shimmerandsing | Tis the season!

The only thing better than Christmas at home with her husband and family was Christmas at home with her husband, family, and friends. Alison had been eagerly awaiting the return of Rogue and Dakota's bunch to the castle for the holidays. She had already picked out a Christmas tree, which Longshot and John hauled home for her. It had lights on -- mostly Miyuki and Lisa's doing with Alison's supervision -- but, no ornaments yet. She figured that Gloria Jean and the boys could help with that when they arrived.

And they were coming early! That made it even better.

Despite her decreased mobility, Alison had been up early on the day they were scheduled to arrive. The castle was generally kept pretty clean, but she straightened anyway. And then... the baking! She hadn't felt such a strong urge to bake since the early months of her pregnancy. But, now, it was back in full force. By the time she finally tired of it, she had sugar cookies, gingerbread men, a gingerbread house, snowball cupcakes, and chocolate dipped pretzels.

She sat down in the kitchen to rest her feet and nibble on some gingerbread. Her little tea pot sat on the stove, happily brewing some peppermint tea. It might not be Christmas yet, but it sure smelled like Christmas.

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Alison was so glad she had a legitimate excuse to not be the one chasing down her husband when his sugar high hit. She patted her belly gently and smiled at the little answering wiggles.

"I think the rest of the cookies should be iced a little less. That way the one you made for Longshot can be an original, unique piece of art." She smiled at Gloria Jean.

"Okay," Gloria Jean agreed as she picked up another cookie. She hummed to herself as she started to industriously work on some more cookies.

The boys eyed her being busy. The shrugged almost simultaneously.

"Excuse us," Will said as Rodney got up from his chair. He quickly followed suit. "We're gonna unpack and, uh, make sure Dad hasn't removed the doors to our rooms again."

They both scooted out of the kitchen. They were full of sugar. And possibly mischief.

Their father was oblivious to any mischief because he was caught in a very hard place.

"Nothing's..." he trailed off. He had a feeling Rogue would not believe him no matter what he tried. "I just don't like the holidays. They've been pretty bad to me. I'm trying, hon, honest I am, but it's, mm, it's hard to be festive. Alison's making up for me in spades, though."

Lisa looked up at Will and Rodney with a perfectly pleasant expression and advised them, "Walk carefully. Stairs are dangerous."

And then returned to her cookie decorating, whistling happily.

Robbie quirked a curious eyebrow and made a note to find out what that was all about. He also just barely managed to keep a straight face. So, that was what his father had meant by being worried that Lisa was spending too much time with Tasha.

Longshot raised an eyebrow but continued to work on eating his cookie. He would finish it all! For Gloria Jean!

Without getting a lot of crumbs on her. That might be nice.

Miyuki looked from Lisa to the receding twins. There was something she was not getting. Something that could have possibly happened while she was kissing Robbie. Which made whatever happened not all that important to her in comparison. Oh, well.

"Ah don't care if Ali's making it up for you." She fights to keep her fingers from clenching in the fabric of his shirt. "Ah want you to be happy. Last year wasn't so bad was it?"

Though she admittedly has a hard time recalling. She remembers he spent a lot of his time in his workshop. This year did not have that option so much when she pointed out she would like to spend more time with her husband than he does with pine boards.

Hmmm. It sounded to Alison like they had the makings of a mini-war going on in the castle. That could get dangerous later. But, she'd let it be for a little while and see what happened before she stepped in. If it stayed prankish and not dangerous, then she wouldn't mind so much.

She reached over to rub her husband's shoulders gently. "How's the cookie, sweetheart?"

Teenage boys were oblivious to dire warnings. Especially when they weren't aware their prank had already fired. So they just sort of blinked at Lisa and thanked her for the safety update. They picked up their denseness from their father.

Who at this moment was treading water with lead boots on. "Last year was okay. I had moments of being happy, but it wasn't all the time. It's hard for me. I can't be."

Gods, he needed four six packs of Moosehead fifteen minutes ago. He reached over and gingerly rubbed her shoulders.

"It's not your fault. It's not something that's easily fixed. I'll be okay."

Boys. Lisa rolled her eyes and continued cookie decorating. Obviously going too subtle wasn't going to work. It was a good thing she didn't actually have anything planned for them on the stairs. If she had and they'd been that oblivious, it wouldn't have been as much fun.

Robbie could see the wheels in his sister's head turning. He was infinitely pleased to know he wasn't the target this time. He'd feel bad for the twins if he didn't think they probably deserved it.

He picked up the tray of chocolate dipped pretzels from the counter and offered them to Miyuki with a smile.

"Fery fud," he replied to Alison. he managed to spray his wife with cookie crumbs instead of the little girl on his lap. It was a talent. His eyes widened, and he stuck more cookie into his mouth to look cute or something. Maybe Alison wouldn't noogie him.

Miyuki smiled at Robbie and took some pretzels. She was oblivious to the cute waves rolling off of the two of them from their interaction.

"You're not actin' like it will be." She drops her hand from his collar and wraps her arms around his waist. She rests her her head against his shoulder.

"Why aren't you tellin' me what's wrong? You're sayin' everythin' but."

Tis the season!

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