Chapter Text
December 24, 2025
Things have been looking up for the Bradford household.
Tim and Lucy had their wedding in August of this year. Jackson served as Lucy’s Man of Honor and while Tim asked Wesley to be his best man. Tim asked Grey if he could come and officiate, which he proudly accepted. Mabel was the flower girl and Adrian was the ring bearer. It was a small ceremony and reception just how they liked it, Angela and Genny helped plan the whole thing. They were just happy to be married.
Mabel started 3rd grade this year and doing expectantly well, she was even student of the week. She started to take gymnastics and she started piano lessons. She also loves being a big sister to Adrian. She turned 9 this past October and Tim got very emotional because his little girl is growing up. She now calls Lucy her mom and they are happy about that.
Adrian officially turned 1 this past April and has been hitting all of his milestones. He was able to walk on his own around 13 months old. He said his first word a little bit after that, his first word was “Sissy”. He can also recognize certain people now and say their names, he still can’t say Aunt Genny but she didn’t care
Tim went back for his 3rd year of teaching this year. He’s teaching mainly seniors now and he likes it that way. He was officially asked to be the head coach for the school’s baseball team after the original coach retired. He loves his job but especially his family, he loves coming home to them.
Lucy actually decided to go back to school during her year off to get her master’s degree in High School Art. Angela told her that the art teacher was retiring after the 2024-2025 school year and she was very thrilled about it. She told Tim about it and they both decided that she should go for it. She was able to start the position this school year while still earning her degree, she just graduated this winter.
Everyone in the family had everything going well for them. And now they were in for a bigger surprise.
“Mom, why can’t we tell dad”
Lucy chuckles “I told you, it’s his christmas present”
“Why can’t we tell him now”
“Because it is a surprise”
“Ugh, fine. I just hate that I know and he doesn’t”
“I know honey but it will all be good in the end, alright”
“Fine”
Mabel hates keeping secrets from her dad but she knows in the end it would be a good surprise
Lucy and Mabel went on with their day until Tim and Adrian came home
“Hey Honey, how was your day” Lucy said to Tim while giving him a kiss
“It was good, this little one though was a bit of a hand full” Tim said while giving Adrian the side eye
“Why would you say that” Lucy proceeds to take Adrian from Tim
“Well, first of all, he cried the whole time we were with Genny, He puked on the outfit he had on and at the same time he decided to have a small blowout in his diaper”
“Ohhh, ok then, I can see why he was a handful, I’m just betting he’s tired and needs a nap”
“Yeah, I think that would be a good thing”
Lucy brings Adrian to his room, puts him into pajamas and puts him in his crib. She comes out of his room a few minutes later and feels a rush of nausea wave over her as she heads into the kitchen”
“Are you ok”
“Yeah, I’m fine, I probably just need to eat something, I skipped breakfast”
“Ok then, did you need me to make you something for a late lunch”
“Only if you want to” Lucy mentions while walking towards Tim to give him a kiss
“Yeah, it’s fine, Let’s see what we have”
Tim looks in the cupboards for a few minutes before grabbing a box of spaghetti and a can of sauce
“Will this be good” Tim shows her the box of spaghetti
“Yeah, that’s perfect”
Tim heads over to the stove and grabs a pot to start making the spaghetti
“Make sure to make enough for Mabel as well, she hasn’t eaten a lot today either”
“What, she didn’t have breakfast this morning either”
“No, she didn’t”
“Were you guys doing something this morning that prevented you guys both from eating”
“Yeah, we were still wrapping christmas presents because we didn’t finish last night”
Tim offers a look of confusion “And there were still so many that you guys skipped breakfast”
“Something like that”
Tim looks at her again but doesn’t think anything of it and goes back to making the spaghetti. Once it’s done, Tim gets Lucy a bowl, plates her up some spaghetti and gives it to her. After he gives Lucy her bowl, Tim calls for Mabel to come and eat. Mabel comes out of her room and takes a seat right next to Lucy. Tim hands her a bowl and she starts eating.
