Christmas Eve
Olivia woke up to the smell of fresh bread. Oh amazing! She made her way downstairs to see Alex using the stand mixer.
"What are you making?"
Alex looked so cute with her apron on and a touch of flour on her nose. "I have a cinnamon buns in the oven for today and I'm working on a brioche for tomorrow." The way this family ate, Alex would need to have food constantly in the oven.
Olivia kissed her cheek. "Have I told you lately that I love you?"
"Hmm … just about every day."
"I'll love you even more if you let me have all the cinnamon buns."
Alex raised a brow. "You need to share."
"But the baby wants cinnamon buns!"
"Well … in that case … you still have to share."
Koji came in to greet his master. He had been playing outside in the snow. The dog couldn't get enough of it. He would run and jump and land in a nice cool blanket of snow.
"You're wet," Olivia hissed as she felt a cold dog brush against her legs. "Did he eat breakfast?"
"Yes, and he's been out for a walk."
Koji flopped in front of Olivia and rolled on his back.
"You're a sweetie," she rubbed his belly.
Alex made a salted caramel topping to go on top of the pastries. By the time she was ready to pour the caramel, she found that she had a full kitchen.
Margo had come for coffee but stayed when she saw their breakfast. "Oh, I love cinnamon buns!"
Alexander had come for the morning paper, but made a detour when he saw, "cinnamon buns!"
Add Casey, Tim, Sarah, and Bill and there was no space to move.
"Everyone out! I'll call you when breakfast is ready." Alex had to run a tight ship or else she'd never be done cooking.
Tim tried to swipe a cinnamon bun but Alex caught his hand. "Patience!"
"Aw!"
10 minutes later, Alex was pulling bacon out of the oven and breakfast was served.
Alex usually preferred less sugar in the morning, but sweets were very popular in the Cabot household and it was the holidays. I'll need a dentist after this.
There was a lot of eating and not a lot of talking at the table. The cinnamon buns quickly disappeared, as did the bacon.
Koji kept begging for bacon.
He found a softie in Sarah and quickly gobbled a morsel into his mouth.
Later that morning, they decided to go ice-skating. Maggie had been getting lessons over the past month.
Olivia of course, couldn't go ice-skating, but "I can drink hot chocolate and watch Christmas movies!"
Koji barked. He was down for A Charlie Brown Christmas.
"Sure you don't want me to stay with you," Casey offered.
Olivia shook her head. "You haven't gone skating in a long time. Enjoy it." The detective got herself nice and cozy on the couch. Koji lied right in front of her.
Unfortunately, their skating outing didn't last long.
At first it was nice, Maggie was going around with her parents. Alex and Casey were skating together, hand in hand. Seth and Molly were racing each other and the "adults" were supervising, i.e. they were eating snacks from the concession stands, safe on the ground.
The trouble started when a teenage girl came out on the ice with her new boyfriend. The boy's ex-girlfriend was out on the ice with her friends and they kept shoving the poor girl.
Some of the adults started to intervene, but it turned into a full blown fight with girls throwing punches and kicking at each other with their skates.
Tim and Casey started dragging girls away, but management just closed the rink until the next day.
The four troublemakers were banned, but everyone lost out that day.
"We were only on the ice for 30 minutes," Seth pouted.
"At least we got our money back for the rental skates."
Since the skating event turned out to be a bust, they decided to go to the Boston Commons.
Vivian and Warren met them there, since they never made it to the ice rink. As soon as they arrived, "POW!"
Alex beaned Warren with a snowball. Casey got Tim and Molly got Seth. "Girls vs. Boys!"
It was on!
The girls had the head start, but the boys caught up quickly. Seth made a mountain of snowballs. Tim charged with a barrage of snowballs, while Warren went with a long distance attack.
The girls had to retreat.
"Time for some subterfuge!"
They sent little Maggie across enemy lines. Of course, Seth paused at her cuteness. Maggie took one of his snowballs and hit him with it!
"Betrayal!"
The girls led a counter attack!
Alexander and Bill couldn't stop laughing … until Margo got them both with snowballs.
"Really!"
She laughed and ran away!
Eventually, they were cold, wet, and exhausted.
"Let's go home. I need a shower."
"Can I join you?" Casey asked her lover.
"Can I join you?" Tim questioned.
Casey and Sarah both hit him.
"Abuse!"
They all headed home where Olivia was sleeping on the couch.
Koji was watching A Charlie Brown Christmas.
Alex and Casey woke up Olivia with a kiss.
"Oh hello! How was skating?"
For dinner, they all went out to a steakhouse. Since they had a large party, they reserved a small room.
There were thirteen people, but fourteen places at the table.
"We have an extra seat," Seth commented as they sat down. Uncle Leo didn't join them for Christmas this year. He met a "nice gal" and went on a cruise to the Florida Keys with her.
Alex shook her head. "There's one more person joining us." She didn't have to say who was joining them. It was quite apparent when a Casey look alike came down the stairs.
"Mom?"
"Casey." The soon to be ex-Mrs. Novak wasn't sure if her daughter would be willing to see her, but Olivia had encouraged her to come.
The redhead quickly embraced her mother. "I missed you so much." She hadn't seen the woman in three years.
"I'm so sorry Honey."
Casey and her mother had a lot of catching up to do.
"I hear I'm going to be a grandmother soon."
"Olivia's due in March."
"Are you scared?"
"Terrified."
"I know you'll be great." It was clear that they had a very happy family. It was more than Janet had been able to give her kids. James had seemed very nice when she had first met him, but everything changed once the honeymoon was over. Everything had to be done his way. He wanted a son right a way, and a perfectly clean house. She tried her best to shield their children from him, but she should have run. Eventually, he wore down her willpower.
The restaurant had two sizes for steaks, big and bigger.
The men (and Olivia) all went with bigger. Alex ordered of the kid's menu, which had six ounce steaks.
Casey stared at her.
"Don't judge me!"
"I'm judging you!"
Alex was not going up a suit size, holidays be damned!
"She's the tiniest woman at the table, and yet she eats so little."
"I'm taller than you are," Alex retorted.
"That's not what I meant, skinny!"
"She has to stay thin for her career," Olivia told her.
Alex stuck out her tongue.
"Is she a model?" Janet questioned. "I thought she was a lawyer too."
Alex shook her head. The family started cracking up.
"You missed her Prada campaign!"
They had to fill her in on Alex's foray into modeling and the infamous outburst that lead to it.
Of course, Seth played the video on his iPhone.
"I really should trademark that phrase," Alex muttered.
Soon, the appetizers came. Alexander had ordered a raw oyster bar for the table. It was a bit too exotic for Janet's taste and Olivia couldn't eat raw seafood during her pregnancy, so they opted for chicken lollipops instead.
Two hours later and they were all rolling out of the restaurant.
"Why did I get dessert?" Olivia grumbled as she got into the backseat. After her bigger steak and house cut fries, she got the chocolate soufflé, which was delicious, but now she felt like she was about to have a food coma.
"Because the baby wanted it," Alex teased.
"She did … hey shut it!"
Alex laughed. "The baby needs a name Liv."
"I know." They had yet to decide on one for her.
"You're coming over for brunch tomorrow?" They were going to eat after they opened presents.
Janet nodded. "I can't wait." She hugged her daughter once more before heading back to her hotel room for the night. Her little baby was all grown up.