𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐲 ─── mute it

New York, 25th December 2008

"ℑ can't believe it's already your first Christmas!" Ellie cooed at Wren, smoothing out the little girl's red dress as the baby giggled. Picking her up, Ellie smothered her in kisses.

"Wow, both my girls are looking beautiful," Ellie glanced over her shoulder as Luke appeared in the nursery, dressed in a smarter shirt and jeans, before he leant down to press a kiss to Ellie's lips. "You look absolutely stunning, Els."

"Stop being smooth." He laughed as Ellie went bright red, before leaning down to pick Alex up.

"You, little man, are going to be as dashing as me."

"Cocky much?"

"Nope. It's just facts," Ellie smacked him on the shoulder, before exiting the nursery and down the stairs into the kitchen, where Ethan and Alabaster were checking on the food.

"Haven't burnt the house down." Ellie glared at Ethan, who was wearing a festive red eye patch and looked slightly like he should have had a parrot on his shoulder. Though, Alabaster could have played that role as he looked over the older man's shoulder. "But, it should be done in about ten minutes and my godchildren are so cute."

Luke handed Alex to Ethan, who grinned down at the small boy. Cai curled around Ellie's feet, leaning into the side of her leg, as Luke plucked Wren from her arms.

"Give me my daughter back, Luke," He shook his head, blowing a raspberry onto Wren's cheek as the girl squealed in amusement. Ellie slumped down into a chair, annoyed that she couldn't hold one of her babies.

"Don't worry, mum. You've got me instead," Ellie began to laugh, as Alabaster sat in her lap and clung onto her. "See, I'm obviously the best child you have."

"Al!" Alabaster continued to grin, as Ellie groaned and tried to move him off of her thighs. Luke turned to look at them with a raised eyebrow, as Ellie stopped trying to move and instead took advantage of being able to run her hand through Alabaster's short hair. "My favorite child who I didn't give birth to."

"I'll take it."

"You'll break her legs," Luke warned, placing Wren into her high chair at the table, close to the Christmas tree.

"You're just jealous," Alabaster grinned, before yelping as Luke picked him off of Ellie's lap and deposited him on the tile floor beside Cai. It took a moment for Alabaster to process that Luke had picked him up and placed him somewhere else. "Why are you so freakishly strong?"

"Wouldn't you like to know," Ethan laughed at the pair, as he placed Alex into Ellie's lap, who was watching everything with an amused smile.

"You look lovely, Bella/" Ethan said, as Luke and Alabaster began to bicker. "And I've had an idea."

"Yeah?" She glanced over at her best friend, raising an eyebrow.

"We should take a family photo, with Beans and all," Ellie nodded with a grin, wincing as Luke got Alabaster into a headlock. "Should you be splitting that up?"

"I'm holding a baby and have just given birth." Ethan shot her a glare.

"You gave birth nearly two months ago."

"I'm holding a baby and an invalid." She grinned as Ethan went to go and break Luke and Alabaster up.

"You're lucky you're sweet." She blew him a kiss, before sitting down beside Wren in her high chair, Alex still in her arms. 

"Your daddy and brother are massive dorks," She grinned as they dragged Ethan into their spat. "And your uncle's not very good at breaking up their bickering."

Alex blew a spit bubble, which Ellie chuckled at. She took it as that was him laughing with her.

"You're absolutely right, Alex. Me, you, your sister and Cai are the sane ones and the boys are all a bit dumb," He gurgled again, as Ellie reached down to rub her fingers across Wren's darker hair. The tiny girl was throwing around a little toy, that Cai was dutifully picking back up and handing to the girl. "Are you two excited for your first Christmas? So many people in the family got presents for you. Your Auntie Ava and Auntie Iris both got you multiple things, as did your grandpa, and your dad's uncle."

They both cooed, as Ellie felt her heart melt.

"You're my adorable babies," Cai leant in, as Ellie pressed another kiss to his head. "And you're my favorite puppy."

Looking up, she was kind of surprised to see that all three of the boys were still living, as they all glared at one and other.

"Are you done?" They looked back at her, as Ellie glanced at the pot and grinned, happy that karma had finally come back around. "Something's burning."

"Shit!"

∘☽༓☾∘

"They're in bed," Ellie took the remotes off of Luke's chest so that she could lay on top of him and wrap a fluffy blanket around them. He hummed, pressing a kiss to her head, as he placed the remote controls back on top of her. "Fast asleep."

"Thought you were talking about Thing One and Thing Two over there for a moment," Luke chuckled, as Ellie rolled her eyes with a grin before pulling her phone out and showing Luke the photos on it. "That's a good one."

"Of course you would say that, Ethan isn't in it," Ellie rolled her eyes as Luke grinned. She flicked to the next one, which was of all six of them and Cai. "This one's cute."

"You should get it printed," Ellie hummed in agreement, nodding.

"That's a good plan," She placed the phone down, before raising an eyebrow at Ethan, who was pointing a remote at them. "Are you trying to mute us?"

"Why isn't it working?" Alabaster snickered as he watched Ellie and Luke share a look.

"Ethan, we're not on TV," Ellie replied, before ducking as Ethan chucked the remote at her head. "What was that for?"

"Not muting," He screeched diving to the floor as Luke launched the remote back at his head. Alabaster and Ellie began to laugh. "What was that for?"

"Don't chuck a remote at Els!" Ellie continued to laugh, before patting Luke to get him to lie back down and apologizing to Ethan.

"It's alright. But, I still think you shouldn't have married the psycho," Alabaster began to laugh once more, as Ellie lay fully on top of Luke to stop him from getting up and murdering Ethan. "Just saying."

"Shut up before I smack you into next year," That shut Ethan up incredibly quickly.

∘☽༓☾∘

Luke placed Ellie down into their bed, after having pulled her pyjamas on and taking the makeup off of her face. He pulled the covers to her chin, pressing a kiss to her head, as he opened the door to slip out and into the nursery. Beans were both asleep, swaddled up in their blankets, and Luke double checked to make sure that all the latches, locks and charms were done up.

As soon as that was done, he went and double checked the entire house, his paranoia getting the best of him, before he finally returned to his bedroom and got ready to go to sleep, slipping in beside Ellie.

"Checked everything enough?" He hummed, having known that she would wake up as soon as he wasn't beside her. "We're safe, Luke."

"I just want to make sure," He replied, glancing at the baby monitor to make sure that no one was in with Beans, before finally relaxing and wrapping his arms around Ellie. "Love you."

"Love you too," She rolled over, pressing a kiss to his jaw as he let his eyes close.

∘☽༓☾∘

Hiya,

So, this is just sweet and part of this was based off of a tweet that Jake Abel wrote today so thought I'd chuck it in just because. Also, Ethan, Luke and Alabaster are so chaotically dumb and I love it. Hands down my favorite set of idiots, and the family photo is cute, and Luke and Ellie are cute.

Finally, multiple things for this chapter, cause I didn't put some stuff up last time (I was tired and writing an essay). lilac2355 made this wonderful aesthetic for Beans and it's so cute and very beans esque!

Finally hpsisterpjsister knows the way to my heart and drew Luke with Wren which is hands down adorable and it's so cute and aaargghhhhh

Let me know what you think,

Love Li xx