“So Mabel, why didn’t you and mom eat breakfast this morning”
Mabel looks over at Lucy and looks back at Tim “We were stilling wrapping presents because we didn’t finish last night”
“Are you sure”
“Yes, I’m sure, you don’t believe me”
“No, I believe you, it’s just something seems off with you too, like your keeping a secret”
Mabel and Lucy look at each other trying not to break under pressure
“Why would you say that Dad”
“Because you guys have been acting were since we went on winter break”
Mabel and Lucy look at eachother again and Mabel starts talking
“Well, we are keeping a secret” Lucy eyes pop out of her head when Mabel said that
“You are, can you tell me the secret”
“No, I can’t”
“And why is that”
“Because it’s your christmas present and I don’t want to spoil it” Lucy releases a breath that she didn’t know she was holding
Tim’s brain seemed to click at the same moment “So, for the past days, you guys were just worried I would see my present before Christmas”
“Exactly”
Tim looks at them for a few seconds before speaking again
“Ok, that makes sense. Well, I’m going to head and take a shower, I still smell like toddler vomit”
Tim walks down the hallway to the bedroom and grabs his clothes for the shower. Meanwhile, Lucy and Mabel are still in the Kitchen
“You think dad bought it mom”
Lucy nods her head no
“He definitely knows something is up but at least he knows it’s something to do with his present and he’ll back off”
“That’s good right”
“Yes, that is good, now finish up so we can watch a Christmas movie”
They finish up their spaghetti, put their dishes in the sink and head to the couch to pick out a christmas movie, they chose Home Alone. Tim comes out of the shower and joins them on the couch. They all stayed on the couch until the movie was over. Tim gets off the couch to start making dinner, Lucy goes to wake up Adrian from his nap and Mabel stays on the movie to watch another movie.
Tim finishes dinner an hour later and all settle around the table to eat. Tim keeps passing glances at Lucy and Mabel. He knows they are hiding something but he’ll just let it go for now. They continue on with dinner until Lucy feels a wave of nausea hitting and she heads to the bathroom.
“Are you ok honey”
“Yeah, I just have to use the bathroom really quick”
“Are you sure”
Lucy chuckles “Yes, I am sure, I’ll be back in a bit”
Lucy heads to the bathroom and locks the door. She heads over to the toilet and begins to vomit. She stays like that for a minute until she hears a knock at the door.
“Mom, are you ok, you sound sick” Mabel said through the door
“Yes, I’m fine Mabel, go back to dad”
“Ok, just feel better”
“I will sweetie”
Mabel walks back to the dining room to finish her food while Lucy continues to vomit in the bathroom. Mabel told Tim what she heard and grew concerned. Lucy comes back out a few minutes later and Tim still feeling concerned
“Are you actually ok”
“Yeah, why would you think I wasn’t”
“Mabel said she heard puking in the bathroom”
Lucy looks over at Mabel who has a little worried look on her face and turns back to Tim
“Ok fine, I am feeling a little sick but it’s probably just a stomach bug”
“It looks like its more than a stomach bug”
“I’m sure it’s nothing to be concerned about”
“Are you positive”
“Yes, I’m positive, I should be fine by tomorrow”
Tim sighs and gives in “Fine, if you say you’ll be fine then I’ll be fine”
“Good because now I need to finish dinner”
Lucy sits back down at the table to finish her dinner. Once everyone is done, Tim cleans off the table while everyone else settles around the living room to watch some tv, he joins them a little while later. After watching tv for a little while, Lucy brings Adrian to his room and puts him to bed. She comes out of his room and starts to feel sick again, she decides to head to the bathroom just as a precaution. She didn’t end up puking but she was close. She comes out of the bathroom and heads towards the living room again. She sits back down next to Tim.
