AN: So this story and its sequel, Mommy Mouse, have made the jump to mainstream publishing, and are available for sale on Amazon, with changes and all typos and errors corrected under the titles Nanny for Two and Nanny Reimagined, if you want to give them a try. And, as always, I would appreciate it so so much if you could pop over to Amazon and Goodreads and leave ratings and reviews for them. I know that Amazon is complicated, but anyone can leave ratings and reviews on Goodreads, and it's free! All of you talk so much about how much you love my work, and I'm so grateful for that! Think of this as a way of thanking me, you truly have no idea how much it helps me, honestly. Thank you. I will leave these free versions up on Wattpad as long as I can, okay?

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"WAKE UP, YOU GUYS! MERRY CHRISTMAS!"

A small, blond, torpedo launched himself on the bed, landing precisely between Mouse and Henry, snuggling down between them and laughing.

"Henry, something's in the bed with us," Mouse murmured. "I think it's your son. You'd better wake up and deal with him."

"I'm your son, too, mommy, I'm your son, too!" Leo shouted, his face inches from Mouse's, a small hand on either of her cheeks.

She smiled, eyes still closed, unable to help herself. Happy was prancing around the bed, knowing she wasn't supposed to jump on it, but wanting desperately to join in the fun.

"You are?" she asked. "Are you sure?"

Leo nodded energetically.

"You are, aren't you?" Mouse agreed, nodding along with him.

Next to them, Henry, too, was smiling. "I don't have any children at this hour of the morning," he said, rolling over so he was close to Mouse and Leo. "I'm a single man who lives alone and can sleep as late as he wants."

"No you're not, no you're not!" Leo continued to shout, nearly beside himself with happiness.

At this point they were joined on the bed by the large, lumbering dog, who had decided to just throw caution and obedience to the wind and be with her people, rules be damned. They were having too much fun without her, and the bed was too fluffy and bouncy and soft and inviting.

"Oh my god!" Mouse cried happily when the hairy animal leaped into their midst. "Happy, have we not taught you anything? Where are your manners?"

Happy managed to look both ashamed and jolly at the same time as she looked at her mistress, blinking and panting in her face.

"Oh, look at that face," Mouse said, hugging Happy.

"Great, that's just great," Henry said as he sat up. "That'll teach her not to get up here with us, Mouse, well done."

To the dog, he added, "Don't get used to this, Happy, today's a special occasion, okay?" He scratched her behind her ears. "You big walking carpet."

Happy thumped her tail agreeably.

"Okay, mommy, you need to stay here for a minute, so we can put your presents under the tree," Leo said. His little face was a portrait of excitement as he clapped his hands together. "And NO PEEKING," he added, his voice comically stern.

"What? Why didn't you guys do this last night?" Mouse asked. Not that she was upset about staying in bed a few minutes longer. It was cold. She snuggled down in the blankets.

"We couldn't," Leo told her, motioning for his father to get out of bed.

Mouse just nodded, smiling. She'd been hinting around for an ice cream cake from a specialty store in Brooklyn, so that's probably what it was. They were supposed to be out of this world, and everyone was clamoring for one. Even in this cold, it would've melted if left under the tree all night. How kind of Henry to spend the time and money to get one for her. They'd been sold out for weeks, so he must have ordered it long ago, and arranged to have it delivered.

Henry and Leo left the bedroom, with Happy on their heels, and shut the door. Leo told Mouse in no uncertain terms that she was not to open it, and she gave her word, closing her eyes, even falling back asleep for a few minutes.

He came bounding back in about half an hour later, still in his pajamas, and cold, which meant he'd left the apartment.

"Mommy! Come on, come on, it's ready!" He pulled on her arms.

Mouse rose, smiling, still feeling thrilled at hearing this child call her "Mommy." She reveled in it, felt like it was what she'd been born to be called.

"Coming, big guy."

They walked out to the family room hand in hand, but he released her at the entry and ran to the tree, plopping down in front of it. Happy was lying down next to her boy, smiling.

Henry handed her a cup of coffee and gave her a smile of anticipation. "Go, honey, before the kid has a heart attack and dies," he joked, motioning his head toward the tree.

