A/N: Merry Christmas everyone! This fic is written for srhittson for the Christmas Gift Fic Exchange on CCOAC. The prompts were Emily/Aaron with The Christmas Shoes, a white Christmas, Christmas cookies and nativity play. This takes place during season 8, there's no Beth and Emily's been in London for a while now. I hope you like it srhittson!
The tubes of frosting and mini gumdrops were lined up on the counter, patiently waiting to be used. As the oven door opened, the aroma of gingerbread cookies filled the flat. Aaron slid the pan out of the hot oven and placed it down on the counter, right beside the toppings. He was going to start taking the cookies off the pan when he heard a growl of frustration come from the other room.
It wasn't the first time that afternoon he heard such a sound, but this time it sounded more desperate than before. Aaron risked a glance through the doorway to find Emily sitting on the ground with her back to him, surrounded by wrapping paper and gifts lacking said paper. He stepped into the living room, but stopped when his foot kicked something across the room. Looking down, he found a bunch of balled up pieces of wrapping paper all over the floor behind Emily. Her shoulder were slumped in defeat and her hair was all messy from running her hands through it. A smile crept across Aaron's face as he thought of a way to cheer his girlfriend up.
It was a box, a silly little cardboard box that was supposed to be the easiest thing in the world to wrap, yet Emily couldn't do it. No matter how many times she had measured the wrapping paper, cut it, then started to put it on the box, it just wouldn't cooperate. She knew how to do it, she wasn't incompetent, it just wouldn't work. All Emily wanted to do was send some nicely wrapped Christmas gifts back to the States, but at this rate it looked like the team would be getting them minus the wrapping.
Emily sighed as she sat there staring at the presents in front of her and the rolls of wrapping paper. The frustration was beginning to leak out of her, being replaced with a hollow feeling of self-pity. That was it, she was giving up.
Emily stood up, surveying the mess she had created in the living room. The sudden tap on her shoulder made her jump, eliciting a chuckle from Aaron who stood behind her.
"You should know better than to sneak up on me," Emily commented as she turned to face him.
Aaron wrapped one arm around her waist and Emily rested her hands on his chest as she gazed up at him. There was a sparkle in his eyes and he kept one hand hidden behind his back, so Emily knew he was up to something,
"Sorry," he replied and kissed her on her forehead. "Having some difficulties with the presents?"
She glared in reply. "Don't even bring it up," she muttered.
"Want a cookie?" he asked and brought his hand out from behind his back.
He held the cutest looking gingerbread man in his hand. Outlined in white frosting with little boots, mittens and a hat, he looked quite happy with his different coloured buttons down his middle.
"You made Christmas cookies?!" she exclaimed. "When did you do that?"
"While you were in here with your project, I was in the kitchen with my own," Aaron replied and led her into the kitchen.
The wonderful smell hit her senses and Emily's mood almost instantly brightened. Each little gingerbread man was lined up, waiting to be dressed, while Christmas music played in the background.
"What's all this for?" she asked as she approached the counter.
"Well we can't have naked gingerbread men, now can we?" he replied with a raise eyebrow.
"That's not what I meant, and you know it" she said with a small smile.
Aaron cracked a smile as he set the finished gingerbread man down on the counter with the rest. He then handed her a tube of frosting and a plain cookie, and picked up the same for himself.
"Even though it won't be Christmas for another week, I won't be here then," he said and started to ice the cookie. "So we're going to do what I would have wanted to do on Christmas Eve with you and Jack, here in London now, just you and me."
"Please don't remind me that you're leaving in two days, I prefer not to think about it," Emily told him as she to began her work on the cookie he had given her.
"Well I can always cancel my flight and stay here for Christmas."
"No," Emily said quickly. "You should be home with Jack, not here with me. I've spent many Christmases by myself, so I'll be fine."
"I'm not even going to point out how bad that sentence sounded," he replied.
"Well actually, you just did," she said.
"I know."
After that the pair fell into a comfortable silence while they finished the cookies. Emily couldn't believe that he had spent the last few hours making cookies and she hadn't even noticed. He even cleaned up all the dirty dishes before bringing her in here. She wanted nothing more than for him to stay with her in London for Christmas, but it wasn't fair for Jack. It was one of the only times Emily had seen Aaron voluntarily take two weeks off -spending one week with her and the other with Jack. It would have been selfish of her to keep Aaron from Jack, especially at Christmas. At one point they had discussed all spending Christmas together, but Emily couldn't take the time off and they didn't feel right uprooting Jack at this time of year.
