A/N: Finally! I've been trying to post this all day. Anyway, merry Christmas to everyone who celebrates it and happy almost new year! As promised, an Emma x Alex fic inspired by the season. Here are 12 Christmas drabbles with absolutely no correlation, no time frame, no nothing. Just cute drabbles - most of the them being established relationship because we all need more of that in our lives. There almost all ridiculously fluffy, sorry in advance, but that's what the holidays are for!
Hope you like it! And I still don't, and never will, own anything related to this book or web series.
One - Party planning
Alex almost regrets coming to the hall so early. People are rushing past him with wreaths and giant nutcrackers, others are discussing details over their smart phones and walkie-talkies, and the tech crew is repeating their "Testing 1, 2, 3" so loud that he thinks they're doing it for their own enjoyment. In all the hustle, he somehow manages to catches sight of Emma before she sees him. If he didn't already feel so haggard from merely making it through the building, he may have tried to surprise her. As it was, he just approaches her, hoping to look less put out than he was since he wasn't actually doing any of the work.
"Hello," he says, with as much holiday cheer as he can muster. Emma turns to face him, probably assuming he's one of the caterers or the music director coming to her with another problem to handle. Once she realizes it's him, however, her eyes light up.
"Alex!" she says, breaking the distance between them and wrapping herself in his arms. Her head is nestled into his shoulder and Alex wraps his arms around her waist because he knows he's probably the only thing keeping her upright just then.
"Should I ask how the party planning is coming along?"
She snorts at his question, "Not if you still want to have a girlfriend in five seconds," to which Alex laughs and wraps his arms around her more closely.
"Any safe topics, then?" he jokes, moving the pair of them out of the way as some of the workers push one of the huge Christmas trees to the other side of the hall.
"The weather. Talk to me about the weather," she answers, fighting off a yawn.
"Hmm, might not be so safe. Weather could mean certain people can't get here in time for the party."
She moves her head up to look at him, "You honestly have a knack for causing me stress, did you know that?"
"It's a gift and a curse, really."
She laughs, before one of the stage lights flickers and presumably burns out, and her laughter turns into a groan as she presses her face into his chest.
"Hey," he says, moving his hand up and down her back, "how much more do you have left to do?"
Emma pulls her head back to glare at him, so he amends his question. "I'm not asking what, I'm asking how many tasks are you still responsible for?"
In response, Emma pulls out her phone in order to check one of her many to-do lists for the evening ahead. After going over it a few times, she finally decides to say, "Four more things, on top of just checking to make sure everything is absolutely perfect."
Alex turns slightly so that he can make out the list more clearly. Nothing on it was particularly complicated, mostly telling people what to do and checking that those things were done correctly.
"Okay," Alex says, pulling Emma out of her haze of checking the list for the tenth time. "I'm taking you home to get some rest before tonight."
She looks at him like he must be dense. "Did you miss the part where I said four and not zero tasks left to accomplish?" she says, with her eyebrow raised over her tired eyes.
"Nope, understood that well enough," Alex replies, wrapping his arm around her waist and pulling her towards the front door of the building.
"Alex, I can't just leave. Everything needs to be –"
"Perfect, yes. That's why I brought you the perfect assistants," he nods his head off to the side. Emma follows the direction to see Isabella and Annie standing next to the head technician, probably talking about fixing that stupid light. They both seem to notice her at the same time and smile over with waves of encouragement.
"How?" she breathes out through her rapidly forming smile.
"I just asked Isabella to drive down early. Annie was already willing to help before I even asked. Together, I figured they might just be enough to match the great Emma Woodhouse."
She had given up trying to fight the hand at her back, so as they reached the door, Alex opted to grab her hand instead. Using that as a stabilizer, Emma leans over and presses her lips to his softly.
"Thank you."
"Merry Christmas, Emma," he says as he leads her to his car.
"Oh, this had so better not be my gift," she complains. Alex shrugs in response. She spends the majority of the time in the car trying to get her real gift out of him, before falling asleep ten minutes away from home.
Two - Denied gifts
Emma was outside on her father's terrace pouting. In the fresh Californian air, she hadn't brought a jacket outside with her and was almost certain one of the adults would bring her one sooner or later. And when they did, she would give them a piece of her mind about one Alex Knightley.
She was picking fluff off of her red Christmas dress when she heard the door open behind her. Refusing to let her guard down, Emma waits for whoever it is to speak first, even though she has no intention of letting them speak for very long. It isn't surprising when she feels a jacket wrap around her shoulders. What does surprise her, however, is when Alex sits down next to her on the bench.
"If you think getting a cold will convince your father to get you that," he moves his hands around, "bag of yours, I hate to tell you, but he doesn't even know you're out here."
She narrows her eyes at him, before slipping her arms into the sleeves of what she just noticed is his jacket. "Why are you out here?"
"Did you not hear what I just said?" he says, turning to face her. "Your dad wasn't going to come help you. I wasn't going to let you freeze."
"Alex, we live in California," she's crossing her legs and looking out at the fence around her father's estate. It wasn't like he couldn't afford the handbag she wanted, which meant this was even more Knightley's fault.
"Whatever, Emma. Just stop pouting; he might not be looking for you now, but your dad will be worried about you sooner or later," he's rubbing his hands together as if to keep them warm.
"Can you stop telling me what to do? You've already ruined Christmas for me, what else is there for you to take away from me?" She slumps further down on the bench and even though she can't see it, she's sure Alex is rolling his eyes at her.
"All I did was tell your father not to buy his fourteen year old daughter a handbag that costs more than…well…a lot of things that are far more practical," now she knows he's rolling his eyes, "I didn't know that was enough to ruin all of Christmas."
"Notice how no one else had a problem with it?" She huffs, turning to look at him for the first time in the conversation.
"Just because no one else wanted to admit that it was a bad idea to your face, doesn't mean it wasn't a bad idea. Did you really think Isabella or John was going to contradict you?"
"Well, no. See, it's Christmas, people are generally more giving at this time of year. I know that's a foreign concept to you, Knightley," she brushes her hair out of her face as she narrows her eyes at him.
Alex shrugs, "I guess I'll just return your gift then, since I have no idea what it means to be giving."
She turns to look at him with a raised eyebrow, "You're lying," but even to her, it sounds like a question.
