Nowhere to Go But Up✓

It's Beginning to Look Alot Like Christmas

Time Jump- It's now Christmastime

I rushed inside my house. Winter has definitely fallen over upstate New York and to prove it, everything was covered in a lovely white blanket of snow. It made me miss the summer more, and all the memories we made.

Steve had been able to take a week off from work and we did our best to fill that week with as much as we could. We went camping together before picking up Lucy and going to the beach for a couple of days. We spent many nights out on his land, taking in the stars and making plans. Since I had that appointment with my therapist I was doing my best to be open, to allow myself some happiness without walking around on eggshells, constantly waiting for everything to fall apart.

I surprised Steve on his birthday. We had been seeing each other for three months and I was finally comfortable enough to take that next step both emotionally and physically. I had my parents keep Lucy and Sirius and surprised him with his favorite dinner before taking him upstairs and took those next steps. It was amazing and perfect.

After Steve's birthday was Nick's. Lucy and I spent that day alone, looking at pictures and videos of her dad, trying to keep his memory alive. I had gotten a small cake and had Lucy blow out the candle, making a wish for her dad.

Come September, business had picked up so much that I needed Lucy in preschool every day during the week. It was rough at first and I came home and cried every day that first week. Also around that time, Steve started staying over most nights. Honestly, he spent most nights at my house then his own at this point. He had a couple drawers in my dresser and a portion of the closet. He still kept his house so he hadn't officially moved in but it was nice to have him around more. Lucy loved it.

Business had picked up so much this year that I was seriously considering getting an actual office and hiring at least one other person to help ease the workload. That's where I had been this morning, downtown looking at office spaces. I found a few promising ones. As I walked into the house I noticed that most of my Christmas decorations were up. I got to the living room and there was a tree in the corner, nestled between the bookshelf and the large windows that looked out over the backyard. And there was Steve and Lucy, both bouncing around a little, excited to show me what they got. "And what are you doing?" I asked, placing my coat on the arm of one of the sofas and approaching the tree.

"I know you said we'd go after you got back but Lucy just couldn't wait. She strong-armed me into taking her to the tree farm and picking out one of the biggest ones there." Steve said sheepishly.

"Oh she did, did she? Well we can't have that. Lucy, don't you know better?" I said, sarcastically. She giggled as I reached down to pick her up, placing a kiss on her cheek. She wrapped her little arms around my neck, choking me with her hug. "Lucy picked out a beautiful tree."

"I helped out." He said, pouting. His eyes betrayed him though, revealing the joke. I leaned over and kissed him.

"You did good Captain." I said with a wink. He groaned slightly. Steve helped me bring the boxes of ornaments down from the attic and we set up to decorate the tree. As this was our first Christmas together, he had never seen our ornaments and Lucy made sure to show him each and every one, telling him all about them.

~~~🎄🎅🏼🎁~~~

Christmas Eve came by too quickly. Of course Lucy was completely wired the whole night and refused to go to bed until almost midnight. Once she was settled and asleep in her bed I had Steve help me "play Santa" and set up the gifts from me and him and the gifts that came from the big man in red.

This year Steve had the pleasure of eating the cookies and drinking the milk that Lucy left out for Santa. I made sure that he left crumbs. Once we had everything set up for tomorrow I pulled Steve to sit with me in front of the fire place where I let him unwrap on of his gifts early. We laid there in post-coital bliss, taking in the lights from the Christmas tree and the gentle glow from the fire place. Steve reached over and grabbed the throw pillows and blanket off of the couch and made us comfortable, covering us up. I fell asleep shortly there after, curled up next to him, my head resting on his chest.

❄️🎄🎅🏼🎁

Miraculously we woke up before Lucy and were able to make ourselves decent. One of the things we did leading up to the holidays were get matching pajamas for Christmas morning and taking some pictures of them. As we changed into them, we heard Lucy's bedroom door open ever so quietly and her little footsteps attempting to sneak down the stairs. We opened the bedroom door as quietly as we could and snuck downstairs after her.

We found her in front of the tree, looking at the presents underneath with eyes big and her mouth open in the shape of an "o". "And just what are you doing missy?" I asked. She jumped, eyes wide in surprise at being caught. "You know you have to wait for Grammy and Poppy to get here before we can open gifts."

"I know Mamma. I jus' lookin'" she explained. I checked the clock on the wall, 8:45. She slept in longer than I thought she would. My parents should be here in fifteen minutes.

"Ok, let's get your teeth and hair brushed. Your grandparents will be here soon." I said before leading her back upstairs to begin her morning routine. I heard the doorbell go and Sirius barking in retaliation. I heard Steve let them in and wish them a Merry Christmas as Lucy finished up and ran down the stairs.

We let Lucy open all of her gifts before we exchanged gifts amongst the adults. I had booked my parents a trip for over Valentine's Day at an all-inclusive resort in Jamaica. I turned to Steve and saw him holding a wrapped, flat gift. "Merry Christmas Astoria." He said with a smile, handing me the gift. I smiled, blushing slightly as everyone stopped to watch me open my gift. Inside was an large envelope which I opened, taking the paper inside out. My hand flew to my mouth and I started tearing up.

"You didn't?!" He just smiled at me. "I can't believe you did this."

"Well what is it Story?" My dad asked. I handed over the certificate that stated that that little clump of stars he named after me, was officially known now as Astoria's Constellation. My dad was speechless.

"How on earth did you manage that?" I asked Steve, throwing my arms around his neck.

"Being Captain America for over seventy years has some perks. NASA was more than willing to accommodate me."

"I love it! Thank you so much! So my gift for you couldn't be delivered to my house so you'll need to wait until we go over to my parents' for dinner to open it."

"That's ok." The rest of the morning was spent watching Lucy go from one new toy to the next as well as the adults having mimosas and Lucy having just plain Sunny D with grape sparkly in it. Around noon we headed over to my parents' house so that Mom could start preparing dinner before my aunts, uncles, and cousins came and the house got too loud and crowded to get much of anything done. I told Steve to make sure he dressed warmly before we headed upstairs and I helped Lucy get ready before letting her go with my parents when they left and I could go get ready and follow with Steve.

We arrived at my parents and Lucy and Sirius were already outside, playing in the snow, waiting for us. We got out of Steve's truck and I lead him over to the barn. Walking hand in hand down the aisle until we got to the last stalls I pulled him over to the last one on the right. Inside was a beautiful red roan mare. "Merry Christmas Steve!"

"You got me a horse?" He asked in disbelief.

"It's kind of a thing in this family. Once you're in, you get a horse. It's really just an excuse for me and my dad to go to the live stock auctions. We have a pretty expensive problem." I said sheepishly. He lifted me up in a hug, spinning me around a little.

"Thank you so much!" He kissed me before reaching over and gently petting his horse. "Does she have a name?"

"Her name is Holly. Apparently her previous owners were big fans of Christmas. She's supposed to be really good with kids and new riders. We can test her out with you tomorrow, if you want."

"That sounds great!" We stayed outside for a little bit longer before joining my family and having an amazing first Christmas together.