Baby's First Christmas

A week before Christmas, King Endymion entered the royal bedchambers to find that in the short time he had been in a meeting it had become a disaster area. Toys and balled-up wrapping paper littered the floor, while the dresser and Serenity's vanity were buried underneath stacks and stacks of colorful presents. In the center of the storm was his frantic wife, who appeared to be in the middle of searching for something.

"I know I just had those scissors," she muttered, tossing aside a throw pillow. "Where are they? I'm way too young to be going senile!"

Endymion walked over to the bed and picked up a pair of scissors from the floor. "Looking for these?" he asked, causing Serenity to jump in surprise.

"Mamo-chan!" Serenity turned around and lightly swatted him on the arm before taking the offered scissors. "Don't scare me like that! I thought you were supposed to be in a meeting with Mercury until nine."

"We wrapped things up early. Speaking of wrapping…" He once again surveyed the room and frowned. "You do realize we have servants to handle this sort of thing, don't you? It's one of the perks of being royalty."

"But I like wrapping presents," she said, resuming her work. "Wrapping a gift yourself gives it a personal touch. Besides, it's Small Lady's first Christmas, and I want it to be the best ever."

After clearing away a spot, Endymion joined his wife on the bed and reached for one of the boxes that had yet to be wrapped. He arched an eyebrow. "A porcelain doll? Usako, Small Lady is only five months old. She's too young for something like this."

"I know, but she was so pretty! Just look at those rosy cheeks and all the lace and ruffles on her cute little dress. When I saw her in the store window, I just couldn't resist."

"So you basically bought the doll for yourself - that's what you're saying."

Serenity huffed in offense and snatched the doll away from him to wrap. "Of course not! I'll just…keep it safe for her until she's old enough to appreciate it."

Endymion resisted the urge to roll his eyes, not wanting to get into an argument. "Where are my gifts?" he asked instead. From what he could see, the majority of the unwrapped items were toys and clothes for Small Lady.

"Already wrapped and hidden in a secret place," Serenity said as she cut a piece of silver wrapping paper from the roll. "And don't you dare go looking for them."

"I won't. I'm not you, after all."

That earned him a wad of scrap wrapping paper to the face. "Just for that, I'm taking one of your presents away. It was a good one, too," she said, and stuck out her tongue for good measure. Even as a queen, she could sometimes still act very much like a child.

He laughed and crawled across the king-sized bed until he was sitting behind her. "I don't mind. I already have everything I could possibly want," he said, enveloping his arms around Serenity, who stopped wrapping her presents and leaned back into his embrace.

"We are lucky, aren't we? The world is at peace, we're married, and now we have a beautiful daughter. It's like a dream come true. Sometimes I wake up in the morning expecting to discover this really is a dream, you know?"

"Mmm…" Endymion pulled down the spaghetti strap of his wife's negligee and kissed her bare shoulder.

"Mamo-chan, what are you doing?"

"Unwrapping one of my presents a little early." He grinned. "You don't mind, do you?"

She pretended to think it over for a moment. "Well, you have been an awfully good boy this year…"

After kicking her gift-wrapping supplies off the bed and onto the floor, Serenity turned around and straddled Endymion's lap. She kissed him passionately as he ran his hands down her back. His fingers finding the hem of her nightgown, he raised it up and was about to pull it over Serenity's head when they heard a piercing cry coming from the baby monitor on the nightstand. No doubt about it - Small Lady had inherited her mother's legendary lung capacity. Endymion let go of the fabric and sighed.

"Baby's up," Serenity said, climbing off of him and reaching for her robe. "She's probably hungry."

"You stay. I'll go check on her," he offered.

"You sure?"

Endymion nodded and slid off the bed. "While I'm gone, you can start putting this place back in some semblance of order."

She wearily looked around the room at the mess she had made. "Do I have to? Don't we have servants for that?"

"You were the one who insisted on wrapping the gifts yourself, so you do the clean-up. No pulling the servants' card now."

"You're so mean, Mamo-chan," she said, pouting.

"But you still love me," Endymion said, walking over to give his wife a kiss on the lips. "I'll be back in a few minutes, okay? Then we can pick up where we left off."

"I'll be waiting."

Small Lady's nursery was located just across the hall. Though they employed a full-time nanny, Serenity and Endymion preferred a more hands-on approach whenever possible.

"Hey, baby girl," he cooed, taking the screaming baby into his arms. "Papa's here. Are you hungry? Or do you need a -?" Endymion wrinkled his nose as he took a whiff of Small Lady's diaper. "Yeah, diaper change. I was afraid of that."

Walking over to the changing table, he lay his daughter down and unfastened her dirty diaper. "You know, this wasn't the gift I wanted to unwrap tonight."

Small Lady babbled happily, waving her chubby little arms in the air as Endymion wiped her butt and put on a fresh diaper. Despite what he was currently in the middle of doing, Endymion couldn't help but smile at the sight. Perhaps he was biased, but he thought his daughter must be the cutest baby in the world - even when she pooped.

"There, all nice and fresh," he said once he had finished.

