(Two days before Christmas.)
(Hadaza's POV)
It is two days before Christmas and my husband and I are busying putting the last few finishing touches in our house with putting Christmas decorations up. "Love, I need help." I call to him. "What do you need help with?" He asks walking in. "I need this to go up there and I can't reach that part." I say holding an ornament in my hand and point to the spot on the tree that was way to high up for me. "Do you want me to lift you up so you can put it on yourself?" He asks teasingly. "James." I whine playfully and hand him the ornament which he takes and hangs up. "We gotta get you a ladder or get a smaller tree." He says laughing causing me to smack his chest gently and roll my eyes laughing. "Your mean. Picking on your short wife like that." I say rolling my eyes and check the baby monitor seeing autumn was still napping. "I love you." He says sitting next to me and pulls me onto his lap. I smile and sit on it and wrap my arms around his neck and snuggle into him. "Two days till autumn's first official christmas." I say holding onto his shoulders. "I know I am so excited to see how she reacts with opening her gifts." He says smiling happily. "Yeah. We wearing matching pjs again?" I ask him. "Yes because you convinced me two years ago to wear them." He say kissing my shoulders gently. "Yay. I love you. You are the best husband ever." I say happily and kiss his cheek gently. "I love you too." He says holding me as we both watch the baby monitor and see our daughter wake up from her nap. "She slept for an hour. Not bad." I say standing up and turn the baby monitor off and go get her to bring her downstairs while my husband goes and makes lunch for us.
It's hard staying inside and active during the winter months with an active one year and to days before christmas and we don't want to be out on the road unless we need to. "Okay let's go say hi to daddy baby girl." I say walking into the kitchen with autumn on my hip. "Hi princess. How are we doing?" He says smiling and kisses her head gently. "Dadda." She says smiling happily and holds onto my shirt. "Let's get you into your high chair so you can have lunch." I say setting her in her chair and grab her food and let her eat. James hands me my food and I take it happily as I sit down and eat smiling as my husband sits down next to me and eats. We eat lunch then clean up and go play with autumn for a while watching some Sessem street to help enhance her brain development. After we were done I make dinner for us and we all eat it then my husband takes our daughter upstairs to give her a bath and put her to sleep while I clean up. I finish cleaning up and lock everything and head to the livingroom and sit on the couch covering myself in a blanket and sit watching the tree lights dance. "Want some tea love?" I hear my husband ask. "No. I just want you." I say looking up at him. "Okay." He says sitting next to me and pulls me into his side wrapping the giant blanket around us as we watch the tree lights. I smile and snuggle into his side and wrap my arms around his waist enjoying the quietness and the lights and smells of everything. James and I stay downstairs for a while but decide we would be more comfortable and warmer on our bed so with that thought in mind we turn off the lights and set the alarm for the house then head upstairs and go to bed.
(Two day time skip to christmas day.)
(James POV)
I woke up early around eight to see my wife still sound asleep snuggled under the covers. Me being the childish person I am decided to act like a child and wake her up since it was christmas morning. "Babbbbby. Wake upppppppp. It's christmasssssssss." I whine playfully and lay across her body. "James so help me if you don't stop and get off me I'm not getting up period." She says tiredly as she squirms. "But it's christmas." I pout and poke her side. "Weren't you supposed to grow out of this phase years ago? And stop poking me." She whines pushing me off her and crawls more under the covers trying to go back to sleep. "I'll make you breakfast and coffee." I say kissing her neck gently causing her to stir. "Ugh I hate you." She says sitting up and glare at me tiredly. "Yay." I say getting up and look at her with the biggest grin on my face. She yawns laughing and gets up tiredly and heads to the bathroom as I go downstairs and make us breakfast and coffee like I promised. A few moments later she comes down and into the kitchen where I was making us breakfast. "Coffee." I say handing her a cup filled with coffee. She takes it and drinks it happily. "What time is it anyways?" She asks looking at the clock on the stove. I cook and watch her. "James it 8:30 in the morning. Why." She whines pouting and glares at me. "What can I say. I'm a kid at heart." I say smiling widely. "After we are done this morning I am going to take a nap to catch up on the sleep I missed this morning." She says sipping her coffee. "Come here." I say pulling her into me by her waist gently. She moves closer to me and looks at me. "I sowwy. I love you. I didn't want to be alone down here this morning." I say holding her waist and rub it with my thumb. "Why couldn't you stay in bed for an hour and read or play on your phone?" She asks looking at me. "Because I want to spend some time alone with my wife this morning before Autumn wakes up and you get taken away by my mother and katy." I say holding her. "Okay." She says smiling and nods drinking her coffee. "Good. So your not mad at me anymore?" I ask happily like a child. "Mmmmmmm...... No I guess not." She says thinking and smiles at me. "Yay. Let's go eat." I say grabbing the food and sit down. "Next time wake me an say you wanna spend time with me instead of acting like a child." She says smiling and sits down. "I know but it's christmas love and I act like a child on christmas." I say eating and smile. "Okay. You are paying for it next time." She warns playfully and eats.
