csi_sanders1129 | Fic: Twas The Night

Title: Twas The Night Before Christmas
Chapters: 1/1
Author:

csi_sanders1129
Genre: Fluff. Family.
Ratings: K+
Word Count: 3,039
Pairings/Characters: Johnny Zacchara/Ethan Lovett, OCs, Lulu Spencer, Dante Falconeri, Luke Spencer
Synopsis: In which Johnny, Ethan and their family have a fun-filled Christmas Eve.
Comments: Just a little tiny bit late for Christmas, darn! Ugh, I don’t really explain the origin of some characters, so feel free to make up the answers for yourselves! Characters not mine, please enjoy! Comments are awesome.

"What were we thinking?"

Johnny laughs and looks up at Ethan, who's watching the chaos unfold in the living room with a look of thinly veiled horror on his face. "That sugar cookies before noon would be a good idea?"

Ethan cringes as something crashes in the other room, "and like I said, 'what were we thinking?'"

"Guys!" Johnny's shouting. But only shouting to be heard over the sounds of Christmas music and giggly children, not shouting like his father - grandfather - used to shout at him whenever he did something bad. "Guys, hey! How about we finish decorating the tree?"

The two troublemakers, Madison Claudia Lovett-Zacchara and Nathan Spencer Lovett-Zacchara, quickly come rushing back to the boxes of ornaments piled around the tree. This is their tradition - lights go on the tree at the start of December, but ornaments don't go on until Christmas Eve. Madison digs into the box with her ornaments (they each get a new one each year to add to the collection) and offers one to Johnny. It's a purple and white glittery snowflake that she made in her pre-school class last year. "Here!"

Johnny puts it low on the tree and then accepts a fire truck ornament from Nathan.

"Daddy," Madison says, turning her big brown eyes on Ethan. "If it snows, can we go play outside after we go see Santa?"

And, well, it's not supposed to snow today, so Ethan has no problem agreeing to that request. As much as a white Christmas would've been nice, it's not happening this year, at least according to the weather channels. "Sure, honey," he says, crossing the room to heft the five and a half year old into his arms.

"Me, too," Nathan adds in, tugging at Ethan's jeans because no way does his big sister get to be picked up and he doesn't. Johnny scoops him up and he lets the three-year-old put the star on top of the tree.

By the time the tree is finished, and stockings with names written in glitter letters are hung by the fireplace, the last of the cookies have finished baking. They're each allowed one more cookie - these are chocolate chip - with lunch, so long as they promise to behave until it's time to go see Santa. Amazingly, they both sit quietly at the table and dutifully eat all of the food that's put in front of them (even the vegetables) and then they both sit quietly even longer coloring in Christmas coloring books until it's time to get ready.

"This is strange," Ethan says, watching as the two of them scribble away at snowmen drawings. Madison is really good, grasps the purpose of lines, whereas Nathan's still in the mastering fine-motor skills stage of development and lines are more like options to him, really. Watching them sit together and behave for so long is an anomaly, for sure. Not that they don't get along. They do. It's just the sibling thing combined with the no school for Madison thing which equals something almost like cabin fever. "Can it be Christmas all week?"

Johnny laughs and slings an arm around his shoulder. "If you wanted an all-week winter holiday, you picked the wrong one to celebrate," he says. "We should go get them changed, if we're meeting Lulu and Dante at the mall."

"Yeah, yeah," he answers, relishing in the realm of well-behaved children for another few seconds before the excitement of a visit to Santa kicks in.

The mall is unsurprisingly packed. Between the last minute shoppers, the frantic I-forgot-to-get-it gifters and the gaggles of kids gathered around the Santa's Village display at the center of the mall, even navigating the main paths of the mall is a cumbersome task. They hadn't even bothered looking for a place to park - they'd pulled in to a lot across the street and hiked it (with Madison and Nathan enjoying the trip on Johnny and Ethan's shoulders, respectively) over to the mall.

