Topic: Granger Christmas 2013

Caroline Granger

Date: 2013-12-01 12:23 EST
As was the tradition on Maple Grove, the doors to the big house were thrown open on Christmas Eve to welcome anyone and everyone to drop by for a visit. The great redwood outside was lit up brightly as the afternoon became the evening, a beacon to guide family and friends to the warmth of the gathering within.

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Like last year, Old Man Granger had opened up the whole of the ground floor of the house for the use and enjoyment of his family and their friends, each room decorated in festive style. Christmas trees abounded, seasonal greenery and the twinkle of fairylights were everywhere, every fireplace boasted a merrily glowing Yule log to warm the gathering as they spread through the many rooms, never too crowded or entirely alone.

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The food was laid out in one of the main reception rooms - a table practically groaning under the weight of as many traditional and non-traditional foods as you could wish for. There was something there to tempt any palate, and as for the family sweet tooth, well ....nothing beats a Granger desserts buffet. Ask anyone.

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And, of course, the plentiful supply of drink, alcoholic and otherwise, was on display for anyone to help themselves. Everything from mulled wines and ciders, to beers and lagers, to soft drinks and softer cocktails for the little mouths who were invariably going to need wetting once they'd started on the buffet. Later, Humphrey would open up his own personal cellar of expensive and potent spirits for those who chose to linger past midnight and celebrate the coming of Christmas Day with him.

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Whether you stayed for an hour or until the dawn peeked up on Christmas morning, everyone was welcome to the Granger Christmas party. And trust me, the hangover was well worth it!

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From all the Grangers, may you have a season to remember in the best possible sense, and we wish you all the best for the coming New Year.

((It's that time of year again, folks! Everyone - not just Grangers - is welcome to add a post onto this thread - it'll be open until Christmas Day, to give us a chance to get everyone involved actually involved. Whatever you choose, have a good season, and a happy one!))

Jonathan Granger

Date: 2013-12-09 19:58 EST
Humphrey's favorite time of year, the annual Christmas Eve party for the Granger family. This was Vicki's third Christmas with Jon, and her second as a pregnant mother. Even though this time her bump wasn't quite so pronounced as it had been last year, she still had a plethora of aunts and cousins wanting to reach out and touch, even when she was wearing Emily on her hip like a human shield. Sadly, the little girl wasn't even a year old yet, and thus couldn't stay awake forever, no matter how much her mother might want her to. So Vicki had resorted to hiding behind Humphrey's chair while he held court, the bump disguised from anyone who hadn't already seen it by the high-backed chair.

Jon had made the rounds, meeting and greeting each and every member of the Granger family, whether by blood or by association. As always, there were a few who they missed that year, but for the most part, the family was slowly growing larger and stronger every year. Humphrey was in his glory, surrounded by family and friends and particularly enjoying the smaller, younger, and newer members of the slowly expanding family. It was no secret that Humphrey - despite his reputation for being an old curmudgeon - revelled in spoiling the small members of the family, especially at this, his favorite time of the year. Jon had taken up the role of patriarchal head of the family, partly because he was the only other male member of the family who called the big house home, partly because it was just natural for him, taking on the role as easily as he might on the stage.

It was a little harder for Vicki to get used to being so much the center of attention. She'd worked hard for a long time to be a shadow lurker, and then she'd married Jon. She loved him, but there was a big ol' spotlight that came with that particular connection which did, on occasion, spoil her sunny outlook on life. Not that it showed in this instance ....Leaning over the back of Humphrey's chair, she was telling an outrageously inappropriate version of a beloved childrens' tale to the little ones who had taken up residence all over the Old Man, utterly unfazed by the mild shock on the faces of the older members of the family as they caught the gruesome details of mutilations and wickedness.

For a man who disliked crowds intensely, Jon was handling the crowded big house at Maple Grove like a trooper. That was mostly because this particular crowd consisted of family and was not a crowd of fans and press all vying to catch a glimpse of Jon Granger, movie star. This was family, and he was one of them. Though he didn't remember it, this was the reason he'd returned to Rhy'Din, to begin with. When Jon finally did find his way back to those gathered around the patriarchal octagenarian, he made it just in time to catch the end of a particularly gruesome fairy tale his wife was so kindly sharing with those of the younger set. Jon couldn't help but smirk at his wife's mischief, but the only move he made to stop her was to swap a glass of generously-spiked eggnog with the sleepy baby at her hip.

As the little group dissolved into wild giggles at the mental image of Cinderella's sisters working in the palace kitchens with their toes cut off and birds nesting in their hair, Vicki grinned, straightening up to let Jon slip Emily out of her arms and take hold of the drink he proffered. Lesson learned from the last time around - she could handle one drink when she was pregnant, and besides, it was eggnog. It was hardly moonshine. "Is it safe to say that I've done my duty by the children today, Mr Granger, or should I tell them the real story of Snow White next?"

"It's Christmas Eve, Vicki. They should be dreaming about sugarplums and gumdrops and reindeer and presents, not witches and poisonous apples and....whatever else the real Snow White is about." He really had no idea, since he'd never heard the story, though he had a feeling now that she'd mentioned it, he was going to be given a lesson in fairy tales before the night was through. He drew her away from the little group, much to the relief of the some of the older members of the clan who were hoping to tuck their children into bed with minimal effort later, effectively rescuing them from any further fractured fairy tales from his mischievous wife.

She laughed as she was drawn away, fully expecting that the next time those particular little darlings were told Cinderella, they'd argue that it was wrong. "Oh, come off it, Jon," she chuckled, unsurprised to see Emily's head droop down onto her husband's shoulder. "The original fairytales are a lot more fun than the censored versions. Besides, if you make it over the top enough, kids don't get creeped out. How many children do you know who don't like a good bit of bloody mutilation?"

"You should probably rephrase that question to 'How many children do I know"'" he replied, tilting his head toward her so she could hear him above the low din of the crowd. It was the first moment he had to himself all evening, the first moment he'd had to regroup with his wife and daughter. This entertaining thing had a way of keeping him distracted, especially with a family the size of the Grangers. "It's Christmas, not Halloween!" he pointed out again, laughing, not budging in his opinion on the subject.

She snorted with laughter, pleased that he was holding his ground but not particularly convinced to change her own stance. "Tell you what, in a couple of years, we'll ask Emily which version she prefers, Mummy's or Daddy's," she offered up as a cheeky compromise, neatly sidestepping the reaching hand of Jon's elderly Aunt Margaret and inserting her spiked eggnog into it instead. As the old lady blinked in surprise, stammering that she didn't drink, Vicki smiled charmingly at her. "Let your hair down, Margaret, it's Christmas!"

Jon rolled his eyes at his cheeky wife, though once they were a safe distance away from his elderly aunt, he chuckled with laughter. "You are going to get me into so much trouble," he remarked, lowering his voice just a little for her ears only. In all truth, he didn't give a fig what anyone else here thought of him or his wife. He'd given up caring a while ago, for the most part anyway, realizing he'd never make them all happy, no matter what he did or didn't do. "I'm sure if Emily takes after her mother, she'll prefer the gruesome version of the story," he remarked, backtracking as they wound their way through the crowd.

"That woman has groped two separate bumps on two separate Christmasses," Vicki defended herself with a smile. "I reserve the right to confuse and befuddle her in self-defense." She grinned up at her husband, hugging her arm through his. This year she wasn't anywhere near as pregnant as she had been the year before, her good mood undiminished by the occasional opportunistic fumble at her waistline by various older members of the family. Slipping out of the main reception room, she was a little surprised to find the entrance hall still thronged with people, tilting her head as she tried to sort out which music was coming from which room. "Where do you think the baby pen was set up?"

"Oh, really?" he smirked, sorely tempted to corner her and do a little groping of his own, though he currently had a sleeping baby attached to his hip. "You've never protested my groping," he pointed out helpfully, a teasing gleam in the blue eyes that perfectly matched the blue of his expensive designer suit, his curls slicked back tonight and his face clean-shaven and as smooth as Emily's bottom.

"You are allowed to grope," his redhead informed him cheerfully, reaching up to tease an escaping curl back off his brow with familiar affection. "Old ladies who just want to fondle a pregnant woman, they have to ask permission first."

An unexpected laugh interrupted them as one of those they were passing turned, revealing herself to be Gabi, sans either of the twins. "Let me guess, Auntie Maggie's been wriggling her wicked witch fingers at you," the usually shy blonde said with a smile that probably had a lot to do with the half-empty glass of wine in her hand.

"I believe the term is groping," Jon corrected his somewhat shy cousin with an amused smirk. He'd have offered a hug, but his arms were otherwise occupied, one linked with Vicki's and the other full of baby Emily. "Where are the twins?" he asked, scanning the crowd for the rest of Gabi's branch of the family.

"Oh, well ....Jake went that way with Dad," Gabi offered, pointing toward the dining room where the buffet table was set up. "And as far as I know, Theo is being used as a human shield by a mermaid who is even shyer than I am." She smiled again, taking a sip of her wine.

Vicki chuckled at how relaxed the woman was with letting her boys be taken away for a little while. Gabi had definitely blossomed with motherhood.

"How's she fitting in?" Jon asked, making a mental note to find the somewhat elusive Cian and his shy but pretty mermaid and say hello before the night was out. Their relationship had been somewhat rocky for a while after Frank's death, but Jon hoped time had healed some of those wounds.

"It's taking time," Gabi said, after a moment spent considering the best way to answer that question. "There's an awful lot she doesn't know, so many concepts she doesn't understand. But she's getting there, and Cian's patient enough to explain just about anything to her if she needs it." She smirked faintly. "Once she worked out that the twins are just little people who need to grow up, she started playing with them a lot. I think that might be helping, I don't know."

Jon didn't know too much about Cian's significant other, other than the fact that she was a real live mermaid and that Cian had met her during one of his many adventures. "He should bring her around sometime when there aren't so many people," Jon remarked, wondering how to breach the gap between his cousin and himself. If he put Vicki to the task, she'd have it done in no time flat, but he wasn't quite as bold as his wife. "Motherhood has been good to you, Gabi. You look wonderful," he said with a smile, the conversation turning polite as he started to run out of things to talk about.

"I look tired, and I've given up caring if people notice that my hair isn't washed," Gabi corrected him with her slightly inebriated smile firmly in place. "I'll give Cian a nudge into bringing Leilani up here sometime. But I interrupted your search for somewhere a little more private. Go on, hide!" With a last smile, she turned back to the cousins she was standing with, leaving Vicki to snicker up at Jon.

"I thought you said she was shy?"

"She was," Jon replied, though it seemed something had caused a change in Gabi to bring her out of her shell. Motherhood might have had something to do with it, but he wasn't really sure. Jon glanced at the small sleepy bundle he was holding in his arms. "It's getting late. We should probably tuck her in," he suggested. Though it wasn't very late by their standards, Emily wasn't quite on the same time-clock as her parents.

Jonathan Granger

Date: 2013-12-09 19:59 EST
Blue eyes descended to the little girl slumped against her father's shoulder, one thumb inserted into her mouth as she dozed. Vicki smiled. "You're right," she agreed. "And a little while away from the action wouldn't do me any harm, either. These shoes are killing me."

"Shall we?" he asked, his arm still linked with hers, allowing her to lead him where she would. There would come a day when Emily would be running around, cavorting with the other Granger midgets, but for now, she was still too young to know what she was missing.

"I think we shall." Arm in arm with him, Vicki turned away from the rooms that stood open around them to lead him toward the stairs and upward, seeking out the quiet of their rooms for a little while as they settled their daughter to sleep. No one looked twice at them; the dozing baby on Jon's shoulder all they needed to tell them where the couple were headed and why.

As much as Jon enjoyed being surrounded by the family at large, he was just as happy to escape for a few minutes' respite from the crowd. "Did you see Des and Piper" I'd be surprised if Piper isn't pregnant by spring," he remarked as they started toward the stairs to the small suite of rooms that had become home. He had noted the various family members who were scattered about the big house during his time spent meeting and greeting.

"If I were you, I'd be more concerned with Lena getting herself a belly on her before next Christmas," Vicki teased him affectionately, knowing that he was still having a little difficulty letting go of the mental image of Helena as a little girl who needed looking after. "You're right, though. And as if their being all loved up isn't enough, there's always Lyneth's campaign to be a big sister to contend with. Apparently she wants a baby who smiles like Emily, laughs like Jack, and can blow raspberries like the boys."

"Lena?" Jon echoed doubtfully, his smile fading as he considered that, remembering that his little sister was not so little anymore. In fact, he had an even younger sister to worry about now and one he hoped he'd gotten off to to a good start with. "I hope they have enough sense to do things in the right order," he remarked, meaning marriage first. He was something of a traditionalist, after all, despite what anyone else might think or what might be written in the press. He was not going to have "the talk" with Helena. As protective as he might feel toward her, she was old enough to make her own decisions about her life. He laughed at Vicki's mention of Lyneth. "They have their hands full with just the one."

