Both WweDivaTayTay45 and dianaax3 requested a Jeff/Maria fic, sooo here it is :)
It's taken a while because I planned a Jeff/Maria story but couldn't get it down on paper. Then I did another one and HATED it. So here's the final result of one I'm reasonably happy with!
Consider it a little late Christmas gift to cure your January blues and I hope you enjoy it!
CLOSE THE DOOR
From the second Maria stepped off the plane, she knew Christmas in North Carolina would be a bad idea. Actually, she had a hunch before that but it was only when she and Matt were in the cab on the way to his house that she felt truly worried.
She suggested he come to Chicago. It would be great; he could meet her family and spend the holidays in the Kanellis household but no, Matt was adamant his girlfriend come home with him and meet his 'family'...if you could call them that. She already knew most of them as well as the obvious Shannon, Shane and Jeff. But Maria didn't like to talk about Jeff.
On Christmas Day, everyone would be coming to Matt's house. Everyone had been assigned a dish to bring and they'd spend the day drinking, eating and most probably listening to Pearl Jam. And Jeff would smoke cigarettes. Maria hated cigarettes. Maria also hated Jeff.
At least, that's what she told herself.
All was just as Maria predicted; everyone sat around the large dining room table, the turkey in the oven, the alcohol already flowing and Pearl Jam's 'Vitalogy' album playing in the background. Unfortunately, Miss Kanellis hadn't considered a seating plan and she ended up sat next to the one man she wanted to be as far away from as possible.
"So Maria," Cracking open another beer, Jeff turned to the redhead and said, "How's life in ol' Vince's house without me? I'll bet you're missing me."
"Life goes on and I'm doing just fine. In fact, I'm doing so good that maybe you should've left sooner." Everyone at the table assumed she was joking – including Jeff's girlfriend Beth, who was sat the other side of him – so there was a roar of laughter amongst them.
As everyone else started up their own conversations, Jeff leaned into Maria and lowered his voice, his alcohol breath tickling at her neck, "You're cute, Kanellis. Got any more funny one-liners?"
"Believe me, Hardy." She picked up her wine glass and drained half its contents with a satisfied smile. "There's plenty more where that came from."
"I'm starving." One of Matt's friends – a muscular bald-headed guy with tattooed arms – spoke up.
"Me too actually." Matt agreed, draping an arm over the back of his girlfriend's chair. "Shall I check on the food?"
"I'll do it." Maria got to her feet and walked into the kitchen to make sure everything was cooking. She felt a little bit protective over her meal; it was the first Christmas dinner she'd ever made and was far too proud to let anyone else take control. Just as she was about to re-enter the dining room where the rest of the party was, a certain smoker out on the porch caught her attention. When he saw her, a smirk fell on his lips. "Dinner's almost ready." She stuck her head out the door to speak to Jeff.
He jerked his cigarette-holding hand to signal she come outside.
Despite the irritation in her voice, Maria did as he instructed. "Well? What do you want?"
"I thought if we were on our own, you could answer me question honestly." He exhaled with a lazy smile. "So? Have you missed me?"
"Like the plague. You're a pain in the ass."
"That hasn't answered my question."
Unable to resist letting a smile fall onto her features, Maria only let it settle for a split second before saying, "My boyfriend's inside, remember your brother Matt? And then there's Beth, your girlfriend?"
"If I thought things were really over between us, I'd let you go. But until then I just can't do that."
"We're not together anymore, Jeff, you can't do stuff like this."
"Yeah, well, when I'm around you, sometimes I just can't help myself."
Neither of them said anything. Jeff stubbed out his cigarette and stepped towards Maria. He ran a hand up her sweater-covered arm and onto the back of her neck, causing her to close her eyes and let out a small groan at the familiar feeling of his touch.
"Come on, Ria." He whispered, using his thumb to trace small circles against her soft skin. "Don't act like you hate me."
Just as Maria was about to react, the ringing of the oven timer from inside brought her back to reality. It took a couple of seconds for her to realise what could've happened and when she did, she stepped back and found herself softly saying, "It's time to eat."
It was impossible for Maria to concentrate on the meal she'd made. The crunchy vegetables, the fluffy potatoes and the succulent turkey were all far from her mind as all she could think about was the fact Jeff was touching her under the table.
Every so often, his hand would graze over her knee, occasionally stroking higher. His movements were subtle enough that no-one knew what was going on but not subtle enough that she could ignore it. In fact, what she found crazy was how he'd touched her everywhere else and this was just a reminder of what they'd lost.
Maria glanced over at him from under her eyelashes, not daring to look down as his hand moved up her leg and under her sweater, his thumb daring to stroke the soft skin of her hipbone.
After dinner, everyone was going for drinks at the bar down the road. Pearl Jam was still faintly playing as Maria made her excuses.
