Anya was already into her 7 month by the time Christmas arrived and her small baby bump was common knowledge. The children had more energy than was needed, but Anya managed to rangal their energy with some work.
"Jacob, I need you to stand closer to Maggie." Anya reminded that the 10 year rolled his eyes and walked closer. "Maggie you need to be able to say your words nice and loudly so Isaac can respond when he needs too."
"I can't say the words any louder Ms. Thatcher. Isaac just doesn't want to listen…"
"I am listening Maggie, you just mumble." Isaac spat back.
"I don't want to hear you all talking like this, I need you to get along or I'm going to have to ask some of the other children to take your spots." Anya warned as she pulled a strand of hair behind her ear and looked at the script in front of her.
"I can try not to mumble." Maggie sighed and completed her words without one problem and then Isaac responded without any difficulties leaving Jacob who normally had no problems surprised and needed prompting to remember what came next. Anya rubbed her hand over her forehead and turned to the rest of the children in the room. "I think maybe we should call practice done now. The sky looks like snow. Let's get our warm clothes on and we will head home now." Anya helped the children with their outer clothes and made sure they had their mittens and hats on and they all had their communicators working that would let their parents know they were on their way home. "Careful walking! The roads are a bit slippery!" Anya warned before watching the last of her charges head out the door. Twenty little people in small groups soon disappeared beyond the crest of the hill. Anya went back towards the auditorium, where she hoped that Kyle was having better luck with his group of people. Anya slipped into the back row and listened quietly while Kyle finished up his rehearsal.
"Hey Anya? Wake up… We can go home now." Kyle shook Anya's shoulder and she startled awake.
"Oh, I didn't think I was that tired." Anya admitted as she looked up into her husband's face. The rest of the group was quickly disappearing out into the evening.
"Maybe you should ask Grace to help out with the kids... Maybe it's too much with you in this condition?"
"I'm pregnant Kyle…"
"I know but, it's a lot with you still teaching so much..."
"I can do it. Anyways Grace will be doing it next year… I would rather not have to do this when I have a baby to look after as well." Anya stood up and stretched her arms above her head and smiled at her husband.
"Maam and Daed will be waiting dinner on us if we don't get out of here." Anya reminded as the two of the walked the distance to Anya's family home. Johanna and Samuel had been having the two over for dinner once a week since they went back to school after the harvest break. Johanna insisted as it gave Anya a break at least once a week from making dinner on school nights.
"Well, we don't want them to wait too long." Kyle nodded and took Anya's mattered hand in his. The air was cool but not cold enough to be uncomfortable and a light dusting of snow was falling twinkling in the lamps that hung along the road they walked. They soon arrived at the large farmstead home and went in through the mud room. Johanna welcomed them with hugs and Anya laughed at something she said as she hugged her and Kyle just shook his head. Dinner was on the table and the four of them sat down to eat. They were just finishing the main dinner and Johanna was pulling a wonderful looking pie from the counter while Anya had removed the kettle to make tea when they heard other voices and thumping of boots in the mud room.
"Oh you are all just in time for Pie!" Samuel greeted Fletcher and his wife Sara and Jonas came in. Sara held onto Parker's small hand and Fletcher carried Jessa while Jonas carried several small packages.
"What are you all doing here?" Anya asked as they unwrapped from their winter clothes and joined everyone around the kitchen table.
"Well, we wanted to share with you some gifts for the baby." Johanna started.
"I finished the cradle." Samuel interrupted and with a small flourish of arms and a small whistle pulled the sheet off the cradle that was hidden in the darken part of the kitchen. Anya's eyes filled with tears as she walked over to the cradle and knelt down to take a closer look.
"Oh! It's perfect." Her father had carved Kyle and Anya's initials into the top part of the cradle and the wood was smooth and shiny. Her mother had made a small base for the cradle and when she turned back to the family Jonas was handing Kyle the packages.
"We wanted to give you these as well before Christmas so things didn't get confused with the gifts then."
"Kyle you open them." Anya encouraged and Kyle opened the packages to show a digital photo album that had been sent by Kyle's family. It contained pictures of both Kyle and Anya as children and then as young adults their wedding photos, pictures of the extended family on both sides and then space to add pictures of the baby when it arrived.
"You talked with my parents?" Kyle asked in surprised.
"Just because they choose to live on a star base, does not make them completely out of my reach." Jonas laughed.
Sara handed Anya another small package and when she opened it she discovered a baby quilt and several handmade blankets.
"You are so talented!" Sarah hugged her sister in law and the children clapped their hands. Both were too young to start school, but Anya new soon enough they'd be there.
"Well with the gifts out of the way, let's have pie!" Fletcher suggested and Johanna went to the cupboard and pulled a second pie out.
"So sneaky!" Anya reminded.
"I know." Johanna laughed. "You will have to learn some of those skills."
"I will learn from the best!" Anya laughed and the family settled in for a time of visiting before they prepared for their way home.
"Do you want a lift? We can circle over to your place." Fletcher asked as they went out into the night. Fletcher had brought his hover cart and the family was getting in.
"No its okay. We're just over the hill, a well-worn path now with Maam coming so often. It's just as fast for us to walk then for you to take the road around the long way." Kyle thanked and they passed each other goodnights and went their opposite ways.
"I just have the worst timing." Geordie's message started. "I wanted to catch you, but obviously you aren't home! I just wanted to let you know that I've been looking through Duncan's work, and I think he has a great chance at getting into Starfleet! His marks are great and from what I've learned from him he's a neat kid. I'm not surprised that he's such a great student. Having you as a teacher would give every kid a running start for sure. Why don't you let me know when a good time is to catch you face to face and I'll try back. I'm curious to see what you look like pregnant." He laughed at his joke and Kyle laughed as he looked at his wife.
"If you don't call in the next few weeks, he might not see you pregnant. I think our dates have been wrong." Kyle turned his wife around to look at him. "You look like you could give Jesus a run for his money for having a Christmas baby."
"Our dates are not wrong. We will have this baby three weeks after Christmas." Anya assured. "I have the science degrees and everything I've reviewed tells me that our dates are right."
The two of them spent the next few days alone in their home, listening to music and Anya had a wonderful conversation with Geordie the next day and she was pretty impressed with how things were going on the Enterprise and Anya sighed with some of the stories about the familiar crew members that were still working on board. They didn't seem to leave their posts. Anya baked some cookies and Kyle entertained them with a selection of Christmas Songs on the piano stopping suddenly when they heard a knock on the door.
"Chrissy what is it?" Anya asked as she came out of the kitchen and saw the young woman standing in the doorway. The young woman was about ten years younger than Anya and had recently been asked to help with the clinic. She had gifts for helping people and worked alongside Dr. Masters and the community that was in need of a new midwife now that Esther had started to talk about retiring.
"Dr. Masters has some unknown origin upper respiratory illnesses that have come to the clinic over the past few days and he was hoping that you'd come to the clinic tomorrow and look over the test results. He was thinking that maybe it's nothing, but I told him I'd stop by and ask you on my way home tonight. I think he's wondering if any of your herbs or natural resources might be able to help ease the symptoms." Chrissy shared and Anya nodded in agreement.
"Absolutely Chrissy, I will be there first thing in the morning." Anya then asked her to stay put and went to collect some cookies. "For you and your parents." Anya placed the plate in her hands. "I made way too many and Kyle will just over eat them if the all stay here."
"Thank you." Chrissy nodded and Anya showed her back outside.
"Are you sure you should be going into the clinic? I don't want you to catch whatever is going around, not so close to your delivery date."
"Oh, Kyle you worry too much. I will be fine." Anya smiled and the two went back to their evening.