Luckily, Lulu and Dante had gotten there earlier. They were even holding places for them in line.

"Luke's around somewhere," Lulu blurts out in the process of greeting her brother with a hug.

"You got Luke to come?" Johnny asks, impressed, as he accepts a hug from her, too. They shake hands with Dante and the kids are already lost in giggly conversations with their six-year old cousins, Liam and Dominic.

"I know, so surprising," Dante agrees.

The line moves slowly. Luke reappears, says hello, and then wanders off again. Nathan gets sleepy and ends up groggily dozing in Ethan's arms while the older kids bubble with excitement as they get nearer and nearer to Santa, much to the amusement of the adults. Finally, finally, they reach the front of the line. Dominic ends up going first (after just the teensiest bit of in-fighting) because he's the oldest (by seven minutes). Liam goes next, and Lulu snaps pictures of both of her boys with Santa before Ethan sends Madison up for her turn, no doubt to ask for the big purple princess doll house she's been asking for literally all year. Johnny carries Nathan up and passes him over. He's awake now, but his shy side turns up, leaving him staring up at Santa with comically wide eyes as the old man with the legitimate white beard chuckles gently at him and assures the boy that it's okay, he already knows just what to bring him tonight. Nathan smiles and Lulu's camera flashes a few more times before they depart from the line with four very happy children in tow.

Luke joins them as they head for the mall's exit. "Mind if I head home with you guys?" He asks of Johnny and Ethan as they split off from the others with goodbyes and hugs all around. "I might have some presents for some grandchildren of mine," he says, in a more than audible stage whisper. He's spent all day with Lulu and Dante and their kids, so they've already gotten their presents.

"I don't know," Johnny teases, "we could make them wait until tomorrow."

"No, please, Dada, no," Madison protests, dramatically. "We'll be extra, extra good all night! We promise!"

"Only all night, Maddie?" Johnny says.

"Okay, all week?"

He laughs and nods, "I guess we can put them out of their misery for the night," and Madison cheers happily.

Her cheering turns to awed silence when they step outside, though. There's a thin layer of white on the ground, only on the grassy median strips in the parking lot, and the snow is coming down steadily from the darkening sky.

"It's snowing!" She announces happily, sticking out a hand to catch snowflakes.

"Huh," Ethan hums, "didn't see that coming."

Johnny laughs and the four of them head to their car while Luke splits off to his own with a promise to meet them at the house.

The kids are brimming with excitement and questions the whole way home (and reminding Ethan of his earlier snow-related promise), both unendingly twitchy and anxious now that there's the promise of snow and snowmen and snow angels and snow everything. When they do get home, Johnny and Ethan let them play in the snow for just a few minutes, until Luke shows up. They're not exactly dressed for snow right now. "We can come back out for a little while after Grandpa Luke leaves, okay?"

"Aww," they pout, though they give in far easier than expected - which is probably related to the bags Luke is carrying as he walks over from his car.

Once inside, they gather around the tree happily and Luke passes out a couple of presents to each of them. There are clothes - typical grown-up presents - a set of dinosaurs for Nathan and a giant stuffed pony for Madison. The kids beam and hug their Grandpa Luke before rushing off to play with their respective toys.

"These are for you two," he says, passing wrapped packages to Johnny and Ethan. Johnny unwraps a piano songbook full of Christmas songs and Ethan reveals the whole of a book series he's been after (even though reading is something that he rarely gets a chance to do). They give Luke his gifts from them, which includes pictures drawn by Madison and Nathan that have been scanned into a computer and put in a digital frame. He's really settled down since the kids have all been born and he enjoys spoiling them all.

But Luke can't stay long. He has plans to have dinner with Lucky and still needs to drop off gifts for Cameron and Aiden, before he does that. So, more goodbyes and thank-you's and hugs are exchanged before he takes his leave.

