rucas | au's + one shots

Merry Christmas [smacklesdearest]

Author's note:  hi guys! Long time no see! I hope everyone had wonderful Christmas. I am so grateful for each of you and everything you've done to get me to where I am today. I love you all and I am extremely excited to see what the next year has in store for us.

Set ten years after Heart eyes. [written for my one year Wattpad anniversary]

p.s. HOLY SH!T look at the perfection that is our cover! Heart eyes indeed!

"Here?" Lucas asked standing on his tip toes.

"A little to the right and a bit higher," the brunette mumbled the orders as she covered her mouth with her right hand trying to keep a bite of chocolate cake her husband had bought earlier from falling out from her mouth. "You know what, no, it looks better on the left."

The blond man shook his head chuckling before hanging a small ceramic angel on the Christmas tree.

Riley and Lucas had gotten married a month after Lucas finished his studies at the veterinary school, on the day Lucas finally had his moment at the ski lodge all those years ago. The lovebirds had been together for over a decade and they knew each other better than anyone; he knew her better than Maya and Farkle, and she knew him better than Zay and, surprisingly, Smackle, who Lucas considered to be his younger sister. City girl and subway boy were the last ones to get married, although their friends had even made a bet: they were convinced they would be married by the end of the sophomore year of college.

No one thought Riley and Lucas would stay in New York; their classmates from high school were sure they would move to Texas, to Pappy Joe's ranch whilst the young artist and her husband, English teacher, also known as Riley's uncle would be the ones to stay in the big apple. Of course, Maya and Josh didn't move to Texas, and yet they chose to live in Philadelphia with Josh's parents, but to everyone else seeing Riley and Maya separately, living their own lives was strange. Farkle and Isadora were living in California, raising Riley and Lucas' godchildren Marie and Pierre. As for Zay... Well, he couldn't leave his best friend. So he stayed in New York.

"How about now?" Lucas asked.

"Yes! Right there!" Riley exclaimed.

Lucas hung up the toy and took a step back before wrapping one of his arms around Riley's waist after she had fed him another bite of the cake. The two lovers stood in the middle of their new apartment, looking as the twinkling lights danced on the white, quite empty walls. Riley rested her head on Lucas' shoulder admiring his work.

"Ready to put on the angel?" he questioned before kissing her forehead.

Riley nodded excitedly before leaving his warm embrace, walking towards the coffee table where she placed the plate with the rest of the dessert.

When she came back to him carrying the angel they had made together in their senior year of high school, Lucas was already waiting for her with his arms stretched towards her. He lifted Riley up, setting her on his shoulders, and walked to the Christmas tree.

"It's perfect," Riley whispered when he set her down and wrapped her up in his embrace once again not wanting to ruin the magical moment.

"It is," the blond husband agreed.

A moment of them staring at their Christmas tree and the twinkling lights had passed when Lucas spoke, making Riley open her eyes.

"I have something for you."

"I thought we agreed this apartment would be our gift to each other! I didn't get you anything!" Riley whined with tears in her eyes.

"Hey hey hey, it's for the both of us, okay? When I think about it it's not even for us," Lucas said chuckling as he wiped a few tears that had escaped Riley's hazel eyes.

The brunette looked at him confused. If the present wasn't for her or them, then who?

"Ever since I had that vision of our future in your father's classroom, all I've wanted in this life was to have a family with you. Every time I looked at you I would see a woman I was eager to spend the rest of my life with, I could see you walking down the alter, hear you saying I do, sealing a promise to put up with me till our last days with a kiss. I could see it all. However, those images would come and go, but the picture of you and our children would always stay."

Lucas took her hands in his, kissing each tenderly, before he intertwined their fingers and started walking towards the spare room that was next to their bedroom.

"This month I saw you with Maya and Josh's daughter, I noticed the way your eyes lit up when Pierre and Marie said your name for the first time. I couldn't take my eyes off of you when you were taking care of my niece last week. "

When they reached the room, Riley was doing everything in her power to hold back the tears. But when Lucas opened the door letting her go in first, all of those tears started streaming down her cheeks.

In the middle of the room stood a wooden crib.

"When we were down in Texas, I told you I was helping my Dad and Pappy Joe, but they were actually helping me out. This crib was mine and for some reason, my Mom didn't let Dad get rid of it. So when I saw it, I couldn't stop thinking about you, about us and what the future holds for us," Lucas confessed shoving his hands in the pockets of his jeans as he watched Riley circling the crib. She knelt down at the end of it, tracing every line of a carved teddy bear that seemed to be sitting in the middle of a maple leaves pile and scattered jellybeans.

Riley didn't say a word. She just sat there, tracing every pattern over and over again with her shaking fingers.

"You're my everything, Riley," Lucas whispered sitting down next to her. "The world needs more of you. And I really hope that next Christmas there will be three of us."

What Lucas didn't expect was to see his wife running out of the room the moment those words had left his mouth. He didn't understand what was going on.

The blond stood up ready to go after the brunette, but just a few seconds later Riley was holding onto him for dear life.

"I love you, I love you, I love you," she kept mumling into his chest over and over again.

"Do you know how scared I was?" Lucas sighed trying to pull her even closer to him at the same time gently stroking her hair. "Please never do that again."

Unfortunately for him, she backed away. In that moment Lucas noticed a square package she was holding in her hands.

"I'm sorry for scaring you, but I had to bring this to you," Riley said as she placed the present in his hands.

"What is this?" Lucas asked taking off the wrapping paper.

The blond's hand started shaking when he saw the framed picture.

"Princess?" he whispered lifting his head just for a moment before his eyes locked on the picture again.

Riley's heart warmed at the sight of her husband's shaking fingers touching a specific place of the sonogram. She let out a laugh, making Lucas look at her just to see her walking towards him. And in that moment, she realized why their friends still used the old nickname.

She took one of his trembling hands and placed it on her slightly bigger stomach Lucas had failed to notice.

"Merry Christmas, Heart eyes," she smiled at him gently caressing his scruffy cheek. "Merry Christmas to the three of us."