December (part 2)

Being a single dad meant Phil spent most of his free time with Lola, so Christmas shopping for her was a slight problem; it had to fit into the few occasions he wasn't working or looking after her. Therefore, despite the manic crowds Christmas Eve brought out into the streets, that was exactly where Phil found himself on December 24th. Lola was spending the afternoon with "Grandma Anne" and "Auntie Maria", in something Maria had termed a "girlie day of Christmas chaos" (much to Lola's excitement and Phil's anxiety), but it was really a cover provided to give him a chance to ensure he had everything ready for Christmas Day.

He did not however, spend the entire day alone. After shopping across the morning for various last-minute items for both his daughter and other relatives, Phil arrived at a small Mediterranean restaurant down a less-chaotic backstreet with a smile, as he found Melinda waiting outside for him.

She'd called a few days earlier, asking if he would like to go out sometime over the Christmas period together, and when he'd suggested Christmas Eve, she had agreed happily. They were both spending the 25th with their respective families, so this was their last chance to see each other for a while.

They exchanged kisses instead of presents.

The inside of the restaurant was cosy, and a lot more relaxed than the Italian they had been to on their date. As they sat at their table, they ordered half a bottle of white wine, and courses of the pasta special. The fairy-lights twinkled all around the room, hung like vines from the ceiling above them. Christmas songs played in the background, but quietly enough that the sound blended into the general murmurs coming from each table, every patron enjoying the peace found compared to being in the hustle and bustle of the street outside.

They ate, drank, laughed and smiled.

Phil fell harder with every passing minute.

When it came to paying the bill, despite Phil's protests, Melinda insisted it was on her.

"Consider it your Christmas present," she said, grinning slightly as she handed her card over to the waiter, who was watching their exchange with amusement.

"You don't have to."

"Well I am."

When they left, it was she who took his hand whilst they walked.

They spent the rest of the afternoon wandering the high street, absorbing the Christmas atmosphere around them. The crowds swarmed past in a daze, people carrying shopping bags and wrapped in winter clothing. There was a choir on a street corner, but Phil decided they weren't as good as those from the market.

He had to return to pick Lola up at six, but he needed to get her gifts home and wrapped before he could do that, so at around four pm, Phil apologised to Melinda, but said he would have to go. He drove her to her flat, and once again, he walked her in.

When she got to her front door, she turned around to find him pulling something out of his coat pocket, and she watched in confusion as he held it out to her.

"This is for you, for tomorrow" he murmured, handing over a perfectly wrapped box, tied off with a silver ribbon, just big enough to sit on her hand.

"Phil!" Melinda said, looking at him with wide eyes. "We said no presents!"

He grinned sheepishly, dragging his spare hand through his hair. "I know we did, but I couldn't resist."

She shook her head with a slight frown. "See, now I feel terrible because I actually believed you when you said no gifts."

"Hey, we just had an amazing meal which you paid for," Phil said, smiling at her despite her frown. "You really didn't have to do that" he added quietly, taking her free hand with a squeeze.

"A meal isn't the same as a physical gift." She shook her head again before sighing. "Well, I'll just have to make it up to you."

She really didn't, but Phil was interested in what she had planned. "Oh yeah? How?"

She took a step towards him, and he grinned, now knowing exactly what she had in mind.

"How about this?"

With that she leaned up, and gently pressed her lips to his, letting her free hand unlink with his, reaching up to caress his cheek and jaw.

Like Phil had wanted to do the last time they had been stood outside of her flat, he backed her slowly against the front door, and wrapped his hands around each of her hips, pulling them towards him. Melinda leaned her head back against the wood as he kissed her deeper, eliciting a soft, contented moan when she felt his tongue tracing her lower lip. As she opened up for him completely, letting him explore her mouth with a gentle groan, she trailed her other hand up his arm, joining them together around the back of his neck, and stroking her fingers through the short hairs at the base of his skull.

So much for taking things slow.

Admittedly, her attention was elsewhere in that moment, but a slight shuffling sound behind her, followed by a click, made her realise milliseconds too late what was about to happen.

Before she could react, the door swung open, and Melinda fell backwards, dragging Phil with her as they stumbled through the doorway, cursing colourfully.

Melinda regained her balance just before hitting the floor, and stood back up to come face-to-face with Natasha, wearing nothing more than a black vest top and tiny striped shorts, and grinning at the two of them as though it was the best day of her life.

