𝐸𝑑𝑔𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝐷𝑒𝑠𝑖𝑟𝑒 || 𝑇𝐻𝐸 𝑊𝐻𝐼𝑇𝐸 𝑄𝑈𝐸𝐸𝑁

𝐶ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝐿𝑋𝑋𝑉𝐼

~Christmas~

"3....2....1...." the children (along with Rob and Harry) waited with baited breath for Jack to shout 'go!' as they looked ahead of them at the other end of the hall. This was the yearly race to see who was the fastest amongst them and none seemed to care about the age range, they were all determined to win!

"I'm going to beat you this year" Harry muttered to George Neville who merely grinned; reaching out to ruffle the 27 year olds mess of dark blonde hair.
"I think not" he teased in return "I think you're getting rather slow in your old age"
"Old age?" Rob exclaimed "if Harry here is old then I must be considered ancient! I'm thirty two!"

"You are ancient, Uncle Rob!" Bess crowed from where she stood in the middle of the line, her keen ears overhearing their conversation.
"Well if he's ancient, Bessie then I don't know what that makes me!" Jack chuckled and Bess grinned at him.

"That doesn't matter" she proclaimed "you're my favourite Uncle so I don't care how old you are!"
"That would be sixty one!" Harry announced earning a rough punch in the arm from Jack that resulted in a snort of laughter from Rob whom he glared at "shut up Percy"

"Yes!" Six year old Cecily called "do shut up Uncle Rob so we can start the race! I'm determined to win it!"
"You won't!" Her older brother George called "your legs are too short!" She stuck her tongue out at him.

"Oh for heaven's sake stop squabbling you two!" Matilda sighed as she helped four year old Isabella to stay on the invisible line they had crafted, smiling at the giggling redhead "George, Cis is younger than you by two years!"
"That doesn't mean I can't beat him!" Cis returned determinedly "and I will you'll see!"

"You can do it!" Katheryn called encouragingly and her half sister beamed back at her while Eliza nodded in agreement.

"Go!" Jack called and everyone jerked into motion as the hall was filled with excited squeals and giggles. Everyone scrambled to get across the hall to the dais, running as fast as their legs could carry them. Harry dashed ahead of his friends, knowing that he was winning until halfway to the finish line when he suddenly found himself tackled to the ground by a laughing Rob who called for George to run on.

Harry slapped him.

"You bastard!" He yelled as George crossed the line and grinned over his shoulder.
"Harry!" Richard chided, though he was finding it hard to refrain from laughter.
"But I was winning!" The younger man complained, sounding rather like one of the children.

Richard merely chuckled and shook his head, turning to the children who were now scrambling up the dais towards he and Eleanor, eager for their praise.
"I beat him! I beat him!" Cis crowed in delight.
"That you did!" Eleanor proclaimed as she bounced her little namesake on her knee "take it like a York George!" She added with a wink as she saw her eldest son sulking by his chair "here, Kit, take Nell for me would you?"