Milestones - Benedict Cumberbatch (Daddybatch Fluff!)

Twist and shout -- 2.5 years

Hey guys! Thanks for all the wonderful comments on these and on Gingerbread - you should see how excited I get over them! Sorry I'm not replying to them as quickly as I would like; my laptop is ancient and really struggling even with just one window open in Chrome, and replying via the App is also a bit of a pain in the bum. When I get a spare moment on a PC at work I do try and catch up, but please don't take it personally if I don't reply quickly to comments or inbox messages. I ought to be getting a replacement laptop towards the end of June but in the meantime bear with me! Lots of love to you, and thanks again for sticking with my silly stories. :D

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2.5 years

"GREEN ONE! GREEN ONE FOR MUMMY!"

"Ellie, come on now, Mummy isn't playing today," Benedict said kindly from underneath Tom Hiddleston's left knee.

Eloise scampered over to where a decidedly pregnant Milly was sitting on the sofa, observing the frivolities, surrounded by a sea of wrapping paper. Ellie held her arms out imploringly and bounced with excitement.

"Mummmmeee!"

Milly couldn't help but laugh at her daughter's enthusiasm. "Oh, go on then," she relented, allowing Eloise to lead her to the Twister mat occupied by Benedict, Tom, and Ellie's older cousin, Alex. "Mummy can't move so much with Bump here, so I might not be very good at it," she warned Ellie, "Now is it a hand or a foot?"

Ellie's brow furrowed and she looked at the adults on the game mat uncertainly. "Ummm... Foot!"

From his position beside Tom, Alex leant over with a grin and nudged the game spinner to point to 'left foot' instead of 'right hand'. "Left foot, Ellie!" he whispered.

"LEFT FOOT!" Ellie declared, as if she hadn't needed any help whatsoever.

"You'll have to show me, Ellie. Which foot?" Milly prompted her child encouragingly.

"That foot!" Eloise pointed randomly at one of Milly's legs and then ran a lap of the game mat looking for a green spot. "Green!"

Milly positioned herself carefully, squeezing in behind her husband, conveniently resting her baby bump on Benedict's behind as he maintained an almost superhuman contortion between Tom's legs.

"Who's turn is it next?" Tom pleaded, his crepe paper Christmas hat sliding down over his eyes as he wobbled precariously.

"Mine!" Eloise yelled, rushing back to the game spinner and giving it a vigorous twirl. "RED FOOT!"

She dashed to the nearest unoccupied red spot and stomped on it. "RED FOOT!" she crowed victoriously, before abandoning the game mat and returning to the spinner.

"Oi, Ellie, I think it's my turn next!" Tom reminded her indignantly. She fixed him with a cheeky grin as the pointer came to rest. "Ummmm... Uncle Tom BLUE!"

"Hand or foot?"

She studied the board. "Hand. Riii-left?"

"She means right, Tom," Alex piped up. "Right hand blue..."

"ARGH NOOOOO-" Tom stretched his right hand toward the nearest free blue spot, attempting to weave between Milly and Benedict. The other contestants cheered him on as he managed to reach it, executing an impressive backbend.

"Oh my God, I'm not going to last very long like this. Who's next?"

"Quick, Ellie, spin again," Ben urged, laughing.

"LELLO! LELLO FOOT DADDY!"

"Which foot?"

"Oh Ben it doesn't matter, QUICK, MOVE! I'm gonna fall over-OHAAAAAHHHH!"

There was loud crash as Tom wobbled, flailed, and then fell backwards firmly onto his bottom, quickly followed by Benedict who'd been swept down with him in a tangle of limbs. The pair of them lay on the mat in hysterics, joined by Milly who'd found it safer to gently sit down with them rather than try and escape the chaos.

As amusing as it was, no one in the room found it half as funny as Eloise. She shrieked with laughter, pointing at the heap of people in front of her. Her giggles were so contagious that the adults found they couldn't stop laughing, and all attempts at retaining any semblance of seriousness were forgotten as they lay splayed out on the floor, barely able to catch a breath. Ellie, in her unreserved glee, was quite literally rolling around with laughter. 

Alex had managed to extract himself and was surveying the sight with the cool demeanour of a ten year old who is just too cool to roll around on the floor giggling, but even he couldn't quite manage to hide his grin.

"So who won?" he asked with a chuckle.

"MEEEEEE!" Ellie screamed happily, as she climbed the pile of bodies to fling herself onto Tom's lap. Ben and Milly laughed again at their daughter's joyful conviction.

"Ooof, you're getting a bit big to use me as a climbing frame, young lady," Tom mock frowned as he scooped her up and placed her on her feet, enabling the others to start untangling themselves.

"I think you deserve all you get, Hiddleston," Ben muttered with good-natured sarcasm. "It'll be fun, he said. It'll be educational, he said."

"Oh come on, this is clearly the best Christmas present ever! Besides, it was your wife's idea anyway!" Tom winked, arms spread guilelessly. " The INTENDED recipient had a blast learning her colours, didn't you Ellie?"

Ellie clung to Tom's leg, nodding and looking at Ben; the child was a picture of pure excitement.

"It was very educational," Milly teased. "I learnt just how flexible - or not - you are, darling."

"Traitor," Ben growled with a smile as he helped Milly up, kissing her as he did so.

"And that's the last Boxing Day invite you get," he warned Tom, flinging half a spent Christmas cracker at his friend. This set Ellie giggling again and she attempted to copy her father, tossing bits of wrapping paper in Tom's direction. Alex joined in, managing to get Ben square in the face.

He let out a deep hearty chuckle and made to hide behind Milly.

"Now, now, children, calm down," Milly admonished playfully, referring as much to Ben and Tom as to Ellie and Alex. "The real grown-ups are going to wonder what on earth is going on in here. And on that note, it's probably time we all went back and joined them for some supper..."