All of this past

Christmas

Jude and Kate were already at home when I arrived after picking Sam up from school. Their exams had finished yesterday, and they had spent their day off today with shopping and going to the movies with some friends, their usual post-examritual. Kate was upstairs, practising some more for her performance tonight, while Jude had started on dinner already.

I was grateful that the holidays were just around the corner. The past three weeks had been complete madness, both at work and at home. My boss wanted me to finish several cases before my two weeks off, and the two girls having exams were driving me mad in the evenings. Add Harry's full schedule that didn't allow us much time together, except for a couple of stolen hours on weekend nights, and even that didn't work out last week. It had been over a week since we'd seen each other, and I couldn't wait for tonight. He'd meet us at the art academy for Kate's performance and I was planning on asking him to come over afterwards, as I needed to put Sam to bed soon after, he still had school tomorrow and Friday. 

I told Sam to take a shower before dinner would be ready, and went up to check on Kate. I found her in her room, strumming on her guitar as she sang softly to it.

"Hey babe, are you okay?" I walked into her room, stroking her hair as I took a seat next to her. She looked up at me and smiled.

"Yeah, it's coming along quite well. Do you like my new dress?" I took her guitar of her lap and pulled her up so I could take a good look at her. She was wearing a red dress that complimented her figure, and made me realise all of a sudden that she was turning 14 in a few months, and she was everything but a little girl. Her subtle make up accentuated her bright blue eyes and her dark hair flowing down to her waist completed the picture. 

"You look stunning Kate. And so grown up, I can hardly believe it. David would've been so proud of you, you know that, right?"

She smiled and nodded as she twirled, making her dress flow nicely around her legs. "Sometimes I wish you guys would stay little kids forever, but I have to admit this is good too." I smiled as I pulled her into a small hug and warned her about dinner in a few minutes before I went to check on Sam. Him growing up became more and more obvious every day, he insisted on showering alone, even managing not to flood the bathroom, and he only wanted my help with rinsing his hair, no more bedtime stories, and just refusing to be babied more often. I walked into the bathroom, finding him in his space ship pyjamas. I chuckled.

"Sam, you do remember we're going to Kate's performance, right? I was thinking about some different dress choice than pyjamas, if you don't mind." He slapped his hand to his forehead and ran upstairs to find a pair of jeans and a red button down shirt, coming back downstairs together with Kate when Jude called them for dinner.

"Thanks Jude, that was delicious." I complimented her as I quickly put everything in the dishwasher before we had to leave. She smiled and pressed a quick kiss on my cheek before she rushed upstairs to get a fresh shirt, joining the rest of us in the car a few minutes later.

It appeared that wonders did exist, as traffic was exceptionally easy for this time of day. When we arrived at the art academy, Harry had once again broken his habit of being late as he stood waiting by the entrance, looking a little uncomfortable under the gazes of the other parents entering. A big smile crossed his face as he noticed us climbing out of the car. Kate grabbed her guitar from the trunk and ran inside, yelling a hello to Harry when she ran past him. He kissed Jude's cheek and ruffled Sam's hair before he wrapped his arms around me and pulled me in for a kiss. I couldn't keep myself from letting out a small moan when I felt his lips move against mine. "I missed you." was all I could mumble when he let go.

"Me too. You have no idea how much I'm looking forward to next week. Finally a couple of days off, for the both of us." he said softly as he nuzzled our noses together.