"What, like we did?" Reaching the top of the stairs, Vicki gave him a gentle tug toward their rooms, stroking one finger down Emily's cheek to rouse her. "Wake up, little girl. Not quite bedtime yet." As the baby girl moaned in protest, blinking her blue eyes open as she smacked her lips, Vicki pushed open the door to their rooms, leading the way inside. "Something tells me that Lena is more than capable of holding off on any little accidents until she and Tommy are ready. And frankly, the longer it takes for Piper to get pregnant, the happier I'll be. That whole Fae situation is still looming, after all."

There was that worried frown of his again as he followed her into their suite at the mention of Piper's Fae problems. He had been there when all the strangeness was going on with Ollie, and he'd tried to warn her that something wasn't quite right. It was more than a little ironic that she was getting married to another Granger, and that Granger just happened to be Jon's older brother. "I don't think Des is going to let anything happen to Piper. Or Lyneth," he added quickly, not really wanting to think about what had happened to Ollie. He hadn't seen or spoken to the man in over a year.

"No, I know," his wife agreed with him, kicking her shoes off with a groan of relief. "Things will work out, love. I know it's a little awkward at times, but they're so happy together. I very much doubt Lyneth would ever give all that up just to be some unloved Fae princess somewhere. Especially if they give her a baby. Speaking of which ..." She looked at the baby in his arms. "You want to feed, or change clothing?"

Talk of the past always made Jon uncomfortable, especially when the talk turned to a past that he no longer remembered. He blinked out of his thoughts as Vicki turned the conversation back toward Emily and what was going on at present. "Uh, I can do either. Wanna flip for it?" He genuinely didn't mind which task he was assigned to, though he was a little more fond of feeding than changing.

Vicki rolled her eyes, knowing him a little better than he thought. "Give her here," she said, lifting her hands toward the dozy baby. "I'll get her into her PJs while you do what you have to do with the bottle."

"All right, little miss," he said, turning his attention to the small sleepy bundle in his arms. "Time to let Mummy get you ready for bed, and then it's night night." He brushed a kiss against Emily's forehead before handing her off to Vicki to get changed. "When did you want to drop in on your dad?"

Heaving Emily into her arms, Vicki paused a moment to arrange the dangling legs about her bump as she jogged the baby girl to wake her up a little. "Day after tomorrow," she answered Jon, moving to explore the diaper table for a onesie and a clean diaper to get Emily sorted for her feed and then bed. "Maria's making stew with the leftovers from their Christmas dinner, and trust me, you do not want to miss that. She may have weird views on parenting, but the woman is a magician in the kitchen."

"Your father is going to be beside himself when he sees you pregnant again," Jon remarked as he went about readying a bottle for his sleepy daughter. They had already spilled the beans with Vicki's father and stepmother, but sharing the news over the phone and doing it in person were two different things. Jon was looking forward to the trip and the little family gathering, which would be far quieter than the one on Rhy'Din.

She chuckled, easing Emily down onto the changing table to begin to joyful process of wrestling their daughter out of her pretty party dress and into something far more comfortable for sleeping in. "I honestly think he was at the point of giving up on ever having grandchildren when I moved here," she admitted cheerfully. "Shame I couldn't have told him I was on the hunt, but he might have tried helping. And that would have been a complete disaster, wouldn't it?" That last comment was addressed to Emily, who was on the verge of complaining about being undressed. However, tears were quickly shunted aside in favor of vaguely hysterical giggles as Vicki dropped her head and blew a loud, ticklish raspberry on the baby girl's exposed tummy.

Jon didn't miss a beat, knowing now that Vicki had mostly come to Rhy'Din in search of him, despite what everyone else might think. He had asked her not to give up on him, no matter what she might think when she saw the Jonathan Granger he had once been, and she hadn't. He had no idea what might have happened if her father had known about the occasional visits to the past Jon had made to Vicki from the time she was about Emily's age. "He probably wouldn't have believed you. Or he might have killed me."

"Exactly," Vicki agreed, grabbing a flailing arm and maneuvering it into a sleeve. "Now then, mischief, let's see what lovely surprise you have waiting for me in the crackly pouch of doom, shall we?" With Emily content to wait and be changed for now, she pulled open the diaper and reeled back, her face paling drastically. "Whoa ..."

Jon chuckled at Vicki's description of Emily's diaper and its contents, taking pity on his pregnant wife's stomach and swooping in for the rescue. "I told you I'd take changing!" he told her with a laugh, taking over diaper duty before his wife turned green and lost the contents of her stomach. "Go check on her bottle before you heave-ho. I'll take care of Miss Smelly Pants."

"Thank you," was muttered a little indistinctly as Vicki took full advantage to get away from the immediate wave of stench emanating from their darling daughter's diaper. She'd managed to go nearly 24 weeks without morning sickness at all this time around; it would be a shame to break her duck and vomit on Emily at the same time. "Good grief, Emily, what did Humphrey feed you at dinner?"

"Peas," Jon announced as he unwrapped the surprise in Emily's pants. He was a trooper when it came to baby care, though it had taken time for him to get there and several lessons from Caroline and baby Jack. He had yet to master diapering a boy, but maybe someday he'd have one of his own to practice on. "What are we going to do with you, young lady?" Jon asked as he dispensed with the nasty diaper and wiped his daughter's bottom clean, leaning in to tickle her tummy with his nose.

"And I thought I'd never have to deal with meaty poop again after I turned veggie," Vicki muttered to herself, absent-mindedly flicking the television on at a very low volume. A certain number of the Grangers were keeping an eye on the telly tonight, waiting for a certain event outside Rhy'Din to be televised. After all, it wasn't everyday you could point to a real live princess on a screen and say she was your little sister. The timer on the bottle warmer pinged, and she lifted the bottle out, drying it off and giving it a good shake as she looked over at Jon. "I honestly have no idea how you can stand that smell."

"You forget that I'm the one who usually takes the dog for a walk," he reminded her. There was nothing more disgusting than the smell of doggy doo-doo, whether that dog was Cosmo or another. Though he didn't want to mention it, he'd smelled far worse during his hunting adventures with Shen Lei, but that was a subject that rarely if ever was brought up anymore unless Jon awoke with a nightmare, but those, too, had become rare.

"Yes, well, I would do the morning walks still, but someone keeps telling me I should stay snuggled up in bed with our daughter while he braves the weather with a hyperactive collie," his wife pointed out with a smile, testing the temperature of the milk against her inner wrist. "This is about perfect. How are you doing over there?"

"Almost done," he said as he finished up with the diaper duty and tucked their daughter's squirming little legs into her jammies. She had no idea that later tonight Santa Claus was going to drop in and leave some presents for her under the Christmas tree. And then, Jon was going to bed! He scooped Emily up from the changing table and walked her over to her mother for her bedtime feeding.

Speak of the devil ....As Vicki thumped down onto the couch, the door was nudged open, and Cosmo padded inside, tail wagging happily on having discovered where his puppy was hiding. Oh, and his owners, of course. "Daft dog," Vicki murmured, scratching the canine's ears fondly as she watched Jon wander in their direction. "You can feed her as well, you know. I know you get a lot out of it."

Jonathan Granger

Date: 2013-12-09 20:01 EST
"Let me wash my hands first," he said as he handed Vicki off, lifting his hands and wiggling his fingers at her. He had just changed Miss Poopy Pants, after all. He smirked as Cosmo appeared from where he'd been hiding somewhere downstairs. It had only been a few short years since Cosmo had been a Christmas present from Vicki. "And where have you been?" he asked the dog, as if he was expecting a reply, as he made his way toward the bathroom to scrub the germs from his hands.

"Oh, charming." All dressed for bed and ready for her feed, Emily cuddled into Vicki's arms as she was handed off, sucking on her mother's neck for something to do while they waited for Daddy to get back and provide the main course. Cosmo followed Jon into the bathroom, nudging at his leg before he moved to sit obediently, tongue out as though he was grinning up at his master.

Jon turned on the faucet to scrub his hands clean, glancing down at the silly dog that was nudging at his leg. "Yes, can I help you?" he asked with a smirk, knowing the dog probably wanted one of three things - food, a walk, or attention.

Attention was a good bet at this point. Cosmo had been trailing around the party all evening with Loki, Piper's dog, both of them begging the very best scraps money could buy from various suggestible relatives and playing enthusiastically with children of myriad ages. The one thing Cosmo hadn't had much of, however, was attention from his favorite people, and now they were secluded for a little bit, he was going to make the most of that.

Jon knew Cosmo well enough to be able to read his body language, and he'd kept half an eye on the dog all evening, so figuring out what the dog wanted was mostly a matter of a process of elimination. "What's the matter, boy?" Jon asked the collie. "Missing your favorite humans?" He ruffled the fur between the dog's ears before leading the way back to Vicki and Emily. "See" She's right here. All safe and sound," he told the collie, taking a seat beside Vicki to take over with the bottle if she wanted him to.

Cosmo ruffed happily at the attention, padding after Jon as he returned to the couch and the girls. As Vicki gently transferred Emily and her bottle into her father's arms, the dog lifted his paws onto the redhead's lap, sniffing first at her bump as though making sure it was still there before leaning far over to sniff at Emily's feet. "You know, if I didn't know better, I'd say someone has been missing us this evening," Vicki commented, one eye on the television as she scritched at the collie's fur.

"He's been pal-ing around with Loki all evening," Jon said as he cradled Emily into the crook of his arm and offered her the bottle, which she latched onto greedily. "Has Dru been on yet?" he asked, glancing to the TV set, knowing why everyone had been half-glued to the set all evening. It wasn't every day you saw your baby sister on TV, and even rarer that baby sister was a real live princess.

"No, not yet," Vicki grinned, nodding toward the TV. "But it looks like the main event is just getting started, so I suppose she'll be making an entrance any time soon." Unlike Jon, Vicki had a slightly better idea of how it all worked in Dru's other life, but not even she could accurately predict how Tirisano were going to present the only surviving members of their royal family to the upper eschelon and the public watching the live feed.

"I wish she'd been able to stay," he remarked with a small frown. Despite all the craziness, he really liked being surrounded with family during the holidays, at least for a little while. "You don't think I have any other long lost siblings wandering around out there somewhere, do you?" Though he was grateful for Des and for Dru and loved them dearly, it was a little unsettling to have siblings you never knew existed pop up unexpectedly every now and then.

Vicki let out a soft grunt as Cosmo jumped up onto the couch with them, draping himself mostly over her lap with his nose on Emily's feet. Her arm wrapped itself comfortably around Jon, her cheek touching his shoulder. "I wish I could tell you yea or nay for certain, stud muffin, but that's a little beyond my reach," she admitted with a gentle sigh. "But I think, with all the publicity over the last couple of years, if anyone else was going to come crawling out of the woodwork, they would have done it by now." She kissed his cheek affectionately, aware of the noise of the party below through the open door of their suite as a dull murmur of merry sound.

"So long as they don't come crawling out of the woodwork just looking for a handout." He wasn't stingy by any means, more than generous with his money, but being a Granger sometimes meant having to deal with people who were only interested in fame and fortune and riding on his coattails. "I kind of miss Johnny and Liv, don't you?" he asked, looking back at Emily to see how she was progressing with the bottle.

"True, it is a little dull around here without Sparky and your ever-present sidekick around," the redhead chuckled, following the line of his gaze down to their daughter as she suckled on her bottle. "Can't really blame them for wanting to spend this Christmas in New York, though. They have family there, both of them, for the first time in a long time. They should spend the holidays with them." A fanfare made itself known through the quiet buzz on the TV, and she looked up, a grin touching her lips. "Ladies and gentlemen, we have princess."

Jon chuckled. "She's my assistant, not my sidekick," he pointed out. He would have remarked on the fact that Johnny and Liv had not yet been blessed with a small bundle of their own, but he was distracted by the fanfare on the TV and the announcement of his baby sister's arrival. Unlike Vicki, there was no smile on his face as Dru's presence was announced on the TV set - he was too worried about something bad happening to her, despite knowing all possible precautions had been taken to keep her safe.

The ball was being shown live with only a five second delay - in case of bad language in any interviews - and though it seemed as though there was little to no security to the untrained eye, if you knew what to look for, there was so much it was a wonder anyone had managed to get into the Itana Palace at all for the ball itself. The wide double doors at the head of the ballroom opened as Vicki and Jon watched, revealing His Serene Highness, Prince Julius, ruler of Tirisano, and the Princess Royale, his heir. Dru was virtually unrecognisible - gone was the slightly lanky, awkward teen who dressed in dark colors and lots of layers; the princess stood tall in a beautiful ballgown, a tiara delicately set in her upswept hair, every inch the young woman she had been born to be.

"Bloody hell," Vicki breathed. "We have to get her out of that girls' school. She deserves to lose her virginity to someone she actually likes before they marry her off."

"Good grief," Jon muttered upon seeing his baby sister's entrance. It was like something straight out of a fairy tale, though Jon knew, as much from experience as anything, that it was a lot of window dressing. "Bite your tongue, Vicki. That's my baby sister you're talking about!" he said, not really wanting to think about such things. He knew the chances of Dru enjoying a happily ever after were next to nil, but he refused to give up hope.

