The Greatest Gift
a fanfic featuring Gaston and Desiree Marchand

* Must include something surprisingly heavy
* Must have someone inadvertently rhyme, and then say "hey that rhymes!"
* Someone must accidentally use their wand the wrong way around


Gaston's blue eyes snapped open at the sound of a shrill cry. Ugh, what was that noise? he thought, still half asleep. He sat up in bed, rubbed his eyes, and looked around the room groggily. It was still dark in the house, still dark outside. His eyes fell to a shadowy square shape at the other side of the room and he suddenly remembered Desiree… his newborn daughter, barely 2 days old.

Panic gripped his heart. Was she sick? Hurt? Scared? Wasting no more time, he quickly threw a dressing gown on over his pajamas, pocketed his wand, and sidled over to the tiny blue-eyed baby squirming in the crib across the room. “Poor baby,” he whispered as he picked her up, blankets and all. “Shh… it's okay, Daddy's here.”

He gently rocked her back and forth, murmuring soothing words to her in French as his sleep-deprived mind tried ro riddle out what was wrong. She didn't need a change, and the warming charm he'd placed on her blankets hadn't worn off. Maybe that was the problem… she was too hot. He tried unwrapping the blankets, but that only made her cry harder. He touched her forehead; it didn't feel like she had a fever. She must be hungry then.

Carefully shifting the fussy Desiree to one side, Gaston drew his wand and cast a nonverbal Lumos as he started down the stairs to the kitchen. The bright light from his wand illuminated the clock on the wall; it was half past six. He should probably go ahead and make some coffee. Rose and the rest of the family would be up soon, and even so, he needed caffeine to function this early! But first, somebody needed breakfast!

Gaston aimed his wand to summon a bottle from the fridge, but nothing happened. What the-? Why wasn't it working? He looked down and saw he had his wand pointed the wrong way around; he shook his head, chuckling to himself. Merlin's beard, if that wasn't a sign he needed sleep, he didn't know what was! Turning his wand around the right way, he summoned a bottle and cast a quick warming charm on it.

While Desiree suckled greedilly on her bottle, Gaston wandered into the living room. He saw the Christmas tree and the stockings hung on the mantel, one for each member of the family, all brimming with goodies. In his exhausted state, he had almost forgotten what day it was! “Look, Desiree! It's your very first Christmas Day,” he whispered, gesturing toward the brightly lit pine. Realizing what he just said, he laughed. “Hey, that rhymes!”

Oh, good Godric Gryffindor! I'm so tired, I'm speaking in rhyme, he thought. And he wasn't even trying to write a song!

Gaston lowered himself into a nearby armchair, taking extra care not to jostle the newborn in his arms as she finished her bottle. He half-expected Desiree to drift off to sleep once she was fed and happy - or at least he hoped she would. Maybe then he could get a bit more sleep! But she was wide-awake and wiggly. He needed something to calm her down, but what?

Bright blue eyes scanned the room and found the family photo album sitting on the coffee table. He picked the book up one-handed and nearly dropped it. That thing was a lot heavier than he remembered! His mother must've added to it… He carefully situated the book on his lap and opened it to a faded old photograph of a mother and father with three boys. “That's your grandfather when he was a little boy,” he said, pointing to the blond boy in the middle of the photo. “And there's Uncle Paul - he was so much fun!” He smiled as he pointed at the shorter, younger boy; his expression changed as he pointed out the tallest child. “And Uncle Alex… I don't think he ever liked me much.”

Then his eyes fell to the man and woman. “And these people are your great-grandparents. I never met them, but I'm sure they would've loved you!”

On the opposite page was a smiling little girl with dark hair, sitting beside a Christmas tree surrounded by toys as her parents looked on. “And there's your grandmother when she was little,” Gaston explained. “And her parents - they used to invite the whole family over for Christmas dinner. She-” He pointed to the woman. “-made the best cookies!” He could almost smell their sweet, buttery scent even now!

As Gaston talked, Desiree stopped wriggling and snuggled contentedly into his chest, calmed by the sound of his voice. Their twin pairs of blue eyes met as she stared intently at him, as if hanging on to his every word. He thumbed through the pages, pointing out more family members as he went, until he came to a photo of a blond man and dark-haired woman, grown-up versions of the two children in the other photographs. “There's your grandparents on their first Christmas together. See how happy they look!”

A couple of pages later, the young couple in the photographs were joined by a baby with big blue eyes and unruly black hair. “And that's me on my first Christmas. Can you believe I was once as tiny as you?”

Looking back through the photos of his childhood, Gaston was lost in the memories of Christmases past… of Christmas Eve dinners with family, staying awake to see Father Christmas, unwrapping toys on Christmas morning. But the ache of longing he thought he'd feel wasn't there. Instead he imagined several older versions of Desiree enjoying all the Christmas traditions he once did, but they would have plenty of time for that.

Gaston gazed at his now sleeping daughter, his eyes shining with adoration. He could hardly believe this was real! After all this time waiting and wishing for a little one of his own to love and nurture, he'd started to give up hope that it would ever happen. Now his lifelong dream of fatherhood had finally come true - and at Christmastime, no less! “Merry Christmas, my baby Desiree,” he whispered. She was his best Christmas gift ever!