A Scarlet Christmas
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters, with the exception of Hannah. I also do not own any of the Christmas songs that Will and Anastasia may or may not sing throughout the course of this story. They belong to the respective owners. Now, on to the story!
The front door of the house swings open in order to allow a certain well-known thief to enter.
"It's the most wonderful time of the year! With the kids jingle belling and everyone telling you "Be of good cheer. It's the most wonderful time of the year!" Will loudly sings as he brings the Christmas tree into the apartment.
Needles from the tree fall into the Knave's hair, and he is glad that he didn't get a real tree for two reasons. The first reason is that he is terribly allergic to Christmas trees. He isn't entirely sure how he got that allergy, but apparently it's real, because his friend Hannah, and even Robin Hood are allergic as well. The second reason is that Will knows that Ana would have a fit if he tracked needles all throughout their mostly organized house that they just bought a couple weeks ago.
"What's all this for, Will?" Anastasia questions as she comes into the living room to find a giant tree being set carefully on the floor along with a collection of unlabeled boxes on the couch.
"Christmas is coming, Anastasia!" Will excitedly tells his wife, his eyes lighting up like a child's.
"And what, may I ask, is Christmas?" Ana asks while rummaging through the boxes to find colored orbs in a variety of packages and designs.
Will starts to laugh before reminding himself that Ana has never experienced Christmas before, because it was not celebrated in the Enchanted Forest or in Wonderland. Well, all of that is going to change this year. He's going to give her the best Christmas ever, and that's a promise.
"Christmas is the best holiday, in my opinion. It's a time to exchange gifts with your family and friends. You get to put up decorations, including a Christmas tree, and I just love to make Christmas cookies. Then, there are the Christmas movies, I really love those. And, if it happens to snow, that's called a White Christmas. I don't think I've ever had one of those," Will rambles to try and explain Christmas to Anastasia.
She smiles and laughs as Will continues to elaborate on the fun and significance of Christmas.
"That sounds lovely, Will. Now, how do we start decorating?" Anastasia says before wrapping her arms around her husband's neck.
"I always like to decorate the tree first and then hang the lights up outside. Does that sound okay to you, luv?" Will inquires while he begins to fluff the branches of the tree.
Anastasia simply nods before starting to take the Christmas decorations out of the boxes. The first thing she picks up out of the box is one string of lights, the bane of Will's existence every Christmas.
"What are these for, Will?" Ana asks while holding up the tangled mess.
"Those are lights for the tree, Ana. They always seem to get into a bloody jumbled mess no matter how carefully I put them away each year," Will says with a slight groan as he notices that, once again, the lights are wrapped around each other in almost a knot.
"Maybe I can get them undone," Anastasia suggests before tossing Will the strand of red lights.
"You can try, luv, but don't get your hopes up too high. These bloody things can literally take hours to untangle," Knave tells her before starting to try and sort out the mess of red lights.
Two hours later, Will and Anastasia are still untangling the lights.
"I swear, these lights are possessed," Will groans as yet another part of the lights gets coiled around his hands and chest.
Anastasia just smirks at him before laughing at how crazy her husband looks with Christmas lights wrapped around him. He notices her laughter and does his best to look offended.
"And what, might I ask, is so bloody funny?" Knave asks her as she continues to laugh.
"It's just, you seem to have so much trouble with the lights, but I'm already done with the other three strands," Anastasia giggles.
"Show off," Will teases as he continues to struggle with the blinking lights.
Ana comes over to Will and starts to unwrap the cord of lights from around him. Once he is finally free from the lights, he reaches one hand up and cups the back of Anastasia's head in his palm. Will pulls her in for a kiss under the soft glow of the lights that remain in his other hand. Anastasia kisses him back while running her fingers through his hair. As they pull apart for a second to breathe, Will wraps the Christmas lights around Anastasia's waist and wraps the other half around his chest. They are held together by the red lights, their cheeks turning the colors of the lights. Ana blushes at her husband before looking at him with a suspecting half smile on her lips.
"What am I gonna do with you, Will Scarlet?" she jokes as she places her head against his chest.
"Well, for starters, you can kiss me under these lights, Anastasia. Then, you can help me decorate the tree and outside where we can make cookies. Lastly, you can love me until the day that one of us dies. Think you can handle it?" Will responds with a smirk.