I nod and smile enjoying the quiet moments with my wife before Autumn wakes up hungry and ready for the day. "I'll get her." I say standing up and go get her. "Hi princess. Merry Christmas." I say happily and pick her up. Autumn smiles and giggles holding onto me as I head downstairs. "Hi baby girl. Merry christmas." My wife says smiling and kisses her gently. Autumn smiles and giggles as I set her down in her high chair and get her her breakfast. My wife smiles and cleans up our plates from our breakfast as autumn eats her food happily. I smile and help her clean up then make my way into the livingroom and get the presents ready for all of us. "You enjoying your eggs baby?" I hear my wife say as I walk back in to see my daughter eating her eggs with a smile. "I can't wait for you to see what I got you for christmas. Also I can't wait for autumn to open her gifts." I say wrapping my arms around my wife's waist. "James you didn't have to get me anything. You got me enough stuff for our anniversary. Plus you and autumn are all I need." She says looking up at me. "I know but you deserve something too because you work so hard and are a great mother." I say holding her. "I love you." She says smiling and looks at me. "I love you too." I say back smiling and kiss her head then look over hearing autumn. "You done breakfast baby girl?" My wife asks smiling and cleans up her plate while I clean her face and move her messy hair out of her face. "Alright you guys ready to open presents?" I ask taking Autumn out of her high chair and set her on her feet holding her hand. "Yeah lets go." My wife says smiling. I nod and walk to the living room with both my wife and daughter. Once in the living room I let go of my daughters hand and walk over to the tree grabbing one of her presents which she gets excited and runs to me as I sit down and pull her onto my lap helping her open her gift. Autumn sits in my lap and helps me open it and giggles excitedly seeing a stuffed animal. I smile and look up at my wife who was sat on the couch watching us with a cup in her hands. Autumn and I open all of her gifts and then I set her in her playpen with all her toys and go to my wife with her gifts. "For you love." I say handing her her gifts. "Thank you." She says setting her cup on the coffee table and stands to grab mine. "For you." She says handing me my gifts. I smile and take them and open them sitting on the floor next to her. She smiles and opens her gifts and smiles at them. "I love you. Happy Christmas." She says smiling at me. "Happy Christmas." I say kissing her back gently then look over at our daughter who was playing with her toys happily. "Best christmas ever." My wife says watching her. "Agreed." I add smiling at her. She smiles back and wraps herself in the blanket and curls up on the couch laying down. I smile and sit onto the couch and lay her feet on my lap and rub them gently and turn on the tv letting a movie play. My wife lays on the couch and slowly starts to doze off and keep herself covered under the blankets. Autumn plays with her toys focusing on her stuffies and her books. "Dadda." She says holding up one of her book. I smile and gently stand up and grab her and the book and sit down on the couch and read to her. Autumn sit listening to me and holds my hands and grabs at the book. I smile and read to her as my wife sleeps tiredly on the couch and look over occasionally to see how she was doing.
