Cate and Nick were walking back to her apartment because Cate remembered Kayla was being dropped off and didn’t want Amy to awake. They reached the apartment and noticed that Amy’s Mom was also just arriving.
“Hi, Mrs. Evans! Merry Christmas!” Cate announced as Amy’s mom spotted her.
“Hello Catelyn. What are you doing up this early?”
“Ha-ha, Mrs. E. I was actually coming so I could wait for you and Kay, but you’re already here, so no need for that”
“Yes, you have a point. And who may this be?”
“Oh Nick, this would be Mrs. Evans, Amy’s mom”
“Call me Eleanor. Mrs. Evans is just so boring”
“Sure. Is Kayla with you?” He asked.
“Duh! She’s in the car seat. Let me just pry her out since she’s still asleep” She replied, then went back to her car. She pulled Kayla out a second later and carried her over to Catelyn, handing her over to her.
“Well, tell Amy I said Merry Christmas and that I’ll be seeing her over the break”
“Sure thing. See ya later” Cate said as Mrs. Evans drove off, “Lets get inside and see what happened,” She added as they walked in.
She opened the door to the apartment saw that the gifts were still under the tree and nothing was too out of the ordinary. Well there was the exception of the scattered clothes but go figure.
“I take it they had a long night” Nick joked.
“Yeah, and I’m guessing it was worth the wait. Geez can’t even pick up after themselves. Just leave their clothes on the floor for their-her three year old daughter to see” She quickly recovered, hoping he didn’t notice the slip-up.
“Their? Please tell me you’re…” He couldn’t finish the rest as he just looked at Cate desperately.
“It’s the truth, but you CANNOT tell anyone. You’re not even supposed to know. I promised her I wouldn’t tell, but no, I had to open my big mouth and all” She replied, pacing back and forth.
“Brian is…. Shit! This is great! He was upset because he felt bad, not being the real father and all”
“Nick, he can’t know. It’s not your place to tell him. Amy still wants to keep this a secret so don’t be so public about it,” She said, lying Kay down on the couch.
“You’re right, but are you sure it’s even his? I thought it was that Josh dude”
“Nick, lets do the math together. The cruise was in December and she’ll be three in August because she was two weeks premature. It all adds up”
“It does and now that I look at her, I see Bri in her all the way. Her little smile and everything”
“Yeah, well Amy convinced most people that it was her looks Kay inherited and I’m surprised they all bought it”
“So that makes me an uncle?”
“Yeah I guess it would, but Nick you promise me this stays between just you and me. I know he’s your friend but Amy wants to tell him herself”
“I promise. I don’t want to ruin what they just got back last night. It’ll only make matters worse and I really don’t want that”
“I’m glad you see it that way. Thanks for listening” She said and gave him a soft kiss on the lips. Suddenly, Kayla woke up and smiled.
“Aunt Cate and Nick!” She exclaimed, jumping up and breaking their lip lock.
“Hey it’s my favorite little niece”
“Yep, Merry Chismas” She said the best she could, “I bored. Could you teach me something?” She asked.
“I have just the thing. Here’s what you do first” Cate started, teaching her a new song.
Amy watched intently as Brian continued to sleep, his chest rising and falling with his rhythmic breathing. She had been doing this for over five minutes now, finding it a bit…hypnotizing. She was happy that they were finally together, but telling him the truth still nagged her endlessly and she wish it would just end. She also knew she could do that by simply telling him, but it wasn’t that simple…or was it? It was one subject that kept her confused for hours.
“Penny for your thoughts?” Brian asked, interrupting her mental argument.
“Hmm? Oh I guess you could say that”
“Is everything okay? You can tell me”
“I’m fine. It’s just that there’s a lot on my mind”
“I get that way sometimes. Morning by the way”
“Good morning to you as well” She replied smiling and leaning in for a kiss.
Their embrace lasted longer than they intended and that’s when Kayla decided to make an entrance. She immediately jumped on the bed and broke their kiss. She seemed to have a habit of doing that this particular morning.
“MERRY CHISMAS!!” She shouted happily, “Can I open my peasents now?”
“Sure, Mommy just needs to get dressed, Mk?”
“Can I sing you something first?”
“Go right ahead Princess Kay” Brian said as they both smiled, wondering what on Earth she could sing for them.
“Where’s Mommy gonna be in the middle of the night? Said up in the sheets with Brian, alright!” She said while laughing, then made a run for it. They were surprised to say the least, and Amy could only think of one person.
“CATELYN!! You’re ass is mine!!” Amy yelled, throwing a night shirt and panties on.
“Remember you love me! You’re my amigo, my crony, my chica!” She yelled back.
Amy made a dash out of her room and started chasing Cate around the apartment. Brian threw on a pair of boxers and stood in the doorway of Amy’s bedroom, while Nick was sitting on the couch, laughing his ass off. (AN: They do that a lot, don’t they? LOL)
“I can’t believe you taught my daughter that!!”
“I thought it would be funny” Cate replied, trying to find a place to avoid Amy’s fury.
“FUNNY?? Funny?? I’ll give you funny when I smack your sunburn”
“NO!! That’ll hurt too much!” She shrieked, finally locking herself in the bathroom.
“You’ll have to come out sometime, ya know!! I’ll just wait outside the door until ya do!!” Amy replied, banging on the door.
“Something wrong, Mommy?” Kayla asked as she walked up to Amy.
“Aunt Cate got herself in trouble again” She said, then concentrated on getting the door open.
“I asked her to teach me something, so she did”
“She could have taught you a Barney song, or better, Backstreet Boys”
“No offence, but their tunes aren't catchy enough!” Cate yelled through the door.
“Can it or I’ll knock the door down!”
“Listen, I’m sorry! It was all Walter’s idea, I swear!”
“Don’t even try to blame this on a lizard that doesn’t even exist!”
“That was harsh so now I’m giving you the cold shoulder!!”
“You are so childish! I swear I’m raising two kids sometimes!” Amy exclaimed, giving up on the door and walking into the kitchen. Brian decided to calm her down.
“Amy, I’m sure she didn’t mean it. She was just having fun”
“Take her side, why don’t you?”
“I was just stating a fact. Don’t be mad at me, please?” He said, giving her the puppy dog look.
“No way is that going to work on me, so give it up” She said and Bri got an idea He picked up Kayla and whispered in her ear.
“Pwease!” They said at the same time, than both gave the puppy dog look, “We love you and we’re sorry” They added. Amy absolutely melted.
“Alright, so you got me there” She said. It had actually touched her to see Bri and Kay like that. She wouldn’t think of that thought, cause that’s the last thing she wanted to do.
“Are you going to leave her in there all day?”
“I think she needs some time to think things over”
“C’mon Amy. I thought it was funny”
“Fine, I give up. She can come out” Amy replied and Cate immediately threw the door open, ran over to Amy, and gave her a huge hug.
“Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!!” Cate said.
“That doesn’t mean I forgive you for what you did”
“I was playing and it’s not like I taught her the ‘mammal song’”
“If you did, there would be no doubt in my mind to kick your ass”
“It’s Christmas. Be happy and jolly!”
“I’m going over to sit with Kayla so she can open her presents” Amy replied then walked over to the couch by the tree.
“You always were stubborn when it came to us fighting”
“Can you blame me?”
“Alright, so you need time to cool off. I got the point” Cate said, then walked over to Nick and sat down with him. This was going to be one complicated Christmas.