Little feet pad against wooden floorboards before the master bedroom is flung open. The twins stumble inside, giggling while trying their hardest to keep their voices down as they gingerly approach their mostly unsuspecting parents.
Farrah points to their mom while Faith gives a subtle nod and winks at their dad; both still nestled into the safety of each other’s arms while the twins crept closer and closer. After pausing a beat, they both leap at the same time. Farrah reaches Robyn first; her small hands fastening around her waist before she buries her face into the silkiness of her mother’s pajamas. Faith reaches for Drake seconds after, gripping his neck tight enough for him to jerk himself awake and upright which sends her sailing into his arms.
“Merry Christmas!” They both yell simultaneously.
Drake recovers first while Robyn blinks groggily up at their daughters. His hands make quick work of tickling Faith. “You thought you could scare us, did you Dot?”
At the sound of tiny screams for him to stop, he tickles her harder and it isn’t long until there are tears in her eyes.
Beside him, Robyn does the same; tickling Farrah until both girls are pleading them to stop; their cries mirroring how desperate and futile escaping is as they struggle against their parents fingers. “Surprise, surprise Doodles!” Robyn says with a grin, laughing and exchanging a smirk with her husband as they turn the tide. “The prey has become the predators, muahahaha.”
Drake shakes his head, biting his bottom lip to stop himself from laughing while his wife continues her version of what seems to be evil laughter. She’s adorable, even when she’s trying not to be. “You heard your mom, you’re outgunned and outmatched.”
After a few fruitless attempts of trying to get free, Farrah gives up. “Okay! Okay! You win!” Farrah huffs. “Quit it already!”
“You’ve got to say it too Dot!” Drake’s grin widens until Faith finally relents; both of their faces red enough on their own as they finally let go.
“Group hug!” Robyn declares loudly. The twins don’t have enough time to get away as they exchange a look of horror. Without missing a beat, Drake and Robyn scoop them up at the same time, boxing them in despite how much the twins continue to squirm to get away.
“Merry Christmas.” Robyn murmurs softly.
Drake echoes her sentiment, squeezing them tightly before finally letting go. “I’m surprised to see you up both so early.” He ruffles the top of Farrah’s head affectionately. “Isn’t this usually the other way around?”
Farrah breaks out into a grin, “well actually. We –”
Faith cuts off her sister with a pinch in her side strong enough to make her sister wince.
“Ow!”
“We promised to keep it a secret.” Faith brings her fings to her lips and makes a shushing noise.
“Oh!” Farrah’s cheeks turn red as she glances away. “Right, sorry.” She looks sheepishly at her parents. “Nothing.”
Drake quirks an eyebrow at his wife, but she’s already one step ahead of him. She tilts her head to one side and eyes their daughters suspiciously. “Keep what a secret?” She keeps her gaze solely on Farrah, knowing she’s much easier to crack under pressure but Farrah studiously avoids her gaze. “Do we need another tickle fight?” She wiggles her fingers in front of her.
“Noooo!” The look of horror on her face is priceless.
“Alright, alright.” Drake interrupts, shaking his head at them. “What mommy means is she’s just worried that the secret is a surprise that’s all.” He pauses, thinking. “A messy surprise.”
“Especially if Logan’s put you up to it.” Robyn adds with a grumble.
“It’s nothing like that.” Farrah glances uneasily at her sister.
Drake raises his eyebrows.
Then Faith sighs and slumps a little, rolling her eyes before looking away with a tiny frown. “It’s just….we.” She bites her lower lip, “we want you to follow us downstairs.” Her whole body relaxes, “that’s all.”
Robyn exchanges a look with her husband. On their own, the twins are harmless but whenever their brother was involved, their shenanigans usually end up with everyone being grounded. Still, it’s Christmas and they were supposed to be awake hours ago – and if it wasn’t for the Christmas Eve party Liam threw yesterday, they would have been. “Alright.” She makes the decision evasively, reaching over to give her husband’s hand a squeeze before smiling at them. “You win, show us the way Dot.”
Grinning, Faith beams at her before jumping off their bed.
“Hey, no jumping!” Drake warns to which Farrah pointedly ignores as she follows her sister, jumping off and landing perfectly on her own two feet.
“Well c’mon – let’s go.”
“Hold on, we’re right behind you.” Drake mumbles, his eyes quickly scanning for a shirt.
Robyn tosses him a clean and plain t-shirt from their drawer. “You heard the little ladies.” She smirks, “no time to waste.”
A small smile toys at the corner of his lips as he shakes his head. His life was pretty much run by all the women in his life, not that he minded – at least when it came to his family. “Aye, aye.” He mocks salutes the twins and Faith giggles while Farrah makes a face.
