Chapter Text
“Mommy...” Sam said sweetly as he tugged on Ali’s pants. “Lick, lick.” The 7 year old added and imitated his dog’s tongue when he licked his face.
Ali was making a chocolate pie for Thanksgiving dessert and Samuel wanted an early taste. Thankfully for Samuel, Ali couldn’t resist her little boy’s charm. She not only gave him a little lick of the spoon, but she made sure to give him a heaping spoonful of the chocolate filling.
“Mmm...Mommy, that’s sooooooo good!” Sam exclaimed with chocolate covering his mouth.
Ali got a chocolatey kiss from him before sending him to find Ashlyn. She knew her sweet boy would be asking for more free samples of the dessert she was working on. He would also ask constant questions and want to help. She wouldn’t be able to get anything done. Ali hoped that Ashlyn would have something for the boy to do to keep him busy.
Samuel found his Mama in the front yard hanging up Christmas lights. She was balancing on a ladder and stretching as far as she could to attach the string of lights to the roof. Sam yelled and caught her off guard. “Mamacita!”
When Ali heard the terrified scream of her son. She ran to where she heard his voice. Jacob followed close behind her. He considered himself the protector of the family. The scene that Jake and Ali found was comical. The ladder had fallen, but Ash was able to keep herself from falling by hanging onto the gutter.
Samuel was still screaming. He was convinced that his mother was about to fall to her death. Ashlyn’s 5’9’’ frame was still several feet above the ground, but it wasn’t a big drop at all. Ali yanked on Jacob’s arm and pulled him to Ashlyn.
The two of them stood underneath her when Ali said, “Baby, we’ll catch you. Just drop.”
Ashlyn would have preferred for them to set the ladder up next to her, but she wasn’t going to argue. Ashlyn let go and between Ali and Jacob catching the majority of her weight, she was able to gently land on the ground without injury.
“What the heck happened?” Ali asked.
Samuel buried his head into Ashlyn’s side and squeezed her as tight as he could with both arms wrapped around her waist. The poor boy thought he had almost killed his mother.
Ash cradled Sam’s head in her hands and answered her wife, “He called me mamacita.”
The women didn’t know that Samuel had learned a new Spanish word. When Ash heard him innocently call her ‘hot mama’ in Spanish, she lost her focus on her task and then watched her life flash before her eyes.
Jacob turned bright red, revealing to his parents where his little brother had learned the new word. Both women chose not to ask him about it. Samuel was a guilty mess of tears and Ashlyn was doing her best to comfort him.
Ali kissed both her wife and Samuel before nodding toward the door and signaling to Jacob that she wanted him to follow her inside. After they left, Ashlyn knelt down in front of Samuel and the two shared an emotional hug that lasted several minutes. It took a while for the sensitive boy to calm down.
Once Ali and Jacob had gotten back inside of the house and were clear of Samuel’s ears she asked, “Who are you calling mamacita?”
“I might have called Rachel that and Sam asked what it meant.” Jake answered.
Ali pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes as she thought about what her son’s motives were when he called his girlfriend a word that could be considered a catcall in most contexts.
“You better respect that girl.” Ali said sternly. She was almost certain that his intentions weren’t sexist, but she wanted to make sure.
“I know, Mom.” He answered, feeling annoyed that his mother would ever doubt him. “We were learning Spanish because Rach thinks I should care more about my heritage. I was trying to compliment her. He overheard and asked what it meant. Obviously he was also trying to say it as a compliment when he said it to Mama.” Jake sighed and softly said, “I’m really sorry.”
Ali believed her son’s story. She gave him a hug and was about to tell her son that he was forgiven when her wife interrupted them. Ashlyn carried Samuel in a tight embrace. The boy was quiet and calm. His eyes were bright red from crying and his bottom lip was slightly quivering. The 7 year old was trying hard to keep his tears from coming again.
“My sweet baby.” Ali said as she shifted her attention from Jacob to Samuel. Ali took Sam’s bright red face in her hands and said, “I love you, Sweetheart.” She kissed his cheek and added, “Mama is safe. You don’t have to be afraid.”
