I Belong With You part 30 updated (Arsh ff) - Page 21

simply superb...

amazing ff....

u wrote it beautifully....

plzzz do continue n add me to ur pm list............

part 22

Shilpa's last week of maternity leave passed quickly. Sapna came daily, early in the morning, so that Baby Shona would see her when she woke up. She quickly learned about Shona's habits and Shona had no problem in having another person spoiling her around. Shona was already used with Sapna's permanent presence in the house, so Shilpa and Armaan were a little relieved.

Armaan moaned softly as he rolled on the other side and held his arm over Shilpa's side of bed. He opened his eyes when he found the cold sheet and her body missing. Sleepily he rubbed his eyes and yawned, turning and looking at the alarm clock. It was a little past 4 in the morning and they had at least one more hour of sleep. He sighed and pushed the blanket off as he knew where Shilpa was.

The door from Shona's room was wide opened, so Armaan just walked inside and stopped beside the crib, watching Shilpa holding Shona in her favorite spot by the window.

"She woke up?" he whispered as he walked up to them, though he knew the real answer already.

Shilpa softly let out a sigh and didn't tear her eyes from her baby, "She won't like it."

Armaan crouched beside the chair and gently touched Shona's hat as he whispered, "She has to get used to it."

Shilpa looked at Armaan, with her forehead crumpled by worry, "Surgery used to be my life until no long time ago. I don't want her to feel abandoned or neglected."

Armaan chuckled quietly and shook his head, disagreeing with her, "It used to be until no long time ago, but now everything has changed. Back then you didn't have Baby Shona."

Shilpa sighed loudly and watched how Shona rubbed her eyes; she sighed and kept on sleeping peacefully. "Why did I have to choose to become a doctor?" Shilpa muttered under her breath.

Armaan smiled encouragingly, "Because you love it and you're good at it. We'll make sure we spend quality time with her," he promised.

Shilpa just smiled weakly at him and then she looked down at her baby. She lifted her and kissed her on the warm forehead, "I love her," she stated and felt a strong sensation inside her chest and throat as she said those words.

"Of course, you do," Armaan smiled and gently stroked her cheek.

"I love her too much and that's why I don't want to have other children," she stated quietly.

Armaan was suddenly worried. The expression on her face showed how serious she was. "It's not so bad," he said softly and Shilpa looked at him with a questioning expression. "Being a mom," he cleared out.

Shilpa nodded in agreement, "It's not bad at all."

Armaan was confused now. "Why are you saying this then?"

Shilpa smiled weakly at him and then she looked back down at her baby, "Because I don't want to love her less."

Armaan couldn't hold back the chuckle, "Is this the reason?"

She glared at him as she thought he was making fun of her, "Yes and it's not funny."

Armaan chuckled again and brushed his hand against her cheek, "I can assure you that you won't love her less. I am absolutely sure of it."

Shilpa shook her head, refusing to accept his words, "I don't want to risk."

"I am more than absolutely sure of it," he smiled confidently and stood up before he kissed the top of her head. "I will go make the breakfast."

Shilpa didn't eat much that morning; she was feeling nausea and felt pain in the pit of her stomach. Armaan didn't push her as he knew the reason for her stress.

Shilpa was in Shona's room, holding her into her arms while rocking slowly in the chair, when she heard the doorbell. She sighed heavily, knowing those were the last minutes she had to spend with her baby girl that morning. Shilpa smiled when baby Shona sighed in her sleep.

"Please be good for Sapna and wait for Mommy to come tonight from work. I will be back, I promise," she talked in whisper to her baby. "We have to work and earn money to be able to survive, so' we can't spend the whole day together anymore. Sapna will call me in case you need something emergently. I promise I will be here as soon as possible. You're in good hands," she knew her baby didn't hear or understand her, but somehow, she knew her words would reassure her.

"Shi," Armaan said quietly from the doorway.

Shilpa looked at him and nodded, sighing as she stood up and took Shona back into her crib. Armaan came by her side and both watched Shona's peaceful sleep for a few moments.

"It's time to go," he whispered in her ear.

Shilpa nodded slowly, still not tearing her eyes from her baby, "I can't move my legs," she muttered under her breath.

Armaan chuckled quietly and wrapped a firm arm around her waist, gently pulling her into him, "I could scoop you up," he whispered.

Shilpa put her head down on his shoulder, not moving yet. "This feels wrong," she muttered.

"It's a natural feeling," Armaan muttered against her temple and kissed her while his hand gripped on her waist in attempt of making her walk.

Shilpa resisted to that attempt too and pulled away from his grip. She went over to the shelf where some of Shona's stuffed toys were and took the teddy bear she had received from Armaan the day they were still in the hospital. She returned to the crib and put the teddy bear at the top of Shona's head.

Armaan watched, touched by the scene, how Shilpa went back to the shelf and picked another stuffed toy, bringing it as well in her crib.

"Shi," he chuckled quietly and held her wrist when she wanted to go and take another one. "She likes having space."

Shilpa glared at him at first, but then she sighed heavily and nodded. "Let's just go," she said reluctantly and leaned down over the crib, gently touching Shona's chest and feeling her breathing.

Armaan waited for her to say her goodbye, but once again, she was late in finishing it as Shilpa stayed bent over the crib.

"Seriously, we have to go now," he said, now taking her waist with both hands and pulling her, almost brutally, from the crib.

Shilpa held her breath and automatically turned and walked out of the room.

"She'll be fine. She'll be fine," she kept telling herself as she and Armaan climbed down the stairs.

"There's no reason for panic right now, Shilpa," Armaan stated.

Shilpa stopped abruptly and glared at him, "And there better be no reason for panic later either."

Armaan just shook his head and climbed down ahead.

Sapna felt pity for Shilpa when she saw the worry on her features, "I'll call you if I have trouble with anything," she promised.

"Right away," Shilpa demanded.

"Right away," she nodded.

Armaan gave Shilpa her jacket and let her go outside first. "Call me first, just in case," he whispered to Sapna, who nodded in agreement.

"You sent me your worst intern. All of you," Shilpa glared at Anjali after they gave assignments to their children.

"Hey. I am the main subject for gossips these days, so please spare me of a lousy, clumsy, idiot intern," Anjali grumbled. "Besides, you would have done the same. Admit it."

"No," Shilpa frowned offended. "My worst intern would have been like ' the best intern."

Anjali stared at her for a moment and then she chuckled teasingly, "You don't know what you're talking about."

"It's not enough that I have a baby at home to be worried about, now I have to take care of 4 other babies," Shilpa sighed.

"Just send them to the clinic and they will sting and probably suture themselves," Anjali stated matter-of-factly.

"Seriously?" she smiled. "That's why you don't have any capable intern around here."

"I am curious to see you handling those morons," Anjali shrugged.

Shilpa leaned her back against the counter and staring ahead, thoughtful. "I know how to do this."

"Do what?" Anjali asked.

"I know how I can keep my worry off Shona. The Nanny I hired is perfect, qualified and she knows what she has to do," Shilpa stated in a sudden confidence.

"You're not absolutely sure of how good she is," Anjali disagreed.

Shilpa turned and frowned at her already-friend, Anjali, "Thank you for being this supportive. I asked my mom to help me on finding more about Sapna's past as nurse and she received only positive answers. So' I need to have trust. Besides, she promised she would call me."

"This means you're not going to call the nanny," Anjali said and Shilpa nodded. "Right now," she added and Shilpa nodded again. "You're going to call her right after right now," Shilpa nodded and walked away.

Shilpa didn't want to call Sapna right after 'right now', so she took her interns and did the rounds. That helped her a little from leaving the worries aside. Not for long though, because one of the patients they had visited that morning needed Armaan's consult.

"Isn't it great to be at work again?" he smiled, wanting to be supportive.

His attempt failed successfully as Shilpa glared at him. "Something is wrong," she said.

"You don't know that," Armaan shook his head.

"I know it because I feel it,"

"You feel it because you imagine it," Armaan replied knowingly.

Shilpa huffed and turned to her interns, who were watching them, "What are you looking at? There's nothing medical in here! Go to your medical work!" she snapped at them and all four of them scattered in different directions.

Armaan smiled, shaking his head as he watched Shilpa going after one of her interns.

Shortly after he had watched Shilpa leaving, Armaan's phone rang and suddenly he got worried as well, reading Sapna's name of the display screen.

He swiftly flipped it open and answered, "Hello, Sapna," he greeted her but then he jerked his ear away from the phone as a deafening crying was coming from the other end of the line, "What's wrong?" he asked, alarmed now.

"Armaan," Sapna's voice was barely comprehensible at that point. "I can't calm her down, Armaan. She woke up and at first it was ok when I went and picked her up from the crib, but then she started crying and I can't make her stop."

"Is she sick?" Armaan asked.

"No. She looked fine when I went to her. She even smiled at me, but after a while she started crying," Sapna explained.

"Has she eaten anything?" he asked then.

"Nothing. She refuses the bottle," she answered. "Do you think she's missing Shilpa already?"

Armaan sighed, clueless. "Are you sure she's not sick? Maybe she has an ache."

"As I said, she looked fine when she woke up. I paced around the room a little bit to give her time to wake up and then I carried her downstairs in kitchen. Then she started crying," Sapna explained.

"Maybe she needs her diaper to be changed," Armaan tried to help.

"I thought about that too, so I changed it, but it didn't help at all," she answered.

Armaan sighed, not wanting to admit it. Baby Shona was missing her Mommy as much as her Mommy was missing her. "Put the phone to her ear or put it on speaker," he suggested.

"One second," Sapna answered and he could hear her breathing as she struggled with the baby and the phone. "It's on speaker now."

"Baby Shona?" Armaan started talking to her. "Why are you so sad? Mommy and Armaan will be home soon."

Hearing the familiar voice, Shona suddenly stopped from crying and just whimpered.

"I think it's working," Sapna whispered.

"Be a good girl for Sapna, ok? Mommy has to work and she can't stay with you all day," Armaan continued talking to her. "We talked about this, remember?"

Armaan heard her whimper and then her crying.

"She looked around the room, but she couldn't see you and I think this frustrated her," Sapna explained.

Armaan let out another sigh. "I have a spare moment so I am coming home."

"That would be helpful, Armaan," Sapna sounded a little relieved.

Armaan hung up and only announced a nurse about his short departure, leaving the hospital in a hurry, not even changing from his scrubs. When he arrived at Shilpa's house, Armaan found Sapna upstairs in Shona's room, rocking her in the rocking chair. Shona's crying didn't seem as deafening as earlier, showing how exhausted she was.

"Armaan," Sapna sighed with relief when she saw him in the doorway and came to him.

When Armaan took Shona into his arms and Shona saw him, she suddenly stopped. Her face was bright red and her cheeks were stained with tears, despite this, she smiled at him.

Armaan pressed his cold cheek against her hot face, hugging her gently, "You need to stop doing this, Baby Shona."

"Let's change her clothes," Sapna suggested, bringing some clean clothes. "She cried and sweated a lot."

"I will dress her," Armaan took the clothes from her. "Can you prepare her a bottle?"

Sapna nodded. "I just have to heat it up."

"What's going on with you?" Armaan asked the baby as he put her on the table and started undressing her. "Are you trying to beat a record?" Baby Shona just stuffed her fingers into her mouth and looked at him with a frown. "I have the feeling that you know what you're doing," he suspiciously looked at her and wished he could read her mind. "You need to stop. Please. For your mommy's sake and mine. And Sapna's." Armaan quickly finished changing her clothes, so he picked her up and went to sit in the rocking chair. "Now you know you can tell me everything," he started talking to Shona again, slowly rocking her. "I know you're used with having Mommy around all the time, but we've told you that won't be possible all the time. We need to work to be able to buy you milk, diapers and clothes."

Shona still had that frown on her face as she if could understand him but she didn't like what he was saying.

Armaan shook his head. "Sapna is a very nice lady. We can't afford to scare her away with the crying," he had started talking again, but stopped suddenly as a dark thought struck him. "She's nice with you, isn't she?" he fearfully asked Shona. Shona didn't show any change in her expression. Armaan felt like he was going mad in that moment. He refused to believe that Sapna could behave other way but nice to Shona.

Sapna returned into the room with Shona's bottle and was a little surprise to see Armaan's glare towards her.

Armaan tried to compose himself. Shona didn't look hurt and he knew how he could see if something had happened between Shona and her Nanny. He stood up and handed Shona to Sapna, "Can you hold her a little bit? I think I heard my phone beeping."

"Sure," Sapna put the bottle on the table and took Shona from Armaan.

Armaan flipped open his phone and discreetly looked at Sapna, watching their interaction while he pretended he was checking his messages. He saw Sapna making a face at Shona and Shona laughing and hitting her with her hands. Shona didn't look disturbed by the fact that she was back into Sapna's arms and not Armaan's. Armaan sighed and put the phone back into his pocket. Shona's crying looked more like a tantrum than an abuse from Sapna's side. He felt slightly guilty for suspecting Sapna of something this bad and backed out the black thought. He sat back in the rocking chair and Sapna put Shona into his arms and gave him the bottle.

"I don't even know what to say, Armaan," Sapna stated with a sigh. "Probably you think the worst of me, but I swear I did my best to make her calm down."

"Don't worry," Armaan wanted to reassure her.

"No. Really," Sapna insisted. "I felt helpless and like' like I was holding a baby for the first time. I know they cry when they first spend a day without their parents, but at some point they stop."

Armaan smiled reassuringly at her and shook his head, "She's a special baby," he said and looked down at Shona, who was peacefully sucking from her bottle. "I am sure it was just a tantrum. Probably she got it from her father," he stated, absent-mindedly as he didn't pay attention to his own words.

Sapna looked at him with a mix of embarrassment and curiosity. "You really aren't her father?" she finally dared to ask.

Just then, Armaan realized he had mentioned one of Shona's resemblances with Rohan. He sighed and flashed a weak smile to Sapna before he smiled down at Shona, "I'm not."

"Oh," Sapna looked surprised as if she was sure she knew the truth. "I thought you were one of those parents who want to have their children calling them by their name instead of Mommy and Daddy."

Armaan looked at her, amused with her presumption, "Shilpa told you I was her friend."

"I know," she smiled, embarrassed. "It's just that' you're here all the time and you do' what a Daddy does."

Armaan chuckled and smiled down at his baby, "Probably I overreact sometimes, but I love her ' I don't have the words to describe the feeling."

"That's nice," she smiled, touched by the sincere love he was showing to Shona each time he was around her.

