Who doesn't love a Christmas story in April?
This is like a Five Times fic meets a holiday fic meets… Dwangela. I'm not sure, but I think the timeline might be a little confusing, so I'll explain it at the end in case you don't get it.
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It was Christmas. Again.
Angela woke up early like she did every morning.
She had been praying even more than usual lately. She had gone to church on Christmas Eve, as she did every year. (Angela didn't always attend on Christmas day, however. She believed that going to church was only one way of celebrating the birth of her savior.) She had spent hours praying to God that her fiancé would not find out about the secret she was keeping from him. That was all she wanted for Christmas this year.
As Angela was feeding her cats, she wished that Andy would wake up at this time on vacation days as well. Then she felt guilty because the only reason she wanted him over so early was so she would have more time later to spend time with someone else.
She poured herself tea and went to sit next to her tastefully decorated Christmas tree. There were a few carefully wrapped presents sitting under it. She noted with some remorse that she had spent so much time looking for a gift for Andy that she hadn't had time to buy one for Dwight.
She already knew what part of Dwight's present to her would be. He gave her beautiful white orchids every Christmas. She didn't know where he got them, especially in the winter, but she didn't want to find out. It would somehow ruin the magic and mystery of the flowers.
However, Angela did have an idea of what she would give him this year. She was going to tell him how she really felt. She was going to finally admit that she was in love with him, that she had been ever since their first date. That she had never stopped for one second, even when he killed her cat, even when he married her without her approval.
She counted off all the reasons that this was a bad idea: She had a fiancé. It would give Dwight even more reason to insist that she pick either him or Andy (well, he really only ever asked her to pick himself). And this whole situation was so, so wrong.
But he had to know.
Angela bit her lip and hoped that this wasn't going to be a huge mistake.
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For the first time ever, Angela woke up on a Christmas morning feeling less than thrilled to celebrate the birth of baby Jesus.
This year, she knew, would be different. But maybe that wouldn't be such a bad thing. She hoped.
She quickly got dressed and fixed her hair so that she would look nice when she went over to Andy's apartment for a proper and appropriate gift exchange.
When it came time to leave her house, Angela picked up her purse and, as an afterthought, the gift she had received at work for the Secret Santa this year. She had never found out who had given it to her, and she wanted to know whether it had been Andy. A few weeks before the Christmas party, she had told him at work that her copy of her favorite book (besides the Bible), A Purpose Driven Life, had gone missing. For the Secret Santa, she had gotten a beautiful, antique-looking copy of it.
Later that Christmas day, after the two of them had given each other gifts, Andy decided to serenade her. Angela was not in the mood to listen to Andy sing. At first his songs had been charming, but after hearing them in the office, in several restaurants, and over the phone, she had gotten tired of it. She excused herself and from the room and headed for the kitchen.
Once she was alone with her thoughts, Angela took a deep breath. Whenever she was around Andy, she always felt a little tense, as if she were just waiting for him to do something embarrassing. It had never felt that way with… well, she wasn't with that person anymore, so she might as well choose to never think about him.
Angela set her purse down on the counter, and the book she had brought to Andy's apartment fell open. The pages revealed something she hadn't realized was there.
She picked the small strip of laminated paper up to inspect it. It seemed to be homemade. It was—
Angela gasped. After a moment, she gathered up her belongings and told Andy she was leaving. She all but ran back to her car, wondering why she had thought Andy might have been the one to give her such a thoughtful present. Once she was safely in the driver's seat of her Ford Focus, she examined the bookmark once again. It was just a piece of paper with two pressed flowers on it.
Two pressed white orchids.
A tear ran down Angela's cheek. As much as she hated to admit it, she still loved Dwight. But he had killed her cat. And she couldn't, she shouldn't, ever forgive him for that.
…Right?
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Angela woke up on Christmas morning in Dwight's bed.
That whole Christmas day was a blur of suppressed smiles and trying to ignore Dwight and Mose's strange Christmas traditions. When she gave Dwight his gift, a season of Stargate on DVD that she knew he didn't have yet, and promised that she would try to watch at least one episode with him, he grinned at her and kissed her on the forehead. Mose ran out of the room in fright.
