Hey, guys. Thank you so much for the reviews. I appreciate them tremendously.

Anon- I hear what you're saying. Just remember, there's no guarantee that Nick will actually go through with it or that Miley will say yes if he does. And if she does say yes, that doesn't mean that they're getting married the next day or anything.

Now, on to the next chapter!

In the following days, the Christmas tree went up. All of the shopping was finished. They were all going to get to take it easy for a few weeks, right?

Not a chance. Well, at least not for Miley.

Lilly's doctor had put her on bedrest, and Joe had broken his leg after falling off of the ladder, while adorning the roof with Christmas lights. So, all of the holiday planning was left up to her. Not that she wasn't happy to do it. It was the least she could do after everything they had done for her. But planning Christmas while taking care of them and the kids was not easy.

Luckily, she had the best boyfriend in the world there to help out. Nick was amazing. It was mostly thanks to him that she didn't lose her mind, due to the added stress. He just had this uncanny ability to calm her down when she felt like she was falling apart.

She couldn't help but smile as she thought of him. Even as she continued to place dishes in their given cabinets, she retained this smile.

She heard footsteps that she instantly recognized as Nick's, and met him in the center of the kitchen.

He looked like the tired one at this point. "Somebody doesn't want to sleep", he said, his eyes motioning to the little boy in his arms.

Miley gave Myles a knowing smile. "Now, why not?"

"I'm not sleepy", he said simply. "And Uncle Nick won't let me stay up and watch cartoons."

She let out a pretentious sigh. "Well, your mom and dad did tell us to make sure you were in bed by nine. And it's already...", she checked her watch. "...9:07. But I guess one show or two won't hurt..."

"Miley!", Nick exclaimed, while trying to keep his voice down. He thought for sure that she would back him up. That was why he brought the kid down here. Myles always listened to his Aunt Miley.

"Now, Nick. If he isn't sleepy, he isn't sleepy."

His eyes nearly bugged out of his head, while Myles smiled in satisfaction. Honestly, Nick was mainly ticked because she was making him look weak in front of his six-year-old nephew. And showing that she could get him to agree to whatever she wanted.

"Thanks, Aunt Miley", the little boy chirped as Nick put him down. "I'll go to bed in a little while, I promise."

"Okay", Miley said as he disappeared from the room. "I just hope Santa isn't watching."

After a moment, Myles poked his head back into the kitchen. "You really think Santa's watching?"

She shrugged. "They say he's always watching. It would be a shame if he put you on the naughty list this close to Christmas."

The look on the kid's face changed dramatically. She knew that would work. Her dad had pulled that on her for years to get her to go to bed on time.

"Uh, I think I'll go to sleep...just in case", Myles said nervously, deciding he would wait until after Christmas to stay up past his bedtime. With that, he bolted out of the room.

Nick looked at her in admiration. "You are a genius."

Miley smiled at the compliment. "No. The first person to come up with that trick was a genius. It's really a shame that it's only good for about a month out of the year."

He leaned up against the counter, and watched as she finished putting up dishes. "Yeah. Maybe we should be original and come up with something for the other eleven months."

She laughed humorlessly. "Believe me, if there were any more tricks, I would know them by now. Belle used to randomly wake up in the middle of the night up until the past year or so, and it would take me forever to get her back to sleep."

Nick grimaced. That was a lot of sleepless nights. According to Joe, Myles actually started sleeping through the night very early, and they never had any trouble with him after. Except getting him to go to sleep to begin with. It depended on the child, he supposed.

"Do you ever want to have another baby?", he found himself asking.

Miley looked up with a startled expression. "A baby?"

"Yeah. Not now", he said quickly. "Or in the near future. But someday..."

She wasn't entirely sure how to respond to that. Of course she liked the idea of having another baby someday, especially if it was with Nick. But she wasn't sure if it was even possible, at least not without medical help. Then again, they had said Belle wasn't possible either, so maybe doctors weren't all that smart after all.

