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It was getting towards the end of what had turned out to be another chaotic day. Kate and Christofer had been excited to share and celebrate Christmas with all the kids.
Squeek the baby shreek had been particularly taken with the large Christmas tree that had been placed in the living room. Climbing inside and winding their way up and around the branches. They had needed rescuing on several occasions after getting tangled in the lights. Their growls of frustration audible as Tisal the little siluran shouted 'Muuuuum he's stuck in the tree again!'
Kate had arrived just in time as Squeek, who was thrashing about in the tree, the wires of the tree lights twisted around him, bared his teeth and hissed in preparation for biting through the offending wires, the electricity crackling before he'd even started.
'No, no, no,' she rushed over to the tree which was shaking alarmingly, as Tisal stood with her arms folded and foot tapping in disapproval as she watched the scene unfold. Gently, Kate untangled Squeek from the wires, holding him close for a moment as he nuzzled gratefully against her. 'No more climbing the tree and definitely no biting the lights,' she scolded him gently as she placed him back on the floor.
Squeek narrowed his eyes before shaking himself and disappearing from the room as Kate let out a chuckle, 'at least he didn't bring the tree down this time,' she muttered to Tisal, who looked unimpressed.
'He's a menace,' the little silurian huffed. 'Auntie Shirley said so.'
'Did she now?' Kate tried to keep her voice light but her expression darkened slightly.
'Yep, right after he shredded all her briefing reports.'
Kate barked out a laugh at that, she remembered the furious shouts from the scientist when she'd discovered the scene of destruction, Squeek fast asleep in the corner of the room, burrowed inside his freshly prepared nest of shredded scientific anaysis.
It wasn't just Squeek who was enjoying the decorations though.
Nib and Nub the twin yeti's had spent an enjoyable afternoon wrapping themselves and anyone nearby in copious amounts of tinsel. Rho the baby judoon had a nice tinsel belt, Clanky the dalek had a length wrapped around their eyestalk and they'd managed to tie themselves together on several occasions, much to everyone's amusement.
Squish the little adipose had taken charge of Christmas lists and was writing down what everyone wanted, before handing out exceptionally neat and colour coded letters to all of the kids.
When Christofer returned later that afternoon he'd been immediately swept away to the dining room, to listen to a full rendition of the carols Selkie the sea devil had been practicing on her bagpipes.
Kate had rescued him after a while, pressing her lips to his in welcome and calling all the kids together for Christmas snacks. Amongst a flurry of crumbs and wrappers Kate broached the question of Santa. The decision was unanimous and vocal, they'd all been read stories and heard tales of the man in red who brought presents to well behaved children.
A visit was demanded.
Kate winked and nodded to Christofer who disappeared with a smile.
A short while later Santa arrived. Heralded by a jingling of bells and a deep 'ho, ho, ho,' as he stood at the front door.
The kids rushed to fling the door open, surrounding Santa excitedly and ushering him inside. They peppered him with questions such as, how did he manage to get so many presents delivered in one night? Did the sleigh really fly, wasn't that against the laws of physics? Did his sack really contain all of the presents or did he have to make multiple trips? What was the best snack to leave out, did he ever get full? Did he get a Christmas present and who delivered that?
Santa laughed, answering their questions as best he could and admiring all of their lists and reassuring them that they were all most definitely on the nice list this year.
'Even them?' Tisal asked doubtfully, pointing over to where Nib and Nub had broken away from the crowd, Nib was distracting Squeek while Nub tied a length of tinsel to his tail.
'Even them,' he agreed with a chuckle, as Kate tried to grab hold of Squeek, who was running in frantic gnashing circles in an attempt to remove the silver strands from his swishing tail, perilously close to the tree once more.
With a sudden an impressive lunge Kate managed to catch the agitated Squeek, quickly removing the tinsel she released him again and he scurried off, before she turned to Nib and Nub who were looking contritely at her, 'in front of Santa, really?' she raised an eyebrow at them. They hung their heads with a muttered apology.
'Come on now,' Kate told the kids a short while later, 'Santa has a lot to do and its time for all of you to get ready for bed. Time to say goodbye and lets go upstairs please.' She instructed, looking round at the tired but smiling faces.
There was a chorus of protests and several stifled yawns but Santa spoke up. 'You heard your mother.' He told them gently, 'and you want to be well rested to play with any presents you get on Christmas day don't you? he questioned.
There was a grumble of agreements and the kids reluctantly said goodbye as they headed upstairs.
'...it's a shame Daddy didn't get to meet Santa...' Squish's voice floated back down the stairs.
Kate let out a laugh and turned back round to Santa who was also ginning.
'Thank you for doing that,' Kate pushed the door closed and made her way over to Christofer who was stood by the Christmas tree, arms open and waiting.
'I enjoyed it,' Christofer replied, enveloping her in his arms and holding her tight, 'I really thought they might have realised,' he mused, 'I must make a quite a convincing Santa.'
'Yes you do,' Kate grinned up at him, 'although you're a little trimmer than I was expecting,' she patted his chest, her hand trailing down the hard muscle she could feel. 'Have you been working out Santa?' she asked with a smirk.
'Maybe,' he brought a hand up to cup her cheek, his thumb brushing along the soft skin. 'Have you been a good girl this year?' He asked her playfully, bringing his head down until their noses were almost touching.
'Absolutely not,' Kate breathed, pushing onto her toes as their lips came together in a heated kiss, Christofer's chuckle turning into a groan as his hand tightened around her waist the other running though her hair as Kate's own hands snaked up and round his neck...
'Mummy!...' The shocked gasp came from the doorway and Kate and Christofer jumped apart at the sound. Spinning round they found Tisal and Selkie stood by the door that wasn't quite closed.
'I'm telling Daddy you've been kissing Santa!' Tisal shouted in outrage, fleeing the room in search of Christofer, the door slamming shut behind her.
Kate stood there stunned as Christofer dissolved into laughter.
'I'd better get changed,' he wiped the tears of laughter from his eyes, leaving quickly as Kate tried to work out what to do now...