Autumn lays against me and sucks her pacifier and listens to me read occasionally looking at the tree. I set the book down and pick her up and walk over to the tree letting her look at the lights. "You love looking at the lights princess?" I ask keeping her on my hip and let her look at them. Autumn looks at them fascinated trying to understand the concept of them. "Your just like your mother. Beautiful, smart, and strong." I say looking at her and kiss her cheek gently. Looking at my daughter is like looking at a younger version of my wife and I can't get enough of looking at her. She has her mother's straight auburn hair and has started picking up some of her little quirks such as scrunching up her nose when anyone kisses it to the way she stretches when she wakes up. Autumn leans her head on my shoulder and watches the lights on the tree. "You are for sure one hundred percent our child and I love every minute of you. Maybe if we are lucky you might get a brother or sister." I say kissing her head softly and hold her in my arms. "You keep wishing that Phelps." I hear my wife mutter tiredly from the couch. "I will." I say looking over my shoulder and see her awake and looking at me on the couch. "Of course you will." She says smiling and sits up then heads to the kitchen to heat up her coffee. "Well you heard that princess you might be getting a brother or a sister hopefully soon." I say smiling. "James don't get her hopes up. Also don't get your hopes up either." She calls from the kitchen. "Okay." I call back and look down at my daughter and see her sound asleep. I smile and go upstairs and put her down for her nap then come back down and into the living room and see my wife cleaning up from this morning. "Want some help?" I ask her. "Yes please." She says cleaning up. I smile and help her and make piles of what goes where. "This morning was fun." She says finishing cleaning up. "It was. Why don't you want me to get my hopes up about you potentially being pregnant?" I ask grabbing her waist. "I just.... It's just I don't know if I can get pregnant again. I mean I already had a miscarriage a few months ago and my doctor said I'm at a higher chance of not being able to get pregnant or that if I do get pregnant I could go into early labor or have another miscarriage. I just don't want to get anyone's hopes up. If it happens great. If not then oh well." She say sighing. "You will get pregnant again love and we will have another baby. I know it. What happened a few months ago was just an unfortunate mishap." I say kissing her forehead. "I know James. I'm just scared and I don't want to get my hopes up and have something happen again." She says looking up at me. "I know. Whatever happens I am with you always." I say leaning my forehead against hers and smile.
"You are the best love. I love you." She says smiling and wraps her arms around my neck gently. I hold her and keep my forehead against hers for a bit and gently rock her back and forth holding her waist. "I like this. Just like our wedding only less people." She says holding me. "Exactly like our wedding." I say holding her and continue to rock back and forth. She holds me and smiles softly. "Why do you still smell like your cologne from two days ago?" She asks giggling slightly. "I don't know. Why do you smell like your perfume?" I ask back. "Because I don't think I got it all off. I think it's still in my hair." She says giggling. I smile and hold her kissing her head gently. "What time do we need to be at Oliver's?" She asks looking at me. "Four." I say looking at my watch. "What time is it now?" She asks me. "It's only eleven." I say looking at my watch. "Okay." She says holding me. I nod and hold her close to me and lean my forehead against hers again gently. "Dance with me?" I ask her. "Sure." She says back holding onto me. I smile and dance with her keeping my forehead on hers. She smiles and dances with me. "I want to do this all the time." She says holding me. "I know. This also reminds me of when you were in labor and this was the only way to help with your contractions." I say holding her. "I remember. Those contractions were a pain and I wish that I could've had the freakin epidural but I couldn't because the medication that was in it I am allergic to. One of the other reasons I am scared to get pregnant because I have to go through that pain again." She says sighing. "I know but think of it this way. You already know what to expect and how much pain you will be in." I say holding her. "Yeah your right." She says nodding and looks at me. "I know I am. But you are smart too. That I see in our daughter. As well as some of your other quirks." I say holding her. "Oh come on I'm not that smart. I only went to college online and have and AA in early childhood elementary education and a American Sign Language Certificate. I'm not that smart James." She says shaking her head sighing dismissing the fact. "Love stop. You are smart. Don't bring yourself down. The degree and certificate are perfect for you. It shows that you are smart. Why do you say that you aren't?" I ask her and hold her. "Because all my life I struggled in school with the important subjects. It seemed like the least important subjects I understood." She says rubbing her arm gently which she does when she's anxious.
