Chapter Text
There were Christmas carols playing through the house, more traditional than the ones Ted and Henry had been dancing to the previous morning and at a much more reasonable volume. The smell of spices and pine and sugar cookies filtered through the halls and the living room was covered in pieces of shredded wrapping paper and ribbons.
A little blue box of shortbread sat on the coffee table because Henry had insisted his Christmas biscuits for Rebecca needed to be different to her everyday biscuits in a pink box, which had nearly brought her to tears, even though the biscuits themselves were exactly the same as always.
Rebecca’s house hadn’t felt so festive in years.
Artie and Jessie had shifted her coffee table and sofa to the side, stretching out the mat for a rather raucous game of Twister, which was when Rebecca had hopped up from the sofa, straightened her tight green dress and disappeared into the kitchen to find Ted, poking at something in the oven.
He had the floral apron on again, as well as the Santa hat he’d worn for a solid nineteen hours the previous Christmas, when it was just the two of them delivering bags of gifts to children in need. He smiled warmly as she hugged him from the side and kissed his shoulder through his soft jumper. “Can I help with anything?”
Ted’s little chuckle would almost have been offensive, if she wasn’t just as aware as he was, that she was simply hiding from his family, catching her breath and had little to no intention of actually helping with the cooking.
“You’re not playing with the others?”
Rebecca smirked. “I’m not exactly dressed for Twister,” She had on a pair of red suede pumps to go with her green dress and a pair of sparkly, red pompom earrings Keeley had given her. “Nor am I any good at it.”
“Oh, I don’t know, you’re pretty bendy.” Ted looked her up and down, resting his hand on her hip with a grin.
She offered him a withering glare with a touch of amusement as she swatted at his shoulder.
“Well, you can top and tail the beans, if you want?”
Before she could answer, the doorbell chimed and she offered him a playful twinkle with her eyes before heading for the front of the house. As she passed the living room, she couldn’t help but laugh at how Henry, Jefferson and Jones were desperately trying to knock each other over, and Jessie was expertly twisted like a pretzel around them, clearly winning. Hayes was on her back next to the mat, just staring up at her mother whose head was hanging upside down.
“Mother.” Rebecca greeted, a little surprised as Deborah stepped through the door as soon as she opened it, a large blue Le Creuset pot in her hands and a heavy tote bag bursting with presents, hanging from her arm.
“Happy Christmas, Sausage.” Deborah leaned forward to press a kiss to the apple of Rebecca’s cheek. “Now, please tell me there’s a burner free, we need to get this wine heated up.”
“You know where the kitchen is.” Rebecca responded, dumbly, as she closed the door behind her and watched her mother toddle off to the kitchen, an exuberant ‘Ted! Happy Christmas!’ echoing out behind her. Rebecca was about to follow, when the doorbell suddenly rang again and she frowned, completely stumped as to who it could be - she’d been expecting her mother at some point, but that was it. She spun on her heel, pulling the door open again to be startled by Roy, Keeley and little Phoebe standing on her front step wearing matching pink tinsel bows. Keeley’s and Phoebe’s in their hair and Roy’s, tucked into his lapel.
“Happy Christmas, babes!” Keeley exclaimed, enveloping Rebecca in a tight hug, causing her to stumble a little bit back into the house. “Oh my god, you’re wearing the pom poms!” Keeley shrieked, and Rebecca laughed.
“The gaffer invited us.” Roy noted, at Rebecca’s puzzled smile. “Something about us being able to speak English, or some shit.” He pressed a kiss to her cheek as Keeley let her go. It took a moment for it to register with her, what Roy meant, until it did and her smile spread wider and she felt a warmth in her belly at what Ted was trying to do. “Phoebe, say Happy Christmas to Ms Welton.” He gestured from the little girl, to her and back again.
“Happy Christmas, Ms Welton.” Phoebe grinned up at her broadly and Rebecca couldn’t help the smile in return. “Do you have any candy canes?”
“Happy Christmas to you too, Miss Phoebe.” She leaned forward a little. “And I believe there’s still a few hanging on the tree, if you can spot them.”
“Who do we have here?” Ted’s Uncle Bert stepped into the hall with a few empty glasses, clearly on his way to the kitchen when he came across the little group greeting each other in the foyer. Out of the corner of her eye, Rebecca noticed Phoebe’s entire little body freeze up and go rigid, staring up at Bert with wide blue eyes.
