Title: I'll Be Home for Christmas
Author: SneetchesToo
Rating: PG
Pairing: Ethan/Leanne
Summary: Leanne wanted to love Christmas again, she really did.
Author's Note: This was meant to be a one-shot but I have a few more ideas up my sleeve to add to it. I'm gonna start off posting just the one chapter, if I can get the others written I'll add on to it. This is in a completely different universe than that of the Second Act series and has nothing to do with it! I hope you guys enjoy :)
"Bah humbug." Leanne muttered under her breath, tripping over the Christmas tree in the break room for what was probably the 15th time in a week. After righting herself, and saying a small prayer that she hadn't spilt what little bit of her coffee was left, she stopped to give the tree a good stare down. It was a small one, no taller than she was, and had been decorated half-hazardly by a variety of cheap, store bought ornaments. Jesse's doing she was certain. There were two strands of lights thrown on the tree, one colored and one white, and she vaguely remembered hearing Angus and Mario curse about putting them on the tree one afternoon. There was no star on-top, rather Noa had made some sort of awkward arrangement using syringes. It also wasn't standing up straight, something that had bugged her from the beginning, not that she was thrilled with the idea of the tree being there in the first place.
She hadn't always hated Christmas, in fact, it had always been her favorite time of the year. That was, up until the accident that took away her whole family. Now, five years later, she still couldn't bear the thought of celebrating what had once been a very joyous time for her. Instead she chose to work through the two days, often pulling a 48 hour shift just so that she could avoid all the parties and celebrations. Jesse tried, and failed, every year to get her to participate. He had even gone so far as to decorate her office three years ago, something she had not appreciated. Even though she knew that his intentions were good, she had appreciated that after that day he had stopped trying.
Six months ago she had thought this Christmas would have been different. Things had finally started to settle down around Angels, everything seeming to finally fall into place. And she was finally at a place where she felt happy again. She had friends who loved her, friends who had become family. And she had a man who quite obviously cared more about her than he did himself. Even though her and Ethan hadn't been officially together, they had started to take things in that direction, and Leanne had been thrilled. Things had finally started to look up. That was until they got the call that Ethan was being recalled to Afghanistan.
She remembered the night he had told her about his orders all too well. They had just finished up a long shift at the hospital and they had made plans to go away for the weekend, just the two of them. She had gone over to his apartment that night, packed and excited for a much needed trip to the beach. What had started as an exciting night turned into him telling her that he was leaving while they ate Chinese take-out on his balcony. She had wanted to be angry at him, oh how she wanted to be angry at him, however she just couldn't do it. They had both cried that night, something she never mentioned to anyone, not even him. And the next morning she had driven him to meet with his CO. The next 2 weeks had been a whirlwind, and when he got the news that he wouldn't be home until well after the new year her heart broke.
Her dreams of finally having a Christmas worth celebrating had been crushed with one simple sentence: "I won't be back until February." He had whispered over a patient one October morning. When she said goodbye to him 2 days later all she could think about was how far away February had seemed.
"That is the ugliest tree I've ever seen." She was startled out of her thoughts by the gentle voice behind her and she was surprised when she turned around to see that that voice belonged to none other than Ethan Willis.
"Ethan?" She gasped, her now empty coffee cup falling to the floor as her hands began to shake. "What are…? What…" She stumbled through her words, trying her best to keep the tears from falling.
"Surprise." He whispered, his hands reaching out to still her shaking arms. He offered her a smile, that smile, and she all but melted into a puddle right then and there.
Throwing her arms around his neck she pulled him close, breathing in the smell of stale airplane coffee mixed with something that was uniquely him. She closed her eyes, her arms tightening around him as he wrapped his arms around her waist, lifting her gently from the floor.
"I thought you weren't due back for another 2 months." She whispered as she pulled back, taking in his appearance. His hair was slightly shorter than it had been when he left 6 weeks ago, and he was tanner than he had been then too. He was still dressed in his uniform, slightly wrinkled from what she was sure had been a long flight.
"Change of plans." He whispered. And that was when she noticed it, the bandages on his neck, the cuts along his jaw line, the cast on his left arm.
"What happened?" She reached out to run her fingers along the biggest mark, reaching from just below his ear to under his chin. Her fingers shook as she tilted his head for a better look, gasping at the sight of the stitches still in place just below his five o'clock shadow.
"The hospital was attacked." He whispered, dropping his head back down so that he could look into her eyes. His right hand gripped her hip gently, as he whispered the words she had been fearing for the last month a half. "There was a bomb."
Leanne sighed, running her hands down his chest, reaching to take his left hand in hers. She brought it up so that she could examine it better, her fingers running gently along his bruised knuckles. "Is it broken?" She whispered, bringing her eyes back up to his.
"Yeah." He replied, lifting his hand up so that he could run his thumb along her cheek, brushing her tears off as he did so. "Nothing bad though. Couple of weeks in a cast and I'll be fine." He offered her a small smile, stilling his thumb as he ran it along her lips.
Leanne didn't know what to say so instead she pulled him back to her, wrapping her arms around his neck again, pressing a gentle kiss to one of the smaller cuts there.
"Could've been much worse." He whispered, tightening his grip on her as he pressed a kiss to her head. "I'm lucky."
They stood that way for a few minutes, just holding each other in the dimly lit break room, the world's ugliest Christmas tree behind them. Ethan was the first to break the embrace, pulling back to offer the tired looking woman a smile. He was so thankful to be home, especially in time for Christmas, and he was hopeful that she would still be willing to spend the holiday with him.
"I was thinking we could go get a Christmas tree today." His voice shook as he spoke, and his hands trembled as he reached up to brush some stray hair from her face. "If you still wanted to decorate and all?"
Leanne laughed, shaking her head up and down as she brushed her hands along the collar of his dress uniform. "I couldn't think of a better Christmas present." She stilled her hands on his shoulders before continuing. "Except for having you home of course." She whispered, pulling him to her with a smile, her lips crashing against his.
"Merry Christmas Leanne." He whispered against her mouth, his right hand tangling in her hair as his injured arm wrapped around her waist, a smile brighter than anything she'd ever seen forming on his face.
"Merry Christmas Ethan." She whispered back, her hands tangly in his hair as she pulled him in for another kiss. This was definitely going to be a Christmas worth remembering.
*Again, this will be posted first as a one-shot and I may add some more chapters to it later on. I'd like to finish posting the Choice first, and that has 3-4 more chapters to go.
**Please review so I know whether I should continue! Happy Holidays everyone!