A/N-this is just an insanely fluffy Christmas fic that I've been meaning to write for over a year, and I finally finished it so here it is! I am really happy with the way it turned out so I hope you enjoy it. :)
"Hurry up Katherine!" Elena shouted over her shoulder, putting her gloves onto her hands. It was Christmas Eve and Elena had convinced Katherine to take her to the park, to walk around and enjoy the fresh winter air. Katherine shuffled down the hallway to where Elena was standing, pulling on her boots. She was dressed in a big puffy jacket, a black knit hat and a scarf.
"Is this really necessary?" Katherine complained. "It's freezing outside and I don't do cold."
Elena stood up and crossed her arms in front of her. "Yes it is completely necessary," she said, smirking at her doppelgänger. "Besides, you look cute in your little jacket and hat."
"I look cute in everything," Katherine scoffed at her. Elena laughed and grabbed Katherine's arm, pulling her toward the door. "Come play with me now and I promise I'll return the favor later," she whispered in Katherine's ear.
"I hold you to that, Miss Gilbert," Katherine said as she let herself be dragged outside into the chilly wonderland of white.
The neighborhood park was just at the end of the street that they lived on. As they walked, Elena tried to take in all the lovely sights and sounds of winter. Elena loved the way the wind moved the branches of the bare trees and made them look like they were dancing. They passed some children busy making what looked like a snowcat on their front lawn and when they waved, Elena waved back at them, smiling at the joy on their faces.
The neighborhood park looked beautiful covered in white from when it snowed the day before. In warmer weather, the fountain at one end of the park had cascading waterfalls, but right now the water was frozen. Several black metal benches lined the edges of the park, but only a few were occupied since it was beginning to get dark.
As they walked through the park, Katherine felt snow settle onto her eyelashes. She wiped the wetness off of her eyes and looked over at Elena who seemed to be busy sticking out her tongue and trying to catch a snowflake. Katherine just shook her head and quirked an eyebrow at her.
"What?" Elena asked, laughing at herself.
"Oh, nothing," Katherine said, giggling and kissing her on the cheek. Elena rolled her eyes but didn't push it any further. (She was pretty sure she knew was Katherine was thinking and it certainly wasn't appropriate for other people's ears.)
Elena could hear church bells in the distance, so she stopped to listen to the tune they were ringing to. She let herself get distracted for just a few moments, so she wasn't prepared when a snowball hit her in the back of her head. She whipped her head around to find Katherine laughing at her.
"That's what happens when you let your guard down, Elena," Katherine quipped.
"You're gonna pay for that, Katherine" Elena threatened her, a smile giving her away.
Katherine put her hands up in the air in front of her. "Ooh I'm so scared," she mocked Elena.
Elena started toward Katherine as she went to make another snowball. Before she could throw it, however, Elena wrapped her arms around her from behind but Katherine managed to shove the ball of snow into her face. Elena let out a low growl and pinned Katherine's arms behind her back, Katherine laughing as she struggled to get free. Elena began to nip at her ear.
"You're not playing fair," Katherine complained.
Katherine fell to her knees, still struggling as Elena pushed her down and climbed on top of her. "Who said anything… about being fair?" Elena questioned her as she pinned her wrists to the snowy ground. She slowly brushed her lips against Katherine's, breathing out against her skin and enjoying the way her pulse was racing, then rolled off of her, giggling as Katherine made noises of frustration. They lay there for a minute or two before Elena noticed the sound of Katherine's chattering teeth.
"I think it's probably time we head back, I don't want you getting sick out here," Elena said. She stood up and then held a hand out to Katherine. "We both know how much fun you are when you're sick."
Katherine grabbed Elena's hand and pulled herself up. She brushed her hands against her jacket, making sure to rid herself of all the frosty snow that had accumulated during their wrestling match. "I feel like an icicle already," Katherine complained as Elena took her by the hand and they headed home.