"I don't know, you made me sound pretty terrible. Seems like something I'd do," he rocks his shoulder against hers. She fails to hide her smirk as she rocks back into him.
"Don't, please," she says, though the last word sounds strange in her mouth.
Alex laughs, "Well how could I, when you were just begging your father for it not ten minutes ago?"
It takes a second for what he said to click in Emma's head, and then she's nudging him with her fingertips and saying, "No, you didn't! No, you didn't!" Alex just laughs and shrugs his shoulders. "You'll have to come inside and see for yourself," before he gets up and heads back inside.
And that's how Alex Knightley got Emma Woodhouse back into her father's house, for which Mr. Woodhouse was very thankful. It's also how he got a very hard punch in the shoulder when Emma opened her gift to find that he did not, in fact, buy her the handbag. Once he could feel them again, he shrugged his shoulders and stood by his belief that she really didn't need one.
It didn't hurt that he eventually bought her one many years later, but she was far more mature then. Besides, a gift like that makes a lot more sense coming from a boyfriend than a family friend.
Three - Away for the holidays
Emma hadn't realized how boring it was going to be at the office without any work to do. She should have expected as much, considering she had given everyone else the day off and wasn't even really supposed to be there. But the day after Christmas wasn't a holiday, so she couldn't justify staying at home.
Well, truthfully, Emma really just didn't want to. It was hardly worth it when her father spent her entire time home talking about Alex. Wondering what he was up to for Christmas and why he hadn't spent the holidays with them and whether they should call him to wish him a good holiday wherever he was. Emma didn't want to call Alex, she barely wanted to think about him. And that was well deserved, considering he just ditched them all for some skiing in Aspen with his college buddies, not even letting them know until two days before he left.
Emma knew if she had stayed home any longer, thinking of all the plans that had to be arranged because of her selfish business partner, she probably would have ended up punching something. So the office seemed like the next best choice.
At least here it was quieter. Though, quiet of course meant dreadfully boring. Without a new project, she was barely distracted from Alex's absence. So she spent a few hours updating her social media, which, though not entirely enjoyable, was a great way to let the time slip away from her.
Around noon, she heard someone walk in the hallway past her office, something she was entirely used to. Emma knew she had given her employees the day off, so she figured it was one of the cleaning staff. However, when the footsteps stopped, and began walking back towards her door, she recognized the light rise and fall of a certain man's dress shoes hitting the tiles. She would know, she picked them out.
"Emma?" Alex's voice asks the question hesitantly, after he'd lightly rapped his knuckles against the door. And, honestly, in the most naïve part of her brain, Emma thought she could actually get through this conversation okay.
"Ah, so the prodigal skier returns," she practically mumbles, turning ever so slightly to face him. Alex evidently thinks she's trying to be funny because he laughs and joins her on her bench.
"Four days away, I figured you would have started sounding the alarms by now."
"Yes, four boring days of holiday traditions," she's rolling her eyes and moving away from him slightly.
"I don't think I'm crucial enough to ruin your Christmas traditions, Emma," his smile is still in place but it's slipping the further the conversation continues.
"Need I remind you that you were behind making most of those traditions?" As she says it, she wants to poke him in the shoulder, but for some reason that feels like her letting her guard down.
"Are you mad at me?" he asks, still smiling, because he still thinks she is just being dramatic.
Emma finds it hard to respond. She knows the answer but doesn't want to rise to his bait, so she says, "What is wrong with you?"
Alex's face slowly drops as he registers her words. He stops trying to meet her eyes, to close the space between them on the bench, to turn this conversation into a joke. Instead, he mutters, "So you are mad at me."
"Alex, you were gone. At Christmas!"
"My friends had been planning this for a while. What did you want me to do?" He's starting to sound frustrated, which only fuels her own anger because he had no right to be mad at her.
"Oh, please. I've known your friends as long as you have, Alex. They wouldn't have planned a trip like this, they wouldn't have done it ahead of time, and they wouldn't have been lost without your company," she enumerates the flaws in his lie on her fingers.
"Are you saying you were lost without my company?" he asks, raising an eyebrow. Emma realizes that, here or at home, she still really wants to punch something. Specifically, Alex's face.
"It wasn't just me you were walking out on, Alex. Did you really think that my dad, or your parents weren't going to notice you not being there?"
"Well, I know those people pretty well too, Emma. And I know they would have respected my choices, either way," his frustration is slowly becoming actual anger.
Emma realizes that he's right. That, though their parents had been upset that Alex couldn't make it, they had respected his decision and wished him well. The only person who couldn't accept that he wasn't there was her, and she didn't know why. So instead of exploring that, she just continues to argue with him, barely giving him a chance to argue back. Their voices rise to shouts and they lose all pretense of being sarcastic and biting, preferring instead to be ruthless.
Then, out of nowhere, Alex's hand is on her waist and she has a fistful of his shirt in her hands. Emma looks up into his eyes and realizes what is about to happen next because Alex's really wants her to shut up. So she uses the hand already on his chest to push him back, practically jumps off the bench and starts breathing heavily as if she had actually done what she had felt like doing. What she had really wanted to do.
But she can't think straight and she hates these circumstances too much to even think about going through with it. So she grabs her purse and leaves her office without even a backwards glance, knowing that Alex had a key and could lock up once she was gone.
Alex doesn't catch her until she's already at her car. And by the time he's there, he isn't thinking about all the problems this will cause; problems that had been swirling around in his head for a long time. Instead, he just grabs her face in his hands and kisses her, using what little oxygen he has left from running after her. And, thankfully, Emma kisses him back, because she was tired of hating the holidays thanks to one Alexander Knightley.
Four - Christmas morning
Alex's wakes up to the feeling of being incessantly poked in the shoulder, coupled with the sound of his name being song in several different octaves. He rubs his hand across his eyes lightly, before blinking to see Emma looming over him, her hair cascading down by his ear. Admittedly, there are worse ways to wake up.
"Good morning," she sings out cheerily, her hand sprawled across his chest. Alex feels himself blinking again, trying to adjust to the light, as he turns to look at the clock on his bed side table.
"Emma, it is five in the morning."
"Mhm, perfect time to get up," she says, adjusting herself so that she's sitting more comfortably on the bed. Alex turns, absentmindedly letting his hand crawl up and down her arm, before asking, "On what planet does that make sense?"
