It's Not Easy to Keep a Christmas Secret
Pairing: Jin x OC
Genre: fluff
Word count: 5.8k
Warnings: mentions of pregnancy
Summary: Ashley thinks that announcing her pregnancy on Christmas is a great gift idea, but the trouble comes in when she tries to keep the secret from Jin….
This is the sequel to Snow is Falling Outside, But I’m Falling for You
A/N: @jinnie-forthe-winnie here ya go! Have fun!
Christmas was a special time of year to Ashley. Every year, it reminded her of how she and Jin had met. His younger brother, Tae, had convinced her to come to Christmas with him under the illusion that Tae’s parents had been hounding him and he’d needed a date. Turns out, he’d really just wanted to introduce Ashley to Jin in hopes that they’d hit it off. Not at all romantic, but it was a very funny story to tell. As long as Tae wasn’t around, that was. It inflated his ego too much to hear the story retold.
It had been four years since that Christmas. Since then, Tae had gotten married to his long-time love Amber, and Jin and Ashley had also tied the knot. Tae had moved back home to live near his family while Jin had joined Ashley in her hometown. And, of course, Tae and Amber had welcomed their little daughter, Kiara, into the world the previous year.
In short, a lot had happened since that Christmas. This year would be the best of them all, though, in Ashley’s opinion. She and Jin were headed to see his family for the holiday, and she had quite the gift to give this year. Her only hope was that she could make it to Christmas without anyone discovering it. She’d been hiding it for three weeks already, and she had another five days to go. Would Jin figure it out before Christmas? She sure hoped not.
Her predicament had all started three weeks ago when that little test with two red lines had informed her of something she’d dreamt about experiencing for years: she was pregnant.
The news had elated her. She’d wanted to tell Jin immediately, but every opportunity she’d been offered had been interrupted. She’d accepted it as her fate to wait to tell him until Christmas, which, of course, was not that big of a deal. It had only been two weeks away by the time she’d given up on telling him.
The only thing was…how did she go about announcing it? She still didn’t have any idea by the time they arrived in town. Time was ticking.
Amber’s pregnancy announcement had been anything but grand. It had been a text in mid-February, right after Valentine’s Day. “We’re expecting a baby in September!” It had been fine, but it was Christmas…so Ashley needed to do something grander.
She wasn’t sure why she couldn’t come up with any ideas, but her brain was completely blank. If it had been a few months ago, she’d probably had plenty of ideas, but now that it was actually happening, she had none. Naturally, this only meant one thing: she’d have to consult the internet. Except the internet didn’t have any ideas that actually seemed good. Most of the suggestions were to get a flat lay. Whatever that was. Get a gold flat lay, get a blue flat lay, get a silver flat lay. Ashley had no idea what that was, and she didn’t care to know. She’d simply be doing her own brainstorming, it seemed.
Her first obstacle was presented to her the second night they were there. Jin’s father, as always, had taken everyone to a party, and that meant…alcohol. The highest of the highs on the pregnancy no-no list, and also the highest of the highs on the things Ashley generally consumed at these parties. How on earth was she going to dodge the questions she’d surely get?
“Hey, remember the first time we came to one of these parties together?” Jin asked, nudging her as they stood in the middle of the way-too-big foyer.
Ashley laughed. “Yeah, we drank cider…and then we left to go ice skating.”
He chuckled. “Maybe we should do that again. Let me see if I can find some cider.”
That issue had clearly remedied itself this time. She’d been sure to smell that cider before taking a sip of it, though. She couldn’t take any chances.
“Should we sneak out and go ice skating?” Jin suggested.
Normally, Ashley would’ve said yes right then and there, but she’d been feeling rather tired lately, and she didn’t really want to give any hints to Jin. On the other hand…he would probably find it odd if she refused.
“Let’s do it!”
※ ❅ ※ ❅ ※
Ashley wasn’t much better at ice skating than she had been four years ago. She’d been ice skating a max of around ten times in her entire life, and maybe two of those times had been in the past four years, so she still resembled a fawn as she slipped and slid around the ice rink. Thankfully, this one was nearly empty. She wasn’t likely to bowl down a couple kindergarteners.
“Whoa!” Jin exclaimed as he caught her arms to keep her from sliding even further. “Still not great at this, huh?”
She rolled her eyes, accepting his hands as an anchor nonetheless. “Oh, shush.”
He chuckled. “Why should I? You know you love my teasing!”
