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Author: Desdemona
Rating: G- just a cute little Christmas morning.
Summary: A challenge from Amy. AU. Set sometime after the unfinished
Volume V, the Summers-O'Leary family spend Christmas together.
Spoilers: As I said, AU. However, you'll need to read Kiss and Tell,
as well as, An Ordinary Affair, A Timeless Kind of Love, and the
Pains and the Pleasures, first.
Disclaimer: They aren't mine. If they were mine, you think anything
after season 3 would have happened. Well...yeah, IWRY would have
happened but that's it.
Distribution: Want it? No, don't joke with me. You want it? Fine,
take it! It's yours, just tell me where it's going. Hopefully, will
get up on my site eventually, and is open to Land of Denial, Beth's
site and BAU. I believe Beth has the bulk of my work posted at her
site if you want to read some of the old stuff. The URL is
http://www.monkeypants1126.tripod.com
Angel groaned as the weight of their five year old son dropped onto the end of the bed. Aidan had been waiting weeks for this. Christmas morning. The tree would shimmer brightly in the morning sun, the presents from family, friends, and of course, Santa would be more desirable than ever. Everything would be coated with a thick layer of white snow. Or this would be the case if it weren't the crack of dawn, they weren't in the middle of a freak December heat-wave in California and he hadn't spent all night assembling Aidan's new bike.
The little boy would not be deterred, Angel soon felt the shifting of the bed as their son came to stand between himself and his wife. An angry mewl of disturbance came from Tiger the cat as she was roused from her own slumber, curled up at Buffy's feet. "Daddy?" Aidan whispered into the dark eagerly. Angel stayed silent hoping his son would think he was still sleeping and go back to bed himself. Instead, the boy shook his father's shoulder trying to wake him. "Yes, Aidan" Angel groaned. Buffy laughed softly on her side of the bed and rolled over to face away from them. She'd been up just as late as her husband and had no intention of getting up at 5:30 in the morning on a holiday. "Daddy, it's Christmas morning" Aidan cheered happily, bouncing on the bed in his eagerness, "and Santa got me the bike I wanted" Angel grinned, the bike had been ridiculously expensive and was too small for Aidan to ride for more than a couple of years but to see his excitement now as entirely worth it. "Did he now?" "Yeah, and it's even the right colour. Red, just the way I wanted it" Aidan told him. Angel smiled to his son. "You know, you can ride it outside a little later. Why don't we go back to sleep now and then you can show your mommy how well you ride later this morning?" Angel suggested, pulling his son down to sleep between them. The cat, wisely left the room to find a quieter corner to sleep in. Aidan allowed himself to be pulled down onto the bed and he stayed put, but it was obvious the boy was near trembling with excitement. Aidan shifted on the bed, rolling from his left side to his right in an effort to find a comfortable spot. Just as he had settled down the monitor on the dresser across the room crackled to life. A wail split the air, echoing into the room from the bedroom next door. Aidan quickly crawled to his feet once more. "Ryann's up" he exclaimed happily and ran from the room. Buffy climbed from bed and shrugged into her robe, knotting it loosely at her waist. "Merry Christmas" she remarked dryly pressing a quick kiss to her husbands lips. Angel slowly shook the sleep from his head and climbed out of bed himself. An early start to a long day.
Angel stepped into the cheerful nursery to find his son fussing over his baby sister, trying to get her attention as she fed from her mother. Buffy was listening to her sons animated tales of the joys of Christmas as she rocked with the baby. Aidan fawned over his baby sister as he always did. The room was a testament to it. Small hand prints marred the wall where Aidan had attempted to help paint his sister's room. The toys littering the floor were a mixture of Ryann's stuffed bears and bunnies and Aidan's plastic cars and trucks. "Aidan, let's go make our girls breakfast" he called out as Aidan bounced a bunny along the arm of the chair drawing Ryann's eyes to his antics. Aidan looked at his father in confusion, "Ryann's already having her breakfast" Angel chuckled, "well, let's go make breakfast for Mommy" Aidan nodded eagerly and kissed his sister's dark blonde curls and followed his father from the pink room.
