Twelve Days of Christmas: A ShadowQueen Holiday AU

The Twelfth Day of Christmas

Flurries of snowflakes drift from the sky, dancing on the wind as they fall to the ground leaving cars and buildings lightly covered in a beautiful silver-white blanket of soft fluffy ice. As the snow falls, the air outside chills any that may venture into it uncovered nearly to the bone. But, inside their high-rise loft, the warmth from the heater and their heavy goose-down duvet make the space comfortably cozy, to say the least. The morning sun shines rays of frosted light through the window as Veronica stirs from her peaceful night's rest. She rolls over in a usual loving fashion only to feel the space where her love laid the night prior cold with his absence. He was out before the sun, as per recent usual, to take on the business of the corporate world. She misses him dearly, as each day and night they hit and miss on seeing one another, let alone spending any kind of quality time together. Her love, Baron, is out the door before she wakes in the morning and either is back home long after she's fast asleep or is sleep before she arrives in the evening. But that's the life of a new large investment business CEO and his family she guesses.

It's the holiday season in New York City and with all the chaos of the hustle and bustle of gift buying, holiday travel and everything else in preparation to get holiday ready Baron, just as other business owners are, is overly busy. She is ever so proud of her Baron love, he's reaping every benefit of his hard work. She has watched and supported him from when he was a college student working hard in his business classes, to a college grad diligently working his internship at a big-name investment firm, to when he made partner, all the way to now with him branching off to form his own firm. She loves the fact that he's seeing the fruits of his labor, she just… wishes him reaching his career goal, didn't mean them seemingly drifting apart. Before this business shift, their morning would have gone so much differently. She'd have rolled over to feel not only the warmth of his body but would have been able to lay her head on his chest to listen to the soothing rhythm of his heartbeat. After laying there for a while, he'd have taken her in his arms, kissed the top of her head and said,

"good morning beautiful" to which she would have said in return, "good morning handsome".

But these days, her mornings go much like this one he's experiencing now. Although she's happy for his success, there are sometimes like this time when she wishes things could go back to the way they were. Yeah money would be tighter, they'd go back to living in a smaller, less fancy place and they'd live like normal people, but she'd have her love more than she feels she does now. She shakes herself free of the thoughts and feelings she awoke with to get up to prepare herself for the day. She showers, dresses, then does her face and hair when she is met by the sounding of her, 'if you don't leave now… like right, right now, you're gonna be late alarm'. This puts her in a bit of a frenzy. She rushes around the loft quickly gathering everything that she needs for the day.

"okay… I've got my purse… my keys… my wallet… my phone and charger… I'm forgetting something".

She looks at the time on her phone, "shit! I going to be late! What am I forgetting? "Damn it! I need to get to the office to prepare for this damned presentation later".

With her mention of her presentation, she remembers, "my glasses! That's what I'm forgetting. Now… I know that I left them on the living room table before I went to bed last night…"

she says as she looks over to where she left them to find them gone. Usually, she'd put them in much more of an intentional place than the living room table but they are broken and in much need of repair. The arm of the left side of the frame is currently being held on by some heavy duty super glue and a bit of tape. She's been meaning to get them fixed for a while but hasn't really had the time to, as she comes home each night and stays hoping that she'll luck up and catch Baron on his return home. So far, no luck. In retrospect, she probably should have just taken that time to take her glasses in, instead of waiting home in hopes of seeing her love before bed. Now, she just needs them, no matter how broken they are, just so she can read the words from the PowerPoint for the presentation, but doesn't seem anywhere. When she looks back toward the table she left her glasses on, she instead sees what looks like an envelope and… a box. She walks over and gives the envelope a closer to see that it's addressed to her. She opens the red envelope to reveal a letter written by her love. When she opens it, the letter reads,