“Bert, these are my friend’s Roy, Keeley and Roy’s niece, Phoebe.” She gestured to each in turn, with Bert’s kind smile falling on Phoebe last, his cheeks a little rosey from the mimosas they’d had with breakfast, and the couple of beers he’d had at lunch.
Phoebe continued to stare up at him, her little mouth drooping open.
“What’s wrong, sweetheart?” Rebecca questioned, crouching down to Phoebe’s height, wrapping her arm around her little shoulders in what she hoped was a comforting gesture.
“Is that Santa?” She whispered in Rebecca’s ear, and Rebecca blinked, glancing up at Bert’s smiling face from Phoebe’s eyeline, before she grinned broadly and let out a melodious laugh. Roy tilted his head questioningly and Keeley giggled, watching them.
“Oh, he does look like him, doesn’t he?” She offered Phoebe a wink and a little squeeze. “But it’s not, this is Bert. He’s just as kind as Santa though, aren’t you, Bert?”
Bert suddenly guffawed, his laugh shaking his whole body in a sound reminiscent of Santa Claus’ iconic ho! ho! ho! and Phoebe glanced at the side of Rebecca’s face, looking anything but convinced.
“Anyone up for a victory game of Twister? I just slaughtered my kids.” Jessie appeared in the hall behind Bert, gesturing over her shoulder with her thumb and they all glanced through the door to see the three little boys laid out flat across the floor, completely beat.
Keeley beamed at her.
“I don’t know who you are, but you’re amazing! And I love your eyeliner!” Jessie chuckled at the compliment, fluttering her eyelashes to show off the immaculate line of gold along her eyelid as Keeley was tugging off her coat, shoving it against Rebecca’s chest before grabbing for Phoebe’s hand. “Come on Phoebs.”
Phoebe stared at Bert the entire way into the living room, craning her neck until she couldn’t crane it any further, until she was all the way in the living room and he disappeared into the kitchen.
Rebecca stood there for a moment, clutching Keeley’s jacket, just looking through the door with Roy standing next to her, watching her. “Would you like a beer, Roy?” She questioned and his lips quirked up just at one side.
“Please.”
***
“What the fuck is this?” Roy grumbled, sticking his nose in the glass that Ruth had handed him, earning a chuckle from the other adults around him and wide eyes from the kids who weren’t so often exposed to the amount of ’fucks’ that Phoebe was.
“It’s eggnog.” Catherine added, handing Rebecca a glass and smiling at the exact same look of disgust that crossed the blonde’s pretty features.
“I’ll pass.” Rebecca tried to hand it off, but her mother pushed it back towards her.
“Just try it, Sausage. If you try it and you don’t like it, you can have some mulled wine.” Roy snorted at the way Deborah spoke to her like she was a five year old refusing to try broccoli and Rebecca stuck out her tongue at him.
She took a generous gulp and almost choked on it.
“Fuck me, that’s disgusting!” She coughed.
“I’m not drinking it.” Roy put it down on the table and Rebecca scoffed.
“Oh no, if I had to try it you have to.”
“Keeley can try it.”
Keeley looked up at them, smiling, sipping at her own glass happily. “I’ve had it before and I quite like it. It’s not my fault you two are chickens.”
Roy narrowed his eyes at her, took a swig, tried not to cough and then placed the glass down on the table. Rebecca tried to hold back her laughter, but the vein on his forehead bulged the more he tried to push back his disgust, before he was coughing dramatically, and pretending to gag.
“Good boy.” Deborah patted his shoulder, handing him a steaming glass of mulled wine as reward.
“Here, hon, this’ll help get rid of the yucky taste.” Ted pressed a kiss to Rebecca’s temple as he handed her a sugar cookie decorated to look like a Christmas tree and she smiled like a little kid as she bit into it, letting out a happy little moan.
“Shit that’s so fucking adorable.” Keeley commented and Rebecca looked up at her with a question in her eyes. “You and Ted, all out in the open like that. We’ve been waiting to see that for freakin’ months!”
Rebecca blushed with her cookie still between her teeth, glancing up at Ted.
“What do you mean, dear?” Catherine questioned and Ted opened his mouth to answer, but stopped himself as he glanced around at the family, all focussed on him. Deborah was still pottering around the kitchen behind him and Roy had found great interest in the slice of lemon floating in his drink, spinning it with his cinnamon stick.