Ryann was safely nestled in her exe-saucer, bouncing in glee as her brother brought her brightly wrapped boxes. "Is this one for Ryann?" he asked his mother, holding out a box wrapped in shiny golden paper. "You have to read the tag" she replied. Aidan looked at the tiny card and read it out loud, "To Dana, Love Aunt Buffy and Uncle Angel." The boy carefully put the present back under the tree. His sister's pile was steadily growing, as was his own. He picked another box and looked on the label. Angel silently came into the room and offered a mug of coffee to his wife. She smiled gratefully and took a sip of the dark brew. "Dad, Grandpa Giles got me two presents" Aidan told his father. The boy held up two fingers to further illustrate his point. Angel smiled vaguely sipping from his own cup of coffee. The sun was just starting to crack along the horizon. It was way too early. And much too early for his son to be that awake. Willow, Oz and Dana were arriving at ten and Giles, as well as, Cordelia and Doyle were going to arrive sometime after that as well. That was still three and a half hours away. Three and half hours he could have better spent sleeping. Ryann chirped happily from her seat. She was definitely a Daddy's girl. she eagerly held up her arms to be lifted from her seat and be carried on her father's hip. It was her favourite place to be. Angel retrieved his daughter and sat her in his lap while they watched Aidan crawl under the tree for more presents. She was dressed in a little white sleeper with silver snowflakes decorating the cuffs. She clapped her pudgy little hands as she watched her brother. At six months, she watched everything with keen fascination. It was her first Christmas and Aidan was determine to make sure it was one his sister would never forget. Tiger was playing with the discarded bow from Aidan's bike. Ryann giggled as she watched the cat play at her father's feet. Aidan finally ferreted out the last of his gifts and set to work at tearing away the paper. Bows, ribbon and wrapping paper flew in the air as Aidan ripped open the presents from his parents and sister. Buffy set her cup aside and retrieved a few presents for him and herself. Angel set Ryann on the floor where she immediately fought with the cat for the biggest pieces of wrapping paper. Keeping one eye on the kids, he and his wife began to open their own gifts. Angel gave her a small black and white photo of the kids for her desk and Aidan and Ryann gave their mother a new pair of earrings and a soft blue sweater. He received a new leather belt from Ryann and a watch from Aidan. The last box was large but very light. It was wrapped in dark red paper, with a large white envelope taped on top. Buffy smiled secretly at him and scooped her daughter into her arms before the baby tugged on the cats tail. Aidan had polished off his own gifts and had moved on to opening his sister's, unwrapping the box and then holding up the toy or outfit for his sister's inspection. Inside the envelope there was a simple parchment card. Angel opened the card and caught the plane tickets before they fell to the floor. Two first class tickets to New York, leaving on December 30th. The card read in Buffy's flowing script, `I thought you might like to see some snow this New Years.' He looked to his wife, "Giles is going to watch the kids for a couple of days" she explained. Aidan looked up from his sister's new gift, "We're going to Grandpa Giles?" "For a couple of days next week" Buffy told him. "Yeah, Grandpa Giles always has candy for us" Aidan cheered. Once their son returned to opening hi sister's gifts, Buffy urged, "Open the box" Angel dutifully complied, carefully removing the paper. The box was marked with the Victoria Secret logo. A sly smile from his wife confirmed it. New Years was going to be very special this year. Angel didn't bother opening the box, the surprise would be worth the wait. He slid the box under the sofa, away from small hands. "Merry Christmas, hunnny" Buffy remarked. Angel smiled in return, "Merry Christmas." He kissed his wife softly, savouring the absolute domesticity of it all. This was what the season was all about, family. To think he could have missed this, sitting in some bar in San Francisco with some bimbo on his arm. These three people meant everything to him and nothing would separate them again. Taking his daughter from Buffy's arms, the couple began to clean up the mess as Aidan played with his toys.
"Dana, watch" Aidan called eagerly to his pseudo cousin. The
little girl chased after him. She was no match for Aidan on his bike
and he quickly took the lead. The four year old girl with bright red
hair pouted angrily and left the game to go play with the baby who
she could easily keep up with. The kids played in the backyard as the
adults lounged on the patio. It was disconcerting to Angel to see his
wife in a tank top and capris on Christmas day, but considering the
heat there was little to be said. The kids were dressed in T-shirts
as they played, and the pool in the backyard was still open and
comfortable to swim in. Christmas in California, it just wasn't like
he remembered. One day he'd have to take the kids North for the
holidays so they could see real snow, and how Christmas should be.
And maybe, just maybe, in a couple of years he could get them to wait
until a reasonable hour before the Christmas festivities began.
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