"That can be arranged," Ana grins before pulling him for another kiss.
Once they pull apart again, Will raises the lights over both of their heads to get started on the tree. They hang ornaments on the tree; most of them being either the regular colored ornaments, but some are character ornaments that Will collected during the curse. One ornament, however, holds more value to both of them than do all of the others. It is a heart ornament that says "Our First Christmas Together: 2014" and has a picture of them at the carnival that the town had a couple of months ago. As they near the end of the boxes of decorations, Will gets the star out of the box and steps up onto the step-stool to place it on the very top branch of the tree.
"What do you think, Ana?" Will asks his true love as he steps down beside her.
"It's beautiful, Will. We did a good job," she responds as he wraps his arm around her waist.
"That we did, luv. Now, let's go hang up the lights outside before it gets too dark," Will says while grabbing the box of outside decorations from the couch.
"Will, be careful!" Ana cautions as Will climbs the ladder to get up on the roof.
"I will, Anastasia. Don't worry about me, luv. I'll be fine," he assures as he walks along the top of the roof to place the light-up reindeer on the roof.
As he places the last reindeer, Rudolph, on his designated position on the roof, he slips on a small patch of ice. Knave starts to fall backwards off of the roof, barely catching himself on the edge of the roof with his fingers.
"WILL!" Ana yells, concern for her husband growing as he dangles from the roof above the ground.
"Ana, I can't hold on! Help me!" Will shouts out as his fingers slip off.
His body rushes towards the ground, and he shuts his eyes tightly, thinking he will connect with the hard ground and not be able to get back up. Instead, he lands against something softer, and opens his eyes to see where he is. Looking beside him, he notices that Ana caught him in her arms, but there is still a concerned look on her face.
"Thanks for catching me, Ana. That could've turned out bad," Will says with a small chuckle.
"It's not funny, Will. You could've gotten seriously hurt. Are you sure you're okay?" Anastasia asks him once he is back on his feet.
"I'm fine, luv, thanks to you. Hey, look, it's snowing," Will points out to her as a couple of snowflakes float down towards the two of them.
The two of them stand outside in the snow for a while before going inside to make some cookies and hot chocolate to warm up.
The scent of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies fills the house as Will takes the tray of cookies out of the oven. He sits them on the counter to cool before going over to where Anastasia is sitting by the window, watching it snow. Will wraps his arm around her, pulling his wife closer to him before she places her head on his chest.
"The cookies are ready, Ana," he tells his true love before giving her a kiss on the top of her head.
"They smell delicious, Will. I love you so much," she tells him while looking up into his dark brown eyes that she has always loved.
"I love you too, Anastasia. What do you say we get some cookies and milk and go into the living room and watch Home Alone? I think you'll like it," Will suggests while running his fingers through her long blonde hair.
"That sounds amazing, Will. What's Home Alone?" Anastasia returns as she heads over to get some plates and glasses out of the cabinet.
Will lets out a chuckle before wrapping his arms around Anastasia's waist. She smiles at his touch as she places her head in the crook of his neck.
"You'll have to wait and find out, luv," he replies with a smile on his handsome face.
Oh, how he loved giving Ana pleasurable experiences that she would treasure forever. Anything that they did was always a good memory to Anastasia. Will Scarlet vows right then and there to make this the best Christmas in the world for his love and not to let anything stand in his way. It is going to be a Scarlet Christmas indeed.
Author's Note: First off, I want to point out that Will's allergy to Christmas trees is possible, I would know, because I am allergic to Christmas trees myself. (That's why my family has to get a fake tree, unfortunately.) I also want to thank all of my readers for spending their time reading this. I hope you enjoyed it, and I do have one favor to ask of you. If you would like for me to continue this fluff between our favorite Queen of Wonderland and her Knave, then please review with something that you would like to see in the coming chapters, because I only have a few ideas. Also, I don't know if it will be completely finished by actual Christmas, so I hope that you don't mind. Please leave your suggestions, and I will try to include as many of your ideas as I can. As always, thank you for your support, and I cannot wait to hear your feedback where I can begin writing Chapter 2!