I grab her hand and make her look at me. "Love you are the smartest woman I know. So what you struggled with the main important subjects in school. The other stuff you did succeed in had your main subjects in them which you didn't know of." I say holding her hands in mine. She looks at me and nods. "I love you. Even if you had a hard time with learning in school." I say pulling her into a hug. She hugs me and sighs. "Thank you." She says holding me. "For what love?" I ask holding her and rub her back. "For everything. Thank you for being a loving husband. A wonderful father to our daughter. And thank you for dealing with all the crap that I put you through." She says holding me. "I told you before that I am always here for you and our daughter. You're my family and I love you guys. I will do everything I can to protect you guys and make sure I spend as much time loving you both." I say holding her and rub her back kissing her head gently. She holds me and smiles softly. "Mmmm I should probably go and take a shower and then potentially a nap before we have to get ready to leave." She says pulling away. "I'll join you." I say turning the tv off and head upstairs with her. My wife walks into the bathroom grabbing a new pair of pjs and hops into the shower. I follow and hop in with her and gently wash off her body and tickle her. "James. Stop. It tickles." She squeals squirming and laughs trying to get me to stop. "I won't stop till I get a kiss." I say tickling her. "Okay. Okay." She says laughing and squirms kissing me. I stop and kiss her and hold her waist. "Your mean." She says pulling away and pouts. "I'm not mean." I say kissing her again. She kisses back but pulls away and finishes washing up then hops out drying off.
I follow her shortly after turning off the water and dry off. My wife finishes and changes into her pjs and dries her hair off. "I think it's time for me to get a haircut love. It's pretty long." She says putting her hair up in a messy bun looking at me. "When was the last time you had your hair cut love?" I say drying my hair. "Three and a half years." She says looking at me. "That's a long time ago. Definitely get your haircut." I say walking out with her and lay down on the bed. "I will go the next week or sooner depending on when my friend who does my hair is open." She say yawning and closes her eyes slowly. I smile and kiss her head as she falls asleep then set my alarm for an hour and fall asleep wrapping my arms around her waist and hold her. An hour goes by and my alarm goes off causing me to wake up and shut it off seeing my wife was already up and getting her clothes out for tonight. "Why didn't you wake me up?" I ask sitting up and watch her. "Because you were to cute while you were sleeping." She says shrugging and looks at me. "Okay. Is Autumn up?" I ask getting up and stretch. "I didn't hear the monitor go off." She says looking at the monitor. I look at the monitor and see her start to stir awake. "She's up now. I'll go get her and get her ready." I say going to the nursery and get my daughter and change her. "Hi princess. Was your nap good?" I ask changing her into a pair of grey leggings, and a dark purple dress then brush her messy hair down smiling and talk to her. Autumn smiles at me and squeals moving around.
I finish and pick her up carrying her to our room to show my wife. "Hey love look at who is dressed and ready to go to her uncle Olivers." I say walking in with my daughter on my hip as my wife finishes buttoning her shirt. "Oh look at you baby girl. Did daddy dress you?" She says taking her in her arms as I go and get changed. I change and walk out fixing my shirt as my wife has autumn on her hip and brushing her hair. Autumn sits and watches her mother brush her hair causing me to smile and snap a quick photo of them. My wife finishes and reaches for a hair tie that was off to the side and somehow manages to put her hair up in a ponytail with one hand then moves autumn higher on her hip. "Want me to take her love?" I ask her causing her to turn to me. "I think I got her. My hips are wider than they were before which makes it slightly easier to keep her up but I'm not to pleased with that. Man being pregnant does a lot of things to my body that I am not to pleased with." She says holding autumn and sighs. "Love your beautiful. Your hips are the same to me and they are beautiful." I say holding her gently. She nods and reaches back to grab her phone and read a text. "We should get going. Katy just texted me needing us to come over because Oliver is driving her mad and your parents aren't there to help." She says looking at me. "Kay lets go." I say grabbing my phone and head to the car once we were in our coats and call my brother. "Hello?" He asks. "Oliver what are you doing to annoy katy??" I ask putting him on speaker as I warm the car up and help my wife put autumn in her car seat. "I am not doing anything other then constantly going through the kitchen and trying to help her because she shouldn't be on her feet for long periods of time." He says. "Okay. Oliver get out of the kitchen and put Katy on the phone and let my wife talk some sense into her." I say looking at my wife as I drive.