"Can you believe that her father doesn't want her?" he asked, in a voice painted with disgust. "He didn't even see her."

"He better not see her, I guess," she answered quietly, glancing at him while she gathered Shona's clothes.

Armaan looked at her questioningly. She smiled and, taking the clothes, she sat down in a chair beside him, "He might want her if he sees her," she said and looked at him knowingly.

Armaan knew what she meant, but he didn't want to think about it. Rohan was an unpredictable man and that's why Armaan refused to let Sapna's words torment him. To him, it was a little too late for Rohan to come into Shona's life.

"I didn't mean to worry you," she said softly, as the pain was easy to read on his features. "She's your daughter already and Shilpa and anyone else that sees you with Shona can't deny it."

Armaan smiled at her, lightened up by her words. "It was fate that made me be here, today, in this situation," he said. "Do you know how we met?" he asked Sapna.

She shook her head.

Armaan looked down at Baby Shona, who was still peacefully eating from her bottle and looking at him, and smiled as the memory of that night returned into his mind, "I was on my way to home when I saw a car pulled on the side of the road. I saw a woman inside of it that looked like she was in pain, so, being a doctor, I stopped the car and went to check on her." He stopped and smiled at Sapna, letting her understand the rest.

"Shilpa was in labor," she understood.

"She was in great labor," Armaan chuckled. "I didn't have had time to take her to hospital, so I stayed with her and I had to' help her."

Sapna was staring at him, with shock, "She gave birth into a car?"

Armaan chuckled and nodded, "On the backseats," he added. "Maybe it was because of the circumstance we met, or maybe it was because the next day I found out how lonely they were. I don't know what kept me around them for so long, but one thing I know. I can't stay away now."

"I don't think they want you to stay away anymore," Sapna smiled at him.

"Yeah," Armaan chuckled with an unconvinced tone, "Shilpa is still reluctant toward us as couple."

Sapna smiled and shook her head disapprovingly, "She's just a newly Mommy." Armaan looked at her and didn't know what to believe. "Believe me," she laughed. "Besides '" she hesitated a little before she continued, "There's the other man and Shona is'"

"No," Armaan didn't let her go on and shook his head. "She and Rohan didn't have' a relationship. I am absolutely sure of it."

Sapna was surprised with his statement, "Do you know him?"

Armaan flashed an uncomfortable smile and looked down at Shona, "When I said it was fate, it was fate indeed," he muttered. "Rohan was my' or ' I think he still is," he said, thoughtful, "My best friend."

Sapna was very confused now, "I don't want to seem nosy but this is' confusing? I guess this is the right word."

Armaan chuckled and agreed with a nod, "I know what you mean."

"So' why are you really here with them? You feel guilty for your best friend or'"

"No," Armaan frowned. "When I met Shilpa, I didn't know who she was. I found out much later, when I was already with them. No. I kind of hate the fact that Rohan is the father."

"This sounds complicated," Sapna muttered.

"It is, I think," Armaan agreed quietly, smiling down at Shona. "Maybe it isn't now, but'" he sighed and didn't want to go on. He wanted to be optimistic about his future with Shilpa and Shona.

"I am sure Shilpa won't be reluctant for long. You're any young mother's dream," Sapna joked, trying to lighten up his mood.

Armaan laughed at that.

"Give her some time. I don't know anything about her and Shona's father, but one thing I know for sure. I know a baby is a huge change in any person's life. Everything revolves around it; your thoughts, your future."

"I have time," Armaan nodded.

"Let's hope she's satisfied now," Sapna said, smiling at Shona, who just spitted the bottle out.

Sapna took the bottle and Armaan cleaned Shona's mouth, lifting her on his chest to burp, "You're getting bigger each day," Armaan said to her, "Soon you'll be getting solids for food. Now that's real food."

"A big step," Sapna pointed out, mostly professional. "Do you think Shilpa will mind if I make a nutritional plan for Shona?"

"If it's well-done, I doubt she will mind," Armaan said. "I hope your first day with Shona didn't scare you away."

Sapna smiled at him reassuringly and shook her head, "I will take that as a tantrum."

"Thank you," Armaan chuckled. "I hope she will stop missing her Mommy right from this moment."

"She's having a bad morning," she sighed.

"Her mommy isn't a ray of sun this morning either. They both are on warpath," Armaan thought about Shilpa and her interns and couldn't help but smile. Baby Shona looked a lot like Rohan, but she definitely had some of her Mommy's temper. "Now go to Sapna and let her put you to bed, ok?" he told Shona. "You'll be spending a lot of time with her today and Mommy and I won't be back until evening."

Shona smiled at him and stuffed her fingers into her mouth, staying calm while Armaan put her into Sapna's arms and her Nanny took his seat in the rocking chair, slowly swinging her and drifting her to sleep.

"Call me if ' anything happens," Armaan told Sapna before he walked out of the room.

"I hope it won't be necessary," she smiled.

"I hope so too," Armaan nodded. "Don't tell Shilpa about this. She might want to quit her job. Now I have to go. The Chief wouldn't be happy to see what he pays me for," he chuckled and Sapna quickly made him a sign to be quiet as Shona was almost asleep.

Hearing Armaan's chuckle, Shona opened her eyes and looked around after the sound. She saw Armaan standing in the doorway and then back at Sapna. The slow rocking and the effort she had made with the crying wore her off, so she closed back her eyes.

"Thank you," Sapna whispered to Armaan.

Armaan nodded and got out of the room, hoping Shona wouldn't need his or Shilpa's company for the rest of the day.

It was late in the evening when Shilpa drove back to home, anxiously tapping the steering wheel at each red light and her foot arching for breaking the pedal and speed up. She wanted to get home to her baby girl and not to jail, so she decided to wait for the green light. Armaan was probably right behind her as she hadn't had the patience to wait for him and ride back home together.

One question she hadn't asked herself about Armaan. Did Armaan have a home? Sapna was right when she told Armaan about the time he had to give Shilpa to sort out her love life. Shona and everything about her were the first in her mind all the time. Though Armaan was sleeping over her house all the time, Shilpa didn't notice that.

She pulled the car in the driveway and stopped in front of her house. It had been a great day at work. She had many surgeries, which kept her busy and made the time pass faster; plus her interns didn't prove to be such idiots; or she was just a good teacher.

A smile broke on her face as she looked at her house; quickly she took her bag and got out of the car, wishing to see her baby as soon as possible.

The house was quiet and just a murmur was coming from living room, which stopped when Shilpa shut the door. As she walked into the living room, Shilpa found Sapna sitting on the couch, with Shona in her arms, and reading her from a book.

"What are you doing?" Shilpa frowned, expressing herself a little harsher than necessary.

Sapna was taken off guard by Shilpa's tone. She guilty put the book a side and stood up, "I was reading her from a book. Nothing inappropriate," she said, showing her the book.

"You were trying to make her fall asleep," Shilpa grumbled, but softened her voice as she knew she had overreacted the first time. She came to them and took Shona into her arm.

Sapna smiled, amused. "That wasn't what I mean to do. We were just hanging around. I am sorry."

But Shilpa didn't have ears or eyes for anyone else but her daughter. "Hey there, Baby Shona. Did you miss Mommy?" she sat down in couch as she started talking to her. "I told you I would be back. I did miss you and I did call Sapna to check on you."

"We had a difficult morning, but we were nice the rest of the day," Sapna said.

"Difficult morning?" Shilpa glared at her. "You didn't tell me anything about the difficult morning," she scolded. "What happened?"

"Nothing serious," Sapna quickly wanted to reassure her. "She cried a little more than usual, but she calmed down when I gave her the bottle," she said, without mentioning Armaan's help.

"How long did it take you to give her the bottle?" Shilpa kept scolding.

Sapna didn't look disturbed by Shilpa's scold and answered calmly, "I know already when she wakes up, so I had the bottle prepared. She just refused to take it right away."

"But she didn't cry for too long," Shilpa said, suddenly worried.

"No," Sapna lied.

"Ok," Shilpa sighed and finally let the guard off. "I am sorry," she apologized to Sapna.

"Don't worry," she reassured her. "I cooked something," she said.

"Thank you," Shilpa smiled gratefully, "I am not very hungry right now," she said, glancing down at her baby. "You can leave now if you want to."

Sapna nodded, "One thing I want to tell you but please don't get mad," she smiled.

Shilpa didn't like to be considered a harsh woman. That made her believe she was just like her mother, "I am just a little stressed because I have to stay away from Shona for so long," she explained.

"I know," Sapna smiled.

"What was that you wanted to say?" Shilpa asked.

Sapna smiled before answering, "You didn't wash your hands."

Shilpa laughed and rested her face against Shona's head, breathing her in. "It won't repeat again."

"I am sure it won't," Sapna laughed.

Sapna gathered her things and said good night to Shona, who didn't seem to want to go to sleep until she wouldn't spend enough time with her Mommy. As she walked out of the house, Armaan's car just pulled up.

"I survived," she giggled. "And I am not talking about the day with Shona," she said, tilting her head towards the house.

"That's a good sign," Armaan laughed, knowing what she was talking about. "Does this mean you will be back in the morning?"

"Definitely," Sapna stated.

"Good night," Armaan smiled.

part 23

It was still early in the evening, though the darkness had fallen over Seattle already, when Shilpa pulled the car in front of her house. She took off her seatbelt, pulled the jacket on her shoulders and the hood over her head, gathered her stuff and threw them into the bag, and sighed as she looked out the window at the rain that poured down on it. It was Christmas Eve, but there was no sign of snow. It was also the first Christmas for her baby daughter and also the first Christmas she wanted to feel as Holiday. In her plans, the snow should have been part of the perfect Christmas.

Shilpa couldn't stay disappointed; actually, she wasn't disappointed at all. The day had gone flawlessly at work, with plenty and successful surgeries and she also managed to get off from the hospital earlier than usual. For the past couple of weeks, Shilpa struggled with the idea of staying away from her daughter for hours and having someone else spending the day with her. She also started getting used to Sapna's presence in her house. By her own rules, Shilpa didn't allow Sapna to take Shona out of the house without her permission, but in every break she had, Shilpa called her and asked to talk to her baby.

Baby Shona had to comply to the new situation also. She still cried the first days when she woke up in the morning and there was no one else at home besides Sapna, and Armaan secretly had to run back home each time he could. Fortunately, Baby Shona learned to listen and recognize their voices by the phone, calming down easier. She was satisfied with her Nanny, who was reading to her from story books. One thing became regular in her life; Baby Shona refused to fall asleep before she could see her mommy, no matter how late it was when Shilpa got home. As her Mommy had her into her arms and rocked her slowly, Shona instantly fell asleep.

Between Shilpa and Armaan, things were the same; Armaan slept over when he wasn't oncall and Shilpa didn't seem to notice his permanent presence in her house. Without questioning herself why, she fell asleep into his arms most of the times.

Shilpa sighed as she prepared herself to get out of the car and run quickly through the rain. She shook the rain off her jacket and fumbled after the keys to enter the house. Shilpa had the weirdest, but pleasant sensation as she stepped inside. She remained frozen by the door and tried to understand why she felt like that. It was very warm inside and a certain flavor was filling the air; she tried to recognize it, but she couldn't. It was a sweet flavor, but a light one, not like someone was baking cookies. Shilpa shook her head and decided to ignore the feeling. She took the jacket off and walked into the kitchen, where the lights were on. Shilpa stopped in the doorway and giggled as she saw the fun Shona was having in her highchair watching Sapna cooking.

Shona squealed when she saw her Mommy and outstretched her arms to call her to her. Sapna turned then and noticed Shilpa.

"Hi," she giggled. "She has started improving her expression."

Shilpa agreed with a nod and walked over to the sink to wash her hands; rules were still rules. Then she went and took her baby from the chair, "We're growing up so fast," she said, talking to Shona and kissing her on the cheek.

Shona giggled delightfully and lightly slapped Shilpa's cheeks with both hands.

"She's extremely cheerful today," Sapna stated.

"I can see that," Shilpa laughed at Shona's bright face. She kissed her baby one more time before she shifted her on her hip and walked over to the counter, where Sapna was chopping something. "So, are we going to try with solid food today?"

"I think it's time," Sapna nodded. "She's still much under the normal weight."

Shilpa sighed and nodded, slightly worried. "It's time for you to meet real food," she smiled at her baby. "Good food. To keep us healthy." Shona smiled and stuffed her fingers into her mouth. "We're going to try it, right?"

"Of course we will," Sapna answered for Shona. She came to them and showed Shona a tiny pink bowl and a tiny pink spoon, "Look what Mommy bought for us. We put food in it and eat like a big girl."

Shona reached for the bowl, but her tiny fist couldn't grab it and she frowned frustrated. "You have time to get familiar to it," Shilpa laughed and put the bowl on the table. "What are we trying first?" she asked Sapna.

"I was thinking to give her some rice and carrot, without salt for the beginning," Sapna suggested.

Shilpa nodded and smiled at Shona, "Rice and carrots. Doesn't it sound yummy?"

Shona looked at her Mommy as she talked to her and giggled at her cooing.

"I am glad you agree," Shilpa laughed. "I will go change my clothes and clean up a little in the bedroom," she told Sapna. "She doesn't look hungry so I can come downstairs later and prepare her food."

"Shilpa," Sapna smiled. "You know I can cook. I will make prepare the food and call you when it's done."

Shilpa felt overwhelmed with Sapna's precious help sometimes. She smiled and nodded, grateful for having the chance to spend a little more time alone with Shona.

Shilpa took Shona upstairs into her room and put her down on the bed, letting her lean against the pillows. "Stay here. Mommy has to change clothes and make put some order in my papers, ok?" Shona looked at her, with her hand into her mouth, and started watching how Mommy stripped off the clothes and emptied the bag in the same time.

Shilpa walked over to her closet, kneeling beside it as she opened a drawer and looked for a clean sweater. Something familiar caught her eyes; it was familiar to her, but unfamiliar to the drawer. It was one of Armaan's navy sweater, neatly folded beside her other clothes. Just then she realized and she finally put the question, "Has he moved in?"

As if she just woke up to reality, Shilpa stood up and walked into her bathroom. In her shelves were her products, but also Armaan's toothbrush, his cologne and aftershave. Shilpa took his cologne and sprayed a little in the air, drawing in air with his scent. She knew Armaan so well and yet she didn't know anything. Armaan was part of her life now and she didn't want him out. It wasn't only because of his help with Shona; it was also because of the attention and affection she received from him.

