Authors Note: Here we are with a Christmas story, but more importantly this is also my 100th story on here! Thanks to those who have been here form the very beginning, you make things worth it. Have a merry Christmas and a brilliant New Year!
She woke up in her bed and partner's arms, and snuggled closer, praying sleep would take over again but knowing there was no chance as she remembered it was Christmas Day and that she had far too much to do for it.
They had been simply work partners for countless years but had progressed to the personal side of the term almost three years ago. Jackie sighed as she made an attempt to stand up but was quickly grabbed around the waist by Robbie and couldn't help letting out a squeal.
"I can't believe I do not even get a kiss from my girlfriend at Christmas!"
"I thought you would appreciate more beauty sleep before the gang appears, love." She mumbled as he pressed his lips to hers and succeeded in distracting her by this morning treat.
Her mind though was in overdrive as it considered all the different dishes they - she - had to prepare and cook prior to the arrival of Stuart, Ewan and Ronan who would have got a carry-out meal if left to their own devices, and Burke with Karen who hated the festivities enough for them to eventually be hassled into a 'quiet meal with friends' instead of spending the day together in one of their homes watching a DVD or in their separate houses chatting on the phone for the entire day to each other.
All of them, including the couple in question, had pretended they had not noticed the two senior officers slowly and unwillingly falling for the other but ultimately Karen had been made to go away with him for a weekend management course in the capital and had came back flustered whenever they shared any sort of conversation or personal space. As time had passed it was obvious they had been a couple ever since the trip and nobody had breathed a word of it to officers out with this circle since their tempers and work ethics still produced the same results and arguments as before. And it was always useful to have a little blackmail information on the bosses, especially if you were Robbie. Robbie and Jackie had been open about being a couple from the start so did now work in different departments but it had worked surprisingly well for them.
She wished they could order from one of the local takeaways now but knew there was no hope on this day for any to agree to an order for their busiest evening, and the teasing from Robbie after promising a home-cooked meal would be unbearable. It was ten am by the time they were suitably sated and showered so he accepted defeat and offered his minimal culinary services to her disposal. When deciding how long to cook the turkey for - before any vegetable chopping with knives had begun thankfully - they got into the first of numerous arguments throughout the day which made him wish he had just sat on the sofa once they had got downstairs an not moved to help her.
To make it slightly more optimistic she had thought up the idea of waiting until everything was ready to cook, or already in the oven, before exchanging presents so they could make up with the gifts, not words.
Burke arrived with Karen on time at three pm whereas Ewan and Stuart were late by an hour because Ronan had practically had to be dragged out of the house with her new iPhone glued to her hand, and then they had got stuck in a festive traffic jam. Luckily Jackie had got most of her timings wrong so the meal was ready after they were all present and the meal itself was surprisingly edible, a fact that Robbie enjoyed joking about much to his girlfriend's anger as she swore she would never cook for him again if she would only receive comments about past failures.
He managed to win her back by kissing her and playing footsie with her under the table for the remainder of the dinner. The rest of the group agreed though that the turkey was better than they had hoped for and tried to persuade her to repeat it every year to save them all the hassle. It was Robbie who had put a stop to that idea because he knew that she would end up saying yes and he didn't think he would be able to cope with another morning like this again.
"Why are you not as chatty as usual Ronan?" Robbie asked, used to mocking Stuart or Ewan with the aid of the younger girl but tonight she seemed to only care about the texts she was sending and receiving.
Ewan was the one who replied when Ronan shurgged, "She wanted to bring her boyfriend but there was no chance of that happening, was there sweetheart?"
"Dad, I am sixteen, I don't get why you guys flipped over it!"
"Let's not start this again, please."
After a few moments of heated silence Ronan looked at the woman she knew best, "Jackie, is it okay if I take my laptop upstairs so I can have some peace to type?" Stuart and Ewan looked at one another, knowing that she was probably going to Skype her boyfriend Tom - who actually was reasonably nice and sensible, but still her boyfriend - but they gave a brief nod, both surmising that it was Christmas and she deserved some time to spend how she wanted.
"Yeah, that'll be fine then honey. There should be a spare socket for the charger if you need it," Jackie replied.
"Thanks and night you lot. Don't stay up too late getting wasted!" Ronan went up to the room she had frequented several times before, usually when her two fathers and their friends had drank too much and knew it would be better to sleep it off. it was supposed to be a study yet was really just a large cupboard next to the bedroom where Jackie would occasionally escape to.
At one point when they were sitting in the various places around the room Matt turned professional on them and in his slightly inebriated state tried to discuss the case they had all been working on in each of their specialist ways the day before but did not get very far before Karen pressed her mouth against his. As she pulled away she rolled her eyes at the others who were smirking - or in Ewan's case making gagging noises - and muttered to her partner that if they were talking about cases then she would be unable to be so close to him while they did, and after the kiss he had already forgotten what he had been saying and shifter her even nearer. Ewan was secretly happy about her stopping that line of speech as most conversations with this group revolved around work, but he still made a sarcastic comment to them.
