Around 9:30am, Hilary knocked on the door and Bella ran to open.
"Merry Christmas" Millie, the blonde 5 year-old, said as soon as the door opened and gave Bella a hug. Bella lifted the girl up and said "Merry Christmas". Then she hugged Hilary and Chloe and they walked in.
"You will not believe what happened!" Bella told them with a big smile.
"What?" Chloe asked excited.
"Marley is pregnant!" Bella said smiling.
Their jaws dropped.
"With twins!" Bella added.
"Oh my god! Congratulations" Hilary said and gave Marley a hug.
"You're gonna be an Aunt?" Chloe said.
"Yeah!" Bella smiled. She was so happy.
"Look what I got for Christmas!" Millie said excited showing Bella her brand new doll.
Bella laughed and payed attention to the little one who started showing her everything the doll did.
"That's cool" Bella said.
"What did you get?" Bella asked Chloe.
"A bunch of stuff. I think my mom went a bit mental this year" Chloe said and Bella laughed.
"Garcia AND my mom went mental" Bella said and the girls walked to the living room.
"Wow" Chloe said looking at all the presents. Emily had taken the bags and all the wrapping paper away and left a pile of presents with everything Bella got.
"Oh you got this book" Chloe said as she spotted "Let It Snow" in the pile.
The kids sat on the ground and started going through all the presents.
After a while Hilary called them to go have breakfast. They ate pancakes and french toast, some of Isabella's favorite breakfast foods. It was amazing.
After breakfast the kids watched a movie and played with their gifts.
"Well, Santa left a gift for Bella and Chloe here" Emily smiled.
"Go get it Bell" she told the girl who ran and got a box from under the tree.
Hilary told them to sit at the island.
"Now open it together." Hilary told them. She had planned it all with Emily weeks ago.
Bella and Chloe opened the box and just looked confused till they realized what it was.
"Merry Christmas!" Hilary smiled.
"Oh my goodness!" Chloe said.
"What did you get?" Jeremy asked walking to them.
"Plane tickets to New York City" Bella said smiling.
"It's from Emily and I" she whispered to them because Millie, who was just 5 and believed in Santa, was there, and they laughed. "Emily will take you two because I'll be working next week" Hilary said.
"We're going next week?" Bella asked surprised.
"Yes." Emily smiled.
"For how long?" Bella asked.
"Three days" Hilary said.
"Yes!" The girls said in unison super excited.
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Beside John not being there and Bella clearly missing him a lot, Emily could see the girl was having a good Christmas.
She knew gifts couldn't buy the child's happiness but the people in there were helping the girl feel better.
The day went on and Bella and Chloe were super excited making plans for New York. They sat in the dining room and looked on the Internet for things they could do. They were so happy to go to New York together.
Later the team arrived, everyone was happy to learn that Marley was pregnant.
"You're gonna be Auntie Bella" Morgan told the girl who laughed.
They had bought some gifts and Emily made them put it under the tree so Bella could open it later since the girl was playing with the other kids. Bella and Emily had picked out things for them too so they opened it and everybody loved it.
The day went on and they ended up having a really good Christmas.
Emily felt so good for having her house full of people for the first time on Christmas.
Later at night Hilary went home with the girls, then Rossi, JJ, Will and Henry left.
"We're gonna go to the hotel" Jeremy said and he left with Marley.
"Can you open your gifts now?" Penelope asked Bella excited.
Bella looked at Emily who smiled, so the girl went and opened it.
From Rossi she got two books, from JJ she got some tsum tsums and a movie, from Spencer she got a new bundle edition of "Wicked" and "Son Of A Witch".
"Your mom said you didn't have the second one" Reid told her when she was about to open.
From Morgan she got a Star Wars Lego set.
"I saw the Legos in your room and I thought we could maybe assemble this together" Derek said.
"Thank you" Bella smiled and hugged him.
"You guys didn't have to give me anything" Bella said and everyone smiled.
"Let's go play" Garcia said grabbing the Lego box and running to the dining room table.
"Hey! That's hers" Morgan said running after her and Bella followed him, leaving Emily and Spencer laughing in the living room.
"Should we go too?" Emily asked Reid and grabbed his hand. So to the dining room table they went.
They had a lot of fun putting together the Lego. They finished it all super late at night.
"That looks awesome" Garcia said as they stared at the millennium falcon.
"Thank you Uncle Morgan" Bella smiled. "I'm gonna put it on my nightstand" Bella added and they all laughed.
"Well... We should head home kid. It's pretty late" Derek told Spencer who nodded.
"I should go to" Penelope said. "I need to see if Santa stopped by my house" she said and everyone laughed.
They said their goodbyes and went home, leaving Bella and Emily alone in the apartment.
"Let's take this to your room?" Emily asked Bella who smiled and nodded yes.
Emily took it upstairs and Bella followed her with some of her other gifts.
"Do you want it here?" Emily asked putting it on the nightstand on the right side.
"Yeah" Bella said and walked out to get her other things.
They took everything upstairs and Bella started to organize her room a bit. She left all the "Inside Out" plushes on her bed, put new tsum tsums with the rest of her collection, put the new books in a separate shelf, put her clothes in the wardrobe, put the twin pictures on her desk and put the family picture in the nightstand on the left side.
"I love that photo" Emily said smiling and throwing one arm around Bella.
"Me too" Bella said as her voice got thick. She hugged Emily waist. Emily felt the girl start to cry so she scooped her up. She didn't sob or anything like that. Just a few tears fell.
Emily sat on the bed with the girl on her lap.
"He would have loved seeing the house so full" Bella said.
"He would" Emily smiled.
Bella sat up straight and looked in her mother's eyes. "I love you" Bella said.
"I love you too" Emily smiled and put a lock of hair behind the girl's ear.
Bella smiled back even though some tears were still falling.
Emily wiped the girl's face. "Your dad would be so proud of you. You are so tough, you know that?" Emily said wiping Bella's face.
"I'm tough like you" Bella said and hugged Emily.
"You're way tougher than me, baby" Emily said. "In fact you are tougher, and cuter, and sweeter, and snugglier, and way more awesome than me" Emily said giving Bella a kiss with every compliment she said, making the girl laugh.
"Mom, I'm pretty sure snugglier is not a real word" Bella said and Emily laughed.
"See. You're even smarter" Emily said giving Bella another kiss. The girl laughed and kissed Emily's cheek.
"You're the best mom ever" Bella said.
Emily smiled as she heard that phrase for the first time in 9 years.
"I love you" she told the girl as she squeezed her in a hug.
"I can't breathe" Bella joked and Emily let go.
She smelled Bella, made a face, smelled her again and said "you need a shower"
Bella laughed and walked to her wardrobe. She grabbed pajamas and went inside the bathroom.
Emily stared at the picture in the night stand and whispered "Merry Christmas John"
She got up and went to take a shower too.
Once Bella was done she put her pajamas on, brushed her teeth, combed her hair, grabbed her blanket and went to Emily's bed.
Emily got out of the bathroom to find the girl passed out on the bed. She smiled at how often that happened.
She turned the light off and took the spot next to her daughter.
"Goodnight" she said and kissed the girl's forehead. Bella moved closer to her in her sleep and Emily threw one arm over the girl.
Emily payed attention to Bella's breathing and soon fell asleep.