Emerald Eyes | Natasha Romanoff

Chapter 39: So This Is Christmas

christmas part 2! and this chapter isn't sitting right with me, and i'm not sure why.

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The families congregated in the living room, the roaring fire casting a warm glow across the faces of the children who sat on the rug, chatting excitedly at the prospect of presents.

Tommy, Billy and Yelena were all talking over the top of each other as they explained what was in their stocking, the twins showing the little trinkets and toys they had received.

Vision and Alexei were standing near the bookshelf as they did usual dad stuff; compared book collections and talked about CD collections. Slightly boring but it kept them entertained.

Melina and Wanda had gravitated towards each other in the kitchen, preparing drinks and snacks to take through to the main room. Wanda had planned out all the main food for lunch and Melina was excited to see all of the goodies as she opened the fridge.

There were 2 main couches in the living room and so Nat and Lia gravitated to the large arm chair in the corner so that everyone else had a space to sit. At first, Nat sat in the chair and Lia perched on the armrest, the brunette looking down at Nat with nothing but love in her eyes.

But after 5 minutes, Nat pulled Lia down onto her lap and she let out a squeal, laughing as she fell rather ungraciously, making Yelena and the twins laugh as she almost rolled onto the floor.

"A little warning next time!" She exclaimed as Nat chuckled.

They sat together, whispering sweet nothings until the moms called the official start of present unwrapping.

There was an odd similarity between both families which no one had noticed before. Their presents never extended beyond the people in the room. There were no uncles or aunts, no grandparents or distant cousins who sent forgotten cards or meaningless presents.

Wanda felt her heart sink at the thought of Pietro, knowing how much he would love her children. The dad's took their time to find their seats and the Sokovian couldn't help but imagine what he would be like.

Probably teasing the boys, ruffling their hair or making stupid jokes just to get Lia to smile. Making banter with his sister, reminiscing of their childhood before their lives turned around. Eating far too many snacks and then complaining he was full as they sat down to dinner. Disturbing the peace to get up to sing along to 'Last Christmas', complete with cheesy dance moves.

The excited chanting of her twin boys pulled Wanda out of her trance and clapped her hands together, smiling widely at the two families ready for christmas. It was something she'd dreamed of for so long. 17 years at least.

She let everyone pick out a present from under the tree and naturally, Yelena and the twins went for the biggest ones they had. Everyone else stayed seated and watched their faces change as they pulled off the sparkly wrapping paper.

"No way! This is so cool!" Tommy yelled out, pulling out several items from the large box in his lap. "A football goal? My own goal? And a ball!"

"Yes. So you can finally stop kicking your ball into the fence-"

"And into our garden!" Yelena piped up, even though she loved it when the boys kicked their ball over as she then had a good excuse to play with them.