Evan brushed some hair from her face. “No,” he stated. He was glad she was home. Over the past six years, he'd gotten used to crowds; constant bustle and noise of being in a safehouse and then a busy apartment... when he happened to have a little time to himself, he found the quiet strange. Uncomfortable. “I can just wait until morning instead, while you're at the daycare with her or something.” It would give him something to do when there was no one else around, anyway, since everyone seemed to be pushing him to take time off.
“Good to know that you won't seek out other bed-warming means,” he teased, then chuckled a little and gently poked her in the nose, squishing his face.
When it came to holiday time, Evan had always been of the 'go-big-or-go-home' sort. Going big now, of course, was entirely different than it used to be... it was all reminiscent gestures or things that were already pre-owned. It didn't matter, though. Whether the meaning was thoughtful because it was something new that they'd wanted for ages, or something that reminded them of the old days, Evan loved doing things to make the people he cared about happy.
Though Evan wasn't a very strong skater, that didn't mean that he didn't want to encourage Mari's desire to learn. “Maybe I can come along to the next lesson. Show her that even if you don't really learn to be as good a skater as Mommy is, you can still have fun doing it...” he suggested. He was an okay skater, but he'd never be good enough to actually teach anyone else to do it.
He was quiet for a minute, then slid his arms from around her waist, then smoothed his hand along her slightly protruding tummy. His hand slid to his side, and then he turned around to the table. “So, I was sort of up to something,” he mused with a little smile. “And I'd been debating whether to give it to you now or to just sort of... wait until Christmas. But you know how hard it is for me to stop myself from giving a gift, so...” he turned around and offered the box out to her.
“Here. It's sort of one of the smaller gifts, but I couldn't wait.”