"My dearest Veronica, my beautiful love. I love you so much, more than words can say. When I woke this morning and looked at your gorgeous face, I was ever so tempted to wake you just to see the sparkle of your beautiful eyes. But, I didn't as I knew you needed your rest. As the holiday nears, I am glad to have you, my love. You are the greatest gift I could ever ask for. Having you by my side, seeing your beautiful face, holding you, just knowing that you're mine. So, in honor of my perfect gift, I have decided for the next twelve days leading up to Christmas, I'd shower you with gifts. Starting today. I know that things have been extremely different lately, and just as hard as it's been to see one another, it'd be even harder for you to see without your glasses. I've noticed you haven't gotten your glasses repaired so, I've done it for you. Hopefully, these new spectacles fit your fancy, my love. Enjoy your day my dear. Clearly Your Love, Baron".

She closes the letter with tears in her eyes at the conclusion of her reading. "Awww, Baron…".

At this point, she is most definitely going to be late… but she couldn't care less. She loves her boyfriend with all her heart. His kindness, his thoughtfulness, his everything. She loves him and she knows he loves her. She places the letter back in the envelope and puts the envelope in her purse before reaching down to the table to pick up the red box tied with a green ribbon. She loosens the ribbon and opens the box to reveal a leather glasses case engraved with letters that read 'GUCCI'. She pops it open to find a pair of black square keyhole frames with signature red and green striped arms; very holiday appropriate. She puts them on and they fit perfectly and the prescription is just as perfect. He must have called her optometrist for her current prescription before purchasing the glasses. He's so very thoughtful and she loves him so, so much. Adorned in her brand new, very expensive glasses, she heads out the door to get in her car. She may hear some flak from Malory and Margarete for being late, but again, she couldn't care less. She arrives at work and just as she predicted Malory had a good many words in response to her tardiness. Even in all of Malory's anger, she's is always the fashionista. After her lecturing, she ends with,

"nice glasses by the way. I've had my eye on a similar pair but they're from last year's collection. Yours are most definitely from this year's collection, when did you get them?",

"Baron got them for me. He left them for me this morning with this", she says pulling out the letter he left.

Malory snatches the envelope and plays keep away with Veronica as she reads her coworker's letter.

"Mal! Give that back!", "I will… in a minute…", "no, not 'in a minute', now… come on, Mal! You're being a child", Roni whines folding her arms childishly.

Malory finishes reading then hands the letter back to Veronica, which she snatches out of her coworker's hand, "aww, Roni… that's so sweet. You have the perfect guy. Where'd you find him? And does he have a brother?",

"college and no", Roni says with a roll of her eyes.

"Booo! You lucky little bitch", Malory says with a smile, "not lucky Mal, blessed", Roni says with sassy raise of her eyebrow and tilt of her head.

Laughing, they both walk to the conference room to meet Margarete to prepare for their presentation. Her presentation goes off without a hitch, making her workday quite successful. On her way out the door, her phone rings,

"hello", on the other end she hears the voice she's longed to hear since the morning.

"Hello there, beautiful",

"Baron… my love",

"how was your day my sweet?", "it was amazing, thank you for asking, and yours my love?", "pretty good, thank you",

"and thank you for my glasses dear. I love them… I love you", "and I you, my beauty".

She presses the button for the elevator, and enters when the door opens, "so, will I see you at home this evening so that I can thank you in person?",

"I'm afraid not my love. I will be home very late tonight my dear. I have a conference call meeting with my board and some clients in California. Our meeting is scheduled for 6:00 pm their time, which as you know",

"…is 9:00 pm our time…yeah", she says a bit dejectedly.

Baron hears the tone of her voice change, "I know my sweet… I'm sorry about this my love",

"it's fine, it's your job. I'm happy things are going so well. I'm proud of you darling", Roni says brightening her tone the best she can.