She shook her head. “Who told you that?”
“I told myself.”
“You shouldn’t trust him. He’s not a reliable source?”
Jin pouted. “Hey!”
She grinned. “This place isn’t too different than it was four years ago.”
“Is it not? I thought they got a new scoreboard.”
Ashley spun around to see what he was talking about, and it was enough to make her lose her balance. Jin reached down just in time to catch her before her bottom hit the ice, but she was already startled at that point. He pulled her up against his chest.
“Ash…you ok?”
She still wasn’t standing fully on her feet, so she actually had to look up to make eye contact with him.
“I…I’m ok.”
He furrowed his brows. “You sure? You look a bit woozy. Let’s go sit down for a moment.”
After she’d righted herself with the help of his strong arms, he pulled her off the rink and sat her down. He swept a few strands of hair out of her face before making eye contact with her. Ashley had to admit that that fall had skyrocketed how lethargic she felt. She wanted to lean over and fall asleep right then and there, but she was determined to keep a straight face so as to not tip Jin off to how tired she felt.
“What?” she asked after a few moments.
“I don’t know…you just seem a bit tired. You sure you’re ok? We can go home now if you’d like.”
Ashley figured she must’ve been a terrible actor. How had he seen straight through her so quickly?
She waved her hand dismissively. “No, we can keep going. The fall just shook me up a bit.”
He seemed to let it go then, but he insisted on keeping a tight hold on her after they got back on the ice.
Ashley waited for what seemed to her to be a decent amount of time before telling Jin she wanted to go home. She could only guess that she’d been right in guessing what was a decent amount of time, because he didn’t seem to think anything of it as she unlaced her skates.
※ ❅ ※ ❅ ※
The next morning presented a whole new challenge. Jin’s mom had made eggs for breakfast. Normally, this wouldn’t have been an issue for Ashley, but oh boy it was bothering her today. She had to step out of the kitchen to stop herself from gagging. As far as she could tell, no one else was having this reaction, so she could only guess that it was some symptom caused by pregnancy. The only question was…how was she going to get out of this? It seemed rude to downright refuse to eat, and saying she wasn’t hungry would definitely ring alarm bells in Jin’s head, so what was she to do?
“Hey,” Jin slung his arm over Ashley’s shoulders as he exited the kitchen. “Mom said she doesn’t have enough eggs to feed all of us, so do you want to go get breakfast?”
Ashley was sure she could hear angels singing. Yes. Yes, anywhere but near scrambled eggs.
She tried to keep her elation off her face as she replied. “Sure! That sounds great!” Had that sounded natural enough?
The two of them sat at breakfast twenty minutes later, and Ashley made sure neither of them ordered eggs. She wasn’t sure what about the smell of them had made her feel so sick, but she was sure she wouldn’t be eating breakfast if she so much as saw another one.
She and Jin had both ordered pancakes, although she wasn’t sure how many of them she could actually stomach. The smell of eggs was still lingering in her sinuses and making her slight nauseated.
“It’s kind of nice to get away for a little while,” Jin laughed. “I forgot how…busy everyone seems at Christmastime.” He groaned after shoving a bite of pancake in his mouth. “Did you hear Dad say that three of his glasses got broken at a party last week? He told me he’s never hosting a Christmas party again. Which, obviously, is a complete lie.”
Ashley was glad that Jin was lost in his own world at that moment in time, because she could smell eggs again, and she was about to puke.
“I’m gonna go to the bathroom. I’ll be right back.”
Jin smiled at her. “Oh, ok. Don’t fall in while you’re in there.”
Usually, she would’ve laughed at that comment, but right now she was feeling too sick to find anything funny. She ran off to the bathroom.
Thankfully, the feeling subsided after she’d stood in the bathroom for a few minutes, but she really didn’t want to go back out there. Was there anywhere they could go that wouldn’t have cooked eggs?
She was hitting the point where she just wanted to tell Jin. Everything was just starting to feel off, and she wanted Jin’s support…and his help. But it would ruin the surprise. Did it really matter anymore, though? She still had no idea how to announce it anyways, so maybe she should tell Jin today and ask him for help.
She headed back to the table when she felt like she could stomach food again.
“Are you ok?” Jin asked when she sat down.
“Hmm?” she feigned innocence. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. You’ve just seemed a bit off since we got here. Tired, maybe?”
She shook her head. “I’m ok.”