"I think I would like to have another baby someday", she finally replied. "Would you?"

Nick nodded. "Yeah, I think so. I mean, I haven't really thought about it all that much. But I guess I always planned on being a dad someday."

"You'll be a great one", Miley said softly.

He would be. There was no doubt in her mind of that. She pictured a little boy for them. He would have dark hair and Nick's beautiful brown eyes. He would be perfect. And one day, she hoped that he would be a reality.

She brushed her fingers across his cheek. "I love you, Nick."

"I love you too", he said in a near-whisper, brushing his lips against hers.

And he did. More than he had ever loved anyone in his entire life. He wanted nothing more than to spend the rest of his time on this earth making her happy.

The next day, Miley and Nick decided to take the kids to the mall to see Santa. Mainly because Myles insisted on explaining that him staying up late was merely a misunderstanding, and therefore, he should stay on the nice list. So, they decided to humor the kid.

Meanwhile, Lilly and Joe stayed at home because...well, they didn't have a choice. They spent most of the morning arguing over who would get the couch and who would have to settle for the recliner.

Lilly got the couch.

Joe was slightly annoyed that he broke his freakin' leg, and he still got stuck in this stupid recliner that didn't even lean back all the way. Because as his wife pointed out, his leg was broken. Therefore, he didn't need it to lean back. He decided that recliner shopping would be in order after he could walk properly again.

"You're lucky I love you", he muttered. "Or you would totally be in this chair right now."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "I have been laying here and watching this stupid football game for the past two and a half hours because you wanted to, and you're still complaining about that damn chair!"

"Well, what else were we going to watch? Cupcake Wars?"

"I like that show! And it beats watching this crap! It's the fourth quarter, and the score is six to three. All they keep doing is giving the ball back to each other!"

"Uh, it's called defense, babe", Joe replied. "That's kinda part of the game. And it's the least you could do considering you're the reason I broke my leg to begin with."

"Oh, so now it's my fault that you have no sense of balance?", Lilly said in a sarcastic tone.

"I wouldn't have been up there on that ladder to begin with if you hadn't insisted that we have lights on the roof", he pointed out.

"Well, I wouldn't be on this couch right now if you hadn't forgotten to use a condom."

Burn. "Ugh, fine. You win. Look, how about I get the couch next time, but you get to watch whatever chick show you want. Just no Keeping Up With The Kardashians, I'm begging you!"

She smiled, satisfied. "I think I can do that. Hey, what's this?"

Joe glanced at the small box that his wife had pulled from between the couch cushions. "Really? He couldn't have found a better place to hide it than our couch?"

"This is the ring?", Lilly said curiously, opening the box to reveal a beautiful diamond ring. "Awww, it's gorgeous!"

She took her own wedding ring off, deciding to try it on. "Oh, Joe! Look how pretty it is!", she breathed, waving her hand to show him.

He acted offended. "You don't like yours?"

"What? Honey, of course I do. This one's beautiful, but I wouldn't want any other ring besides the one you gave me."

"Really?"

"Really", she smiled, before her smile was replaced by a look of alarm. "Oh my God."

Joe immediately jumped to the worst possible conclusion. "Oh my God! Are you in labor?", he asked, panic rising in his voice with every word.

"No, worse!"

"Worse!"

Lilly nodded frantically. "The ring's stuck!"

As the kids stood in line to see Santa, Miley and Nick stood a few feet away where other parents were waiting for their kids to get done.

"I missed this", she said thoughtfully, looking up at him.

"What, sitting on Santa's lap?"

She laughed softly. "No, just the whole Christmas experience. Family, friends, love...just being happy. I feel like I've never been happier in my life than I am right now. And you're a big reason for that."

He smiled. "Well, you're the reason I'm as happy as I am too."

A moment of hesitancy passed before she spoke again. "Nick, can I ask your opinion on something? I mean, this is kind of important and I can't think of anyone that I trust more than you."