“You took a long time putting him to bed”
“Actually, he wasn’t too bad but he spit up on me a little bit so I ran to the bathroom to clean myself up” lying through her teeth
Tim looks at her and doesn’t see a spit up stain
“Where did he spit up”
“In my hair” Lucy grabs a piece of her hair and shows Tim “See, right here”
Tim grabs the piece of hair and looks at it “Oh, now I see it” Tim lets go of her hair and continues to watch tv
They watch tv until the clock hit 10 o’clock and they all decided to go to bed
()()()()()()()()()()()()
December 25, 2025
Adrian wakes Tim and Lucy up at 8:30 in the morning with his crying. Lucy heads to his room and Tim goes to the kitchen to make breakfast. Lucy gets Adrian out of his crib and dresses him for the day. She brings him out to the kitchen to show Tim his outfit and he couldn’t be more happy
“You seriously dressed him as a snowman”
“Yes, I thought it would look adorable, doesn’t it”
“It does” Tim grabs Adrian from Lucy’s arms “Aren’t you a handsome little man” Adrian makes a little chuckle at Tim’s comment
Tim holds him for a few more seconds before handing Adrian back to Lucy so he can finish breakfast. Lucy takes Adrian over to the dining room and sits down with him
Around 9am is when Mabel woke up and she was thrilled
“Hey sweetie, how are you”
“Excited” Mabel is basically jumping up and down “When do I get to open my presents”
Tim chuckles “After breakfast, like we do every year”
“Ugh, Fine”
Mabel sits down next to Lucy and Adrian while they wait for breakfast. Tim finishes breakfast not that long after, he places it on the table and they all immediately dive in. They finish breakfast in record time and once they are done they bring everything back to the kitchen so they can open presents.
()()()()()()()()()()()()()
Once everyone is in the living room, Tim starts handing out presents. It takes him a little while because they have a lot of presents this year, especially for the kids, they may have gone overboard. Anyways, after Tim passes out all of the presents, they tell Mabel to open hers first. She ripped the first one open and she was more than happy.
“You got me a squishmellow”
“Yes we did” Tim explains “It is the one you wanted”
“Yes it is dad, I love it”
“Good, now continue to open your presents so Adrian can open his”
Mabel opens the rest of her presents and she was happy with what she got, she especially loves the squishmellow. Adrian opened his presents and they were just the simple things a 1 year old gets, clothes, books, tiny cars and stuffed animals. Once the kids were done opening their presents, Tim and Lucy helped them bring the presents to their rooms, it didn’t take long to do so.
After the kids are in their rooms playing with their toys, Tim and Lucy sit back down on the couch to open their presents. They opened up their presents from the kids first and weren’t surprised on what they got. Each of them got a homemade book from Mabel and Adrian made them both ornaments at daycare, they loved them. Then it was time to open the presents from each other. Tim told Lucy to open her presents because of how important they are, she agreed to do so. She opens up her first present and sees a jewelry box.
“What is this”
“Open it and you will see”
She opens the box and sees what’s inside. It was a necklace with a rudy jewel in the center.
“It’s beautiful Tim, I love it”
“I’m glad but take a looker look”
Lucy looked at him all confused but looked closer at the necklace. She notices that there is something inside the rudy, she looks a little closer to see what it is. She notices what is inside and breaks down in tears. It was a picture of all 4 of them at Tim and Lucy’s wedding.
“Do you like it”
“I don’t like it I love it, Thank you Tim” Lucy proceeds to give Tim a hug
“No worries”
Lucy lets go of Tim and he surprisingly hands her another present.
Lucy looked a little confused “I thought we said we would only get eachother one gift like we do every year”
“Well, I decided to get you something else that you would like”
“Ok then”
Lucy rips open the present and is shocked by what she finds inside. It is a shadow box with roses inside it and the date of their wedding on it, she is overwhelmed with tears
“I love it Tim, thank you”
“My pleasure”
Lucy wipes her tears away and hands Tim his gift. He notices how big it is and realizes he didn’t ask for anything this big
“Why is it so big”
“Because it’s a big surprise”
Tim nods along and opens his present. He had to dig through a lot of tissue paper to get to his present but he finally got there. He pulls out the first item and it is a t-shirt signed by multiple players from the LA Rams.
“This is really nice, how did you get”
“Jackson knows a guy who works for the Rams”
“He does”
“Yeah he does, now continue opening it”
Tim goes back into the box and pulls out a snapback hat with the Rams Logo on it.
