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"Where on earth were you?" Marissa asked from the bedroom, it wasn't long before she heard noise behind her and turned to see the brunette standing in their shared bedroom in the process of removing her sweater. "It's like," she glanced at the clock, "11:45... I've been waiting for you I thought we were spending today together?"

Alex smiled at the girl as she threw her sweater on her chair and watched as Marissa finished putting whatever clothes she was holding away, "I know I'm sorry baby," she flashed her an apologetic smile and started to explain, "you know how I dropped off Kyle?"

"Yea..."

"Well, we drove by a mailbox and he insisted on posting the letter straight away... said he wanted to be the one to mail it over to Santa..."

"What?" Marissa asked now moving so she was sitting on the end of the bed.

"Yea and you know I can't say no to him... and I didn't know how and what to explain..."

"So what did you do?" Marissa asked as she went to stand up again, clearly a little nervous.

"Well, there wasn't much I could do... so, I drove back and let him mail it, I dropped him off at school and the second he was out of sight I sped back to the mailbox... I took the number down and I called them asking them when pick up was, they said the mail man usually went by around between ten in the morning and one in the afternoon...

Do you have ANY idea how hard it was to convince him to let me take the damn thing back? He kept on going on and on about he wasn't supposed to, that I could be some thief trying to steal someone's identity... I told him to take a long look at me; I looked like I just rolled out of bed... well, kinda like I look now.

I told him I'd just gone off to drop off my kid at school and had been waiting since for him to show up, that I had my girlfriend back home waiting for me since we hadn't been able to see each other all week, and that she was going to kill me if I'd lost our kids list.

I had to prove to the idiot that I really DID live at the return address and that I wasn't some crazy. By the way, do you have any idea how hard it was to just find the damn thing? Oh my God Marissa, I swear, I have never seen more red and green in my life! It was like Rudolph and the Ginger Bread Man threw a raver the night before and all the elves had puked up their Christmassy guts in there.

There were so many letters that were clearly written by kids, and then that made me wonder... what were those parents trick? I mean... how could they just let kids mail it all, how were they going to get the lists back? Why was I the only crazed looked adult sitting there in her car all morning?

Anyways, I somehow found Kyle's letter in the midst of them all, and that's when he and I argued again and I showed him my damn ID and you know what? After ALL that after telling me that once we found the letter and I showed him my ID we'd be good, he still seemed hesitant! I swear babe, I was SO close to punching him one." Alex sighed and looked to see Marissa who was once again sitting on their bed grinning like a kid on Christmas morning, ironically enough.

"What?" She asked it came out slightly angrier than she intended to but a quick look towards Marissa let her know that her girlfriend hadn't been hurt by the tone.

"Give me the envelope," Marissa simply asked Alex once she stopped pacing.

"Huh?" The ex-blonde replied further confused. This wasn't anywhere near the reaction she thought she was going to get.

Marissa got up and moved towards he girlfriend, "give me the envelope," she asked quietly once again.

Alex reached in her back pocket and handed the brunette the letter, she watched as the fingers she loved slowly unfolded it.

"Um... see I didn't know what would happen if you guys did drive by a mailbox, I mean Kyle is sort of insistent and stubborn," both women smirked knowing full well that their son had taken on that quality from them. "So, when he asked me what Santa's address was... look here babe, what's the address."

She could feel Marissa's eyes on her as she read the address over, not feeling any sign of recognition. She thought about it a few seconds longer and she realized that she knew the street name; it was where Marissa's mum lived. She looked up confused and saw Marissa smirk.

Marissa continued; "I knew that if you guys drove by one, Kyle would want to mail it himself, so... my mum seemed like a fairly safe address, I knew he wouldn't know where it was, turns out... he really didn't his only question was 'why isn't it in the North Pole?'"

Marissa and Alex both shared a quiet smile before Marissa kept on, "I told him the address in Newport was a secret place that was California's head quarters; that it was where the first cut of naughty or nice was done and then they sent it over to the North Pole... because otherwise it'd be just too much work for Santa."

As much as she was in awe at her girlfriend's ability to create a cover story, she couldn't help the confused look she still had, "you... you mean I d... I didn't have to stay out there for like... four hours? That I didn't have to spend fifteen minutes arguing with an over paid idiot, and another fifteen searching through countless mail trying to find the letter? That I could have left things as they were everything would have been just fine?"

"I love you?" Marissa offered weakly trying to cover her ass for having led her girlfriend on a wild goose chase when the goose would have inevitably returned home un-harmed.