"Katy?" My wife ask taking my phone from me. "Yeah I'm here." Katy's voice comes back. "Honey I want you to listen to me and do as I say. You got that?" She asks. "Yeah I got it." She responds back. "Good. Go sit your ass down and do not touch anything we are almost there. When we arrive I'll take over while you tell me what to do." My wife says sternly. "But there's a lot of stuff to do." Katy whines. "Katy sit down. Now or I will ground you." My wife warns. "Okay I'm going." Katy says. "Good. Now don't you dare move. From that spot." My wife says as we arrive at my brother house. I park and turn the car off as my wife hangs up and starts to get out. "Go inside. I got autumn." I say taking my phone as my wife nods and heads inside once oliver opened the door. Autumn squirms wanting out of her seat and to run around. "I know baby. Calm down." I say grabbing her and the dipper bag and head inside and hear my wife and katy bickering. "I hope mom and dad get here soon." My brother says as we hear our wives bicker. After a few moments it quiets down and Katy walks out with my wife dragging her by her arm gently. "Stay seated. James watch her and Oliver come with me." My wife says looking at both of us. I go to Katy without a word while Oliver goes with my wife and disappears into the kitchen. "Is she like this at home? If so it's frightening." Katy asks me as I sit down with autumn in my lap. "Honestly no she's not like this at home. If anything she's the opposite. I think working at her job like she did for a long time kinda took over her. All I know is if she has that tone in her voice you better shut up and do as she says." I say to Katy and laugh. "So she's like the man of the house then?" She asks back and laughs. "You can say that. But I see it as she knows what she wants and will work hard to get it." I say smiling. "Uncle James!!!" My nephew Ben says happily seeing me. "Hi Ben. How's one of my favorite nephews doing?" I say smiling as I situate autumn on my lap who was watching me and her aunt Katy. "I'm good. Where's aunt Hadaza?" He asks me. "Your aunt is I the kitchen with your father. Best if you stay out here though. Where's your brother?" I ask. "Ja." I hear my other nephew Fred say happily as he runs to me. "Hey there's my little man." I say happily and scoop him up in my arms while holding my daughter.
Autumn looks at me and whines wanting attention from me and squirms. "What princess?" I ask looking at her. Autumn start to cry as I try calming her down. "Here." Katy says taking her. I hand her autumn and look at them. Autumn cries loudly upset. "Hey now. Why you crying? Your okay sweetie." Katy say bouncing her gently. Autumn cries and looks at her still upset. "Your fine autumn. Don't cry." She says calming her down slowly. Autumn calms down and sniffles looking at her autumn. "See there was nothing wrong. No reason to get up set." She says kissing her nose gently. Autumn sniffles and stands on the couch as her aunt holds her. "Your a good mom Katy. I don't know how you do it." I say looking at her. "I don't know either." She says looking at me with a smile. I smile and hold Fred in my arms who was talking up a storm causing myself and Katy to laugh at him. "Your a great father James. Have you and Hadaza talked about having another kid?" Katy asks me holding Autumn. "We have and Hadaza doesn't want to get her hopes up. She's still taking the miscarriage pretty hard. I know she keeps blaming herself for it happening. We talk about it all the time when autumn goes to sleeps but she still dismisses the fact about even being pregnant. I just don't know how to get through to her." I say holding Fred who was bouncing in my lap and talking up a storm. "Maybe mom and I can talk to her. I know what she went through. Before I had ben I lost a baby around the same time she did. You didn't know about it because I asked Oliver not to tell you." She says looking up at me. "You and mom might be perfect. I just want my wife to know that it wasn't her fault." I say looking down at Fred. "After mom and I are done with her she'll have a different outlook on it. Autumn what's wrong?" She asks holding my daughter who was getting upset. "Here." I say switching kids with her and rock autumn. "What's wrong baby girl? You hungry? Or you need changing?" I ask bouncing her trying to calm her down. Autumn continues to cry getting louder. "What's going on in here?" My wife asks walking in. "I don't know. She's upset and I don't know why." I say looking at her. "What's wrong baby girl?" My wife asks bouncing her gently in her arms. Autumn continues to cry loudly still upset. "I think I know what's wrong." My wife say rocking her gently and grabs their coats and heads outside with them. I look confused and follow them outside. "What are you doing out here? Hey she stopped crying." I say seeing my wife rocking our daughter who was laying against her shoulder calmed down. "She's like me. If there is a lot of stuff going on she gets overwhelmed and starts to cry and get upset." She says rubbing her back gently. "I don't blame her. There was a lot of stuff going on and I also know she hates loud noises." I say looking at my daughter then see my parents pull in. "You okay now baby girl?" My wife ask looking at our daughter. Autumn rubs her eyes and nods sniffling. "You wanna go back inside baby?" I ask her as my parents walk in. Autumn nods and I take her from my wife and head inside. "Hey Hadaza can mom and I talk to you?" Katy asks my wife as I head inside.
