Once a Stranger

Chapter 48: Merry Christmas

A/n: I'm currently working on the chapter of y/n's bachelorette party and was wondering what kind of gifts she could receive?
Please leave a comment if you have an idea.

Pov y/n

I'm pulled out of my sleep by the sound of quick footsteps on the floor but am too tired to open my eyes and look for the source.

If it was something bad, there would have been a scream or at least a cry.
My hand is loosely intertwined with Scarlett's as we're both sleeping halfway on our back right now.
The bed dips down at the end and seconds later air gets pushed out of my lungs.

"Off."

That's a way of waking up. The source moves around a little and I hear Scarlett make a similar sound.

"It's Christmas!" A happy voice cheers before settling halfway on top of the both of us.

I open my eyes and breathe in the missing air to see Rose smiling widely down at us. She's wearing her Christmas pajamas that we put on last night. It looks super cute on her and the excitement radiates off her.
It's contagious and I smile as well, happy about another day here and to spend Christmas with my fiancée and our daughter, even if we don't exactly celebrate it. But Rose is still excited over it and that's okay.

"It is, merry Christmas, little dolphin." I say and pull her into my arms. She giggles and snuggles into me, her body draped over mine on top of the blanket. I can't even be mad at her for waking us up like this because she's way too happy and giggly right now to be mad at her.

"Merry Christmas, sweetheart." Scarlett says and kisses Rose's temple before lifting her side of the blanket a little so Rose can snuggle underneath it.

Rose follows that invitation and snuggles under the blanket with us. Scarlett wraps her arm around her, resting it on my stomach because Rose just fills up the small space between us. It's a little tight but she doesn't seem to mind that and leans her head against Scarlett's shoulder, receiving a kiss in return. I wrap my arm around her too and intertwine my fingers with Scarlett's free hand that's resting on her own stomach.

"Do you think Santa brought presents to every child in the resort?" Rose asks and traces a random pattern onto my arm.

"Yeah, I think he thought of everyone, don't worry." I assure her and kiss her cheek.

Christmas isn't about presents, at least not for me, it's about spending time with your family and enjoying the day. But Rose is a child who views that differently and I won't judge her for that. At her age I was also all about the presents but that changed later on.
It's also a little different because she's jewish but just like last year we weren't quite able to explain why everyone else gets presents except her. She did understand that she and Scarlett celebrated something else though and was excited about that too.
Maybe in a few years she understands why she doesn't get presents for Christmas anymore but that's still a little time away. Scar and I brought presents with us and put them under the Christmas tree last night after Rose went to sleep. I'm pretty sure she is aware of them since she ran through the living room to get here. Scarlett and I agreed that we won't buy each other anything. Also because it's not a custom for her but mainly because we didn't want that additional stress and both had our birthdays recently.

"I saw the presents under the tree, can we please go and unpack them?" Rose asks and looks between us with big puppy dog eyes.

Scar melts at them just as I do and we nod. I would have preferred staying in bed a little longer but I don't think Rose has the patience for that and that's okay. She pushes the blanket off herself and crawls over the bed to get off and run into the living room.
I sigh and give Scarlett's hand a small squeeze before sitting up and pushing the warm, comfortable blanket off me. She does the same and we follow Rose into the living room.

She's already sitting in front of the tree, looking up at us expectantly. Scarlett settles down on the couch and reaches out her arms to me, pulling me onto her lap even though there is enough space next to her. But why would I complain about this?

I lean my head against hers while her arms wrap around me to hold me in place. Rose takes that as her sign and rips open the first present. She looks at it with big eyes and turns it around to get a good look. It's a puzzle in which animated children play soccer. The children are boys and girls of all skin colors and we thought it was a good show of diversity and also shows that everyone can play soccer and not just boys.

"I love it!" Rose exclaims and shows the puzzle to us.

We nod with smiles and I hum happily when Scarlett starts to lightly brush her fingers over my skin. Her hands are warm but make little goosebumps appear at how gentle and loving her touch is. Rose moves on to the next present and gasps when she unwrapped it.

"Do you think everyone got one?" She asks and holds the jersey up to us. It's basically the jerseys they wear for soccer practice or during games but with a little twist. This one has a number and her name on the back.

"I'm sure Santa brought everyone one." Scar assures her with a soft smile and I nod in agreement.

We know for a fact that everyone has one because Scarlett talked to the coach and asked to do this for the whole team. Not because she wants to make a good impression, simply because we know how much Rose loves soccer and she wanted a personalized jersey for a while now. It would have felt wrong for her to be the only one with her name on the shirt so Scar offered to do it for everyone and the coach agreed. She received the name of the company that produces the jerseys for Rose's school and a list with the names and the sizes.

We are aware that that's confidential information and destroyed the list after we ordered the jerseys. Luckily, they arrived while Rose was at school so there was no chance of her seeing them. Scar gave the rest of the jerseys to the coach and made sure they were handed out to the other parents before the winter break. The parents don't have to give them their kids as christmas presents, especially since not everyone celebrates but we wanted everyone to receive them during the holidays so no one spoils the surprise for the others.
The way Rose's eyes light up at the sight of the jersey was totally worth it and it makes my heart soar with happiness. We only got her one more present, keeping it small since we want her to get used to only receiving a small amount of gifts on Christmas. She takes the last present and rips it open excitedly. I have to hide a grin when she looks at the chocolate in her hand that she just unwrapped.