Picking up a gumdrop, Emily opted to eat it, rather than put it on a cookie.
"Hey!" Aaron said and poked her in the side. "Those are for the cookies."
"The way I see it," Emily said and popped another one in her mouth. "We put them on the cookies, then the cookies will be eaten, and so will the gumdrops. So I'm just speeding up the process by eating the gumdrops first."
"But what happens if one gingerbread man doesn't get any gumdrops because you've eaten his?"
"I'll eat him too," she replied with a shrug.
Emily reached for another cookie to start decorating it, but pulled up short when she felt something hit the side of her head. Slowly looking to the floor, a pink gumdrop sat next to her foot. She glanced up at Aaron, who was whistling along with the music like nothing had happened. Emily returned to icing the cookies when a few seconds later, another gumdrop bounced off her head. This time it was a red one and Aaron stood there looking as innocent as he had before.
Emily calmly placed her frosting tube and half finished gingerbread man down on the counter and grabbed a handful of gumdrops for herself. She turned to the boyfriend and launched them one after another at the side of his head, until he looked at her and a green gumdrop hit him on the forehead.
A laugh bubbled out of Emily as Aaron grabbed his own handful of gumdrops and began hurling them at her. She quickly ran to the other side of the counter and took cover behind the table.
Aaron assault stopped and Emily dared a glance up to see what he was doing. She ducked just before a gumdrop hit her and then quickly stood back up and threw one in Aaron's general direction. Emily waited for Aaron to make his next move, but it never came. She stood up cautiously and looked around, but found no sign of him. She crept towards the counter, looking over her shoulder ever so often in case of a sneak attack. As she reached for more ammunition, another hand circled her wrist and Aaron popped up from the other side of the counter. A shriek of laughter pierced the once silent kitchen as Aaron dabbed frosting on Emily's nose. She picked up a tube of her own and squirted it at him, making a mess on his shirt. They both started laughing even harder and their sugar war was quickly forgotten.
Emily looked around her kitchen seeing the mess they had created in the short amount of time. It was fun while it lasted but now it needed to be cleaned up.
"Maybe you should go change your shirt," Emily suggested.
"Maybe you should go wash your face," Aaron countered.
Emily laughed as he left the room, winking as he turned the corner. She sighed and began picking up the gumdrops. Once she was finished she sat down at the table and listened to the music she had forgot was playing. "The Christmas Shoes" was playing; it was one of Emily's favourite Christmas songs.
"Are you ready to go?" Aaron asked when he returned to the kitchen.
"Go where?" Emily said and looked at him.
"A walk in the park," he told her and handed her a jacket.
Emily smiled as she put her jacket and shoes on, happy to go with Aaron where ever he suggested. Emily's flat was just down the street from a beautiful park she hardly had time to visit, so that was their destination.
The cold evening air hit them as soon as they stepped onto the sidewalk but the pair didn't mind. Aaron pulled Emily closer to his side as they entered the park. They strolled down the pathways, passing other people doing the same.
Emily sighed heavily and leaned her head on Aaron's shoulder.
"What's wrong?" he asked her.
"It's just not the same," she replied quietly.
He remained silent, waiting for her to continue.
"I mean, I've spent Christmas in a lot of different places growing up, but then my parents were never around so it didn't really matter. Now that I have you, jack and the team, I don't want to be so far away from you all . . . I don't know, maybe things will be different when I go back to work in a few days."
"In my opinion Em," he said as they stopped beside a bench. "I don't think that feeling will ever go away."
"You're probably right," she said and looked around. "At least you guys have snow in D.C."
Aaron chuckled and said, "You can always come back with me."
"I can't," she whined and started walking again.
"Have I ever told you you're cute when you pout?" he said and followed her.
They heard voices ahead of them, and they walked into a big open space with an outdoor stage. A local theatre company was performing a nativity play for the public, and there were quite a few people sitting on blankets watching.
Emily and Aaron watched for a bit, but then Emily felt something wet hit her cheek and she looked up at the sky. Giant flakes of snow were making their way down to the ground and Emily smiled. Aaron pulled her closer as the snow flakes fell gracefully, and Aaron and Emily continued their walk through the park.
"Looks like you might have a white Christmas after all," he said and placed a kiss on the top of her head.