Alex's eyes flickered, "oh, oh baby it's going to take a lot more than that... love," she replied.

Seeing the change in Alex's eyes, Marissa slowly started walking backwards until she felt her knees hit the end of the bed. "In my defence," she began holding her hands up to stop the lurking brunette, "you never asked, looked or even brought up what happened!"

Alex raised an eyebrow, "I figured it was some random address he made up, and I didn't bring it up because I didn't know you were behind all of this and I know how you like to worry so, I didn't want to bring you anymore of that than need be."

"Aw," Marissa cooed, "baby that's so sweet!" She watched as Alex got even closer.

"Uh huh, sure..." Alex replied with that same glint in her sparkling blue eyes, "you know... there's a part of me that think you did this on purpose... that you knew full well that I would end up in this 'what the fuck do I do' situation..."

"No..." Marissa's eyes widened, "what on earth would make you think that?"

Alex took one last step which led her to be in Marissa's personal space, to the point where Marissa had no choice but to try and take one more step back, but with no space left behind, she was forced to sit back down on the bed.

"Well," Alex slowly lowered herself as well so she could straddle Marissa, "you never let on what you'd done, fully aware that the odds of us driving and having to stop by a mailbox yesterday were high."

Marissa had subconsciously reached her arms around Alex's waist and held onto her tightly as she looked up, pleadingly, "I love you?" She tried again.

Alex smirked, "sure..." She let her hands glide down Marissa's arms and once she had hold of her hands, she gently yet firmly pushed the girl back, pinning her hands above her head. She leaned down and nibbled slightly on her earlobe before she whispered an octave lower, "prove it."

Marissa looked as she re-opened her eyes, knowing they'd shut the instant Alex had turned on her bedroom voice as she liked to call it, she looked into those gorgeous blue greens that were staring straight through her and even though the mischievous glint was ever so present, Marissa, after having been with Alex for over a decade could see the undeniable love that was always a constantly present in the girl's eyes.

Doing the only thing she could in her position, she leaned up and captured her lips. It wasn't rushed or demanding, it was simply a kiss, filled with love, sweetness and tenderness, it was a kiss filled with a promise of eternal love.

Marissa was glad to see that after all these years, she still had that effect on Alex, and when she felt the slightly shorter girl's hold loosen on her hands, she quickly reached up to cup Alex's cheeks as she felt Alex's hands likewise starting to roam.

She quickly felt them along her arms and threw her hair. She slowly pulled away glad to hear the whimper that escaped Alex once contact was lost. She waited until she had the girl's full attention before she reached up to push a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

As their eyes met, Marissa couldn't help the shiver that ran through her, the way it always had with Alex, the way she knew it always would. She smiled at the girl above her, "I love you," she stated it this time.

Alex looked down, the mischief gone for now, "I love you too."

They shared another smile before Marissa continued on , "you're right, I did not tell you on purpose, I was sure it would somehow get posted... but I only did it because I love seeing you freak out, I wanted to see what you'd do." She giggled as she recalled Alex's actions earlier before she found out about the address. On the other hand, Alex had regained her grain of evilness.

"But! Seeing as how you went all 'Tarzan no tell Jane. Must save face.' You my dear are the one at fault for that!"

Alex narrowed her eyes, "why you evil little..." She never finished as all loving and sweetness left her as she attacked Marissa in a fury of quickly moving fingers, all over Marissa's most ticklish spots. Which quickly but surely resulted in a fit of gasped laughter that only resulted in fuelling Alex's cruel method of punishment.

The two lay there contentedly a few hours later. Marissa lay curled up to Alex her head lying on the blonde's chest. Their hands resting on Alex's stomach entwined. A happy sigh escaped the taller girl as Alex ran her other hand up and down her bare back.

Alex turned her head slightly so she could kiss Marissa's forehead. She let out a breath before she spoke lightly; "the most wonderful day of the year my ass, more like the most stressful day of the year."

Marissa smiled as she leaned up the kiss the girl, "you love it anyways," she spoke just as lightly before connecting their lips. She pulled back a few moments later and let her head rest once more on Alex's chest.

"Nah, I love the kid though," Alex replied a hint of a playful tone underlying it all, "and I love you too," she quickly added as she saw Marissa's hand about to hit her.

The brunette placed her hand back on Alex's stomach as she let out softly, "I love you too," before placing her lips on Alex's chest, gently kissing the skin she found there.