Ⲇⲉⲧⲉⲅⲛⲇ Ɲⲟⲥⲧⲓ⳽: Tʜᴇ Dʏɪɴɢ Lɪɢʜᴛ

Chapter 3: Christmas Time Is Here [Winter Finale]

December 25th, 2025

Layla

As I watched Alina, Kamala and Elise sit around the tree opening presents, I felt a sense of both sadness and peace. I knew full well of the threat that lied ahead, but... it felt so good just sitting by the fire, looking at such a big tree that the people of Twi'lio bought to our house and listening to Natasha and Yelena sing in Russian as Elise jumped up and down after opening her gifts. I smiled as Elise handed me gifts - a necklace and some earrings and a portrait of myself, Elise, Alina and Natasha huddled together in a hug, and my heart swelled up in love because no one has ever given me a gift so heartwarming and thoughtful...

"Elise... this is... I.. T-thank you, sweetie.." 

Elise told me that her and Alina worked on this gift for almost a week to make sure that everyone - Yelena included, was in the picture... I teared up with emotions because it was so heartfelt and kind, I pulled her into a deep hug. I've been increasingly emotional lately and Elise quickly found out why.. I was trying my hardest to contain and hide it, but..

"Mom... y'you're pregnant??"

I was... beyond frightened to reveal my pregnancy, especially with the threat of the Order, but... I literally couldn't hide it any longer, I was starting to show signs of the pregnancy as the days went by, and by the Christmas season, the baby was kicking and getting fussy, not to mention the, um, pregnancy gas that was getting more and more frequent, so I would eventually have to come clean, and I figured now was a good time as any to let the cat out of the bag... I guess somehow God answered my prayers to give Elise another sibling and blessed me with a baby... but, God, I was so scared to think that something was going to happen in this coming battle against the Order, which was why I was determined to find the Taskmaster Society's girls and get them out of there, so that.. if I wanted to, I can sit back and have Elise, Alina and Nat work with them and fight the Order. But, it's me we're talking about, so that definitely won't happen. I trust and believe that no harm is going to come to my little bundle of joy.

"Layla, you have my word that nothing is going to harm your baby when we start bringing the fight to the Order. I know you're going to be nervous and scared about hurting the baby, but we've been building a team against the Order. I'm not saying that it's a full squadron yet, but we can breathe a little easier knowing that the people here will defend this city from the Order."

I exhaled slowly at Natasha's words. I was... extremely nervous, but I put it in the back of my mind as I felt the baby kick me lightly. Talk about a Christmas miracle, huh...

As the Christmas night went past, I started to reminiscence on when Marc and I celebrated Christmas with my family, before everything went to shit... it was one of my fondest and closest memories I had with my mother and father, because Dad would always go out of his way to make sure Alina and I had the best holiday, even if I didn't really know that Alina was my sister at the time... seeing Alina smile and laugh with Elise and Kamala makes all of this worth it. 

I sat on the balcony, wrapped up in my shawl and pajamas as I sipped on my hot chocolate - but not too hot for the baby as the ground was dusted in snow. I watched the children down below play in the snow - although one of the kids got scolded by his mother for accidentally throwing a snowball near my face, and even though I assured him I wasn't mad, he was sent home for the night, the poor baby...