Despite her smirk, Vicki knew better than to push this particular topic with Jon, simply settling close to him as they watched Dru and her uncle take to the floor to lead the first waltz of the night. "She looks beautiful," she murmured softly. "I hope someone remembered to record this - Des and Lena will be devastated if they miss it."

"She is beautiful," Jon corrected, as he watched his little sister looking very much like the princess she really was. "Knowing Humphrey, he'll make sure they don't miss it," he pointed out as he watched, so intent on what was going on in a distant nation that he didn't notice that Emily was reaching the end of her bottle. "I have a feeling she'd rather be here than there," Jon said with a small frown, unsure how he was supposed to feel about having royalty for family.

Luckily for the baby, Vicki was tuned into that peculiar sound that comes when a bottle is nearly empty. She reached over and removed the bottle from Emily's lips and Jon's hand. "Burp her before she starts wriggling again, love," she suggested, letting Cosmo sniff the empty bottle in her hand as her eyes drifted back to the TV screen. "I'm sure Dru would rather be here, but she's got a very strong sense of duty. This is her first public appearance since the majority of the royal family died. I don't know about you, but I feel rather proud of her. She doesn't look anywhere near as scared as she must be feeling."

Were killed, not died, thought Jon, though he didn't vocalize that thought. It was Christmas Eve and it was supposed to be a happy occasion, a celebration. The last thing he wanted was to be accused of being morose. "Of course I'm proud of her," Jon assured his wife, tearing his eyes away from his sister long enough to hoist Emily onto his shoulder and rub her back. "She's a good actress," Jon remarked as he looked back at the scene playing itself out on the television set. "I just worry too much, I guess."

"Well, you know as well as I do that for every guest in that ball room, there is at least one security guard," Vicki pointed out quietly, understanding Jon's worries but needing him to stop assuming that the worst would happen. Of them all, Dru was the one who would be in constant danger for the rest of her life, purely because of who she was. But that didn't mean that she wouldn't be protected from that danger. "And that the palace in Itana is one of the most secure places on Rhy'Din, even more so since the incident. She's safe there, and if all else fails, take a look at her hand." She pointed at the screen, and sure enough, on Dru's hand was visible a familiar ring, complete with bloodstone. "The Grangers are on call for her 24/7, Jon. She'll be fine."

"Yeah, I know," he admitted, Vicki's reassurances helping him relax a little. "I'm just not sure how I'm supposed to react to having a princess for a sister," he admitted. "I know, I know....I should just treat her like everyone else, but she's not like everyone else, Vicki. She's going to be a ruler someday. That makes us relatives to royalty," he continued, though the royal line came from Dru's mother's side of the family, not from the Grangers. Of everyone in the family, he was probably best suited to understand what it felt like to live your life under a microscope, and he didn't envy his little sister that part of her life.

"True," Vicki conceded with a half-shrug. "But we're the poor relations no one needs to know much about." Beside Jon's ear, Emily let rip with what sounded like a joyful burp, her head nodding down onto his shoulder once again as she slumped, almost asleep once again. "All you can do is treat her well, Jon. Like an equal. You're one of the few people in her life who can do that."

"What do you mean?" he asked, glancing at the little half-asleep bundle on his shoulder before looking back at Vicki. He understood that he should treat Dru just as he treated the rest of his relatives, but he wasn't quite sure what she meant by the last part of her statement.

"Well, think about it, Jon," his wife pointed out gently. "In Tirisano, she has her uncle, who is naturally her superior because of his rank. He can't not treat her like an inferior. But conversely, she's constantly surrounded by aides and servants and civil ministers who have to treat her as their superior; they have to address her by her title. Similarly, any friends she has there will have been closely vetted by the government and her uncle to make sure they conform, and she doesn't know if they're really her friends or just playing a part because she's the Crown Princess. Here, she gets to be just Dru. She isn't a different rank to the rest of her family, she doesn't have friends who are only her friends because of her rank. And she has brothers and a sister who don't look down on her, or up to her. She doesn't have to be a princess here. She gets to be herself, and the way you treat her is a big part of that."

"Why would I treat her any differently than anyone else? I know what it's like to have people fawn all over you just because you're famous or because they think you have money or whatever. There was a time when I thought that's why you wanted to date me." Of course, he had long ago learned that wasn't true, but what he was trying to point out was that he thought he understood at least a little of what Dru had to deal with. People on Rhy'Din had never been overly impressed with his fame or fortune, but on Earth, it was an entirely different matter. It seemed to be the same in Tirisano, though his sister was royalty, not just a movie star.

"I'm not saying that you ever would treat her any differently, Jon," Vicki tried to tell him, choosing not to comment on his remark about his initial thoughts about her. "I was trying to offer some kind of perspective, that's all. I don't have the first idea what it's like, do I" You know better than me how it feels to be in the spotlight."

"Yeah, but do you think I do?" he asked, looking for Vicki's perspective on things, even if it was in a roundabout way. "Do you think I treat her differently than Lena?" he asked, really not knowing for sure if he did or not, though he tried not to. Though he'd grown up with Lena, much of his past was a blank. It wasn't a lot to build a relationship on, and it had been something of a struggle for him, with Lena remembering things Jon had forgotten. With Dru, he could start fresh.

Vicki considered him for a moment, giving Cosmo a shove off her lap before she started to overheat. "I think maybe you put a little too much emphasis on her rank in your mind," she offered quietly. "Maybe you should try to just look at the young woman, rather than see the princess. But no, I don't think you treat her in any way that isn't warm, and loving, and entirely appropriate for a big brother."

"I'm trying, Vicki," he admitted with a thoughtful frown, as he always did when he was feeling unsure of himself or worried about something, little crinkled worry lines forming on his forehead. "I'm not the eldest anymore, you know." Though that didn't really get him off the hook, as he had only met Des a short year ago.

"Like that matters," she pointed out, brushing a kiss to his cheek. "It isn't worth upsetting yourself over, love. We have a baby to put down, and a party to get back to before some of your cousins decide to come and find us themselves. And we got a chance to see Dru all dressed up and sparkly. That was the point of the evening, right?"

"I wish I'd seen Dru all dressed up and sparkly live in person," he admitted a little sadly, but on the other hand, a few months ago, he hadn't even known her at all. "She's had a rough go of things. I just want her to be happy, Vic. That's all," he said, smiling a little at the affectionate kiss to his cheek. He turned his head toward the little warm bundle snuggled against his shoulder. "Sleepy time for someone," he said, rubbing Emily's back gently as he moved to his feet.

Jonathan Granger

Date: 2013-12-09 20:03 EST
"She'll be back before you know it," Vicki promised her husband, sliding herself to the edge of the couch to ruffle Cosmo's fur as Jon rose with Emily in his arms. Their quiet little sojourn was nearly over; it was time to return to the party, armed with the baby monitor that vibrated like an express train when Emily hit a certain number of decibels.

Jon paused on his way to the nursery to put baby Emily to bed and looked back at Vicki as he realized something. "If I worry this much about my sister, what?s it gonna be like worrying about our daughter?" He didn't wait to hear what Vicki might have to say about that before continuing on to the nursery. He wasn't sure why he worried so much, except that he cared. While everyone else was happy for Dru, Jon was worried she was scared and lonely.

"A nightmare," Vicki's voice filtered through to him as he stepped into the nursery, thick with amusement at the thought of the flaming rows that were going to happen when Emily reached dating age. While he settled the baby, she located her shoes, stepping back into them reluctantly with a grimace down at Cosmo. "All right, fuzz ball. Do you think they're ready yet?" The collie barked quietly just once, as though agreeing with her, setting her to laughing softly as she waited for Jon to reappear.

A knock was heard at the door to their suite of rooms, as someone came in search of the missing couple. Desmond peeked his head into the room at the sound of Vicki's voice, hoping he'd catch her alone for a moment. "Where's Jon?" he whispered. "We're almost ready for cake."

She glanced up, grinning at the hopeful look on her brother-in-law's face as he peeked in at her. "He's just putting Emily down," she promised Des cheerfully. "We'll be back in a couple of minutes. Which room is it set up in?"

"The study. Tell him to hurry up before the candles burn out and Lyneth eats all the frosting!" Des warned with a grin, retreating from the room to rejoin the family downstairs and let them know the birthday boy was on his way. A moment later, Jon emerged from the nursery, a puzzled look on his face. "Was someone here?"

As usual, Vicki was always honest with her husband, if not entirely so at the best of times. She turned her head as Jon came back into view. "Yes, just Des telling us to get back down there," she chuckled affectionately, giving Cosmo a nudge toward the door. "Humph's got something he wants to share with you before people start trickling out the door to go home for the night. Got the baby monitor?"

"Right here," Jon replied, patting his jacket pocket. Jon went nowhere without the monitor, when Emily was sleeping, at least when he was at home. "What's Humphrey got up his sleeve now?" Jon asked, as he rebuttoned and straightened his jacket. He glanced back at the doorway to the nursery, hesitating a moment, over-worrying again.

"The only way to find out is to face the dragon in his lair," his wife pointed out with a grin, looping her arm through his to give him a gentle tug in the direction of the hallway. "She'll be fine, Jon. Cosmo'll keep an eye on her, and you've got that vibrating monster of a monitor in your pocket, Stop worrying and come back to the party."

"You hear that, Cos?" Jon asked, directing his attention to the dog. "You're on guard duty. Keep an eye on the puppy for us. We won't be long." He leaned over and affectionately ruffled the fur on the dog's head. "Next year we'll have two to keep an eye on!" he declared, his smile returning as Vicki tugged him toward the hallway.

"God save us all," Vicki intoned teasingly, glancing back as they stepped out into the hallway to see Cosmo taking up the familiar station just in front of the nursery door. Though he wasn't much of a guard-dog in the strictest sense, if anyone threatened his puppy, Cosmo could probably savage them. Or at the very least, drown the attacker in drool.

Jon chuckled at Vicki's reply. By this time next year, they'd have two little ones to share their lives with, and though Jon had a tendency to over-worry about his family and those he loved, he wouldn't have things any other way. This was what Christmas was all about - being surrounded by family and sharing the joy and the love of this special day. He only wished Dru could be there to share it with them. He decided then and there that they'd make it up to her when she got back. Things had gotten oddly quiet downstairs as he and Vicki exited their suite, and he frowned, wondering if everyone had already gone home.

It was certainly oddly quiet. There were still the sound of feet shuffling, and the odd bit of chatter shushed hurriedly as the couple made their way back down the stairs. Vicki was biting her lips to keep from laughing, especially when the study door mysteriously opened as they approached it. They really were laying it on with a trowel.

"Where is everyone?" Jon asked as he and Vicki padded through the house. Even if most of their guests had left, there were always a few who stayed a bit later to enjoy a nightcap and some quiet conversation with the Old Man. They hadn't been gone for more than an hour - everyone couldn't have already left, could they' Jon arched a brow as the study door creaked open and he turned a questioning look toward Vicki. "What's going on?"

"Get yourself in here, boy, and find out!" a familiarly grumpy voice made itself known from inside the study, followed by the sound of several other familiar voices snickering and shushing. Vicki rolled her eyes. "Oh, yes, very discreet, Humph," she chuckled, applying her hand to Jon's back and giving him a gentle shove into the study, which abruptly lit up to reveal pretty much the whole party crammed in between the book stacks.

"Oh, no....It isn't....They aren't..." Jon rolled his eyes, realizing what this was all about. He'd had the unlucky distinction of having been born on Christmas, and as such, his birthday was often overlooked by the festivities of a much more important holiday. He glanced toward Vicki with an accusatory look on his face. "You didn't, did you?"

"Not me personally, no," she grinned back at him as his gathered family broke into a decidedly ragged chorus of "Happy Birthday". It was a celebration so often overlooked, and for once, they'd made the effort to include it in the family gathering. He was just going to have to put up and shut up.

A very rare flush spread across Jon's face, along with a slightly embarrassed but pleased smille, as he and Vicki stepped into the study to find the family gathered there, candlelight lighting their smiling faces as they joined together in that ragged chorus of Happy Birthday. In one more day, Jon would turn 28 years old.

Too many years had gone by and his birthday had gone all but unnoticed by everyone but the very closest of his family and friends, but it seemed that this year, the decision had been made to give a little time from Christmas to the celebration of his birthday. Just a little time, in a big party, but for the first time in a long time, the Grangers celebrated Jon's birthday together with cake and song, and a fair few ribald jokes thrown in. So what if he had to share his birthday with the "most wonderful time of the year?" This year, he was sharing it with everyone else, too.

((Many thanks to Vicki's player for the above scene, but we're not done yet! More Granger Family Festivities coming soon! :) ))

Rufus Bennett

Date: 2013-12-11 05:37 EST
It was just as well someone had warned Rufus about the little side-show that was Jon's birthday, or the Englishman would have been thoroughly confused when Miranda hustled him into the study and told him to be very quiet. He'd forgotten just how big the Granger family was, and it seemed to have grown exponentially since the last time he'd seen them all in close proximity to one another, more than twenty years ago. Still, he was one of them now, as people kept reminding him, and though he felt a little out of place in the crowd, he was good at wearing the charming smile as his wife flitted about, mingling for all she was worth. As the attention crowded around everyone getting their hands on a piece of Jon's birthday cake, he sipped his wine, his own attention suddenly caught by a particularly fine row of leather-bound first editions in the stack to his right, just at his eye-line. Trust a Watcher to be enthralled by books at a party.