“I know.” Sam replied in a shaky voice.
Ashlyn added, “We’re gonna need a few minutes.”
Ali understood what Ash was requesting. Team Awesome needed some uninterrupted cuddle time. Ali whispered as Ash carried Samuel to his room, “Baby, please be careful of your back.”
Ashlyn was unwilling to admit that her Sam-Bam was getting bigger. Ali worried that her wife would end up hurting herself in her attempts to comfort their son.
“Don’t worry about it, mamacita.” Ash teased and left her wife shaking her head in disapproval.
...
By the time Ali was ready for her family to join her and their guests for dinner, Samuel’s small twin sized bed was full. Not only did Sam’s faithful dog join them, but Lexi and the twins had also found their way into the bed. Lexi had heard her little brother’s cries and worried that he needed her help. The twins were ready for their nap time and had found what looked like a family nap session.
Ali stood over her sleeping family and hated that she had to wake them. It was a sweet scene in front of her, but it was also a rare occurrence for the house to be so calm and quiet. She laughed to herself, knowing that the peace and quiet would soon come to an end. One by one, she peeled her smallest children off of her wife. Each one was greeted with a smile and a hug. Ali loved her children. Even with guests and family waiting, she took her time to let her babies know that she adored them.
...
For the beginning of the evening, Samuel stayed close to Ashlyn’s side, staying uncharacteristically quiet and shy towards his family and guests. However, once dinner was over, he was back to his old self. It didn’t hurt that his best friend Joey was there. The two of them, along with Monster, spent the rest of the evening building a fort in the backyard and pretending to be ninjas.
Both of Ali’s parents, along with Annie, were sitting around the table talking over coffee and pie. Jacob and Lexi had been given the responsibility of watching their toddler twin siblings so that the adults could take a break.
Ali was in the middle of telling everyone why their Christmas lights weren’t up yet, and why Samuel had been so quiet earlier, when they heard the littlest child cry out.
Jacob brought Jamie to Ali and said, “Bella bit him. He wouldn’t share his toy with her.”
Lately the twins had been living up to the term terrible two’s. They had earned the nickname, Double Trouble.
After confirming that her son was fine and only crying for attention, Ali checked her watch and said, “Baby, I need you to take him.” She handed the toddler to Ashlyn and added, “It’s bedtime for some of us.”
“You and your crazy shopping.” Ash scoffed. She stood up and walked away with Jamie in her arms. She gently rocked her son and whispered comforting words in his ear.
Ali informed her mother and Annie that she was going to get Lexi and head to bed. The four of them, along with Jacob’s girlfriend, had an early morning ahead of them. Ashlyn and the rest of the family had no desire to join them. In Ashlyn’s opinion, getting up at an early hour to spend hundreds of dollars on stuff the day after giving thanks for all of your life’s blessings didn’t make sense. She felt like the two things cancelled each other out.
...
Before leaving at 4:30 am, Ali gave her wife a kiss and whispered, “I love you.” Ashlyn slept through it, but she didn’t sleep through her son’s efforts to wake her up a few hours later.
“Mama....” Jacob said as he shook his mother.
Ash groaned and stretched her achy limbs. She immediately felt the weight of her littlest children’s bodies on top of her. The twins had followed their big brother, Samuel, into their parents’ bedroom. Sam was never one to worry about personal space. When he snuggled up to Ashlyn, the toddlers followed his example. Ashlyn was trapped under a pile of her cute kids.
Jacob helped his mother remove herself from the pile without waking his younger siblings up. He handed Ashlyn his phone and said, “Mom needs you.”
Ash glanced at the alarm clock on the nightstand next to her and grimaced. “Babe, it’s 7 in the morning. I kept the kids up late so we could sleep in.” She complained.
Ashlyn was surprised to hear the voice of Rachel instead of her wife.
“Umm, sorry to wake you...” Jacob’s girlfriend said. “But we need your help.”