Shilpa sighed as she knew it was time to sort out the type of relationship she had with Armaan. She didn't have time to think about that as she heard paper rustles coming from her room and wondered if Armaan was home. Walking back into the bedroom, Shilpa gasped, shocked, seeing Shona on her stomach and gripping on the papers she had emptied from her bag.

"Shona," Shilpa burst and hurried to take Shona from the papers.

Shona stirred and her face crumpled, ready to burst into crying at her Mommy's harsh voice.

"Are you starting to move already?" Shilpa asked, softening her voice. "You're really are growing," she muttered with a sigh. She sat down on the bed with Shona onto her lap and gathered the papers that Shona had rumpled. A certain paper had her attention. "Do you know what this paper is?" she asked Shona.

Shona held her hand out for the paper, but Shilpa took care of keeping it out of her grip.

"This paper says you officially have no Daddy," Shilpa told her. "But don't worry. I grew up without a Daddy and I survived," she said and added to herself quietly, "It wasn't easy though."

This time, Shona didn't seem so receptive to what her mother was telling her, as she usually was, and started swaying on Shilpa's lap. Her constant movement had Shilpa's attention.

"You want to stand on your feet and go wander, huh?" she giggled and kissed the top of her head. "You will do it soon, but only if you start eating what we cook for you. Or what Sapna cooks for you," Shilpa added with a giggle. "For you, I promise I will start taking cooking lessons," she promised.

Shilpa lay on the bed with her back resting against the headboard and sat Shona on her stomach, holding her hands to help her stay upright, "We have Armaan," she said, remembering the custody papers. "Did you notice how he's always here? He moved in without telling us."

Shona was watching her Mommy again and something about her ' maybe the sound of her voice or her face expression- made her giggle.

"Of course you noticed that," Shilpa giggled. "I can't believe you didn't tell me."

Not sitting very comfortable in that position, Shona let out a whip. Shilpa lay her down onto her stomach and gently started caressing her tiny back, while Shona calmed down and started sucking her thumb.

Shilpa tilted her head to a side to look at Shona's face, "Will we keep chatting like we're doing now when you will grow bigger and learn words?" she asked her.

Shona looked at her mommy and smiled, not letting her thumb slip out her mouth.

Shilpa loved having moments like this with Shona; her tiny body resting onto hers, feeling each inch of her body living. Reluctantly she sighed and stood up, placing Shona down on the bed.

"We need to clean up around here a little bit and then we go and have dinner, ok?" she kissed her baby's forehead and helped her stay upright, resting against the pillows. "And stop fussing. Your time will come and I am sure you will drive me insane with all the running around the house," she said.

Shona didn't like her plan and whimpered, swaying and helping herself fall to a side. Shilpa groaned and picked her up before she would roll down from the bed and hurt herself. She took her into her arms and with one hand only she started gathering the papers, arranging them in one folder, "I will have to sort these out later."

Shilpa was almost done with putting the things to their place when Sapna showed up in the doorway.

"I made the food," she announced.

Shilpa nodded and followed her outside, "We're ready for real food. Did you prepare a milk formula?"

"I did," Sapna nodded. "I let it heat slowly."

Shilpa took Shona back into the kitchen and put her in her highchair. Shona stayed nice and tried to watch what each grown-up was doing.

Shilpa tasted first from the rice and carrots and made a slight grimace at Sapna, "My poor baby."

"We all grew up thanks to this," Sapna laughed as she put a towel on Shona's chest.

Shilpa mixed the paste of rice and carrots a little bit more and then she took Shona's spoon and brought the bowl to Shona. She took a very small quantity from the bowl with the tip of the spoon and took it to Shona's mouth.

Shona didn't like what was happening around her. Sapna was behind her, holding down her arms each time she wanted to reach for the spoon, and Shilpa was closely leaning to her as she showed her the spoon with food. Shona turned her face away and started crying.

"I think she feels suffocated," Sapna seemed to have understood her, "I will go sit down at the table."

Shona just whimpered as she watched Sapna leaving and sitting down at the table. Shilpa had stepped back as well, slightly discouraged.

"I know you want candies and cookies, but you're still too little for having sugar," Shilpa tried to explain. She put the bowl in front of Shona, trying to have her interest for the pink bowl again. Shona grabbed the edge of the bowl, calmer now, and looked curiously at her mother. "Here," Shilpa tried again and took the spoon to her mouth, "Open your mouth and take this in. It's not much and you down have to chew it."

Shona pulled back a little as she carefully looked at the spoon and its content. She giggled then and hit the spoon with her hand, sticking the food against it.

"Shona," Shilpa groaned at the mess Shona had started making already.

"Leave her," Sapna cut in. "It's something new to her."

Shilpa looked back at Shona and watched how Shona analyzed her dirty palm and took it to her mouth. Her mouth was smudged of the paste now but most of it was inside her mouth.

Shilpa smiled at Sapna and sighed with relief. "Let's try with the spoon though," she said and took a little food in it. The spoon looked interesting to Shona too as she watched it heading to her mouth again. She looked into Shilpa's eyes as she slowly opened her mouth.

Shilpa's hand froze in that moment. She put the spoon back into the bowl and turned to Sapna, "How much does the spoon have to be inside her mouth?" she asked fearfully. "I don't want to stuff it down her throat."

Sapna started laughing and stood up. She came by her side and took the spoon.

"No," Shilpa stopped her and grabbed the spoon back. "I want to do it. I just ' don't know how."

Sapna kept laughing, "Imagine she's a doll. I am sure you fed your dolls when you were little."

Shilpa stared at her, dumbfounded. "My dolls didn't open their mouths."

Sapna nodded, "Exactly. But you were still feeding them."

Shilpa furrowed her brows, frustrated because she couldn't understand what Sapna was trying to say, but then it struck her. "I just have to take it to her mouth."

"See," Sapna laughed. "Simple."

Shilpa took a deep breath before she tried again. She took the spoon to Shona's mouth and Shona opened her mouth as she had done before. Her lips brushed off almost the entire food from the tip of the spoon and held the food inside. Shilpa held her breath as she waited for Shona to swallow it and sighed again when she saw Shona opening her mouth for more.

"That's my girl," Shilpa laughed and leaned in, kissing her on the forehead.

In the same time, Shona threw her hand inside the bowl and served herself with more food. Generously of her, she offered some food to her Mommy, but she didn't know to take it to her mouth and spread it in her hair.

"Shona!" Shilpa groaned and pulled away. "Not my hair."

Sapna took a napkin and gave it to Shilpa, "I guess I should have suggested you to gather your hair to back."

"yeah," Shilpa smiled and wiped the hair with the napkin.

"Do you want me to take over?" Sapna asked.

Shilpa shook her head. It was her baby's first real meal, a big event in her life, and she was willing to have rice and carrots paste as mask for her hair if needed.

Shona took just one more time from the food Shilpa gave her and then she sternly refused to have more. Shilpa cleaned up her face while Sapna brought the bottle.

Having Shona laying down in her arms and eating from her bottle, Shilpa heard for the first time the carols.

"Is that a Christmas carol?" Shilpa asked Sapna with a giggle.

"Yes," Sapna smiled. "I hope you don't mind. We listened to them all day," she said, smiling at Shona. "I think she's excited about meeting Santa for the first time and that's why she has been so cheerful today."

"I don't mind," Shilpa said with a weak smile. "I wish I know how to do this right for her."

"Do what?" Sapna asked, confused.

"This," she said, looking at the radio and then at the tray with unbaked cookies. "Help her get into the spirit of Christmas. I don't know how to do it."

Sapna was confused with Shilpa's words. "It's comes naturally. She feels it in the people around her and she takes it in as well."

"Here's the problem. I am not in the Christmas spirit. I don't start thinking about the Christmas tree and the lights all over the house when December comes. What's with this Holiday anyway?" she asked. "Besides the religious meaning? I mean, how do you get the Holiday spirit?"

Sapna was still confused as she couldn't understand how any person could ask something like that. As she had said, the spirit of Christmas came as a natural feeling to her and that was how she knew it should have been for all the people.

"Didn't you' celebrate Christmas when you were little?" she asked her.

Shilpa looked at her with innocent eyes, "My mom taught me some certain believes," she muttered. She sighed and smiled down at her baby, "I want her to have normality. I hope I will know how to offer it to her."

"Shilpa," Sapna said with a soft smile. "You have your baby now and that means a completely new life. I am sure this Christmas will be different. It will be Christmas."

"I hope so," Shilpa sighed, not encouraged by Sapna's assurance. Her doubts directed her thoughts to her mother, the responsible person for her present worry. "She seems so' nice to Shona," she said, mostly talking to herself.

"Who?" Sapna asked, confused.

Shilpa looked at her and then down at Shona and smiled, "My mom."

"She's her only granddaughter," Sapna answered.

"I am her only daughter," Shilpa replied quietly, not looking away from her baby.

Just then, Sapna understood why they were having that discussion. She sighed and pulled a chair beside Shilpa's. "Some people are just not ready to become parents. Forced by the spouse or society, they keep the pregnancy and they' refuse to want it and love it after the baby is born, and most of the times they wake up too late and start to hate themselves for it. Their child' or children have their own children. Grandchildren allow them to offer what they didn't have the courage to offer to their children."

"You seem to know what you talk about," Shilpa said.

Sapna smiled, "My mother-in-law wasn't a perfect mother for my husband, but she was amazing when our children were born. I remember, my husband could not believe her. He thought she had some secret purposes with her presumed love for her grandchildren. But she didn't. She just secretly regretted she wasn't a mother for her son."

Shilpa liked to hear that. She wanted to believe that the same thing was happening with her mother. Muskaan called more than once to ask about Shona, most of the times calling only when Shilpa wasn't at home.

"Again," Sapna said before she stood up, "You have Shona. And Armaan. This will be a special Christmas and I have no doubt of it."

Shilpa smiled, this time a little more encouraged. Maybe that strange sensation she felt when she walked into the house was the start of the Christmas spirit.

After she ate, Shilpa put Shona down for a nap. While Shona slept, she rearranged her papers, especially the custody papers, which she hid them in the back of a drawer, not wishing to have Armaan know about them.

Armaan's things were everywhere; even in the drawer she hid the papers. She took out one of his sweaters and breathed in his scent; it was already a very familiar scent to her and closing her eyes as she breathed it in, Shilpa had his picture in her head. She smiled and slowly opened her eyes; she looked down at the sweater from her hands and smiled. Probably if she had realized the fact that Armaan had moved in weeks ago, she would have thrown him out. Everything was different now; Armaan had secretly become part of her life, a part she couldn't imagine herself without. As she put the sweater back into the drawer and closed it, Shilpa asked herself, "Should we talk about this?"

Shilpa wasn't in the mood to meditate over that right in that moment. She walked into Shona's room and checked on her before she went downstairs, to spend some time with Sapna.

Shilpa was helping Sapna with the ingredients for the cookies Sapna wanted to bake for Christmas, when they heard Shona's crying in the baby monitor. Shilpa quickly hurried to her daughter, turning on the lights as she walked inside.

"Hey there," she smiled down at the cranky baby and picked her up into her arms. "That was a short nap," she started talking to her, slowly bouncing her and pacing around the room.

Baby Shona slowly started calming down and put her head down on Shilpa's shoulder, going quiet as she started sucking her thumb. Shilpa walked over to the window and sat down on the large windowsill. It was dark outside and the rain had stopped; the sky looked clearer than ever, so her eyes locked on the bright stars. She turned Shona so that she would sit onto her lap and be able to watch outside as well.

"I don't think I showed you the stars," Shilpa whispered in her ear and took her tiny hand in hers, pointing out the window, "Look up at the sky," she said, "Those sparkling spots are stars and the big round ball is the moon. They don't mean anything to me, but I like watching them."

Shona didn't seem interested in the subject as she was more preoccupied with stuffing her fingers into her mouth and watch her clothes.

"Shona," Shilpa called her name and to her surprise, Shona looked up at her Mommy. Shilpa laughed and kissed her daughter's warm cheek, "You're growing up so fast; haven't I told you that already?" she sighed and nuzzled through her hair, "Don't hurry to grow up. Stay like this for a little longer."

Shona looked up at her and giggled, reaching with her tiny hand to her Mommy's face. Shilpa took her hand and kissed it, "You're my baby girl," she sighed with a smile and hugged her tighter. "Why don't we go take a bath now?" she suggested. "This is the night when Santa comes and'" she stopped as she remained frozen. A cold chill swept through her body. "We don't have a Christmas tree," she muttered. Many years passed since Shilpa last thought about the Christmas tree and the same many years passed since she last decorated one. The Christmas tree tradition had been lost for her; lost until now. "Don't worry. Let's not panic," she said to Shona as she stood up, though Shona didn't look panicked or worried. She was satisfied with the taste of her own fingers.

Shilpa put Shona in the middle of the bed and threw some pillows around, hurrying to get to the closet. "Stay here. You're not allowed to get near the edge, are we clear?"

Shona smiled and threw her arms in the air.

Shilpa opened the closet and pulled a chair in front of it, so that she could climb it and reach to the highest shelf. She pushed some boxes away until she found the one she was looking for; a medium size, dark green box; dusted, of course.

She climbed down and entered her bathroom and cleaned the dust of the box. When she returned into the bedroom, Shilpa sighed and shook her head as she saw Shona struggling to roll over the pillows.

"Are we going somewhere?" Shilpa put the box down on the bed and picked Shona up. "Please, baby, don't give me a headache, ok? Look, you can stay and move on the bed, but only beside me. I want to show you something."

Leaning against her mother's side, Baby Shona watched how her mommy took a plastic tree out of the box.

"This was Mommy's Christmas tree," she told her baby. "I have a few ornaments and we'll make it look very pretty right away."

With her finger in her mouth, Shona looked up at her Mommy with curious eyes.

"Your first Christmas," she smiled and for the first time, she noticed Shona's hair had grown as well; she pushed it behind her ear and leaned down, lovingly kissing her on the forehead. "Bath time now," she said and jumped up. "We'll decorate the Christmas tree later. Now we have to hurry because if Armaan comes home, he won't even let me touch you," she picked the baby up and carried her into her room.

Shona kept surprising her mommy that evening when in her bathtub, she started playing with the water, giving her mommy a bath as well. Shilpa struggled with her a little and at some point she even regretted she hadn't waited for Armaan to help her, but she finally succeeded and Baby Shona was wrapped in her tiny, fluffy bathrobe.