"Oh, no, you don't!" the all-too familiar voice of his beloved wife chided from somewhere behind him as she spied her husband's attention waning and turning toward that of Humphrey's well-stocked library. She purposely put herself between her husband and the bookshelf in hopes of distracting his attention. "You are not burying your nose in a book. Not tonight," she scolded, though she was wearing a good-natured smile. She handed him a slice of Jon's birthday cake and slid her rump onto the corner of Humphrey's desk as she stuck a finger into the frosting and licked it clean.

He smiled, taking the scolding with the aplomb of a man who knew when to fight and when to give in. "You have to admit, it would be a fine way to avoid offending any more of your relatives, love," he pointed out, taking his plate from Miranda as he reluctantly tore himself away from perusing the books to watch her instead. His eyes narrowed slightly at her teasing. "Watch yourself, angel. I am not above pulling you behind the curtains and making you pay for being a flirt tonight."

"There's only one man here I'm interested in flirting with," she replied, eyes shining brightly and impishly up at him. She did not say who that man was, but it was obvious to everyone who saw them together that Miranda had eyes for only one man and that man was Rufus Bennett. She reached for his wine glass to take a sip and wash the sugary frosting down. "There are plenty of rooms to get lost in here, if you feel the need to punish me."

"And, of course, that doesn't encourage me in the slightest to see just how good your power to be silent is in a crowded room," he chuckled, relinquishing his glass to her and taking the opportunity to wolf down his little slice of birthday cake. "I must say, despite his rather taciturn tendencies, your Humphrey does put on a good spread."

"Too bad you're not wearing a tie," she remarked with a smirk. "You could always gag me." She took another sip of the wine, feeling just a little light-headed. She'd been sipping all night as she flitted from relative to relative to visit and catch up, doing her best to drag Rufus along with her and show him off, until she finally had pity on the poor man and left him to his own devices for a while. "If you're only half as taciturn when you're Humphrey's age, it will be a miracle," she teased.

"When I am his age, I fully expect to still have a flirty wife and a house full of grandchildren, be they mine or someone else's," he informed her through that charming smile of his, reclaiming his glass to polish off what was left as he looked around once again. "All of whom I will regale with stories of the many times demons, devils, and vampires almost got me, were it not for the efforts of teenaged girls needing to work out their PMS in healthy ways."

She rolled her perfectly made up eyes at him, slipping off the desk and standing on her tip toes, even with heels on, to tap his nose. "There will be no talk of hunting, slaying, or watching on Christmas Eve," she said, tapping his nose thrice in time with each verb to make her point. "Come on, you owe me a dance," she said, taking the glass from him and setting it on Humphrey's desk.

He groaned softly, though to be honest he had no real objection to dancing with his wife. It was the dancing in a room full of strangers that was slightly unsettling. "You made me dance with Lyneth, wasn't that enough?" he complained mildly, letting her take charge despite his protests. "I will dance with you, on one condition - that you don't take up residence on my feet and expect me to stay upright the whole time."

She clucked her tongue at him and swatted his arm, as if he'd just insulted her. "I will not step on your feet, you horrid man." She giggled girlishly, "Though I might sway a little. I think I've had a little too much of the bubbly. Can you catch, Rufus?"

"A ball, a baby, or the ballistic missile of delightfully tipsy shenanigans that is my beautiful wife?" he countered with a grin, catching her hand to loop her arm through his and lead her out of the study and into the main hall, where most of the dancing was taking place.

"Your beautiful wife, of course," she replied, not even batting a lash at the compliment. She knew she looked good, and in her opinion, she had snagged the best-looking man on Rhy'Din. Of course, there were plenty of men who might vie for that title, including some of her own relatives, but now that Rufus was back in her life, she only had eyes for him. "Now, if you promise to go slow and not grab my *ss in front of my family, I'll promise not to step on your poor abused toes."

"Madam, I am insulted," he declared laughingly, drawing her into his arms to move to the music. There wasn't much room to do more than sway, but there was no denying that Rufus' education had more than equipped him with social niceties. "How do you feel about light patting?"

"Keep the hands above the waist, my darling. You wouldn't to cause a scandal, now, would you?" she teased back, dark eyes sparkling with mischief and happiness and just a little too much wine. She placed her hands on his shoulders as she let him lead her in the dance, swaying slowly with him in time to the music, humming softly along to the song.

"Oh, don't you think your reputation could handle another scandal so soon after the last two?" Rufus chuckled back to her, enjoying this slightly tipsy version of his usually perfectly in control wife. "If this is you at a Christmas party, I can hardly wait to see what you're like in exactly one week's time." It was strange to think that their daughter was getting married in seven days, but a good thought at the same time. He smirked to himself as he considered the small surprise he and Piper's father had put together, mostly to prank the grooms during the first dance. He hadn't told Miranda about it yet, and possibly might not at all, given how protective she was over the young men in question.

Rufus Bennett

Date: 2013-12-11 05:38 EST
"Which two are those, Rufus darling?" she asked, alluding to more scandals in her past than he might be aware of, though she was not about to tell him what they might be. The mention of their daughter did bring a small pout to her perfectly pink lips. "I wish she was here," she admitted softly as she leaned against her husband and rested her cheek on his shoulder. She knew why her daughter had remained behind in New York and she both understood and respected her decision, but that didn't mean she didn't miss her all the same. But in another week, they'd be together celebrating two weddings, and that would more than make up for missing Christmas.

"I'm sure she wishes she was with you, too, love," he promised her, pressing his lips to her hair in an affectionate gesture as his arms tightened just a little around her waist. "She'll be here in two days, and I am sure you two will fill the house with squealing girly nonsense of the sort that ruptures the eardrums of the unwary for hours on end." He smiled down at his wife warmly. "You know better than I do what happens when Beth makes up her mind about something."

"She made her mind up about Jason rather quickly," Miranda admitted with a soft sigh. She kept having to remind herself that she wasn't losing a daughter but gaining a son, or at least, a son-in-law. She lifted her head from his shoulder to look up at him. "You never did explain just what went on between them when they came through the portal. Something about past lives and knowing each other before."

Rufus smiled gently down at her. He'd been expecting her to ask a lot sooner than this, but knew she didn't really want a detailed answer. "They're soul mates, Miranda," he told her, his voice quiet, for her ears only in the crush of people around them. "Their destiny was thrown off path by the machinations of men and gods in the first lifetime they shared, and in recompense, the goddess Vesta gave them an eternity of lives to share for the sacrifice they made. I'm sure Beth has several stories to tell you by now, if you truly want all the details."

She lifted her hand, the small explanation he was giving her making her head spin - or maybe it was just the wine. "Enough, I don't need to know the details." While the thought of her daughter spending lifetime after lifetime with the man she loved sounded romantic enough in theory, she didn't really want to know what had gone wrong in that first lifetime or how the two of them might have suffered. "If Jason and Bethany are soul mates, what does that make us?" she asked, her impishness returning, in part because she didn't want to think too hard about the implications of what Rufus was telling her.

"Embarrassing parents who are going to get very cold out in the snow if you don't stop trying to wind me up, woman," he laughed back at her, brushing a kiss against her nose. "Keep it up, and I'll make that fantasy of sex in the snow come true, right underneath the Old Man's bedroom window."

"Rufus!" she gasped, a mock look of shock on her face. "You may fantasize about having sex in the snow, but I have no intentions of getting frostbite on my boobs!" From the snickers of a few relatives, she had apparently said that a little too loudly.

Apparently loud enough to make certain that they were a detour for a certain small person on her way between everyone's legs in search of her own parents. A small hand tugged on Rufus' pants, and he looked down into Lyneth's upturned face, part of him wondering just what legend was going to spill forth from the tiny Fae-girl's mouth this time. "Why would Jack Fwost bite M'anda's boobies?"

Miranda smirked at Lyneth's sudden and unexpected arrival and glanced up at Rufus, fully anticipating him to answer the little Fae girl's question. "Yes, Wufus, why would Jack Fwost bite my boobies?" she asked, trying very hard not to burst out laughing at the poor man's predicament.

Caught between a tipsy wife and a mischievous little girl, Rufus sighed, knowing he wasn't going to come out of this one looking good at all. He released Miranda, and bent down to sweep Lyneth up off the floor, out of harm's way for the time being. "Jack Frost will bite Miranda's boobies if she keeps teasing me, because he happens to be a very good friend of mine," he told the child. "In fact, it wouldn't even be a bite. More of a nibble."

Lyneth's eyes turned to look pointedly at the front of Miranda's dress thoughtfully as she clung onto the strong man holding her up. "But they're so sparkly," she pointed out. "And if you nibble on sparkly things, you get stuff stuck in your teef and your poo goes sparkly."

Miranda was trying very hard not to laugh at Rufus' explanation, but as soon as Lyneth opened her impish little mouth to speak, she could no longer control herself and she doubled over in a fit of giggles loud enough to echo through the room and draw the attention of Lyneth's parents. "Do you hear that, Rufus" I have sparkly boobies! You wouldn't want to get them stuck in your teeth, now, would you?" Hopefully someone would come rescue the little girl before Miranda asked her what would happen if Jack Frost nipped at Mr. Winkie's nose.

"I should think that would cause you more of a problem than me, love," Rufus smirked back at his giggling wife, hitching Lyneth higher on his hip as he turned to look around. "Now then, little woman, I assume your parents are lurking around here somewhere?"

The tiny girl grinned, nodding as she looked around. "Can I stand on your shouldits to see them?"

"Shouldits," Miranda echoed, breaking into a fit of girlish giggles again. "Oh, you are precious!" she beamed up at Lyneth, reaching up to playfully tweak her tiny nose. No doubt Lyneth might wonder why the adults around her were always doing that. "Would you like to come home with me? We can eat ice cream and watch cartoons together." But then, it was Christmas Eve. Of course, Lyneth couldn't go home with Miranda. Not tonight anyway.

Lyneth's little nose scrunched under the tweak as she shook her head. "No, 'cos Mummy's goin' to mass, an' me an' Daddy are goin' to have hot choklit an' wrap her presents an' he's goin' to wrassle me into bed before it gets all dawny and Mummy tells him off for lettin' me stay up so late," she grinned, not bothering to wait for Rufus to agree before using him as a climbing frame, absolutely determined to stand on his shoulders and tower above the entire gathering, ostensibly so she could see her parents. By the time she was done, Rufus had a wonderful view of the inner lining of Lyneth's pretty velvet dress, his arms raised above his head for the tiny girl to hold onto as she looked around.

Rufus Bennett

Date: 2013-12-11 05:39 EST
Miranda was giggling again as she watched Lyneth climb up onto Rufus' shoulders without his help or his permission. "How's the view, darling?" she asked him impishly. One might wonder if she was as impish as Lyneth when she was small. Those who really wanted to know only had to ask Humphrey to find out. Or her brother. Thankfully for Rufus, Desmond could be seen excusing himself from Piper for a moment to rescue the poor man from their daughter and making his way toward the trio.

"Oh, wonderful," Rufus commented, ever so slightly muffled inside the fall of Lyneth's party dress. "I never realized that these tights were so spangly up close." He grunted as Lyneth spotted her Daddy making his way toward them, bouncing on Rufus' shoulders with no concern for the man she was standing on at all.

"Sorry, Rufus!" Desmond apologized as he made a grab for the little girl to sweep her off the man's shoulders and safety into his own arms. "She gets a little carried away sometimes!" he explained.

Miranda only beamed a grin, happily amused by the whole thing. "You should bring her by when the two of you are training. She could bounce on your shoulders, too!"

"I get bounced on plenty, believe me," Des replied with a sigh.

Rescued from a dark, increasingly sweaty prison of velvet skirt and spangly tights, Rufus shook his head to clear his vision as Lyneth was swept off his shoulders, eying his wife with a look that suggested that smile of hers was going to be paid for later. "At least she chose the right man in the room to stand on," he commented to Des, curling his arm about Miranda's waist as Lyneth giggled and hugged her Daddy fondly.

"I think it's just about time for a certain little girl to be heading home," Des said, leaning close to brush his nose against Lyneth's. It was hard for him to get angry with her, and hence he rarely, if ever, scolded her, choosing to do so in a way that wouldn't upset her too much.

Miranda found herself drawn close to Rufus, smiling contentedly. There was no place she'd rather be, but though she was feeling tipsy, unlike the little family, she wasn't quite ready to call it a night yet. "I will see you in a few days for your final fitting, little lady," she told Lyneth, with a little poke at her nose.

"And then can I take my pretty dress home?" Lyneth demanded, impatient as ever to get her hands on her flower girl dress and show off in it. She'd been very good about not telling Des all about Piper's dress, but her own dress was fair game as far as she was concerned. She giggled as her nose was first brushed by Daddy, then poked by Miranda, raising her hand to rub at it as though there were something now tickling it.

