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“I am absolutely exhausted. The parents are right; we’ve got a lot to do tomorrow, and it’s late. Let’s get some sleep,” Ever says as the door shuts behind them, and she hides a yawn.
Trick wraps an arm around her as Cash grabs her hand, and they start to walk toward the stairs, all of us following after them. The house has already been locked up, the lights are off except for the Christmas lights in the rafters, and Runa is most likely hiding in one of our rooms because she’s not too keen on hanging around when there are a lot of people here. I did notice that her food dishes were empty in the kitchen, though, so she came down to eat at some point.
“At least we don’t have to clear anything up in the morning. The parents wouldn’t take no for an answer, and they’ve done everything,” Luc smiles.
“That’s a definite bonus. I’m up early to get the meat in the oven in time anyway, and because they’ve already done that, it means that I can sleep in for just a little bit longer.” I reply, feeling like I’m going to need as much sleep as I can get.
“Remember, you’re not doing all the cooking by yourself. Ever and I are going to be helping you too,” Riot reminds me, and I smile as I reach for his hand.
“I know, and I’m very grateful,” I reply.
Ever says goodnight to everyone on the landing, giving us all kisses. She looks so adorably sleepy, and I know that if she doesn’t get to bed soon, she’s going to lose her brain-to-mouth filter and possibly fall asleep where she is standing. Sharing a look with Riot, we let go of each other, and he wraps an arm around her shoulders, and I take her hand.
“Stay with us tonight?” Riot asks her. We’re all getting up early together tomorrow anyway, so it does make sense.
“Yes please, I want double snuggles,” she replies sleepily, making us both smile.
One of my favourite things has to be falling asleep with Ever in the middle of us and all of us wrapped around each other. It brings me so much comfort, and I know that Riot feels the same way. We try to get our snuggles whenever we can get away with it, even if it's just for a daytime nap.
“Wait!” she suddenly exclaims, and I’m not convinced that she hadn’t fallen asleep while walking to my room, which is the closest.
“Yes? What’s wrong?” I ask her.
“I need to make sure that Trick, Jensen, and Cash have taken their meds and don’t need anything,” she replies, sounding worried.
“Don’t worry, Sweetheart,” Trick says from the doorway to his room, “we’re all good. I checked on the others, and I promise that I will take my meds.”
“Good,” she replies with a smile and then adds, “I love you.”
“I love you too, Sweetheart. Get some sleep; your eyes are closed.” Trick replies, sounding amused, and I glance at her face and have to suppress my laugh when I realise that he’s right.
“No, they’re not.” She argues, still not opening her eyes, which makes the whole situation even funnier.
“Of course they aren’t, Sunshine,” Riot replies, humoring her. “Come on, let's go to bed.”
She doesn’t reply. She just nods and trusts us to guide her in the right direction. When we’re in my room, she actually does open her eyes but just long enough to check where we are, make her way over to my dresser, and pull out one of my t-shirts. She then changes, quicker than I thought was possible, and then climbs into bed.
I swear she’s fast asleep before her head even hits the pillow, and Riot and I are tired enough that we waste no time curling up around her and falling asleep ourselves. Both of us are in our happy place, with the love of our lives curled up between us.
Chapter Ten
Ever
It’s been go, go, go all morning, we really haven’t stopped. Riot, Rafe, and I got up super fucking early and prepped everything for the Christmas dinner later, and it’s already smelling good. We then helped him get things ready for the breakfast we had planned. Pete is opening his presents down at his place with Elijah, and then they’re coming straight up here so that we can set up the table, and everyone else is arriving around the same time as the parents.
I’m so incredibly excited to have all of my family meet each other, and I just hope that it's going to go well and no one, and by that I mean D, gives anything away that’s going to make the parents unable to help themselves and start asking questions if he told them some of the job stories that involve us I know for a fact that Kat and Jenny would have something to say about the danger level of what we do.
Now, though all the prep is done and we’re opening the presents that we got each other, some serious and some silly. By the time we're done, wrapping paper is all over the floor and everything else as well, if we’re being completely honest. I love this part of Christmas, the chaos, just us as a family, enjoying each other. I also love seeing what the guys get each other; some of the gifts are incredibly thoughtful, and it shows how much they genuinely care about each other.
I love that.
“Fire?” Jensen asks with a smirk.
It's something that one of them asks me every year now, and it's become a tradition since that first year when I got a bit excited by suggesting that we burn all of the rubbish and wrapping paper left over from opening presents.
I chuckle, “Of course, it’s a family tradition.”
We waste no time in picking it all up and putting some of it in our large fireplace while we put the rest in a basket nearby to put on once the rest of it has burned down enough, while Rage is deemed safer than Jensen to light the fire and keep an eye on it. After that, we all take our gifts up to our rooms, and then while everyone else is doing their own things to get ready for the day, I go back downstairs and start to straighten everything up in the front room before moving on to the extension.
