Prompt: Holiday Cards

Characters/Pairings: Jake/Rose; Courtney

Chapter content warnings: the briefest mention of bodily fluids

Don't forget that you can find me on tumblr: we - are - all - of - legend - now and that my ao3 account is wearealloflegendnow (even though I haven't posted there yet)!

~TLL~

"We can do this," Rose said confidently, looking down at the bed.

"What?" Jake asked. "Keep a four-year-old and basically a five-month-old completely clean in their cute little outfits and in a good enough mood to want to take pictures?"

"Well, when you say it like that, it sounds much easier, doesn't it?" Rose asked. "Come on, let's get dressed."

Jake put on his part of the matching Christmas outfits for the family this year. The first year that they had Cecilia, they had started doing holiday cards. That year had just been red sweaters and jeans. But now, Jake was donning a red and green plaid suit that hugged his shoulders and Jake hoped that he wasn't going to rip it in the course of the baby herding he was going to have to do today.

Rose put on her red and green plaid dress and then she looked down at the outfits.

"Do you want Cece or Ash?" she asked.

"Ash," Jake said, grabbing the baby suit from the bed before she could say anything. At the very least, Ash couldn't run away.

Jake realized his mistake when he went to pick his son out of his crib and got a heavy whiff of Ash's diaper. Jake made a face and took Ash over to the change table, trying to make it as quick and as painless as possible. When Jake was performing his dragon duties, seeing to various injuries and ailments, his gag reflex was mostly fine. Diapers? That triggered something brand new in him. Rose often teased him and even offered to do more of the diaper changes because it didn't seem to bother her but Jake steadfastly refused to let her do that. He was going to do his part. All of it.

"There we go," he said to Ash, who just stared at him and gnawed on his own knuckles. "Feel better?"

"Mama, I don't want a dress!"

"Cece, you wanted the dress when we were picking outfits."

Jake let out a little chuckle as his wife and daughter's voices came down the hall, accompanied by the pattering of feet on the hardwood. He got Ash dressed slowly, listening for more arguments. There were a few more words exchanged and then the pattering of feet came back, heading toward the master bedroom. Jake dressed Ash slowly but it still didn't sound like Cecilia and Rose were done by the time he and Ash were matching, right down to their ties.

"No spit up," Jake said, and then an idea hit him. "Come on."

He picked Ash up and carted him off to the kitchen, where he wrangled a bib out of the drawer and then secured it around Ash's neck.

"Look at us go," Jake said. "We're so smart."

Ash kicked at Jake's chest.

"Yeah, well, we'll have to work on your form."

Jake held Ash against his chest and went to check on Rose and Cecilia. Rose was putting little dots of blush on Cecilia's cheeks.

"We needed a makeover to wear the dress today," Rose said. "I think she looks beautiful. What do you think?"

"This can't be my daughter!" Jake gasped. "This is a princess!"

Cecilia giggled. "Mama curled my hairs!"

"And what a good job she did, princess!"

Cecilia laughed again. Rose put down her makeup brush and Jake took the cue. The entire family was herded out to the car and everyone was safely strapped in. Jake drove them off to the park where they were to meet their photographer. The landscape was picture perfect – icicles hanging from tree branches, a fresh snow, the little puff of breath in the air when everyone exhaled. It was Christmas! Jake helped Cecilia out of the car while Rose picked up Ash.

"Hey, guys!" Courtney said. "Thank you for being, like, my first clients! I appreciate the support!"

"Oh my God, Court, anything! We trust you so much!"

Jake had seen Courtney's pictures throughout his long years with Rose and she did take pretty pictures. He was worried about Rose's perfectionism clashing with Courtney's first foray into taking pictures for families and people. But, they were best friends, and Jake was already dressed in red and green plaid, so what was he going to do?

Whatever they wanted, was the answer.

Jake tromped through the snow with his children. He stood in front of several different trees, his arm around Rose's waist. He snuggled Ash in one-on-one shots and lifted Cecilia over his head in others and then he guarded his children while Rose did the same. They were all red cheeked, breathless, and slightly damp when Courtney stepped back and flicked through the pictures that she had taken.

"Okay, now we just need Mom and Dad," Courtney said.

Jake looked at Rose, who looked at sleepy Cecilia who had managed to get herself covered in mud with just how deep she had dug for her snowballs. Then, Jake looked at Ash, who had fallen asleep several photographs ago but had made everything the more adorable because of it.

"Cece, can you sit in the car with Ash?" Rose asked.

