2017

"Damn it!" Skye shouted, more in frustration than in pain, as the knife sliced into her finger. She quickly wrapped it up in a dish towel, still silently cursing under her breath, as if the harsh words could help her.

"I heard you yell," Grant said, peeking into the kitchen. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, sure," she sniffed, pressing down on her injured, throbbing finger and turning away from him. "It's nothing. Go, be with the kids."

"They're okay," he replied, clearly having no intentions of leaving her alone. "I just put Ada down, and Haylie's playing nicely," he said as he walked up to her. "Now, let me see it…" He gently took her wounded hand and unwrapped the now bloodstained dish towel to inspect the cut. "It's not that deep, it isn't even bleeding anymore. Let's just put a band-aid on it," he smiled at her.

That was the last straw (she wasn't exactly sure why it was the last straw, but it was). Casting her eyes down at the kitchen floor and taking a deep, ragged breath, she started crying. No, not even crying–bawling.

"Hey, hey, hey," Grant said softly, cupping her face in his palms, wiping her tears away with his thumbs. "Everything's okay."

"No, it's not," she said, pushing him away maybe with a little bit more force than necessary. "Everyone'll be here in a couple of hours, the food's nowhere near ready, the house's a mess, I'm a mess… I'm tired and gross and… gosh, I think I have baby spit on me…" she went on, her words and breathing getting more and more erratic. "Why did I think having Christmas here was a good idea?"

Grant didn't say a word, simply reached out to her and pulled her close, wrapping his arms around her body; he held her, swaying gently and caressing her hair until she calmed down a little. When her breathing even out a bit, he pushed her away so he could look into her eyes.

"As I see it," he said in a calm, level voice, "we have two options. One, we call everyone and tell them dinner is cancelled."

"No, we can't do that, Haylie's been so looking forward to that and–"

"I know," he interrupted her. "So have you. I know you. You can't wait to have everyone in one place," he said with a small smile. "That's why we have option number two: you leave the kitchen now, go, cuddle Ada, play with Haylie… Take a bath, calm down, take a little you time. And let me take care of everything else."

For a long moment she was just looking at him, then sniffed one last time before hugging him again, holding him tightly and burying her face in his chest.

"You are amazing, you know that, right?" she said, her voice muffled by his shirt. "I don't know what I did to deserve you."

"Believe me," he replied, pushing her away and kissing her forehead, "the feeling is mutual."