Emma groans as she goes back to leaning over him, "You're always up early. Besides, it's Christmas morning, Alex!"
Alex chuckles, snuggling further into the blankets. "Which is why I'm staying in bed for at least two more hours," he emphasizes the point by turning to press the side of his face into the pillow and shutting his eyes.
Then, he's hit, very hard, in the head. With a pillow.
"Emma," he whines as he reaches out blindly to grab the weapon from her. "Alex," she whines back, in her best mocking tone, as she holds the pillow just out of his reach. His hands make contact with her waist instead and he uses that to his full advantage, by pulling her down beside him on the bed. In the same motion, he rolls to the side so now he's the one leaning over her, suddenly feeling much more awake.
"Let me at least sleep in until six," he protests, looking down at her and wondering if he really needs the extra hour or if he's doing this just to spite her.
"Or," Emma raises herself up off the bed, "we could both stay in bed for a few more hours." Then, she's leaning in and pressing her lips to his and he is most definitely not thinking about sleep anymore.
As the kiss gets heated, Alex moves his hand from the sheets into Emma's hair. His other arm is wrapped securely around her waist, keeping her from falling back against the pillows. Emma's hands are playing with the hem of his shirt and he was so lost in the feelings of his fingertips in her hair and the touch of her hands on his hips that he didn't even think to take it off. He was almost too distracted to hear his phone buzzing on the bedside table. Almost.
Alex breaks the kiss, breathing heavily and feeling disoriented as he reaches out to grab his phone. He lets it ring a bit as he tries to catch his breath, pressing his forehead into Emma's. He finally picks up and hears his brother's voice on the other line, reminding them that the families would be visiting around eight thirty at the latest. If John notices that Alex is out of breath on the phone, he doesn't mention it.
After assuring him that they'd be ready, Alex says goodbye to his brother and drops the phone on the bed. His hands return to the sides of Emma's face and he's kissing her again like nothing happened even though his lungs are still burning.
Emma pulls back a bit to say, "Maybe we should…"
"Probably best if we…" he tries to finish for her.
"Presents?"
"Yes. That." And the two of them race downstairs to the Christmas tree like children. It's quiet and nice and just between the pair of them. For now, anyway; they had too many plans on Christmas for this ease to last more than a half hour. And even later on, when they hear the knock at their door signifying the first of many holiday events, Alex really wishes they could have 'slept in' just a bit longer.
But he knew he had many other days ahead for just that and, after all, you can't get everything you want for Christmas.
Five - Holiday photos
Alex paces up and down the linoleum floors of the studio, listening to his shoes clack against the tiles. He checks his watch for the fifth time in the last five minutes and suppresses a groan that she still wasn't there. His phone had been taunting him in his pocket, but he knew better than to check up on Emma so he let her take her time.
Harrison Lively had given them the studio for two hours and that time slot was slowly dwindling down to less than sixty minutes the longer it took for Emma to get there. Alex didn't particularly care about how much time they spent here, but he knew Emma would have a fit if they didn't get at least a dozen decent shots of the pair of them.
Alex was about to check the time again when he heard the familiar click of Emma's heels on the tiled floors. He looked up to see her hurrying over to him, her lips set in a thin line.
"Don't you dare say a word," she practically spat out as she moved to hang up her jacket. Alex moved over to her and gently grabbed her arm, "As long as you're okay?" he was searching her eyes to make sure nothing had gone seriously wrong.
She offers him a bitter laugh, "I'm an hour late, I look awful and I think I'm coming down with a cold. But I am not physically injured, thank you for checking, Alex." Then she's pulling her arm back from him and walking over to Harrison who had just entered the room.
"I'm so sorry for the delay, it's just that time of year," Emma tells him, a bright smile on her face.
"It's no problem, Miss Woodhouse. I'm afraid I'll have to cut down the number of photos from fifty to twenty in order to fit them all in the remaining time frame, however."
Emma's face was trying to tell him that he could obviously make an exception for them, but her heart wasn't in it. It had been a long day. "That's fine, thank you, Mr. Lively," Alex spoke for the pair of them as he pulled Emma back to where they would be taking the photographs. She glared at him but doesn't manage to get a word in before he says, "Emma, it's you. We'll get the perfect photo on the first try and you know it. No sense in wasting the man's time."
She raises her eyebrows at this, surprised that Alex was trying to fix things for a change. But then, she seems to think he was being sarcastic, which, to be fair, he kind of was considering her melodrama. Her surprise turns into a glare, "Fine, whatever."
Harrison is giving them directions on ways to pose and the best angles to catch the light, as he checks all of his equipment. Getting into position proves a lot more difficult than Alex was prepared for, and that's mostly because Emma is refusing to let him touch her. Which, naturally, is making it tricky to get a good holiday photo out of them.
Finally, fed up with it and upon realizing they were wasting time, Alex wraps his arms around Emma's waist from behind and says, "You look perfect, you know that?" And even though she straightens her spine and pulls herself out of his grasp, Alex notices her fighting a smile just as Harrison says that he's ready to start.
Emma fixes her hair for the umpteenth time before holding her hand out to grab Alex's. He steps forward and grabs both of her hands instead. She looks up at him confused as he rubs his thumbs against the back of her hands saying, "I love you, Emma," and although it wasn't the first time he said it, her reaction was just as good as it had always been. Her face lifted and she breathed out a soft smile, then Alex moved to press a lingering kiss on her forehead just as the camera took a picture.
The rest of the shoot turns out to be a lot easier, especially once he gets Emma to start laughing. He even manages to convince the photographer to get thirty photos, which made Emma a lot happier.
However, when the prints arrive a few days later, Alex discovers he had been right to assume that they would get it right on the first try. Emma goes through all of the photos but eventually agrees that the first one they took, with him kissing her forehead and her soft smile, was the best of the bunch.
The pair of them take the photo to their friend Marlene, who's designing their Christmas cards. She also loves the photograph and is happy to add the words "Our first married Christmas" in a cursive script. And Emma just has to roll her eyes at how cheesy the line is, but then Alex is kissing the side of her head and she really doesn't honestly care.
Six - Hosting
When they arrived back at their condo, Alex brought all of their collective party favours and gifts into the house. Thankfully, Mr. Woodhouse had thought to give him a bag so that he didn't have to lug the many presents back in his arms. God knows, Emma wouldn't have helped him with it.
