Chapter Text
Alec and Ellie woke up Christmas morning, too bloody early, by a very enthusiastic boy who really didn't know or care that his parents had gotten to bed very late.
Despite that, it was a wonderful morning. From Fred's enthusiastic "Oh, yeah!!" at the sight of his tiny red bike to Alec's joy at the sight of his daughter opening gifts and beaming beautifully, it was absolutely perfect. The teenagers gave the gift of not being overly annoyed by their soppy, sentimental parents.
Alec was still woefully unsure of his gift to Ellie, but she loved it. The bracelet with all their birthstones was adorning her wrist. She thought she might never take it off. The plaque with the sentiment, "Every day I fall more in love with you, except for the days you piss me off," was met with laughter and a large kiss from Ellie. "Aw, love, I feel exactly the same way about you," Ellie said, still laughing. It was met with raised eyebrows from the teenagers.
"I don't think that's something you ever would have gotten Mum," Daisy said with a smirk, for Alec's ears only.
"And therein lies the difference between your Mum and Ellie," Alec murmured, causing Daisy to burst out laughing.
Alec was delighted with all the mystery novels Ellie had found him, particularly the signed Daschiell Hammett.
He was a little less sure about the striped jumper. It was done in shades of orange, and really was more color than he was used to wearing. He gave Ellie a skeptical look, and she told him, "You have to try it on, at the very least." When he appeared back downstairs a while later, wearing the jumper and a pair of jeans, the hungry look she gave him convinced him that a little more color in his wardrobe would be worthwhile. He left the jumper on.
Dinner with Lucy and Olly was better than tolerable for Alec, since Olly brought a new girlfriend and Lucy spent most of the afternoon trying to embarass her rather than take the piss out of Alec. In the kitchen cleaning up, Ellie had some advice for her sister, "You want to take it easy on Amanda? She looks like a keeper and you're gonna scare her off!"
"I didn't scare off the Scotsman, did I?" Lucy smirked.
"Well, you're not his potential mother-in-law," Ellie reasoned. "And you tried."
"I've reevaluated my thoughts on him, I'll have you know. He's a grouch, a total arsehole and stubborn to boot..."
"This is reevaluating?"
"But....he loves you and those boys and he's a good man. And you deserve that. We may never totally agree on everything, but we both love you." Ellie gave her sister a squeeze. Because she sensed she was steering into soppy territory, Lucy felt compelled to add, "And he has a fine arse."
Ellie laughed, shocked, and retorted, "Eyes front, soldier!"
"I'll make sure he's always in front of me...."
"Lu, I swear!" Ellie smacked her arm, and they were both laughing now. Alec wandering into the kitchen with a stack of dishes only made them laugh harder. He cocked an eyebrows, put down the dishes and left the room without comment. Lucy made a show of watching him leave. Ellie covered Lucy's eyes with her hand, which only made Lucy shake with silent laughter.
*****
Later, after Lucy left, Ellie observed her older son, so tall now, nearly matching Alec's height. He was laughing at something Daisy had said in passing. Tom's smile was infectious. Ellie couldn't resist grabbing the boy and hugging him tightly. He reciprocated for as long as he could then wriggled away, still smiling. "What was that about?"
"It's Christmas and you're smiling," Ellie said simply.
He couldn't look her in the eye when he murmured, "Did I ever tell you I'm sorry about last Christmas?"
"Maybe. And did I ever tell you I forgave you for it a long time ago?"
She smiled gently at her son, embraced her again briefly, muttering his gratitude before he left the room, presumably in search of snacks.
*****
The rest of the day was spent playing board games, assembling Legos and patching up ouchies from bike lessons. Alec thought he'd probably laughed more that day than he had the past few years. Ellie ran out of space on her phone taking pictures of everyone's smiling faces.
She had room for one more, though, of Alec and Fred, exhausted from bike lessons, asleep on the sofa together. Alec looked slightly uncomfortable serving as a mattress for a growing boy who was drooling on his jumper, but they both were soundly sleeping. As her father would have said, they were meditating upon the the spirit of Christmas. It looked like quite the peaceful meditation from where Ellie was observing them.
******
Daisy took a a break from the board games to go up to her room for some privacy to call her mother. Tess answered on the first ring, which concerned Daisy. Obviously her mother had been waiting by the phone. She felt bad that time had gotten away from her. It was nearly twilight.
"Hi, Daisy," her mum said, and Daisy could detect a note of coolness in her tone. Shit, Daisy thought.
She went on with her cheery greeting. "Hi, Mum, happy Christmas!"
"I didn't think I'd hear from you before Boxing Day," Tess replied.
"I'm sorry, Mum," she said sincerely. "Time flew today...we got up ridiculously early, but you know how it is with little kids. Fred was so excited. He got a bike and Dad's been teaching him to ride it. It has training wheels, but Fred's a bull in china shop but you know...injuries." She trailed off, realizing she was babbling.
"Sounds like fun," Tess said neutrally. "Edward and Nancy send their love. We've had an enjoyable day, when Edward wasn't spouting off about politics and football. That got awkward."
