All My Days

cheryl and toni at christmas time

xxx

Cheryl couldn't help but let out the heartiest laugh when she saw her wife across the mall atrium. She knew about Toni's second job that she had picked up, taking pictures of kids with Santa for some extra holiday cash, but she had no idea about the outfit that came with it. Toni always left the house for her shift dressed normally, same as when she came home.

"Mama's an elf?!" Adeline looked up at her from the double stroller with wide eyes.

"She's working undercover with Santa, remember? So she can see what presents you're getting this year," Cheryl put a finger to her lips as if it were a secret. It was a little excuse they had come up just in case the Addie got sad that Toni wasn't home at night to read her a story or help at bath time. Rosie was too young to care or even notice.

"Oh yeah," the five year old whispered, holding her own little finger up to her lips.

Cheryl ran her fingers through the curly tufts of brown hair on Rosie's head as she slept. She definitely got her sleeping habits from Toni, considering she could fall asleep just about anywhere. Pushing the stroller forward, she got in line for pictures. It was still pretty early in the season, so the line wasn't as long as she'd expected. Toni hadn't noticed her yet, too busy jingling bells to get babies to look at the camera in front of her. The redhead couldn't help but bite her lip in amusement. Toni had her brown hair in two braids by her ears and her outfit looked like something straight out of the movie Elf.

"Excuse me," she tapped on the shoulder of a larger man when they got closer to the front of the line. He seemed to be a manager, considering he wasn't dressed like everyone else. "That's my wife behind the camera. Do you think someone would be able to take her spot just for our photo? It's a surprise," she whispered, not wanting Toni to overhear or notice her. She smiled when the man nodded and chuckled quietly.

They made it to the front of the line and Cheryl could barely keep a neutral look on her face, breaking out in a fit of giggles when Toni looked up and saw her.

"Oh my god," the brunette mumbled to herself, looking down at her ridiculous outfit.

"You look so cute," Cheryl pushed the stroller forward, reaching up to toy with the jingle bell at the tip of her wife's hat.

"You're never gonna let me live this down, are you?"

"Afraid not, my love. Especially since it's going on our Christmas card," the redhead smirked, getting the girls out of the stroller. Adeline immediately ran up to Santa, climbing into his lap as Cheryl picked the sleeping Rosie up, bringing her over to the man in red.

"Wait, what?" Toni quirked an eyebrow, seeing her manager take over the camera, "You're kidding me."

"Come on, little elf," the man dressed as Santa beckoned her over with a chortle.

"Yeah, come on, Ma-I mean, little elf," Addie smiled, correcting herself so she didn't blow her mother's 'undercover identity'.

Toni hid her face in her hands, embarrassed before sucking it up and going over to Santa's chair, standing on his other side behind Adeline. As ridiculous as she knew she looked, the Christmas card did turn out pretty damn cute.

However, once Sweet Pea received his in the mail, he didn't hesitate to call her and give her shit for it.

xxx

Toni couldn't believe she let Veronica and Sweet Pea talk her into this. Sometimes she couldn't stand her own competitive nature, or Cheryl's for that matter. Somehow the raven haired girl had convinced the two girls to compete with each other over who could deliver the most mistletoe attacks on the other in a week's time. Veronica knew that it would be a fierce competition between the two, considering they both hated losing.