He raised an eyebrow, but once again, he didn’t push it. She was doing a really bad job at hiding all of this. Her husband knew her too well.
By the end of breakfast, Ashley had only eaten one pancake. She hoped it was enough to satisfy any suspicions Jin had, but she really couldn’t stomach any more food at the moment. It felt strange, though. This wasn’t how she remembered morning sickness being described, and she couldn’t recall Amber even having it when she’d been pregnant.
Ashley felt unsettled when they got back in the car. Jin was giving her a look that told her he knew something was off, and it was making her want to just tell him right then and there.
“What is it?” she asked.
He rubbed his chin. “I don’t know…I don’t want to seem pushy if nothing’s wrong, you just…don’t seem like you’re feeling great.”
She blew out a breath. Maybe she could settle for a half-truth. “I’ve been feeling a bit nauseous this morning…it’s not too bad, though.”
He frowned. “Oh, Ash, why didn’t you tell me?”
“You took me out for breakfast. I didn’t want to make you feel bad.”
“Do you think you’re sick? Or is it something else?”
She shrugged. “I’m not sure.”
He hummed, reaching over to pat her thigh. “Promise me you’ll tell me if you feel sick again? Is that why you ran off to the bathroom earlier?”
She nodded.
The car was silent for a few moments, the only noise accompanying them being the wind that was kicking the snowflakes around outside.
“Hey, you remember that time we had a snowman building contest?”
“You mean the one where you threw snow down my back?” Ashley asked.
He nodded, a wry grin on his face. “That’s the one.”
“How could I not remember? I can still feel that snow.” She glanced at him. “Maybe I’ll get you back for that this year.”
He gasped. “You wouldn’t.”
“Oh, I would.”
He squinted at her. “I won’t believe it until I see it.”
※ ❅ ※ ❅ ※
The exhaustion that had been bearable the previous night was nearly knocking her out this afternoon as she helped decorate Jin’s parents’ house. They were having a few extended family members over for dinner, and as always, the house had to be in perfect Christmas condition.
“Do you need a nap?” Jin asked, resting his hands on her shoulders.
Even though she was at eye level with him, she felt small in that moment. She was so tired, and she wanted nothing more than to collapse into his arms in that moment. She stared at him for a few moments, considering her answer to that question.
Jin didn’t give her the opportunity to answer, though. “How about we go lay down for a few minutes?”
Once the two of them were laid in bed, Jin spooning Ashley, she realized that she was even more exhausted than she’d initially thought.
“Are you falling asleep already?” he chuckled.
“Hmm…how’d you know?”
“You’re getting heavier on my arm. That always happens when you’re falling asleep.”
“Ah.”
She didn’t even know what to say to that. He was too attentive for her to keep this secret for much longer. She rested her arm on top of his over her abdomen.
“I’m tired,” she admitted.
“I assumed as much.” He was smiling against her shoulder. “Take a nap. We can leave the decorating to Tae and Amber.”
That didn’t seem very fair to them, but she was too exhausted to argue with him at that moment in time. “Ok.”
“Still don’t know why you’re feeling bad?” he murmured as he nudged his nose against her ear. He wiggled his hand out from under her arm and reached up to rest his hand against her cheek. “You don’t have a fever.”
She hummed, too tired to give him an actual response.
“You don’t usually get this tired, even during the winter.”
“Mhm….”
“Ah, I’ve got it. Mom’s cooking is so good it’s putting you into a food coma.”
She giggled softly. “Yeah.”
“Yeah? I solved the mystery? Awesome! Detective Jin to the rescue!”
His chattering was having a sedating effect on her today even though it generally kept her awake. Though really, she wanted nothing more than to melt right into the mattress and fall asleep. She was already doing that even now.
“We should really go shopping tomorrow,” he muttered.
“Hmm?”
“For Christmas presents. We didn’t buy anything at home for anyone.”
“Ah.” Yes, she kept forgetting about that. “I had an idea. Just needed to put it together.”
“Oh, really? Care to enlighten me?”
“Mm…no.”
He sighed. “Oh, come on! Why not?”
“Because it includes your present.”
“Well, that’s no fun. I want to know now.”
“Christmas is in three days. You can wait.”
She could feel him pouting against her shoulder. “That’s not fair.”
“Why not?”
“Becaaauuuse…I want to know.”
She reached back and poked him in the side. “Stop whining. You’ll find out soon enough.”
He laughed. “Hey, I thought you were tired.”
