(for disclaimers, etc. - see 1.)

5. Not a Creature Was Stirring
'Verse: The Runaways'verse
Date/Timeline: December 2010

"Rory?" Jess said softly. "Rory?" he tried again, gently poking her in the shoulder a couple of times, until finally she stirred.

"Hmm, what time is it?" she mumbled as she came to, eyelids flickering open. "Jess?"

"Hey, you," he said, smiling down at her. "Merry Christmas."

"Oh, yeah, Merry Christmas," she replied sleepily, shifting closer and kissing his lips. "Is it early?"

"So early," he admitted, showing her the clock and watching her eyes get comically wide. "I figured the kids are only going to wait so long before they wake up and go crazy over whether Santa has been and everything. Much as I love them, and you know how much I do, I kind of wanted a little piece of Christmas to be just you and me. Is that wrong?" he asked, a little concerned she might actually think so.

Rory's bright smile and her gentle hand at his cheek proved he needn't have worried at all. "Silly man," she told him, curling up in his arms, sinking happily into his embrace. "I am totally okay with a little alone time on Christmas morning. After all, the rest of the day is going to be all about Jack and Tori, as it should be. Also, my mom, Luke, Billy, my grandparents, your mom and TJ and Doula..."

"Oh, God, I hadn't even thought about all of them." Jess sighed heavily, pushing himself down further under the covers and dragging Rory with him. "Can't we just hide under here and pretend we evaporated?" he asked, from the depths of the duvet.

Rory giggled in the dark. "You wouldn't really wanna do that."

"Try me," Jess countered, pulling her body close to his own, catching her off-guard with a good long kiss. "Now tell me you don't like my plan," he challenged her.

"It's not about not liking your plan," she told him with a sigh, resting her forehead against his own. "In some ways, it sounds great, but really, you would want to spend Christmas without our kids?"

He sighed a heavy sigh at that question. "No. I would probably hate it if I couldn't see them all day long," he admitted, "but until they wake up..." he trailed off, his hands slipping lower down his wife's body.

Rory gasped, shifting herself closer, meeting his kiss. They were busy getting lost in the moment, almost completely forgetting what day it was altogether, until suddenly a yell and a squeal came loudly from down the hall.

"Oh my God!" Rory gasped in a very different way to before, scrambling to get away from Jess and out from under the covers.

He managed to do the same, the two of them emerging into the semi-dark of the bedroom, just as Jack flung open the door and let in the light, he and Tori rushing in one behind the other. The five-year-old climbed onto the bed, fighting to help his three-year-old sister do the same, until Jess gave in and leaned down to assist. Then the kids were all over Rory and Jess, so very excited for Christmas and Santa and everything else that went with the holiday.

"See, how could you possibly want to pass on this?" Rory asked over the loud noise of Jack's chanting about presents, narrowly evading getting Tori's hand in her mouth as the little one flailed around excitedly.

"Pretty sure I don't," Jess admitted, wincing when he got somebody's knee or elbow in the stomach, he really wasn't sure which. "Merry Christmas, Ror."

"Merry Christmas, Jess," she replied in kind, stealing one more quick kiss before everybody got out of and off of the bed, to go see what Santa had brought for them all.