"Guys," Ethan says, and they both stop playing long enough to look up at him. "I'll make you a deal. It's still snowing, but if you agree to stay inside tonight you can go out tomorrow after breakfast and presents," he starts. Madison looks decidedly unimpressed with his offer thus far, but he's not done. "And you can stay up an extra half hour tonight."

"Okay!" Nathan agrees enthusiastically as he carries his dinosaurs over to Johnny, offering him the Apatosaurus and the Triceratops while he brandishes the Pterodactyl like a weapon at the other two.

"Okay," Madison agrees, too. "Can we watch Frosty?"

"We can totally do that," Ethan says. "But after we start dinner."

Dinner is another tradition they've developed. They'll be having a big meal tomorrow, when they join the rest of the Spencer clan for a party at the Haunted Star, but tonight they keep things simple. Easy, fun homemade pizza is the answer. Madison and Nathan even get to choose their own toppings for their mini-pizzas. Once they're all in the oven, the four of them settle on the couch to watch Frosty the Snowman come to life. The oven beeps and Ethan goes to fetch the food (breaking their food-at-the-table rule just for today) and returns with plates of pizza and cups of juice for the kids. He doubles back for his and Johnny's and returns just in time to see Santa take Frosty away with him back to the North Pole.

"Can we make a snowman tomorrow, Dada?"

"Sure, Maddie," Johnny agrees. "We'll even find a top hat for him." There's one in the box of Halloween costumes, he thinks.

"And a carrot nose?" Nathan inquires.

"Yeah, buddy."

"How about we watch Rudolph now?" Ethan offers as the Frosty credits roll. He gets excited nods in response and gets up to change out the discs.

The movie plays through while the four of them watch on, all squished together on the couch. Nathan is sitting on Ethan's lap, Johnny has his arm tossed around Ethan's shoulder, and Madison is sitting on Johnny's other side, curled against his side with her stuffed horse next to her. She sings along to all the songs in Rudolph - some of them she's learned in her first grade music class - and Nathan tries to join in, too.

"Someone's sleepy," Ethan says quietly, as the Abominable Snowman loses his teeth on screen. He nods down to Nathan's droopy eyes and lolling head and Johnny laughs lightly.

"Been a long day."

But Rudolph ends, too, and then it's time for clean up. Johnny takes the kids into the kitchen with him while Ethan sets up another of their Christmas Eve traditions. While the kids are occupied, he pulls four gifts from the pile of presents stashed in the depths of their closet and grabs up the note he'd prepared earlier. He sets the presents by the sliding glass door and leaves the note with them.

"Guys, come see!" He calls out, feigning surprise.

The two come running, quite awake again, and gawk at the presents on the floor.

"Did we miss Santa?" Madison asks, looking kind of mortified by the prospect.

"I don't think so," Johnny says, coming out behind them with a smile. "Remember last year the reindeer came early? Look, there's a note."

Madison picks it up and unfolds the note. "Hello Madison and Nathan," she reads, "We are Santa's reindeer. We wanted to find out where you had put your stockings this year so we could tell Santa where to put your presents tonight. Be sure to get to bed early so he can come!" She stumbles over a few words but reads it all clearly with a face-splitting grin. The note is signed with a mark that looks like a hoof-print. "Can we open them now?" She asks of her fathers. They nod and she picks up the closest present, but the label on it says 'Dada' so she gives it to Johnny. "You get one, too!"

Johnny opens his present and finds pajamas - sleep pants with pianos on them and one of the plain grey shirts he likes to sleep in when it's colder. Ethan's present is similar, just with plaid pants a black shirt. She picks up Nathan's gift next and offers it to her brother. Johnny helps him with the box, which holds some pretty cool t-rex pajamas and a pair of dinosaur feet slippers.

"Cool!" He announces.

Madison gets to her present, finally, and finds Disney princess pajamas and purple slippers in her box.