"In the car?"

"Yes."

"By myself?"

"Just for a minute so Daddy and I can take pictures together."

"I don't want more pictures!"

"And you won't!" Rose knelt in front of Cecilia. "You can sit in the front seat and all you have to do is tell us if Ash starts to cry. Can you do that?"

"Where are you going?!"

"Close!" Rose took Cecilia's hands in her own. "You'll always be able to see us."

"Okay, Mama," Cecilia agreed. "I'm a big girl now."

"I know." Rose leant forward and kissed Cecilia's forehead. "What a beautiful girl you are!"

Jake buckled Ash in while Rose sat Cecilia in the passenger seat. Rose rolled down the window and then she took Jake's hand, following Courtney over to a copse of trees.

"Okay, let's just get some cute poses! Arms around her, Jake!"

They started with their arms around each other's waists, facing each other first, and then looking at the camera. Jake moved behind her, taking some of the more generic poses like they were at prom.

"Okay," Courtney was checking her pictures again. "We probably only have a little time left before the kiddos start acting up. So, let's go."

"Go?" Jake asked.

Rose apparently knew what it meant because she spun into him immediately, so that they were chest to chest. "Kiss me."

Jake pecked her lips.

Rose grabbed the front of his suit. "Kiss me, Jake."

In their wedding portrait, Jake had her dipped down, her leg supporting the skirt of her dress. It was that moment that Jake had in mind when he seized Rose into his arms and leant her down. He felt the shift of her leg up against his hip and he watched her carefully curled hair dip down toward the snow. Jake moved slowly, letting Courtney get as many pictures as possible but then he was looking at Rose's face, flush against the snow, and he couldn't stop himself from kissing her. He kissed her desperately until they both lost their balance and they were rolling in the snow like children, laughing and kissing like there was no world outside of the two of them.

"MAMA!"

Their world was four now and even though Jake loved every single minute of it, he took one moment to roll over her in the snow and ruefully kiss her one more time.

"Coming, Cece!"

Jake stood first and then offered her his hand, hearing the click of Courtney's camera, feeling grateful about the way that she rolled and shifted along with the two of them to get more pictures than possible.

"DADDY!"

"Coming, Cece!"

Jake and Rose thanked Courtney and promised her a Venmo payment but all of them could hear Ash crying and she understood. Jake kept his arm around Rose's waist as he helped her into her car seat and then took Cecilia and buckled her in too.

"See, Ash, we're all here. Good baby, let's go home."

Jake got them all home, happy to see that there was no spit up on anyone's holiday outfits, even if he was more than happy to change into sweats and an old NYU t-shirt to meet Rose in Ash's room. Ash was happily fed, back in his own sweatpants, and Cecilia was spinning on the floor. She looked delighted when she saw him, wrapping her little arms around his knees.

"Daddy? Mama said I can put my unicorn jammies on."

"Okay." Jake scooped her up. "Let's go find your jammies!"

They set up on the couch and ate snacks, watching all the animation that any of them could stomach. Jake wasn't expecting to hear from Courtney for a while, even though they had left their Christmas pictures late this year. He was surprised when Rose reached over and handed him her phone.

"I think we should pick this one for the card."

"This one?"

It was a silly one. Jake had Cecilia upside down, her little white tights flashing with her skirt almost obscuring her face. He and Rose were almost back to back, Charlie's Angel style, while Rose was lecturing Ash, who was mid sneeze.

"It's us. It's real. Either way, it's going on the wall," Rose said defensively. "Flip through the rest. Courtney did a wonderful job."

"It's all wonderful," Jake admitted. "And, I love it. This is what Christmas is really going to look like. We might as well put it all out there."

"But the last picture she sent is my favourite and that's also going on the wall."

Jake flipped through, curious, until he came to one of the ones of just he and Rose together. Jake laughed, seeing he and Rose in the snow like they were teenagers, legs wrapped around each other.

"I want this on my nightstand," Jake said, handing the phone back to her. "I want this in my memory forever."

Rose grinned. "I told you Courtney would do a good job."

"I know. I trusted you."

Rose snorted

"And now I trust her too," Jake added.

Jake leant over Cecilia's head, avoiding Ash's feet so he didn't wake up his son. "You picked the perfect Christmas card."

"I know. But, thank you for participating."

Jake laughed. "As if you gave me a choice."

"Well …"

And then Jake kissed her and then Cecilia's head and then Ash's little feet, because that was what mattered most during the holidays: love.