Little Wonder (Phan)

Thirty-One.

"Can you believe it's almost 2018?" With a large grin in my direction he got out the bottle of wine that he had seemingly been saving for quite some time. And until everyone had thought we'd do for the beginning of the new year, Winnie was sat right beside us. We were a family and I wasn't going to send her off, no matter if me and Phil deserved a little alone time for the night. Getting out the wine glasses, I set them in front of him before going to the fridge, I had made some Kool-aid for her, and so she wouldn't feel left out, I'd made it grape, just like wine.

It was only an hour until 12am, and I patted her head, handing her the Winnie the Pooh mug, her favourite mug, she basically owned it now. "Papa, where is 2017 going? I mean, it just popped in for a quick moment, and now it's leaving." She frowned, looking into her mug as if though it would answer all of life's questions. "I'll miss it papa, I had a lot of great times this year, and I don't want them to just disappear tomorrow." Her light eyes looked up at me with curiosity, and worry. Did she really think that if tomorrow came all of her good times in 2017 would just up and vanish? Smiling, I just shook my head at her, looking over to Phil.

"Um, Winnie - that's not exactly how things work." Clearing his throat, he took his glass and took a sip before continuing. "When 2018 comes, all your memories from 2017 are not going to vanish, they will be right were they always have been." Poking her head teasingly, she swatted him away, giggling before nodding. "And believe me, they'll always be there for you to look back on, to remember when you're sad or upset, they are there to make you smile, or even learn from your mistakes." Rolling my eyes, I took my own glass and made my way out. "And where do you think your going?" He pouted at him, but I motioned for them to join me. He picked up Winnie in a moments notice, and before I could even get really comfortable on the couch, he was sitting beside me, nestled into my side, making a small grunt escape from me.

He didn't seem to notice how close he was, or maybe he did and just didn't care, and set Winnie on my lap, closing his eyes. "And just what do you think you're doing?" Nudging him so his eyes opened back up, scowling at me before nudging me back. "No napping right now, mister. We're gonna do this thing together, 20 more minutes, okay?" Last time we'd done something that ordered we stay up late, he'd fallen asleep within the hour, and he had missed the entire thing, blaming me in the morning, but a little bit of making the bed bounce made that go away easy as pie. That's not how I got rid of all our arguments, we did talk them out from time to time, but when I just didn't feel like talking, I felt like having raging hot -

"Dan, they're about to start the countdown!" Had it really been 20 minutes already? I could've sworn I'd just told him to stay awake. But now he was leaning forward, Winnie had moved from my lap to his, leaning forward with him, and they wore identical grins on. The sight was adorable, and I took a quick photo as they started the countdown. 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 - "One." When the ball dropped Phil leaned over and pressed his lips against mine, I'd melted into the feeling, as usual, holding his face in my hands. It's not that it was that big of a shock to me, but I'd still been taken a little bit by surprise. The giggles that bubbled out of Winnie's mouth made me laugh as well, breaking apart from the liplock to blush and look down at her, seeing her eyes twinkle. "Sorry, got a bit carried away with that kiss, huh?"

Beaming down at Winnie, she just sighed happily. "I hope that one day, I can be as in love with someone as you two are with each other!" And that warmed my heart, and judging by the tears threatening to spill over in Phil's eyes, I could tell they'd really touched his heart as well. Bringing her into a loving hug, Phil joined us and we were all squashed together. Tapping his shoulder, he let us go a few seconds later. "Papa, daddy, I would like to go to sleep please." I felt her tug on my sleeve, and I leaned over and pecked her forehead. Picking her up from Phil's lap, I brought her to her room. "It's 2018, papa. What are we going to do this year?"