Hey guys, merry Christmas first of all! For those of you following The two men she loved most: don't worry, I'm still gonna continue adding chapters to it, but I just wanted to do this one shot about Morgan's Christmas. Hope you'll like it! :D
The worst Christmas ever? Yeah, definitely, Morgan thought while she put down her mug. To cheer up her lonely Christmas Eve she had made herself a hot chocolate with way too much whipped cream on top of it. She stared at the whipped cream now, feeling very sorry for herself for a moment. How was it possible that she was all alone tonight? No friends, no family, no colleagues… And that while everything had been alright only hours ago! She had loved the office Christmas party: the fun, the talking, the laughter with her colleagues… and of course that Greg had been her secret Santa. Sweet Greg… She smiled, remembering the guilty look on his face after she had read his card. She had gladly hugged him to thank him, even though she much rather would have kissed him. But, of course, she had never done that before, so that would have been a weird thing to do in front of all their colleagues, no matter how badly she wanted to do it.
She sighed deeply while sitting down on her couch. Would there ever be a moment where she'd finally get a chance to kiss him? Ever since her kidnapping, maybe even before that already, they had been so close and there had been more than enough moments where she had believed they could be more than just friends. She was sure Greg liked her as much as she liked him, but why wouldn't he just admit his feelings? Was she supposed to make the first move? She stared at the whipped cream on her chocolate, which was slowly melting into the hot beverage. Was this really how her Christmas was going to be? All alone with a mug of hot chocolate and whipped cream? The longer she stared at the whipped cream the more she realized that if she wanted a great Christmas she had to do something.
Without wasting another second she grabbed her phone and sent a text message to Greg: Hey, wanna come over to celebrate Xmas eve together? x, Morgan. With a nervously beating heart she waited for his reply. He didn't keep her waiting too long, but the message he sent wasn't the one she had hoped for: I'd love to, but I'm kinda busy right now… Sorry…
Disappointed was an understatement at that moment. Annoyed, she threw her phone aside, an angry look on her face. Of course he was busy, it was Christmas Eve! Who didn't have plans on Christmas Eve? Well, she didn't! Poor, lonely, little, sad Morgan didn't have any plans… Suddenly she hated Christmas, every part of it. The decorations, the lights, the tree, the sleigh bells… Sleigh bells? She frowned while sitting up. Had she really just heard sleigh bells? No, that was impossible! Where was the sound of sleigh bells supposed to come from? Her TV was off, the street was empty and the sky… No, that was ridiculous! She shook her head and leaned back into the pillows of her couch. Sleigh bells, the thought alone! She grinned for a moment. She was definitely losing it! She took a sip of her hot chocolate, but suddenly froze. There it was again! It was definitely the sound of sleigh bells, no matter how impossible it was. But where did they come from?
A sudden knock at the door startled her. Her eyes looked at the clock. Nearly midnight, who would be knocking at her door at this time? Just to be safe, she grabbed her gun and hid it behind her back while she made her way to the door.
"Who is it?" she called out. At first, she thought she wasn't getting an answer, but suddenly the reply came: "Ho, ho, ho!"
What? Frowning, she shook her head. Sleigh bells and someone calling 'Ho, ho, ho'? What was going on? She grabbed her gun a little tighter and then slowly opened the door. Standing on her door step was none other than Santa Claus himself.
"Ho, ho, ho! Merry Christmas, Morgan!" he happily called out. In spite of her disbelieve she managed to stutter: "Merry Christmas… Santa…"
"Can I come in?" he asked.
"S-sure…" She stepped aside, but still held her gun behind her back. What was going on here? Santa Claus didn't exist! Who was he? She studied his face, but she couldn't make out anything. His white beard and white eyebrows covered a huge part of his face and his white hair and red hat made it impossible to see his own hair. Maybe she could recognize his voice…
"What are you doing here?" she asked him.
"I'm here to wish you a merry Christmas of course, Morgan!" he smiled. No, she couldn't recognize his voice either. Honestly, who was he?
"I know you've been through a lot this year, Morgan, so I wanted to make sure you had a Merry Christmas," he continued. He looked at her. "Are you having one so far?"
He seemed too genuinely concerned to be dangerous, she decided. She put her gun in her back pocket and shook her head. "No…"
"Why not?" Santa worriedly asked her. "Did something happen?"
"No…" She suddenly felt the need to admit how awful she was feeling. Almost angrily she blurted out: "I have no one to celebrate Christmas with, no one at all! My Dad is attending some fancy Christmas dinner, my mother and my stepfather are off skiing in Vail, my friends all have plans and my colleagues…"
When she didn't continue, Santa softly asked her: "What about your colleagues?"