The last thing she wants is Baron feeling bad about his success, he's worked way too hard to get where he is now. He deserves it. Baron hears the brightening of her tone of voice and immediately knows she's done it to please him despite her true feelings. She's always been his greatest supporter. She has even helped him to stay the course even in those times when he didn't believe success to be anywhere near possible. Since he's made this new step in his career, the time he once had to be with his love is now being spent at Samdi Investments and Holdings. He knows that having so much time apart has been hard on her, but she still continues to love and support him. For that, he will ensure that he gets this together soon because she is and always will be his very top priority.

"Thank you, my dear Veronica. Things will get much better, very soon. I promise",

"you're more than welcome and I believe you. I'm about to get on the road, I love you babe", "I love you too baby".

With that, they hang up their respective end of the call and return to the business of their own day. Veronica gets on the road to head home just as she said and Baron goes to prepare what's necessary for his conference call. Veronica arrives home, once again, to an empty loft. She places her purse on the decorative table by the front door, her keys back in the holding rack and, with a smile, her new glasses, now in their frame case, right beside her purse to be easily found in the morning. She then goes to undress, shower, cook a whole meal, eat, read a little, and then gets in the bed to go to sleep. She would try to wait up for him a bit longer, but even after all of that, the time is now 10:30 and he's still not home. This week is quite busy for her at the office and she needs to be fully rested to properly take on her day. So, Roni fixes his plate of dinner, wraps it in plastic wrap, and places it on the stove on a warming plate so that her love can eat when he gets home. Afterward, she goes into their bedroom, gets in the bed and falls asleep close to his side of the bed to allow the scent of him that's ingrained in his side of the bed to lull her to sleep in his absence. In no time, she is fast asleep, getting her needed rest for the upcoming day.

A full hour and fifteen minutes later at 11:45 pm, Baron walks through the door, work bag in hand, fully exhausted. He knew his meeting would take forever. New clients always have so many questions, as they should before they take on something of that caliber, but still, he wishes they could have ended sooner. When closes the door behind him to lock it, he sees his love's belongings on the decorative table near the door and immediately his mind goes to her. He drops his belongings right beside the same table her belongings are on, takes off his coats and heads to their room. He loosens his tie as he walks to the room and is halted in the process when he lays eyes on her. She's absolutely stunning, even in her peaceful slumber. Even after nine almost ten years together, knowing her since they were both seventeen-year-old college freshmen, seeing her still takes his breath away. Once he's remembered how to breathe, he softly treads to their California king-sized bed and leans onto the bed enough to lay a light kiss on her forehead, cheek and finally her lips. She stirs a bit and he quickly moves as he doesn't want to disturb her rest, in her line of business, she needs it.

Baron quickly undresses, showers and walks into the kitchen to get him something quick to eat. He loves his woman and loves her, even more, when he walks into the kitchen and sees a plate of food left in the warmer for him. Although he said he'd be late, she still thought enough of him to prepare him dinner. He grabs his plate and carries it to the island in the kitchen where he practically inhales it. He eats quickly so that he can handle something before he heads to bed, as he needs his rest as well. Especially with this 5:45 am wake up time he has so he can be fully dressed and to his office by 7, even with all the New York City traffic to get through. He places his now empty plate in the dishwasher with the rest of the dishes from dinner, starts it, then heads to his home office to retrieve his love's present for the next day. After he's gotten it fully together, he writes a love note and places it where his true love can find it in the morning. With his task complete, he drags his tired body into their room and gets in the bed. He gently eases his love into his arms and falls fast asleep with her comfortably tucked beside him. In no time his breaths become heavy and he is near snoring.

In her slumber, Roni feels something has shifted in her position and gently opens her tired eyes only to lay them on the object of her affection. Although sleepy, it still warms her heart to see his handsome face and warms it, even more, to find that he's taken her into his arms. She loves her man dearly, has since they were freshmen in college. So, even in her tired state, she lays a light hand on his cheek and leans up enough to lay a gentle kiss against his lips. Afterward, she gets back into her comfortable place in his arms and falls back asleep to rest up for the morning.