Please Come Home for Christmas
313
Oh my goodness, I am so behind on typing like you wouldn't believe it!
Characters: Prussia, Canada
Disclaimer: A lot of fics coming your way!
Please Come Home for Christmas
Matthew Williams had met Gilbert Beilschmidt when he had been twenty-five years old. His good friend, Francis Bonnefoy, had dragged him to a bar telling him that he just had to absolutely meet a friend of his. At the time, Matthew had been sceptical about the meeting and then he had been convinced it had been a bad idea.
Gilbert had come off to him as a very strange and narcissistic, self involved man, but for some reason or another, the older man had taken an interest to him and had managed to wheedle out Matthew's contact information out of Francis.
He had called him, stalked him and eventually, Matthew had decided to give him a chance because there just seemed no way to get rid of him.
It had turned out to be a good move on his part for he soon came to realize that he liked Gilbert quite a lot.
They had started going out together shortly after up until April 1st some two and half years later when Gilbert decided that it would be a most awesome idea to propose to him. Matthew had thought at first that it was Gilbert's idea of a clever joke, but then he had seen the ring and had been left speechless.
Two years after the wedding, they had started thinking about adopting a child of their own since both of them came from large families and wanted to raise their own family.
It had taken a while to get all of the paperwork done and to find the right child, but after searching all over, they finally found their pride and joy who was only seven months old at the time. They named her Sophie.
Everything went relatively well for the first two years, but things started taking a turn for the worse afterwards, in a certain way.
Gilbert was a consultant of some sorts who promoted certain products for overseas companies. At first, he would only travel once or twice a month for a few days to places close to him, but through the years, he had received many promotions that had sent him further and further away from home for months on end.
Sophie had been two at the time of this new change and she was now five years old. She was a good child and never really caused Matthew much trouble. Despite the fact that she wasn't their biological child, she was very much like her parents, character wise.
Both she and Matthew had their little routine every morning and he did his best to fill the shoes of two parents even though it got to be difficult at times.
Gilbert called at least three times a week, or Skyped, but with the different time zones, it wasn't always easy.
It was currently 11pm, a Thursday night and Matthew was relaxing in the living room. Sophie was sleeping in her bedroom and he was thinking that he should do the same when he heard the phone ring. He picked it up and noticed that it was a long distance number.
"Hello?"
"Hey love." It was Gilbert.
"Hey yourself. Where are you calling from?" There were times when he was in a good mood with Gilbert, but lately, it seemed he was always mad or upset. He supposed it had to do with the fact that the holidays were approaching and that once more; they wouldn't be able to spend them together.
"I'm in Denmark for the week."
"Denmark, nice." He replied coolly.
"Is Sophie around?"
"Gilbert, it's 11:17pm over here, she's been sleeping for a while now, you should have called earlier." There was a moment of silence.
"Oh, I'm sorry. It's hard to remember the time zones and all. I just got in today. I was in Spain before…" In the early days of this new arrangement, Matthew had always asked how the new place was and what not, but now, he just felt bitter towards them.
"Any chances of you stopping by to visit us or not?" He finally asked. The first year, Gilbert had had a layover in their hometown so Matthew and Sophie had gone to see him at the airport for a cup of coffee. Last year, Gilbert had promised him that he would be there, but by the time his plane had landed, he had received a call from his boss. Matthew hadn't really forgiven for that one.
"I don't think I can, Matt… I'm really sorry." He wanted to hang up the phone and he almost did.
"Gilbert, do you realize that the last time we actually spent some time together as a family was last spring when Sophie and I came to visit you in France? And even then, you were gone during the day because you had to work. You barely took one day off to spend with your husband and your daughter.
Do you realize that your daughter gets constantly teased at school? Not because she has two fathers, but because her classmates believe that either you don't love her or that she made you up.
I've seen her Christmas list, Gilbert, and it literally broke my heart when I read it. It said "Dear Santa, please make papa smile again and bring daddy home." My brother asked her what she wanted for Christmas and she said that she wanted to have a really long video chat with you. A video chat, Gilbert!