"Yes," Miranda answered, "but you have to promise not to wear it until the wedding. It's a special dress for a special day, but after the wedding, you can wear it all you like!" Pleased with this assertion, Lyneth quieted, cuddling into Des with a final admission that it was rather late. Miranda beamed a warm smile up at Desmond, full of the affection she felt for the younger man. "Merry Christmas, Des," she told him, reaching up to brush a kiss against his cheek.

Des smiled in return, as fond of Miranda as she was of him. "Merry Christmas, Miran." He turned to Rufus and offered a nod. "Rufus."

"Happy Solstice, festive season, redonkulous winterval and all that," was Rufus' slightly distracted response to Des' nod, his own offered in return as he shamelessly stole a drink from the hand of a Granger who wasn't paying attention to take a long sip.

Des glanced at the little girl who was finally starting to succumb to sleep, though they still had a date back home for hot cocoa and a little gift wrapping, if she could manage to stay away long enough. If not, Des would tuck her into bed and take care of the wrapping on his own. "I better get back to Piper. If you see Beth and Jason, wish them a Happy Christmas for me," Desmond said, though he was going to see them both himself in another week for the wedding that promised to be the Granger social event of the season.

"They're moving in with you for the week, come Boxing Day," Rufus reminded him with a snort of laughter, squeezing his own wife fondly about the waist. "Or had you forgotten that in all the anticipatory carnality of the season?"

Lyneth frowned at all the long words, lifting her head off Des' shoulder. "What's ant sipping patty carnival itty?"

Desmond chuckled. Of course he remembered. He had a mind like a steel trap. "I meant, if you talk to them in the next day or so." Des didn't even want to think about what Jason was going to think the first time he met a fairy, or worse yet, a certain house brownie. "Never mind, baby girl. I'll explain later," Des promised the little girl, though he had no intentions of doing any such thing. "See you two later!" he promised and off he went with Lyneth drooping on his shoulder.

"I don't suppose you'd like a little ant sipping carnal patty?" Rufus murmured in Miranda's ear as he toasted the retreat of Des and Lyneth, waiting for them to disappear into the throng of family and friends before looking down at his wife with a decidedly roguish look in his eye. "Or perhaps a bucket to throw up in?"

"Oh, Rufus, how romantic," Miranda replied, sarcastically. "You certainly know how to woo a girl." She patted his cheek, eyes alight with mischief. "What's the matter" Are you ready for bed already, old man?"

"Well, bed doesn't necessarily mean sleep," he pointed out, his tone as innocent as though they were discussing tomorrow's milk delivery, though his eyes flickered with a tease equal to her own. "And I do happen to know for a fact that someone is wearing the stockings she promised me she wouldn't wear in public again."

"There's an old saying among those in the fashion industry, darling," Miranda started, touching a perfectly manicured finger to his cheek and tracing the perfectly masculine line of his jaw. "If you've got it, flaunt it."

"I counter with another saying, not so old, but definitely pertinent," he offered, meeting her gaze with that stern charm that did interesting things to a woman usually completely in control of herself. "If your wife is flaunting it, spank her."

"Is that a promise or a warning?" she countered, eyes shining brightly up at him, in a hint of mischief. She had planned on staying longer, but if he had a better offer, she was more than willing to take him up on it. She slid her arms around his neck, her fingers toying with hair. "If you have plans for the evening, you'd better speak now or forever hold your peace."

Rufus Bennett

Date: 2013-12-11 05:40 EST
He grinned, leaning down to kiss her as his hand smoothed against her back, only to interrupted by yet another familiar voice, this one small, shy, and sounding a little scared.

"Um ....Miranda" Do-do you know where Cian is?"

Rufus drew back from his wife with a wry quirk to his smile, looking down at Cian's little mermaid, Leilani, indulgently. The Syreni was looking around at the milling gathering with wide, nervous eyes, clearly more than a little bit uncomfortable with being cut adrift, even for just a few minutes.

Miranda sighed as they were interrupted yet again, though she could not hold it against the shy, gentle creature her nephew had brought home with him after his latest adventure. "He has to be around here somewhere, dear. He wouldn't just disappear," she replied, reaching out to touch the girl's arm reassuring. "Let's see. If I were Cian, were would I go?" she mused, tapping a finger against her chin as she searched the crowd. "Let's see if we can find him, shall we?" she said, looping her arm through Leilani's and offering a warm smile.

Leilani seemed to relax a little in their company, though Rufus doubted it was because of his presence. Miranda had a way with the shy little women who seemed to be proliferating in her brother's branch of the family. The little mermaid curled her hands into the crook of her lover's aunt's elbow as Miranda looked around, offering up a little additional information. "Gabi wanted her little man back because she was going home," Leilani supplied quietly, her fingers flexing in the sleeve of Miranda's dress. "Cian went to help her get the other little man away from Gordon."

"Ah, well, then....If we find Gordon, we'll find Cian." She smiled at the girl, knowing her brother and nephew were around there somewhere. "Would you give me a moment, Rufus" I promise I won't be long," she told her husband, touching her lips to his briefly.

"No, of course, you ladies go and do what you must to the men of your clan," Rufus conceded graciously, his smile a lot warmer for Leilani than it had been for several others this evening. But then, the little mermaid was so wary of crowds in general, she needed all the encouragement she could get. He bowed to them both, kissing his wife's hand with a wink. "I will go and excavate that mountain of presents you received from all and sundry."

Miranda grinned at her husband's gallant suggestion, getting the hint that he was nearly ready to leave. He was exaggerating a bit - it wasn't quite a mountain, though the Grangers were known to be a generous group, and she was one of the more popular members of the clan. She offered Rufus a cheeky wink before leading Leilani away to find Cian. "How are you getting on in Rhy'Din, dear?" she asked as they weaved their way in and out of various circles of people.

"It is very strange," Leilani told her quietly. "I don't understand landwalkers, or their animals, or the ones that fly. And your sea is so dirty. Do all sailors here just throw everything overboard?" The distress was obvious in her gaze as she looked up at Miranda, clearly shocked by the lack of respect the ocean received from those who lived on land. The cleanest natural water she had encountered was right here on Maple Grove, but in fresh water, she didn't form her tail.

"I'm afraid not everyone has the right amount of respect for the water and the creatures that live there," Miranda replied with a frown. She wondered what the poor girl would think if she ever visited Earth. "Perhaps we should do something to raise awareness," Miranda suggested, though it would have to wait until after the wedding.

"Or punish people who throw their waste into the sea," Leilani suggested in return, blinking her large green eyes with their curious double eyelid as she looked up at Miranda. A faint frown crossed her brow, however. "Miranda ....what is a Christmas and why does it have a party and an eve" Cian got a headache when he was trying to explain it to me. Just like the headache he got when I asked what the point of a wedding is."

Miranda came to a halt, turning to the little mermaid with a thoughtful frown. "It's difficult to explain, Leilani," she started. Unlike Cian, she'd had plenty of practice explaining such things to her own daughter once upon a time and more recently to a certain little half-Fae girl. "Cian has explained that on Rhy'Din we have four seasons, yes?"

The golden haired girl nodded, more confident that she understood the march of the seasons now she had lived a full year away from the island on which she had been born and raised. "I have seen winter, spring, summer, and autumn," she assured Miranda. "I do not understand them, but I acknowledge them."

Miranda smiled patiently as Leilani explained what she knew. "The easiest way to understand it is to think of it as a celebration of winter. It's a very old tradition that goes back centuries and has changed throughout the years, but the simplest explanation is that it is a holiday in celebration of winter."

"But why is winter celebrated, and not the other seasons?" Leilani queried, that innocent curiosity of hers always thirsty for more to understand and learn. She was very lucky that Cian had the patience of a very patient saint, or her main source of knowledge would have dried up months ago.

"I'm not sure, dear. It has something to do with Yule and the winter solstice. It began centuries ago on Earth, but I don't really know how it came to Rhy'Din. It's generally called Winterfest here, but is known by different names and celebrated by many different people. Do you have any festivals or celebrations where you come from?" she asked, turning to search the crowd for Cian or Gordon or even Gabi.

Leilani shook her head. "Only the spawning, and Cian says that is not so much a celebration as an exercise in cruelty," she offered up with half a shrug. She didn't offer any details on the spawning she mentioned, but given that Miranda had heard the full tale of how Cian had met his little mermaid, she could, no doubt, make an educated guess.

Rufus Bennett

Date: 2013-12-11 05:41 EST
"I see," Miranda replied, though she really didn't. "Well, Winterfest is a happy time of year. It's a time when families come together - like this one. We give thanks for all our blessings and give each other gifts to show our love. It's a little silly, I suppose, but it's a tradition."

There was a pause as Leilani considered this explanation, which was a far better breakdown of the basics of the common winter festival than Cian had been able to manage. But then, Cian had endured several hours of why before she'd reached that topic, so he could be excused his poor answer. The little mermaid smiled, the expression lighting up her face. "I like that," she said finally. "Family is still new to me, but ....I like that it has a day to be shared on."

Miranda suddenly felt bad for not having spent more time with her nephew and his chosen mate, but she'd been so busy lately, she'd had very little time for visiting with the family. "Tell you what, dear, let's get together for lunch this week, you and me and Cian....and Rufus, if he wants to come," she added, not wanting to leave her husband out, though she doubted he'd be interested in a luncheon. "We can do it the day of your final fitting, if you like."

A pained expression fluttered across Leilani's face as she looked up at Miranda. "I have to do more standing still and not breathing?" she asked worriedly. "Doesn't the dress know how to fit on me by now?"

Miranda laughed lightly. "Unfortunately, not. Just one last fitting to make sure everything, well, fits!" she declared, spying Cian finally as he was making his way through the crowd toward them, looking a little relieved.

"There you are!" he exclaimed as he caught up with them. He had apparently either left one of the twins with Gordon or had already run into Gabi and dropped his bundle off. "Hello, Miranda! You look gorgeous." He brushed a kiss against his aunt's cheek and gave her a light hug.

"It is a very pretty dress," Leilani conceded, but before she could say anymore, Cian had rejoined them. Immediately, her entire demeanor changed. Her face lit up with an adoring smile as her mate came near, and small though she was, she stood taller with him close by. It was obvious that her world revolved around the adventurous Granger, even if she didn't offer any greeting that would interrupt his reunion with his aunt.

"Are you all right?" Cian asked as he turned to Leilani and reached for her hands. "I'm sorry that took so long. I couldn't find Gabi in the crowd." He laughed and glanced to Miranda. "We really do have too many relatives," he remarked.

"Nonsense," Miranda replied. "The more the merrier!" She made no comment about children or about any possibility of children, unsure if it was even possible for the two of them to have children.

Leilani nodded as reassuringly as she could manage, slipping her hands easily into Cian's as he reached for her. "I found Rufus and Miranda, and then Rufus ran away," she said, seemingly innocent. But for Cian, there was that flicker of humor deep in the emerald eyes he knew so well that clued him in to the fact that she was teasing Miranda in a roundabout way.

"I saw him gathering up packages," Cian said, jerking a thumb over his shoulder in a non-specific direction. "Are you two leaving?" he asked, turning the question on Miranda, who smiled faintly. "I think Rufus has had about as much as he can take of family gatherings," she offered up.

"He said something about spanking." Proof positive there that, though Leilani was learning about social interactions within groups fairly quickly, there were still a few things she had yet to learn. Like what not to reveal having overheard when you haven't let on that you had been hiding behind the Watcher for significantly longer than it had first appeared.

A shyer creature would have blushed at Leilani's overheard remark, but Miranda was nothing of the sort and only laughed. "That is one Christmas wish he's not going to get," she remarked with a wink at Cian, who smirked at his aunt's cheekiness, happy she had found love at last after all these years. Happy for them both.

"I have a feeling I'm going to have something to explain later," he chuckled, almost to himself.

"You could show me instead," Leilani suggested sweetly. "Explaining makes your head hurt, after all." She squeezed his hands affectionately, shying away from another group as they pressed past within the mingling crowd around them. "Do wishes come true at Christmas?"

Miranda smiled at the interaction between the pair, as happy for them as she was for herself. "Listen, you two lovebirds. I have a Watcher to catch up with. Come by on Friday for your final fitting and we'll have lunch." She kissed them each in turn on the cheek before flitting away to find her other half to drag him home and give him his Christmas goose.

((Thanks to all involved! More Granger festivities to come!))

Leilani

Date: 2013-12-13 06:57 EST
Cian glanced momentarily at Miranda as she bid them farewell before turning back to Leilani. He ignored her remark about spanking, choosing to focus on her question instead. "Some wishes do. Are you wishing for something?" he asked, as he slid his arms around her waist.

Leilani shook her head, her smile only a little sad for the longing in her heart to see the oceans she had called home for so long as he tucked her into his arms. "Only sometimes," she assured him. "I do not wish hard for anything when I am with you. You are all I could ever have wanted, even when I did not know that was what I wanted. This Christmas thing is very complicated."