Ash sensed that something serious had happened and she needed to wake up and be a responsible adult. “What’s wrong?” She asked and sat up at attention.
“Lexi is having an anxiety attack. Your wife is trying to calm her down, but she said that she needs you to come and take Lex home.”
“Where are you?” Ash asked.
After Rachel gave her the details of their location, Ash worked it out with Jacob to watch Sam, Joey, and the twins while she was gone. She hoped that they would sleep the entire time she was gone, but was confident in Jake’s babysitting skills. As the oldest of 5 kids, he was practically a professional at this point.
...
Ashlyn held her daughter tightly and listened to Ali tell her about what had happened. Someone had elbowed Ash’s little princess in the face in an attempt to get a cheap toy for their child. Lexi had calmed down considerably, but the 9 year old was still recovering. Ashlyn could feel her shaking in her arms.
“You are going to continue shopping?” Ash asked. She sounded disappointed in her wife’s decision to stay in the black Friday madness.
Ali replied, “Yes...” She knew that her wife wasn’t happy, but she still had a lot of things on her list that she needed to get. “I’m trying to do all of our Christmas shopping.”
Ash rolled her eyes in disapproval and said, “Whatever, Alex.”
They couldn’t argue about it. Lexi was a mess and Ali’s mom, along with Annie and Rachel, were there. They had to agree to disagree...at least for now.
...
“You’re just as bad as the woman who hurt our Lexi.” Ash scolded quietly.
The women were in their bedroom discussing the day’s events while the rest of the family ate a late breakfast together.
Ashlyn’s words did not go over well with her wife.
“How dare you?” Ali asked in anger. “I was trying to help our family save money. That lady was bullying a child.”
“You should have come home, Alex. Our daughter was traumatized. What’s the point of celebrating Thanksgiving when the very next day you act like a crazy person that will do anything to get more stuff?” Ashlyn asked angrily.
Ali was annoyed that her wife was insinuating that she was acting selfishly. “Ash, you need to calm down. I know you’re upset about Lexi, but I will not allow you to compare me to someone who would hurt a child.”
“You won’t ALLOW me?” Ash asked, emphasizing the word allow. “Well, I won’t ALLOW you to take my children black Friday shopping anymore.”
Ali threw her hands up in the air and said, “You’re being irrational. I can’t talk to you like this.”
Ali left her wife to simmer down and joined the rest of the family for breakfast. She was angry, but softened when she saw Samuel helping Lexi with her ice pack. The poor girl had a swollen eye. Ali thought about her wife’s words and started to think that maybe Ashlyn was right about taking their children shopping on such a crazy day.
Sam jumped from his seat next to Lexi and hurried to Ali. He said, “Let me help you , Mommy.” He took her by the hand and led her to her chair at the table.
Ali didn’t know that Ash had instructed him to be extra helpful toward his sister and mother because of their hard day. He volunteered to get her a plate of breakfast. He held the empty plate up to his grandmother and waited for her to fill it. On his way back to his mother, he stuck out his tongue slightly as he concentrated hard on delivering the food without dropping anything.
“Thank you, baby.” Ali said and gave her boy a kiss on the head. “You are so sweet.”
“Mama said you had a hard day.” Sam replied. He held Ali’s hand and leaned against her as she ate. He wasn’t moving until he knew that she was ok.
Samuel’s concern and Lexi’s black eye were enough for Ali to make the first move towards reconciliation with her wife.
Ali found her wife talking to their toddler children. Ali listened for a minute but had to butt in when she heard Ashlyn say, “Your mother is crazy.”
“You better be talking about yourself.” Ali interrupted.
Ashlyn’s lips reveled a guilty smile as she replied, “I guess you’ll never know.”
Ash was sitting on the floor of the twin’s room with both children hanging on her. Ali found it hard to be angry at her wife when she was playing with their adorable children.
“Baby, I need to talk to you about what happened today.” Ali said, ignoring her wife’s mischievous grin.
