A/N: I don't own what you recognize, and I'm very thankful to anyone who has reviewed.

Anne Eliot was very confused when she woke up on Christmas morning. The sunlight was streaming in through the curtains, and there was music coming from the kitchen. The kettle was whistling, and a deep, rich baritone was singing "The Twelve Days of Christmas."

Then she tried to climb out of bed and pain shot through her left ankle. It was then that she remembered the events of the previous night and whose lovely baritone was coming from the kitchen. So she pulled the offending leg back into bed and decided to wait and see what happened.

A minute later, Erik strolled into her room, still singing about six geese a-laying, with two steaming mugs in his hands. "I made you hot chocolate," he told her, setting a mug down on her bedside table.

She smiled. "Thank you, and Merry Christmas."

He sat down on the bed. "Merry Christmas, Annabelle."

That elicited another smile. "How'd you sleep?"

Erik shrugged. "I've had better nights of sleep, but I survived."

"Did you sleep on the couch?"

He shook his head. "On the floor in here; I was worried about you."

"Oh," she said, surprised. "What time is it?"

"Ten o'clock," he replied before taking a sip of hot chocolate.

Anne raised her eyebrows. "Are you serious?"

"Yep," Erik said. "Why are you surprised?"

"I've never slept in this late on Christmas. I'm always the first one up so that everyone else has hot chocolate and cinnamon buns while we open presents."

"Well, this year it's your turn to have someone make you hot chocolate and coffee cake."

"I hope someone made my family breakfast this morning."

"May and Chuck are over there, aren't they?"

Anne nodded. "Yeah, I guess they could make breakfast."

"Annabelle, your family can take care of themselves for one day. For now, let someone else take care of you."

She sighed. "If you insist, I guess…"

"Your ankle insists. Now, do I still need to take you over to your dad's place today?"

"No one will help me there," she mused. "But I really should go. They are my family."

"Okay, I'll take you over there, you can deliver your presents, and eat a few cookies. But then we're going to see the Rochesters or something fun like that."

"Don't you have family you should be spending the day with?"

Erik shook his head. "Adrian and Lucy went on a Christmas cruise so I'm all alone for the holidays."

"That's awful," Anne moaned. "No one should be alone at Christmas."

"Then you'll just have to be charitable and keep me from being alone at Christmas."

Anne laughed. "And how will we do that?"

"We're going to Mark and Jane's."

She looked at him. "What makes you so willing to spend your Christmas looking after me?"

"I told you," he replied. "All I want for Christmas is you."

"So you want to get back together?"

Erik nodded. "If that's what you want, that's what I want. So, is that what you want?"

Anne nodded. "With all of my heart, it's all I want. It's all I've wanted for the past four and a half years."

"Then take a shower, get dressed, and we'll run your stuff over to your dad's place. And then, we're going to the Rochesters' house."

Erik had been right that no one noticed Anne's absence from her family's holiday gathering. When they arrived to drop off her presents, her father was nursing his third glass of scotch while yelling at his grandchildren who were supposedly being too noisy. Eliza, her older sister, was browsing an online dating website. Mary was taking a nap, and Chuck was on the phone.

Anne was in her father's house for less than fifteen minutes. "I can't believe that they don't care that I'm not spending Christmas with them."

"You know what they say. You can't pick your family," Erik said as he helped her into the car.

"I know. But sometimes, I wish that whoever was in charge of such things had given me a better family."

"Hey, before you get too morose, please remember that we're about to go spend time with an absolutely charming family where you'll get a world of attention from a couple of little kids."

Anne laughed. "I love the Rochester kids. They're delightful."

"Mark and Jane are pretty great too," Erik replied.

"I love Jane. She's so wonderful."

"But you don't like Mark?"

"I adore Mark," Anne sighed. "Sometimes, I envy Jane her happiness. She meets a strong, decisive man who has a bit of a mixed past, but then he gets his act together and gives her the most amazing life imaginable. And for a girl like me, that's a little rough to watch. Don't get me wrong; she deserves him. She very much so deserves him. But I want to know when I get a turn to have a guy who is even half as wonderful as Mark."

"Why is Mark so amazing?" Erik queried softly.

"I'm not sure how to explain it. But I think it's because of all the changes that he made when Adele came into his life. He became this really responsible man who was willing to be a loyal and devoted father, husband, and friend. He is so devoted to Jane. And he's an amazing father to Ava, Jacob, and Adele. You know just by being around him that they're his most important priority."

"And you're jealous of that?"

Anne nodded. "I shouldn't be, but I am. And if I'm telling you things that I shouldn't admit, I can also tell you that I'm jealous of Jen, Liz, Elinor, and Francesca."

"But you're not jealous of Kate, Emma, or Marianne?" Erik teased.

"No, I'm jealous of them too," she replied. "In fact, I'm very jealous of Marianne and Emma."

"Why are you so jealous?"

"I want what they have."

"You wish that I'd never gone to Belfast."

Anne shrugged. "I suppose that I wish that we had parted on better terms when you went to Belfast. But it's no use regretting the past; we can't change it. And it does me no good to be jealous of my friends."

Erik raised a hand. "Stop before you start moralizing like Liz's little sister. You deserve happiness. And you had a good point when you said that we should wait until after we were done with grad school before we made any major commitments to each other. But I couldn't see that then."

"You were hurt. I understand that. I didn't handle the situation in the best way possible."

"Anne, stop taking all the blame upon yourself. Not everything that has happened in our lives is your fault. And regardless of what has happened in the past, I want to look at the future. I told you what I wanted for Christmas. Can I have it?"

Tears slid down Anne's cheeks as she nodded.

Erik put a finger under Anne's chin so he could look her in the eye. "Is that a yes?"

She nodded again.

He grinned. "Marry me, Annabelle?"

Then she laughed. "Isn't it a bit too soon for that one? I've only just agreed that we can be together."

"As far as I'm concerned, it's about four and a half years too late. I should have found a different way of handling things four years ago."

"What else could you have done?"

"I didn't have to go to Belfast. I could have stayed here with you. We could have gotten married and started a family. We could have been like all of our friends. And instead, we're…"

"Alone on Christmas," Anne said, automatically finishing Erik's sentence.

He nodded. "If I hadn't gone to Belfast, we could have been together on Christmas with children. We could have gotten married and had a baby or two by now."

"Well, what's done is done, and we can't change the past."

"No, but we can change the future, Annabelle. We can get married and move forward in life."

Anne smiled. "I like that plan. I like that plan very much."

"Then marry me on New Year's Eve, and we can begin the new year free from the burdens of the past."

Anne laughed. "Erik, can we do that legally? I think we need a bit more time to arrange a license and all."

"Then marry me on Valentine's Day."

"That I will do, I promise."

Erik kissed her. "Now, let's go see the Rochesters. I suppose that they'll be happy for us after all."

"And you've gotten all you want for Christmas?"

"All I wanted and more," he replied.

"Then I have all that I have ever wanted."