You're Mine

chapter 109

Sunday, 25th December:

Logan: 13; Layla: 7; Leo: 4; Twins: 1; Eleanor: 2

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"Eleanor went to bed early tonight.", Amelia realized as she followed her husband upstairs to their bedroom. It was shortly after midnight, and they had wrapped gifts for the kids until now with their friends.

"Now we know why.", Owen whispered and chuckled. He noticed the husky that was sleeping in her bed, wrapped around Leo's small body. The boy had probably wanted to find his parents, but they had strictly prohibited the children from coming downstairs, otherwise Santa wouldn't have come. And when they weren't in here, he had decided to cuddle with Ellie in her bed. "Gotta take a picture.", he announced.

"That is the cutest thing I've ever seen! Send it to the group chat!", the brunette ordered. "Let's get ready and then we can lift him into the bed.", she decided. "I'm glad kids don't get backpain as often as we do."

"Sometimes I wonder how his brain works.", the trauma surgeon scoffed in amusement when the couple was preparing their toothbrushes. "Because he could have just climbed into bed without us and slept their until we joined him."

"He's Leo...he wanted to snuggle and when he didn't find either of us, he chose to cuddle with El, who must have loved the company enough to miss her night-snack.", his wife shrugged with an adorable smile.

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"Mama, can we go downstairs now?", Layla asked when it was almost 7am. She had joined her family members around three in the morning, even Logan was snuggling with them. Owen had gotten the twins about half an hour ago.

"In ten minutes, Honey.", the neurosurgeon replied softly. They had agreed on meeting in the living area at 7am, so the children could find and open their presents at the same time.

"Merry Christmas, Ames.", her husband smiled and leaned in to give his wife a kiss as he turned on the TV that was installed on the wall across from their bed. "Let's watch a Christmas cartoon.", he suggested. Usually, they tried to make sure that especially the smaller kids didn't watch too much TV, but today was a special day.

"Merry Christmas, Babe.", Amelia beamed at him. Her oldest and youngest son were looking at a book together, Luna and Layla cuddled with Eleanor and Leo occupied his mama's lap, excitedly staring at the TV ahead of them. The brunette leaned down to kiss her toddler's head, which made him smile. He was holding his Togepi too.

"I love starting Christmas in bed with you guys.", Owen informed his family about three minutes later. It had become some kind of tradition and they all loved it so so much. The couple didn't expect to get a lot of sleep during Christmas night anyway, so they weren't even sad about the loss of it.

"It's 7 now.", Logan shared after glancing at his father's clock. He had left his phone in his room for now since he had already texted Atlas and his friends before he had come in here. "What? I wanna know too which presents Santa got me.", he told his parents that glanced at him, surprised by his excitement.

"Alrighty.", his mother grinned. "Let's all go downstairs then and open some gifts...that is, if Santa even brought some. Who knows, have you all been good this year?", she questioned the children, who nodded. "Okay then let's see if he thought so as well."

"Grandma!", Leo happily exclaimed and ran into Evelyn's arms. She lifted him up and gave him a kiss. "Merry Christmas.", he sweetly wished and nuzzled his nose against hers. "Were you good? Because only then will Santa have brought you some presents.", he wisely let her know.

"I sure hope so, but I'm not too worried about it, Sweetheart.", the grey-haired woman answered and gently put the boy back down, so he could explore the pile of gifts with his siblings, cousins and friends.

"Well, I for one cannot wait for the tasty dishes we ordered.", Tom started a grown-up conversation while the adults were watching the kids open their presents. "Come here, Baby!", he told Fiona, who brought her daddy a gift she needed help with.

"Same.", Nathan agreed. They would have breakfast prior to lunch, as always, but the ordered German food would definitely be one of today's Christmas highlights. "I think my girls think so, too.", he said, resting his flat hand against Megan's stomach that was hidden under her Christmas sweater. She leaned in to receive a kiss.

"Woof!", Eleanor figured she was meant since the topic at hand was her favorite one and she was the Queen of Food. Everyone laughed because one thing was obvious, she had gotten her humor from her mama.

"Come on, Cutie Pie!", Amelia demanded from her husky and lead her to a smaller pile of three gifts. "Those are for you. You might as well be lucky and get some snacks because you're such a hungry doggo."

"Mama, I got a Togepi outfit!", Leo informed his mom with the biggest smile possible. "Can I change into it, please?", he begged excitedly. His parents had known that this would be his immediate question, so they had washed the outfit beforehand.

"Yes, go get your Daddy and make him help you, Honey.", the neurosurgeon beamed at her happy son. Her heart melted whenever she saw her children so happy because that was all she needed to be able to survive anything. "Hi Ellis, what do you have there?", she asked her little niece.

"A new toy!", she truthfully responded and showed it to her aunt, who was supervising her dog at the same time. Eleanor was able to unwrap gifts by herself but in case she left some paper in her mouth instead of spitting it out, somebody would have to help as soon as possible.

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a/n: Well, that was actually more exhausting than I originally expected, so maybe I can't pre-write many chapters after all. :'( + Please don't be mad if I made (many) mistakes. I proof-read this as usually, but my brain doesn't function perfectly at the moment...