Slipping into his shirt, he easily takes Farrah’s open hand while Robyn takes the other. Faith scampers ahead, almost tripping over the small miniature Christmas tree in the hall before Robyn can shout a warning to her.
“Careful!”
They take the stairs two at a time and Robyn makes a note of all the decorations they have to somehow find time to take down later in the week. There’s Christmas reaves spanning red and white on almost every word and paper-cut out snowflakes the twins hung themselves along the banister. And that was only a small part of the house. She shudders just thinking of how many hours it would take to get everything down. Thankfully, her family’s big enough for her to make quick work of them.
Drake pauses for a moment until Farrah tugs at his hand. His brow furrows but he lets her pull him forward, while listening keenly to the whispers coming from the kitchen. He can’t make out the words but there’s no mistaking who’s in there. It’s Logan and Liv– and whatever surprise they had waiting for them. He didn’t know whether to be excited or scared. Tensing for a moment, he cautiously eyes down their long hallway as they cross the living room.
Faith pushes the double doors of their kitchen wide open just as Liv and Logan scramble to greet them.
“Merry Christmas!”
Their counters are almost completely filled with pancakes of different sizes, layered on top of a serving tray. There’s Christmas themed sugar cookies resting beside them; shapes in the form of reindeers, trees and present boxes as well as two large glasses filled to the brim with milk.
Robyn finds her voice first, clearing her throat to mask how stunned and touched she was from a such a gesture. “Merry Christmas, but what is this all this?” She can scarcely believe it herself– there’s enough here to make her think they’ve been up early – cooking for hours.
“We just wanted to thank you.” Logan shrugs; his cheeks turning a little pink from under the heavy scrutiny. “You’re both always taking care of us and whatever –”
“So, we thought it was time we did some thanking of our own.” Liv continues, smiling sheepishly at them. “Even if we don’t always show it, we love you mom and dad.” She pauses for a moment, her smile faltering a little as she continued. “But we’re all out of orange juice, so I hope milk is okay.”
“You did this? All of you?” Drake turns to Faith and Farrah; whom were both nodding eagerly as his gaze turn incredulous.
“We helped!” Farrah chimed, “with the sugar cookies.” She adds proudly, puffing her chest.
“Ahhh, oh my gosh.” For a moment Robyn can’t say anything else. She rests a hand on her chest at the sudden warmth that bursts inside her from just looking at them. “This is perfect. The best Christmas gift ever.”
Drake grins, pride filling his voice as Liv and Logan move to high-five each other. “I definitely didn’t think our morning was going to be anything like this.” He says honestly. Usually, they had trouble getting their kids out of bed on Christmas day, because the night before they always celebrated Christmas Eve at the palace with Liam and his kids. To say this was a surprise would be an understatement.
“Bring it in guys!” Robyn motions with her hands, already tugging Farrah and Faith to her and Drake. “I can only handle so much cuteness!”
Logan makes a face so sour that Liv snickers. He tries to back away but when he hits the counter he realizes there’s no escape from his mother’s outstretched arms. “She’s gonna make us do it, isn’t she?” He casts a helpless look at his older sister.
Liv tries not to laugh and ends up failing. After a few seconds, she manages to keep her face straight. “Doesn’t she always?”
“Group hug!” Farrah and Faith both yell before their mom could. Hugging their parents by the waist, they burrow themselves there. Liv joins seconds later, a small smile lifting her cheeks while Logan tries his hardest to avoid them as they inch closer.
“Quit it! This is so uncool.”
“C’mon,” Drake jerks his chin at his son. “You know Walker hugs are a tradition in this house.” He can’t help it. While he’s never been the most huggable person, when it comes to family – he would do just about anything for them. Which meant when his wife says group hug, it means group hugs despite Logan hardly ever wanting to these days.
Logan puffs his cheeks out, looking a little sullen until his mother pouts at him.
“Pretty please.” She bats her eyes.
“Pretty please!” The twins repeat, turning their big dark brown eyes at him.
“Pretty please.” Liv tries not to snicker, and nods emphatically in his direction.
Logan looks at his father last, hoping he’d at the last second take his side.
Drake’s eyes does all the talking for him. Listen to your mom. She wears the pants here.
Logan’s eyes seem to respond back, but when are you going to put your foot down? This is getting ridiculous.
Hey, happy wife – happy life.
Finally relenting, Logan straightens himself upright and takes a step towards them. “Alright, alright. Just – let’s not make a big deal out of it.” He warns. Although, he rolls his eyes there’s no missing the hint of a smile forming at the corner of his lips as he joins in their hug.
Both Farrah and Faith immediately squeal in delight.
“Andddd, we’re making it a big deal I guess.” Logan grumbles.
Robyn and Drake both squeezes their arms around their children, grinning from ear to ear at each other. “Merry Christmas!”
“Merry Christmas.” Logan groans. “Now, can we eat?”