DIANA'S POV

"Hey Baby." I grin at my daughter as she opens her eyes, blinking at me and lean down to press a kiss on her forehead.

"Mornin' Momma!" She smiles at me and her eyes flick behind me and she frowns a little. "Where's Aaron?" She asks.

"Oh babe, he went home last night, he'll be over in half an hour though and we can open the gifts then." I tell her and her eyes lighten up.

It has been four days since Aaron and I came back from Chicago, and while he has been thinking a lot about what Ian told him, he has also spent every night here ever since and I wasn't complaining at all. If anything, not waking up next to him this morning was weird as hell because I have gone so accustomed to looking at his face first thing in the morning.

"Merry Christmas, sweets!" I peck her cheek and she grins.

"Merry Chis-mas!" She shows me a toothy smile.

I get her out of bed and help her bathe, brush her teeth and dress up. Aaron help me set up a small tree by the living room and I kept our gifts underneath it. He already kept his yesterday and though I have been dying to see it, I have resisted myself.

After exactly half an hour, the door bell rings and I move to open it, Emily trailing behind me. I swing open the door and Aaron is standing there, wearing the exact same sweater as Emily and me. My daughter bursts out laughing at seeing him while I try to hold back my laugh.

Aaron groans at our reactions, "How the hell are you both pulling off these sweaters while I look like an absolute dork?" He asks, entering and pressing his lips against mine for a second.

He scoops up Emily in his arms and I wink at him, "You look hot, really really hot." I say, sarcasm coating my every word and he shoots me a look.

"Right!" He says, his tone dry and I laugh at him, Emily following suit.

It's safe to say that nature green isn't Aaron's color, especially if its wrapped like a Christmas tree. I knew he hated it the moment he saw it. That was the fun part. When there's a knock on the door, I open the door again and right in front of me are Ella and Connor, wearing their own matching sweaters.

"Merry Christmas, you guys!" I hug them and Connor pulls off a look.

"How are you so happy this early in the morning?" He asks and I shrug.

"They get a hug and a greeting and I get to be the laughing stock?" Aaron asks, pretending to sound hurt behind me.

I turn to look at him, "Merry Christmas, baby." I place a peck on his cheek and he grins.

"Merry Christmas, Dee!" He takes ahold of my hand, intertwining our fingers and looks at Emily, "Merry Christmas to you as well, you little monster." He teases Emily and she pouts at him.

"Merry Chris-mas!" She pecks his cheek, nonetheless.

"Well, now that we're all here.. can we have something to eat? I am starving!" Ella says and I grin.

"I made pancakes, bacon and French toast."

Emily scrambles out of Aaron's arms and he puts her down as she runs to the kitchen island, Connor and Ella following suit. When they are busy, Aaron pulls me close to himself and places his lips on mine, taking me by surprise. After a second, I respond to him, with just as much need and love as I feel for him.

"I hate not waking up next to you." He pouts when we part, our foreheads touching and I nod, agreeing.

"Me too, worst way to start the morning." I say, before catching his lips in mine again for a small kiss.

"I have to go to my parents' place tonight. For the family dinner thing." He says and I nod, understanding even though it's a little disappointing. "I wish you would agree to come with me." He says and I shake my head.

"We talked about this, Aaron. I am not ready for them to meet Emily yet. Soon, maybe." I tell him before continuing, "And you have to talk to them about what happened in Chicago." I say and he nods.

"I know. It makes me want you by my side even more. I am so afraid of how Mom will take it." He breathes and I squeeze our joined hands.

"She'll be fine at the end, I promise." I say and he looks at me with uncertainty in his eye.

"How can you promise me that?" He asks.

"Because she's your mother and she only wants your happiness, it's a motherly instinct." I assure him and he nods.

"Well, I hope you're right." He says and I pull him towards kitchen.

All of us have planned for early breakfast and lunch together since Connor and Ella will be having a Christmas dinner together with their family, as in combined dinner. I can never imagine how that would feel like, apart from it being awkward but their situation is different. Their families get along and they accept each other's choices. So, it might work for them.

When it's around noon, and all of us have had breakfast, cleaned up dishes and are watching Love Actually, Emily starts persisting for opening the gifts and I sigh.

"Can we open the gifts now?" I ask everyone and they shoot me a look. "What? It's what Emily wants." I shrug and Aaron rubs my arm up and down as he scoots closer to me.