Mouse took a sip of her coffee and turned toward the tree. It was beautiful, and the bottom was crammed full of presents, most of which she and Henry had put there for Leo. He, however, was preoccupied with a basket that hadn't been there the night before. It was an old-fashioned picnic basket, but in Christmas colors, the kind with a lid that opened on either side. Both sides were latched closed, and Leo lifted the handle with both hands and pushed it forward.

"Open it, Mouse, open it!" he implored. "Hurry, okay?"

"Okay, okay," Mouse replied, setting her coffee cup on the coffee table and sitting down to open the latches. Would they have bothered to put an unwieldy ice cream cake in the picnic basket? She grasped the handle and pulled it toward herself.

Just then, something in the basket made a noise, pushing on the lid a little bit, making Mouse jump in surprise. Happy, who presumably knew the contents of the basket already, and had been watching it avidly, scooted forward, though she did manage to stay lying down. Her ears perked forward as far as they would go.

It definitely wasn't a cake.

Whatever was in the basket was alive.

Mouse looked at Henry, who smiled back at her softly, and Leo, who was practically dancing with excitement.

Mouse flipped open the lid, and found herself looking at two astonished kittens, adorable and young, so young their eyes were still newborn blue. They immediately started mewing and trying to climb out of the basket.

"Oh my god, look at you two!" Mouse cried, reaching in for the babies. She grasped one in each hand, looking at Henry, who'd sat next to her. He put an arm around her, kissing her temple.

"Merry Christmas, Mouse," he murmured. "I love you."

"Oh, Henry," Mouse said, overwhelmed. She brought the kittens to her face, burying her nose in their softness as they squirmed and cried. One was ginger, one tabby, and both were long-haired.

"Leo, thank you so much," she said, turning to him as he sat, a pleased smile on his face.

"Do you love them?" he asked, leaning forward to pet them. "I chose them. We were only going to pick one, but they were sisters, with no mommy, like me, and I didn't think it would be very nice to pick one and leave one there in the cage, you know?" He looked at Mouse, his eyes dark with sympathy for the orphaned baby cats.

"You're right, big guy," Mouse said, nodding. "You had to take both, you couldn't leave one."

The kittens were crawling all over Mouse's pajamas, mewling, digging their tiny claws in. Happy had slowly crept forward so that she was now nearly touching Mouse, eager to engage with the tiny babies.

"You should release Happy from her 'stay,'" Mouse told Leo with a laugh. "She's dying to see these guys."

Leo looked at Happy, who was wriggling as she looked at the kittens. He laughed.

"Okay," he said firmly to Happy.

She was up immediately, sniffing at the kittens. They, of course, were terrified, and hissed at the huge, hairy monster. This made the three humans in the room laugh.

"They have a litter box and everything all set up in the bathroom in your old bedroom," Henry told Mouse. "That's what took us so long. They spent the night downstairs, in the little closet off the lobby? We had to go get them and get everything all set up, but it's all ready to go, food bowls in the kitchen, everything."

"Henry, thank you so much," Mouse murmured, leaning in to give Henry a soft, warm kiss. "I'm so, so happy. I've always had cats, until I came to school. I didn't want to ask because we already had Happy."

"I know," Henry answered, kissing her nose and stroking the darker kitten. "And in case you're wondering, the ice cream cake is in the freezer."

Mouse laughed. "I love you, Henry."

"Love you right back," Henry responded, smoothing her hair away from her face.

Leo, who was holding the ginger kitten up for Happy to sniff, looked over at his adults, smiled, and asked, "What are you going to name them, mommy?"

"Well, at the risk of being hackneyed, I was thinking of naming one 'Merry' and the other 'Christmas,' what do you think?" she asked Leo.

His eyes lit up. "Merry and Christmas, I love those names!" he exclaimed. "We can call 'Christmas' 'Chrissy' for short, can't we?" he asked his dog.

Happy thumped her tail.

"So, Leo, are you going to open any of these presents, or do you think we've done enough Christmas for this year?" Henry asked, looking at the gifts clogging the bottom of the tree.

Leo turned, still holding the kitten, an expression of comical surprise on his face.

"I was so excited about the kittens that I forgot!" he exclaimed. "Wow, daddy, I forgot!" He handed the kitten to his father. "I better hurry and catch up, huh?"

"Yeah, I guess you better," Henry agreed.

And Henry and Mouse watched, arm in arm, as Happy bounced around and their son tore into his gifts. The new kittens, Merry and Christmas (Chrissy for short), played with the wrapping paper, of course.