Since Shona was born, Shilpa discovered a new hobby; shopping for her baby girl. Therefore, at the age of nearly 5 month old, Shona had a big closet for herself, though most of them were no longer fitting on her. For Christmas, Shilpa bought her several dresses, of all the colors and designs. Though she didn't like wearing dresses, Shilpa loved to see her baby girl dressed like a princess. She chose a pink cotton dress for that evening, with a red ribbon wrapped around the waist.

Shona giggled all the time her mommy dressed her, especially when she put the pink bootees in her feet.

"We look like a princess now," Shilpa smiled proudly, taking her baby into her arms. "Like a real princess," she couldn't help but giggle when Shona played shy and hid her face in Shilpa's shoulder. "I don't have a comb for you," she said, thoughtfully looking at Shona's blonde hair. "I don't think I can keep up with you," she sighed and sat down on the bed, with Shona on her lap. Her hair was still rare, so Shilpa just had to run her fingers through it once to brush it. She smiled and played with a lock of her hair, noticing her curls for the first time.

'We have curls," Shilpa giggled at her baby and Shona giggled in response. "Armaan has curls too, just that his are dark and yours are golden."

Shona looked at her curiously and Shilpa nodded, "Yours are much prettier, of course," she giggled and kissed her. "Should we talk to Armaan about his housing or should we pretend we didn't notice that he lives here now?" She asked her, of course not expecting an answer.

Shona just loved her fingers and the hem of her dress, not really bothering to answer in anyway to her mother's question.

Shilpa sighed, thoughtful, and gently pressed her chin on the top of Shona's head, "I think I want you to grow up so that you start talking to me. I feel ridiculous talking to myself."

Shona turned then and took Shilpa by surprise with her expressive frown. Shilpa stared at her speechless for a moment, but then she shook her head. She wanted to believe that her baby girl was special, but her medical knowledge made her doubt. Of course, brain still held its mysteries.

Shilpa heard several voices, most of them as shouts, coming from outside. She stood up and carried Shona to the window. As she looked up, Shilpa recognized Armaan's car, Armaan and Ishikha. On the top of Armaan's car was something that looked like a Christmas tree.

"What are they doing here?" she asked herself, also noticing other several people. Carrying Shona in her arms, Shilpa walked out the room and went downstairs.

Coming down the stairs, Shilpa saw Ishikha hurrying inside, closely followed by Anjali, and some loud voices coming from living room.

Shilpa questioningly looked at Anjali, who just smiled and shrugged innocently.

"You're the Chief here," she said, closing the door. "I came with peaceful thoughts."

Shilpa was clueless. She shifted Shona on her hip and, together with Anjali, they followed the others into the living room.

"That's wonderful," she heard Sapna giggling as they walked into the room. "I wanted to ask you why you didn't have a Christmas tree yet," she said to Shilpa.

Shilpa was too dazzled to hear anyone or even think. She stared at the people around her, which were moving her furniture. Then, her eyes flickered on the huge Christmas tree, scanning it on its entire height.

"Help me push the couch closer to the window, O'Malley," she heard Armaan saying as he bent and tried to lift the couch. George hurried to help him and both struggled with the heavy furniture as they moved it away from its spot.

"Not there," Ishikha's whine had her attention as well. "Let's put the tree beside the window. This way you can have a beautiful view from outside as well. Besides, you can see it before you walk inside. You hide it if you put it by this wall."

Armaan and George dropped the couch, panting, and Armaan considered Ishikha's suggestion. "You're right. Let's move it by the wall," he said to George and both took deep breaths before they grabbed the couch again.

"It's going to look fabulous, Shi," Ishikha beamed and twisted a strand of hair Shona's hair around her finger.

The couch finally seemed to have found its position and Armaan came panting to Shilpa. He stroked Shona's cheek while he kissed Shilpa, and smiled proudly at her, "I bought some decorations as well. I couldn't find any in your closets."

Shilpa stared at her, expressionless. "My closets," she muttered.

"Why are you shocked?" he chuckled. "Everyone has a Christmas tree this time of year."

Shilpa continued to stare at him. Slowly she came out of the trance and started looking at the people around her; a lot of people; noisy people; she felt crowded and claustrophobic with them, not being used to have so many people in her house.

"I have a Christmas tree," she said quietly, nothing from her voice or face betraying the anger that was building inside of her.

"You do?" Armaan furrowed his brows, curious, and looked around the room. There was no other tree besides the one he had brought. "Did you put it some place else?" he asked her.

"It's in my room and it's small and from plastic. And I had in a box in the back of the closet, forgotten because I haven't taken it out for years," Shilpa said, and slowly the anger was mixing with the words.

"I bought a bigger one and natural. You can feel its smell," Armaan smirked.

"This tree must be 200 year old and got to see history and confronted storms and other hazards. It survived for centuries in conditions that humanity will never be able to survive. Someone woke up one morning and decided to cut it and sell it, just to be used for what? 2 weeks? They killed this tree so that we can enjoy its smell for 2 weeks. Its 2 centuries ended just like that. For us to have it 2 weeks and they throw it away when it could have lived 2 more centuries. Do you want me to enjoy this? My Christmas tree is very little and plastic, but I was very happy with my plastic tree when I was little!"

Shilpa's outburst came out of nowhere and took everyone by surprise, leaving them speechless and shocked. The only one who reacted to her outburst was Baby Shona, who didn't like the tone her Mommy had used.

Shilpa gave them one more despiteful look before she kissed her daughter and turned around, leaving them there. She went back upstairs into her room and closed the door, leaning against it and trying to understand what exactly she had done. She had meant what she said about the tree, but she knew she had overreacted. The sudden change from her life overwhelmed her and led to that outburst. Shona was the biggest change, but she started getting used to it; same as Armaan's presence in her life. Now there were the friends too. She had never had so many friends; or at least, she never had them all in the same place. Her Christmases had been quiet; most of the Christmas mornings she spent with her nanny, as child, and alone, as teenager; and the Christmas dinners were simple, with regular food, together with her mother. Rarely she listened to carols and felt the smell of homemade cookies.

Shilpa kissed Shona and tried to calm her down. "I am so sorry, baby. I didn't mean to react like that. I just..." she walked over to the bed and sat down, sighing. "I don't think I know how people spend Christmas."

A soft knock in the door made Shona stop from crying and Shilpa look up. She saw Armaan sheepishly walking inside. "Hey," he said softly.

Shilpa wanted to reassure him that no harm would be done; she faintly smiled at him and then she brushed her cheek against Shona's head.

Armaan hesitated by the door, not knowing what to say. He had definitely not expected to that reaction from her; from nobody actually. He hadn't believed that a reaction like that was possible in the first place.

Shilpa didn't dare to look at him anymore; she held her eyes on her baby's dress, welling with tears.

Armaan noticed the tears that were threatening to pour out her eyes and came to kneel in front of her. He brushed the hair out of her face and tucked it behind the ears, lovingly looking into her eyes. "What's wrong?"

Shilpa sniffled back the tears, "I overreacted. I am sorry."

"You did," he agreed with a smile. "You're right about it though."

"I just'" Shilpa sniffled again and wiped her eyes. "I want Shona to feel the spirit of Christmas and its joy. I was happy with my Christmas tree," she said, looking at him. "I really was. I want her to be happier for Christmas. Have a different Christmas than I did."

"She will," he smiled reassuringly.

"Because you're here," she muttered. "Otherwise she would have been convicted to a lousy Christmas."

"I am sure that's not true," he shook his head. "You would have found a way to offer her a real Christmas."

"No," she shook her head as well. "I am ' Christmasly retarded."

"Christmasly retarded?" he laughed.

Shilpa didn't seem to have tasted his joke. "There are too many people in my house, Armaan Friendly people."

"Would you have preferred maniac people?" he asked her with a chuckle.

"That's not funny," she frowned.

Armaan stood up and came to sit on the bed beside her, "Do you want me to tell them to leave?" he asked in a more serious tone now.

"No," she muttered. "I guess that's what Christmas is about. Having friendly people around you."

"See how simple it is?" he smiled. "If you don't like it, then next year don't call them and don't buy a Christmas tree. Actually, the Christmas tree is off the list anyway," he sighed. "A plastic one is not a bad idea."

She half-smiled at him.

"You've made it through your daughter's first months of life, now it's time for new sensations," he added.

Shilpa sighed, ready to go and face new frontiers. Shona leaned her head against her chest, watching Armaan with a frown while chewing her fingers.

"I think I kind of ruined her Christmas mood," Shilpa muttered, gently playing with Shona's hair.

"That's not possible," Armaan chuckled. "She hasn't even met the Christmas spirit yet," he said, holding out his hands for her. He took her from Shilpa and laughed as he tossed her in air and Shona laughed delightfully, slapping him in the face as he lay down on the bed with her. "Look at you. You look like a princess," he smiled at her while he held her in the air. "We look pretty for Santa, huh?"

Shilpa watched the interaction between Shona and Armaan and once again she was amazed of how natural they looked together. She lay down next to him, smiling up at Shona "She has curls," she said.

Armaan noticed that for the first time as well, "She does," he laughed and couldn't help but kiss Shona's both cheeks. His big grin slowly faded into a small smile as he turned and looked at Shilpa, "She has his curls."

Shilpa just stared at him. That wasn't the response she wanted to hear from him, though it hadn't sounded envious.

"You have curls too," she managed to mumbled.

Armaan chuckled and nodded. "I do and you have some sort of blonde hair." He smiled at her and then he kissed Shona, who was now peacefully lying on his chest. "I am sorry I had to point that out," he said quietly.

Shilpa rolled onto her side and propped her head in her hand, "I went and took the papers from the lawyer today. Everything is clear now. She's mine only."

Armaan stroked her cheek and leaned to her, kissing her softly on the lips, "Would you mind sharing her?"

Shilpa giggled and shrugged her shoulders.

"At least for this time of the year," he smirked.

grabbed a hold onto Shilpa's sleeve as she rolled over.

"She keeps moving," Shilpa groaned.

Armaan laughed and stood up, taking Shona into his arms, "Is it a tragedy?"

"I guess not. It's just that' she grows up so fast and I work most of the time. I feel like time is flying by and I am missing every change in her life," Shilpa stated with a sigh. She stood on the edge of the bed, watching Shona playing with Armaan's shirt. "I like her to grow up and learn how to speak and do other things together besides eating and rocking, but I think I want her to stay little and cute too."

"Aww, Shilpa," Armaan laughed. "She'll always be cute. Tell her that, Shona," he said to Shona. "Tell her you're a princess and all the princesses are cute."

Shona surprised them when she threw a fist towards Shilpa, frowning.

"Did you see that?" Shilpa gasped, jumping up on her feet.

"I think I did," Armaan said astonishingly, unable to tear his eyes from the baby.

"And earlier, when I called her name, she looked up at him," Shilpa said.

"She recognizes her name?" Armaan looked at her surprised.

"Yes," Shilpa nodded proudly.

Armaan pressed a strong kiss on Shona's cheek, "I think time does fly by too fast," he muttered.

"See what I meant?" Shilpa sighed.

Armaan sighed as well and couldn't help but feel a little depressed by that fact. But he was brighter than Shilpa about that.

"Baby Shona will soon become Miss Shona, isn't that so?" he started talking to Shona. Shona giggled at the faces he was making and tried to pinch him on the cheeks.

"You miss Rohan?" Shilpa asked him.

Armaan was a little taken by surprise with her question, though he knew he had mentioned Rohan earlier and maybe that was the reason for it. "I miss his friendship," he nodded, but he was determined not to let the Rohan topic ruin their Christmas Eve and Shona's first holiday. "We have to figure out what to do with that tree."

Shilpa took Shona from him, saying, "Let's offer it a decent funeral," she smiled at him and walked outside.

"I didn't know you were ecologist," Armaan said as he followed her outside.

"I am not. My mom told me that when I was little and '" she shrugged. "She had a point with that."

"She had," Armaan agreed. "I don't think I can even enjoy the memories of the Christmases I had as child anymore."

"Don't dramatize, Armaan," Shilpa rolled her eyes.

"You caused all this drama," he pointed out, sprinting to catch up with her. He put an arm around her waist as the walked down the stairs together.

In living room, Anjali was sitting in the couch, browsing a magazine, while Ishikha was sulking in a chair, staring blankly at the floor with George at her feet.

Armaan cleared his throat to have their attention.

"Finally," Anjali stood up and walked over to Shilpa. "This place looks like a funeral is about to take place," she muttered, taking Shona from Shilpa. Anjali and Shona weren't friends, as Anjali several times wanted to mention. Anjali and Shona were just bonding.

"A funeral is about to take place," Shilpa nodded and everyone turned and looked shocked at her.

Armaan leaned to her ear and whispered, "I don't think 'funeral' is the proper word."

Shilpa agreed with a nod. "I am sorry for' my outburst. I think that was a little out of the line."

"No, it wasn't," Ishikha shook her head. "You're right. We are so selfish. How could we be so selfish?"

"Now it doesn't matter anymore'"

"Of course it matters," Ishikha frowned.

"Ishikha, the tree is dead. Can we just decorate it now? Or should we just throw it away?" Armaan snapped.

Though nobody knew it, Baby Shona was already in the Christmas spirit and she didn't like to feel and hear the tension around her, so her forehead filled with tiny wrinkles.

"I am telling you, it's easier to be Jewish," Anjali whispered in her ear. "We don't kill old trees and'"

"Hey," Armaan snapped as he overheard Anjali. "Are you trying to talk her out of the Christmas spirit?"

"Anjali, please leave in her in the Christmas spirit," Shilpa cut in, rolling her eyes. "Ishikha, the tree is here now and' this is Shona's first Christmas so' let's make it look pretty."

Ishikha sighed and, looking at Shona, she reluctantly nodded.

"This is worse than finding out that Santa isn't real," they all heard George muttering under his breath. As answer to that, Ishikha slapped hard the back of his head, with hiss pointing to Shona.

"She's more preoccupied with the taste of Anjali's hair. I kind of doubt that she heard me; barely to understand me," George grumbled.

"Oh no," Anjali grimaced as she saw the saliva in her hair. "Can't they afford to feed you?"

"First of all, don't underestimate her intelligence," Shilpa scolded at George, "And of course we can afford feeding her," she said to Anjali. "She actually had her first solid meal today," she added with a smirk.

"She what?" Armaan burst, visibly not pleased with what he heard.

"She had rice and carrots," Shilpa smirked.

"And why did she had them without me?" he scolded.

Shilpa knew what he was talking about. He was jealous for not being there to Shona's first solid food. "She didn't eat all. I think there's left in the kitchen," she mockingly replied.