His present to her was a fragile vase with cats on it. In the vase were six white orchids. Maybe it was her imagination, but she thought that the flowers looked particularly lovely this year.
Later that day, they went to church together. After the service, Angela introduced him to a few of the other church-goers with whom she was friendly. She insisted that he was just a friend and coworker, but the looks Dwight gave her and the way they held hands probably gave them away. Angela decided that she didn't really care if the people at her church knew about Dwight. She was just thankful that he didn't talk about anything embarrassing, like how to skin a mule deer.
Dwight drove them back to his farm, trying to teach her to sing Christmas carols in German the entire way. Angela rolled her eyes, but also gave him a secretive smile, which he returned.
As she was getting ready to drive back to her house that night, Dwight playfully begged her, "Monkey, don't go."
She sighed in reply, and then said, "Merry Christmas, Dwight."
She put on her coat and gave him a hug. Standing there in his arms, she didn't want the day to end.
She took a step back and told him, "If you like, you may come over to my house for the night."
He nodded seriously.
They walked to her car together in the chilly December air.
Angela could not remember a time in her life when she had ever felt so happy.
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It's not like Angela had never been in a relationship before.
This just happened to be the first Christmas which occurred at a time when she was seeing someone.
It wasn't even 7:00 AM, and she was sitting before her Christmas tree, calmly drinking tea. When a knock came on her front door, she smiled and rushed to answer it.
She wasn't at all surprised to see Dwight standing on her porch, but she still hadn't gotten used to the way he towered over her, or the slightly ridiculous hat he was wearing at the moment.
"Hi."
"Hello, Dwight."
She quickly let him in before too much cold air could enter her house. Although he had only been there a few times, he looked around as if he owned every room. Of course, he acted like that everywhere he went, and it was one of the qualities she found herself attracted to.
Out of nowhere, one of her worse-behaved cats decided to attack his shoe.
"No, Peaches," Angela scolded, but before she could pick Peaches up, Dwight was already holding the cat.
"Here you go, Cat."
He placed Peaches firmly on Angela's couch. Dwight was always gentle with animals, having grown up on a farm. And while his use of the name "Cat" in reference to all her felines was degrading, Angela could detect some affection in his voice.
He turned and, for the first time that day, focused his blue eyes on her. It was the look he had given her right before their very first kiss. It was the look that made her feel warm inside, like her heart was about to melt.
Angela moved towards Dwight. She rested her hands on him. Maybe they wouldn't exchange presents. Maybe they would just go into her bedroom and—
His cell phone rang, interrupting her thoughts. He checked the caller ID.
"It's Michael." He gave her an apologetic look.
She nodded as he answered the phone.
"Hello?"
She sat down on her couch dizzily, wondering why she had so little self-control when Dwight was around. After all, they had only been dating for one and a half months. But there was so much about him that she hadn't yet gotten accustomed to. For example, the way his big, strong presence in her living room made her feel….
"Where should I put these?" He was off the phone with Michael and gesturing to the bouquet of white orchids he had brought her.
"Oh," she stood up and began to leave the room. "I have some vases in the kitchen."
She opened up her neatly organized cupboard in search of a vase.
"You don't have a vase with cats on it?"
She hadn't noticed that he had followed her into the kitchen, but suddenly he was standing next to her, almost too close.
She smiled thinly and replied, "Not yet," as she placed the flowers in the vase she had gotten from her grandmother.
He tilted his head and said, "Well, then I know what to get you next Christmas."
Angela flushed and tried to hide her excitement over how he thought they would still be together next Christmas.
Changing the subject, she asked, "So, what did Michael want?"
"I'm not really sure. He asked me if I had any plans for today, and I said I did, and then he told me that I was going through a tunnel and hung up."
Angela should have known; it was Michael, after all. She set the vase down on the counter.