Endymion picked Small Lady up and placed her back in her crib, covering her with the pink-and-white blanket Jupiter had knitted for her. Within minutes, she had fallen back to sleep. Endymion stared down at the sleeping baby, thinking that she looked like a little Christmas cherub, and kissed the tip of his finger, pressing it against her lips.

"Good night, angel."

When he returned back to the bedroom a few moments later, he was greeted by Serenity stretched out on the bed, dressed only in a pair of tiny white panties and a couple of red bows taped over her bare breasts.

He very much enjoyed his present.

"Merry Christmas, Mamo-chan!"

Endymion's eyes fluttered open to the welcome sight of his wife's beautiful face. He smiled and caressed her cheek. "Merry Christmas, Usako," he yawned, glancing over at the alarm clock. The time was six-thirty in the morning. "You're up early today." Normally, Serenity slept until well after nine if left to her own devices, and they had stayed up late the night before, hanging up stockings and putting the presents underneath the tree before returning to their bed for their own private celebration. He thought she would sleep until noon, at the very earliest.

"Of course! It's Christmas, after all!" She sat upright, drawing her knees up to her chest. "I wonder what Santa left for me this year," she mused, a twinkle in her eye.

"Well, go see," he told her, rolling over on his side and pulling on the blanket. He let out another yawn. "As for me, I think I'll get a little more shut-eye. Six-thirty is too early to wake up, even for me."

"Mamo-chan!" Serenity shook him by the shoulder. "We have to open our presents as a family. Besides, Small Lady is expecting to see Santa Claus."

"Usako, Small Lady doesn't even know who Santa Claus is," Endymion pointed out. "Who's going to play him, anyway? Uranus?"

"Actually…"

His wife climbed out of bed, slid on her robe, and entered their walk-in closet. Curious, Endymion leaned over the edge of the mattress to try to see what she was doing, but his view was mostly blocked. A couple of minutes later, she emerged, carrying a large box in her hands. Serenity set the box down on the bed and lifted up the lid to reveal the iconic red-and-white suit inside.

"Ta-dah!" she exclaimed, holding up the jacket. "It used to be my father's. Isn't it perfect, Santa?"

Raising his eyebrows, Endymion pointed to himself. "Me?"

"Yes, you. Who else?"

"Oh, Usako, I don't want to play Santa," he whined, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. It was becoming clear that Serenity wasn't going to let him go back to bed any time soon. "Small Lady's not even going to remember this Christmas. We don't need to go so overboard."

"King Endymion, I can't believe what I'm hearing," Serenity said, causing Endymion to grimace. She never called him by his title unless she was angry with him. "Today is your daughter's first Christmas! It doesn't matter if she won't remember it; it's still a special day, and if you're going to be such a spo-"

At that moment, the sound of Small Lady's loud wails came over the baby monitor, interrupting the brewing argument. Serenity, still furious, threw the Santa jacket at Endymion's face before heading to the nursery to tend to her. The door slammed shut behind her.

Holding up the jacket in front of him, Endymion sighed. What was the big deal? What he said was true: Small Lady wouldn't remember a thing about today. He understood it was her first Christmas, but he didn't see the point of making a big production about it when she didn't even know what Christmas was. Folding the jacket back up, he was about to put it back in the box when he noticed a photograph laying facedown on top of the pants.

Endymion put the jacket aside and picked up the photo, inhaling sharply when he saw the picture of Tsukino Kenji, dressed up in the Santa suit, holding a baby Usagi in his arms. Suddenly, he understood.

Serenity's anger wasn't really on Small Lady's behalf. Kenji had died of a sudden heart attack two months before Small Lady was born. He never had the chance to meet his first granddaughter…or play Santa Claus for her, as he had done for his own children when they were young. Serenity must have intended for him to keep her father's tradition alive.

"I'm an idiot," Endymion muttered, running a hand through his messy hair. "An absolute idiot."

He put on the suit and walked across the hall to the nursery, pausing at the door when he heard somebody's soft sobs coming from inside - cries that did not belong to his baby daughter. The sound broke his heart. Serenity had thrown herself so thoroughly into the spirit of the holiday season, he had never realized how much pain she was hiding behind those cheerful smiles. Quietly, Endymion entered the nursery and came up behind his wife, wrapping his arms around her and Small Lady, who she held in her arms.

"Merry Christmas, Usako," he whispered in her hair, kissing the top of her head. "I'm sorry. I should have realized -"

"It's okay," she said, wiping her tears away with the back of her hand. Turning around, Serenity forced herself to smile for their daughter's sake. "Look, Small Lady, it's Santa!"

"Ho, ho, ho!" Endymion took the baby from Serenity, surprised when Small Lady started wailing at the top of her lungs. "I don't think she likes Santa very much," he said, attempting to comfort her with little success.

Hand covering her mouth, Serenity burst out laughing, and Endymion smiled.

At least Santa had made one person happy this Christmas.

DISCLAIMER: Sailor Moon is the property of Naoko Takeuchi.

AUTHOR'S NOTES: Sorry it's a little belated, but I wasn't able to post this story anywhere until the contest was over. Second place winner of the "Holly Jolly WAFF-y Holiday Challenge at the "sailormoonland" community at Livejournal.