“Well, see, Mom.” Ted took a deep breath. “Rebecca’s a bit of a public figure over here.”
“Excuse me, you both are.” Keeley added, somewhat affronted considering how much time, work and effort she’d put into perfecting Ted’s public profile.
“True, yeah, we are.” He nodded, apologetically. “So we’ve kinda been keeping our relationship quiet. Avoiding the press, you know.” Rebecca was intently focussed on the glittery sprinkles on her cookie. “The press hasn’t been particularly kind to Rebecca in the past, so we wanted to keep this to ourselves as long as possible.”
“What, you wanted to see if it’d stick, or something?” Artie questioned, fighting Hayes back from his own glass of eggnog.
“Nah, we knew it’d stick.” Ted scoffed, almost offended at the insinuation if he hadn’t known that Artie didn’t mean anything negative about the question. He glanced down into Rebecca’s eyes. “I guess, for my part, I just didn’t wanna share.”
Rebecca reached up over her shoulder for Ted’s hand, giving it a gentle squeeze and resting her cheek against the back of it with a warm, contented smile.
“Well that’s just precious.” Jessie noted before slapping Artie on the shoulder. “Why can’t you be that romantic?”
“Well I’ve known about them for months and they’ve had no qualms being affectionate in front of me.” Deborah chimed in.
“Muuum!”
“What is it, Sausage?” She blinked at her and Rebecca rolled her eyes, dropping her head into her hands. Unaffected, Deborah smiled over her head at Catherine and Ruth. “More wine, ladies.”
They answered at the same time with. “Oh yes please.” and “This stuff is delicious!”
***
Rebecca was listening in to Ted, Roy, Artie and Bert having a rather heated conversation about American vs British football, with Roy squaring off against Bert and Artie good-naturedly with Ted sitting on the fence, occasionally teetering over to the British side. The sun was going down outside with the sheer curtains in the living room softening the golden glow that spread across the green as a light dusting of snow had started falling on the yard.
The lights in the Christmas tree and through the garlands around the room illuminated the space, as well as the hearty fire Ted occasionally stoked in the fireplace. Deborah, Catherine and Ruth were getting along like they’d been sisters all their lives, occasionally letting out such raucous laughter, stumbling over each other as they re-filled their wine glasses, that Rebecca had - on a handful of occasions - worried for the safety of the odd lamp or vase that wobbled when they bumped into furniture.
Twice already, they’d nearly taken out the Christmas tree. They’d run out of mulled wine and moved on to straight red, with Deborah popping back and forth from Rebecca’s wine cellar more often than was probably appropriate.
“Rebecca,” Henry tried to politely interrupt.
“Yes, sweetheart?” She responded with a soft smile, pulling her drink back into her lap and sitting up a little in the chair she’d been lounging in to show him he had her full attention. Within moments Jefferson and Jones had joined him, crowding his shoulders on either side with smug little grins, as Henry’s fingers twisted together against the arm of the chair, nervously.
“Jefferson said there’s no way that you know the Beatles. But I said that you’re really smart and famous and because you live in London, that you do, but he doesn’t believe me.”
She smirked, glancing over at Ted to see that Henry’s question had piqued his interest as well. She turned back to the boys, all of them waiting on her answer.
“Oh, I know the Beatles.” She responded, nonchalantly, grinning from ear to ear when all of their little faces lit up to rival the christmas tree behind them.
“You do?!” Jefferson gasped.
“Well,” She winked. “One of them.”
“Didn’t you blow off McCartney’s party last christmas to give out presents with the gaffer.” Roy chimed in, throwing his thumb over his shoulder to indicate Ted who was smiling, watching the exchange.
“No,” She shook her head. “That was Elton’s party.”
“Elton John?” Ruth’s voice called over the top of Ted’s head and the three older women were suddenly standing up, leaning over the back of the couch to listen in.
“Yes, Elton John.” Rebecca answered a little more quietly, suddenly the centre of attention.
“What about Elton John? Are we going to the party?” Keeley questioned with bright, excited eyes as her, Phoebe and Jessie with Hayes on her hip, came wandering back into the living room. Jessie’s eyes fell on Ted for a moment with a grin.
“You might wanna check that bird, Ted, it’s smelling really good.”
