Chapter Text
....DECEMBER 24TH, 1999....
Bill and Jo were making their way from their apartment in Moore, Oklahoma. The house that they had bought in a neighboring town had been destroyed by an F5 that had hit back in May. Her and Bill were fortunate that they had all made it out alive, especially since they had their only child with them. She was sleeping peacefully in her car seat. The rest of the team had agreed to meet up with them at Meg's new house that had just got finished being rebuilt back in July. "How's Jenna doing?" Bill asked his wife. Jo glanced back and smiled warmly at her one year old. She turned back around, and grinned at her husband. "She's still fast asleep." She told him. "She's a good natured kid." He remarked. "Yes, she is. We're so blessed to have her." Jo answered him.
....4:00 PM.... WAKITA, OKLAHOMA....
Bill and Jo had finally arrived in Wakita, and Bill pulled his cherry red Dodge Ram over to the side of the road. The street was lined with lots of cars, which were no doubt, from the members of their team. Jo and Bill climbed out of the truck, and took in the view around them. Aunt Meg's house had looked even better than her old house. "Well, Well, Well. Look who's finally decided to show up." Rabbit greeted, his tone playful. He had stepped outside for a moment, and noticed the familiar Dodge Ram's arrival. Bill chuckled at his friend, and began to make his way towards the front porch, while Jo was getting Jenna unbuckled from her car seat, and she picked up her daughter. Jenna was quiet, and took in the scenery around her. She rubbed her blue eyes, and snuggled against her mother's shoulder. Jo caught up with her husband and Rabbit.
"I'm glad that you could make it, Rabbit. Were you able to convince your wife and kids to tag along with you this year?" She questioned. Rabbit nodded his head. "Yeah, she's inside with Noah and Emily." He replied. Bill admired all of the festive decorations that were outside of Meg's home. "I see that Meg went all out on the decorations this year." Bill uttered. Jo chuckled at him. "Christmas is Meg's favorite holiday, and she's always gone all out on the decorations." Rabbit chimed in, "This ain't nothing. Just wait until you see the inside."
The four of them entered Meg's home, to be greeted by Meg herself and the rest of the gang was inside, catching up with each other, and trying to relax. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. Mose wasn't too far from Meg, and he was excited to see Bill and Jo. He barked eagerly, and tried to climb up Jo's leg. This had frightened Jenna, and she began to fuss. "Mose, boy! Get down!" Bill told him firmly. "Easy, Mose." Aunt Meg added. When Mose had calmed down, Jo knelt down to give Mose some pets, and then she turned to look at her daughter. "Jenna, this is Mose. He's not going to hurt you. He's a good doggy." She told her softly. Jenna seemed a little uneasy at first, but then she slowly reached her tiny hand out to pet him. "See, he's gentle." She continued. Jenna giggled as Mose licked her hand.
Jo stood back up, and Meg embraced her niece and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "I'm so thankful that you and Bill could make it. How exciting that Jenna will get to spend her very first Christmas here." She remarked. "Would you mind taking her for a moment, while I go to the truck and grab the gifts?" Jo asked Meg. "I'd love to! Give her here." She answered as she took Jenna from Jo's arms. Meg was thrilled to get to spend some time with her great niece. Jo smiled warmly at them before exiting the front door to grab the presents from the floor of the back of her and Bill's truck. She retrieved the presents from the truck, and made her way back towards the house.
Jo entered the house, and made her way towards the Christmas tree, which Meg had set up near the stairs. She had gone all out on the decorating, which was no surprise to her. Christmas was always her aunt's favorite holiday. Jo knelt down and began to place all of the presents that her and Bill had brought under the tree along with all of the other Christmas Gifts. Jo got up, and found her aunt sitting on the couch, with Jenna in her lap. "Thanks Aunt Meg. I think I'm going to lay her down for a little bit." She notified as she retrieved her daughter. Jo strolled up the stairs, with Jenna observing everything going on from over her mom's shoulder. Jo entered the guest bedroom that Meg had made for her and Bill when they came to visit. Jo placed Jenna into the crib, and tucked her in. "I love you. Mama will come and check on you in a little bit." She cooed to her, placing a kiss to her forehead. Jenna smiled at Jo.
