Love Came Down at Christmas

Love Came Down at Christmas

Christmas is chaotic as ever at the Montgomery-Grey household.

There's always Zola to feed, and then Henry to humor, and on top of that, they have the two tiny kittens that they always have to keep out of mischief.

It's almost beyond them, they think, as they perpetually brush the cat fur out of the children's playpen only for one or the other or both of the cats to promptly resume nesting firmly upon it, as if they just knew that it would bug their mommies and drive them to the insanity that is near to the very brink of the earth.

All the stockings were hung under the fireplace with care... The very first time that season, that is, because after the first time that they'd been toppled over by one of the teething toddlers they'd finally said 'oh, to heck with it all,' and they'd let them become one of the various chew toys that lay about, for the children of course, at the time, because the kittens had suspiciously never taken any interest in one or either of them.

And the carolers!

The entire hospital gang of them always had to come by, and they knocked on the door so loudly that Addison had to run to it and stop them from pounding on it any further because they'd just gotten their youngest son down for his nap and they wanted to keep it that way at least for another little while.

They understood that, of course, and the moment they saw Meredith with Henry gently swaying about in her arms, and they stepped past the threshold and serenaded all of them with some gentle lullabies, such as "Silent Night", "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear", and "The Rocking Carol".

Zola had been listening intently for the first couple of minutes, and then she, too, fell asleep in Addison's arms, on the couch, while the children's mother's breathed a sigh of relief for the first time in over 24 hours.

Cristina (who never sang any of the songs in the first place, because she didn't want to break anybody's eardrums, which she figured was the most merciful gift she could give anyone) was the first person up after the performance, heading towards Meredith (and also Addison)'s kitchen which she had grown into knowing so well, and preparing some fancy cups of hot chocolate (juju's), with whipped cream toppings on top of them, as well as hot of Irish cream in nearly all of them, except for one that secretly wasn't spiked that was destined specifically for Meredith, who is actually secretly pregnant again, and she had only told Cristina and Addison up until this point, in case she miscarried, to make it emotionally easier on everybody.

"Cheers, everyone!" says Mark Sloan, overly enthusiastically, only to be nudged very kindly by his boyfriend Derek, who pointed to the sleeping children with a "shhh-" motion.

"Riiiiiiight '' says Mark with a grin, and Addison rolls her eyes at him playfully, as she hands him and Derek a napkin, so that they can help themselves to a Christmas cookie complete from a Christmas tin that Teddy had just brought over.

Arizona and Callie sat nearby Teddy and Cristina (who were now holding hands, much to Meredith's delight, because they always teased her and Addison for being too mushy), and then all the grownups settled down into chatting (and gossiping!).

The kittens mysteriously behaved themselves the entire time, settling into Callie and Arizona's arms as they hummed softly in between conversations, or at least, Callie did, and Arizona listened to the sound of her voice and leaned onto her wife's shoulder as she always did.

Christmas is chaotic as ever at the Montgomery-Grey household.

(And it makes Meredith and Addison feel more at home than they've ever been).