Twas The Night Before Christmas: Maxwell Style
Disclaimer: We all know the deal. Me no own anything but this and my other ficcies.
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Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. _Cut that!_ In the Maxwell house, there was no such luck. Given that the father of the family was Duo Maxwell, it should have been expected that this family was quite awake. "Jake Maxwell, get away from those presents, it's not even midnight yet!" a masculine voice yelled. Duo, don't encourage him!" a feminine voice scolded.
A young child ran down the hall, clad in pajamas. It wasn't long before another child, a girl, joined him. He woke up his sister." Duo complained, now we have both terrors running around." Hilde kissed Duo on the nose, commenting, "They're your children.", prompting Duo to grab her and kiss her senseless until their two small kids made their displeasure known with squeal of "EWW, Daddy's giving mommy cooties." Moving away from Hilde, Duo scooped up his kids, tickling them. "Are you two spying on your Mommy and Daddy?", Duo asked. Tricia Maxwell giggled, while Jake made faces. "It's 9:00, too late for 6 and 4 year old children to be awake.", Hilde said, taking them from her husband's arms. Another child stepped out of his room, watching his younger siblings with disdain. 12 year old Christopher, the Maxwell's oldest child, was waiting for his 13th birthday. A Christmas gift to Hilde and Duo, he had been born a month early, surprising his parents and their friends on Christmas day at the Peacecraft mansion. "Christopher Maxwell, it'll be time for you to go to sleep soon." Duo warned, ruffling his son's head. Christopher had been a surprise unlike his siblings, Hilde and Duo had just been married a week before they found out that Hilde was pregnant. They had been thrilled, but it had been hard to adjust to the fact that he was not only a husband, but soon to be a father. Duo smiled inwardly, Christopher had the best of each of his parents: Duo's looks and Hilde's personality. His siblings, however, Jake was the masculine double of Hilde and Tricia was the feminine double of Duo. Looking at his dad, Chris suggested, "Some cookies while Mom takes care of the terrors?" Duo laughed and said, "Like father, like son." Hilde stepped out of the kids room, her eyes narrowing as she looked at her firstborn son and husband. "I know what you're thinking and no, those cookies are for Santa.", Hilde said warningly. Turning a puppy dog look on his mom, Chris said, "Just one? I'll make sure Dad doesn't go crazy, Mom.". Relenting, Hilde said, One and only one." Walking downstairs, Chris noticed the army of presents around the tree. "Wow, Dad, that much?", Chris said, his eyes wide. "I love making Christmas extra special.", Duo said, a gingerbread cookie in one hand and a glass of milk in the other. Chris had the 12 year old's idea of his parent's past and he knew that was why Mom and Dad went all out for Christmas, but sometimes it was ridiculous. Chris laughed as he remembered his 9th birthday. Duo wanted to place this huge star on the tree instead of their usual Snoopy character. In trying to place the star on the tree, Duo managed to topple the tree, making a mess of tinsel, candy cane, oranaments, and lights as the ladder fell into the tree. Of course, there was no tree for most of Christmas. Looking at his son and guessing his thoughts, Duo said, "Almost 9:30, your turn to go to bed." Chris protested, saying, I'm older, I shouldn't..." Hilde, joining the rest of her family, pointed to the stairs. Chris walked up, a hurt expression on his face as he watched his parents. Hearing the door close, Hilde signed and looked at Duo. "Those are definately your kids, Duo.", Hilde said. Wrapping an arm around her shoulders, Duo said, "What do you expect from the God of Death?" Hilde pushed Duo before saying, "Let's set some of these gifts up." The first gifts were easy to set up, but the 6th wasn't. "How the hell?", Duo said as he tangled up a set of black, red, and yellow wires. Hilde rolled her eyes, saying, "The great God of Death can't even set up a Playstation 2. Lord have mercy on us.", reaching out for the wires. Duo glared at Hilde, saying, "At least I didn't try to play with the Easy Bake Oven." Hilde sighed wistfully. I always wanted one of them." Duo snorted. With Hilde taking care of the Playstation 2, it was up in no time, but that posed another problem. Duo, as soon as it was hooked up, wanted to play Syphon Filter 2, but Hilde forcibly removed him from the playing area. Pouting, Duo contented himself with some more cookies as Hilde finished setting up the new Legos for Jake. Looking at their handiwork, Hilde and Duo sat on the couch. "I love Christmas." Duo said, kissing Hilde on the cheek. Hilde made a face, commenting, "This year we get to host the group at our house, I'm wondering who's going to try to kill you first." Duo laughed, saying, "Heero is always good for a 'Omae wa korosu', Wufei is always easy to rile, the Psychobitch, and Midii or Catherine hasn't thrown a knife at me in two years." Grinning as she remembered the memory, Hilde said, "You kept cracking jokes about Trowa and Midii's hasty wedding. We were all tired of it. Catherine would have used you for target practice if it wasn't for Quatre restraining her." Duo winced at the memory, he had a bruised leg afterwards for a month. A long bang on the roof startled Duo and Hilde from their conversation. Maybe, there really is a Santa Claus.", Duo mused. A pitter-patter of steps came from the stairway. Stopping midway, Tricia asked, "Daddy, what was that?". Looking at his daughter, Duo said, "Tricie honey, that was Santa and his new Gundam. Now, go back to bed." Tricia yawned and went back to the room she shared with her brother. "Santa's Gundam?", Hilde teased. Duo said, "Yeah, a Deathsycthe Hell with a sleigh." Hilde rolled her eyes, and said, "Duo, you are too much." Sitting back on the couch, Duo and Hilde talked about Christmases past and their friends as the night went by, never making it upstairs. On Christmas morning, leading his brother and sister downstairs, Chris found his parents together, curled around each other on the couch. A fond look on his face, Chris looked at his family. They were the best Christmas gift anyone could ever have. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
by By Mistress of Death