what a life (Naturals One shots)

Day 3

Veronica 

"Ronnie come on it's Christmas" I rolled over and buried my head into Briggs chest. He smelled like pine and sap from his wrestle with our tree more then a week ago. I smiled as he gently ran his fingers through my hair. I heard feet running down the hallway and a knock at the door just above ours.

"Grandpa Judd come on its Christmas" A squeaky voice called out as they knocked again, I laughed at the fact he was the first one to get woken up. I heard him get out of bed and open the door, followed by a scream and giggles. Then more running and more knocking. The night before we made a deal with our 3 year old that if she managed to get everyone up we would open presents early. Unfortunately it seemed like everyone was suddenly a morning person, even Cassie who almost always refused to get up before 9.

"Mommy daddy" She crawled up onto the bed and Snuggled between us. Her big green eyes screamed excitement as she bounced up and down on Briggs who lay very still. Suddenly he exploded up and attacked her with kisses, making her laugh hysterically.

"Daddy stoooopp" she laughed as her little hands covered his eyes "Come on everyone is up time to open presents" she wiggled out of his embrace and sat on my stomach, her blonde hair still up in a messy bun I had done before bed the night before. 

"Mommy come onnnnn" she rolled her eyes and flopped dramatically on my chest, her little face turned towards mine. I gently kissed her on her forehead and sat up, cradling her in my arms. I carried her out of the room and into the living room, Briggs close behind me. The moment she saw the presents her eyes widened.

'Mommy Santa came" She screamed making everyone in the room smile. We decided when I got pregnant that we would still live in the old victorian house that housed five teens who would give her the childhood they were denied, and an old man who would protect her at all costs. They were our family. We all sat around the tree as she opened gifts. as she opened the last one her eyes widened. It was from Judd. in the purple box was a dark green jacket along with a magnifying glass and a small kid chemistry set that looked slightly used. I knew who used that set, because she always used it with me when we inspected small pebbles we found in her yard. I felt emotion boil up in my chest when she pulled out the jacket, her smile widened.

"It has my name on it look it mommy" She squealed. I knew exactly who's it was. 

"Scarlett wore that all the time, its been in my closet for so long, along with the set. and that Magnifying glass, she took that on your adventure cliff scaling remember?" he smiled, his eyes gleamed with tears. I wiped the tears that had slipped out of my eyes. Scarlett was always adventuring, that was one of the reasons I loved her. Over the years I had learned to process the emotions that came with Scarlet death, and that came with a lot of heaviness, but I had a lot of people to lean on. When my daughter was born, we knew her name. We weren't gonna let our best friend be forgotten.

"Scarlett come on, lets get pancakes" Judd picked her up with ease and she laid her head on his shoulder and wrapped her tiny arms around his neck.

"I love you Papa" she whispered and he smiled "I love you to Scarlett"

Not gonna lie, I cried while writing this....