“This is nice as well, thank you”
“No problem but there is one more thing in there, look”
Tim grabs the last item out of there and is a little confused, it was a shadowbox just like the one he gave her but there something else inside of it
“Babe, why does it say Coming Soon August 2026 with a sonogram attached to it”
Lucy just shakes her head “Because” She grabs the pregnancy test from behind her back and shows Tim “Another little Bradford is deciding to make an appearance”
Tim is sitting in shock, he couldn’t believe it “You’re Pregnant”
“Yeah, I am” Lucy spoke with happy tears in her eyes.
Within a split second, Tim grabs Lucy and gives her a hug
“So, I guess your happy”
“Extremely”
They stay hugging for a few more seconds before letting going, then Tim has a realization
“Is this why you and Mabel have been acting weird lately ”
“Yeah, That’s why”
“How did she find out”
“She found my test on the counter when she went to use the bathroom and I swore her to secrecy”
Tim chuckles at the comment
“She actually kept a secret”
“Yep, she did”
Both of them are chuckling now
“So, you ready for 3 kids” Tim asked
Lucy looks at him with the brightest smile on her face “Absolutely”
Tim smiles back at her and takes her hands into his
“Thank you Lucy”
“For What”
“For coming back into my life, I don’t know what I would do without you”
Lucy gives him another small smile “I don’t know what I would do either”
They smile at each other once again and seal their deal with a kiss
()()()()()()()()()()()()()
August 24, 2026
Genny, Nyla, Jackson, Angela and Wesley are sitting in the waiting room just waiting for the news. Tim called them all last night saying Lucy’s water broke and they are heading to the hospital. They dropped off Mabel and Adrian at a neighbor's house so they could sleep. They wait there for hours and hours until they see Tim coming into the waiting room
“Come here guys, there’s a little girl who wants to meet you”
Everyone stands up and follows Tim down the hallway. Once they get to the room they head in and see Lucy holding their little baby. Tim brings them over a little closer to Lucy’s bed
“Hey guys”
“Hey Lucy, how you doing” Genny asked
“Good, I’m just happy to see this one little one”
Everyone just smiles and looks at the little one a bit longer
“Oh my god, is this little one precious”
“Thank you Nyla” Lucy said emotionally
“So, what did you name her” Genny asked
Lucy looks at Tim and gives him the Ok to say
“Luna Rae, after my mom”
Tim realizes Genny is now crying and comforts her
“Are you ok”
“Yeah, I’m fine, you really named her after mom”
“We did, I thought it would be a good way to remember her and I know she would love to be here right now”
“I know she would to”
The siblings embrace in a hug for a little bit then go back to focusing on Lucy and Luna
“So, quick question, have you guys decided on godparents yet” Said Jackson
“We have but we haven’t asked them yet”
“Well, are you going to ask them” Angela questions
Lucy look at Tim and gives him the go ahead “Well, we were actually going to ask You and Wesley”
Angela and Wesley are both shocked “Really” They say in unison
“Yeah, since Nyla and Jackson are Adrian’s godparents, were thought you guys should be Luna’s, so what do you say”
They don’t give it a second thought “Yes, A million times yes” Angela give Lucy a hug while she’s sitting in bed while Wesley gives Tim a handshake
After a little while longer, everyone left and Tim went to get Adrian and Mabel so they could meet Luna
()()()()()()()()()()()()
Around 9:30 at night, everyone is asleep except Tim. He’s holding Luna in his arms, sitting with her in a hospital rocking chair, just rocking her back and forth. He stares are her for a while and she does as well
“I’m happy your here Luna, you have made our family complete” He gives her a small kiss on the head and continues to rock her
After a little bit, he talks to her again
“So Luna, do you want to hear how you mom meet your dad”
Luna coos at his comment and Tim laughs
“Ok then, let’s start from the beginning”
He goes on talking about their whole story, meeting in high school, having feelings for each other and not doing anything about it, got distance before going to college, meeting again years later after accepting a job , going on their first date, having Adrian, get married and finally ended with giving birth to Luna.
“So, what I’m trying to say here is follow you heart, you never know when it leads you down the right path” Tim gives her another kiss on the head and puts Luna in her bassinet and goes to sleep knowing he has the family he’s always wanted.