"Sure, let's do it then." Ella shrugs and Connor gives me a panicked look. I wink at him, enjoying his nervousness and he glares at me.

When we finally gather one the floor of living room, everyone is holding gifts in their laps or in front of them. Emily is sitting in Aaron's lap and our hands are pressed together as Ella and Connor sit across us. The couches are pushed back and Ella is the first one to go as she claps her hands.

"Ooh, I wanna go first, I wanna go first!" She says much like Emily and I laugh at her childish antics.

She opens the one wrapped in blue wrapper first and immediately lets out a squeal as she looks at it, "A $100 gift card of Mac!" She lets out a happy smile and looks at me and I shake my head.

"I didn't get you that." I say and she frowns at Connor who gives her a baffled look.

"C'mon babe, have some faith in me. I won't gift you makeup." He says and her eyes shoot to Aaron who shrugs.

"Lucy helped me out with that one." He says and I immediately shoot him a look.

"You went to Lucy to find a Christmas gift for my best friend?" I ask and when his eyes meet mine, he gives me a confused look.

"Uh-oh." Connor comments and I glare at him.

Don't get me wrong, I trust Aaron but I cannot help the feeling of jealousy overwhelming me when I think that he approached Lucy to help him get a gift for Ella.

"Regardless of who helped you out, thanks Aaron!" Ella cuts off my trail of thoughts, giving him a thankful smile and he nods.

He looks at me from the corner of his eye but I ignore it purposely. Then Ella moves to another gift and when she picks it up and unwraps it, she immediately gasps and her eyes shoot to Connor. He looks nervous as hell because he wasn't sure how she'll react because Ella is not your daily kind of girl.

"Well?" He asks and she responds by jumping on him, literally and crushing him in a hug and then kissing him.

I look away and Aaron's eyes catch mine, pouting at me and I shake my head before giving his hand a reassuring squeeze. I don't want to fight with him, not today of all days.

"We are going to Hawaii! For four days." Ella says and I laugh.

By we, she means Connor and her. They have been facing problem with time adjustment because Connor has been busy with his corporate work. But then he wanted to surprise her so he planned the trip, although he was nervous because Ella has her boutique to manage, and she likes to plan ahead so if she started freaking out about not having an organised trip planned, both her and Connor's mood would be spoiled. Although the way she reacted, I am pretty sure they'll be alright.

"I wanna go next!" Emily whines and I ruffle her hair.

"Ella has one more gift to open babe." I say and she nods, pouting.

Ella opens her last present and when her eyes meet mine, she gives me the broadest smile. "Well, is this the best Christmas or what?" She asks and I laugh.

I got her two tickets for 5SOS concert, since she's crazy about that band, especially about some guy named Ashton. It annoys the hell out of Connor and he's probably cursing me in his mind for gifting this to Ella.

"You coming with me, right?" She asks and I shake my head.

"This is your and Connor's ticket." I wink at him and he scowls at me, making me want to stick my tongue out at him like a child.

"Can I open now?" Emily pouts, looking at huge gift box in front of her and Aaron gives her a nod.

"Go on, Em."

She grins as she stands up from his lap and starts unwrapping the gift. Connor helps her a little and when it's done, she literally starts clapping and jumping where she's standing, making Aaron give me a proud grin. The gift is from both of us but idea was originally his.

It's a Frozen ride-on sleigh. Since my daughter is obsessed with Disney, Aaron suggested we get her something like this and I agreed. I entertained the idea of giving separate gifts, but then we got her two gifts, from both of us. She unwraps the next one and it's a colouring kit, again from both us. She immediately starts pulling out paint and crayons before Ella stops her and tells her to do it later.

Then she moves on to the last gift, unwrapping it and it's a cute baby blue colour backpack with minions on it. She lets out a happy squeal and hugs Connor and Ella, thanking them.

She turns to Aaron and I, "Thank you, Momma and A!" She kisses both of our cheeks and Aaron gives her a huge smile.

Connor volunteers to go next and immediately rolls his eye when he looks at the socks I got him. It's like our own personal tradition where we gift each other socks, since someone is supposed to gift each other that. Next, he looks at Aaron's gift who got him gaming tickets and he actually looks surprised.

"Now I feel bad for what I got you." He says to him and Aaron shrugs, not bothered.

When he opens Ella's gift, let's just say that he loses it to find the latest MacBook. "Hell! Seriously?" He looks at his girlfriend who gives him a smile.