"What is it you wish for sometimes?" he asked, though he could probably guess. Her home was not on land but beneath the sea, and he knew she must sometimes miss it, more than she let on. "Would you be happier if we lived near the sea?" he asked, though he was not sure that was a solution to the problem. He could not very well live beneath the water forever, and she was not happy forever living on land. It made him sad to know she was unhappy, if only a little bit.

She sighed softly, regretting saying anything at all as his mood seemed to dip because of her honesty. "I wish sometimes for clean oceans," she confessed. "It makes me sad to swim in this sea and know that it could be so much better than it is without the waste from the land spilling into it. But it is only sometimes, and I know we will be traveling again when the new year comes around. Perhaps we will find oceans on our travels."

"We don't have to stay here, Leilani. Rhy'Din is a big world, and....We have the crystal. We can go wherever we want." He dropped his voice at the mention of their treasure, though no one at the party was likely to overhear or care.

"I like your family," she promised him in her soft voice, her hands creeping to toy with the buttons on his vest as they lingered together in their own little space, surrounded by his family in various forms. "I do. And I like it here. But I won't deny that I like to travel with you, to learn with you, to have some use. I know I am not the bravest or the strongest or the cleverest, but I know I am of use to you in your adventures."

"After the holidays," Cian started, before correcting himself. "After the wedding. We'll go somewhere then." He didn't say where because he wasn't sure yet. Maybe they'd go where the crystal took them, as it seemed to know their hearts and where they needed and wanted to be. "Wherever we go, whatever we do, we'll always be together, Lani. I'll follow wherever you lead," he promised, taking her hands in his again, eyes meeting hers.

She lit up for him once more, leaning close to rise up on her toes and touch a very soft kiss to the cleft of his chin, the highest point she could reach without his help. "I'm not a queen like my mother," she reminded him. "I'm good at doing what I'm told. You lead. I'll follow." She had grown up an awful lot in the eighteen months since they had met, and yet she was still innocent in so many ways. And Cian, too, was innocent of a few of his tiny mermaid's natural defenses. Hopefully he would never see them close to, except in his own defense.

He smiled as she touched a kiss to his chin, tilting his head down and resting his forehead against hers so that they were closer. "I don't want a queen. I just want you." He followed that with a soft press of lips against hers, as if his kiss would prove his words were true. He had left home broken-hearted in search of treasure, and had found the most precious treasure of all when he'd found her.

With various relatives coming and going all around them, it was a wonder their kiss wasn't interrupted the way Leilani had interrupted Miranda and Rufus only a little while before. She was smiling as they drew back from each other, emerald eyes shining with adoration for her mate, only to suddenly grow wide and nervous once again as she managed to recognize the taller male standing behind Cian, patiently awaiting a moment to say hello.

Dom was deeply tanned after his latest expedition, still wearing the loss of his wife on his sleeve, but that weight seemed less this year. He grinned charmingly down at the little mermaid as his hand clapped against Cian's back. "Read any interesting palms lately, Ci?"

Cian was so lost in Leilani's kiss that he never noticed he'd been joined by the eldest of his cousins, who was something of a nomad himself. Cian laughed at his cousin's implication, dark eyes dancing with good humor. "The last time I checked I wasn't a gypsy, Dom." Dom had a point - Cian looked different from the rest of his cousins, though as far as he knew, he was a Granger by blood. "Have you met Leilani?" he asked, turning to face his cousin so that he could introduce his heart-mate. "Leilani, this is my cousin, Dominic."

"I'm more a gypsy than you are, mate," Dom chuckled, his eyes dancing with warm fondness for his cousin even as he was introduced to the little woman with him. She really was tiny, he realized, half-inclined to go down on one knee just so she wouldn't feel intimidated by his own height and width. "No, I don't believe we have met." Dom offered Leilani the back of his hand, uttering a slightly clumsy squeak of sound from the back of his throat that sounded painful.

Startled to find herself greeted in the way of her mother's people, Leilani giggled at the man's appalling pronunciation as she brushed the back of her own hand against his, blushing as she smiled. "I can speak the common, cousin of Cian," she assured the older man. "You cannot speak my own tongue. But thank you for trying."

Dom chuckled again, shaking his head. "It was worth a go," he shrugged. "I met a Syreni a few years back who decided to teach me manners rather than kill me outright. One of these days I will be fascinated to find out how the two of you met." He raised his brows at Cian teasingly, nudging his younger cousin's shoulder with a grin.

Cian arched a brow as he watched the interaction between his cousin and the mermaid, surprised to find Dom knew something of Leilani's people, though considering the man's occupation and the fact that he traveled as extensively, if not more so, as he himself did, it wasn't really all that startling. Cian was pleased that there was someone besides him in the family who understood Leilani, if only a little. He smiled and blushed a little at the nudge from his eldest cousin, offering a brief explanation that sounded almost like it came from a fairy tale. "She saved me from drowning."

Leilani

Date: 2013-12-13 06:58 EST
"Well, if she hadn't, I'd have to question the sanity in the fact that your Heaven includes the Granger family Christmas," Dom pointed out with a dry smirk. "I thought I'd slide over here and warn you early - Ashlyn's been at the strawberry wine again." The family marine biologist, once tipsy, had no brain to mouth filter, and she was in a house with a mermaid. It was a fair warning to be given.

Leilani blinked in vague confusion, understanding that this was in some way a bad thing, but not quite why. Her fingers tightened in Cian's as she stepped close to him.

Cian laughed at his cousin's remark, as well as his warning. Though the family was large and the gatherings tended to be a little on the crazy side, it was good to be home. Cian had missed too many of these gatherings in the past, and he was happy to be part of the family again. Despite those who were missed and no longer with them, there was a lot to be thankful for. "It's Christmas Eve, Dom. Everyone's allowed to get a little tipsy tonight." Cian's smile faded for just a moment as he darted a quick glance around the room. "Did Jon and Vicki retire for the night?"

Dom frowned curiously, looking over the heads of those around them toward the study. "Not that I've noticed," he offered up with a light shrug. "He can't really skip out on his own birthday for at least another hour, not with that woman attached at his hip." He chuckled again, catching sight of his tipsy sister peering over the gathering from the stairs. "If you'll excuse me, I have a baby sister to put to bed myself," he grinned to the pair of them, brushing the back of his hand to Leilani's once more before enveloping Cian in a rough, manly hug. "Try the study," he suggested to his cousin before stepping off into the crowd of family and friends again.

Cian followed Don's glance toward the stairs and tossed a wave at the tipsy Ashlyn, turning back to find himself grabbed into a hug by his larger and older cousin. Like Dom's visits home - and Cian's to a certain extent - their encounter was brief but warm and friendly, and Cian found it encouraging. Once Dom had departed, he looked toward the study with some trepidation. There had been a time when he and Jon had been close, but Cian knew Jon didn't remember it.

Reassured herself by the friendliness of the encounter with Dominic, Leilani smiled as she tucked herself close into Cian's side, watching as his gaze turned toward the study. She recognized the names he had mentioned, lifting her eyes to his with a hopeful look. "Are we going to see Jon and Vicki and their egg?"

"Egg?" Cian echoed, drawn out of his thoughts by Leilani's question. He laughed lightly, amused by her innocence when it came to matters of human biology. He glanced toward the study again and heaved a sigh. "I suppose it's now or never," he replied.

"Then it should be now, or the mating ceremony will be very uncomfortable," she informed him, taking his hand in hers. Though she was shy of crowds in general when they were on land, Leilani was more than capable of a little assertive behavior when it was necessary. Had Jon left this little reunion to his wife, the male cousins would have been close friends again by now thanks to the efforts of their chosen women. Picking her way between the people around them, the little Syreni led Cian toward the study, her eyes on the floor just ahead of her feet all the way.

"Mating ceremony?" Cian asked, unsure what she meant by that. He wasn't mating with anymore but her, and they were already mated. Though he had been with Leilani for some time now, there were times when the differences in their cultures and even their species could be confusing.

"Your cousin's mating ceremony," she reminded him innocently. "And your other cousin's ceremony. With their mates. And the little one that pretends she is a lot stupider than she is to make people smile." She blinked up at him. "With the big dog" And the little people" The reason why I have to wear silly shoes I can't walk in?"

"Your cousin's mating ceremony," she reminded him innocently. "And your other cousin's ceremony. With their mates. And the little one that pretends she is a lot stupider than she is to make people smile." She blinked up at him. "With the big dog" And the little people" The reason why I have to wear silly shoes I can't walk in?"

"Oh, right," Cian replied, realizing she was referring to the double wedding of Desmond to Piper and Bethany to Jason. He wasn't quite sure why he'd been asked to be a groomsman when he wasn't particularly close to any of them, but it was an honor he was happy to fulfill. Cian chuckled as Leilani continued with her explanation. "You don't have to wear them that long. Just for the ceremony."

"They are very silly shoes." But then, Leilani considered all shoes to be silly. It had taken months of cajoling from Cian to get her to wear even flat soles, just to protect her feet. She ducked her head as they passed into the study, unintentionally flinching back as Piper's dog, Loki, came padding past, no doubt looking for his own little family before they went on their way for the evening. Humphrey had somehow managed to free himself of children long enough to enjoy a glass of something ludicrously alcoholic, and was visible patting Caroline's bump as he chatted with her and her fiance, Richmond. But not far from them was the couple Leilani had been looking for - Jon and Vicki - and it was in that direction she led her slightly reluctant mate.

Cian hesitated, procrastinating a moment as Loki padded past. He would have muttered a, "Do we have to?" but he wasn't a child anymore, and before he had a chance to change his mind, they were spied by Jon, who was smiling and waving them toward him, Vicki, and their "egg".

Perhaps oddly, Jon and Vicki were among the honored few who did not intimidate Leilani. Perhaps it was because she had first met them on a day when their barely months old daughter had already run them ragged before midday, or perhaps it was because neither one of them cared much what she was or what she could be, so long as she was happy in herself with Cian. Whatever the reason, she was smiling as she tugged Cian toward them, one hand outstretched to touch Vicki's "egg".

The redhead swallowed a laugh, knowing it would only startle and upset the little mermaid, and instead submitted to the touch without a squeak, sparing one wry glance in Jon's direction before looking to the other couple. "I assume much merriment is being had?"

Leilani

Date: 2013-12-13 06:59 EST
"Um, hello," Cian stammered nervously. "Merry Christmas," he added, offering a hand first to Jon as Leilani was curiously investigating Vicki's bump. Jon smiled warmly, as though nothing had ever come between them, the years melting away, and gripped his cousin's hand firmly before giving him a brotherly hug. Whatever differences that might have come between them seemed to be forgiven and forgotten. "Merry Christmas, Cian." Jon turned his smile on Leilani, happy his cousin had found someone special to share his life with. "Hello, Leilani. Are you enjoying the party?"

The little woman tore her gaze away from the smooth roundness of Vicki's bump to look up at Jon, her innocent face serious as she answered him. "There are a lot of people," she said matter-of-factly. "The little lights are pretty." Her hand stroked Vicki's bump once more before retreating to tuck her shoulder behind Cian's arm, her finger twining with his.

Vicki chuckled softly, setting down her glass of water on the mantelpiece behind her. "The lights are pretty, aren't they?" she agreed. "Humphrey's pride and joy, the sheer number of fairylights he can get in a house for the season. Looking forward to the wedding, Cian?"

Thankfully, Lyneth wasn't nearby or she might have had to point out the differences between real fairy lights and the strands of tiny colorful electric lights that lit up Maple Grove. "A wedding is always reason for celebration," Cian replied, politely. "To be honest, I'm still not sure why we were asked to stand up." The only reason he could think of was that he was Miranda's nephew. Though he had agreed to serve as a groomsmen, he hardly knew either of the couples tying the knot.

"It's a family wedding, Cian," Jon interjected. "And you're family." In his mind, that was all that mattered.

"And you are one of the brides' closest male relative," Vicki pointed out in vague confusion. "You have to have met Bethany by now, surely?" Her blue eyes flicked to Leilani curiously, but the Syreni had nothing to say.

In fact, Leilani seemed barely involved for the time being, busily unpicking the bow on the back of elderly Aunt Margaret's fuschia pink dress one handed to amuse herself.

"We've met," Cian confirmed, though meeting someone and getting close to them were two very different things. "She seems nice," he added.

"It'll take time for her to get to know everyone," Jon remarked, knowing what that was like. He'd had to get to know everyone all over again, including his own sister - who was around there somewhere with her new boyfriend, but he wasn't sure where. "You'll be fine, Cian. Just have fun with it!" Jon suggested, with a warm smile. "I hear you two are promised to each other?" he asked, glancing to Leilani for confirmation. Married wasn't quite the right word, and it felt awkward saying mated.

Satisfied that she had loosened the bow enough to cause a certain amount of mischief in a few minutes' time, Leilani looked up at Jon with her sweet smile in place beneath the shadow cast by her own hair. "Cian is my mate," she said simply, not truly understanding why it was a concept so difficult for landwalkers to grasp. "For always. And Bethany is very ....chesty."