Ted jumped up, vacating his seat that Jessie took quickly, resting Hayes on her knee. The little girl clapped happily for a moment, before her eyes set on Rebecca across the coffee table and suddenly, her arms were outstretched and her chubby little fingers were reaching and wiggling, her whole body pulling forward trying to reach for her making an adorable little sound that came out something like ‘bok bok’ which the family could only assume meant Rebecca.
“Do you mind if,” Jessie started to say and Rebecca smiled, standing up to reach out for the little girl.
“Not at all.” She grinned, taking her in her arms and plopping back down in her chair.
“You really know Sir Paul McCartney?” Henry questioned and Rebecca remembered what it was they’d been discussing. She blinked, looking away from the baby who had hold of the collar of her dress, giving it little tugs, to refocus on Henry.
“Oh yes. I mean, not well, but we’ve been to a few galas - we had a long chat about your Dad last time we saw each other, actually. And you.” She winked and Henry looked like he was about to pass out.
“Sir Paul McCartney knows my name?” The wonder in his eyes made her smile.
Hayes flopped forward against Rebecca’s chest, dropping her little head to her shoulder with her tiny hands tucked under the shoulder of her dress, yawning adorably.
“Oh, she’s going to drift off.” Jessie chuckled and Rebecca just shrugged, shuffling the girl so her legs hung over her hips and she could cuddle closer against her, more comfortably.
“He does, Henry.” Rebecca noted. “And he asked me to wish you a very Happy Christmas, as well.”
“Oh, my god.” Henry suddenly dashed off into the hall with Jefferson and Jones right on his heels, squealing as they went.
“Hey, chill out small fry, no runnin in the house.” Ted chastised gently, passing the boys in the doorway. “Some people’s kids.” He muttered, grinning and offering Rebecca a wink as he rejoined the party, before narrowing his eyes at Jessie, pointing at her. “You could have told me you took the turkey out of the oven.”
Jessie winked at him. “I wouldn’t have gotten your seat then, would I?”
“My Dad’s girlfriend knows the Beatles!” Henry’s voice echoed back through the hall and the group of adults in the living room all laughed.
“You told him about Paul at the gala.” Ted questioned, gesturing to Hayes with her eyes now closed tight and her breathing evened out, resting comfortably in a full-body hug against Rebecca.
“Mhm,” She nodded.
“S’a good story.” He nodded, popping the end of an open candy cane in his mouth. He grinned down at Rebecca who was now slouching down in her chair in an effort to lay Hayes out more horizontally, without jostling her too much. “Comfy?” He sucked on the candy cane again, grinning.
“Remarkably.” She blushed, pressing her hands to the little girl’s back. Brushing at her curls gently.
Ted chuckled, clapping his hands together as he turned to address the rest of the group. “So dinner’s ready, if anyone’s hungry.”
“I am!” Phoebe bounced up from where she was sitting next to Keeley, with her hand in the air.
“That’s one, who else?”
They all laughed, starting to get up from their seats and heading over to the dining table that had been sitting, beautifully decorated with wreaths and dried fruit, candles and glittery baubles, all day - the children far too frightened to touch anything for fear they’d get in trouble for disrupting how pretty it was.
“You comin?” Ted questioned Rebecca, who hadn’t yet moved.
She glanced down at the curly little head on her chest. “She seems really comfortable.”
Ted waggled his eyebrows. “Well, to be fair, she’s got a good, comfy spot.”
“Fuuck,” Roy groused, having overheard the comment. “You wanna not ogle her boobs for five seconds, there’s fucking children present.”
“What?” Ted whined with a chuckle, giving Rebecca’s knee a pat as he moved to follow Roy. “I’ll grab you a plate.” He added softly and she smiled up at him.
“Thank you.”
***
The whole day was full to the brim with laughter and light and noise, throughout Rebecca’s house and her mother was so drunk by the end of it, she’d tucked her up in bed in one of the remaining guest rooms, laughing as she, Caroline and Ruth had professed their desire to stay friends forever.
Keeley, Roy and Phoebe had left before the night had gotten too rowdy, taking Phoebe home to spend the few remaining hours of Christmas day with her mother, promising to see them at the game the following day while Artie and Jessie had struggled with bedtime and three small kids who were hyped up on the excitement of all their new toys, a rich, delicious dinner and too many candy canes.
