"Mommy, Mommy! Daddy, make Mommy wake up!"

Dawn covered her ears, trying to block out the voice of her daughter. She could hear her husband's chuckle as he leaned over her, brushing her hair out of her face. Dawn opened one eye, staring up at him. He smiled slightly down at her.

"Come on, Dawn. Wake up," he murmured in her ear.

Dawn groaned, rolling onto her side and sitting up, rubbing her head tiredly. But she was knocked back against the pillows when her daughter tackled her. "Ack! Risa, how many times have we told you not to do that?"

Arisa Shinji grinned up at her mother. "But Mommy, Mommy! Santa came last night, come look under the Christmas tree!" At eight years old, Arisa was estatic around Christmast time. From the time she could walk, she had scrambled out of her crib every Christmas morning, managing to climb into Dawn and Paul's bed each year. "Come on! You've got to come and see!"

Paul laughed quietly. "Risa, maybe you should wait until Mommy is really awake. How about we get some hot chocolate while we wait?"

"Yay! Hot chocolate, my morning coffee!" Arisa slid off the bed, racing out the door toward the kitchen. They heard the sound of the refrigerator opening as she pulled the milk out, and the kitchen stool being tugged across the tiling. Dawn and Paul chuckled. Arisa was such an energetic child.

"So," Paul began, pushing Dawn's hair out of her face again. "Do you want to get up now, or have a few more minutes alone?" He leaned down and kissed her softly. She reached up, wrapping her arms around his neck, pulling him close. But the moment was ruined when there was splashing sounds coming from the kitchen, followed by a shout. They listened for a moment as Arisa scrambled around the kitchen, probably trying to clean up the mess she had made. "I think that answers my question," he chuckled.

Dawn smiled at him, caressing his cheek before sitting up, stretching her arms above her head. Kicking the covers off, she set her feet on the cold carpet and flexed her toes. She headed for the kitchen with Paul not too far behind her, his hand in hers. When they saw the mess on the floor, they stopped dead in their tracks.

Arisa had spilled milk all over the floor and herself. She looked like a miserable doll with her sodden clothes and wet hair. Her indigo hair had seemed to turn black in places where the milk had touched, clumping it together.

When Arisa heard her parents walk in she looked up, tears in her eyes as she apologized profusely for the mess. "Mommy, Daddy, I'm sorry, I dropped the milk, and it just went everywhere, I couldn't stop it -" She broke off as a sob choked her words.

Dawn sighed, smiling sadly, and walked over to her daughter on the floor. She pushed Arisa's hair out of her little face with her thumbs, holding her cheeks in her hands. "Arisa, don't worry baby girl, we'll clean this up, then Daddy can make us our hot chocolate. How does that sound?"

Arisa sniffed. "Okay …" Man, was she adorable, even when she was crying. She looked so cute, Dawn leaned over and hugged her daughter tightly, saying, "Ohhhh, my gosh, I love you sooo much!" Arisa was used to these outbursts of affection. It didn't even faze her anymore.

"Let the poor child go, Dawn," Paul chuckled. "We have a mess to clean up."

"Ohh, all right." She reluctantly released the child and stood back up. Surveying the milk on the floor and on her daughter, she grabbed the mop from the pantry. She ushered Paul and Arisa out of the kitchen and set to work mopping up all the milk. "You go get changed Risa, I'll be out in a few."

Arisa nodded and held her arms up to her father. Smiling and shaking his head, he reached down, picking the child off the floor. He carried her to her room and helped her with her wet clothes, leaving the room when she was taking them off, as ordered by the eight year old. She apparently was getting old enough to where she was able to get dressed on her own. But none the less, she called him back when she couldn't pull her shirt over her head. There were actually several problems - a button became caught in her hair, and when he'd helped untangle it, she'd pulled the shirt on backwards - the same thing any eight year old goes through when getting dressed.

When she was finally finished changing, she demanded a piggy back from Paul, not giving up until he kneeled in front of her, allowing her to jump onto his back. Arisa loved her father, no question about that, but he spoiled her a little more than Dawn did.

Heading toward the kitchen, Arisa pulled on Paul's hair, treating his bangs as reins, going, "Whoa, horsey! Down boy."

Dawn laughed, smiling. "Wow, Paul. Sounds like last night." She winked at him, kidding around. His face flushed anyway, shooting her an embarrassed look. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding," she laughed. She'd cleaned up the floor and was rubbing the counter down with a dish rab, an easy smile on her face as she teased her husband.

"Yeah, well. I don't think that's something Risa should hear yet." He raised an eyebrow at Dawn quizically. She laughed in return.

"Mommy, Mommy! Can I have my coffee now?" Arisa hopped from Paul's back, landing with a soft thump onto the kitchen floor.

Dawn frowned. "But I thought it was hot chocolate you wanted."

Arisa smiled at her mother. "Hot chocolate is my morning coffee, remember?"

"Ah, yes. I remember you saying that earlier after you had pounced on the two of us in bed."

Dawn looked at Paul. "What do you mean, us? She jumped onto me while I was still half-asleep!"

Paul chuckled. "I know, I was just saying."

She just rolled her eyes at him and returned to cleaning the counter. "Just go wait in the living room, Risa. We'll be out in a minute."

