Merry Christmas to all! And lovecamedown, I am your Secret Santa, Merry Christmas to you too. I hope you all like it!
"Careful! Watch where you're going!" Eddie yelled from behind, as he came into the foyer, carrying – or trying to at least- three bags.
"I can see you know? I'm not blind." Patricia snapped, setting down the overly decorated bag in her hand.
"Well you're sort of carrying precious cargo, Yacker." He laughed, as he dropped all the bags onto the floor.
"Hey! You two are late! Your mum should up earlier than you!"
Patricia and Eddie looked up as the middle aged man entered the room. His hair was grey with small patches of black, and a few wrinkles could be seen across his forehead. Although his apparel was definitely different. Instead of the usual blue coat, with a red vest underneath, and a plain shirt, he wore a typical ugly Christmas sweater with jeans. To top it off, he also wore a Santa hat which was flopping off to the side.
"Dad!" Eddie exclaimed, tripping over the baggage to hug him.
"Hey Mr. Sweet." Patricia sent an awkward smile, still not used to her old headmaster being her father-in-law.
"You are family now too Ms. Will- Err… Patricia. Call me Eric." He held out his hand, before shrugging slightly, and pulling her into a hug too.
"Is that who I think it is?" The voice came from the kitchen. By now, Eddie had already ran into the kitchen, pulling his mother into a hug too. She, like Eric, wore a typical Christmas Sweater, jeans, and a Santa hat. However, she looked much younger than him, despite them being of same age. Patricia had followed behind slowly, with Mr. Sweet taking the bag Patricia had brought into the living room.
"Hey Ms. Miller." Patricia smiled at the blonde woman, who was currently standing in front of the countertops, with her hands a mess.
"Patricia, as I have told you many times before, there's no need to call me Ms. Miller. You're family too!" She smiled, pulling Patricia into a hug.
"Why were you two so late, Edison?"
"It's Eddie, and we couldn't get an earlier flight out. They were all full."
"So, how long are you two planning on staying?"
"Well, according to the amount of things Eddie's packed, probably a few months."
"I did not pack as much as you did!"
Patricia and Eddie's mom laughed as Eddie tried to defend himself.
"You've been freaking out about every little thing ever since I told you I was pregnant, Eddie!"
A loud clank was heard, and the entire room fell silent. Ms. Miller was the first one to speak up, "Wait what?"
Eddie laughed nervously, scratching the back of his neck. "Well… we were gonna tell you tomorrow, but uh… I guess we broke the news out a little bit earlier."
"Awe, congratulations!" After another hugging session, everyone had settled down onto the couch in the living room.
"Well, don't worry about a thing Patricia, I'll take care of all the cooking and everything." Ms. Miller smiled, as she took a sip of her hot cocoa.
"Thanks for offering, but I'll be able to do it."
"Yacker, are you sure? I mean, you probably should stay off your feet." Eddie sent her a worried look.
Patricia rolled her eyes and set down her cup of hot cocoa, which of course, Eddie had said she shouldn't have. "I'm fine. I can take care of myself."
"Eddie, don't be so worried, I'll make sure she won't get hurt, okay?" Ms. Miller smiled at him.
"Okay…"
After everyone had finished all of their hot cocoas, Eric helped Eddie take all the bags upstairs to the room where he and Patricia would be staying in for a few weeks. Of course Patricia had offered to help, but Eddie declined it, saying she shouldn't carrying so much weight. When they reached the room, Eddie put all of the bags down in a corner of the room, and the two went back downstairs. Naturally, Eddie was flustered once again, when he realized Patricia wasn't in the room. So maybe he was a little tense about Patricia doing things while being pregnant. It was their first child, and he really didn't want anything to go awry.
Meanwhile, Patricia was going crazy! It's as if Eddie was constantly babysitting her. "Patricia don't do this! Don't eat this! You shouldn't do that!" She knew Eddie was only trying to be helpful, but he was the complete opposite. Every time Patricia would even go near the kitchen, Eddie would appear out of nowhere, divert her back to their room, and make his famous boy sandwiches for her. She had been eating those things for the past two months. Ever since the baby bump had been showing, Eddie had been trying to help out. Of course Patricia would try to tolerate him, but for goodness sake, she had her limits too!
So when Patricia and Eddie had received Mr. Sweet's invitation to stay at his house for Christmas, and New Year's, Patricia had agreed immediately. She would finally get a break from those stupid boy sandwiches of Eddie, and maybe, just maybe, he might soften up too.
Patricia had finally reached the kitchen, but it's as if on cue, Eddie had appeared out of nowhere. "Yacker! Why aren't you resting on the couch!?"
"Relax, will you Weasel? I'm hungry." She rolled her eyes, rummaging through the fridge.