"Funny," Armaan rolled his eyes with grumpiness.

"Oh yes. That sounds like Christmas," Anjali stated, holding Shona on her knees and bouncing her. "Baby Shona, why did you poop when Armaan wasn't around?"

Armaan grabbed a pillow from an armchair and threw it to Anjali, half-hitting Shona as well.

"Armaan!" Shilpa slapped him hard over his arm, though Shona seemed to have enjoyed the pillow fight as she was giggling delightfully.

"It was a light pillow," he rolled his eyes.

"Nothing hard or even light hits my baby. Are we clear?" She lifted her brows. "People do stupid things for Christmas," she threatened him.

"Only depressed people," he replied. "People that are lonely for Christmas. You're not lonely for Christmas."

"I am crowded for Christmas," she pointed out.

Armaan chuckled and clasped her face in his hands, pouting her lips and kissing them. Shilpa giggled and playfully slapped his hands away.

"Now that sounds like Christmas," Ishikha giggled. "Can we start with the tree?"

"I think we should start with it," Armaan nodded with a frown towards Shilpa. "Now seriously, I am still pissed about it."

"Are you serious?" Shilpa glared. "Was I supposed to let her starve?"

"Armaan is still pissed. What can we do about that?" Anjali kept talking to Shona, mocking Armaan.

"Please stop!" Armaan warned her. "You don't have children, so you don't get to mock me."

His statement left Shilpa stunned. It was for the first time when she heard Armaan talking about Shona as his own child. A discreet smile crept on her face, not discreet enough for Anjali, who was staring at her knowingly. Shilpa met her stare and quickly shook her head, trying to look as if she hadn't heard anything.

Armaan didn't seem aware of what he had said as he took George to help him set the tree by the window.

"Peaceful evening at last?" Sapna asked with a chuckle as she returned in living room with a plate of cookies.

"Shh," Anjali shushed her as she stood up and came to take the plate. "They're quiet finally."

Sapna laughed and nodded. "I am done with the cookies."

"Are you leaving?" Shilpa asked her.

"My children are in town and they are waiting for me," Sapna answered. "They leave tomorrow, so I can be back the day after tomorrow."

"That's fine. I have the day off tomorrow anyway," Shilpa nodded.

Sapna said goodbye to Shona and to the rest of the guests, being walked by Shilpa to the door.

As she returned in living room, Shilpa instinctively looked at Shona, checking on her. She shook her head as she saw Anjali eating from the cookies that Sapna had made and Shona trying to reach up to her hand, whimpering.

"Why don't you leave the cookies for later?"

"Because they're fresh now," Anjali shrugged.

"You seem to be teasing her," Shilpa said.

"No," she shook her head. "I am just eating a cookie. In case you didn't notice, I am the only one available to sit with her; unless you want to hang her in the tree."

"She will give me a reason to kill her if she gives Shona a cookie," Armaan whispered in Shilpa's ear.

Anjali groaned loudly as she obviously heard Armaan. "No cookies for Anjali," she said, pushing the plate away on the coffee table. She stood up, shifting Shona in her arms, "How can they think I can give you cookies when you don't even have teeth. I'm seriously worried about," they heard her talking to Shona. "Let's go find something interesting to do."

"Don't go too far," Shilpa shouted after them.

Shilpa found herself enjoying the decoration of the tree; it was definitely more pleasant to decorate a tall, real Christmas tree than her little plastic one. The sparkling decorations and the tree's fresh smell were exhilarating to her.

Armaan had turned on the carols on the radio while Anjali stayed with Shona on a couch, reading her from a medical journal.

"It's time to turn the lights on," Shilpa giggled, thrilled with the look of their Christmas tree.

"Not just yet," Armaan smirked, wrapping an arm around her waist.

Shilpa looked at him, puzzled, and saw him motioning to Ishikha and George.

"We have to go now," Ishikha stated, grabbing George's hand. "Where can we go?" she asked Armaan.

"Hmm," Armaan thought about that for a moment. "Go take the things from the car and you can get ready into the kitchen."

"Get ready for what?" Shilpa asked him.

Armaan just smirked at her and kissed her on the cheek. "I'll go get the camera."

"Camera?" Shilpa insisted. But Armaan just smirked and didn't say anything in return as he walked out of the room.

Shilpa looked at Anjali and was surprised to see her putting away the magazine, looking as if she knew what was about to happen.

"Tell me everything," Shilpa demanded, coming and sitting in the couch next to her. She took Shona from her and put her on her lap.

"Your mom has a fantastic collection of medical journals. You should secure your office," Anjali avoided the answer.

"Anjali," Shilpa groaned.

"Leave her alone, Shilpa," Armaan laughed as he returned in living room. He sat down at their feet and pinched gently on Shona's cheek.

"Are we waiting for something?" she asked him. "Why are you sitting and what are you doing with the camera?"

"Your patience will be well rewarded," Armaan smirked.

Shona giggled and leaned down to him, grabbing a lock of his hair in her fist. Armaan put the camera down next to him and took the baby from Shilpa, placing her onto his lap. He wrapped his arms around her tiny body, letting her lean against his body and play with his watch. They stood there like that, playing together, for several minutes until Ishikha came back, dressed in a Santa costume.

"Ready," she beamed, smiling down at Armaan.

"Great," Armaan stood up and gave Shona back to Shilpa. He took the camera and set it, ready to record the next moment.

"Shona, because you've been a good baby, a special guest came to see you tonight," Ishikha said to Shona.

Recognizing her name again and finding interesting Ishikha's dress, Shona looked up at her, staring with curious eyes.

Ishikha pointed to the door and made a sign for the guest to walk in, so a joyful Santa walked in, a little too fast for his presumed age.

"I thought you were old, Santa," Ishikha smiled nervously, glaring at Santa.

Santa stopped and nodded as he understood what Ishikha was trying to say. "Ho'" he cleared his throat and tried to sound older, "Ho-ho," he announced his presence and started trailing the big red sack of presents after him to the chair that Ishikha had left by the tree. He tripped over something and cursed Ishikha under his breath.

Shilpa laughed and could not believe what Armaan and her friends had done. She stood up, with Shona in her arms and came beside Armaan ' who was recording everything, from Santa's entrance to Shilpa and Shona's reactions.

Shona had her fingers into her mouth, staring at the weird character, which had showed up in her living room. She looked at Shilpa too and meeting her infectious smile, Shona giggled as well.

Santa sat down in the chair, pretending to be panting, and winked at Ishikha. "What a moron," Ishikha groaned, rolling her eyes.

"I think he's cute," Shilpa giggled. "You're doing a wonderful job, George. Thanks."

"Santa George," Ishikha whimpered, glaring at her.

"Now I have to edit the tape," they heard Armaan muttering and stopping the camera. "Can you act or not?" he scolded Ishikha and George.

"We're surgeons, not interns," George muttered.

"We're doing our best," Ishikha winked at him and made him a sign to turn the camera on again.

Armaan gave them a warning glare and then started the camera again.

"Is that Baby Shona?" Santa asked, re-arranging his fake glasses on his nose.

Shona was still fascinating by the weird old man, so her eyes were fixed on him.

"Let's have a talk, Baby Shona," Santa said, holding his arms out for the baby.

Shilpa was like a big child, enjoying the most of Santa's presence. She walked over to Santa and put Shona onto his lap. Shona didn't seem to like that as she let out a whine and held her arms out to go back to her Mommy.

"He's Santa, baby," Shilpa knelt in front of them, softly talking to the baby. "Santa is babies' best friend. Stay and meet him."

Shona still wasn't very comfortable with the stranger holding her, but as Shilpa held one of her hands, she felt more secure.

"I heard there was a new baby in town, so I had to come and meet the pretty girl that everyone was talking about. Was baby Shona a good baby?" Santa asked Shilpa.

"The best baby," Shilpa giggled.

Feeling her Mommy's good mood, Shona started to be less shy. She even turned and looked back at Santa, carefully analyzing his face, especially his beard. She looked at Shilpa and then back at Santa before she grabbed a strong grip on Santa's beard, wanting to taste it.

"Oh no, sweetie," Santa George chuckled, taking her hand out of his fake beard. "That's not for eating. I came to give you presents; many presents. Do you have any idea how many people wrote me letters for you?" he asked while he leaned down and opened the sack, fumbling after the first present.

The first present was a large pink box, "This one, Mommy requested it for you," he said.

Shilpa looked at Armaan, confused, as she didn't know what Santa was talking about. Armaan just winked and motioned for her to look at Santa.

"Mommy told me that you like dresses," Santa said, opening the box. "In here, we have a pink dress with matching jacket and hat for winter." The clothes were extremely pretty, with a snow man embroidered on each clothing item. "Mommy also asked me to bring you a doll that looks like you," Santa continued, taking out of his sack a big doll.

Shilpa gasped as she saw it. That was the present she had bought it indeed, but she hadn't had the opportunity to give it to her yet; a porcelain doll with blonde curls and beautiful blue eyes. She looked at Armaan with a grateful smile. Armaan leaned in and kissed her, before he reset the camera on Santa and baby Shona.

Baby Shona liked more the doll than the clothes and she held her hands out for it, so Santa left it onto his lap beside her.

"I also received a letter from Armaan," Santa said and took out a medium size gift bag, pink color, of course. This time, Santa gave the bag to Shilpa to let her show Armaan's present to Shona.

Shilpa giggled as her fingertips came in contact with the soft blanket; pink as well as Armaan liked to spoil Shona. Shilpa unfolded it and spread it over her knees, noticing three white bunnies designed on it.

"Look, Shona," she said, showing the blanket to Shona, "Bunnies."

Shona curiously looked at the blanket and giggled, leaning towards it to grab it. Shilpa laughed and put the blanket over Shona's legs. Shona laughed and slapped the bunnies, entertaining herself with whatever her brain was telling her about the blanket.

"Show her what I asked for her, Santa," Ishikha beamed impatiently.

Santa rolled his eyes at her, "Armaan still has some things for baby Shona," he said and looked through his sack. "Armaan also asked me to bring you a toy car. We couldn't make a pink car, because boys are those who usually wish for cars and boys don't like pink."

"Save it, Santa. She doesn't even care about the car," Anjali cut in.

Armaan wasn't very pleased to see that Anjali was right. Shona was still having fun with the bunnies from the blanket. "Show her the clothes," he told Santa.

"There's more?" Shilpa frowned, jealous of the number of presents Armaan got for Shona comparing with hers.

Armaan smirked proudly while Santa George showed Shona the pajamas, dresses and bootees. She just glanced at each thing that Santa showed her, but she just loved her new blanket.

Santa also brought a musical box with carols from Ishikha, which had Shona's interest for a short moment only, and a big illustrated encyclopedia from Anjali- that seemed to keep Shona's attention longer than a moment

"Now let's see what George asked for you," Santa said to Shona. "I know you don't know George that well, but he is a very nice guy, who loves baby very much. You two could be really good friends."

"Stop praising yourself' Santa," Ishikha muttered.

"Uncle George wanted me to bring you this'" he said and took out of the sack a swinging horse.

"How did you put that inside?" Shilpa laughed.

"Don't underestimate Santa," Santa scolded her. "This was mine when I was little. I know she's just a baby, but she'll grow."

"Did you hear that, Shona?" Armaan cut in, sounding excitedly for the tape, but glaring at George. "Santa brought you a very special present from him. Now let's see what George asked Santa to bring you."

Santa George looked puzzled at him.

"Neither of you are good at acting," Anjali growled.

"We asked you if you wanted to play the role of Santa," Ishikha retorted.

Ishikha and Anjali seemed ready to start banter each other, Santa looked sweaty and Shona didn't have any other interest besides pinching the bunnies, so Armaan switched the camera off.

"I always wanted to sit on Santa's lap," Shilpa beamed, taking a step forward in the same time.

"It's a little too late," Armaan grabbed her arm and pulled her back to him, glaring at Santa's thrilled eyes.

"You don't have to record me sitting on Santa's lap," she answered, thinking that was what Armaan meant to say.

Armaan smiled and leaned to her ear, whispering, "I could keep the Santa costume and put it on later if you want me to satisfy you a fantasy."

Shilpa giggled and pushed him away. "Thank you for coming, Santa," she said and took Shona in her arms, hurrying to pick up the blanket when it slipped off Shona's legs and Shona started whimpering after it.

"Wait, Santa!" Ishikha said quickly and hurried over the coffee table, taking the plate with cookies. "We have to keep the tradition," she said, offering him the plate to serve himself with a cookie.

Santa ate it all at once and nodded, "The tradition also mentions something about milk."

Ishikha nervously smiled at him, taking him by his arm, "You can have later in kitchen," she whispered. "Now you have to go, Santa. I am sure you still have other continents to visit."

"Actually this is the last continent," Santa laughed, adding an original 'ho-ho' in the end. "The rest of the world is already celebrating the Christmas."

"You're so smart," Ishikha rolled her eyes.

Armaan shook his head, slightly disappointed with their performance, "You two should improve your acting skills if you want me to call you for the next Christmases. In just a few years we won't be able to fool her with the fake Santa."

Nobody but Shilpa paid enough attention to Armaan's words. He would be there with her and Shona for the next Christmas at least. She smiled and instinctively she wrapped her hands around his arm, leaning against his side. With natural gesture, he put his arm around her waist and kissed her on the cheek while he was still lecturing Santa George and Ishikha.

"Leave them alone, Armaan," Shilpa cut in. "I really enjoyed their gesture and I do appreciate what you did," she told them with a grateful smile.

"Anytime," Ishikha assured and Santa George approved with a nod.

"Santa needs to go now before his brain fries," Santa chuckled.

"Just one more second," Armaan stopped him and hurried to take the camera back. "One picture with Mommy, Shona and Santa," he smiled. "And not on Santa's lap," he warned them. "Go stand by the tree."

Shilpa wanted to take the blanket and put it away as she thought Shona would look pretty in her dress, but Shona didn't care about the way she looked or about the picture either; she whined and asked to be left with her bunnies.

"She loves my present," Armaan laughed, looking beyond proud with that fact. Shilpa just rolled her eyes and went to take the picture.

Santa and Shilpa held Shona between them and Armaan called her name, making her look up and caught her looking at the camera.

"Now I want one too," Armaan beamed and threw the camera to Ishikha, hurrying to go next to Shilpa.

"This looks like a Hallmark moment," Anjali made a grimace, shaking her head.

"I know," Shilpa agreed with the same grimace, but unable to stop from smiling.