"Don't those reindeer have great timing?" Johnny asks. "How'd they know it was almost your bath time, huh?"

"Magic!" Madison answers, eager to change into her new clothes.

Ethan takes them upstairs for their baths and to get them ready for bed. The trio emerge some time later, as bed time begins to slowly approach.

"Are you two gonna leave cookies and milk for Santa?" Johnny asks.

"Yeah!" Nathan answers. "We have to!"

"And carrots for the reindeer," Madison adds, "I bet they get hungry, too!"

Johnny pulls down a plate from the cabinet and lets both of them select the cookies they want to leave. He pours a glass of milk, too, while Ethan grabs some carrots from the refrigerator and cuts them into reindeer sized pieces.

Nathan carries the tray of cookies and carrots to the end table by the sofa and Madison carries the milk (since she is less likely to spill it) and they both place their offerings reverently on the table before casting hopeful looks at the fireplace as if Santa's just going to pop in now.

"Do we have to go to sleep?"

Johnny picks up the little girl and says, "if you want Santa to come, then yeah, sweetie."

They both pout. Despite being up past their bedtime already, the excitement seems to be keeping them going strong.

"How about a story?"

"Okay!" The both answer simultaneously. Ethan swings Nathan over his shoulder and the four of them head upstairs.

"Nathan can sleep in my room tonight," Madison offers, "if he wants."

Which, well, that makes story-telling easier. They settle both of the kids in Madison's big girl princess bed and Johnny pulls 'The Night Before Christmas' off of the shelf.

"Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, in hopes that St Nicholas soon would be there," he reads slowly, letting Madison follow along with the words in the book.

Ethan takes the next verse, since he already knows the poem by heart. "The children were nestled all snug in their beds, while visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads. And mamma in her 'kerchief, and I in my cap, had just settled our brains for a long winter's nap."

They take turns, going back and forth until both kids have drifted off soundly to sleep. Johnny fixes the blankets and kisses both of the kids on the forehead before moving aside so Ethan can do the same. They flick the nightlight on, the overhead light off and leave the door cracked as they leave the room and head back downstairs.

"Well, Santa," Johnny says, catching Ethan around the waist and pulling him in for a kiss as they stand in the living room, illuminated only by the lights on the tree. "We've got cookies to eat, milk to drink, and presents to put out. But I, ugh, I think I saw some mistletoe in that box of decorations."

"Oh, did you?"

"Mm," he hums, a hand sliding under Ethan's shirt to brush over bare skin. "It's a shame we're going to be woken up absurdly early."

"Seven a.m. isn't that early," Ethan protests - though he is glad they established that rule.

"We said they could open presents at seven, that doesn't mean they won't be hovering in our doorway at five asking if it's seven yet because maybe the clocks are wrong."

Ethan laughs and grabs a cookie off the tray. "Here," he says, offering it to Johnny who takes a bite. "You'll need your energy, then."

Johnny shakes his head and shares another kiss, this one cookie flavored.

"C'mon, let's get to work so we can get to bed."

"Whatever you say, Santa."

"And then maybe I have a present for you. And maybe it involves a Santa hat," Ethan teases as he pulls away from Johnny.

"Hey! You can't just say that and walk away, guy," he protests, watching as Ethan quietly retreats upstairs to start hauling presents down. "Ah, you're lucky I love you."

When they finally do head to bed, everything is set up perfectly. The milk and cookies are gone, the carrots nibbled on. There's a note to Madison and Nathan from Santa and presents are packed into the stocking and even more are circled around the tree, which glowing brilliantly with lights in the darkened living room. The snow is still coming down hard outside, turning everything eerily quiet as the snowfall muffles the sounds of the night.

And tomorrow will be great, too, Ethan thinks, as Johnny drags him into their room, so eager for his present. Tomorrow will be unwrapping presents and playing in the snow and fun with the Spencer's and another fantastic Christmas with a family he wouldn't trade for anything.