Beside Jon, Vicki choked on a breath trying not to laugh at that very observant description of Beth, and groped for her glass before she spluttered all over everyone. "That's one way of putting it, certainly."

Cian furrowed his brows as he looked to Leilani, hoping she wasn't doing what he thought she was doing, though he didn't say a thing about elderly Aunt Margaret's untied bow.

Like Vicki, Jon was having a hard time suppressing a laugh, for several reasons. "It'll be interesting to see what happens if and when they ever have children," Jon remarked, with a sidelong and knowing smirk at Vicki.

Swallowing a mouthful of water to soothe the burn in her throat, Vicki grinned at Jon, choosing not to comment on the possibility of Cian and Leilani ever reproducing. Instead, she turned her attention onto Cian once again, her head tilting curiously. "I suppose you two already have plans to take off again after the wedding?" she asked, knowing the look only because she'd worn it for several years before she'd come to Rhy'Din herself.

Jon slid both arms around his wife's waist from behind and rested his chin on her shoulder as she continued to make polite conversation with the other couple, his fingers locking at the front of her baby bump.

"Sort of," Cian replied with a glance at Leilani. "I mean, nothing definite. We just sort of....go where the wind takes us." That was even more true if they were at sea, but Cian had not yet procured a vessel, nor was he sure one was needed.

"We have adventures to do," his loyal and loving mate agreed with him, nodding as she curled her other hand about their joined fingers, leaning into his side comfortably. "And you have an egg to hatch into a baby with balls made out of gold."

Thankfully, Vicki had spent enough time around Leilani not to take that one immediately as read. She blinked slowly, glancing back at Jon briefly. "Excuse me?"

Jon only laughed, amused at both Leilani's statement and his wife's reaction to it, though he wasn't quite sure what the mermaid was getting at either.

"She means the Golden Globe," Cian explained helpfully. "Congratulations, by the way. You deserve it."

Jon laughed again, pointing out just as helpfully, "You haven't even seen the movie yet!"

"Nonsense, you're long overdue to make a clean sweep," Vicki pointed out, immensely proud of her husband for anyone to see. "I foresee a Globe, an Oscar, and a proper BAFTA, to go with that American BAFTA you got a few weeks back. What do you think, Ci?"

"Yes, well, I don't think I'm getting one for Fifty Shades of Mommy Porn," Jon remarked, cheeks flushing just a little, as he tried to play down the awards, though he was secretly thrilled to death just to have been nominated.

"You're too modest," Cian said. "I've seen some of your work. You don't give yourself enough credit." Cian smiled at Vicki's question. "I'd say he's way overdue."

Leilani

Date: 2013-12-13 07:06 EST
"Is Mommy Porn like lobster, or shrimp?" Leilani cut in curiously, evidently a little out of the loop on Jon's most high profile performances to date but attempting to join in with the conversation, the way Cian and his sister had been teaching her to.

This time it was Cian's turn to chuckle, though it was Jon who answered, an amused smirk on his face at Leilani's innocent misunderstanding. "Not exactly." Cian gave her hand a light squeeze, turning to brush a kiss against her cheek, just because. "I'll explain later."

Sensing she'd made some mistake that was glaringly obvious to everyone but her, Leilani blushed as Cian kissed her cheek, ducking her head in embarrassment at her own ignorance.

Vicki rolled her eyes at both men, shaking her head at the way they'd handled that. "Never mind them, Leilani," she suggested. "Did you get a chance to cuddle with Emily this evening?" The little Syreni shook her head shyly, and Vicki jumped on the opportunity. "All right then. How about you come over on Monday, and you can play with her then" The twins must be giving you a hard time these days, let them bully their mother for once." She winked and smiled, hoping that the offer wouldn't be rejected out of hand because of the slight awkwardness that existed between Jon and Cian.

Jon assumed the invitation included Cian, but he wasn't sure Cian would know that, sensing his cousin's awkwardness and knowing it had something to do with a past Jon didn't remember. "Both of you!" Jon piped in. "It'll give us a chance to catch up. Do you play chess, Ci?" he asked, glancing at Cian. He didn't think he was particularly good at it, but his frequent matches with Humphrey had sharpened his skills.

Cian frowned a little, admitting, "I'm a little rusty." He had always been better at sports than games, though he and Jon had never been that competitive, even growing up.

"He's very good at skating," Leilani chimed in, hastening to add something she actually knew, even if it was only secondhand knowledge. "That is what Gabi told me. I am not sure I approve of it."

Vicki smiled gently. "It's the water freezing thing, isn't it?" she guessed, and Leilani nodded once again. The redhead shrugged. "At least it thaws. But we do have a basketball court we could pay a couple of teenagers to sweep clean."

"A game of chess would be fine," Cian broke in, with a slightly embarrassed smile. He knew Vicki was in no condition to be skating and Leilani hated wearing shoes, much less ice skates, and shooting hoops with Jon would leave them out, as well.

Jon seemed to sense his cousin's awkwardness again and he smiled reassuringly. "We'll just play it by ear. See what comes up." Cian nodded. It would take a little time for him to feel comfortable with Jon again, but the first step was the hardest.

"Just so long as you have a merry Christmas in between times to tell us all about," Vicki nodded, letting the awkward ease on by. "And I promise to tell you every embarrassing thing that happens to Jon when we visit my dad and his wife on Boxing Day." This was mostly for Cian's benefit, but Leilani always smiled when Vicki did. It was a little difficult not to be buoyed up by the redhead's infallibly good humor.

Jon rolled his eyes at his wife's unsinkable sense of humor. "I'm sure they don't want to hear about any of that, darling," he said, playfully brushing his nose against the side of her neck and emphasizing the term of endearment.

"It might be amusing," Cian remarked, joining Vicki in teasing his cousin, goodnaturedly. It might take time, but maybe there was hope for them yet.

"Oh, it definitely will be," the redhead assured Cian even as she wriggled away from the tickle of Jon's nose at her neck. "Last year, somehow, he and my dad managed to carve not only the goose, but the plate, and part of the table, too. It was very impressive." She nodded to emphasize her point, flicking a wicked glance back at Jon.

A quiet shriek of shocked mortification sounded from across the room, where Aunt Margaret had just realized that her dress was hanging open at the back. Leilani hid her tiny smirk in Cian's sleeve, fairly sure no one would suspect her of the mischief.

Jon was about to deny any embarrassing events from last Christmas, which he hardly remembered anyway due to the copious amounts of rum Vicki's father kept pouring into his glass, when he was distracted by the shriek from across the room and covered his mouth to cover the sputter of laughter at his poor aunt's predicament.

"Now, that's funny," Cian remarked with a grin.

Accusing eyes looked over at them, which Vicki met with a mischievous smile that took all the responsibility for the elderly woman's embarrassment. After all, who was going to punish the pregnant woman who had been making it clear all evening that touching equaled death? "Remind me to make sure Margaret's thank you card this year is especially effusive," she murmured to Jon as the old woman was led away by a couple of younger cousins, her dress hastily retied.

Leilani giggled into Cian's sleeve, resembling a certain Fae member of the family more than a little for a moment. "I did not think her dress would just slide off," she confessed, "but it was funnier that way."

"She'll get over it," Jon assured his wife, hardly worrying about the elderly Margaret who everyone in the family thought was a bit too snobbish for her own good.

"We used to drive her crazy when we were kids," Cian said. "It got to where she refused to babysit us anymore, which was just as well."

"I don't remember that," Jon said. "You'll have to tell me about it sometime."

"Well, that would explain why she only terrorizes babies in the womb these days," Vicki mused cheerfully, winking back at Leilani as the little mermaid mouthed a thank you to her for taking the blame. "Maybe you scarred her for life."

"Consider yourself fortunate. She used to make us eat brussel sprouts and go to bed by eight o'clock! And that was in the summer!" Cian said with a grin.

"The horror!" added Jon with equal amusement on his face, glancing between the trio. "Well, we should probably go check on our own little bundle of trouble."

"Which is code for ....we're going to midnight mass, and Jon wants a nap beforehand," Vicki translated cheekily, but she didn't argue, gently disentangling herself from her husband's arms to ease Leilani into a warm hug. "Have a merry Christmas, Leilani."

The little mermaid stiffened for a moment as the redhead wrapped her up in a hug, but relaxed enough to raise her arms in an answering embrace. "I will try," she promised Vicki, stepping back to Cian's side as he was blessed with a kiss on the cheek from the same woman. "May your Christmas be merry, too."

That and they still had a few people to say goodnight to before they slipped away for the night. "Yours, too," Cian replied, flushing a little at the kiss received from Vicki. He offered his hand once again to Jon who took it in his own, a warm smile on his face.

"Welcome home, Cian," Jon said, perhaps for the first time since his cousin had returned from his adventures. "I'm looking forward to seeing you both again." He, too, stepped forward to offer Leilani a hug, gentle and brotherly. "Take good care of each other," he told them both as he stepped back to reach for his wife's hand.

"Do not break your egg," Leilani answered Jon just as seriously, not entirely sure why Vicki snorted with laughter at the solemn instruction. Hand in hand with Jon, the redhead drew away, leaving Cian and his mermaid alone in the crowd once again. Leilani looked up at him in confusion. "I said something wrong again, didn't I?"

Jon smirked in amusement. "I won't break my leg either!" he promised, as Vicki led him away.

"It doesn't matter, love," Cian assured her, turning to her as they were left alone again. "I love you just the way you are," he said, drawing her into his arms and touching a kiss to her lips, even without any mistletoe in sight.

Just one couple among many in a crowd made of family and friends, sharing a kiss and a cup of wine as the hours ticked on toward midnight and the day itself. Though she might not understand the ritual and tradition, Leilani smiled, cuddling into Cian contentedly. So long as he was there, she'd endure any number of Christmas traditions. Provided she could cause a little mayhem on the side.

((We're just hurtling through these, aren't we? Any friend of the Grangers is more than welcome to make an addition to this thread, we're not hoarding it!)

Helena King

Date: 2013-12-14 07:22 EST
In any house party, there is always one room, one space, where the celebrating isn't quite so hyperactive, the drinking isn't quite so single-minded, and the pleasantries aren't anywhere near as awkward. At this party, it was the second, smaller reception room that radiated the calmer, easier ambiance, mostly due to the pair of musicians who had set themselves up there as soon as they had arrived. Two guitars rangs out a variety of songs, Christmas-themed and otherwise, settling a calmer mood over this room, though no less festive. The calmer side suited Helena - though she loved her family, too many of them in one place made for a sense that an argument was going to happen, even if it didn't. Such a feeling did not make for an enjoyable evening. In this room, however, amid various people who just wanted to talk quietly and listen to the music being played, she felt far more at ease with herself, happy to linger in the doorway after sending Jon and his wife off to bed.

Tommy had gone off to fetch a couple of glasses of eggnog and a plate of cookies, while Lena chit-chatted with her brother and his wife and chased them off to bed - or at least, for a nap before Midnight Mass, which was more of a tradition with them than anything else. Fortunately, the smaller reception room was quieter and he didn't get distracted too long by any of Lena's chatty cousins before making his way back to her, somehow managing to juggle two glass of eggnog in one hand and a plate of cookies in the other and not spilling a drop.

Duly impressed, Lena's eyes found Tommy once more as he rejoined her, reaching out to rescue the plate of cookies and let him juggle the glasses for a moment. "Hey there, moonbeam," she greeted him, her voice quiet but audible beneath the sound of guitars and voices and chatting. "Having fun?"

"I haven't been to a Christmas party in..." He paused to consider a moment. "Let's just say a long time." He let her rescue the plate of cookies, waiting until she had a free hand to hand over her glass of eggnog. The last few Christmases had been rather depressing affairs, though Jack and Tommy had made the best of things, celebrating the holiday in their own way with a bonfire on the beach and a case of beer.

"Well, you better get used to it," she warned him, chuckling as she took her glass from him, opening her arms to rise up on her toes and deliver a gentle kiss to his cheek. "They're a tradition in this family. And almost always white." She grinned, obviously recalling the epic snowball fight they'd shared with Jack and Jasmin which had only been won when Dru came home from school and joined in on the other team's side.

"I grew up in Michigan. I can handle white," he pointed out, smiling as she kissed his cheek. It was strange to be experiencing four seasons again after spending so many years in California, and he found he was sort of liking it. "I was thinking..." he started, before taking a sip of his eggnog. "How do you feel about skiing?"

Unsurprisingly, Lena had a pertinent response to that one. "Cross-country, or downhill?" she asked, hooking the plate between her fingers so she could nibble on a cookie without dropping anything. "I'm no good at slaloming, in case you're wondering. I accelerate and then crash."

"Okay," he grinned, not taking no for an answer. "How about snowboarding" It's not that much different from surfing, except it's on snow." Actually, it was much different, but it should come as no big surprise to Lena that Tommy was something of a thrill-seeker, always living each day to its fullest.

"Oh, you mean if I try it, I'll get flipped up into the air and land face first in a snow drift?" she laughed cheerfully, not saying no, exactly. He'd had opportunity to witness her less than stellar proficiency at surfing before the weather turned too cold - the thought of repeating that experience on snow was hilarious. She grinned up at him. "What's with the sports' themed questions?"