"Why don't you take a photo too," Armaan suggested. "You could sit on Santa's lap."

"I don't think so," Anjali made a defensive step back. "Santa is too old to hold me."

"You're skinny," Shilpa earned a glare from Anjali as she took Armaan's side. "He won't even feel you."

Anjali could not believe what they were doing; Shilpa and Ishikha were pushing her from behind, towards Santa ' who was trying to be convinced by Armaan to sit down.

"What if she will torture me to death?" Santa asked him fearfully.

"She just looks scary, but she wouldn't act scary as well," Armaan reassured him. "Besides, I promised I would let you scrub in to a big surgery."

"What do I get in return?" Anjali asked.

"An unforgettable memory," Armaan smirked, showing him the camera.

Anjali was finally sitting on Santa's lap and Shilpa put Shona in Anjali's arms. "Now let me take this for a moment," she said, taking the blanket.

Shona whined again and stretched her body and arms up to her mommy, to give her back her bunnies.

"Here, hold this," Anjali said, showing her Santa's beard.

His beard had somewhat fascinated her from the beginning, so Shona's attention was held by it for a short moment, enough though to catch her in the photo while pulling on his beard.

"We should release Santa now," Shilpa laughed as she took her daughter back.

Santa smiled gratefully at her, standing up with Armaan's help.

"Why don't we go upstairs and try on some of the dresses she received from Santa?" Ishikha suggested.

"She's only 5-month old," Anjali pointed out. "That's torture for her."

Ishikha rolled her eyes and looked expectedly at Shilpa. Shilpa's hobby wasn't just buying clothes for her baby girl; she also loved to see her dressed in them, so Ishikha's suggestion looked interesting and entertaining.

"I'll stay clean up a little bit around here," Armaan said, frowning at the empty boxes and ripped papers. "Say bye to Santa, Shona."

This time, Shona didn't look up. She had her blanket again, covering her, so she was more preoccupied with it than with what was going on around her.

"Goodbye, Baby Shona," Santa smiled, taking one of her hands. In response, Shona pulled her hand back and threw it in him. "Be a good girl if you want me to pay you another visit next year."

Armaan stayed in living room cleaning, Santa George went to take off the costume in kitchen and Anjali went in Shilpa's office, looking for more of Muskaan' books, while Shilpa and Ishikha went upstairs.

With Armaan's camera, they took pictures of Shona in each dress she received from Santa. At first, though she wasn't looking willing of trying the clothes on, Shona stayed quiet and let the two women have fun with her; but as the fun seemed not to end anytime soon, Shona started fussing and whining.

"What do you think about this?" Shilpa smirked, showing to Ishikha a mini Santa costume made of a dress, jacket and hat.

"That's adorable," Ishikha beamed, taking the clothes from Shilpa. "Why didn't you dress her with this for Santa?"

"Because I didn't know Santa would come," Shilpa pointed out, glaring.

Ishikha smiled innocently. "I am sorry if we went over board," she said. "Armaan came up with the idea and we found it cute. Why don't you get married?" out of nowhere she asked Shilpa.

Shilpa stared at her speechless.

"Maybe you don't love him just yet, but I am sure you liked him a lot," Ishikha continued. "He's a good father for Shona."

"I never liked to talk about my private life," Shilpa answered quietly, while she started stripping the baby again.

Ishikha didn't insist with that. She helped Shilpa dress Shona in the Santa costume, both making faces and talking to Shona, in hope of calming her down. Shona was determined not to let them play with her like that any longer and started screaming and tossing.

"Do you think it's too tight?" Shilpa asked Ishikha, confused.

"I think she just had enough of you two," Armaan scolded, walking over to the bed and picking Shona into his arms. "What are they doing to us?" he started talking to Shona, smiling at her cute image in that costume. "Why don't you come with Armaan? We have to turn the lights on in tree and then, Armaan will tell you a Christmas story. Doesn't this sound more exciting than spending time with two crazy ladies?" he said, already walking out of the room.

"Hey!" Shilpa shouted after him. "Armaan, bring her back. She's mine."

"No worry, Baby," he said to Shona. "Armaan won't let you go back to them."

"Armaan," Shilpa scolded, coming out on the hall after him.

"Why is a half-naked Santa in my kitchen?"

Everyone stopped and stirred at that question.

"Mom?" Shilpa asked confused, looking at Armaan and running to the stairs from where the voice had come.

Everyone saw Muskaan standing at the bottom of the stairs, glaring up at them with a hand on her hip, and Anjali standing a few steps behind her, smirking at them.

Shilpa froze as she saw her mother; she managed to turn though and glare at Armaan as she whispered, "That's a nice surprise."

Armaan gave her a puzzled look, shrugging, "I have nothing to do with this. I swear," he whispered back.

"Bringing a stripper in your house, especially when your daughter is here, is the last thing I expected from you, Shilpa!" Muskaan scolded nervously.

"He's not a stripper," everyone answered in the same time, making Muskaan stir.

"That's George, our colleague," Shilpa tried to explain. "He came and played Santa's role," she said. "for Shona," she added quickly.

"Why is he naked in the kitchen then? Is he perverse?" Muskaan wouldn't let go off her glare.

"Why did you send him in the kitchen?" Shilpa turned to Ishikha, scolding.

"The presents weren't easy to carry on the stairs," she explained. "And the bathroom you have downstairs barely has enough space for him to pee."

"What are you doing here anyway?" Shilpa asked her mother.

Muskaan shook her head disapprovingly, "This seemed to have become your way of greeting me each time I come in Seattle. It's Christmas Eve and I came to see my granddaughter," she gave an answer Shilpa hadn't really expected.

Though Muskaan turned into a different person each time she saw Shona and Shilpa knew she cared about her, she hadn't believed that her mother would trade the ER in the Christmas Eve in Seattle with her family.

"Stay here," Muskaan said thoughtfully and turned and headed for the kitchen.

"Shouldn't we go after her? She's going back to George," Ishikha whispered to Shilpa, a little scared of Muskaan uptight attitude.

Shilpa continued to stare speechless towards the direction her mother had taken off; she started to believe that she had had too many surprises for one evening. "There better not be more," she muttered, looking at Armaan and walking past him.

"More of what?" Armaan followed her, confused, carrying Shona.

His question remained without an answer as Shilpa stepped in the hall, wanting to go to kitchen. Her mother came from outside and walked towards the kitchen again, saying as she walked past Shilpa, "You should wait in living room."

Shilpa's eyes locked on the two wrapped boxes Muskaan was carrying. She wasn't the only one who saw the boxes that looked like Christmas presents and Armaan smiled, wrapping an arm around her waist and leading their way back in the living room.

"That's a nice surprise," he stated, smiling at her.

Still very surprised, Shilpa managed to nod once and trailed along with him back in the room. Muskaan joined them right away, smiling as she came to Armaan with her arms opened to take her granddaughter.

Shona didn't like her so much and being still cranky after the fun her mommy and Ishikha had had with clothes fitting, she wasn't willing to leave Armaan's peaceful arms.

None said anything against it and Armaan let Muskaan take Shona. The baby started whimpering and fussing, stretching her tiny body to go back to him.

"Look at you," Muskaan giggled, talking to Shona. Hearing her grandmother's giggle, Shona stopped from whimpering and stared at her. "You've grown so much," Muskaan continued talking to her as she walked over to the couch and sat down.

As her mommy and Armaan didn't follow her, Shona started fussing again. "You don't remember me, do you?" Muskaan questioned and took the hat off, running her fingers through Shona's blonde curls. "She has a fitting suit. And a Christmas tree," Muskaan noticed, looking at the big Christmas tree.

As Shilpa didn't seem to have any answer to that, Armaan cut in, "It's Christmas," he smiled and came to sit down in the couch next to her.

Muskaan just glanced at him from the corner of her eyes. "Relax. If I spared Santa's life, then that means that I didn't come to execute anyone," she said to Shilpa and her friends, who were standing aside.

Anjali was the first one who hurried to answer to her assurance. She walked over to the couch and sat down at Muskaan' other side, holding out her hand, "Dr. gupta, is a pleasure to meet you. I'm Anjali Joshi. A big'" she stopped as Muskaan turned and looked at her with a cold glare.

"You're not a Christmas person, are you?" she asked her.

Anjali slowly pulled her hand back and nodded. "I am Jewish," she answered.

Muskaan lifted a brow as she carefully looked at her, analyzing, "Don't you have a family?"

"I have friends," Anjali came with the answer promptly.

Muskaan nodded and drew her attention over her granddaughter's again, this time, finding her staring at her with curious eyes.

Shilpa saw discreet smile on her mother's face as she put her hat back on. She didn't say anything and just sat down on the couch side, next to Armaan.

A very shy and hesitant Santa Claus walked in this time, pleadingly looking at Shilpa. Shilpa felt helpless as she looked at her mother and asked, "Why is Santa back?"

"He forgot to give Shona my presents. Can you believe that?" Muskaan spoke to Shona, shifting her so that she would face Santa. She looked at Shona, watching her reaction, and lifted her brows, surprised. "Is she frowning at him?" she asked.

"Impressive, isn't it?" Armaan couldn't resist from bragging a little, like a proud parent. "She even answers when she hears her name."

Muskaan looked at him, in disbelief.

"Try it," Armaan insisted.

"Is that so, Shona?" Muskaan asked her granddaughter. Recognizing her name, called by an unfamiliar voice, Shona lifted her head and looked at Muskaan. "She does," Muskaan muttered under breath, her discreet smile becoming even wider.

Shilpa wasn't interested in Shona's interaction with Santa. She already knew how that would go. She was more curious to see her baby girl interacting with her grandmother. Shilpa smiled when she saw Muskaan' arms tightening around Shona's tiny body. She wasn't jealous; she just could explain why Muskaan was so loving to Shona. As far as she knew, Muskaan didn't like babies.

"I am not asking you to 'ho-ho-ho' for me," Muskaan let out a groan as she saw Santa George not daring to come closer. "Just give her the presents and leave. If you brought a Santa for your daughter, you could have at least found someone who could really play Santa."

"He didn't a wonderful work," Armaan cut in again. "You're just a very intimidating person," he admitted with a chuckle.

Shilpa held her breath as she looked at Armaan in horror, expecting any minute now to see Armaan slapped by her mother.

Surprisingly, Muskaan smiled and then she looked at Santa, "You're not here for me."

Santa cleared his throat and adjusted his voice to an old man's voice. He knelt in front of Muskaan, putting the sack aside and taking out the first gift. "My mistake, Baby Shona," he said, handing the present to Muskaan.

As Muskaan didn't show any intention of taking it, Armaan took it and started opening it. There was a big glossy book and very colored.

"An illustration book," Armaan said, showing it to Shona.

"I bought her one too," Anjali cut in, smiling proudly at Muskaan. "Just that mine is like an encyclopedia and has some human anatomy in it as well."

"Shouldn't she first learn what's around her?" Muskaan asked, not impressed with Anjali's present. "This is designed for toddlers, to teach them what a cat, a house or a teacher is."

Armaan opened the second present and was surprised to find the same book. He looked curiously at Muskaan and then at Shilpa ' who was just as clueless as he was.

Muskaan rolled her eyes and took the book from Armaan, "You are supposed to know how to read," she said, opening the book and showing him the blank pictures."

"It's a coloring book," he noticed.

"This is not for now, but it was worth buying it," she said. "That was all for now. Say 'bye' to Santa," Muskaan said, taking Shona's hand and waving it for Santa.

Santa George didn't say anything. He stood up, more than ready to go and get out of the Santa role.

"This time take him upstairs," Shilpa whispered to Ishikha.

Now that she had given her presents to her granddaughter, Muskaan started asking Shilpa more about Shona and as they started talking, Shilpa was surprised how comfortable she felt. She felt as comfortable as she was each time she talked to Sapna.

Anjali had some attempts of diverting the discussion from Shona to medicine, especially when Muskaan started telling Shilpa about the teeth growing Shona would have to deal with, but Muskaan didn't go further than necessary.

"Shouldn't she go to sleep now?" Muskaan asked later, seeing Shona rubbing her eyes sleepily.

"I think she should," Shilpa said and took Shona from her mother.

"We should leave too," Ishikha stated. "Some of us have to go back to hospital tonight."

Shilpa nodded and walked her friends to the door, thanking them for the nice surprise they had prepared for Shona. Everyone left, so Shilpa went back in living room; Muskaan was talking on the phone and Armaan was cleaning the glasses and plates from the table. He winked at her with a smile and walked past her as he went to take the dishes in kitchen.

"He lives here now?" Muskaan asked after he left, shutting her mobile phone.

Shilpa nodded once, "Kind of."

"What do you mean kind of?" Muskaan asked.

Shilpa took a deep breath and said, "He lives here now."

Muskaan shook her head disapprovingly, "You're not on your own anymore, so you should know what you want. Is it ok if I take the last room as the last time?" she asked, not waiting for Shilpa to answer to her scold, also knowing she wouldn't answer.

"Sure," Shilpa answered quietly.

"I will see you in the morning then," she said.

"When are you'" Shilpa turned and wanted to ask her about her departure, but she stopped as she realized it wasn't a proper question to ask her mother, especially when she was so nice with Shona.

"Probably tomorrow at noon," Muskaan answered, without turning and looking at Shilpa anymore.

"I am sorry," Shilpa muttered as a wave of guilt swept through her.

"I know," Muskaan answered in a soft voice and disappeared around the corner.

Left alone in the middle of the room with her sleepy baby, Shilpa stayed there and slowly started rocking her. She found herself smiling; this time, there was more behind that smile and not just her baby. Shilpa looked up and watched the Christmas tree, rewinding the whole evening in her head as she watched it; her friends, Santa, her mother, Armaan's love for Shona. Rewinding all that and watching the Christmas tree, Shilpa had that warm feeling inside her chest; the same warm, unfamiliar feeling she had when she arrived home earlier that evening.

She stirred when the room went dark and the next second the lights went on in the Christmas tree. She smiled at Armaan, who came beside her and pulled her into his arms.

"So this is Christmas," she smiled.

Armaan kissed her cheek and led her to the couch. "This is Christmas," he smiled at her, leaning in and softly kissing her on the lips. "I want to hold her," he said, already sliding his hands under Shona.

"No," Shilpa shook her head and half-turned her back on him. "You'd have to hold us both if you want to hold her."

Armaan chuckled and pulled her into his arms; one hand caressed her arm, the other one held Shona's head.

"Your mom was a nice surprise," he said.

