Disclaimer: They still belong to Shonda.
1
The thing with holidays and special occasions is there are people who love them and people who hate them, but there's no in-between. That doesn't mean people who love holidays love all holidays. There are people who love Christmas but hate Valentine's day. People who love New Year's Eve but hate birthdays. But the people who love them really do love them, and the people who hate them really do hate them. Which is why, instead of just celebrating their holiday or special occasion of choice, the holiday lovers spend half of the time convincing everyone around to join in on their holiday spirit, while the holiday haters try by all means to knock some sense into the others' heads.
The problem with holidays and special occasions is, they're usually tied to past experiences. So, if your cat died on New Year's Eve, you don't usually like celebrating that day. And if you met the love of your life on St. Patrick's Day, you tend to love that special date. Of course, this also means there's no way of convincing someone to like (or dislike) a particular holiday, because you can't change their memories and past experiences. What can (and does) happen, though, is someone suddenly changing their mind about holidays and special occasions. A Christmas hater suddenly loves the holidays, and a Valentine's lover decides not to celebrate it anymore. Things change.
And this is exactly what happened to the man that's currently trying to be as quiet as possible as she toasts two bagels and grabs the cream cheese from the fridge. He's not a holiday person. Or, at least, he wasn't a holiday person before she turned his life upside down. Before she turned his life upside down, and before she made him see everything under a different light, he didn't celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, St. Patrick's Day or anything resembling a holiday. He didn't buy cards for anniversaries, birthdays or any other special occasion. He refused to acknowledge their existence. But now, after she had worked her magic on him, not only did he not find anything wrong with celebrating holidays and buying cards, but he also thought their half anniversary deserved a celebration.
Which is why, at six in the morning, instead of sleeping with his arms around her, Pete was standing in the kitchen getting her favorite breakfast food ready for a breakfast in bed. He had everything planned. Bagels with cream cheese, because she'd told him they were her favorite since she was a little girl. Green Thing, because she was Addison, and she liked it. Coffee, with milk but no sugar, because that's the way she liked it. And, already on the tray, waiting for everything else to be ready, an envelope with her name on it. The actual present. Which he hoped she'd like.
It was already seven when he walked upstairs with the tray in his hands. Knowing she wasn't exactly a gentle sleeper, and she was even less gentle when she woke up, he left the tray on his bedside table (because it had been officially his since that day, two months earlier, when she'd given him a copy of her key) before he climbed into bed and proceeded to wake her up.
As much as she hated mornings in general and waking up in particular, Addison had to admit waking up like this was far from unpleasant. With his lips on her neck and the way he softly whispered "Wake up, Add" between kisses, because she was no longer Addison, Addie or Montgomery. She was just Add. And even though she still called him Pete (but not Wilder anymore), and she was slightly annoyed because it was the same name everyone else used, he kept telling her it was different when she said it. And it was true. Because noone else could make him smile just by saying his name.
She reached behind her to run her fingers through his hair as a way of letting him know she was awake, and a sleepy smile appeared on her face when she heard his voice again. "Guess what." Addison rolled over to face him and kissed him softly before she opened her eyes. "What." He had to admit he loved these little moments. The moments when they were just being themselves. He gently pushed her hair away from her face. "You've been with a quack for six months. How does that feel?" She let out a small chuckle and moved closer to him. "No self-respecting surgeon would socialize with a quack. I deserve to be shunned from the medical community."
He laughed and pulled her closer to him to kiss her slowly, his lips barely touching hers. "We could be shunned together." He was murmuring the words between kisses, and he knew she had a thing for that. "It'd be fun." She smiled against his lips and slid one of her hands into his hair, pulling him closer to properly kiss him as she felt his arms tighten around her waist. When her lips finally left his, she smiled warmly at him and whispered. "Happy half anniversary, Pete."
He couldn't begin voicing his reply before her eyes widened and her smile was replaced with a playful smirk. "Do I smell coffee? And bagels?" He laughed at the excited look on her face. "Breakfast in bed, Sherlock." She grinned as she sat up and he placed the tray on her lap. "Happy half anniversary, Add." And he placed a soft kiss on her cheek while she happily spread cream cheese on the bagles. "I may or may not have remembered too, you know." He smiled and took a bite off the bagle in her hand, earning himself a fake icy glare. "Where's my present?" She smiled at his impatience and handed him a box she'd hidden under the bed.
Addison tried to focus her attention on the breakfast goodies in front of her, because the way he was slowly and carefully tearing the layers of wrapping paper on his present was driving her insane. If he didn't finish quickly, she'd have to open it herself. He laughed when he finally opened the box and looked inside. "Five new shirts. Thanks, Add, I needed them." His smirk made her blush slightly. It wasn't her fault that he looked so good in button down shirts. And it also wasn't her fault that by the time she was half-way through undoing the buttons, she was always too impatient to do anything but pull the damn thing open and forget about the buttons. Which is why he currently didn't have a single shirt with all the buttons.
He smiled at her flushed cheeks and saw an envelope on the bottom of the box. Addison placed the tray on her bedside table to give him her full attention as he opened the more important part of his present. Inside the envelope, he found a handwritten note.
"Happy half anniversary!
I hope you've remembered, because if you haven't I'm probably feeling incredibly humiliated right now. If you have remembered, though, I'm definitely feeling very lucky and seriously happy. Anyway, if I've given you this I guess you have remembered, so here's your present:"
He stopped reading there and chuckled as he looked at her. "You ramble and act like a paranoid woman even in writing." She lightly smacked his arm, but the smile never left her face. "Keep reading."
"We're going away for a weekend, and you can choose everything. The place, the hotel, what we do, what we eat... it's all your call. So that's it, just tell me what you want and I'll make it happen.
Thanks for six amazing months,
Add.
P.S: Camping, hiking, fishing and other forms of contact with the great outdoors are not included in this offer. Real beds, baths and toilets are a must"
He smiled and gave her a soft kiss. "Thank you, Add. I already know where I wanna go." She cocked her eyebrow at him. "No great outdoors." He chuckled and handed her the envelope she hadn't noticed while she ate. "No great outdoors. Open it." She smiled when she saw the contents of the envelope. "Seattle?" He nodded and pulled her closer. "We promised Callie we'd go see her." She kissed him softly before replying. "It rains a lot in Seattle." He chuckled against her lips. "I have an umbrella. And it's big enough for both of us."
He kissed her again when her smile broadened at his words, and he held her closer when she parted his lips with her tongue. Luckily for them, their half anniversary had been on a Saturday. Which meant they didn't have to go to work, and could spend all day in bed if they wanted. And that's exactly what she was thinking about while she followed the lines on his chest with her fingertips as their kiss grew more urgent. And it was also what he was thinking about when he slid his hands under her Star Wars shirt.
As he looked at her, feeling her hands on his skin, he couldn't help but think he really, really loved special occasions.
A/N: Fluff again, sorry about that. I promise it won't all be like this, though :P
Please let me know what you thought, it really helps me if I know what I'm doing right or wrong :) I hope you enjoyed it!
