Dragon Soothe

Chapter 43

Christmas morning everyone gathered in Ryu and Massika's room. They had gifts for everyone there that they wanted to pass out. Jonny and James were joking around making their sisters laugh when people settled into the room. Ryu thanked everyone for showing up and said how proud he was of their growing family. The patriarch looked over at James' fiancé and Elise and her pregnant belly as he spoke. Massika was digging through packages to find the one she was looking for. She handed the first one to Ava who smiled up at her mother. People watched as she opened the semi large box. To her surprise and delight it was an upgraded camera to the one she had been using for quite some time. She thanked her parents for the gift as Massika was digging for the next gift.

It was a large box making the group wonder what it was. She handed it to Remi. Upon opening it, she discovered it was the newest gaming laptop. She couldn't stop thanking her parents who just smiled at their daughter. Massika then handed Elise a box to open before turning to find the next box. Elise discovered her parents had bought her a camera as well. "So you can capture all those fun parental moments." Ryu told their daughter. To Jonny, he received a new stethoscope engraved with his name on it and a matching pen also engraved. He thanked his parents for the gift. James received an engraved leather briefcase. Both boys thanked their parents before Massika turned her attention to the new members of the family.

"We weren't too sure what to get you boys so forgive us for getting you the same thing." Massika stated as she passed out three medium sized boxes making all three bikers wonder what she was talking about.

As they opened up the box,they realized it was a kit to keep the chrome and other parts of your biker polishedand clean. Tig was quick to thank them and state that it was more than enough.Chibs nodded his head in agreement while Happy grunted making his wife smile atthem. She handed Amanda and Tina small boxes and waited for the two women toopen them up. Inside were beautiful necklaces that matched the eye color of thewoman it was for. Tina was quick tothank them for the beautiful necklace as she had Jonny put it on her for her.Amanda remained quiet thinking it was just a cheap piece of jewelry. Remihelped her mother pick up all the trash from opening gifts before Ryu suggestedthey head downstairs for some hot cocoa and to just enjoy their time together.

"This has been such a great time. Thanks for inviting me along." Tina told Ryu and Massika.

"You and our son have been dating for several years now. You might as well be family." Massika smiled at the much younger woman.

"This place makes the best hot cocoa, don't they?" Jonny said.

"It's because they make it from scratch. None of that premade stuff." Remi told her brother.

The last day the large family was there, Ryu had everyone stay together so they could play in the snow together. Ava had her camera out so she could capture their fun in the snow. They made a huge snowman first making the bikers, except Happy of course, laugh as they did. They used a stick for the nose instead of a carrot since that's all they could get ahold of. They had sticks for its arms as well. Ava had everyone stand around it after it was built so she could get a photo of all of them together with their creation. Next was making snow angels. Happy thought it was dumb and refused to do it making his wife pout at him but he still refused. He stood next to her as she photographed her family making snow angels in the snow. Elise was having a ball but had to have help getting up off the ground when she was done.

Having a snowball fight was more fun than Tig thought it was going to be. He laughed when he hit Chibs in the side of the head with a snowball. Elise reacted by hitting him back in the face. He was wiping his face off just to hear her and Chibs laughing at him. Tig was determined to get the pair back as Jonny began shit-talking Remi who just gave it back making Tig very proud of her. She didn't take shit from anyone including her own family! The back-and-forth was very comical to everyone except Amanda. She wanted no part in the "childish activities" as she called them. Everyone else, including Massika and Ryu, were having a good time while she and Happy stood around watching the chaos.

Ava was loving how her photos were turning out and knew she'd have to print most of them out for a scrapbook of photo album of this trip. Ryu let everyone do whatever they wanted after lunch since they'd had their "family time" that morning. Tig and Chibs wanted to go skiing again while Ava had Happy out snowboarding again. Before she went, Ava found her sisters to get some photos of them and their husband's skiing. She found her brothers and their girlfriends and got some photos of them as well before she started snowboarding. Happy didn't know why she wanted to document their activities but remained quiet about it. He went along with the snowboarding to make his wife happy and hearing her delighted squeals, he knew he'd made the right decision. His mother would be proud of him.

Happy was more than thrilled to finally be going home and getting back into his normal routine. He wasn't sure he'd ever get used to this "domesticated lifestyle" his wife seemed to like living. He watched from the bed as she made sure their bags were tightly packed for the following day. They'd be flying out first class just as when they'd flowing in and he was very grateful then that his in-laws were so generous. They all had breakfast together the next morning before checking out of the resort and being shuttled back to the airport. He stood around and watched his in-laws hugging their two sons and their girlfriends before everyone parted ways to get to their own gates. They'd be headed back to California and the others were headed back to wherever they'd come from. If he remembered right, it was Texas.

They had no turbulence heading into California which he was thankful for. He was also thankful his wife didn't want to talk to him. She was talking with her sister and his brother across the aisle from them. He relaxed in his seat as much as the assassin could and waited to land. Remi was excited to get her new laptop set up so she could download all the games she played on her laptop. She knew she'd have a better experience playing on this new laptop and couldn't thank her parents enough for their generosity. Ava promised her sister she'd send a copy of all the photos she'd taken to anyone who wanted a copy earning a grin in response. Elise was getting more emotional as her pregnancy went on and she figured it was just the hormones making her that way. She still wanted to document their time in Colorado with the enlarged family.

They finally made their descent and Happy couldn't wait to get off the plane. They stood to deboard before going down the tarmac and to go fetch their luggage. Once everyone had their bags, they followed Ryu outside to hail a couple cabs. As they had come to the airport before, they were packed four deep into each cab on the way to Ryu and Massika's house. Ryu paid the cabbies as Chibs and Tig were unloading the trunks respectively. Massika was opening up the door to let everyone in. Chibs helped his wife to the living room where she plopped down on the loveseat earning a "thanks" from her. Massika said she was going to make lunch for everyone since it was a little past lunch time and she figured everyone was hungry already. They'd eaten breakfast at the restaurant but that was hours ago.

Elise wanted to help with making lunch but hermother and husband told her to just sit down and relax. Remi and Ava helped inthe kitchen while the men and Elise sat around the living chatting about randomthings. Happy, as usual, remained quiet only adding his two cent every so often.Good smells were emanating out of the kitchen and Tig wondered what the womenwere cooking for them. He figured it would be sandwiches or something lightlike that. When they were called to the table, he discovered they'd madespaghetti with garlic bread and a salad. Chibs told the women how good everythinglooked making his mother-in-law smile at him and tell the group to dig in. 

Once everyone had eaten and the kitchen was cleaned up, most decided to head back to their own homes to rest up the rest of the day. Laundry needed to get done, grocery shopping lists needed to be made out, bills paid, and most were just naturally tired from the flight. Especially Elise. Chibs knew as soon as they got home she was going to stretch out on the couch to take a nap. He hated seeing her get so tired so easily but their doctor had warned them about it especially with having multiples. As Ava and Happy were watching TV, she, too, fell asleep not realizing how tired she actually was after the chaos of the morning and the long flight. Remi wanted to get the laundry going and a grocery list ready so she could go grocery shopping the following day. Tig just sat on the couch with a beer watching TV and trying to rest. 

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