“I am. Your whining didn’t change that.”
“Maybe you should sleep so you’re feeling well when my aunt and uncle get here.”
Her eyes fluttered shut. “Mkay, I can do that.”
※ ❅ ※ ❅ ※
Jin convinced her to join him for shopping the next day. The mall was completely packed, and Ashley wasn’t sure she wanted to wander away from Jin. She needed to if she was going to find what she was looking for, but she would probably lose him if they split up.
At least she’d finally found an idea. She’d remembered something she’d seen once where the couple gifted everyone gifts to represent their new role. Aunt, Uncle, Grandma, Grandpa. It was smart, easy, and something she could do in one day. And, most of all, it was cute. It was an actual gift rather than just an announcement, which she liked. She thought of it as a kind of souvenir to remember the day.
“How about we split up?” she suggested against her better judgement.
“Split up?” he groaned. “Why? So you can make a little secret?”
“You know it. I can’t let you know what your gift is before I give it to you.” She nudged his arm. “You ask that like you’re gonna tell me what my present is before tomorrow!”
“You’re not any fun. Let me guess – you’re going to buy me another baking pan.”
She gasped in mock outrage. “Hey! You weren’t supposed to guess that!”
He grinned wickedly. “I knew it! I’m so good at guessing!”
She smacked his arm. “We’ll meet at the entrance in two hours, ok?”
Ashley hadn’t realized how ridiculously hard it would be to find what she was looking for. She knew she should’ve planned this way ahead, but she’d had absolutely zero ideas until this morning. She could only pray that she’d find something before she had to meet up with Jin. If not, she’d have to come up with something else entirely before tomorrow morning, and she was sure that would not be happening.
She weaved through the stores trying to find anything that could work. Eventually, she came across a onesie decorating kit. It wasn’t what she’d been hoping for, but it would work, so she bought it.
It was two stores later where she found something that slightly matched what she’d been looking for. She’d found some mugs. Best Grandpa, Best Grandma, Best Aunt, Best Uncle. But nothing that had dad on it. Odd. She’d just have to keep looking for something that she could give to Jin.
She was near giving up by the time the two-hour mark was approaching. What on earth was she going to give Jin? She was dragging her feet through the store when something caught her eye. It was a shirt that read Best Dad in the Galaxy. A cheesy Star Wars reference, that was for sure. But it made her laugh, and she was sure it would have Jin laughing too once he’d gotten over the initial shock of the news.
So, after a surprisingly successful shopping spree, she met Jin back at the front of the mall.
“What on earth did you buy?” he asked with a laugh when he saw all the bags she was carrying.
“I’m not telling you! You’ll find out tomorrow.”
He sighed heavily. “Fine…I’ll wait. You found everything you needed, though?”
She shrugged. “I didn’t find anything for Kiki, but that’s it.”
“That’s ok.” He held up a bag. “Everything in here is just for her.”
Ashley’s eyes widened. “Man, you don’t even spoil me that much!”
He snorted. “Come on, it’s her first Christmas where I can actually buy her toys. Let me spoil her a little bit.”
“I wouldn’t say that you’re just spoiling her a little bit, but okay….”
As the two of them stacked their bags in the back of the car, Jin sighed. “We really need to stop waiting so late to do our shopping. I feel like we do this every year.”
“In our defense, we did host last year, so we were definitely busy doing other things.”
“That’s true. Still, we could at least do some shopping on Black Friday.”
She patted his shoulder. “We can do that next year if it makes you happy.”
Ashley ended up borrowing some wrapping paper from Jin’s mom. She hadn’t had the thought to buy any until hours after they’d gotten back from the store, so she had no other choice. She was honestly just glad that she only had today and tomorrow to keep the secret now. She could tell Jin was starting to get suspicious, and she wanted to tell him before he figured it out. If she just survived today and tomorrow, she’d be fine. She just needed to not get tired or nauseated.
※ ❅ ※ ❅ ※
Ashley discovered a new smell that made her nauseous the next morning. Coffee. It was a rarity in Jin’s parents’ house, but someone was making it this morning. Ashley stepped outside onto the porch the second she was out of the hallway. And for some reason, Amber followed her.
“Hey there! I haven’t seen much of you since the night you got here,” Amber laughed.
Ashley smiled, which was easier to do now that she wasn’t being assaulted by the scent of coffee. “Yeah…Jin and I have gone out quite a bit, I guess,” she laughed.