Shilpa was silent for a brief moment, "She was. Your surprise was' surprising too," she said, smiling at him.

"Except for all the drama you made over the Christmas tree," he pointed out.

"I apologized for that," she rolled her eyes.

"And you've been forgiven," he chuckled.

"Then stop bringing that up," she scowled at him.

"I promise," he held up a hand. "Now talking about your mother'"

"Why?" she stopped him, frowning.

"Why what?"

"Why talking about my mother?" she asked.

"Because she's your family and you seem to have some family issues," he said.

"She likes Shona more than she liked me when I had Shona's age. I am not jealous. I am quite pleased actually," Shilpa answered.

"You don't know that for sure," Armaan said.

"What is that?" she asked, confused.

"You don't know for sure that she loves Shona more than she loved you," he said. He held up his finger when she wanted to retort. "You won't know for sure until you don't talk to her about your relationship."

Shilpa sighed and looked away, "Everything is complicated."

"Only because you want to see all the dark and twisty things," he pointed out. "There are more bright and shiny things in your life than you want to see. With this, I rest my case."

Resting her head on his shoulder and watching Shona's peaceful dream, Shilpa asked, "Do you want to move in with us?"

No sound came for Armaan, so Shilpa looked up and saw him thoughtful.

"I think I kind of moved in with you already," he concluded and Shilpa burst into a quiet laughter. "Oh. You had a point with that question," he chuckled. Shilpa nodded, smiling. "Does it bother you?" he asked her, using a more serious tone now.

Shilpa looked into his eyes, smiling, and then she shook her head, "I am sure you have a home here in Seattle. Don't you have a dog that waits for you at home?"

"No," he laughed.

"A cat?"

"No,"

"A hamster?"

"No," Armaan kept laughing. "I have a house. Sort of. I think I just ended up living in your house."

"Will you show it to me one day?" she asked.

Armaan thought about that for a second. "I will show it to you. Tomorrow. Let's go upstairs now."

"No. I want to stay a little a longer," Shilpa insisted, unwilling of letting go of their moment.

Armaan wasn't entirely willing of letting go of it either. He nodded and smiled as he saw the blanket he had bought for Shona. He took it and spread it over them.

It didn't take long for Shilpa to drift to sleep, but Armaan stayed there, spoiling himself with their presence in his arms. Only when he started feeling his eyes heavy of sleep, he woke up Shilpa and took Shona upstairs.

part 24

Armaan slowly started waking up the next morning. He found himself glued to Shilpa's body as he held an arm around her, having his nose tickled by her hair. He nuzzled through it and closed back his eyes, wanting to breathe in her floral scent. It felt good being there with her, having her into his arms; it felt good their daily routine.

Armaan wanted to freeze forever moments like this one or like the one they had had the previous evening on the couch. Unfortunately, he couldn't do that and noticing the gray light outside, Armaan knew he should get up and go check on Shona, before coming back and joining Shilpa in bed. Half-heartedly he kissed Shilpa, who moaned softly but kept sleeping soundly, and slowly got out of bed.

Armaan knew they had a guest ' or sort of a guest- this time, so he pulled a bathrobe on him, just in case. Rubbing his face and trailing along the hall, Armaan walked in Shona's room. As no sound was coming from Shona's crib, Armaan quietly walked over there and the panic washed over for a brief second as he found the place empty, not being used to find the crib empty, especially when Shilpa was still sleeping.

Remembering the great bond between grandmother and granddaughter, Armaan thought Muskaan might have taken her. Indeed, as he walked out on the hall again and paid more attention, Armaan could hear voices that sounded like whispers. He tied his bathrobe around him and headed for the stairwell, going downstairs. He stopped before showing in the kitchen doorway as he heard an unfamiliar laughter. Armaan leaned against the wall and listened, now and then peaking inside. Muskaan was talking to Shona.

"How about this brown bird?" Muskaan asked and Shona giggled and slapped the picture. "Ok. We like that bird," Muskaan laughed. "Let's see'" she said, turning a few pages, "How about the big elephant?" she asked Shona and the baby slapped the picture and giggled, making Muskaan laugh again. "How about this mouse?" Muskaan asked then. This time, Shona looked at the picture and then up at her grandma, staring with curious eyes. "We don't like the mouse," Muskaan concluded with a giggle. "How about this white dog?" she asked her granddaughter, showing her the picture. Shona squealed and slapped the picture. "I'll take that you like the dog the most," Muskaan laughed.

Behind the wall, Armaan was laughing quietly as well. Muskaan didn't look like a person who could laugh, so he took her actual bright mood as a Christmas miracle. Armaan walked in as if he had just come from upstairs and was unpleasantly surprised to see Muskaan not looking comfortable with her smiling face.

"Good morning," Armaan smiled with a polite smile as he walked over to the table, where Shona and Muskaan were.

"Good morning," Muskaan said back, not sound as cheerful as earlier but not as cold and bitter as in the evening either.

"Did she cry?" Armaan asked, looking at Shona, a little worried that she might have cried and neither he nor Shilpa heard her.

"No," Muskaan answered. "I woke earlier and I found her awake when I went and checked on her. She was playing with her blanket.

Armaan sighed with relief and nodded, smirking down at Shona still proud of the great Christmas present he had bought for her. He went to the coffee machine and poured himself some coffee. "I noticed she rarely cries in the morning. Sapna says the same thing."

"She's growing," Muskaan said and ran her fingers through Shona's delicate hair. "You will have to be very careful with her when she will start standing up on her feet. She seems very active."

"I know," Armaan said with a heavy sigh, as if that was a serious worry. "She already rolls over and soon she'll start crawling." As he turned back to the table, Armaan stopped for a brief moment and watched how Muskaan pressed her lips against Shona's head, Armaan guessing there was a kiss as well. "Did she eat?" he asked, noticing the milk bottle still full.

"She didn't want to," she answered. "So I thought we should check on our Christmas presents," she said, already smiling again as she pointed to a picture. "This is a cat. A white cat."

Shona looked up at her and stared, with the same curious eyes as before. Muskaan laughed, not as comfortable as earlier though.

"What do you think of Mrs. Shah?" Muskaan asked them, looking straight into his eyes. "Everyone seemed pleased with her."

"We are," Armaan nodded. "She's very good with Shona and the most important thing is that Shona likes her."

"You live here, don't you?" she asked him, straight.

"I do," Armaan answered in the same manner.

"You're a good friend of Dr. Sloan," she said, looking at him with a scrutinizing stare.

"He's my best friend," he answered without any trouble.

"So'"

"No," Armaan didn't let her say it. "I stayed two months apart from them after I found out about Shona's father because I believed that was the right thing to do."

"And it wasn't?" she asked him, surprisingly not bitter, but matter-of-factly.

"No," he shook his head. "Because I understood that Rohan wouldn't go to them and because I understood that I had stayed with them before from different reasons. I didn't know who they were when I first met them."

"What if he changes his mind and wants to be Shona's father?" she asked.

Armaan didn't mind her little interrogation. "I don't know. That's up to Shilpa."

"I said, what if he wants to be Shona's father, not Shilpa's man," she replied.

Armaan was taken off guard a little. "Shilpa has Shona's full custody now as Rohan gave up on his parental rights."

"Those are just papers," she pointed out.

"No," Armaan shook his head, disagreeing. "Those are legal papers and unless Shilpa wants him to have any right over Shona, he doesn't have many chances to get them back."

"How about your friendship with him? He's your best friend," Muskaan continued.

"He lives in Manhattan and I live in Seattle now. I don't know about my friendship with him. We haven't figured that out yet."

"So you wouldn't step back if he changes his mind," she concluded.

"That depends," Armaan answered. He finally sat down at the table and took Shona from Muskaan when she started whimpering and asking to go to him.

Muskaan pushed the bottle towards him, "It's still warm enough."

Armaan looked at her before he took the bottle and gave it to Shona. Shona relaxed in Armaan's arms as she started eating.

"If he changes his mind when Shona will go to college, then no. I won't step back," Armaan answered, smiling down at Shona.

"What if he changes his mind tomorrow?" Muskaan insisted.

"He won't," Armaan answered, very convinced.

"Ok then, how will your visits to New York and your meetings with him will go? Because I am sure you two will meet from time to time," she said.

"I don't know," Armaan answered frankly. "It will be awkward. Honestly I think I want Rohan to meet Shona as soon as possible. I want us to deal with a situation like you say. Only then we will know how everything will be like and feel like."

As Armaan was saying that, Muskaan was looking at Shona and she seemed not to be listening to him anymore. But she did hear what he said. "So you're not here because you feel like' you have to' replace your best friend."

Armaan smiled. "I am here because I met Shilpa laboring in her car; it was evening and raining and because I love babies."

Muskaan nodded her head and muttered absent-mindedly, "Babies are lovely."

Armaan heard her words and remembered what Shilpa had told him about her mother, "Shilpa thinks you love Shona more than you loved her when she was little."

Muskaan looked at him with an attempt of smile, "Is she jealous?"

"No," Armaan answered, a little confused with her reaction. "Absolutely not. She just' wonders why."

"Shilpa doesn't remember how it was when she was a baby. Shona won't remember either what's happening to her right now. Shilpa was 2 when her father started drinking and wasting my money and when everything ended. Shilpa's money too. I had to throw him out and he didn't insist in visiting Shilpa. I wouldn't have allowed it anyway. Shilpa cried a lot after him and I couldn't bear seeing her like that. Then I choose to spend as much time as possible at the hospital. People do mistakes, big mistakes. Like Sloan is doing right now. He will regret it deeply one day; maybe when he will be very old and ready to die, I don't know, but he will regret the moment he signed the papers."

Listening to what Muskaan was saying about Rohan, Armaan started feeling guilty.

"You should do what you think is right to do for you, Shilpa and Shona. Shona can't decide for herself, only Shilpa, you and Sloan can." Saying that, Muskaan stood and walked over to the refrigerator, "Can you cook?" she asked him, checking what was inside.

Still dazzled by Muskaan' surprising confession and lecture, Armaan nodded before he could find his voice again, "Yes."

"You should teach Shilpa too," she said, taking out the butter and shutting the door. "She can't cook and Shona can't starve or eat junk food when you're not around."

"Are you talking about my cooking skills?" Shilpa sleepily asked as she walked inside.

"Your mom says I should give you some lessons," Armaan smirked at her.

Shilpa was a little confused with the bright mood that hovered all around the kitchen. Armaan took her hand and winked at her, reassuring her that everything was great there.

"Dr. gupta, would you mind spending a few hours with Shona this morning?" Armaan asked Muskaan and Shilpa questioningly looked at him. He just winked and looked back at Muskaan.

"I thought you had the day off today," Muskaan scowled at Shilpa.

"I do," Shilpa answered, clueless, unable to understand why Armaan asked that.

"She has and I have the morning off. I want to take Shilpa somewhere for a little while," Armaan explained.

"I can stay with Shona," Muskaan agreed.

Shilpa kept staring at Armaan, but Armaan didn't say anything. He fed Shona and gave her to Muskaan after she finished eating, so that he and Shilpa could have breakfast as well.

Muskaan received a call that morning from Shashank Gupta, asking her to come to the hospital for a consult. In that moment, Armaan's plans changed a little.

Shilpa was with Shona in her room, changing her diaper and her pajamas when Armaan came in. "Why don't you go and dress Shona for the road?" he suggested.

She looked back at him, confused. "Road? Are we still going where you wanted us to go?"

"Absolutely," Armaan smirked. "I wanted to take the opportunity that your mom was here and take you out on a date. Apparently, we can date only if Shona comes too," he chuckled, walking over to the table and making faces at Shona, who wasn't in such a bright mood anymore. "Put some warm clothes on her. She hasn't been outside much during the winter," he said.

"Are we going somewhere in Alaska?" Shilpa asked him, insisting on finding more about his plan.

His smile grew bigger as he leaned in and kissed her. "I'll go get ready too."

Though Shona was still half naked, Shilpa was too curious in finding out what Armaan was up to. "Shilpa," Armaan laughed from the doorway, as he saw her staring after him with stupefaction. "You're not a baby. You have a baby. I am taking you to see the place where I live."

"So you do have a house," she giggled.

Armaan smiled, shaking his head, "In a short while Shona will be more mature than you."

Shilpa gasped and grabbed the first thing she had around, Shona's clothes, and threw them after Armaan- who ran out laughing.

In that second, Shona started screaming, holding her hands tightly rolled into fists. She was either angry because her mother threw her clothes or because she was getting cold after saying naked for so long.

Shilpa quickly turned to her, talking, "Whose side are you on?"

Shona stopped from screaming, but she didn't stop from crying; not until Shilpa dressed her.

Armaan took Shona and safely strapped her in the car seat, in the back of his car, while Shilpa climbed on the passenger side and waited for him.

"So," Shilpa wanted to say something; or rather, to find out something. She continued to look out her window and looked like it wasn't her who made that sound.

Without leaving the road out of his sight, Armaan asked, "So' what so?"

Shilpa took a deep breath, making herself some courage, and turned facing Armaan.

Armaan glanced at her, amused. "Are you planning on proposing me and you don't know how?" he teased her with a chuckle.

Shilpa managed a smile. "It's about my mom," she said. "You and her, this morning' you looked ok."

Armaan knew what she was trying to find out, but he laughed, amused of her stammer. "We were ok," he said. "We had a little talk."

Shilpa stared at him, expecting.

"About Shona at first, then about me, Rohan and then about you," Armaan continued.

"You talked to my mother about Rohan?" Shilpa reacted, a little too loud and disturbing Shona's play with her toy. "Sorry, baby," she looked back and touched Shona, comforting her. "What did you talk about?" she asked Armaan, lowering her voice.

"She wanted to find out more about me. Nothing historical happened, I promise," Armaan laughed.

Shilpa was in a complete haze after his nonsense explanation, "So you're friends with Muskaan now."

Armaan seemed to mediate over that for a moment and then he nodded, "We're not best friends yet, but we are friends. You should talk to her, Shilpa. Seriously now." He glanced at her with a serious look. "Actually, you must talk to her. You two don't communicate at all and that's why you have this cold relationship."

"You seem to have communicated to her," Shilpa pointed out, suggesting he should tell her whatever he knew.

Armaan knew where she was heading, so he just smiled and shook his head. He was sure that Muskaan didn't mean telling him about Shilpa's father and that wasn't his place on telling it further to Shilpa either. "It's simple the talk you need to have," he encouraged her.

