed his hands on Susan's hips and whispered in her ear, "You sure you don't want to send Nicky along to the show with Drake and Rose? You and I stay here and keep an eye on everything in the oven."
"I think Drake might actually spontaneously combust from nervousness if you attempt to deviate from his plan for this evening. So I'm afraid you'll be keeping your eyes and hands elsewhere until later," she whispered back, giving him a quick peck on the cheek. Frowning, she used her thumb to rub the mark her red lipstick left on his skin. "Now hurry and get changed - I think Edmund's hoping we'll want to ride together so he can avoid allowing Mathilde to practice driving."
As Jackson headed down the hall, already pulling his shirt off, Susan shook her head and turned back to Drake, who was letting Nicholas pour the milk into the dish he was making while Rose looked on. "You're sure the two of you don't mind staying here and keeping watch over the food?"
"Of course not," Rose replied with a smile. "It's the least we can do given that you and Jackson agreed to host all of this even with you being out of town so close to the holidays."
"Happy to help," Drake replied, and Susan had to stop herself from grinning at how nervous he sounded even though everything was going exactly as they had planned it.
"Ready Darlin'?" Jackson asked, scooping up Nicholas and hoisting him onto his shoulders.
"That's far too high for him," Susan said.
"He's fine," Jackson replied as Reid honked the horn from in front of the house. He winked at Drake and Rose, "Have fun you two."
"It's so beautiful," Mathilde cooed several hours later as Rose held her hand up to the light to show off the ring. "Good choice Uncle Ben."
From across the table a newly engaged and significantly less nervous Drake beamed as Mathilde continued to fawn over Rose. "When will you get married?"
"Sooner than later, I think" Rose replied. "We'll keep things small, but I'll still want some help with the planning."
"Yes, of course," Susan said, slightly distracted by Nicholas who had insisted on sitting on her lap during dinner. "Granted, I've never really planned a wedding..."
"Elopment is an excellent option if I say so myself," Jackson said to Drake and Rose. He turned his attention to his son who was swirling mashed potatoes on Susan's plate. "Nicky, come sit with me for a minute so your mother can finally eat dinner."
"You eloped?" Mathilde exclaimed. "I thought people only did that in movies."
"Generally, yes," Reid replied quickly.
"And those that do so in real life are of age adults who've known each other for a while before they consider something like marriage," Susan added, already well acquainted with Reid's nervousness about being the father of a rather precocious teenager.
As the wedding chatter continued, Jackson rose from his seat to retrieve Nicholas from Susan's lap, pausing while the boy was still distracted by the potatoes to raise his eyebrows at his wife, "Two weeks is a while?"
Susan merely grinned slyly as Jackson lifted Nicholas into the air and said, "Alright, my boy, that's enough potato art for you. Mama needs to eat her vegetables too."
"Tilda! Can we show the house now?" Nicholas exclaimed, wiggling in his father's arms.
"Yes," Mathilde replied, turning to her father. "Car keys, dad." At Reid's confused expression, she said, "I have to get the thing out of the car."
"Oh yes, right," Reid said, handing his daughter the keys.
"Okay, so.." Mathilde said returning a moment later, holding something behind her back. "Last week, after our fifth viewing of The Christmas Dinosaur, Nicky decided he wanted to make a present for his mom and dad.."
"An' Tilda helped me make a house, an' she built it with graham, 'an I put candy on it!" Nicholas said. He leaned toward Jackson, whispering in his father's ear, "An' Tilda let me eat some of the candy too!"
"It's actually not edible any more," Mathilde said setting the gingerbread house on the table in front of Susan as Jackson sunk into a chair next to her to get a better look. "I put a coat of shellac over it so you can keep it."
"That's the door to the house 'an that's the roof, 'an Mr Wolf liked the sprinkles," Nicholas continued as he pointed to the various features of the house from his father's lap.
"I bet someone else liked the sprinkles too," Jackson said winking at Mathilde and Susan, who was doing her absolute best to keep from crying. Using one arm to keep his son from crawling onto the table to point out all of the house's candy features, Jackson wrapped an arm around Susan as she managed to compose herself enough to thank Mathilde for her role in the gift.
"And you, my darling little one," Susan said, pulling Nicholas in for a hug. "Thank you for such a lovely, thoughtful gift."
"'Welcome Mama!" Nicholas said returning Susan's hug and then resuming his description of the gingerbread house.
"It's a very nice house," Reid said, beaming with pride at his daughter.
"That's you, Uncle Edmund!" Nicholas squealed pointing at a particularly tall blob of frosting. He pointed to another, shorter blob beside it. "That's Tilda 'an that's Uncle Ben 'an Auntie Rose 'an Daddy 'an Mamma 'an Mr. Wolf 'an baby 'an meee!"
"Baby?" Jackson felt his eyes widen.