Even she's given up on the fact that she won't see you this year. She's settling for a video call." He didn't even realise that he was crying until he saw a tear stain on his jeans.
"I'm sorry, Matt… I'm really sorry. You know that I don't like this any better than you guys, but there's nothing I can do about it…"
"I should – I should go then, bye." Matthew choked out before hanging up. For the rest of the night, he ignored the twenty-three text messages Gilbert sent him.
Gilbert didn't call for the following two weeks and Matthew, even though he was chagrined and disappointed, was also okay with it. He didn't want to talk to the other man and he wouldn't even know what to tell him.
There were times when Matthew seriously thought about whether or not he shouldn't just divorce Gilbert, but then he thought of Sophie and despite everything, he still loved Gilbert very much and it wasn't as if he had done anything that would justify the divorce other than being absent.
Matthew was currently making breakfast for him and Sophie when the doorbell rang. He put his knife down and walked to the door. Part of him was hoping it would be Gilbert, but instead, he found the mailman.
"Yes?"
"I have a special delivery for a Mr. Matthew Williams and a Ms. Sophie B. Williams." The man said. Matthew looked at him. He had blonde hair and blonde moustache with a pair of sunglasses covering his eyes.
"I'm Mr. Williams; Sophie is my daughter." He said.
"I would need both of your signatures on this paper, please."
"Just one moment…" There was something off about the man, but he didn't say anything and went to get Sophie who was watching a Christmas special on TV. He returned a moment later and placed himself so as to be in front of Sophie in case this turned out to be a kidnapper or something.
"Please sign here." The stranger handed Matthew over the pad and he put down his initials before indicating to Sophie where she had to put hers. Once that was taken care of, he handed the pad back to the mailman who nodded his head and turned around to retrieve the package that was designated for them.
However, when the stranger turned around, it was no longer the mailman with sunglasses, moustache and blonde hair.
"Daddy!" Sophie ran from behind Matthew's legs and jumped into her father's arms. Matthew wasn't sure whether or not he was seeing things. One moment he had been standing in front of a perfect stranger, and now Gilbert was there.
"Hello my love." He said taking her in his arms and spinning her around.
"I missed you daddy!" Sophie hugged her father tight and Matthew found himself thinking that he wished he had his camera with him.
"Missed you too, pumpkin, but it's kind of cold outside and I don't think papa would be pleased with me if I let you catch a cold, so why don't you go inside and I'll be there in a moment, okay?" Sophie seemed reluctant for a moment but then settled for giving him a big kiss and a hug before returning to her show. That left Matthew and Gilbert alone.
"You're home." The younger man said after a long moment of silence. Gilbert only found he could nod to the statement.
"When do you leave?" Matthew asked crossing his arms over his chest.
"I return to work January 8th, I'll leave at 7:30am to catch the 7:41am bus that'll drop me off at the office downtown. I'll be back at 5pm and if you want, I'll start supper." Matthew blinked his eyes as he tried to grasp this information.
"I don't – I don't understand." He finally managed to whisper more to himself than to the other man. Gilbert sighed and stepped closer until he was at a good enough distance to give Matthew a tentative hug. As much as Matthew wanted to push him aside, he found himself hugging back.
"I'm home for good, love. After that last call, I spoke with my boss and told him that I needed to be with my family. Luckily, there was an opening in town. The furthest I'll have to travel is two hours away by bus to the main office. Merry Christmas, Matthew." Gilbert tilted his head upwards ever so gently with his gloved hand and they locked gaze for a moment before Matthew closed the last of the distance and pressed his lips against his husband's.
"Welcome back." He murmured.
OWARI
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Started writing: November 21st 2010, 11:38pm
Finished writing: November 21st 2010, 10:01pm
Started typing: December 21st 2010, 11:28pm
Finished typing: December 22nd 2010, 12:22am