"I'm sure it did. He tends to go on," Daisy replied. "Was dinner nice?"
"Yes, and Dave actually showed up, a Christmas miracle. Then I got to be entertained by Edward having a go at him."
Daisy didn't know what say to that. "Yeah....we had a nice dinner, with a rather large helping of awkward. Ellie's nephew brought his girlfriend and Ellie's sister spent time embarrassing the hell out of the nephew."
Tess made a sound, which Daisy supposed was to indicate interest but Tess immediately changed the subject. "So, the Thompsons are wanting a head count for the twenty-eighth...."
Daisy rolled her eyes. Really, she thought they had worked this out. They had even discussed Glasgow. "Mum, I'll still be here. We're going up to Glasgow. "
"Thought maybe...plans had changed. I can't imagine your dad willingly taking a long car trip with a car full of people up to a place where he hates being."
Daisy pinched the bridge of her nose, trying to find patience. "Mum, he's never said that. As far as I know, we're going. Look, I miss you. I'll be back soon. But I've missed a lot of time with Dad. And Dave's family really couldn't care less if I'm there or not. Dave's probably glad to be shut of me. So please stop trying to guilt me into this."
"I'm not guilting you into anything," Tess snapped back.
"That's not how it feels to me. And Mum, I love you but the more you push....."
"The more you pull away. Yes. I've been lectured on that point quite well by your father." Her voice was tight and bitter, and it broke Daisy's heart a little to hear it.
Daisy sighed shakily. "I need to go... But I'll call you before we leave. I hate hanging up with you angry, Mum."
There was a pause. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have.....anyway, you enjoy your Hardy family reunion in Glasgow. We'll do our best to salvage our Christmas here. Don't worry. Love you, honey."
"I love you, too, Mum," Daisy said, her voice small. They said their goodbyes and rang off, Daisy lying back on her pillows. Tears were starting to leak out of the corners of her eyes. At that moment the door cracked open and Tom peeked in.
"Hey, we're startin' a Mario Kart tournament and I'm gonna kick your dad's...." He noticed then that Daisy was upset. "What's wrong?"
"Called Mum," she said by way of explanation.
"Oh. Bad?"
"Kinda," Daisy sighed, then she grabbed a tissue and wiped her eyes. She got up off her bed, remembering that between the two of them, Tom had won the bad parent lottery. She could suck it up and deal with her mum. "Ready to administer that ass kicking?"
"He's been askin' for it," Tom said, willingly changing the subject. He didn't want to press. He had no idea what he'd advice he'd give her.
Daisy decided to try to relax and enjoy her family time. Before the Mario Kart tournament started, however, she gave her dad a warm hug. He gave her a questioning look, but she just kissed his cheek and sat down.
Alec exchanged a look with Ellie. They both knew why Daisy went upstairs. Daisy smiled and said, "I'm fine," when she saw them observing her. "You know Mum."
Alec did. And that's why he worried.
*****
After Fred was in bed and the teenagers had retired to their room to fiddle with their electronic gadgets, Alec and Ellie collapsed onto their bed, too knackered to pick up where they left off early that morning on the sofa. They spooned up together, his arm around her waist, both sighing as they relaxed. "Lovely day," Alec murmured.
"The best," Ellie agreed. "Although, I'm glad we have nothing to do tomorrow but have a lie in and knock about the house all day. Tom's got that gathering, though. That's all." After a few seconds of silence Ellie started chuckling. "Tom bought Genny a gift, did I tell you? He's supposed to give it to her tomorrow."
Alec grinned. "And so it starts," he sighed.
"Indeed. Oh! Don't forget- you and Carrie need to make the plans for New Year. She said she'd be back home tomorrow, right?"
"Yeah."
"So, don't forget. How long's it been since you were there?"
There was a pause as Alec thought about it. It took a few seconds to recall. "I guess....we didn't go back after Dad died so.." He scratched the back of his head, thinking. "Maybe since Daisy was four? She was five when he died. When I got together with Carrie after our parents died it was always in London. Couple of times in Blackpool."
"That long?"
"I guess. It always went to hell when we visited Dad at his house, but for some reason when he came to our house he behaved. Mostly." He rolled over on his back. He didn't want to go into details. He really didn't have great memories of Glasgow, other than Carrie's companionship. Maybe, he thought, it would be better just to plan a holiday in Blackpool in the summer..... He'd always enjoyed those. Maybe he'd talk to Carrie about that instead, he mused.
He didn't tell Ellie about his misgivings.
Missing his warm body, Ellie rolled to her side and placed her head on his his chest, feeling his steady heartbeat. "Are you looking forward to going back?" She had a feeling that what he wasn't saying spoke volumes about his emotions.
"Glad I talked to Carrie," he allowed. Then he yawned and kissed the top of her head and the subject was closed.
Ellie slept eventually. It took Alec a bit longer, with concerns about Daisy and memories of growing up in Glasgow turning over in his mind until he finally fell into an exhausted doze.