"Honestly, I'm surprised your neighbors don't hate you when I'm over here." I told him as I changed into a clean set of clothes. "I remember the people in my old building used to complain all the time."

"I think they're more jealous than anything."

I chuckled. "That's true. I mean, I would be too if I knew my neighbor was shacking up with someone. Especially if that neighbor was none other than Captain America."

Before I could turn around to face him he wrapped his arms around my waist and placed a kiss on my neck. "Well I guess we're both winners here."

"I guess so." I turned around and hung my arms around his neck. "We should head out now before we get distracted again." I added giving him a quick peck. He groaned a bit before letting me go.

"Okay, you're right." As I walked back into the living room to grab my purse and the presents I heard Chris say under his breath 'I don't wike it'. I shook my head and laughed lightly. "What?" He asked.

"Nothing. You're just a big dork."

"You're just realizing this?" He chuckled.

"Just stating the obvious." I joked. "Now come on. Let's go."

*****

"Be warned, my mom hasn't seen you in a while so she's gonna go crazy when she sees you." Chris said as we arrived at his family's home.

"I think I'm prepared." I said and gathered my purse and a few of the presents. "Will you bring in the rest of those?" I asked him.

"Of course, m'lady."

I shook my head. "Dork." When we rung the door bell it swung open in a few seconds and Lisa stood in the doorway.

"Laurel! It's so good to see you again. It's been too long."

"I know. I've missed you, Lisa."

"Now come inside you two. Set those presents down so I can give you proper hugs." We walked inside and the warmth of the home embraced us. You could hear Christmas music playing from farther back inside the house and people talking and laughing. After Chris and I set down the gifts Lisa gave each of us a big hug. "I'm glad you two are here." She said after releasing us.

"I'm certainly glad to be back." I told her.

"We wouldn't miss it for the world, Ma."

Lisa took our coats and my purse and guided us into the kitchen where most of the family stood talking. As we walked inside Scott was the first person to see us. "It's Laurel! And Chris!" He shouted and made his way to pull me into a hug.

"Wow. 'And Chris'? I feel like I've been demoted in my own family."

"Oh come on. Don't be so dramatic. They still love you." I told him and slapped his arm.

"Yeah, of course we love you." Scott said giving Chris a hug as well. "We just love Laurel more."

"Oh you're terrible."

"You know I'm only joking, Chris."

"Of course you are, I'm incredible."

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves here." Shana said and pulled Chris and I into a hug.

"It's great to see you two. It's been way to long since you've been in town, Laurel."

"I know. It feels like it's been forever."

"Everyone is so happy that you're here."

"Well I'm ecstatic to be back, too."

"Let's get everyone some drinks and we can sit down to eat." Lisa said ushering everyone into the dining room.

*****

After dinner most of the kids had been put to bed and the adults sat around in the living room participating in one of my favorite pass times: drinking.

"So, Laurel. How've you been lately?" Carly asked.

"Pretty good." I responded while I nursed my spiked eggnog. "Life hasn't been too crazy, which is good I guess."

"Chris told us that you're working on a book."

I smiled shyly and nodded. "He certainly told you right."

"That's awesome. How's it going so far?" Scott asked.

"Uh, slowly." I joked and earned chuckles from the group. "I'm currently stuck in a bout of writer's block, but hopefully that'll clear up soon." More like a never ending dead end.

"Well, we wish you luck dear." Lisa said.

"I'm sure you'll be a world renowned writer by the time you finish." Chris added and wrapped his arm around my shoulders.

"I wouldn't go that far, but thank you." I said and leaned into Chris' side. "We can always hope for the best."

Chris looked down at his watch for a moment. "I think we'd better head out. It's gonna take us a while to get back." He slid is arm off my shoulder and stood up.

"Oh come on. Can you stay a little bit longer?" Lisa pleaded.

"Honestly, we'd love to, but I'm still pretty worn out from traveling today and I need to catch up on some sleep. Tomorrow we'll stick around as long as possible, though." I told her.

"Well alright." She fake complained. "We'll see you two tomorrow." She added pulling me in for another one of her hugs.

After we had made our rounds of hugging and saying goodbye every last family member present we grabbed our coats and left.

"That was fun." I said as we got into the car and headed back into the city.

"Great. I'm glad you're not too overwhelmed by them."

"Are you kidding? You've met my family. I've grown up with my fair share of crazy and overwhelming."

He chuckled. "I guess you're right." The conversation died down a bit before Chris started again. "Sorry about them brining up the whole book thing. I know you hate it when people ask you about it. I shouldn't have said anything."

"It's fine, really. I don't mind." I held his hand which had been resting on the center console. "At least they didn't ask a ridiculous amount of unanswerable questions." I joked. "And who knows. Maybe after this week I'll actually be able to write something."

He squeezed my hand tighter in his before responding. "We can always hope for the best."

I still don't know how I, of all people, was so blessed as to be able to call this man mine.