"Do you want these upstairs or under the tree?" Alex asks, dropping his keys in the bowl by the door.
"Whichever," Emma replies, sounding even more tired than she had seemed on the car ride home.
Alex opted for the tree, not that it didn't have enough gifts under it already. But it was closer than their bedroom and he didn't want to deal with putting everything in the wrong places right now.
With the gifts under the tree, Alex felt Emma's hand in his hair and leaned into her touch. "Sleep or alcohol?" he questions, hoping to hear her laughter in response.
She does laugh, before removing her hand from his hair and sitting calmly on the den's couch. He turned to face her. "Neither, just you," she replies, when she had finally found a comfortable sitting position.
Alex smiled brightly before joining her, taking up the space beside her. "What can I do for you?" he asks as he puts his arm behind her on the couch.
She turns and grabs his tie. It was a horrid Christmas tie with snowmen and holly on it. Emma had complained from the moment she saw it, which was one way of explaining why she slowly started taking it off him.
"You're very stiff at parties," Emma comments, not noticing him trying to hide his laughter at her double entendre.
"Well your father happens to be very intimidating," he responds, as Emma drops the tie on the floor. She rolls her eyes, "You've seen what John and Isabella get away with, right?" her fingers slowly undoing the buttons on his shirt.
"It probably helps that they're married."
"Maybe," she shrugs, seeming to get bored of the buttons and moving her hands to the collar of his shirt instead. "Or maybe the fact that you're always off with somebody else," he adds, shrugging himself.
She looks shocked, "I was helping host!"
"It's a family dinner, Emma, and it wasn't even your house," he isn't complaining, just thinks she needs to know that not every event needs her forceful hand. She looks like she's trying to decide whether she was angry for his comment or apologetic for her actions. Alex saves her the headache by saying, "I'm not mad at you, Emma."
She nods, "I just get so busy. Then I realize how much I miss you, even though you're there but you're not really with me."
Alex smiles softly and kisses the tip of her nose. She makes a face that turns his smile into a full laugh.
"Yeah, that's not what I missed," she mutters before leaning forward to press her lips against his. He's surprised and still grinning, which makes the whole kiss that much better. Soon after, Alex moves his hands up to cup her face and pull her closer, which really wasn't possible but damned if he didn't try. Emma pushes her hands against his suit jacket until he removes his hands from her face to pull it off. The jacket joins his tie on the floor and his hands return to her face. Alex pushes her lightly back against the couch armrest, his hands travelling from her face to her hair. The palms of her hands were pushing into his ribs before they wrapped around his waist to hold him closer.
Then, Emma breaks the kiss so that she can breathe. Alex starts kissing her neck, causing her to laugh. "Alex," she whines and he stops automatically.
"Sleep?"
"Sleep," she confirms, "Isabella needs to do early morning shopping, apparently."
Alex nods, kissing her profusely on the cheek. Emma laughs again as she untangles herself from underneath him. "Good night, Alex," she says, before she skips up the stairs. "Oh and I lied, put all the gifts in the right places before bed. Thanks!" He groans and decides to partake in some alcohol after all.
Seven - Holiday wear
Emma's on his bed reading, or rather leafing through, one of his Stephen King novels, when he enters the room.
"No," she says, barely looking up for more than a second.
"Emma, this is the third outfit I've tried on in the last hour," he groans, because unlike Emma, he did not enjoy trying on clothes upon clothes upon clothes. Peeling the suit jacket off himself, he joins her on his bed, picking up the book she abandoned at his outburst.
"And you'll try on a hundred more until you find one that works!" He wants to protest but she's already on her feet and walking to his closet. "You mean, until you find one that's Emma approved," he responds, rolling his eyes and falling back against his bed. He feels, what he assumes is yet another combination of sweaters, dress shirts, and ties, dropping next to him.
"You say that like it's a bad thing," she's talking and pulling him up off the bed by the hand. When he's back on his own feet, Alex tightens his hold on her hand. "It's not like I have anybody to impress," he complains, "It isn't like I'm not dating the boss or anything," and then he's leaning in to kiss her but she pushes him back, rolling her eyes.
"The holiday gala is not just about impressing dates, Mr. Knightley. We're also trying to get new investors this year," she hands him the shirt and sweater combo she had just picked out.
"If you're in the room, it won't really matter what I wear," Alex says, taking the clothes from her and moving to hang them on the back of his door. "I really don't think my lack of fashion sense will bring down the company."
Emma's back on his bed, going through a pile of ties to see if she likes any of them. "Why isn't 'I want you to look nice' a good enough reason for you, exactly?" she sounds like she's rearing up for an argument and he really would rather not do this before the party tonight. So he just sighs, audibly, and buttons up his new shirt.
"Wait!" Emma practically shouts as she races over. Alex blinks down at her as she raises multiple ties to his chest, "What?"
"If you pair that shirt with a vest and one of these ties, it might be a passable outfit," she says, dismissively, because she's more focused on the ties than the conversation. "Passable? Hardly sounds very Emma approved."
"Stop saying that," she sings out to him, just as she seems to narrow it down to two ties. She then asks, "Which one?" before holding up two almost identical ties to him.
"Oh, so, you're actually interested in my input now?" he jokes.
"You know, this offer stands for the next five seconds. Five, four…"
Alex laughs, "I'm kidding, Emma. Whichever one you choose is fine with me." She looks up into his eyes, as if to check if he's being sarcastic, then accepts his honesty and wraps the tie with the burgundy diamonds on it around his neck. She's actually really terrible at tying ties, but he lets her do it anyway; he rarely passes on opportunities to have her that close to him.
First, Emma groans, then she whines "Fix it," because the knot in the tie begins resembling something neither of them would soon be able to undo. Alex smiles, undoes her attempted knot, and guides her hands through tying it properly. He doesn't really want to let go of her hands when he's finished, but he knows she'll ask him to grab the vest from his closet to complete the look anyway. So he walks over, grabs it, and pulls it over his arms before turning back to his girlfriend.
"And?"
Emma shrugs, leaning against his bed post while crossing her arms, "How does it feel?"
Alex scoffs, "Fine. Now, how does it look?" She walks over to him, seeming to take the combination in from every angle. Looking somewhat satisfied, she shrugs again before raising on her toes to kiss his cheek, "Acceptable."