"Sure." She says going with Katy and my mom as my dad, Oliver, the kids and myself all head to the kitchen. A few minutes later my wife walks in looking slightly upset causing me to look at Katy who just shrugged going to Oliver. "Love are you okay?" I ask as we all sit down and set our kids in the correct seats. "I'm fine." She says sitting down and looks at her hand. I sigh and put my hand on hers and looks at me. "Something happened didn't it?" I whisper in her ear. She just nods and looks at me. "Want to tell me now or later?" I ask her. "Later." She says grabbing Autumn's food and feeds Autumn. I sigh and rub her lower back softly and look at Katy and my mom as they just shrug and eat. We enjoy our dinner and finish an hour later cleaning up then make our way to the living room to open gifts before we all head home. Once we left Autumn was sound asleep in the car which gave me the oppurtunity to talk to my wife. "Sooo wanna talk about what your bothered about?" I ask driving. "Your mom and Katy were talking about how I shouldn't be so worried about trying to get pregnant. If it happens it happens and if not then there was no harm in it. They also told me that me trying to deny the fact of not getting pregnant is only hurting me more." She says sighing and looks out the window. I arrive home and park then grab her hands and make her look at me. "Love I know you are putting up a wall around yourself but you don't need to. They are right. You denying the fact that you can't get pregnant because you had a misscarrige does hurt you. Its okay to let down your guard love. I am here for you for everything. Don't shut me out please." I say looking at her. She looks at me and nods. "Good. Lets go inside and get our daughter to bed then you and I can talk and cuddle." I say turning off the car and get out with her. She nods and gets out and grabs our daughter and heads inside with me quickly to get out of the cold. Once we were inside we take our coats and shoes off then head upstairs to change our daughter into pjs and put her down in her crib then go get our pjs on. I crawl into bed with my wife and lay on my side looking at my wife who was sitting up and putting her phone on the charger. "Love talk to me." I say gently pulling her down. "What do you want me to talk about?" She asks laying down and look at me. "Talk to me about how you are feeling with getting pregnant again." I say rubbing her bare waist gently with my thumb.
"James you know I really want another baby. I am just so scared to lose the baby again." She says looking down. "I know your scared love but you can't live in fear your whole life. I know it was sooooo hard for you to go through that pain. Think of it this way if you do get pregnant we can have that do over. To me I really do think you are going to get pregnant again and we will have another little hufflepuff in our family." I say tilting her head up gently and look at her. "You really do think I will get pregnant again James?" She asks looking at me. "I do." I say looking at her and kiss her nose gently. She smiles and moves closer to me and snuggles into me. I hold her and gently rub her back. "Can I just say I love your body love?" I say looking down at her. "Why do you love my body? I don't think its anything to look at." She says looking at me. "It is something to look at. Why do you say that its not?" I ask her. "I say that cause its not. My hips are wide, I have so many stretch marks across my body, and my boobs are huge." She says going through a list that I know she made up. "Okay love let me stop you there. Nothing you said is true. Sure your hips are wide but that's because you had a baby in you for eight and a half months and that was amazing that you were able to carry that baby in you. You have stretch marks because you carried our daughter in you. Your boobs are big from also being pregnant and breastfeeding our daughter. You are beautiful and I will prove to you that you are." I say and take her pjs off and start kissing her body all over and compliment her over and over. After I was done I lean in and kiss her softly causing her to smile and kiss back. "Better love?" I ask pulling away. "Better. Let's go to sleep now." She says smiling tiredly and yawns. I smile and turn the lights off and fall asleep holding my wife.
(Here's chapter 30. Next chapter is going to be a two month time skip with a surprise. Also James dog tonto will be in the coming chapter soon. I know the boy love his dog. And as always please if you can vote on this story and comment.)