A/N: Glad to see I'm not the only one who's been waiting for an AU like this. Thank you all for reading and reviewing, it's quite encouraging :)

"Antlers?"

Jackson sat with his arms crossed in front of his chest suggesting no approval. However, the right corner of his lips was already curling up halfway to a smile. April could tell.

"Yes, well. I contemplated wings and a halo, but none of it made sense", she explained waving her hands as she did. "I mean: a halo, that is kinda over the top. He's clearly a little miracle and all, but he's not baby Jesus."

"Clearly", Jackson supported.

Any hint of sarcasm went ignored by his wife as she went on: "So the halo is out. Wings would be cute, of course. But putting wings on a head? That's just silly. So the wings are out... yeah, I guess, antlers it is."

April tried to play it cool, waiting a couple of seconds before she turned around to face him. Her eyes betrayed her excitement. "So... What do you think?"

Jackson shrugged as if he didn't care. "I guess antlers it is."

"Jackson!" The pillow hitting his arm came as a surprise. "I want your opinion, not mine."

"I guess antlers will do." He turned to look at her. She looked beautiful. The light reflected in her eyes and he couldn't resist giving her a short lived kiss. "He'll look cute."

In spite of the kiss April rolled her eyes. Why couldn't her husband ever be openly involved in anything? "I know he'll look cute, stupid. He always does."

"So? What's the deal?"

And there she had it: Jackson's opinion. He didn't care. He probably just wanted to take the scarce minutes Samuel would stay asleep for a make out session. April moaned as she tried to bury herself deep in the cushions. An earlier version of herself might have been insecure about his lack of support. This working-married-mom-version of her wasn't. She was simply annoyed.

Annoyed that Jackson, once again, wasn't interested in participating in dressing up their son.

"It's his first Christmas! It's supposed to be special", she exclaimed.

"I get that", he assured. She could feel his hand sneaking up behind her back. Oh no. She wouldn't let him get away this easily. Not today.

Shifting out of reach, she replied: "I really don't think you do."

With a pout and crossed arms she leaned back, waiting.

He sighed. "April..."

"Don't April me. It's his first Christmas. I'm not going overboard here." She shifted back to face him. "You", she said pointedly, "are underboard."

"Underboard? That's not even a word."

"Doesn't matter. You still are."

They sat in silence for a while. It was odd, because they rarely had it anymore. Samuel was a big cry baby, which, really, they couldn't blame him for. Both of them would also be crying if they either regularly broke their bones or frequently lay awake with the pain of them healing.

Right now, though, Samuel wasn't crying. No fresh injuries and no healing as of the moment. The little Simpson style cardboard flip chart in his room read '37 days without a broken bone' at the moment.

They would really have to hide this thing before April's parents visited. Catherine had taken it in with a raised eyebrow. Karen would probably faint. Not everyone could understand why they had to take this with humor (or as April's jokster of a husband would say: with humerus).

"Do we all wear antlers?"

Of course, Jackson broke the silence with concerns about himself. April couldn't help rolling her eyes at him. Her small giggle gave away that she was not really mad, though.

"Nooo... that would look silly. Parents look plain so they can showcase their children", she said. It was ridiculous she even had to point it out to him. He should know that. "Did your mom never take any Christmas pictures with you?"

"Only those for the foundation", Jackson shrugged. "And those never included antlers. Just suits and ties... and I don't think I was the one showcased there."

April frowned. "Suits? When you were Sammy's age?"

"Yup. Baby Armani." His accompanying wink earned him a slap on the arm.

"Stop being ridiculous."

"I'm not!" Before she hit him again, Jackson gave her some serious input to think about. "Didn't she ask you? Last Tuesday, when she called. I bet she asked you."

"Who. Asked me. What."

"My mom. She asked you Sam's size", he explained. Victorious, he relaxed against the sofa.

"No, she did-" Cutting herself off April realized that Catherine Avery had, in fact, asked. "B-but she needed to know because she was getting him some clothes for Christmas..."

"Oh, I bet she will", her husband agreed nodding. "Some very nice suits and waistcoats."

The smug grin on Jackson's face only agitated April more.

"We're not putting Sam in a suit", she declared, her voice raising in pitch as she spoke.

"We're not, mom is."

"I'm serious!"

"I know. And so is she."

"Jackson!"

As he looked at his wife, her head buried in her hands, her mind probably filled with horror scenarios, Jackson knew he had to weigh his options.

Since April was the least stubborn out of the two most important women in his life, she would eventually give in to the suit, especially since they would not put trousers on their son's legs. The risk of breaking his bones in the process was still rather great. April would definitely agree to a legless onesie with a suit printed onto it. His mother would not be thrilled by the substitution, but satisfied. They would take the pictures for the foundation and have a nice Christmas, end of story.

However, If he kept pissing April off she would pick a fight with his mom out of spite. She might even put Samuel in all his psalm gear, which Catherine despised seeing him in and Jackson, still in awe at most things their son did including wearing clothes, couldn't care less about, during their trip to Boston.

Jackson couldn't risk falling out with either of these women. Definitely not with both at the same time. And so, he knew he'd have to give in to April's wish of taking overboard Christmas family pictures with antlers.

Yet before he could say anything his wife, as usually, beat him to it. "The thing is... I really hate the helmet. I know he needs it. I know it helps him, but I just... hate it."

He hadn't known she felt so strongly about the subject. Samuel's skull bones were at high risk for flattening out if he lay on one side for too long. Add to this his trouble with sleeping through any kind of movement and you had the perfect candidate for an adjustment helmet. He was fitted with his second one a week ago. April had been good about it. Making jokes, calling Samuel her little rocket man. Jackson hadn't realized it was bothering her all. Then maybe it wasn't-

And that's when he realized. "You want to put the antlers on the helmet so it looks like it's part of his Christmas outfit?"

In the most adorable way ever, if you asked him, April bit her lower lip. "It's probably a stupid idea, but I was thinking about when he'd be older and we'd look at these pictures and he would be in this thing and he... Never mind, we don't have to do it."

"No, Apes... I think it's a great idea", Jackson said quickly. This time when he snaked his arm around her waist to pull her in for an embrace, she let him. "Sam will love the antlers."

"Really?"

"If not, we'll just give him coal for Christmas."

"Jackson!"

A/N: I love it when April calls Jackson out- don't you?