He finds himself laughing and wrapping his arms around her at the same time. "Acceptable? Three hours of costume fittings, and I get acceptable?"
She cocks her head to the side, "It's not like you have anyone to impress." Alex laughs, "True. But I hear there's going to be investors there tonight. Really need to look like I mean business."
"Well, in that case, you look perfect," she nods, before adding, "for the boring stuff, anyway."
He pulls her closer, "And for the not so boring stuff?"
Emma backs out of his arms to look him over again. "Yeah, I think we agreed to leave that to me," she replies, giving him her signature wink before slipping out of his room and heading downstairs. He's left shaking his head and smiling, wondering how he found himself at this point. And wishing it would never get away from him.
Eight - Eggnog
Okay, to be fair, he wasn't in the room when his friend Lyle offered Emma the eggnog and Baileys. In addition, Alex had no idea that she would enjoy the drink as much as she did, or, by extension, drink as much of it as she did. So he was completely unprepared when he found her giggling against a wall as Matt tries, for what Alex assumes is not the first time, to ask her out.
"I promise I clean up nicely, you would hardly even recognize me," Matt winks, looking to be the calmest and most collected person in the house full of drunk people. His Christmas sweater had actual lights blinking in it and he had a red and green stripped tie wrapped around his head. The guy hadn't touched a drop of alcohol and he was still the most charming man in the room.
Emma laughs at his attempt, though, and shakes her head as she takes another sip from Lyle's delicious concoction. "I'm not, nor will I ever be, that drunk, Matt."
Matt grins in response and notices Alex watching the entire exchange in pure shock. He beckons him over with his hand, while asking Emma, for what Alex assumes is not the first time, if she wanted to switch to water. She shook her head intensely, practically hugging the solo cup to herself.
"Hey Knightley, Miss Woodhouse and I were just talking about what a wonderful opportunity a date with me would be," Matt's talking with a grin on his face as he turns to face Alex. If Alex didn't know him as well as he did, he would have assumed that Matt was asking to be punched in the face. But Alex knew that Matt was so focused on Emma because she was wasted and there were plenty of guys at the party, who Alex didn't know, who would be paying way more attention to her if she wasn't already preoccupied. So when he looks at his friend, he hopes his Thank you is written clearly on his face.
Emma takes a few seconds to recognize Alex, but when she does, she gets this look in her eyes that confirms exactly how much alcohol is currently coursing through her system. "Knightley!" she bubbles out, looking as though his name is the best thing she's said in hours. And even though she's drunk, he really can't stop himself from seeing her as adorable.
"Hi," he manages to get out because he doesn't know what else to say. Matt snorts before returning to the party, his only farewell a slap to Alex's back that wasn't entirely necessary.
Emma continues to lean against the wall, which is fine by him considering he worries she might fall over if she tries to move. Alex, however, moves to occupy the space Matt was standing in previously, right in front of her, when her hands grab his arms.
"Wait, don't go!" she whines, looking like he had just kicked a puppy. He slowed his shifting to a slow-motion speed so as to prove he was only shifting about and not leaving her. Emma seems to breathe a bit easier when she notices that he isn't moving anymore, but doesn't remove her hands from his arms, even as her thousand-watt smile slips back into place.
"Lyle is amazing. This drink is amazing. This party is amazing!" Emma's laughing and Alex's decides not to contradict her on any of that. In truth, the party was slowly dying down, and the alcohol would leave her with a bitter taste in her mouth for days afterwards. But he lets her have her night, she probably wouldn't remember a lot of it.
"Matt really needs to stop hitting on me, though," Emma continues, leaning her head back against the wall and using his arms to pull him closer to her. Alex was really not liking where this was headed but felt inclined to say, "I don't think that'll be a problem anymore."
"Well no, now you're here. To hit on me, presumably," she laughs before taking another sip of her drink.
"Why would you think I would hit on you?" Alex questions, his face painted with genuine confusion.
Emma removes her hand from his arm, for which he was very thankful…for about 0.2 seconds before she ran her finger down his nose and replied, "Because you'd be good at it."
Alex has to close his eyes for a second to regain his focus, but even then he doesn't know what to say in response to that.
"I also look amazing. And it's Christmas," Emma continues, as she drinks more of her eggnog, completely oblivious to his internal struggle.
Alex rolls his eyes, "It's December 10th, Emma," even though the festive atmosphere and his own ridiculous Santa hat were cause for some debate.
Emma giggles more before saying, "You didn't deny that I looked great. See, hitting on me!" And Alex blushes against his own free will, wondering how anyone could possibly always get their way.
Thankfully, he's saved from further embarrassment, and he means that because Emma's hands were lingering from his arms to his waist. Lyle is telling everyone to go home, and since there's only a handful of people left hanging around, it's actually a pretty good strategy. Alex says his goodbyes and happy holidays before helping Emma get home safely.
The night doesn't truly feel complete until the next evening, though, when his phone starts ringing and he sees Emma's number on the display.
"Hello?" but his question is met by silence for a good minute and a half before Emma is groaning with embarrassment, "Oh my god." And Alex ends up laughing so hard that not only does he find it hard to breathe, but Emma eventually laughs right along with him, despite her many "It's not funny!" protests.
Nine - Tree lighting
Emma's mother was not picky about Christmas in the slightest. She didn't care how many gifts were under the tree, what type of weather they got, or how well the dinner tasted (excluding, maybe the desserts). But the one thing she always wanted to be perfect was the huge Christmas tree in the front foyer of their home. Because no matter how the holidays were going, no matter how many things had fallen apart, or who came to dinner and who didn't, the tree was always there to remind her of Christmas and that left her feeling content. Her husband enjoyed teasing her about this, but never gave less than a hundred and ten percent when decorating the skyscraper of a tree. Even after she passed.
When Emma first introduced Alex to their tree lighting tradition, she felt like it was an intimate moment. The symbol meant so much to her family, especially when her mother was no longer around to enjoy it. But Isabella wanted to share the moment with John, she thought he would find it impressive, so the whole Knightley clan was invited one year.
Alex and Emma had been friends since they first met, but they weren't really extremely close yet the first time they visited. He teased her and smiled when she pouted and everything felt very normal.