Susan, however, seemed entirely unfazed, "What baby, love?"
"Tilda's baby," Nicholas replied. Susan glanced toward Reid, making sure he was still upright, as her son continued, "He's fluffy an' little 'an has a fluffy tail.."
"A baby cat is called a kitten, remember Nicky?" Mathilde chimed in as Reid, Jackson and Susan exhaled in unison.
"Yup!" Nicholas resumed his earlier task of playing with Susan's mashed potatoes as she glanced toward her husband, who seemed rather pale.
"Everything alright, dear?"
" 'Course Darlin'," Jackson replied. "Probably about time for dessert and drinks, don't you think? Reid, want to help me get everything from the kitchen?"
Reid nodded, still a bit rattled by the momentary confusion, and followed Jackson into the kitchen as Susan glanced at their other guests and shrugged.
Jackson stood in the doorway staring out at the garden and exhaled. He watched the smoke curling into the night sky and took one last drag on the cigarette before putting it out.
"Is it snowing?"
Jackson gave the sky one more glance before turning to face Susan seated on the floor in pajama pants and what he was fairly certain was one of his sweat-shirts trying to determine the best way to wrap a large plastic dinosaur. "Anytime now, I think."
"Nicholas will be so excited to have snow on Christmas," Susan said, grinning as Jackson sat down beside her and attempted to help maneuver the wrapping paper around the oddly shaped toy.
"Let's just hope he stays asleep long enough to make Christmas after 8am," Jackson replied.
It had been midnight, when, after several rounds of good nights, their guests had finally left, but not before Nicholas had woken up four times (once in his mother's arms in the living room) asking whether Santa had arrived. Folding paper over the dinosaur's tail, Susan yawned, "Don't press your luck, dear, I'd consider 5:30 a small miracle considering how excited he's been."
Jackson chuckled, unable to resist leaning in to rest his head on her shoulder, "Remember when Christmas was just an excuse to stay in bed all day?"
He lifted his head slightly to waggle his eyebrows suggestively at her and got the result he had been hoping for, a completely unguarded, rather unladylike burst of laughter from his wife. The dinosaur momentarily forgotten, he pulled her into his arms, laughing himself as he said, "God help us, you'll have the kid up by 2 at this rate."
"Oh no," Susan whispered, still laughing a bit. "This is entirely your fault."
"Well then that settles it," he replied, stroking her cheek. "My New Year's resolution is to stop making you laugh."
"That hardly seems fair," Susan said, pouting slightly for a moment until Jackson kissed her.
They spent the next few minutes wrapped up in each other's arms, and when they finally parted, Jackson breathed a small sigh of relief that Nicholas wasn't awake and tearing into the toys they had just finished wrapping. Placing a bow on the awkwardly wrapped dinosaur's head with great flourish, Jackson rose, helping Susan to her feet and said, "I'll put the rest of this paper away if you want to go lay down."
Susan nodded and turned to move down the hall toward their bedroom.
"Matthew…"
Jackson turned, surprised more at his wife's use of his first name than the fact that she was back in the living room instead of heading to bed. "Forget something, Darlin'?"
She watched as he shut the closet door, and once he was close enough, she grabbed his hand. "You do know, I'm not pregnant, right?"
Jackson froze for a moment, and Susan couldn't help but think how similar he and Nicholas tended to look when they had been caught by her.
"Yeah, of course," Jackson began slowly. "I mean, of course I know that…"
Susan raised an eyebrow as Jackson sighed, saying as much to himself as to her, "You were drinking champagne after dinner."
He sighed again. "Reid told you?"
"No," she replied softly. "The three of you just happen to be rather horrid at speaking softly. If your conversation in the kitchen was any indication, it's no wonder Reid tries to avoid stakeouts."
Jackson grinned in spite of himself until Susan added, "Also, there were several points this evening when I thought you might jump out of your skin."
"Christ, Darlin' I'm sorry," he said, taking her hand. "I don't want you to think-"
"Matthew," Susan said, running her other hand through his hair in what he knew was a move to get him to look into her eyes. "I think it's safe to say that, given our own lack of proper examples, we're still very much figuring out how to be parents to one child. So believe me, were there to be another, I'd be just as panicked as you."
Jackson stared at his wife for a moment, mystified at the power her smile had over him. He pulled her into his arms and held her there for a long moment before kissing her hair and murmuring, "Well maybe we can talk about being panicked together sometime in the future."
Susan hummed her agreement as they drifted towards their bedroom, pausing in Nicholas' room so each of them could give their sleeping son an extra kiss goodnight.
"There is one thing I'm wondering," Jackson said as Susan pulled the covers over them.
"What's that?"
"If you're not...if we're not going to…"
Settling back against the pillows, Susan grinned, pulling him in for a kiss, "All surprises will be revealed tomorrow...well later today, I suppose."
To be concluded in chapter 3...