Once they had gotten out of their heavy jackets, changed into dry clothes, and had dinner, they began to decorate the Christmas tree with some ornaments they had bought a few days before. Since all of her family's things were burned in the fire, Elena had decided to start fresh with some new ones. "New life, new memories," she had said to Katherine.
"What is this supposed to be?" Katherine asked, holding up one ornament in particular.
Elena looked up from the branch she was hanging a snowflake from and tried to decipher what Katherine had in her hand. "I think," she paused for a moment, pondering what the object was. "It might be one of those cute little Christmas mice?"
Katherine turned the toy mouse over in her hands, studying it intensely. "Okay," she shrugged her shoulders as she moved to place it haphazardly on the tree.
"I'm bored," Katherine sighed, her hands on her hips.
Elena glared at her before returning her attention to the tree. "How can you be bored? We've only been doing this for ten minutes."
"Yes, but it's so quiet, it's giving me a headache," Katherine complained, rubbing at her temples with her fingers. "Tell me your favorite Christmas memory."
"My favorite Christmas memory…" Elena wondered out loud. It had been so long since Elena had actually put this much effort into celebrating the holiday. The last few Christmases since her parents died had been half assed at best, they hadn't really felt up to celebrating what used to a be time for their family to come together and enjoy each other's company.
"My favorite memory of Christmas is actually more like, a bunch of memories of the same thing," Elena explained, picking up a glass butterfly ornament from one of the boxes.
"Okay, and that would be…?"
Elena closed her eyes and breathed in, trying to remember Christmas in the past. When she finally opened her eyes, she said, "Jeremy and I used to make gingerbread cookies every year. Or well, our mom would bake them and we would decorate them. But we'd have little gingerbread cookie pageants and compete in different categories and at the end, the winner would get a royal icing crown."
"It started out as something I dragged Jeremy into doing but, we did it every single year, even the year I was sick with the flu and couldn't get out of bed. I remember Jeremy bringing the cookies into my room and putting them on a table next to my bed, so I could still be a part of it."
"That sounds really nice actually," Katherine said with a tentative smile.
"Yeah, it really was," Elena bit her lip, the corners of her mouth turned up just a little.
"So every time I smell gingerbread, I think of that. When all I had to worry about was cookie pageants." She laughed at herself then, and gave Katherine a reassuring look that she was fine. She was happy with the way things turned out, and she didn't regret any of her choices.
"What about you?" Elena asked, tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear.
"What about me?" Katherine asked after a moment, fiddling with one of the ornaments on the tree.
"You have five hundred years of memories to choose from, so what's your favorite memory of Christmas?"
A strangled laugh escaped Katherine's lips and she reached over to grab a snowman ornament from one of the boxes. "When I was still human and lived in Bulgaria, we didn't celebrate Christmas. It was this whole big thing, not really important."
"Well, what about after that?" Elena asked.
Katherine's jaw stiffened. "After that, I became a vampire and well you know how that turned out." She hung the ornament on one of the taller branches, her fingers lingering on the snowman for a few moments. "I was so busy running from Klaus… I never really got a chance to have a real Christmas."
Elena's eyes widened. "So, this is your first real Christmas?" she asked in disbelief. "Does that mean you've never been kissed under the mistletoe before?" Elena gasped and started to rummage through the larger box, until she found what she was looking for.
"What are you doing?" Katherine asked, not sure what was happening.
"I can't believe I forgot to do this earlier!" Elena said reprimanding herself, running over to the kitchen. She put the plastic mistletoe that she'd been meaning to hang for the last week over the entry way and secured it in place with a thumbtack. "There, that's much better." She stood there admiring her work as Katherine came over to join her.
"Remind me what the point of this is?" Katherine asked.
"The point, is that when you find yourself under the mistletoe with someone, you get to kiss them," Elena explained.
"That's stupid. I can do that anytime I want." Katherine said, her hands reaching for Elena's hips.
"That's true, but this makes it more 'Christmassy'" Elena said as she wrapped her arms around Katherine's neck.
"More 'Christmassy'"?