The four of them, she, Isabella, John, and Alex, sat on her mother's Christmas quilt which had been laid out in front of the unlit tree. Alex's parents stood on the stairs, keeping an eye on both the tree and the children at the same time. Particularly John and Isabella, who seemed drawn together no matter how often they were pulled apart. Emma watched her dad sit contently on the stairs, a remote in hand. He used to look so excited on this day, running around with a ridiculous Santa hat as he draped her and her sister with tinsel. Now he just stepped back from the festivities, only really there to flick the switch.
Alex was telling her a Christmas related joke, which she knew she'd be required to laugh at no matter how bad the punch line was, when her father cleared his throat.
"Everybody ready?" her father questioned, as Isabella grabbed John's arm in the excitement. On his part, John smiled over at her, and in retrospect everyone had suspected that their marriage was inevitable given the look they gave each other just then. On Alex's part, he wrapped tinsel around Emma's face and laughed when she complained. They were all more than ready for the tree to light up.
Emma's father pointed the remote at the tree and it lit up like…well, like a Christmas tree. But beyond anything the Knightley's had ever seen. It blinked a hundred different colours at once, reflecting off the giant chandelier in the Woodhouse's foyer. Several bobbles started spinning and hidden speakers began playing soft Christmas music.
John started clapping first and soon his entire family joined in. Isabella positively beamed, Emma rolled her eyes before smiling at her father. He smiled back softly before disappearing into the den.
Emma turned to Alex who was nodding and saying, "Nice job, Woodhouse." She grimaced, and shook her head, "Don't call me that, Knightley." He rocks against her shoulder and she pushes him over. John laughs and Isabella rolls her eyes.
Most years aren't very different. Both families are very thankful for that. But some things obviously do change.
When they're in their twenties, John and Isabella become serious. They spend the entire time leaning on each other, wrapped in each other's arms. Alex and Emma take great pride in ridiculing them the whole time, as they always do at family functions. John and Isabella humour them, before disappearing numerous times during the night. They almost miss the tree lighting before sliding onto the quilt just as Emma's dad grabs the remote.
"Nice of you to join us," Emma jokes, rolling her eyes as Isabella leans into John's arms.
"Always, Emma," John makes a face at her and winks; it's always so weird to see a face that resembles Alex's look so relax.
"Yeah, always, Emma," Alex imitates his brother, wrapping his arms around Emma. She laughs, leaning back and placing her hand on her forehead. "Thanks, Alex," she jokes, her voice sounding desperate. Isabella hits them both until they fall apart laughing. Alex holds his hand up for a high five, Emma rolls her eyes and indulges him.
"You guys are ridiculous," Isabella groans. Emma and Alex look at each other before saying, "You guys are ridiculous," in their best Isabella-voice. Isabella narrows her eyes and turns back to the tree.
"Everybody ready?" their parents ask as Emma's dad wiggles the remote in anticipation. He looked a lot happier these past few years; Emma wonders if it's because John and Isabella are so happy. Maybe they remind him of him and her mother.
Her and Alex are still laughing when they nod and John says, "Go for it, Mr. Woodhouse." The light begins from the bottom of the tree and grows upwards slowly. This year, the tree is much softer, with only golden lights strewn across, and the music is a soft Christmas tune played only on the violin. It's so breathtaking, everyone is left in shock. John recovers first and kisses Isabella's cheek. Emma groans, snapping everyone else out of their daze.
Isabella laughs, "I really can't wait for you to bring someone to this, sis." Emma snorts and shakes her head to express her thoughts on that subject.
She's eventually proven wrong – a rare occurrence for Emma.
It's a handful of years later when she's sitting on her mother's quilt with Alex's hand in hers. He's telling her something about a new program he'd downloaded, suggested to him by Martin, about math. Or something. Emma didn't really know, but she was happy to indulge him for at least a little while, until her father puts the finishing touches on the tree.
Even though Isabella and John aren't there to mock them – they were off skiing in Whistler – Emma and Alex were still very reserved. Emma assumes it's because their parents don't have the other two to distract them. Still, their interlocked hands were a nice touch to the holiday atmosphere.
This year, their parents join them on the quilt. Emma's father is practically bouncing beside her as he makes sure everyone is prepared for the big reveal. In spite of this excitement, he holds the remote towards Emma and says, "Don't tell Bella," with a wink.
She grins, taking the remote in both hands so Alex has to move his hand to the small of her back. Leaning into his hand, Emma grins and presses the ON button. The tree lights up with traditional red and green lights. Aside from the string of glass bobbles that reflect the Christmas lights, it looks very normal.
"Dad," Emma whines, while her father pats her knee with his signature look that means Give it a minute, Emma. So she does, waiting for the tree to do something impressive. But it doesn't, just continues looking the same. But, after a while, she begins to notice little things. Like the ornaments that have pictures of her and Isabella from their childhood. Or the popcorn strings that she used to make with her mother back when she was a child. It's all so simple but so perfect too.
"I really like it, Mr. Woodhouse," Alex says, his parents also singing their praises. Emma's dad grins at Alex, before getting up and returning the remote to the base of the tree.
"You're sucking up, aren't you?" Emma asks, turning to face Alex after their parents disappear into the kitchen for more wine.
"No, I don't lie to get my way, Emma," he makes a face at her. She laughs, "Hey, no teasing, it's Christmas."
"That's kind of our tradition," he says, pulling her into his arms. "Well we need a better one," she responds into his neck. "My dad lights up that tree every year for my mom. You'll need to step your game up."
He laughs and they begin throwing ideas back and forth. But then Alex decides that, like most things between them, it will happen when it happens.
Ten - Advent calendar
It wasn't Christmas at the Knightley's without some sort of excitement. However, this year, Emma and Alex hardly seemed a part of all the commotion.
Actually, they were sitting on his bed in the middle of their collective family get together. John and Isabella had just taken over the holiday by announcing that they were engaged. And even though he knew Emma was happy for them, Alex had also seen her climb up the stairs of his parents' house, away from the festivities. She hadn't seemed to mind him finding her, seated on his bed eating the chocolate out of one of his old advent calendars. So he just took the seat beside her, figuring she would talk when she was ready.
"This chocolate's disgusting," she says after a few minutes of silence.
"I'm pretty sure that's last year's calendar," Alex replies, noticing the year at the bottom of it. Emma makes a face like she wants to clean out her mouth with dish soap, but then opens day number eighteen and eats the treat anyways.