Arisa left without another word, racing to the living room, probably to try and see if she could figure out what she'd gotten that was under the Christmas tree. Alone again, Paul walked over to his wife and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her close. "How long do you think we have this time?" he murmured in her ear.

"Mommy! Daddy!"

Dawn chuckled. "Apparantly not long."

"Mm, she can wait for a few minutes." He kissed a trail over her shoulder and up her neck to her cheek, nuzzling her ear. This made Dawn giggle and reach over her shoulder, mussing his hair. His shook his head, whipping his hair enough to make her pull away laughing. "Hey, don't mess with my hair, remember?"

Dawn smiled. "You mean like this?" she asked, reaching forward and grabbing his hair. She pulled him toward her, bringing him face to face, enough to where their noses were almost touching. "I thought you liked it when I pulled your hair."

He growled, untangling her fingers from his tresses and holding her arms at her side. "I do, but not when our child can hear us in the next room."

"Dear, her room is almost next to ours."

"It's across the hall," he snorted. "Now, come here."

He pulled her forward by her wrists, planting his mouth on hers. He could feel her smiling against his lips, and he pulled away slightly, staring at her inquisitively. She just responded by sticking her tongue out at him playfully. His answer was to lean forward and bite her tongue lightly. Her eyes widened in surprise. She should have known by now that he didn't play fair when it came to affection of any sort.

"Pwaul. Let my pongue go."

He grinned at her. "Nuh-uh."

She glared at him. "Don't make me boo something bwastic, Pwaul."

Paul laughed, he had to. She sounded so rediculous.

"All whight, you asked for it."

She placed her hads on either side of face, pulling him toward her until her tongue was in his mouth, trying to make his teeth release her. Oh, he released her all right, but he didn't let her escape. In a moment, he had a hand in her hair, holding her in place, the other going around her waist, drawing her closer to him. She reacted like he knew she would: wrapping her arms around his neck and standing up on her toes so it would be easier for her.

This time, it seemed that Arisa was too absorbed in the presents she could distinguish in the piles to interrupt her parents. So they took advantage of the time, Dawn hopping onto the now-dry counter, and Paul placing his hands on either side of her, leaning in for another kiss. They stayed like that for a few minutes before Dawn managed to talk through her heavy breathing, saying, "Maybe we should get that hot chocolate ready before Risa decides to investigate why we're taking so long."

Paul chuckled. "Maybe." He kissed her shoulder, his lips brushing bare skin. "But you never know, she's too wrapped up in those presents of heers out there under the tree."

They heard the sudden sound of little feet running across the floor, so Paul help Dawn off the counter and she fixed her night shirt. The flushes on their faces had barely faded back to normal before Arisa came skidding into the kitchen, almost colliding with her mother.

"Mommy, Mommy! Come here, you have to see this!" she cried, tugging at Dawn's hand. With one last look over her shoulder, Dawn followed the eight year old in the living room, where she pulled her to the floor in front of the mound of gifts that were a majority for the child. But after Arisa had dug through the wrapped boxes for a moment, she pulled one out about as big as her mother's hand, which was where she placed it. "It says it's from Santa, Mommy!"

Dawn looked at it for a moment, then shot a skeptical look over her shoulder at her husband, who was standing in the doorway, grinning. Rolling her eyes, she looked back down at the gift in hand, studying the wrapping. It was blue with white snowflakes scattered across the paper. Blue was her favorite color.

Slowly, she unwrapped it. Beneath the paper was a box, and she pulled the lid off. When she saw what was inside the box she gasped, bringing a hand to her mouth as tears sprang in her eyes.

"Mommy? Mommy, what's wrong?"

Dawn looked up at her child who sat in front of her, her innocent blue eyes staring up at her worriedly. Finally realizing she was crying, Dawn wiped the tears away from her eyes, then smiled at Arisa. "Nothing, baby. I'm just happy with what Santa gave me." I'm sure he had some help along the way, she thought.

Arisa smiled again, glad that her mother wasn't upset. "What is it?"

Dawn leaned the box toward Arisa, and the girl's eyes widened as she looked at it. "It's pretty, Mommy."

Her mother smiled, saying, "Why yes, it is, isn't it? Here, Paul. Why don't you make yourself useful and help me put this on?" She smirked at her husband.

Paul rolled his eyes at his wife and pushed away from the doorway, coming over to kneel beside her on the floor. She held her hair up as he clasped the chain around her neck. Sitting back, they all looked at it.

It was an angel made of polished silver about the size of Dawn's thumb, the words My Little Angel carved on the back. The face of the angel was shaped as Arisa's, almost a sort of mirror image of the little girl. Blinking more tears away, Dawn hugged Paul, whispering, "Thank you," in his ear.

He smiled, saying back, "That's not all of it."

She pulled away, rubbing the fresh tears away with the back of her hand. "Right. Arisa honey, why don't you start opening your presents while I go and make that hot chocolate I promised you earlier?" Arisa nodded eagerly, already starting to tear open one of her many presents beneath the tree. "Paul, make sure she doesn't hurt herself."

Paul scoffed. "She's not like you, Dawn. She's more careful, like me." This earned him a hair tug as Dawn walked by. He glared after her as she just about skipped toward the kitchen, winking at him over her shoulder.

Supervising Arisa as she tore at the wrappings, Paul sat back against the side of the couch. He stretched his legs out across the floor, taking a deep breath, then letting it out. This was going to take a while.