"Are you going to kiss me or not because I could just go…" Elena started to say.
Katherine pressed her lips to Elena's, pulling Elena's hips closer to hers. Elena made a satisfied noise and had to contain her desire to carry Katherine to the bedroom and have her way with her. The kiss was sweet and gentle, lasting just long enough to frustrate Elena as Katherine pulled away, very pleased with herself.
"See, that wasn't so difficult, was it?" Elena teased, smiling at her. She kissed Katherine's lips again as she heard the clock strike midnight. Katherine let out a big yawn, unconsciously reacting to the clock.
"Maybe we should get ready for bed," Elena laughed.
"I'm not tired though," Katherine assured her. She started to yawn again and she quickly covered her mouth with her hands.
"But still, it's getting kind of late and we don't want to miss Santa!"
"Oh right, make sure you leave the cookies out for him!" Katherine reminded her.
"Like I would forget those, I only spent all day making them," Elena boasted as she headed into the kitchen.
"You mean 'we' spent all day making them," Katherine corrected her, following right on her heels. "I deserve some credit too."
"Yes, you deserve credit for sitting on your ass and watching me bake cookies while you lectured me on how I was doing everything wrong."
"I'm glad we're on the same page," Katherine said with a wink, as she opened the fridge and pulled the container of milk out.
Elena rolled her eyes as she grabbed the plate of cookies and removed the plastic wrap while Katherine poured a glass of milk to leave with the cookies. They took both items and placed them on the table between the couch and the Christmas tree along with the letter to Santa they had written earlier that day. Elena heard Katherine yawn for a third time behind her. "Let's get you upstairs to bed, Sleepy," Elena laughed as she pushed Katherine toward the stairs and up to their bedroom.
Once they got into their pajamas, and settled into bed and said good night, they both fell asleep quickly, exhausted from the day's events.
At around two in the morning, Elena awoke to the sound of the bed creaking as Katherine tried to get out of bed as quietly as she could. Elena's heard the thump thump thump of Katherine's feet going down the stairs and she couldn't help but smile. She heard Katherine bump into something(probably that damn coffee table) and Elena could hear Katherine curse herself under her breath. She had to hold back a fit of laughter, or else all of Katherine's sneaking around would be for nothing. After a few minutes, Katherine returned, holding her breath and hoping that Elena was somehow still asleep. She got back into bed as quietly as she possibly could, falling into a deep slumber soon after.
Katherine awoke at six-thirty, Elena still sound asleep next to her. "Elena…" she whispered as she leaned in to nibble on her ear. "It's Christmas…time to wake up!" Katherine announced as she shifted slightly to kiss her on the lips before getting out of bed. Elena smiled at Katherine's excitement, and watched as Katherine wandered about the room trying to hide her impatience to get downstairs. After a few moments, Elena pulled off the covers and rolled out of bed, running her fingers through her hair several times.
"Finally!" Katherine sighed, exaggerating her frustration. "Are you ready?" Elena responded with a nod and they went downstairs to the living room.
"Looks like Santa liked the cookies!" Katherine said, a little too enthusiastically. Elena noticed some magazines that had been knocked onto the floor when Katherine had bumped into the table.
"Looks like Santa is also a bit clumsy," Elena commented as she picked up the magazines and put them back in their place.
"Santa travels the entire world in one night, he's sure to bump into something once or twice along the way," Katherine retorted, arms crossed in front of her.
"I'm sure you're right," Elena said, fighting to stifle a laugh. She walked over to the tree and picked up two of the wrapped gifts. "The one with the blue wrapping paper is the sweater for me, right?" Elena asked as she handed Katherine a box wrapped in a gold and silver snowflake pattern. After Katherine nodded Elena said, "This one is yours." The huge smile on her face made Katherine slightly nervous. They had agreed to get each other "ugly christmas sweaters" and God only knows what Elena had chosen for her. After they had both found a spot on the floor, Katherine tentatively started to unwrap her first gift. When she went to open the box, she braced herself for what she would find. Inside was a fluffy emerald green sweater that had a big red and white candy cane with a red bow on it.