"I thought I might find you up here." A voice called to her. Jo turned her head and gazed at her husband, who had appeared behind her. She grinned at him, as he embraced her from behind. "Hey babe. I was just putting Jenna down for a nap." Jo explained. Bill kissed the top of her head. "She's the best thing to ever happen to us." He informed her. Jo enjoyed being held by her husband. "I'm glad that we were able to work things out, and stay together." She confessed to him. Bill grinned at her, and responded. "Me too, Jo. If we had divorced, I would've made the worst mistake of my life." The two pulled apart, and Bill gazed fondly into her brown eyes, leaning closer to catch her lips with his. "I love you Jo." He remarked. "I love you too, Bill." She answered him. Jo glanced back at Jenna. "She'll be fine. Lets go and visit the others." He reassured her. Jo nodded, and then followed him out the door.
The two made their way down the stairs and decided to go ahead and assist Meg with getting the Christmas Eve dinner prepared. Bill and the team were looking forward to having Meg's famous steak and eggs, mashed potatoes with gravy, and a dinner roll to go along with all of it.
While Jo and Bill were helping assist Meg with the preparation of the dinner, Dusty had managed to hang a mistletoe in front of the back door, and whoever had happened to walk under it was supposed to kiss someone. Most of the team had known about Dusty's playful antic, so they were fortunate to avoid the mistletoe. Beltzer and Haynes were hanging out on the back porch. Haynes had wanted to take a break from the craziness, and find some solitude. She had always considered herself to be an introvert. She needed to recharge her social meter. Beltzer had noticed that she was no where to be found, so he figured the first place that he'd look was the back porch.
"Hi honey." He greeted, as he leaned against the railing of the porch. Haynes turned to look at her boyfriend. "Hi dear." She answered. "Everything alright?" He questioned her. She shook her head and remarked, "Yeah, I just needed to get some peace and quiet for a few moments." Beltzer shifted himself closer to his girlfriend, and he embraced her. Haynes was receptive to this, and smiled warmly. She gazed up into his deep blue eyes and asked him, "Should we tell them the news over dinner?" Beltzer placed a kiss upon her lips. "Well, they're going to find out sooner or later. It's up to you if you want to tell them." He informed her. Haynes kissed him back, and nodded her head. She took a deep breath, and the two of them began to head towards the house.
As soon as Haynes had opened the back door to enter the house, she could hear Sanders warn, "Dude, watch out for the trap!" Sadly it was already too late. Haynes was already under the culprit. A mistletoe was dangling from the ceiling. "How the hell did this get here?" She mumbled. Beltzer entered the home right beside her, and the two of them glanced up at the mistletoe. Not long after that, they could hear Dusty cackle one of his eccentric laughs. "Dudes, now you have no choice but to kiss." Haynes rolled her brown eyes and gave him an annoyed look. "Oh come on, Dusty. Really? I'm not kissing anyone." She remarked. She glanced over at her boyfriend, and he had smirked at her. "What?" She asked him. "You, know, he does have a point. You know how it goes." He answered. Damn him with his playful nature that she knew that she couldn't resist.
Haynes gazed into Beltzer's deep blue eyes, and her lips had met his. The two shared a quick kiss under the mistletoe. The two held each other for a moment. They could hear Dusty exclaim, "HA!" He was content that at least someone fell into his playful and mischievous trap. Everyone else chuckled and shook their heads. Typical Dusty. Haynes and Beltzer broke apart from their embrace, and he told her, "Come on, you know you liked it." Haynes playfully shoved him, and smirked. "You know it."
.....6:00 PM.....
The Christmas Eve dinner was finally finished, and everyone was scrambling to get the dining room set up for dinner to be served. Joey and Laurence had decided to fetch the extra chairs and the table extenders from the back porch. They retrieved the chairs and extenders, and put them together, while Bill was working with Dusty to help get the kitchen table set. Jo went upstairs to grab Jenna. When Jo entered the bedroom, she noticed her daughter taking in the scenery quietly. "Hi baby. Let's go and get you fed." She then picked her up, and made her way down the stairs, and she had set her up in the high chair that was between where her and Bill were going to sit.