"We can start with the bunny hill," Tommy reassured her, though if he had his own way, he'd skip it and go straight up the mountain just for the thrill, whether he broke a leg or not. He took another sip of eggnog, lifting one shoulder in a shrug. "Can't surf, so why not try something else?"

For a moment, Lena thought he was commenting on her lack of ability when it came to surfing, her mouth half-way open indignantly before she caught up with the context. "Fair enough." She shrugged thoughtfully, her gaze wandering toward the musicians on the couch again. "Sounds like fun. What's the worst I can do to myself, huh' Broken bones don't mean much."

"You only live once, Midge. You just have to trust me," Tommy told her, lifting his glass in a toast. "To us," he said with a boyish smile. Though he might tease her, he wouldn't be careful where she was concerned - or at least, more careful than he'd be on his own. He had learned from Robby that life really was too short and that no one was immortal. Though he might be something of a daredevil, he was no fool.

She tapped her glass against his, sharing his smile affectionately, marveling all over again at the boyish face she hadn't even begun to imagine was under all the hair he'd been hiding behind when they had first met. "I'll drink to that," she agreed, taking a sip of her eggnog. "Hey, by the way ....where are we eloping to in the New Year?" This was thrown out as an absent minded inquiry, purely for the mischief value it offered in the midst of her family.

He almost sputtered his eggnog, swallowing it quickly before it went up his nose. "Elope?" he asked, chuckling. "Are you proposing to me, Miss Granger?" he asked, that dimpled smirk reappearing on his face. He wasn't opposed to the idea. In fact, he'd toyed with the idea aloud at least once himself, but he wasn't sure she'd taken him seriously.

"Nope," she grinned sweetly back at him. "Just like you didn't propose to me a month ago. It's a done deal, moonbeam, we just have to work out the details, right?" She brushed her hair back out of her face, eyes dancing with teasing good humor. "Or, then again, it could be the whole wedding fever thing infecting me. What do you think?"

"I think you love me," Tommy replied, rather cheekily, reaching for her eggnog and setting both glasses on a nearby table before reaching for both her hands and drawing her across the room to where a mistletoe hung from the ceiling. He glanced over at Jack and Jasmin who were looking rather cozy on the couch and snapped his fingers at them. "Maestro!"

Helena King

Date: 2013-12-14 07:23 EST
Drawn into the room to stand beneath the generous sprig of mystical parasite, Lena giggled softly at Tommy's confident certainty. "I think you might be right," she agreed with him, not bothering to put up even a fake argument to that assertion. "But I think you're in the same boat." Her gaze flickered toward the couch as Tommy snapped his fingers at Jack and Jasmin, curious bemusement lighting up her face. "You're being devious, moonbeam."

"Sleigh bells ring, are you listening; in the lane, snow is glistening. A beautiful sight, we're happy tonight, walking in a winter wonderland."

Tommy turned back to Lena as Jack started the song off, winking at Jasmin and nodding his head to indicate the two lovebirds beneath the mistletoe. Were Tommy and Jack in cahoots" Absolutely! Somehow the two of them had conspired to surprise their girlfriends, each in his own way. Tommy slid an arm around Lena's waist, pulling her close into a kiss, partly to distract her, while one of the many servers passed by and slipped something into the hand he was holding behind his back.

"Gone away is the bluebird; here to stay is a new bird; he sings a love song as we go along, walking in a winter wonderland ..."

As Jasmin's voice picked up the harmony to counter-balance Jack's voice, both of them fully aware of what was going on under the mistletoe, Lena only had eyes for Tommy, oblivious to everything but his arm around her and the kiss he pressed to her lips. He could make the world stop spinning on its axis for her with just a smile; kisses like his were meant to be savored, no matter the risk of an audience or an interrupting cousin. Leaning into him, Lena kissed Tommy in return, smoothing her hands into his hair. In her defense, there was mistletoe; it was traditional!

Tommy's fingers closed around the little wrapped box that was surreptitiously slipped into his hand, smiling against her lips. So far, the plan was going perfectly. He only wished Lena's brothers and sister had been there to witness this moment in their sister's life. "In the meadow we can build a snowman, and pretend that he is Parson Brown. He'll say, 'Are you married"' We'll say, 'No, man, but you can do the job while you're in town,'" Jack continued in perfect harmony with Jasmin, as Tommy reluctantly pulled himself away from Lena's lips. He didn't go down on one knee, but he did produce a small wrapped box from behind his back and held it out to her, a soft but almost shy smile on his face.

Lena was smiling as Tommy drew back from her, some smart-alec comment halfway to her lips as he slipped his hand between them, that adorably shy smile on his own face. Her gaze turned downward to the box in his hand, her smile brightening with innocent delight at the prospect of an early present, all unassuming as her fingers curled about his. "For me?"

"Mmhmm," Tommy replied. The box was obviously for her, as he was giving it to her. Who else could it possibly be for" He'd agonized over it, but had eventually gone with his gut in choosing what he thought was the perfect gift for her - the only gift that mattered. "For you, Midget."

Of course, he hadn't been to any gift-giving occasions yet; Tommy had yet to witness the mixture of delight and excruciating embarrassment on his lover's face whenever she was given something as a present, as though she wanted it but wasn't sure she deserved it. It was there in her expression right now as she blushed, looking down at the little box once again. "Thank you." Her fingers gently brushed the ribbon aside, carefully opening the lid, the child inside her wondering excitedly what it was.

"Later on, we'll conspire, as we dream by the fire. To face unafraid, the plans that we've made; walking in a winter wonderland."

"Helena Granger, would you marry me?" Tommy asked, just as she was taking the lid off the box to reveal a silver ring shaped in the form of an eternal knot featuring a diamond in the center.

Odd, how she hadn't been expecting it at all. They'd talked about marriage, about kids, about their future together, their hopes and dreams, and yet when the moment came, Lena was completely blown away by the proposal. Her mouth fell open, awed and touched not only by the ring, which was perfect in its unique way, but by the amount of thought Tommy had put into it. She lifted her eyes to his, amazed and warm and adoring. "Do you really think I'm going to say no?"

A few Grangers nearby noticed what was going on, a small murmur going through the quietly gathered group that populated this part of the big house, an almost audible and collective hush moving over the room, but for the sound of Jack and Jasmin's musical accompaniment. Tommy chuckled, a little nervously. "I hope not!" He leaned close as if his next words were for her ears only. "I love you, Lena, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you."

He'd made all her small dreams come true in a single instant with those words, and she had absolutely no way of telling him so. Words of her own just didn't seem enough. Rising up, she kissed him softly, her fingers stroking tenderly against his cheek. "I love you, Tommy," she told him, as she had told him every day since he had met her. "And the rest of our lives isn't enough, but it'll do. Yes, I'll marry you."

But, this being a Granger party, that ever present risk of interrupting relatives was always there. Especially when this particular relative had been passing the doorway as Tommy brought out the ring. Humphrey cleared his throat loudly from about four inches behind Tommy, leaning heavily on his cane as his brown eyes twinkled down at Lena for a brief moment before resuming his intimidating gaze for her now fiance. "And were you planning on asking permission to ask her to marry you, lad, or is this yet another elopement in the works?"

Tommy was beaming brightly right up until the moment when he heard the sound of the elderly Granger patriarch clearing his throat behind him and turning an intimidating gaze on the young man. "I, uh....That is..." Tommy stammered a moment, before gathering his courage, though it was a little after the fact. "I am in love with your grand-niece and would like to marry her, sir."

Helena King

Date: 2013-12-14 07:25 EST
Humphrey frowned, seeming to consider his response for an interminably long time. Every Granger in the room knew he was just stringing out the torment for the young man who had just proposed to Lena, but unfortunately, Tommy didn't know that. "That depends greatly, young man," the Old Man said slowly, "on whether or not you think you can put up with being one of us for the rest of your natural life."

But Tommy wasn't Jack and he wasn't really afraid of Old Man Granger. Or at least, he was determined enough to marry Lena that he wasn't going to let anyone stand in his way. Besides, he genuinely liked her family - including the Old Man - and welcomed becoming part of that family, as large as it was. "I'm not sure that matters, sir," Tommy countered, feeling what was more important was the fact that he and Lena loved each other, choosing to answer the question as honestly as he could. "But I would be honored to be part of your family," he added, solemnly.

At this, Humphrey barked out his distinctive laugh, the sound ending abruptly as he suppressed the cough he was currently trying to keep a secret from as many people as possible. "Tell me that this time next year, and I might believe you," he informed Tommy with a gentler chuckle, clapping the young man on the shoulder warmly. "You had better be married by then, too. One long-term engaged couple in the family at a time is enough."

Lena inched forward to hug the Old Man warmly, murmuring her thanks as he congratulated her, releasing her into the arms of her young man with a nod to them both.

Tommy breathed a sigh of relief and broke into a smile. "Thank you, sir. You won't regret it, sir," he blurted, sounding a little like Bob Cratchit trying to convince Mr. Scrooge to let him have Christmas Day off. He would have clasped Humphrey's hand, but one hand was clapping his shoulder and the other was holding a cane. Quiet applause broke out sporadically about the room as the small group realized what was going on.

From the couch came the surprisingly fluid sound of the wedding march as played on the guitar by a cousin who just hadn't been able to resist the opportunity presented to her, setting Humphrey to chuckling once again as he nodded to both Tommy and Lena and turned to make his way back to the study and his comfortable armchair. Lena turned back to Tommy, her smile wide and beaming with delight. "So do I have to put it on myself?"

There was at least one person in the room who had witnessed all this that was wearing a small frown for some reason and that was Jack, though the frown was short-lived and barely noticeable. Tommy turned back to Lena, his own smile matching hers as he reached for the ring to slide it onto the third finger of her left hand. "Merry Christmas, Midget," he told her quietly, leaning in to kiss her again, still beneath the mistletoe.

This time, a single diamond sparkled on her hand as Lena leaned into that kiss, curling her arms around his neck as she responded with all the love she could muster. She felt excited and happy and content all at once, restless with the urge to do something, to tell someone, and yet eager to keep it as much to themselves for now as she could. "Merry Christmas, moonbeam," she murmured back to him as they drew apart, nuzzling to him lovingly. "You'd better be planning on greeting Christmas Day with a bang after this, you know."

"Actually..." Tommy smirked as he glanced over at the other pair of lovebirds sitting cozily on the couch, his arms looped around her waist. From the look on his face, it was obvious he had something on his mind and it had something to do with Jack and Jasmin. "If I tell you a secret, can you keep it to yourself?" The question seemed a little redundant considering that was what a secret was all about.

She followed his gaze to the pair of musicians, as much in their own world of lyric and melody as anyone else was. It didn't take a genius to make an intuitive leap as to what that secret might consist of, but Lena was a little perverse in that she wanted to be told. She lifted her eyes to Tommy once again, a small smile playing about her lips. "Promise, swear, and cross my heart."

He leaned close so that what he told her was for her ears only, whispering quietly into her ear. "He's going to propose in the morning." He drew back with a wide grin on his face. It seemed somehow fitting that the two young men were proposing and getting engaged at nearly the same time. If it hadn't been for Lena, Jack may have never met Jasmin, and if it hadn't been for Jack, Tommy might not have lived to be with Lena.

"You're kidding." It wasn't that Lena disbelieved him, exactly; more that she knew a little of what had been going on and what Jasmin had been planning, and what looked like serendipity from the outside was making her laugh. She turned her lips against his ear, her voice low enough that only he could hear her. "She's been planning on asking him around now for the last coupla weeks."

Tommy laughed at Lena's news. "I'd love to be a fly on the wall tomorrow morning when they ask each other," he said, though he knew something more that might give Jack the advantage, but he wasn't going to tell her that much. "Maybe we should drop in for breakfast." Though in all honesty, Tommy was hoping to sleep late in the morning after a late night out.

"You really think you're getting out of bed before noon?" Lena pointed out, knowing him almost as well as Jack by now. "Besides, if we're going to spend the whole Christmas dinner thing here with the Old Man and my brother and his little family, we're going to have a lazy morning, just the two of us. And possibly a call to Dru, if I can get through."

Tommy chuckled again. He wasn't going to argue with that. There was nothing he'd like more on Christmas morning than snuggling in bed with Lena, while everyone else was opening presents. He already had everything he wanted right there in front of him. "Okay, we'll wait until dinner then. The rest of the day is for us."

"Good." She beamed back at him, pleased that he was so amenable to a lazy Christmas morning with her and her cat. Because there was no way in hell Asha was going to be left out of warm snuggles if she could possibly help it. She leaned into him, stroking her fingers through his wavy cropped hair, the tip of her nose nuzzling to his own. "I love you, Tommy King."

Tommy beamed a smile back at her, brushing his nose against hers. "I love you, Lena Granger," he replied, feeling happier than he had in a very long time. This Christmas was proving to be the best Christmas of his life, and there was no telling what wonders the New Year would bring.

((So many Grangers, such a big party! Thanks to Tommy's player for indulging me!))