Shilpa sighed heavily and rested her head against the window, watching the gray road. "Maybe it is," she muttered under her breath. "Only if I knew where to start from."

Armaan discreetly glanced at her, with a sympathetic smile. "It's Christmas, so let's not get worried or depressed because of anything," he said, squeezing her hand.

Shilpa looked at him and nodded in agreement. She let out another sigh before she straightened up in her seat, re-adjusting her seatbelt and looking back at Shona, who smiled when she saw her mother. Looking out the window again and noticing all those trees on each side of the road, Shilpa had the impression that they were out of town, though there were still a few houses. The landscape she had in front of her eyes looked wonderful and then she saw the snowflakes falling over the windshield.

"It's snowing," she managed to breathe out, amazed of the beauty of the landscape, now completed by the snowflakes. "Do you live in another state?" she asked him, giggling.

Armaan chuckled as he looked at her and shook his head, "I live 20 minutes away from the hospital, just that I live in the opposite way from you. We should get there in just a few minutes," he explained.

"She's so calm," Shilpa said softly, smiling back at Shona. "The last time I drove with her and held in the backseats, she screamed all the way from home to hospital. I had to hold an arm outstretched to her to calm her down a little bit. And no, she wasn't missing your presence in the car," she added laughing, when Armaan looked like he was going to say that.

"I wasn't going to say that," he laughed.

"No really," she smiled skeptically.

"I wasn't," he said. "You should have taken this car. Look how calm she is. She has a special connection with the backseats."

"Oh Armaan," Shilpa whimpered. "Don't start again. I am seriously starting to suspect that your brain could be a mystery to the medicine."

Armaan looked through the rearview mirror at Shona and said, "Don't listen to her, Shona. We're sure of what we know."

"With you around, no university will accept her," Shilpa stated, rolling her eyes.

Armaan looked in the rearview mirror again, talking to Shona, "Out of 6, 1 university accepted me," he wanted to reassure her.

"Did you applied to 6 universities and just one accepted you?" Shilpa asked him with disbelief.

"I am sure you sent application to one and you were just very lucky to be accepted there," he teased her.

"Let me disagree," she smirked at him. "How about 3 out of 4? And probably it was the forth too, but I never received the letter from them so the post office must have lost it."

"Mine were top universities in the States," Armaan bragged.

"Mine were top universities in the States and Europe," she smirked with satisfaction.

"Did you attend all 3 of them?" he asked.

"No,"

"Then you attended one just like I did. So the score is even," he stated.

"You're just jealous," Shilpa giggled.

"I am not," he frowned and this way, proving Shilpa was right.

"Don't be," she giggled and leaned to him, resting on his arm. "I am sure that at least one university accepted me only because they recognized my mother's last name."

Armaan was pleasantly surprised with her attempt of comforting him. He took one hand off the steering wheel and stroked her cheek.

Maybe she felt ignored or maybe she just started feeling uncomfortable in her car seat, but Shona started crying and threw her toy down.

"What were you saying about her connection with the backseats?" Shilpa laughed.

Armaan laughed as well and answered, "She's just telling us that we arrived to destination."

Shilpa looked out the window, expecting to see a big house, as she had imagined Armaan's house was. There was nothing but land and trees. She looked puzzled at the landscape and thought they would have to walk a little to his house. Both got out the car and Armaan helped Shilpa take Shona from her seat. As she was in her mother's arms and Shilpa kissed her, the baby stopped from crying. Shilpa pulled the jacket's hood over Shona's hat and having her face half-covered with the scarf, only her eyes were visible.

"Which way?" Shilpa asked Armaan.

Armaan came by her side and pointed ahead. "There."

Shilpa followed the direction and saw a trailer. "What's that trailer doing there?" she laughed.

"I live here. Or I used to live there," he smirked at her.

"Sure," Shilpa laughed. "But it looks like someone lives there. It even has a porch," she said.

"It's my trailer," Armaan stated. Shilpa turned and looked at him with disbelief. "I wasn't accepted to all six universities, but I was still smart enough to come to Seattle and buy this beautiful piece of land."

"No really, this is yours? Do you lived here?" she asked him, still suspecting he was making fun of her.

"Come see the inside," he just smiled and put a hand on her back, leading their way to the trailer.

As they started walking towards it, the snowflakes became bigger and started falling faster.

"Look, Shona," Shilpa said to Shona- who had her face buried in Shilpa's shoulder. "Your first snow."

"Maybe she should be able to see it too," Armaan laughed at how much Shilpa was protecting Shona from the cold air.

Shilpa giggled and turned Shona, laying her into her arms, so that she could see the sky. Shona closed her eyes when a snowflake landed on her face, opening them again and closing them back, giggling.

"Let's go inside," Armaan laughed. "I have to turn the heat on. It's been a while since I last was here and it must be freezing inside."

Armaan unlocked the door and let Shilpa walk inside first. As she made the first step, Shilpa stopped in the doorway, scanning the inside- which didn't look as strait as she thought it would.

"You have everything in here," she said, stepping from the doorway to let Armaan inside. "Armaan lives in a trailer," she said to Shona, giggling.

Shona didn't show any interest for the new place she was in at that moment; she was more preoccupied with gloves ' which had started annoying her and probably sweat her hands.

"I have absolutely everything I need," Armaan stated. He walked into his small, almost inexistent, bedroom and put Shona's bag on the bed.

"But why did you buy this? Do you like living in trailers?" she asked him, still amazed of it.

"No," Armaan chuckled. "I admit, I prefer the comfort of a house. I accidentally drove past this land shortly after I arrived in Seattle and saw it was for sell. There are a couple of things you haven't found out about me yet."

"Obviously," Shilpa muttered as she walked over to the bed and sat down, still carefully watching the surrounding. "We're here and we don't have to leave right away, so this could be the perfect time to tell me," she smiled at him, while she took Shona's scarf off and the gloves.

"I love nature," Armaan started saying, but Shilpa stopped him, laughing mockingly.

"I noticed," she said. "That's why you buy natural, old trees for Christmas."

"Oh. That," he laughed. "Yeah, well besides that, I love hiking and fishing. There's a lake not very far from here. I used to go there each time I had some time off."

"We kind of held you from your hobby," she said, smiling at Shona.

"That's ok, because I found a new hobby," he said and came to sit down with them. Shona held her short arms out for him, willing to go to him. Armaan took her and took her hat off too, brushing her curls with the tip of his fingers. "Shona is my new hobby."

Shilpa just smiled and had no doubt of that.

"I used to work a lot so it was no inconvenience in living into a trailer," he said. "I was planning to build a house here, but that wasn't an emergency." He stopped and looked at Shilpa with an excited smile as if an idea came into his head. "Would you move in with me in my new house?"

Shilpa was taken off guard by his question. She stared at him and couldn't get a word out.

Armaan smiled reassuringly. "I can't build the house over night. I don't even have the plans for it."

"Armaan," she muttered, looking into his eyes.

Armaan waited for her to say whatever she had on your mind but as she didn't seem to want to continue, he asked, "What is it?"

Shilpa felt chocking with the words and her mind blocked. "I' I think I'd like some hot chocolate."

Armaan wasn't sure if that's exactly what she had intended to say the first time, but he nodded as a hot chocolate seemed like a good idea in that moment. Because the air was heating up inside, Shilpa decided it was safe taking some clothes off Shona and as the baby only had one toy with her, she lay her down on her favorite blanket and let her entertain herself with the bunnies. In the meantime, Armaan prepared the chocolate and started telling her more about him and about his family, only briefly mentioning his ex-wife Addison.

Shilpa made a good impression about Armaan's sisters from his tells and was impressed with the strong connection he had with them and his entire family, couldn't helping wondering how that must feel like. They stayed and talked, Armaan more, Shilpa less about their childhood, while Shona fell asleep. Neither of them noticed how long they had been talking about until they heard a whistle passed past the trailer and just then they noticed that all the windows were covered with snow.

"What's happening outside?" Shilpa asked, alarmed, while both stood up and went to the door.

As Armaan opened the door, a strong wind invaded the trailer along with the snow. He pushed the door closed and looked at Shilpa, shocked. "That's a snow storm."

"I can see that," Shilpa was as shocked as he was. "What are we going to do? I only have a bottle for Shona."

"I am sure it will calm down soon," Armaan wanted to reassure her, though he wasn't very sure of that either. "They didn't announce any storm."

"I wanted to give her apple today," Shilpa muttered, glaring out the window.

Armaan looked at her with a surprised expression. "Is that your main concern?" he chuckled. "I have some apples here."

Armaan walked over to the refrigerator and felt a little embarrassed when he opened it and Shilpa giggled, noticing it almost empty. "I have apples," he grumbled and took out a bag.

As he put it on the table and took a few apples out, he found them mouldy.

"You've kind of neglected the household," Shilpa giggled.

Armaan laughed and nodded, agreeing. "But I took care of your household," he pointed out. "More hot chocolate?" he offered.

Shilpa nodded and he filled the cup with steamy chocolate, both of them settling in the couch. "You seem like a man who wishes his children to be boys."

"What makes you think that?" he asked her, confused.

"You like all these boyish things like fishing and hiking," she shrugged. "Am I wrong?"

"You're very wrong," he laughed. "I wouldn't mind having 5 or 6 girls. Out of 5 or 6, I am sure there will be at least one girl who would like to join her Daddy for a camp trip."

"You spent and you keep spending a lot of time in the company of girls. Some people might say you're… you know… gay," she giggled.

Armaan laughed, shaking his head, "You know I had someone suspecting me of this once? But that was before I went to college. I like having girl friends. Is that a bad thing?"

Shilpa shrugged. "Did you used to play with dolls when you were little?"

"That depends," he answered. "Rohan and I liked kidnapping my sisters' dolls and blackmailing them for their secret supply of chocolate."

"You're lying," she laughed.

"I am not,"

"Was it working all the time?" she asked.

"No, but each time they were refusing to buy them back, we were giving them only the dolls' heads," he smirked at her with a mischievous laughter.

"Bad Armaan," Shilpa scolded, laughing as well. "Stay away from my daughter's dolls."

"I am over it now," Armaan reassured her. "I don't even like chocolate candies anymore."

Shilpa sipped from her chocolate watching the bed, where Shona was peacefully sleeping between pillows and covered by her favorite blanket. Shilpa felt content with herself in that moment, sharing that moment with Armaan; she nestled beside him and put her head on his shoulder, right away receiving caresses from him.

The phone startled both of them and Shona as well. As it was Shilpa's phone that rang, Armaan went to lie down next to Shona to help her go back to sleep. In the meantime, Shilpa quickly found her phone and flipped it open.

"Shilpa gupta," she said, quietly talking.

"Shilpa?" Shilpa recognized her mother's voice.

"Mom?" Shilpa asked, confused.

"Where are you? I thought I would find you home," Muskaan said. "I have to leave soon and I wanted to spend some time with Shona."

"We're at Armaan's… house," Shilpa answered. "And it looks like it's a snow storm outside."

"The weather doesn't look great at the moment," she agreed. "They said it should calm down. You'd better stay there and not try to drive with the baby on this storm."

Shilpa rolled at her eyes as that was already an obvious thing. "I won't," she answered dryly.

"Does it bother you that I give you advices?" Muskaan asked reproachfully.

"No, mom," Shilpa sighed. "That was exactly what I was going to do."

Shilpa heard her mother's sigh then and then her saying, "Take care of yourself and the baby. I am not sure if I can stay and wait for you to come home."

"We will," Shilpa answered softly. "Take care of yourself too," she said.

"I will," Muskaan answered. "Goodbye, Shilpa."

"Bye, mom," Shilpa replied and listened for a few seconds more the dial tone, after her mother hung up. Armaan was right; she should talk to her mother.

"Is something wrong?" Armaan asked in whisper, coming back to Shilpa.

"No. My mom wanted to see Shona before she left, but we're kind of stuck here at the moment," she said.

Armaan smiled and stroked her cheek. "I just hope I won't be paged to hospital," he muttered. He wrapped his arm around her and both lie down in the couch. "She's a good grandmother."

"She is," Shilpa muttered, thoughtful.

Playing with his fingers through her hair, Armaan slowly made Shilpa fell asleep. He could feel his eyelids heavy as well, but he didn't want to go to sleep right away, wanting to listen to their calm breathings for a little longer.

Shona was their alarm clock, hours later, when she woke up and found herself in that unfamiliar place. Both, Shilpa and Armaan jumped up as soon as she let out her first loud whimper.

"Mommy is here," Shilpa quickly hurried to the bed, taking her baby. Shona kept crying once she was into her mother's arms, sign that she was starving.

Armaan heated up her bottle and Shilpa fed her, Shona calming down and regaining her good mood.

"The snow seems to have stopped," Armaan noticed, looking out the window. "I should receive a page from the hospital any minute now," he muttered with a sigh. Looking away from the window and watching Shilpa and Shona, he smiled and came to sit with them. "Would she like a snow fight?" he asked Shilpa.

"No," Shilpa frowned, scowling.

"I was just kidding," Armaan chuckled. In that moment, his pager went on. "See?" he looked knowingly at her. "I'll go make a call to the hospital," he said and stood up, leaving the bedroom area.

Shilpa watched him leaving, sighing with regret as she looked down at her baby. She would have liked a snow fight with Armaan. She would have liked any other moment with him that day, just to be in his company.

"Let's take the girls home first," he said, coming back in the bedroom.

They waited for Shona to finish with her meal and then they started preparing her for leaving. Armaan drove them back home and didn't have enough time but handing Shona to Shilpa in the doorway. He gave Shona a kiss and then he cupped Shilpa's face between his cold hands, kissing her.

Both of them sighed and pulled away reluctantly.

"I'll see you later," he smiled at her, making a step back outside on the porch, ready to leave.

"Armaan," Shilpa stopped him.

Armaan turned and waited for her to say whatever she had to say. As he waited and looked better into her eyes, Armaan saw them sparkling, as well as her entire face- brightened by a big smile.

"I love you," she said, barely comprehensible.

Those words were comprehensible enough for Armaan. He walked back to her and pulled her into his arms, almost forgetting that Shona could have been crushed between them. They kissed, softly and lovingly, both of them lingering in the moment.

"I love you too," he whispered, smiling at her. "Hold these words and repeat them later," he chuckled.

Shilpa giggled like a sheepish teenager as she watched him heading to his car. Her cheeks were burning so bad that she couldn't even feel the cold air from outside. Shona did feel it and she didn't like it, whimpering and making her mother aware of the fact that she was too little to stay outside in the cold for too long.