Twas the Night Before Christmas

Disclaimer: We all know the deal. Me no own anything but this and my 

other ficcies.

Warning: Short Fluff and a pitiful attempt at humor. Like Ash would 

say humor is better any day over my brand of angst. 2xH, should be 

able to tell from title.

      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, his wife Hilde. 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. An 

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.

      Grinning 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. "These 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. 

I actually wrote a sappy fic without any angst!?! *jumps in the air* 

Wow!