Amber nodded. “I mean, I can’t blame you. It’s the season to go out and have fun.”
“Yep….”
It was silent for a few moments before Amber picked the conversation up again.
“I wanted to ask you if you’re feeling all right. You’ve just seemed a bit tired recently.”
“Oh?” Ashley laughed dryly. “Yeah, I’m just not used to this much activity, I guess. I’m not twenty-two anymore.”
Amber nodded. “True. I feel like I’ve aged five years since having Kiki. She’s so active, and I can’t keep up with her half the time!”
“Isn’t that what Tae’s for?” Ashley asked.
“Uh, yeah, it looks like it. He’ll chase her around for hours! I don’t know where he gets the energy!”
Ashley shrugged. “He’s always been full of unexplainable energy.”
Amber giggled. “He’s a lot more energetic than he used to be.” She nudged Ashley’s arm. “What about Jin?”
“Jin? I’m not sure I’d say he’s energetic, but we don’t have a little kid yet. He mostly plays video games when he’s home.”
“Well, maybe that’ll change soon. You want a kid eventually, right?”
“Of course.”
Ashley was just hoping that Amber wasn’t onto her yet. Out of everyone here, she was the most likely to realize Ashley was pregnant. She’d been pregnant not too long ago, so surely, she’d recognize the symptoms.
“We probably should go back inside. It’s pretty cold out here,” Amber laughed.
“I’ll be in in a few minutes.”
※ ❅ ※ ❅ ※
Christmas Eve didn’t get much better. The smell of coffee lingered in the house for the rest of the day, and Ashley spent the majority of that time at least slightly nauseous. The problem really came when they started their celebration that night, though. Jin’s mom had bought wine, and Ashley wasn’t sure how she was going to avoid questions if she didn’t drink any of it. Jin and Tae both knew her all too well to not ask questions if she didn’t drink alcohol tonight, and she couldn’t think of a single excuse at this moment in time.
So…what was she going to do?
Simple. She was going to try and avoid questioning by playing with her niece.
“Kiki, which one’s your favorite?” Ashley held up two of the toddler’s stuffed animals.
“Giaff,” Kiki replied, promptly taking the stuffed giraffe from her. Then she stood up and waddled off.
“Hey! Kiki, come back here!”
Kiara seemed to think it was funny to make her aunt chase her around the house, because she bolted straight down the hall as soon as those words came out of Ashley’s mouth.
“Come back here, you silly!” Ashley exclaimed.
Kiki had completely disappeared, though, and three of the bedroom doors had been left open. She checked the empty bedroom first. It was silent and nearly empty but for a bed and a nightstand. Ashley walked around the bed. No Kiara. She knelt down and checked under the bed just for good measure.
Next, she checked her and Jin’s room. It was the closest room to the beginning of the hallway, so maybe she’d wandered in there.
“Kiki?”
A little giggle came from behind the bed. Ashley snuck around the bed.
“I hear you, Kiki. Where are you?”
She rounded the bed to find Kiara squatted on the floor hugging her giraffe. She giggled when she saw Ashley.
“Hey…it’s not funny to run away from your aunt, Kiki.”
The toddler seemed to think otherwise though, letting out another giggle as Ashley picked her up.
“We need to stay in the living room, Kiki,” Ashley informed her as she shut all the bedroom doors. “We’re not allowed to come back here alone, ok?”
Kiara just giggled at her. Ashley mimicked her, giggling as she tickled Kiara’s stomach. The little girl squealed.
“You’re just like your dad, aren’t you? Very silly. I didn’t tell you it was time to play hide and seek!”
Kiara reached up and placed her hand over Ashley’s mouth, and Ashley gasped in mock offense. This only induced more giggles from the fifteen-month-old she was holding.
“Who taught you to do this? Was it your dad? I need to have a talk with him,” Ashley mumbled under Kiara’s hand.
“Ah Dada,” Kiara replied.
“It was Dada? I knew it! This is exactly the kind of thing he’d do!”
Kiara giggled. “Dada.”
“Should we go see him?”
The little girl wiggled against her hip, all the while not moving her hand off Ashley’s mouth.
“All right, let’s go do that.”
Ashley found Tae in the kitchen when she went searching for him, and Kiki was wiggling even more when she saw him. She took her hand off Ashley’s mouth so she could lean towards him.
“Dada!”
Tae turned to her and gasped. “Kiki!”
