Zarter Christmas
Chapter 1
It was Christmas Eve 3 months after defeating Apophis and the whole Twenty First Nome had decorated Brooklyn House for the occasion. Carter had never had a real Christmas traveling the world and Christmas had only meant that he would be spending the day with Sadie. This year though he had all of Brooklyn House to celebrate with and best of all Zia.
Carter was walking with Zia through the house. With it being Christmas eve everyone had already gone to bed to hurry the night along, so they had the place to themselves. Zia had missed the decorating because she was gone for a week to help Amos in the First Nome. Now that she was back Carter led her through the halls holding her hand as she pointed and asked questions about decorations. Growing up in Egypt and being raised by the First Nome she had never seen or experienced a Christmas so she was even more lost then he was. He would answer the questions but mostly focused on her, particularly her face and the expressions that would ripple across it as she looked at different things. She would ask questions like, "Why do you put trees inside."
He would reply with, "Because were crazy and think they'll grow better inside." She would then laugh, gods he loved her laugh. The week without her had been torture. He was trying to saver every second now that she was back.
They walked through every inch of the house with Zia leaning into Carter and admiring the decorations. After a while Carter pulled her close and surprised her with a kiss. She obviously hadn't expected it but obliged to it and when they parted she said, "What was that for."
He pointed at the ceiling above them and said, "Mistletoe." He had timed it perfectly they were directly beneath the sprig of mistletoe he had hung right before her arrival.
Zia looked confused, "So the significance is that you kiss under it?"
Carter smiled, "Yes, the tradition is that a guy can kiss any girl he wanted and if she refused she would have bad luck."
Zia smiled and said, "Well thank you, I wouldn't want bad luck." Then she wrapped her arms around his neck and said, "But let me just make sure." She then pulled him into another kiss. When they parted they stayed in that position for a few seconds just looking into each other's eyes. Until Sadie interrupted them by coming out of the library seeing them and saying, "Get a room you two."
They both blushed and Zia said, "Hi Sadie we were just…"
Sadie laughed and said, "Oh save it I was only teasing. I was just going to bed." She smiled and headed for the stairs. As she passed out of view she said, "Have fun."
Carter said, "Well after that awkwardness, do you want to continue?" Zia said, "The tour or…?" Carter blushed and became very nervous, "Either, or whatever you want to do, or we could just stand here…"
Zia silenced his ramblings with a kiss too which Carter obliged. After that they talked and kissed some more until Zia exclaimed she was tired and Carter walked her to her room. He kissed her goodnight before beginning to walk away. He got about 2 steps in the direction of his room before he felt Zia grab his hand and he turned around. She said, "A week without Carter Kane was difficult. Could you stay? At least until I fall asleep?"
Carter nervously stammered, "Uh huh." And allowed Zia to lead him into her room. Zia took off her shoes and hopped on the bed. She then gestured for Carter to join her. He took off his shoes and laid down next to her. She moved closer to him and put her head on his chest to use him as a pillow and he wrapped his arm around her. They stayed like that enjoying one another's company until they both fell asleep.