Catch up. Val and Tiff got married over the mid-term break. They went back to finish school. Val graduated with top marks in Fine Arts and got a job in the Video Game industry. Tiffany graduated with top marks in Communications and got a job in the journalism career. The last they talked about children Tiff said they didn’t have enough money to adopt. We left off with Tiffany leaving for France to tie up the last loose ends from her life there so she could fully leave it behind and start her new one with Val. Tiff promised she would return with a surprise and left with babies on her mind.

Tiff came back on Christmas eve. Val had set up a fairly good sized welcome back/gift giving party with their friends and co-workers. Everyone had a great time, all the gifts were pretty good. Val and Tiff got a lamp and a gaming console. At the end of the night, Val cuddled up to Tiffany in their bed. “So baby, where is this surprise you promised me?” She asked, smiling as she buried her head against Tiffany’s neck.

“It’ll be here little bird. There were some…complications getting it here. It’ll be in the day after tomorrow. A late Christmas present.” Tiffany pulled away enough to kiss Val.

“I can’t wait. Do I get a hint?” Val asked. Tiffany shook her head and moved on to other celebratory acts they could do now that they were alone.

Two days they two were playing out in the snow, making snow men and the like. Tiffany stopped and answered her ringing phone.

“Oh! That’s wonderful! Thank you so much for doing this.” She said excitedly into the phone. After a pause while the person on the other line presumably spoke she laughed. “We will see you soon then!” She exclaimed then hung up. Val stood next to her.

“Who was that? What’s going on?” She asked, looking curiously at Tiffany.

“Oh, little bird. It was just someone calling me to let me know they are on their way with your surprise.” Tiffany said. “Come, let’s get inside and out of these cold, wet clothes. You’ll want to be in lighter clothes when the surprise gets here.” Val took Tiff’s hand and lead her into the warm house.

Val smiled and looked to Tiff as the doorbell rang. “Can I answer it?” She asked excitedly.

“No little bird. Close your eyes.” Tiff said with a smile. Val nodded and did as she was told. She heard Tiff whispering and some other noises.

“Hold out your arms.” Tiff said, a smile could be heard in her voice. Val heald them out and felt something heavy put in them. She wrapped her arms around it, almost dropping it as it moved.

“What the-” She said, opening her eyes. “OhmygnomeTiffany!”

In her arms was a baby girl. “Oh.Oh Tiff!” She exclaimed again, beaming down at this little being she held. It looked up at her with eyes the color of honey and gurgled, smiling. “What’s her name?” She asked Tiffany, moving her hand to brush the child’s latte colored hair out of her eyes.

“Kara.” Tiffany said. “Kara Belle”

TIffany felt a tear slip down her cheek. “Ho-how did you do this?” She asked, still staring in amazement at the baby.

Tiffany wiped it from her cheek and looked down at Kara too. “She was my niece’s. I had known about her for a while. She was born just before I left for Uni and met you. As soon as we knew we wanted children I called back home. My niece didn’t want her. She could hardly take care of herself much less a child. She was 16 when she had her and the no good father left as soon as he learned she was pregnant. I gave her the name we decided on if we ever got a girl and she had it changed. The only reason she kept our little Kara for so long was because I sent her money to help take care of her until we could get her. This was the loose end I had to take care of.”

Kara giggled and reached out to tug on Val’s ponytail. She laughed. “Oh Tiff, this is the best surprise ever!” Kara, sensing Val’s laugh began laughing too. Val took Kara’s little hand in hers and smiled. “I can’t wait to get you talking and walking sunshine!” She said. Kara smiled and made little baby noises.