Nick nodded. "Yeah, of course. What is it?"

Miley bit her lip. "Well, Lilly and me were talking a few weeks ago, and she was telling me about how all of the family is coming for Christmas and everything..."

"Oh, baby, you don't have to be worried about meeting my family. They will love you."

She hadn't even thought about being nervous about meeting his family until that statement. But she would have time to fret about that later.

"I hope so", she sighed. "But actually, this is about my family."

"Your family?", he repeated, a bit surprised. Mostly because Miley rarely talked about her family unless she was telling a story from years and years ago. She never talked about them in the present tense.

"Lilly suggested that I consider inviting them for Christmas too."

"Well, are you going to?", Nick asked curiously.

"I don't know. I mean, I haven't seen them in gosh...seven years? And it was mostly my fault. They were only trying to look out for me, and I refused to see what was right in front of me. I want to have a relationship with them again. I do! But I'm afraid it might be too late", Miley said, looking down at her feet. "I'm afraid they won't want anything to do with me."

He gently tilted her head upwards with his hands. "Baby, I can't tell you what to do about this. It's your decision. But I can tell you that I think it would be good for you to resolve things with them. Or to at least try. If they love you as much as I'm betting they do, they'll forgive you. Especially when they hear about everything..."

"I don't want them to know about that", she said quickly. "I don't want them to feel sorry for me or to treat me like some kind of china doll. I'm past that. At least, I'm trying to get past that."

"Then, we won't tell them", he said simply.

She nodded, deciding it was worth a shot. "Okay. Yeah. I guess I'll try."

A few feet away, Belle was getting annoyed because Myles was taking forever to talk to Santa. He was probably a really busy man, after all. He was taking valuable time away from his busy schedule to come to their mall. Of all the malls in the world! Frankly, she was going to be ticked if she didn't get to talk to him.

"So, you see, Mr. Claus", Myles said in an extremely polite tone. "It was a complete misunderstanding, and I promise it won't happen again. So, can you please keep me on the nice list?"

"I understand, son", the old man said, laughing heartily. "You can stay on the nice list."

"Really? Oh, thank you so much! Now that we've cleared that up, I want a bike...a magic set...a trampoline...for my baby sister to turn into a boy..."

The old man in the Santa suit had never heard such extravagant wishes in his life as the ones that he had heard since getting this gig. As if Santa could really change a baby's gender! He glanced at the little girl that was next in line who was getting impatient.

"Okay, son. I'll see what I can do for you", he said, lifting the little boy off of his lap. "I wouldn't hold your breath on your sister turning into a boy though."

Belle ran excitedly to Santa next, and hopped on his lap.

"Hey, little girl!", the old man said, mustering up enthusiasm for the hundredth time that day. "What's your name?"

"Belle."

"Well, Belle. Have you been a good little girl this year?"

She thought about it for a minute. "Um, I think so. Can you see if I'm on the nice list?"

"No need for that", he said, waving his hand. "Now that I think about it, I remember my elves telling me about how good of a girl you've been this year. So, what do you want for Christmas?"

"I want my mommy and my Uncle Nick to get married. And then, I want a baby sister. And she's gonna need her own doll cause' I wanna keep Hannah."

The old man sighed. "Well, my elves can't make any of those things happen, dear. Are there any toys you would like?"

Belle shook her head. "No, not really. I can wait on the baby sister, but can't you please help my mommy and Uncle Nick get married? Please?"

"Little girl, I can't make two people get married..."

"But you have magic! That's how your reindeer fly and you go to every house in the world in one night!"

Myles stood with Nick and Miley, rolling his eyes. "And she said I took forever..."

They both glanced at Belle, who appeared to be arguing with the poor guy posing as Santa.

"Wow, what does she want?", Nick wondered.

"I don't know", Miley said suspiciously as she watched a smile suddenly appear on her daughter's face. "But it looks like Santa just promised it to her."

Reviews are much appreciated :)