Ali sat down across from Ash and was briefly distracted when both toddlers greeted her with happy smiles. She shared hugs and kisses with them and watched them return to climbing on Ashlyn before continuing.
“I’m sorry for how things turned out. It was a mistake to bring Lexi. Please forgive me.”
Ashlyn was not expecting to hear her wife apologize. If anything, she felt like she needed to apologize. Ali was trying to include their daughter in a family tradition. She was trying to have fun and make memories. There was also a high probability that Ali bought her Christmas gifts, as well. Ali’s heart was in the right place.
Ash made no movement to signal that she had heard, or accepted Ali’s apology. She was oddly still. She stared down at her son’s little fingers as he tried to take off his shoes. Ali was familiar enough with her wife to know the reason for the sudden calm that had come over her.
Ashlyn was thinking. Ali stretched her leg out and lightly kicked her wife’s thigh to get her attention. Ash sat up a little straighter and met the brunettes eyes with her own.
“Sorry.” Ash stammered. “I..um...I was just thinking.”
Ali’s response was a kind smile. She waited, knowing that Ashlyn had more to say.
“I’m sorry, too. I may have let my emotions get the better of me.” Ash said. “I really hate that Lex got hurt. I know it’s not your fault.” Ashlyn dropped her eyes back down toward the floor and added, “I’m sorry if I made you feel that way.”
Ali reached for Bella and pulled her into a hug before she said, “I think maybe we should start a new tradition.”
“What do you mean?” Ash asked.
Ali answered thoughtfully, “We should do something that would be safe for all the kids to be a part of that gives back some of the blessings that we have to people who are in need.”
“Well...any brilliant ideas of how we do that?” Ash asked. Jamie was pulling on her neck in an attempt to use her as a jungle gym. “We’ve gotta keep our little ones in mind.”
“I don’t know. You’re the creative one. I’m sure you’ll think of something.” Ali said with a flirtatious smile.
...
Ashlyn did think of something.
Every holiday season from that year on the family would volunteer to do a service project for the community. The first project they came up with was to donate paint and supplies to the foster home that housed Jake, Lex, and Sam before they became part of the Krieger-Harris clan. The entire family helped paint the activity room where the kids there would spend most of their time playing during the day. The twins needed extra adult attention, but their parents felt it was important to include them.
They also started another tradition with the smaller children. Ash and Ali were happy to spend their own money to help others. The problem with that though, was that it didn’t cost their children anything. They wanted to teach their kids that it’s important to help people in need, even when it’s inconvenient, or costly. They decided that the best way to do this was to have both twins pick out one of their favorite toys to give away to another child.
Their toddler twins were struggling with the idea of sharing. It wasn’t out of the ordinary for two year olds to be possessive of their toys, but Ali and Ash were trying to raise extraordinary children. It was difficult at first, but once the children saw how excited their parents got, and how happy the children were who received the gifts, they would often bring toys to their parents to give away.
It got to the point where Ashlyn and Ali had to tell them that it was ok for them to keep some toys for themselves.
One night after Bella had cried about not being able to give away one of her favorite dolls, Ali asked why she was so upset.
Through tears Bella answered, “Don’t want people sad.”
“Sweetheart, who’s sad?” Ali asked. She held her trembling daughter in her arms and wondered if there was someone specific that her daughter was thinking of.
“I don’t know.” Bella answered.
Little Isabella loved her baby doll. She carried it around and hugged it like her parents held her. Ali couldn’t imagine in her wildest dreams that the girl would be willing to part with it.
Through a 2 year old conversation that only a mother could understand, Ali discovered that her daughter wanted to make sure that every little girl had someone to hug. Ashlyn later found her wife in tears as she relayed the story of their daughter remembering seeing children at the foster home they had visited who were sitting alone. Bella said she wanted to give everyone a hug they could keep.
Like many times before, Ashlyn and Ali were blown away by one of their children. Little Bella was already starting to live up to the amazing legacy that her parents were leaving on the world.