"Russell is of course spending Christmas with his family, Sara is off visiting some old friends to spend Christmas with them, Finn and Nick seemed to be having such a great time together at that Christmas party that I wouldn't be surprised if they've ended up spending Christmas together and Greg…" Her voice trailed off. She shook her head. "Never mind, forget what I said."
Santa looked at her for another few seconds before smiling. "Alright, I won't ask then! So, how about some presents instead?"
"Presents?" she repeated.
"Of course!" Santa happily called out. "You didn't think I had come here empty-handed, do you?"
He opened the bag he had been carrying over his shoulder and took out a present, which he handed over to her. A little unsure, but curious at the same time, she opened it. It turned out to be a new curling iron, which was exactly what she had hoped her Dad would get her since her old one had broken. Narrow-eyed she studied Santa. He wasn't her Dad, was it? No, she was sure he wasn't.
"Thank you!" she said with a happy smile. "How did you know I wanted one?"
"Morgan, I'm Santa Claus!" he said, sounding almost offended by her question. "I can see you when you're sleeping, I know when you're awake, remember?"
She smiled, starting to believe in him more and more every second, even if it was totally crazy.
"Alright, present number two!" Santa handed her another present. This turned out to be a new alarm clock.
"I believe your boss would like you to be a little more on time every now and then…" Santa said, a strict look in his eyes. She looked back at him, suddenly wondering if he was Russell in disguise. No, it wasn't him either.
"I won't disappoint him," she promised. Santa smiled at her. "That's what I thought! Okay, I've only got one present left for you… Here you go, Morgan!"
He handed her a small envelope. Inside was a coupon for a free dinner for two in a luxurious restaurant. Feeling a little awkward all of a sudden she shrugged her shoulders. "Who am I supposed to take?"
"What about the colleague you didn't want to talk about before? What was his name again? Was it… Greg?" Santa thought for a second.
"He's too busy to spend Christmas with me, so why would he have time to go to dinner with me?" She couldn't help sounding annoyed, even though she had no reason to. He had every right to spend Christmas with someone else, it wasn't like they had promised to be together on December 25 or something like that! He was probably celebrating it with his family, like every other normal person she knew…
"But you would like to spend Christmas with him," Santa understood.
"Of course, I'd love to!" she called out. She'd love it more than anything else in the world! Santa smiled at her. "And you love him, don't you?"
Why lie about it? He was Santa after all… She smiled a little. "Yeah, I do… He's the sweetest, most caring guy I've ever met and I can't possibly not love him anymore, I just can't… He's just amazing!"
Santa pointed at the phone she had thrown aside earlier. "Then why don't you ask him if he wants to have dinner with you?"
Yeah, why not? She grabbed her phone, wrote a text message asking him if he wanted to have dinner with her some time and then sent it. She looked up at Santa. "Do you think he'll reply?"
"Oh, one moment, please!" Santa said, reaching into his pocket. She had heard a little beep telling her someone had received a message and now she watched Santa getting a cell phone from his pocket. Suddenly, her heart stood still. No, it couldn't be! How was it possible she hadn't recognized him before?
"Merry Christmas, Morgan!" Santa smiled, except he was no longer Santa anymore. She finally recognized the guy she was so madly in love with, too stunned to believe she hadn't seen it before. How did he manage to pull off something like this?
"Sorry I had to tell you I was busy before, but I had already glued on my white eyebrows and I didn't really feel like taking them off then anymore," Greg grinned. He frowned. "Or now either actually…"
He smiled warmly at her. "Are you mad at me?"
"No, of course not!" she called out.
"But I am surprised," she then added. "Why did you do it?"
"I saw you walking away after our Christmas party, with your shoulders hanging down, a sad look on your face… I figured you could use a little cheering up," Greg explained. "I have a friend who does stage make-up and clothing, so he helped me out. And I think he did a pretty good job…"
"Definitely!" she agreed. "I really didn't recognize you!"
She nudged him. "I can't believe you made me tell you how I felt! I just poured out my heart to you and then I don't even get a reply to my text message!"
Grinning, he pulled her into his arms. "How's this for a reply?"
Softly, but full of love, he kissed her. She automatically closed her eyes, almost unable to believe this was really happening.
"I love you too, Morgan," he whispered in her ear. He looked at her. "But I think you already knew that, didn't you?"
Smiling, she wrapped her arms around him, pulling him in for another kiss. "Yeah, I knew… But it's nice to hear you say it…"
He pulled her a little closer. "And even nicer to hear I'd love to spend Christmas with you?"
A huge smile appeared on her face. "Yes, definitely!"
Laughing, she kissed him again, thinking back to only half an hour ago. The worst Christmas ever? No, impossible. This was the best Christmas ever!