She held her hands out toward him, dropping her giraffe in the process.
He lifted his hands up. “You want to come to Dada?”
“Dada!” she squeaked again.”
“That’s a yes,” he laughed as he took her from Ashley’s arms. He rubbed her stomach. “What, are you not having fun with Auntie Ashley?”
Kiara set her hand against his mouth, and he bit down on it with his lips. She giggled.
“Mm, Kiki tastes good,” Tae mumbled around her hand.
Kiara was letting out a belly laugh after that, bringing her other hand up to smack his cheek. He gasped, his mouth falling open.
“Kiki!”
“Dada,” she laughed.
“I’m gonna have to get you now!” he exclaimed before tickling her.
“Ahhhhhh!”
“Ok, what do we say to Auntie Ashley for playing with you?” Tae asked.
“Sae ‘oo!” Kiara exclaimed, the pronunciation of the two words completely butchered.
“You’re welcome, Kiki!” Ashley laughed. “If you want to play more, you can come find me.”
Kiara clapped her hands. Then she gasped. “Dada! Giaff?”
“Oh? Is your giraffe missing?”
Ashley bent down to pick it up off the ground. “Here it is, Kiki!”
Kiara clapped her hands. “Giaff!”
※ ❅ ※ ❅ ※
Strangely, playing with her niece actually had distracted everyone from asking questions for the rest of the night. She’d done it. She’d made it through Christmas Eve without anyone suspecting her. She brushed her teeth happily that night as she anticipated the following morning. It was actually going to be a surprise! She’d succeeded!
“Hey, Ash, I’ve got a question,” Jin announced as he walked into the bathroom.
“Hmm?”
“Are you pregnant?”
She spun around to stare at him with wide eyes. “What?”
“Well, I mean…I don’t know. I was just thinking about it. You’ve been kinda tired recently, and breakfast was making you look sick at least two days this week.” He shrugged. “You’ve also drank no alcohol while we’ve been here, which is pretty odd for you.”
She stared at him, dumbfounded. Did she tell him now or stall for the morning?
“Why are you just asking now?” she laughed nervously.
He paused. “I don’t know. I just didn’t want to ask you if it was just a day or two, but it’s been quite a few now.”
She cringed internally. So he’d been thinking about this for a while now, then?
She set her toothbrush down and wandered into their bedroom. Once she’d found his gift in the pile of presents, she headed back to the bathroom and handed it to him.
“How about you open this now?”
He glanced down at the gift in her hands before looking back up at her, a confused look settling on his features. She nudged the gift towards him, prompting him to take it.
“Is this my gift?”
She nodded. “The one you’re opening here, at least. You know I have more at home for you.”
He took it from her before cautiously popping the tape off of it. His brows furrowed when he pulled out a shirt.
“Look at what the front of it says.”
He shook the shirt out so that it unfolded, a grin overtaking his face when he read what it said.
“Best Dad in the Galaxy? Really?”
She smiled, embarrassed. “There weren’t a lot of options, ok? I had no idea how to announce it until yesterday!”
He chuckled. “So you are pregnant?”
She nodded. “I’m honestly surprised it wasn’t super obvious. I’ve felt really off while we’ve been here, and I’m not sure I was doing that great of a job at hiding it.”
“Well, it is the season for untimely sicknesses, so I’m sure if anyone did notice, they just assumed you were little under the weather. Like I did at first.”
She smiled sheepishly. “So, I guess this was good timing, then?”
“When did you find out?”
She grimaced. “Almost four weeks ago now.”
“Really?” he asked, shocked.
“Yeah. I was going to tell you a while ago…but every time I tried, the moment didn’t work out, so I gave up and decided I’d tell everyone at Christmas!”
He laughed in disbelief. “So…you’re like eight weeks pregnant, then?”
She nodded. “Just about.”
He pulled her into a kiss, leaving her a little breathless when he pulled away.
“We’re gonna have a baby.”
She giggled. “We are. We’ll have a baby in July.”
He smiled. Then he frowned. “Hey, why didn’t you tell me on my birthday?”
She winced. “I was going to…but. We were out with the guys, and then both of us were tired by the time the night was over…it just didn’t feel right.”
“I suppose I can understand that. That’s how I felt about proposing. The time just never felt right.”
“I guess both of us are a little silly. Neither of these things panned out for us, did they?”
“I mean, we’re married and expecting a baby, so something panned out. Maybe just not the way it could’ve.”