"You've been whining about your rotten laptop for a while now." She tells him and he doesn't say anything, just kisses her and I turn to Aaron.

"I just realised that they're a rich couple. Hawaii and MacBook, seriously?" I say and he grins at me.

"You want one of those?" He asks and I shake my head.

"Nope, I am happy with what I have right here." I peck his cheek and he grins.

"Diana! You go next." Ella says and I nod.

I open the first gift and throw the wrapper at Connor who chuckles. He got me fluffy soft ball socks and I rub it against my cheeks, because that's how soft they are. Aaron grins at me before shaking his head. Next, I open and frown when I see a curling iron and look at Ella who just shrugs.

"I broke the one you lent me." She says and I gasp.

"Bitch, this doesn't count as a gift then. Get me another gift." I say and her eyes widen and it takes me a minute to realise that Emily is staring at me because I just called Ella a bitch.

Connor bursts out laughing while Aaron looks between Emily and I. "Sorry." I bite my tongue and Aaron ruffles my hair before leaning forward and kissing my forehead.

"Honestly though, it doesn't count as a gift." Aaron tells Ella who shoots him a glare.

"I am not buying you another gift." She tells me.

"Okay then, I am getting two gifts from you next year." I say before moving on to another gift.

Its actually rolled up paper, and holding it in place is a red ribbon. I open it and look at the collage of printed pictures of Emily and I, and of three of us — Aaron, Emily and I.

"Wow, Em. Thanks baby." I pull her into my lap and give her a hug and she grins at me.

"A helped." She says and I look at Aaron who shrugs.

"She insisted on getting you something, so I helped with this, because she wanted to do it on her own. All I did was cut out the pictures. She told me the ones she liked from your laptop and pasted them as well." He explains and I nod, leaning forward and pressing my lips against his. He smiles into the kiss and I part away.

"Thank you." I tell Emily and she hugs.

It isn't professionally made or perfect. But it's handmade and my kid made it for me, that's all that matters to me and I am definitely getting it framed.

I open the last gift which I know is from Aaron. As soon as I open it, I gasp and stare at the gift in my hands and then back at him and it's as if Emily knows from my body language that I want to hug Aaron, she slips off before crawling to Connor who laughs at her.

My arms wrap around Aaron before I press my lips against his in a really hasty kiss before kissing him again and again and again before he starts laughing.

"Alright, woman!" He chuckles, parting away and I look down at the polaroid camera in my hands. I have been whining to get one from such a long time because I want to have a lot of memories with Emily, and him and everyone else but I didn't have savings with all the bills and Emily's school fees.

"Thank you, thank you! I love you." I say and he gives me that smile that makes me want to melt in his arms.

I kiss him one more time before he responds, "I love you more, Diana. Merry Christmas baby." He whispers and I hug him tightly.

I finally let go of him and he starts opening his gifts. The first one is from Emily and he looks at the matching cufflinks with his tie and stares at me, "Emily wanted to gift you something, she picked it out when Ella chose the tie for you." I say and he nods, sending a kiss to Emily who giggles at his actions.

"You do realise that you just told him what I got for him, right?" Ella says and I laugh, not realising until she pointed out.

"Oops." I shrug and Aaron thanks Ella before looking at the dark blue tie.

Then he opens the next gift which almost makes me want to punch Connor. "Seriously, dude?" Aaron looks at Connor who just shrugs.

"I already feel bad about it, don't point it out." He says, gesturing towards the socks, matching the ones he got me.

"I am pretty happy with it actually, not complaining at all. Socks make great gifts." Aaron tells him and Connor grins.

"Honestly, I thought that's what you'll get me after she tells you about our tradition." He clarifies but Aaron nods.

Then he notices that there were only three gifts and turns to me, "Okay, not that I wanted you to spend money or anything, but I definitely expected a gift. C'mon!" He holds out his hands and I chuckle, shaking my head.

"Later." I say and Connor and Ella look at me.

"In the bedroom?" Connor points out and I throw a cushion pillow at his head.

"Children in the room." I yell and he chuckles, shaking his head.

"Please tell me it has something to do with new lingerie." Aaron whispers in my ear and I smirk, turning to him and trying to hide the color rising to my cheeks.

I pat his cheek and press my lips against his, "Tonight. I promise." I say and he nods, kissing me again.