"Shouldn't you be downstairs celebrating?" Emma asks, mouth still filled with chocolate. Alex reaches over and opens day number twenty-three before responding. "Shouldn't you?"
She looks at him, extremely annoyed, "You just ate those out of order," she points to the days in between eighteen and twenty-three that still had closed doors.
"You're sitting on my bed eating an advent calendar from last Christmas while your sister is celebrating her engagement downstairs, and the biggest flaw in that picture is me not eating the right day?"
She huffs, staring at him like she knew he was right but she was never going to say it. "Is it really that hard to eat them in order, Alex? All you had to do was take day nineteen!"
"I couldn't find it!" he protests, turning on his bed to face her.
"Oh, so, because something isn't worth the work, you're just going to give up? Skip ahead and eat some other piece of chocolate because it's easier," she shoves the calendar onto his bed looking very much like she wanted to hit him. It's then that he realizes, this wasn't about the stupid chocolate.
"I'm sorry, okay," he says, taking the calendar from beside her and opening day nineteen. She rolls her eyes at him but smiles when he pops the chocolate into his mouth. She was right, the chocolate did taste pretty terrible.
"She didn't notice that I left, right?" Emma asks, changing the subject and grabbing a tissue to wipe her chocolate fingers on.
"No, she was too busy being hugged to death by my mother," Emma laughs at this, "you would think she never expected John to get married with how she's reacting." Alex smiles at her, glad to see her mood improving some. Of course, he has to bring her back down with his next question, but he was a curious guy. "So what's up with this?"
She catches his eyes and shrugs. "Can't a girl just need some alone time with a stale chocolate calendar?"
Alex laughs, "Some girls, maybe. Not you, though. Especially when Annie's famous red velvet cupcakes are waiting downstairs for you." Emma runs her hand through her hair and shrugs again.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing!"
"Emma, do you know how terrifying it is that you are completely willing to let me tell people that you left the party to have 'alone time with a stale chocolate calendar'?" He pulls the straightest face he can muster but once she starts laughing he has to join in.
"Okay, so maybe it wasn't the chocolate that lured me to your," Emma looks around herself, "extremely tacky childhood bedroom."
"I take offense to that."
"I would be worried for you if you didn't," she jokes, stretching her feet out in front of her. "He dumped me. On Christmas. Because he's an asshole."
It took Alex a few seconds to understand what she meant. "Richard?"
"No, my other boyfriend, Alex," she rolls her eyes, "Well, ex-boyfriend now. Happy holidays and all."
He wasn't sure what to do, he was never very good at comforting people, even Emma. Well, especially Emma because he knew she wouldn't want to be coddled or told falsehoods. So he just kind of sits there until she leans her head on his shoulder.
"I hate Christmas," she huffs out, raising her hand to brush her hair out of her face.
"No, you hate Richard. Two very distinct things," Alex replies, leaning his head against hers. To be honest, he was really the one who hated Richard. The guy was completely full of himself, with eyes that followed every girl that walked past him. Alex had told her not to date him, but this was hardly the moment for an I told you so. "And you can forget all about him while you celebrate Christmas with your family."
"It'll be hard with Isabella and John staring at each other the whole time," she makes a face that she usually reserves exclusively for his own girlfriends. "And everyone else staring at them," she groaned.
"Your broken heart is not going to ruin their love, Emma, I hate to tell you," Alex says, baiting her.
As expected, she lifts her head from his shoulder and stares at him in shock. "My heart is far from broken, Knightley. There are plenty other fish in the sea far more deserving of one Emma Woodhouse."
"Oh, hey, you don't have to convince me," he holds his hands up in mock surrender, "but the best way to prove that is probably not at the bottom of a pile of chocolate."
Emma springs to her feet, looking as though she just got her second wind, which he guesses she has. "Well then, come on – we have siblings to congratulate!"
Alex laughs and rises to his feet. Before he's even fully straightened his back, Emma's hugging him, her own silent Thank you clear in the tightness of her arms. When she pulls back, she asks, "Annie's red velvet cupcakes don't count as far as that whole chocolate thing goes, right?"
"If there's even any left," Alex jokes in response, before Emma practically runs down the steps to rejoin the party. He knows she'll be upset about her break up for a while, but there's no reason it should spoil her Christmas. And she was right after all, there were plenty of fish in the sea.
Eleven - Mistletoe
Alex adores the holidays. Absolutely every part of it: the gifts, the turkey, the stockings, the time spent with family. He was always in his best mood when the big day came around. Well, except for one part.
He really, really, really hated mistletoe. His brother makes a point of ridiculing him for it, but that's because he was always joking that he never had anyone to kiss. But even now, when Alex was in a steady relationship, he had no desire to do the stupid Christmas tradition. It bothered him that something as important as a kiss could just be turned into something you did because you accidentally stood under some ridiculous plant.
Emma loved mistletoe. She was a born matchmaker and mistletoe was the perfect final push for certain couples. Finding out your boyfriend hates mistletoe is not something you find out easily, it wasn't like Christmas happened all the time. But when Emma sat on his den's couch a few weeks ago and prattled off about all the great things to look forward to for their first Christmas together, Alex had positively thrown a tantrum at the word 'mistletoe'. But Emma had never met a problem she couldn't fix.
So, since Annie was throwing their annual Christmas dinner this year, she went over early to help decorate, happy to leave many surprises in store for the party on Friday. Annie walked around, noticing the mistletoe nestled under almost every doorway, or anywhere else it could possibly hang. She chuckled at the display but didn't mention it.
The day of the dinner, Annie got an early visitor. Thinking that perhaps one of Ryan's family members had just arrived in the state and needed to see them as soon as possible, Annie opened the door to instead find Alex Knightley. Annie smiled at him, inviting him in because she already knew why he was there.
"Emma helped you decorate, didn't she?" Alex asks, seeing a horrifying amount of mistletoe.
"You would think that with you two dating now, she wouldn't need so many excuses to kiss you," Annie jokes as Alex blushes.
"You don't mind if I…" Alex feels embarrassed as he points up at Emma's handiwork. Annie laughs and shakes her head. "She's not going to be happy about it," which Alex knows but he also has plans for the girl who doesn't know how to let anything be.
Later on, Alex returns with Emma on his arm. "You look excited," Alex points out as she practically drags him to the door. Emma shrugs, "I love the holidays, remember?"
