She didn't want to wake up. The dream had been so perfect! He'd been real and there and had held her so tight that she swore she could still feel his arms around her; but she knew it was all in her mind. He was just in her mind. It was Christmas and 2013 and she was going to wake up to her cold flat which felt as empty as her insides. She had a constant pulling feeling in her gut, like a vital piece of her was missing, and she knew just what that missing piece was; it was a certain Mancunian DCI.
She missed him with every fibre of her body and more nights than she cared to admit had been spent drinking red wine and sobbing until she passed out from exhaustion.
He was by no means what she'd ever envisioned herself falling for; he was misogynistic, homophobic, drank far too much and had a nasty habit of punching first and asking questions later. But he was also very sexy, an Alpha male with a capital "A", at times very funny and she always felt safe when she was with him.
What she wouldn't give now, though, to hear him tell one more of those blue jokes, or have him call her "Bolly Knickers" just once more.
She shut her eyes even tighter to try and hang on to the last strands of her dream but it was slipping like water through her fingers.
She heard the doorbell ring and pulled her pillow over her head to try and shut the world out for just a little longer, but whoever was at the door wouldn't go away.
When she finally couldn't shut out the bell anymore, she got out of bed and put her slippers on; if it was bloody carol singers come to wish her "Merry Winterval!" she was going to shove a Christmas cracker so far up their parsons nose that they'd be hitting the highest note in "Ding Dong Merrily On High" with the greatest of ease!
She opened the door and was met by a huge, white beard; there was a tall Father Christmas standing outside her door. She was just about to slam the door in his face, niceties be damned, when he spoke in a deep voice she'd heard every night in her dreams:
"Ho-ho-ho! 'Ave ye been a good girl this year, Bolls?"