It's a Wonderful life

Family bonding

"You too, baby, but let's get these boots off of you," Ariana took a seat on the bench and patted the spot next to her, motioning for Kenzie to join her. "Put your feet in my lap."

"K," Kenzie said after sitting down, she quickly swung her feet towards her mother.

"Lets see," Ariana began untying Kenzie's laces. "Wow, Daddy really tied these tight, huh."

Kenzie nodded. "Super tight Mommy so they don't fall off, that's why Daddy did that. He told me so, he did it for me."

Ariana couldn't help but grin, how cute could one kid be? "Here we go," Ariana pulled off her daughter's boots and sent her on her merry way as she began to take off her own coat.

Once she had the coats organized to her liking, Ariana made her way through the kitchen, unsure of where the girls and Jai were. She listened quietly and could hear Kenzie's infectious laughter so she tried her best to follow it. She walked out of the kitchen and made a left instead of going straight, where the stairs, front door, and formal living room were (she had already seen that part of the house earlier that morning). She went down a long hallway and passed a pretty formal dining room, a huge office, and a cute little half bathroom. Wow, she thought as she passed by each room, they were all so nicely decorated. Modern, comfortable, yet warm and inviting, all of the aspects that made a good room in Ariana's eyes.

Ariana could hear them laughing in the last room, she smiled as she thought of her family and quickly made her way to the doorway. It was ironic that she thought of them as her family considering she had known them for about five hours. But she wanted to be with them every minute, it just didn't seem right to be away from them. She was surprised to see a spacious family room; the walls were painted a nice warm blue, there was a huge flat screen TV mounted on the wall, a long tan sectional and matching overstuffed chair sat opposite of the TV, tons of pictures of family and friends lit up the walls, and there was a fireplace on the wall next to the TV, and the newly purchased tree stood several feet away from the fireplace, in a nice cozy corner. Jai had already got it in the tree stand and there were already several boxes of ornaments on the floor. There were so many of them, all of them different colors, and many of them even seemed homemade. It was then that she understood the need for the new tree. This was a tree for their family to enjoy and love, it was special and it was just for them. She couldn't help but smile at the sight of Jai lying on the couch, both of the girls attacking him with tickles and kisses. It was moments like this that made Ariana not want to leave this life. She wasn't even sure if she could leave this life, but who would want to? She was happy, truly happy and what if this isn't how her real life would turn out? At the moment Ariana couldn't dwell on all of that, there just wasn't time.

"Baby," Jai called out.

"Huh," Ariana looked up; she was so lost in her thoughts, that she hadn't realized that Jai had been calling her for several seconds.

"A little help here baby," he motioned to the girls, Caitlin was on lying on his stomach and Kenzie was practically on his head.

"Hmm," Ariana grinned. "You want some help?"

Jai rolled his eyes, "Yes a little that would be nice."

"I'll see what I can do," Ariana smiled as she walked over to the couch and grabbed Kenzie, who squealed in delight. She plopped down with her onto a chair. "You silly goose!" Ariana began tickling her.

"Thanks baby," Jai grinned. "Now the butterfly here is all mine," he reached for Caitlin and in one swift move he was sitting up and she was trapped in his arms.

"Daddy!" Caitlin giggled as Jai turned the tables on her.

"You really didn't think you would get away so easily did ya?" Jai asked. "You can't escape Super dad!" he exclaimed.