He laughs and knocks on the door, waiting for Annie to open it. Surprisingly, it's Ryan who greets them both with a huge smile, a pair of reindeer antlers attached to his head. "Hello, hello, hello," Ryan sings out as he lets them inside. They greet him in return and share pleasantries as Emma looks around for Annie. "She's in the kitchen," Ryan mentions when Emma's neck was craning to look past his guests for the third time. Emma breathes out a thanks, squeezes Alex's hand and is then off to find her friend.
"She hasn't noticed," Ryan points out, laughing when Alex puts a finger to his lips. "Don't jinx it."
But Emma noticed, of course she did. And even though Annie didn't say anything about it, she knew it was Alex. But she waited for the party to get into its own rhythm before approaching him about it.
"I know it was you," she says, pulling Alex into the foyer. He laughs in response before saying, "I was starting to worry, I mean, who else would it have been?" She smacks him in the arm, but laughs anyway.
"Why don't you want to kiss me?" She asks, playing on his pity by making herself look sad. But she couldn't hide the genuine worry in her eyes.
"Emma, I think I've proven that I don't mind kissing you," he responds. "Oh well, that's a relief," she mutters, rolling her eyes.
"I just don't need mistletoe to kiss you," she looks like she's about to interrupt him, so he continues with, "Nor do I want it, Emma."
"But why?" she whines, wrapping her arms around his waist.
"Emma, the first time I kissed you, it meant everything to me," she blushes and he smiles at the sight. "I don't want to be frivolous about every one after that. They're all still very important to me."
She smiles brightly as she pulls his hands up to cup her face, "Your moral compass is exceedingly annoying." Alex laughs, slipping his fingers into her hair. "Why is it so important to you anyway?"
Emma steps out of his hands, shrugs and looks down at her outfit. "Because that's what people do on Christmas. They kiss the people they love under the mistletoe."
Alex is staring at the crown of her head, unable to process the words. She hadn't said the words to him yet, which was a bigger testament to her character than most people would give her credit for. Emma believed that love was all around her, and for someone who threw it around so easily with everyone else, it was really nice that she kept her own heart close to her. He had said those words to her, a while ago, but hadn't expected to hear them back for a long time.
She raises her eyes to meet his, smiling at his blank stare. "Did you hear what I said?"
"I kind of zoned out at the word 'mistletoe'," he replies, and she bites her lip to stop herself from laughing. "Do you mind saying it again?" Now she lets herself laugh and leans up to kiss him. But he stops her, saying "One second," before disappearing into one of Annie's storage cupboards.
Emma starts laughing again when he comes back with a rather dishevelled looking mistletoe. "Hang on," he says, swinging it over onto one of the hooks by the doorway that Emma had already put in place. Then he grabs her hands and pulls her under the door with him. He could hear the other guests from a little further in the house but he only has eyes for Emma.
He points upward, and she shakes her head saying, "You're a dork." Alex laughs now before adding, "I love you, too," and kisses her softly under the mistletoe.
So maybe John was right; he only ever hated the mistletoe because he never had the right person to kiss.
Twelve - Traditions
When Emma returns from her day with her father, it's almost eleven o'clock. Alex looks up from his laptop surprised as he goes to meet her in the den's doorway.
"Hi," Emma greets him, trying and failing to fight off a yawn. He moves his hands to brush the hair out of her face before letting them settle on her neck. "Why were you out so late?"
"Dad was trying to figure out how to use domino. He wants to video chat with Isabella on Christmas since she's out of town this year," she leans into his hands. "I couldn't leave him looking all confused."
Alex smiles. No matter how Emma may act in terms of helping others, when it came to her father, she was as genuine as possible. She worried about him and wouldn't leave him without her help, no matter the alternative.
"I think I'm just going to go to bed," Emma says, pulling his hands off her face gently. Surprised, he curls his hands into hers and responds with, "But, it's Christmas Eve."
Emma laughs softly, "Even better reason to sleep."
"Yes, if our Christmas traditions mean nothing to you…"
She narrows her eyes at him. "What are you talking about?" Alex drops her hands and runs over to the tree before picking up a box at random. He sits down on the hardwood floor and motions for her to join him.
"One present on Christmas Eve," Emma remembers, with a smile. She pulls a couch cushion onto the floor before sitting down beside him. "Which one is it this year?"
He checks, then hands her the gift, "It's for you." Emma seems to wake up a good deal at his words as she takes the gift from his hands excitedly, moving onto her knees. Then, she notices the tag.
"You're supposed to pick it randomly," she says as she hits him playfully on the arm. Alex shrugs with a smirk on his lips as he encourages her to open it.
Emma tears at the paper, even though she already has a hint at what it is given the size of the box. With the paper gone, she carefully lifts the lid of the box to find what she had already guessed was inside.
Still, he manages to surprise her by how nice the necklace actually turns out to be. The pendant manages to be simple and breathtaking at the same time: a water lily with silver leaves and a ruby centre. It catches the lights from the Christmas tree, practically sparkling in the satin box.
Alex places his hand on her knee to draw her attention away from the gift. "It's okay, right?"
Emma finally raises her eyes to catch his, looking at him incredulously. He isn't sure what to make of the expression, but before he can question it, she's hugging him. She was sitting on her knees so the force of her action knocks her on top of him and he narrowly misses crushing any presents under their collective weight. Not that either of them would really have noticed. Instead, they're laughing and Emma's pulling back to say, "It'll do," before kissing him softly. He moves his hand into her hair and smiles, glad that at least one of her gifts was for sure a keeper. He's not sure how the other ones will go over.
After they get back up, Emma asks him to put the necklace on her. He doesn't mention that they're going to go to bed soon anyway, and simply tries not to get the ridiculous clasp stuck in her hair (easier said than done).
"I think this is my first Alex Approved piece of jewelry," she jokes, once he wraps his arms around her to signify he was done.
Alex just laughs in response, while thinking to himself And hopefully not the last as he remembers the small, blue satin box that's been burning a hole in his sock drawer for far too long.
But that was another gift, for another day.
A/N: Well there you go! Honourable mention to a lot of other prompt ideas, maybe I'll get around to those later. Hope you enjoyed it nonetheless, and that you didn't die in all the fluff - I almost did... Reviews are the best gift I can think of haha!