You guys wanted a second part so here you have it. Yeah uhm, happy new year!
And no, I won't pay for your therapy sessions after reading this :')
----
Pairing: Miss PeregrineXReader
Word count: 2463 words
Warnings: none
----

You woke up early today and somehow couldn't fall back to sleep. No matter how often you tried, you wouldn't succeed. You turned your head to the side to look at your calendar and your clock.

December 24, 05:36 am. The morning of Christmas Eve.

It was your first Christmas with your new family and even though it was technically still September the 3rd, you were excited and also nervous about the upcoming events.

After some more turning around in bed you decided to finally stand up and get ready. You were certain that Alma was already up and preparing breakfast so maybe you could steal some time with her alone.

The smell of pancakes already hit your nose, as you went down the stairs. You tried to be as quiet as possible but Alma had already turned to face you when you appeared in the doorframe.

"Good morning. Up so early?" She smiled at your tired face.

"Yeah, I couldn't sleep anymore," you said and shrugged slightly.

Alma only hummed and turned her attention back to the pan on the stove, so you decided to set the table. You grabbed some plates out of the kitchen cupboard and went to the dining room. To your surprise, the room was already glowing in red and green decoration and you immediately felt the Christmas spirit.

The day went on smoothly. First breakfast, then baking cookies and decorating the tree and before you realized it, it was already time for dinner. The day flew by so fast and there hadn't been a single minute where you didn't laugh and enjoy the time together.

Claire had dragged you into her room at one point because she wanted help finishing her present for Miss Peregrine. The kids and you decided to make a small cardboard version of the loop, with the beach, house, and garden included.

You couldn't really recall whose idea it was in the first place but it also didn't really matter. That's how you had ended up sitting with Claire on the wooden floor, gluing little trees and flowers together and painting white snow on the tops for most of the day. Some of the other kids had joined you after a while, also needing to finish some of their parts and occasionally asking you for help when it came to painting it.

One and a half hours before dinner you decided to leave the kids with their things to get cleaned up and make your way downstairs. Taking a look in the kitchen, you found it empty.

"You are late," a voice whispered while two arms were wrapping around your middle.

You immediately froze and your cheeks began to heat up.

"I- I am? I didn't know that I was supposed to be downstairs...uhm when exactly?" you stuttered, confusion written all over your face.

It was incredibly hard not to let yourself fall and drown in the moment. Her perfume surrounded you in a cloud of warmth and safety that all you wanted to do was lean back to stay in her arms forever.

A soft chuckle filled your ear and you could feel her removing her arms from your hips.

"You are just adorable."

You could feel your face heat up again as you slowly turned around.

Alma smiled at you for some seconds before clearing her throat and continuing:

"I suppose that you came down to help with dinner?"

Scratching the back of your head, you nodded slowly.

"Yeah, the kids kept me occupied for the past hours so I wanted to go and check if you need any help."

Her gaze started to wander through the kitchen, looking for something that you could do. Finally, her eyes met yours again and with a fond smile she said:

"You can set the table if you want. Once you've done that you can come back and I'll see what you can do to help me here."

You smiled, nodded, and went to work. Together dinner was prepared quickly and earlier than planned which gave you a little time to finally finish your part of Miss Peregrines present.

And so you sneaked up to your room to pull out a little box from under your bed. It had been your job to make the people living in the house.

Maybe you had gone a bit too much into detail especially when it had come to Alma's figure but you just couldn't help it.

The hours had passed so quickly while you had tried to make it look as realistic as possible and to be honest there were worse ways to waste your time than to stare at her adorable face in the photograph that the kids had given you for references.

You finished the other tiny cardboards just in time when you heard Emma call everyone down for dinner. Quickly you put the rest of your drawing supplies back on your desk and the dried figures back into the box under your bed.

Dinner passed by as quickly as the rest of the day. Everyone seemed to be in a good mood and so the table was talking and laughing loudly, even after every plate was already cleared from the table.

The younger ones were excitedly jumping around your legs while you made sure that everyone got to hang their sock over the fireplace. After putting a plate with cookies over the fireplace as well, it was time to send the kids to bed.

Alma stayed up for a little longer and you went to help her fill the socks with sweets and little presents while she began to put the bigger presents under the tree. When you had finished your task you went to the kitchen to search for something. Alma joined you a minute later, looking curious over your shoulder.

"What exactly are you searching, darling?"

"I don't know if you ever did that but back at home my parents would always lay a little trail so that it looked like Santa was there to bring them presents," you answered, your eyes searching the shelf in front of you.

Alma rose an eyebrow and laid her head to the side.

"So you need....mud?"

You froze.

Right, it was still September the 3rd and there was no snow anywhere. You had forgotten about that for a moment.

"Uh yeah, no. I was actually going for powdered sugar as snow but that would maybe be unrealistic since it is September, right?"

You turned to look at her, scratching the back of your head. Now your idea suddenly felt stupid.

Alma looked at you for a moment before the corners of her mouth began to twitch upward.

"I don't see why we shouldn't give it a try," she shrugged and grabbed behind you to pull out a little can of powdered sugar, 'so, what were you planning to do with that?'

You looked at her a little confused. Maybe she hasn't heard you right.
"But... it's September. How won't the kids grow suspicious?"

"They will be fine. After all Father Christmas has to deliver presents all over the world and therefore also outside of this loop and I am sure that it has snowed there", she replied and handed you the can.

You nodded slowly. That actually made sense and could work.

