Chapter Text
Stella had never been one to celebrate Christmas. At least not since her father’s death. As a child she had loved the festive season and would happily spend hours strolling around the city with her father, looking at the lights and doing some shopping. They’d decorate their tree with music playing softly in the background.
The first Christmas after his death she’d ignored the holiday completely. It wasn’t hard when almost everyone else at her school travelled home to spend a couple of weeks with their families, she and a few scattered others spent the time tucked up in their rooms, only surfacing to eat or find a new book in the library.
Then she’d met an older friend who’d introduced her to alcohol, sex and smoking. It had all gone downhill from there, though it hadn’t seemed like it at the time. It was a distraction from her sorrows, the emptiness she felt at the thought of spending the Christmas period without her father.
Now, though, she had different distractions. Ones that didn’t involve working or getting tipsy and finding a stranger to fuck in a hotel. Now, her distractions consisted of the joy and utter excitement she felt at the thought of celebrating her first Christmas with Dana and April.
She found herself looking forward to the holiday rather than dreading it. Last year Christmas had been spent in Belfast. The day in her office, up to her eyes in the case, the night alone in her hotel room.
She’d known since the first day of November that Christmas this year would be vastly different to the ones she’d grown used to. Dana had started talking excitedly about the holiday as soon as Halloween was over. She’d been surprised when the redhead had declined her mother’s offer to fly to the states to celebrate Thanksgiving under the excuse that April was too young to travel so far. It had been bullshit, Stella had assured her that it would be okay so long as they spread the travelling over a few days.
Stella hadn’t brought up Thanksgiving after Dana had made it clear that she wasn’t going to reconsider. Instead, the redhead had begun to stock up on small decorations, unsure of how to approach Stella with the idea of hanging lights outside and buying a tree to stand in the living room window.
It wasn’t until Stella had watched her three and a half month old daughter lie in her pram, mesmerised by their neighbour’s twinkling lights that she had almost broken down in tears and insisted that Dana go to the shops and find lights and a wreath for the front door.
Dana hadn’t questioned the sudden need to be festive, she’d simply agreed. Returning from the shops a few hours later, arms laden with an abundance of decorations, ranging from both outdoor and indoor lights to stockings.
The next morning had been spent first with a minor dispute over which of them would be the one up the ladders and who would hold them steady. In the end Stella won and was soon teetering at the top of the ladders awkwardly fixing the string of soft white lights to the front of their house while Dana anxiously held the ladders still, praying that Stella wouldn’t fall.
Once they were satisfied that the outside of the house was suitably decorated with the lights, a wreath hanging on the door, and a Christmas doormat, they went in search of a real Christmas tree. Stella had thought she would dread the mess the pine needles would cause and the frequency with which she’d have to hoover, but was surprised to find that she didn’t actually care all that much.
They’d wandered through the selection of trees, hand in hand with April strapped to Dana’s front. It was Dana who had found the perfect tree. Just the right height, though they would still need a step to put the star on top.
Back at home Stella put April down for a nap upstairs before they shuffled some of the furniture in the living room to make space for the tree, just in time for it to be delivered.
Stella stood back and let Dana take the lead on wrapping the lights around the tree. With the tree lit up, Stella caught her girlfriend around the waist and pulled her close, just holding her for a few minutes as she stared at the lights. She’d forgotten how much she loved the smell of a fresh tree and the soft lights.
“You okay?”
Dana’s whisper brought her out of her head and she nodded. “It’s been so long since I did this I forgot how much I used to love it.”
Dana turned and placed a soft kiss to her lips in reply before pulling her towards the boxes of tree decorations.
It was a few hours later when they deemed the house suitably decorated. The tree was stunning and there was a small nativity scene set on the mantel of the fireplace, three stockings hanging below.
Stella had been reduced to tears when Dana had disappeared upstairs only to return holding two small boxes and a bag. She handed Stella the bag first, watching as the blonde pulled out a beautiful deep red velvet Christmas dress for April. It was upon opening the first box that the tears came.