Her next laugh very quickly became a yawn.
Jin chuckled. “Should we head to bed now?”
“Please. Kiara tired me out this evening.”
The two of them were cuddled up in bed a few minutes later, Ashley’s head laid on Jin’s chest.
“I’m kind of glad that you figured it out, honestly,” she admitted.
“Really?” he asked with a chuckle.
“Yeah. I wanted to tell you before I told everyone else, but I didn’t know how to bring it up.”
“Well I’m glad I asked, then. You haven’t started brainstorming names without me, right?”
“Nope. Got any ideas?”
“Seokjin Jr.”
She groaned. “Of course you’d say that.”
He laughed. “Ok, what would you name them?”
She hummed. “Maybe Luna. Or Oliver.”
“Those are cute.”
“You like them?”
He nodded. “I do.” Then he went silent.
She tapped his chest. “Can we go to bed? I want to be up for Christmas tomorrow.”
He chuckled. “Sure. We can do that.” He rubbed her back. “See you in the morning. I love you.”
“Love you too.”
※ ❅ ※ ❅ ※
The next morning is when Ashley discovered that Tae was passing his Christmas morning shenanigans down to his daughter. It was only eight am when the toddler came waddling into the bedroom. Tae and Amber were already over, apparently.
“A-tie. Unca. Wakey!” she was tugging the comforter off the bed as she tried to climb it.
Ashley rolled over. “Who sent you, you little squeak?”
“Dada,” Kiki replied with a giggle.
“Of course.” Ashley tugged the little girl up onto the bed. “It’s not nice to wake people up, you know.”
Kiki giggled again.
“All right, I guess it’s time to wake up,” Jin sighed. “Your Dada’s silly, Kiki, you know that?”
“Dada silly.”
“That’s right,” Jin nodded.
The three of them headed out to the living room a few moments later.
“Good job, Kiki! You did it!” Tae exclaimed.
Kiki giggled and clapped her hands together.
“I think you shouldn’t be using your daughter against us, Tae,” Jin commented.
“I don’t see why not. Isn’t it better than me waking you up, anyways?”
Jin rolled his eyes.
“All right, I want everyone to open the gifts from us first,” Ashley announced a few minutes later when everyone was seated in the living room. “It’s sort of a group gift, so you all need to open them at the same time.”
It wasn’t a minute later that they were all ripping open their gifts, and Amber gasped. “You’re pregnant! I knew it!”
“Seriously?” Ashley asked. “How?”
Amber laughed. “I don’t know…the way you were acting just reminded me of how I acted when we weren’t telling people I was pregnant with Kiki. Lucky guess, I suppose?”
“Hey, Kiki, you know what this means,” Tae patted her stomach. “You’re gonna have a cousin next summer!”
“Coosin?” Kiki asked.
“That’s right!”
Kiki clapped her hands together. “Yay! Coosin!”
※ ❅ ※ ❅ ※
Jin and Ashley sat on the porch that evening, swinging. It was snowing gently outside, but the moon could be clearly seen from where they were sitting.
“Just think, next year we’re going to have a little baby with us,” Jin laughed.
Ashley grinned. “You’re right, we will. Christmas will never be the same!”
“Has any Christmas been the same?”
She shook her head. “Not really. I mean, we spent one Christmas here, and then we spent the next one with my family, and the year after that we went on a cruise, and last year we had it at our house, and Kiki joined us for the first time, and now we’re here again.”
Jin laughed. “With that pattern, it sounds like we’re due for a cruise again next year.”
“Not with a five-month-old, we aren’t!”
“Hey, it could be fun!”
“Nope,” Ashley shook her head. “It’s not happening.”
Jin snapped his fingers. “It was worth a shot.”
She laughed. “Was this a good Christmas gift?”
“It was a great Christmas gift. The best one, I daresay.”
“Maybe I’ll give it to you again next year.”
“Ok, let’s not get ahead of ourselves-”
She smiled and leaned over to kiss him. “I love you.”
“I love you too.”
Find the Christmas Masterlist here
A/N: I had SO MUCH FUN writing this. Honestly, it went by a lot faster than I expected. I was going to post it in early December...but...that did not happen, clearly
It would be greatly appreciated if you reblogged the story if you liked it!
Taglist: @jiminie-and-his-pinky-finger @thornedswan @fly-you-dam-fools @aianloveseven @kookstempo @armys-dna