"Eddie, you should go take a nap. Maybe it'll help you relax." Eddie's mom suggested, as she stirred the boiling pasta in the pot.
"But I- Fine…" Even if he was a grown man, Eddie couldn't deny that his mother's stern look still gave him the chills. He walked past his dad watching some old Christmas movies, and walked upstairs to the room he would be staying in for the next few weeks. Turns out his mom was right, because as soon as his head hit the pillow, he had instantly fallen asleep.
"Wake up, Weasel! Make some space for me." He heard the sound of his lovely wife say.
"Ah, the sound of my lovely bride is the first thing I hear when I wake up." Eddie laughed.
"What!?" Patricia snapped.
Eddie held his hands up in surrender, "Nothing!" He moved over as much as he could. "Did you guys have dinner already?"
"Its 3:00 a.m. you doofus! Of course we did!"
"Patricia you shouldn't stay up that late, you know? It's not good for your, and the baby's health."
She only grumbled under her breathe, before getting in next to him. "Who made you the boss of world?"
"Excuse me?"
"Nothing, can we just get to bed?"
"No, tell me what you said."
"Fine! You want to know what I said!? I said, who made you the boss of the world!"
"I'm just trying to help you!"
"Well you're not! I'm tired of constantly being told what to do! You won't let me get out of bed, you won't let me get food, and you won't even let me go the bathroom alone! You have to be standing outside the door!"
"Well sorry for trying to help out!"
"Stop trying to help! I can take care of myself! I don't need you to babysit me twenty-four seven!"
"Fine! I won't!"
By now they were both yelling at each other at the top of their lungs. Neither of them cared that everyone else in the house was asleep.
They continued bickering on and on for a while, before Eddie walked out of the room, closing the door behind him, a blanket and pillow in hand. He tried to walk downstairs as quietly as he could, and made himself comfortable (or well… as comfortable as he could) on the couch. The fight kept playing over and over again in his mind, but he tried to forget it. They'd both said some things that had definitely crossed the line, but they were too stubborn to apologize. It was like a relentless competition between the two. Of course Eddie knew he'd have to apologize eventually, but he knew it was bad idea to bother a hot headed Patricia. Especially a hot headed, pregnant Patricia.
He tried to sleep, but it was useless. He didn't get to join for dinner, and he'd already slept for hours before. Getting up from the couch, he walked as quietly as he could towards the kitchen. He scavenged around for any left overs, and built himself a plate of whatever he could find. The only light illuminating the whole first floor of the house was the lights of the Christmas tree. Since his dad had decorated the tree, he'd over done it just a little.
Eddie grabbed a fork and knife, and dove into his food. He'd only stopped when he heard the quiet shuffling of feet, before he saw an outline of someone appear in the doorway.
"Weasel… is that you?"
Eddie sighed. "Yeah." He heard Patricia mumble something under her breathe. "What was that?"
"I said I was sorry…"
"It's fine. It wasn't your fault anyway. I was being a little obnoxious trying to help you out."
"A little?" Patricia snapped.
"Okay, maybe more than a little." He laughed.
"These stupid hormones are making me go craz- what are you eating?"
"Leftovers. Want some?"
"Please? I barely ate anything for dinner." Eddie got out of the bar stool and made another plate full of the leftovers, and handed it to Patricia. Before he could even say "Eat up", she had already finished her plate. He laughed a little before getting back to his food.
"Stop laughing at me! I'm just hungry, okay?" Patricia sounded as if she was about to burst into tears.
"I'm sorr-"
"Again, the hormones. Not me." She groaned.
Eddie only smiled, and looked over at the oven clock, which flashed 4:30 A.M. in bright red numbers.
"Well… Merry Christmas, Yacker, even though it might be our weirdest one yet."
"Merry Christmas, doofus."
So in the morning the small Miller-Sweet family gathered around the fireplace, exchanging presents, Mr. Sweet and Ms. Miller never asked about the yelling in the middle of the night, even though they'd both heard it. They caught the secret glances Eddie and Patricia had been sending each and knew they'd fixed things between each other.
After a good Christmas morning, the door bell rung around lunch, and two new members of the family had walked in. Ben and Piper Reed (they had only gotten married a few months ago) both had managed to surprise everyone, even though they'd said they wouldn't be able to make it. The family of six had spent a nice lunch together, and had invited Mr. and Mrs. Williamson for dinner, and everyone had survived the day without arguing once. Patricia and Eddie did break the news to her parents as well, and they'd learned to accept it. At the end of the night, Patricia and Eddie both knew it'd be a long five months, but it would be worth it.
Thanks to Shadowswan for organizing this! I definitely had fun writing something like this to make someone's day, and I loved reading all of the fanfictions everyone else wrote for each other.
Merry Christmas Everyone.
xx