Dwight suddenly grabbed her hand, saying that he had something else for her, and pulled her back into the living room before she could protest. She sat down a bit hesitantly on her couch, Dwight kneeling before her. He pulled out his recorder—the last thing she was expecting—and began to play a Christmas song. Angela attempted to hide her smile of surprise and approval, but she was sure he'd seen it by the time he got to the end of the song.
"It's a Christmas carol," she whispered as he put down the recorder.
And then came something else she hadn't yet gotten used to—the way he gazed at her adoringly.
"It's 'The Little Drummer Boy,'" he said softly. "It's my favorite song."
"It's my favorite song too."
"Is it really?"
She looked down at the couch, then back at Dwight, and said shyly, "It is now."
He played a happy trill on his recorder, then smirked at her. Angela bit back a giggle and swept a strand of hair out of her face. Feeling bold, she leaned her face dangerously close to his. She kissed him slowly and sweetly.
Dwight's cell phone rang again, but he ignored it, and continued kissing his girlfriend in her living room on Christmas day.
He didn't even seem to mind that her cats were watching.
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Angela had a feeling that this Christmas, all she was going to be getting was a headache. The one sister with whom she was still speaking had all but invited herself and her daughters over to Angela's house. Angela supposed she should be grateful that at least her obnoxious brother-in-law wasn't with them, but it was hard to feel optimistic when two 11-year-old girls were in the next room, loudly whining about how many presents they had gotten.
"Angela, Sweetie," her sister Katherine was drawling, "could you run out and pick up the twins a few things? I think they're jealous that they didn't get as many gifts as Laura."
Angela agreed, only because it seemed like a less stressful task than staying in the same house as her nieces.
That was how she found herself driving around Scranton, trying to find a store open on Christmas morning. She had already rejected a toy store which had dolls dressed in obscene colors.
Angela pulled into a nearby parking lot and squinted at the shops. There was a dollar store ('Tacky,' she thought.) which appeared to be closed. Next to that was a small bookstore. She quickly parked next to a red car, so pleased that she might be able to find an appropriate and educational present that she didn't recognize the familiar Trans Am.
As she browsed the hardcover books lined up against each other, not quite sure what would be a suitable Christian read for young girls, she heard a familiar voice say her name.
"Angela?"
She turned around in surprise. It was Dwight Schrute from Sales.
She politely greeted, "Hello Dwight," then, not sure how to proceed, "What are you doing here?"
He leaned against a bookshelf and replied, "Just looking for something for my cousin."
Angela wondered if his Amish cousin could even read, but thought it would be rude to ask.
Instead she said, "Oh. I'm looking for something for my 11-year-old nieces."
His eyes widened. "Really? You should give them this."
He picked up a book sitting nearby and handed it to her enthusiastically. She was a bit taken aback by his excitement, but read the title anyway. It was Harry Potter.
She wrinkled her nose skeptically. "Hmm."
"What, you don't like Harry Potter?"
She sighed. "It's just that I'm not sure it would be a good Christian thing to do, giving children a book about witchcraft."
"Oh." He disappeared behind the shelf for a moment, and returned carrying another book. "How's this for a Christian book, The Chronicles of Narnia."
He handed her the book, and kept speaking animatedly about how it had completely changed his views when he read it as a child, as Angela carefully examined it. After determining that it was acceptable, she thanked him for his recommendation and went to check the book out. The cashier nodded his approval at her purchase, and Dwight, standing behind her in line, raised his eyebrows self-satisfactorily.
Angela walked slowly to her car, not really wanting to leave. She didn't particularly want to stay with Dwight, but she wasn't looking forward to returning to the mess her family was turning her house into, either. Before she could open her car door, he was there.
"Merry Christmas, Angela," Dwight said.
She watched as his wisp of breath was taken away by the wind.
"Merry Christmas," she responded.
To her amazement, he took her hand and gently pressed something into it.
She stood there in the parking lot, frozen to the spot. He got into his Trans Am and drove away. It wasn't until the car was completely out of sight that she looked down and saw what he had put in her hand.
It was a white orchid.
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In case it wasn't clear, this story went backwards. The first part was Season 5 and the last part was Season 1.
So, what did you think? Please leave a review. Thanks!