Rabbit sat next to his wife and his son and daughter, Sanders had sat next to his wife and daughters, Savannah and Alison, Preacher had sat beside Joey and Laurence, Dusty had sat next to them, followed by Beltzer and Haynes, and finally Aunt Meg sat near Jo, Bill, and Jenna. Almost everyone apart from Preacher had started to serve themselves, while Christmas tunes like "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas" was blaring from Meg's CD player. Preacher put his hands together and closed his eyes. He was praying and saying grace before serving himself some food. Meg had prepared some scrambled eggs and carrots for Jenna.
"I say let's make a toast. To great friends, who feel like the best family that anyone could ever ask for." Joey announced. "I got you, dude." Dusty replied, grabbing the champagne and popping the cork off of the bottle. Dusty than went around the table, pouring some champagne in his friend's wine glasses. As soon as he had arrived to Haynes wine glass, she had stopped him. "Thanks Dusty, but I'm going to pass this year." Dusty gave his friend a look like she was crazy for not wanting to toast and drink with everyone. "Are you alright, Yo?" He asked her. The rest of the team found it unusual that Haynes was passing up on the booze, all except Jo. "I'm cool, Dusty. I've got my sparkling grape juice. I'm good." She answered him. Dusty shrugged his shoulders and continued to pour the drinks. After he had returned to his chair, everyone clanged their wine glasses to Joey's toast, and taking a sip.
Laughs and old stories were being brought up over supper, and Haynes and Beltzer had finally decided to break the news to Meg and to their friends. The two of them stood up, and Beltzer had wrapped his arms around Haynes. "May I please have everyone's attention?" He asked his friends. "Me and Beltzer have something we'd like to tell you." Haynes added. Jo had a feeling that she knew where this was going, but she didn't want to make any assumptions. The entire room turned their focus onto Haynes and Beltzer. "Me and Beltzer are going to be parents. We're expecting our first child in September." She informed them.
Meg and the entire team were surprised, but grinned at them. "That's wonderful you guys! Congrats!" Jo exclaimed. "Yo, congrats!" Sanders told them. "Dude, that's awesome!" Dusty added. "God bless you guys." Preacher remarked. "Welcome to parenthood. You guys are in for a hell of a ride." Rabbit informed them. Meg got up, and gave Haynes and Beltzer a loving hug. "Congrats you guys. I'm so happy for you." Beltzer and Haynes grinned, and answered, "Thank you." At the same time. Haynes was glowing, and she was so blessed that she had such wonderful friends, that felt like family to her. She couldn't believe that she was going to be a mother, and she was so lucky to have found Beltzer, who was the love of her life.
After supper, everyone was eager to play a game of Uno. "Noah and Emma, Why don't you guys go ahead and hang out with Jenna?" Rabbit asked his children. "Savannah and Alison, why don't you girls go and join them?" Sanders chimed in. "Yes, Dad." The children answered their parents. Jo had placed Jenna into a make shift playpen near the back door, and Noah, Emma, Alison and Savannah joined her, closing the gate behind them. Jo strolled away from the playpen and then took a seat next to her husband. Meg could see her glance back at the playpen. "She'll be fine Jo. They'll keep an eye on her." She reassured her niece.
Laurence was shuffling the cards, and he began to pass out the cards one by one. Once everyone had seven cards, the game had begun. The team had played a few rounds of Uno, and were drinking and enjoying each other's company. Jo had won the first round, Dusty had won the 2nd round, and Bill had won the third round. They were now on the final round of the game. Rabbit was beginning to feel hopeless. No thanks to Sanders, he had quite a bit of cards in his hand, and he was beginning to think that he'd never get an Uno. It was Sanders turn to play. "Sorry man. I hate to do this to you." He apologized.