Henry had surprised her, receiving a few gentle words from his father, a kiss on the forehead from his grandmother and a surprised hug from her, before he’d taken himself to his room without a fuss.
“They really like you,” Ted noted, tossing his socks in the clothes basket near to the wardrobe as he watched Rebecca struggling to unzip her dress. “Especially Hayes.”
Rebecca struggled for a moment longer, before rolling her eyes and moving over to him, gesturing to her back for him to unzip it for her. He did so, torturously slowly and she narrowed her eyes at him over her shoulder when his fingers followed the line of her spine as he pulled the zipper down. The look in her eyes was a warning that said - not with your entire fucking family in the house though there was amusement there and he chuckled.
“I like them too.” She commented with a faraway look coming into her eyes. It was similar to the look she had whenever Hayes had reached for her, when her little arms had wrapped around her neck and held on tight. A touch of longing mixed with a distant, lost expression. Like she’d left something important behind. He knew what it meant, they’d even briefly discussed it when they’d passed four months of being together and knew, even more certainly than he’d known the first time he’d kissed her, that they were going to be forever.
Rebecca still wanted to be a mother. And he’d promised up and down that if he could make it happen, he would - but as desperate as she still was for it, she was the voice of reason that brought them back down, knowing there was a chance it may never be an option for them. And whilst they weren’t actively trying, they’d made enough visits to her doctor over the course of the last two months for him to feel like they weren’t far off starting to.
“Do you miss it?”
Rebecca questioned, tossing her dress on the ottoman in the middle of the wardrobe and reaching for her pyjamas.
“Miss what?” Ted frowned, pulling back the covers on the bed.
“Being close to them,” She sighed. “Being in Kansas, with Henry.” She shook her head, looking down at her toes as she buttoned her pyjama shirt, with a frown. “That’s a stupid question, forget I asked it, of course you do.”
“Hey,” Ted moved towards her, dipping a little at the waist to tilt her chin up and meet her eyes. “Don’t do that. Of course I miss them, and Henry, but this is where I am,” He pressed a gentle, featherlight kiss to the tip of her nose. “This is where I want to be.”
“But what if,”
Ted shook his head, cutting her off with a stern expression. “Rebecca, my life is here.” He spoke firmly, finally, with a clarity there he needed her to understand. His mother could travel, Henry could benefit from the broadened horizons of a father that lived in a foreign country and he could not go back to Kansas and leave her behind, he wouldn’t, he’d break himself in half before he allowed it to happen.
“I just don’t want you to look back one day and feel like you missed out on so much of Henry’s life.”
“I won’t.” He smiled, wrapping his arms around her waist and tugging her against him, her silk pyjamas bunched under his hands, her little shorts pulling up just a little at the back with how firmly and comfortingly he held her. “I love you and I love our life,” He peppered a few kisses along her brow. “And one day when we make a perfect little baby, I’ll love her too.”
“Ted,” Her eyes fluttered downward and he tutted his tongue.
“No, no negatives on the baby front. Not tonight.” His kisses moved from her brow to her lips, pressing firmly and lovingly. “It’s Christmas.”
Rebecca chuckled against his lips. “Only for another thirty-five minutes.”
“Well then,” Ted started to sway them playfully. His eyes alight with mischeif. “How about we take a stab at the baby thing, while there’s still time for a Christmas miracle.”
“You’re not serious.”
He shrugged. “What?”
“Your entire fucking family is in my house.”
“I locked the door.”
“That is not my point and you know it.”
“Mom didn’t hear us the other night.”
Rebecca scoffed and rolled her eyes. “Ted, I love you but you’re an idiot.”
“What? She didn’t.”
“She fucking did; it was all over her bloody face.”
He pouted at her, dipping his chin to his chest with a pathetic expression. “So you don’t want to?”
Rebecca rolled her eyes. “Fine, but you’re the one who has to be fucking quiet. I do not want your entire family looking at me weird in the morning.”
“Yes ma’am.” He grinned, grabbing her around the waist with broad hands, eliciting the tiniest yelp from her that she tried to hold back, as he gently tossed her on the bed. The springs protested a little at the impact, and she scowled at him from where she propped herself up on her elbows, but her annoyance died on her lips when he clambered onto the bed after her, covering her body with his and smothering her with kisses.