Disclaimer: Sadly, The Infernal Devices series does not belong to me. All credited for this wonderful series goes to Cassandra Clare.
This is originally my entry for Keep Calm And Be A Shadowhunter's fanfiction Christmas Contest on Facebook. I think you all might enjoy it too, so here you go!
As Tessa had long awaited the winter holidays at the London Institute, she still hadn't quite expected them to pass as they had been occurring so far into this beloved season of hers. She had spent the past weeks, with the aid of Sophie, who had gradually become a rather close friend to her, making hats.
The hats had been quite hard to make, especially the one meant for little Buford, who Tessa had insisted on making a hat for. The little tyke hadn't deserved to be left out of all of the excitement. However, if she had simply known how difficult it would be to make the hat in the first place, she would have rethought that. Especially trying to manage to keep the hat on the rambunctious one year old in the first place. Tessa was sure that the hat would end up destroyed, it was one of those old Santa Claus hats that her Aunt had looked on grimly whenever her brother had brought them home. She had always managed to tear the fluff off of the hat when she was in her younger years.
Tessa fondly recalled all of the times when she was younger, still normal and completely innocent to most things, playing with her big brother and grinning broadly with a bright red hat, equipped with it's own fluff balanced precariously upon her head. As much as she loved her new life here at the Institute, one couldn't help but long, sometimes, for the way that things had been before.
It had taken her a few weeks to create the traditional hats from scratch with the help of Sophie. No matter the aid that Will had offered her, he had ended up pricking his hands too many times, and causing more harm than good to their precious little hats. One couldn't have Will blundering about, no matter how good his intentions were.
The day that Tessa had looked forward to the most, however, through the seldom pinpricks and sore fingers from all of the stitching was presenting the precious little hats to the members of their make shift little sort of family. It was always interesting to spot the looks on the faces of the shadow hunters when they came across something that was rather typical to the mundanes. It hadn't seemed at all odd to Sophie or Tessa, seeing as they had grown up in the mundane world before coming to the Institute.
Will's reactions were what Tessa looked forward to the most, though. He always made everything amusing, throwing his hands up and such in dramatic shows. Yet another tick on the list of things that she loved about him.
The weeks that led up to the must awaited holiday seemed to fly by in Tessa's eyes. She had hidden the hats in her closet, waiting patiently until Christmas Eve, when she promptly waited until everyone had fallen asleep to gather them.
It took a good two hours after her set time to head to bed for her to finish setting the hats by everyone's doors. She had had to wait for everyone to fall asleep first, especially Will, she knew he, like Jem, would find something to do before they went to bed. It was a good thing that Tessa was patient, or she would have simply handed the hats to them in the morning, quick, to the point and simple.
Tessa had carefully laid the hats out in front of each of the doors in plain sight, so they would be noticed, but not stepped on by the room's occupants.
She thought it was her best thought out plan as she headed off to bed and settled back in for a good night's sleep.
The pleasant, joyful Christmas dreams of Tessa's were interrupted the next morning by an extremely familiar face leaning close to her face, his mop of dark, black hair almost brushing her face, and his piercing blue eyes staring to her gray eyes. However, none of these facts saved Will from nearly receiving a startled but well thrown punch from a still sleepy Tessa.
Luckily, though, Will caught her hands and pinned them back against the bed until she was awake enough to completely register who was standing next to her.
Tessa blushed brightly but smiled sleepily at Will, who had since released her hands and was grinning broadly down at her.
"If I had known how fatal those self defense lessons would be for the lucky person who got to wake you up, I might have reconsidered them." Will stated with a grin as he brushed a stray piece of hair back behind her ear and out of her face.
"Sure you would have." Tessa murmured, slowly sitting up and blinking the sleep out of her eyes, rubbing them lightly with one hand.
"Nice hat by the way." She added softly, raising a hand to flick the small ball of fluff that was located at the top of the hat, causing it to flop down into his eyes. Tessa grinned once again, studying him as he pushed the fluff out of his eyes.
Being with Will was one of the happiest things that had happened to her in quite a long time. There was nothing in the world that she would rather do than simply sit there with him. Though the thing that she looked forward to the most now was spending the rest of her life with him. The couple had, after all been engaged for about eight months now. It was their first official Christmas that they would be spending together.
Tessa and Will had courted for a few months before they had become engaged. It was a development that had occurred after Will's younger sister, Cecily had arrived at the Institute for her training. She and Jem had become friends, since he had been helping quite a bit with her training after all.
Jem had been a bit crestfallen and quiet for a few weeks before Tessa had asked him what was wrong. He had explained his feelings towards Cecily to Tessa, and he had been quite surprised when she didn't react badly, but rather supported him. At the same point in time she had told him about her feelings for Will. By a mutual decision, the two had agreed to break up their engagement and had still remained close friends, having harbored no hard feelings towards each other over the break up.
Eventually Tessa and Will, as well as Cecily and Jem had gotten together, righting everything. This, however, was made all the more better when the discovery of a cure for Jem came about. It hadn't harmed anyone in any way, and didn't have any harmful side effects, even if it wasn't fully understood. The family at the Institute had just been glad that everything was going to be okay with Jem and he wasn't going to die of the horrid disease.
Tessa smiled at the memories, her smile stretching wider as she pulled out of her thoughts and noted Will pulling something out from behind his back. Her smile blossomed into a full blown grin as he pulled out her own Christmas hat and settled it on her head.
"There, now we match." He murmured, leaning down and kissing her gently on the lips. They parted moments later, though, and Tessa slowly slid her legs onto the floor, standing.
"I have to get dressed now." She spoke softly as she lead him back to the door to her rooms and gently pushed him out, standing on the tips of her toes in order to give him a light peck on the lips.
"I'll see you in a bit." Tessa added as she slowly closed her door on her grinning fiancé.
Half an hour later found the small family in the library within the Institute, gathered around a wood fire on the comfortable couches that overlooked both the fire, as well as the Christmas tree that Tessa had insisted on getting. The thing that pleased her the most though was the fact that everyone was wearing the hats that she and Sophia had painstakingly created a good week earlier.
Tessa's eyes scanned the room, spotting Sophie and Gideon, who had been married for a year now and were expecting their first child within a few months, they were snuggled up next to each other, Gideon resting his hand lovingly on his wife's evident baby bulge. Her eyes flitted next to Cecily and Jem, who were happily cuddled together, smiling and in their own little world there together. Next her eyes flickered to Charlotte and Henry. The latter held their red headed son, or rather wrestled him in an attempt to keep him away from the hat that his mother held. Charlotte was currently trying to keep the hat out of Buford's reach, before she simply placed it on the ground and embraced her son, and her husband.
Tessa herself relaxed into Will's embrace and smile up on her soon to be husband. In about three months they would be married. Nothing could be better she thought as they began to open their presents. Little Buford took joy in playing in the wrapping paper which covered the ground soon enough.
Maybe she loved the Christmas season so much because of all of the love that went around as they opened their presents, the surprised faces and hugs and thanks. Not to mention the fantastic meals that they shared in the dining hall.
At least they convinced Bridget to stop singing her limericks about death, at least for Christmas.
Later, when they went around and asked everyone what they were thankful for on this day, there was no other answer that she was able to give, other than the simple one that she actually did give.
"I'm just happy to be here." Tessa murmured, smiling at all of the familiar faces that were now her family.
And it was true.