Nestled in red tissue paper was a bauble for the tree, it was clear with their names and the year written in swirling silver letters, the ornament half filled with silver glitter.
The second box held a similar bauble, this one filled with pale pink glitter and the words ‘April’s First Christmas’ and the year scrawled across the front, a small piece of pink ribbon attached to hang it from the tree.
Dana wrapped her girlfriend in her arms as she held the two ornaments. Stella couldn’t put into words how much they meant to her. They were more than just decorations. They were a symbol of the way her life had been turned upside down in the best way possible.
This time a year ago she’d been in Belfast, surrounded by death and destruction and struggling to keep her head above water.
Stella jolted out of her memories when she felt April kicking her legs out in front of her. She took a moment to recalibrate, taking in her surroundings. She was standing in the middle of the living room, holding April with an arm around her front, allowing the baby to stare at the lights on the tree.
Dana was in the kitchen making them both tea. It was still too early for breakfast, but April had made it clear that none of them were going to get any more sleep and so they’d given up trying.
There was an air of excitement surrounding them as Dana approached with their mugs and moved to sit on the floor by the tree. Once Stella was seated opposite her with April settled in her lap, Dana reached under the tree and pulled out April’s presents.
They’d agreed not to go crazy for her first Christmas. She was never going to remember it, was still too small to make use of most toys, and already had everything she needed.
Dana watched Stella help April open the handful of gifts. The sight of the blonde in her pyjamas, her hair pulled back into a bun but falling around her face, and their baby clad in a red and white candy cane sleepsuit, was enough to bring tears to her eyes. She blinked them away and smiled as April clutched the fluffy stuffed puppy in her tiny hands.
With April’s wrapping paper tossed aside, Dana handed Stella’s present over. The blonde knew exactly what was in the box, she had picked it out herself, but Dana had insisted on wrapping it and withholding it until Christmas morning. The watch was beautiful and yet simple, a replacement for the one that had died a death of old age just recently.
Stella had allowed Dana to hand-pick her own present too, a pair of heels for her job at the university. They were more expensive than she would usually have gone for, but still somehow far less pricey than half of Stella’s collection.
Dana was about to stand to take their mugs back to the kitchen when Stella stopped her. The blonde pushed herself to her feet, still holding April with one hand around her waist and the other beneath her for support as she kicked her legs again.
“Wait there.”
With that, the blonde was gone. She disappeared upstairs and Dana listened, following her footsteps until she was on her way back downstairs. When Stella reappeared in the living room, she had one hand behind her back, the other now hooked around one of April’s thighs.
“Before I give you this, I just want to say thank you again for everything that you’ve done and continue to do for us both. You turned my world around and I can’t even begin to express to you how much that means to me.” Stella said softly as she knelt down in front of her girlfriend.
Dana took the small, neatly wrapped box and froze when she unwrapped it and took note of the shape.
“Don’t panic. It isn’t an engagement ring.” Stella assured the redhead at the hesitation. “It’s just a reminder that you always have us.”
Dana gasped as when she opened the box to reveal a dainty yellow gold ring, a small oval gem bookended by two tiny diamonds. “Stella it’s beautiful. Is that…”
“Our birthstone. Mine and April’s. It's peridot.” Stella nodded. She took a soft breath and took her eyes from the ring to meet Dana’s. “I know you don’t wear rings, but I saw it and couldn’t not buy it. You don’t have to wear it.”
“Of course I’m gonna wear it!” Dana exclaimed, carefully slipping the ring onto the ring finger of her right hand. “I’ve never had a ring to wear until now.”
Stella shuffled across the floor to wrap her girlfriend in her arms when she noticed the tears welling in Dana’s eyes. “Don’t cry. I didn’t mean to make you cry.”
“They’re happy tears,” Dana smiled brightly as she took April into her arms. She pressed a kiss to the baby’s soft blonde hair before capturing Stella’s lips in her own. “Thank you. I love you both so much.”
“We love you, too. So much.” Stella smiled, kissing her again.