"Isn't it adorable?" Elena asked excitedly as Katherine pulled it out of the box and held it up to her body.
"Yes, it's adorable," she said through her teeth as she looked down at the sweater again. "In fact, it's so adorable, maybe you should keep it for yourself!"
"Nope, it's your sweater so you're the one that gets to wear it!" Elena told her as she picked up the box with her sweater in it.
"Lucky me!" Katherine lied, forcing her mouth into a big smile.
Elena was already working on unwrapping her sweater as Katherine folded hers and put it back into its container. She tossed her hair over her shoulder as Elena opened the box and frowned at what she saw.
"Katherine!" Elena scolded her. She pulled out a simple crimson red sweater with 3 small white buttons at the top. It was anything but ugly.
"What?" Katherine asked, looking at her nails with disinterest. "It was the ugliest sweater I could forgive myself for spending money on."
Elena sighed and rolled her eyes. Typical Katherine. "You're impossible," Elena said, exasperated. Katherine just shrugged her shoulders in response.
Elena got up from her spot on the floor to grab a large box from under the tree, with Katherine's name on it. "Here open this next," she said excitedly, setting the box down next to Katherine on the floor.
"What is it?" Katherine asked, gaping at the size of the gift box.
"Just open it and then you'll see," Elena answered her patiently.
Katherine glared at her for just a moment before returning her attention to the gift. It was wrapped in red and silver gift wrap with swirly designs on it. She tore open the paper hurriedly, glancing over at Elena every so often. Once she had gotten most of the wrapping paper off, she tossed it to the side and opened the lid of the box. A small gasp came from her lips when she saw what was inside.
Inside the box were three items: a pair of black leather riding gloves, a new riding helmet and the most beautiful pair of riding boots Katherine had ever laid eyes on. Her hands reached for the boots first, her fingers trailing over their black calfskin leather exterior.
"I know you said you'd like to start riding again, like you used to in Bulgaria, so I had them custom-made for you," Elena said scooting closer to her doppelgänger. "Do you like them?"
After a few moments, Katherine swallowed and looked up at Elena. "I love them," she said, gratitude and admiration evident in her voice. She leaned closer to Elena and kissed her, her hand caressing the side of her face. "Thank you."
Elena smiled as Katherine kissed her once more and then stood up and walked over to the tree. She reached for one of the branches on which a square box wrapped in gold paper was perched and pulled the box out from the tree. She offered the gift to Elena. "This is for you," Katherine told her as she rose to her feet and took the box from her hands.
Elena carefully untied the ribbon and dropped it on the floor beside her. She unwrapped the rest of the gift, trying not to rip the paper at all because of how pretty it looked. She glanced up at Katherine nervously before opening the lid and seeing what was inside. Nestled into some cotton was a gold pearl-encrusted collar necklace. Elena picked it up and held it up to the light, admiring its elegance.
"It's beautiful, Katherine!" Elena cried, almost unable to take her eyes off her new piece of jewelry.
"Let me help you put it on," Katherine offered, taking the necklace from Elena's fingers. Elena turned her back toward her doppelgänger as Katherine shifted Elena's hair to one side of her face, careful to trail her fingers lightly against her neck as she went. She lifted the necklace up around Elena's neck and carefully fastened the clasp.
Unable to resist the temptation, she pressed her lips to the top of Elena's spine and along the back of her neck, enjoying Elena's soft noises of approval. She continued leaving a trail of kisses up the side of the vampire's neck until Elena caught her by surprise, biting on Katherine's lower lip.
Elena's fingers tangled in Katherine's hair, caressing her scalp as they kissed. When Katherine pulled away to catch her breath, Elena gazed at her adoringly.
"I love you," Elena whispered.
Katherine's lips turned upward into a smirk as she pulled Elena closer. "I love you too," she whispered back, as she leaned in to capture Elena's lips once more.