christmas (baby please come home)

it's christmas day

everything feels right as Ricky and Nini wake up on December 25th in each other's arms. they cuddled tightly together through the night for heat but also because they missed each other.

it's early, the sun has barely risen but Ricky can't help but notice how the light casts over his beautiful fiancé's face. he can't help but fall in love with her more everyday.

he presses a soft kiss to her forehead, "Merry Christmas darling."

Nini stirs and groans a little as she curls further into his chest, her hands clawing at his sides a little, "mm, Merry Christmas bubs."

he sighs contently as he settles her tightly against his chest, his arms wrapped around her. everything is calm and peaceful, just as it should be. at least, for a few minutes.

suddenly, Allie bursts into the guest room, the door hitting the wall, making Nini jump slightly against his chest.

"ITS CHRISTMAS DAY! SANTA CAME!"

Ricky glances over his fiancé's shoulder to read the clock, seeing that it was barely 8am. he groans, "really gator? we can't sleep any longer?"

"nope!" she says as she jumps excitedly in her spot, "come downstairs so we can open presents!"

the little blonde girl is out of the room almost as quickly as she came in. Nini mumbles against his chest, "is she gone?"

he chuckles, "yeah babe, she's gone. we better get downstairs though or else she'll be back."

they both groan slightly as they climb out of each other's arms, the cooler air in the room hitting them. Nini sits up in the large bed as Ricky gets up and stretches. she attempts to fix a few of the buttons on her pajama shirt that Ricky had cheekily undone as they were getting into bed the night before.

they both head down the stairs, already feeling the warmth of the fireplace and hearing Allie's excited voice. Ricky and Nini walk hand in hand into the living room and take a seat on the couch just as Mike begins handing out presents.

they watch as Allie opens her gifts from Santa first, excited about each and every one. Ricky smiles sweetly at the sight of the girl in front of the tree. Nini's hand rubbed his arm gently as they watched her tear open gift after gift.

eventually she begins to open gifts from her parents, thanking them for everything. Mike hands her a box that's from Ricky and Nini.

"Merry Christmas Al, that's from both of us." Nini says sweetly as the girl looks at the medium sized box wrapped in sparkly red paper.

she tears it open, gasping excitedly when she sees what's inside, "a ukulele?! for me?!"

Nini nods, "your very own!"

"i know how much you liked playing Neens uke when you visited us in New York this summer so we got you your own so you can learn to play." Ricky responds, smiling sweetly at his sister.

the girl gets up and hugs both of them tightly, saying thank you. Mike and Jenn exchange gifts with each other while Ricky and Nini chat quietly together on the couch.

he passes out the boxes to his parents once he notices they finished with their gifts. they had decided on a new sweater for Mike and a musical theatre book of songs for Jenn, knowing that she liked to sit down at the piano and play.

"we've got gifts for you kids too, hang on!" Jenn says as she moves around the tree and pulls out two wrapped gift boxes, handing one to each of them.

"we weren't expecting Nini to join us but now that she's here you can open them together." Mike responds as his wife joins him again on the other couch.