Quickly you grabbed the pair of boots and the cardboard boy that you had brought downstairs and went to the entrance door. Alma followed you, watching every step you were doing in an attempt to figure out what you had planned.

"Oh, I forgot, I need a little bit of water. Could you get that for me?" you suddenly remembered.

She nodded and disappeared into the kitchen once more to get you a glass of water.
Meanwhile, you opened the box of sugar to pour some of it into the box.

You slipped into the boots, put some of the water on them, and then stepped into the box of sugar and out again. So you started to make a little trail of sugar from the doorway to the Cookies and socks and then to the Christmas tree, taking care that the trail got weaker the more you walked forward.

Alma watched you quietly and you could swear that you saw a hint of fascination in her eyes.
You smiled widely, suddenly feeling a little proud of your idea to bring your home tradition here. After you were satisfied with the result, you started putting the boots in the box and placing it under the staircase to take it with you later.

You turned back to Miss Peregrine who had turned her gaze to the scene in front of her.

"It is lovely," she whispered.

Your smile only grew wider as you returned to the living room and grabbed the plate of cookies.

"Do you want some as well?" you asked, already taking a bite from your biscuit.

Alma tilted her head slightly, her eyes never leaving yours.

"I usually put them back to the rest but this works too, I suppose," she mumbled while taking one from the plate.

"Well, since we are doing Santas work here, I think it's only fair that we also get to eat his sweets," you laughed with your mouth full.

She smirked and went to sit down on the sofa. It didn't take you long to walk over and let yourself fall beside her.

"Is that an Ymbryne thing? Do all the Ymbrynes do that when they are confused?" you asked curiously.

She stopped eating for a second and turned her head to look at you. Her eyes were searching you as if she was waiting for you to explain the question more. When she realized that you wouldn't, she sighed.

"Do what?"

You raised your eyebrows and bit down a laugh.

"You do that thing," you started explaining and tilted your head to the side, "when you think about something really hard or you seem confused."

There was no reaction from her while she was still trying to process the information that you just gave her.

"What? You never noticed that?"

"I don't think that I've ever really paid attention to that if I'm being honest," she replied and after a while, she added: "Well, now I am definitely gonna pay attention to it."

You snorted and shook your head.

"I think it's pretty adorable," you shrugged and looked at her.

It took a lot of strength not to burst out laughing at the sight of Alma trying her hardest not to blush nor tilt her head again.

Slowly you laid your head to the side, not being able to suppress your smile for any longer.
She mimicked your movements not even a second later.

(Is this flirting in Ymbryne style?)

You suddenly got an idea and slowly you tore your gaze from her. Instead, you pulled out your phone and started to search it for some music. Putting on your favorite playlist you laid the phone on the little coffee table and jumped up to hold a hand out to her.

Her eyes had followed every movement of yours and were now simply staring at your hand.
After a hesitant moment, she finally took it and let you pull her up from the sofa.

"For a second I thought you were gonna leave me hanging," you said, laughing nervously.

Alma simply smirked and replied smoothly:

"How could I ever refuse an offer of yours?"

You could feel your cheeks burning when you two slowly started to dance through the living room.

Thinking about it, it really wasn't such a smart idea to stay downstairs and spend time with the older women and especially dancing wasn't such a good idea. Or at least not when you were secretly having a huge crush on her. It was already hard enough to hide it during your usual everyday life but waltzing with her through this small room with only a few inches between the both of you, took it to a whole new level.

Her voice pulled you out of your thoughts.

"You are thinking too much."

You blinked slowly and turned your head to look at her directly, which you had tried to avoid in the beginning. Your breath got caught in your throat as your eyes met hers but you tried your best to not let this affect your facial expression.

'Ohhhhhh bird, don't panic. Don't panic. And please please don't act weird now. Just act calm, like it doesn't bother you at all. Orrr you could just tell her- no, never mind. Stupid id-'

"You are doing it again," she laughed when you didn't reply.

"Sorry," you muttered, not being able to suppress the blush that crept up your neck.

She just shook her head and you found yourself simply staring at her, wishing this moment could last forever.

Not paying enough attention to your steps was your mistake and you suddenly started to stumble, tripping over the edge of the carpet and falling onto the wooden floor.

Unfortunately, you pulled Alma down with you and she ungently landed on the floor beside you.

So much for staying calm and not acting weird.

"Oh bird, I'm so sorry," you panicked, helping her into a sitting position while checking for any injuries.

To your surprise she didn't look at you annoyed, she was actually laughing. You were going red again when you quickly dropped her arm back into her lap.

"I was only making sure that you aren't injured!" you explained yourself, lowering your head to hide your red face from her.

She carefully put two fingers under your chin to raise your head again.

"I know you were," she whispered and smiled encouragingly.

After a short time she added:

"Thank you for the nice evening."

You finally tore your eyes away from the ground and looked at her emerald green ones instead.

Your breath stuttered for a second and you felt yourself getting lost in the moment. It would be so easy, you could simply lean forward. It was only a few inches.
You gathered your courage and slowly leaned forward and you could swear that she was doing the same. Your heart was pounding hard in your chest and you closed your eyes almost like a reflex. You could feel her warm scent surrounding you and her breath on your lips when you heard a loud rumble. At first, you tried to ignore it but then you heard it again and this time louder.

Your eyes snapped open and you were greeted by darkness. Your heart was still pounding uncontrollably and when you turned your head to the side the calendar and clock showed:

December 24, 05:36 am.