"I think I just vomited a little."
Karen raised an eyebrow at him and tried to look sternly, "Ewan, I'm sure I have enough power to set up a couple of raids or lines of enquiry regarding, say, the McIntyre chain of nightclubs, would you like that?"
"Oh, she's feisty! I like it. You're like a meaner version of Jackie, and I say that in the kindest possible way!" He said, blowing a kiss to her from the opposite side of the room which Karen grinned at and sent one back.
He watched Matt as Karen nestled into his side and he casually trapped a lock of her deep red hair between his middle and forefinger and twirled it around them without truly noticing his own actions. Karen had her jean-clad legs tucked up on the couch while her head found a place on his chest and her arm was draped across his torso, looking as though she was comfortable enough to fall asleep right there and them but resisted the temptation. Jackie was sat on Robbie's lap with his legs crossed underneath her and his chin was softly sitting on her shoulder so that he could still be involved in the discussions and they looked as content as any couple could be.
At almost ten o'clock Karen nudged Matt and said to the others, "We should probably head off."
The words had barely left her lips before Jackie started to object, "No, stay, Ewan and Stuart will almost certainly not go home! You are pissed anyway so we can all have company where our hangovers kick in! Please Karen, it'd be nice to have this place full."
Jackie looked at Robbie, in need of some support which he was willing to give, "I suppose we have the spare room and a couple of air beds somewhere, and the couch is always available."
Matt smiled to Karen, knowing she needed a little encouragement still to be so social with her colleagues, "That would be lovely Jackie, thanks a lot."
All of them were positive that this was the first period in which they were each happy in relationships - each pair were still sure that something would happen to spoil their bliss, especially Matt and Karen as they were in what they classed as their beginning. Jackie and Robbie had settled most which had been a surprise to all but after some initial daily rows they had started to trust the other completely, with just a few down times that they knew they had to overcome because they loved their partner so much.
They occasionally would have either Stuart or Ewan staying over when they had an argument as their bad patches seemed to be more emotionally charged than Robbie and Jackie's which had shocked the latter couple since they had previously considered the men to have an amazing marriage. Every time though they would be awoken within a matter of hours by the other man begging their guest to go back home, which made them feel better about the two of them but irritated that their night had been interrupted by such a pointless event.
Ewan and Stuart took it in alternate turns to check on Ronan but unbeknown to them she had long since worked out the differences in the sound of a creaking floorboard by either footsteps or general structural sounds, so she could quickly tell Tom to be silent when she heard her father ascend. Eventually their sporadic appearances stopped and if she were honest she hazarded a guess that they were probably too drunk yo care deeply or that Jackie had told them to stop. In the living room both assumptions were actually true since both men had consumed far too much and also Jackie kept telling them to sit back down whenever they made an attempt to go to the hall.
Ronan checked the clock on the bedside table and decided it was late enough for the rest of the household to not notice if she celebrated the birth of Christ with her own glass of wine, so she finally finished her conversation with Tom and made her way downstairs. She contained a laugh when she took in the scene before her; the six adults were fast asleep lying next to their restive partners on the floor, sofa and armchair. Her parents were on the floor's rug with their arms as though they had been over the other body but were now at their sides, Robbie was on the plump armchair with Jackie practically on top of him, looking as though she had slid off the arm of it and ended up snuggled into her long-time boyfriend whose chin was still resting on her head as she had her back to him. And on the sofa were Matt and Karen who must have fell asleep while talking to the other - or snogging - and her arms were on his hip while his were around her waist with his hands just below the base of her spine.
Ronan took a few gulps from one of the bottles of white wine that was almost empty and then made up her mind to take a DVD upstairs to watch and probably fall asleep during, and made her way back to the other room.
They awoke the next morning when they all heard a thud as Karen had shifted in her sleep to get more comfortable and ended up falling on to the laminate flooring beneath her, she groaned as the pain of the impact combined with the headache from the hangover, the latter of which began to take over each of them as they came out of their dreamlands. Matt made a feeble attempt to move to help but ended up laughing as he looked down at her because the little make-up she had worn was now smudged, her fiery red hair was a mess and her lovely white and blue striped fitted blouse as crushed which he she she would hate as she was always so meticulous about looking perfectly preened.
Jackie was the first to push herself out of her position and start to make her way over to help but Karen managed to lift herself back up, gently massaging her head in a futile way to calm the pounding. When she was back up on the sofa she punched her boyfriend's arm in irritation, "Sometimes Matthew you can be the biggest idiot."
"That's why you love me."
"I suppose so." Each of them looked to their own other half and gave them a quick kiss – Ronan was already back to texting Tom up the stairs at that time – and couldn't have imagined a better situation to be in.