Rabbit rolled his eyes. Did he even want to know at this point? Sanders flicked the card onto the pile and noticed that it was a red draw four card. Rabbit glared at his friend. "Oh come on, Sanders! A draw four card again? Can't you ever draw any other cards? Why me? It's almost like you don't want me to win." He scoffed. Sanders smirked at him, and then he chuckled. "Oh come on, man. It's just a game." Rabbit shook his head, mumbling, "Just a game my ass. You're targeting me." Sanders responded, "Dude seriously? Just draw the darn cards." Him and Rabbit were beginning to bicker, but Jo and Haynes had had enough of the nonsense. "Oh come on already, Rabbit! Just draw the cards already or can it!" They scolded. Rabbit grumbled and then drew the four cards. Sanders had wound up winning the final round of the game.
....9:00 PM....
The night was filled with laughter and cheer and everyone was enjoying themselves. Jo knew that it was past Jenna's bedtime, so she collected the infant from her Aunt Meg, and brought Jenna up the stairs and placed her into the crib. She tucked her in. "Goodnight sweetheart. Sweet dreams." Bill was right behind her, and added, "Goodnight little one. Christmas is tomorrow." Bill and Jo shared a loving embrace, and then Bill flicked out the lights. Him and Jo then made their way back down the stairs to hang out with the others. As soon as they had reached the bottom of the stairs, they knew that Dusty was already up to his antics, once again.
Dusty was currently in a full blown pillow fight with Beltzer, and it almost as if it was a domino effect. Dusty had accidently whacked Rabbit right in the face with the pillow, which had nearly knocked him over. "You're gonna pay for that!" He exclaimed as he grabbed another pillow and began to retaliate against him. "Dude, you're gonna have to catch me first!" Dusty called as he raced away. Rabbit sped off after him. One by one, the others had joined in on the action. Jo and Bill chuckled and shook their heads. "Should we stop them?" He asked his wife. "Let them have their fun. Just as long as they don't wake up Jenna." She answered him.
While the others were losing themselves into Dusty's pillow fight war, Haynes was trying to escape from the madness Laurence had nearly hit Haynes with a flying pillow, which was only unintentional. "Watch where you're throwing that thing!" She hissed at him. Laurence sheepishly looked at her. "Sorry. My bad. I was trying to whack Joey." He apologized. She nodded at him, letting him know that she had acknowledged his apology.
Haynes decided to sneak out the backdoor and grab some solitude. She strolled down the steps, and decided to sit down on the cold grass. She then stared up at the heavens, which were covered by clouds. Nothing too impressive. She wished that she could observe the stars.
Beltzer had decided to take a break from the craziness, and he went searching for his girlfriend. He eventually found her. He thought she was so beautiful, especially when she would get lost into her thoughts. That was one of the things that endeared him about her. "I thought I might find you out here. I'm sorry if our pillow fight got a little out of hand." He told her as he took a seat next to her. Haynes turned to face him, and she responded. "It looked like you were having a blast. It honestly was beginning to overwhelm me, and I also was trying to protect our baby."
Beltzer pulled her close, and placed a kiss upon the top of her head. "I think he or she is going to turn out fine. I can't believe that we're going to be parents." He uttered. Haynes sighed. She was feeling a little nervous. "I mean, do you truly think that we're ready to be parents? We storm chase a lot. How are we supposed to raise a kid and balance that?" She asked him. Beltzer ruffled her hair. "Well, I believe that we can handle parenthood. Look at Jo and Bill. They have Jenna and still chase storms and run the team, so if they can do it, I have no doubt that we could too." He remarked. Haynes smiled at her boyfriend, and then she rested her head against his chest, nuzzling him. "I love you, you dork." She told him. Beltzer answered her, "I love you too, right back at ya."
It wasn't long before the both of them could feel cold precipitation falling against their face and bodies. It didn't feel anything like rain at all. "Snow?" Haynes questioned, as she caught some snow flakes in her palm. "The weather didn't say anything about us getting snow tonight..." She continued. "That's odd..." Beltzer voiced. They decided to head inside, and the two made some hot chocolate and proceeded to watch the snow fall from outside. Jo, Bill, and the rest of the team just couldn't believe it. They were going to get some snow for Christmas...