"I should call in at Chicago and see how everyone's doing." She told Matt as the pair brought the dishes into the kitchen. "Plus, someone needs to clear up and get this place looking decent again. Why don't you guys head out and I'll meet you down there when I'm finished?"
"If you're sure," Matt pecked his girlfriend on the lips before he merged into the crowd of guys, disappearing out the front door.
Everyone was going out apart from Beth and Jeff. Jeff's pregnant girlfriend said that since her pregnancy, she found it nauseating being around too much alcohol for too long and she wanted to have a lie down anyway. Jeff, being the 'perfect' boyfriend, said he'd stay with her, despite her insistence that he should go and have fun.
Maria put the plates and glasses in the dishwasher, only leaving out her own wine glass so she could keep filling up with Cabernet. She left all the bottles by the trash can outside so Matt knew to recycle them and once the dining room looked presentable again, she headed up to his bedroom so she could call in at home.
It sounded nice. Apparently it was snowing in Chicago; it would be the first white Christmas since Maria's childhood. They exchanged gifts in the morning and ate a turkey lunch whilst Janny told everyone about college. Afterwards, they spent the afternoon watching DVDs and pulling crackers. Although she'd never admit it aloud, Maria wished she was there. As she hung up the phone, her stomach ached with homesickness and a lump emerged in her throat. Feeling overwhelmed, she thought she might shed a private tear but the bedroom door creaked open.
"Shouldn't you be with Beth?"
"She's asleep." Jeff closed the door behind him and leaned back against it. Their voices were quiet, aware Beth was in the next room. "You look upset. Is everything okay?"
"Not really," Maria laughed softly, wiping her eyes. "I don't want to be here."
"Yeah?"
"Christmas is about being with your loved ones. I don't love Matt and I don't think I ever really did...yet here I am. Being here just shows me that this house, these people...it's not right. It's not me." She decided. "And do you wanna know what the worst part is?"
Jeff nodded.
"The only good thing about being here is seeing you again and I hate that. I don't hate Matt but I hate you because you broke my heart. You took everything we could've had and ruined it and I told myself I'd never speak to you or forgive you. But somehow, I'm sat here on Christmas day, with you, feeling like I'm back on Raw in 2007."
"Is that such a bad thing?" Jeff asked, sitting down on the bed next to her. "If you feel this way about me, you can't hate me."
Another soft laugh came from Maria. "I don't know how I feel. I've had too much red wine." Innocently and unintentionally, her hand fell onto his knee and they both felt everything change.
His hands touched the pearl necklace around her neck and unclasped it at the back, placing it down on the bedside table. He eased her turquoise sweater and white tank-top over her head and slid the slim-fitting denim down her smooth legs. Maria suddenly felt shy, sat in her underwear in front of Jeff – not that she hadn't been there before – but her inhibitions disappeared.
Jeff trailed his mouth from Maria's lips, across her jaw and down her neck before pushing her bra straps aside to kiss along her shoulders. It was a tingle that coursed through her body that allowed her to shed Jeff's clothes, hold him as close as she could and let him fill her like she'd imagined each time she was with the other Hardy.
When it was over – for the second time – they got dressed and walked to the bar together, both of which happened in silence. Maria told Matt she got distracted talking to Janny on the phone whilst Jeff said he fell asleep next to Beth and was woke up by Maria's laughing.
They spent the rest of the night drinking cheap bottles of beer and doing Def Leppard karaoke. Jeff and Maria sung a 'Pour Some Sugar On Me' duet but didn't dare look at each other throughout.
Maria and Matt got home at about 2am. Nothing happened between them as Matt fell asleep the second his head touched the pillow and Maria secretly felt relieved. She lay down in bed next to her boyfriend but turned her back on him as she wondered whether Jeff was doing the same to Beth in the next room.
After breakfast the next morning, Beth and Jeff had to go. They were going to visit Beth's parents for the day. Matt and Maria were there to see them off.
As Beth leaned in to give Maria a kiss on the cheek, she whispered in the redhead's ear, "I heard everything."
The following day, Maria left for the airport before Matt could wake up. This Christmas showed her that this wasn't where she belonged and she was getting a flight to Chicago, wanting to spend the last of her Christmas break with her family. She turned off her cell phone, not wanting to deal with Matt – when they went on the road again, she knew she'd have to but until then, she was more than happy to put it off.
So Maria sat in the airport departures lounge, waiting for her plane to get ready for takeoff. She felt tired and just wanted to sleep on her flight.
"I thought you might be here."
"I didn't expect to see you. Shouldn't you be-"
"We couldn't leave things the way we did."
"So what're you suggesting?"
"I've got a ticket to Chicago. Let's take it from there."
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