BENDING THE RULES..A USWNT FANFIC

Christmas Eve

After dinner is over, the kids go into the living room to exchange their sibling gifts. Ash, Whit, and the grandparents follow.

"If I may interrupt before we start. I have an early Christmas present for everyone, particularly Ashlyn." Tammy says to the group.

Ashlyn grins at her mother and looks over to her wife, wondering if she already knows what it is.

Tammy goes to the side door in the living room and opens it, revealing the best present of all.

"Uncle Chris!" The kids yell.

"Haha Merry Christmas everyone!" Chris chuckles as he comes into the living room and puts down his bag.

"What are you doing here?!" Ash asks as she gets up to hug her brother.

"Well I was planning on spending Christmas break down in sunny, hot Florida, but turns out Mom didn't mention to me that she'd be in bitter cold Maryland. So my plans changed last minute."

"Well, we're sorry we didn't reach out to you sooner..." Whit says as she walks over to her brother in law and hugs him.

"It's totally fine, as long as you don't mind if I mix up the plans a bit."

Everyone looks at him quizzically.

"Josh..." Chris calls.

A tall man with a beard and brown hair enters the house.

"Hi everyone." He says.

"Oh Chris! We finally get to meet him!" Tammy says ecstatic.

"Yea, he's come for Christmas. I hope that's okay with everyone." Chris replies nervously.

Whit grins at Ashlyn. "Everyone is welcome...We're glad you came Josh. Welcome to the family." Ash grins to her brother and his partner.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The kids helped Uncle Chris and their new "Uncle Josh" inside with their bags and gifts.

"So sorry we interrupted. Were you guys in the middle of something?" Josh asks as he and Chris sit down on the couch with the rest of the family.

"We were just about to exchange our secret Santa gifts..." Jonah replies.

"Okay, who's first," Whit says as she sits by the fireplace next to Ashlyn.

"I'll go..." Jonah replies as he slides his gift over to Bryce.

Bryce grins widely as he tears open the red paper.

"A new lego set!" He says excitedly.

"Yea..." Jonah replies. "...it's got three hundred pieces, so I figured we could do it together."

Bryce smiles at his brother as he tackles him onto the carpet, giving him some love.

"Okay Bryce, who did you have?" Whit directs.

"Dalton." The boy answers.

Bryce hands the messily wrapped package to his brother. He must've done it himself.

Dalton grins as he rips open the paper.

"Heyyy, a new Raiders hat..." he says as he holds up the new gray Oakland Raiders SnapBack. "...my old one's pretty dirty. Thanks bro," Dalton smiles. Bryce crawls over to his older brother and gives him a hug.

"I had Jonah," Dalton then says. The younger boy smiles as a little neatly wrapped green box is handed towards him.  He tears it open.

"A cold stone gift card!!" He yells.