"You are so dead" Melinda growled at her, and Phil, despite the slight pink hue that had crept up his neck, had to stifle a laugh at the venom in her voice.

"What?" Natasha asked innocently. "I thought I'd help you in… clearly you were struggling to find your keys."

"Bullshit" Melinda whispered under her breath.

"Although I guess you found something else." Natasha nodded at Phil with a wink, ignoring Melinda's indignant spluttering completely. "I assume you must be Phil, the brother of her best friend that she is, I quote, "kind of" dating," she turned to look at Melinda, cocking her head to the side feigning intrigue. "Unless this is a different one I don't know about?"

Melinda muttered something unintelligible – he was pretty sure they were more death threats – and Phil had to turn to biting the inside of his cheek to stop himself laughing. He nodded in response.

"Yeah, you must be Natasha?"

"That's me" she replied happily, giving him a cheerful smile. "Anyway, I'm only joking," she said, continuing as though Melinda wasn't even there. "She likes you, you know? I catch her smiling every time you text… she doesn't do that much."

"Did you want to survive tonight?" Melinda threatened.

Natasha held her hands up in mock surrender, although the evil glint remained in her eyes as she continued to smile at them, perfect white teeth reflecting the hallway light.

"Alright, alright," she conceded. "I'll go. It was nice to meet you Phil," she added, before turning and heading back into the apartment, leaving the door wide open and Melinda and Phil alone in the hallway, wondering about the red-headed hurricane that had just swept through, leaving destruction in her path.

"Kind of dating are we?" he teased after a moment, linking his fingers back through hers and pulling Melinda around to face him.

"She is so dead to me."

He placed a gentle kiss on her forehead. "Do me a favour and don't actually kill her?" Phil murmured softly, as the sounds of what seemed to be the opening credits to a movie, started up from inside the apartment. "What with it being Christmas and everything, I'd rather not have to bail you out."

Melinda glanced back up at him with an exaggerated sigh. "I really can't promise anything."

He smiled at that, and kissed her again.

They broke apart only when the sounds of Natasha wolf-whistling resonated out of the door. By the look of death on Melinda's face, Phil was almost glad he was leaving.

"Daddyyyyy!"

Phil awoke with a grunt as his four year old launched herself on top of him, completely oblivious to anything else besides her excitement. Phil peeled his eyes open, and watched Lola grinning happily at him from the spare pillow she was now sat cross-legged on. Her fair hair was flying all over the place, making her look slightly like she'd been electrocuted, and her tiny hands were tightly gripped hold of the knitted stocking that had been hung on her bedroom door the evening before.

Phil decided to play with her a little more, and pretended to go back to sleep, snoring loudly over her cries of joy.

"Daddy wake up!" She nudged him again and he opened his eyes once more. "He came! Santa came!"

"Are you sure?"

"Yes! Look!"

He finally forced himself to sit up, rubbing his eyes blearily and watching bemusedly as she turned the stocking upside down, proceeding to empty it across his bed.

Phil was very glad that he – or Father Christmas, as she believed – hadn't put anything precious in there, especially given how much she was shaking it trying to get the last present out; anything remotely fragile would have been broken within seconds.

He turned the radio on, letting the sound of Christmas songs filter through the room, and for the next ten minutes Phil just watched as Lola happily opened all of her miniature gifts. She squealed with excitement over a pair of Iron Man socks, and giggled at the glittery soap shaped like a mermaid. The two of them shared a bag of white chocolate coins as the next song played, and through the slim gap in the curtains, Phil could see it had snowed overnight; he knew Lola would be thrilled.

Christmas morning had always been just the two of them. Audrey had never seen a Christmas with Lola as a baby, and that thought made Phil more determined than ever to make sure their daughter had an a amazing day every year. She deserved it, and it would be what her mother would have wanted (although she would have said less chocolate, but Phil wasn't going to succumb to that).

A little while later and they headed downstairs, and Lola's face when she saw that there were more presents under their Christmas tree filled Phil with joy. Phil made her a mug of hot chocolate, and himself a coffee, and he helped her open her main presents.

"And this is from Melinda," he said, reaching to the back of the tree and pulling out a gift wrapped in blue shiny snowflake paper - different to all the others.

"But Melinda got me biscuits at the market."

"I know," he smiled, loving how she remembered Melinda's quip about them being a gift. "But she bought you this as well."

Phil watched as she took the present from him curiously, almost slightly shyly, as though she wasn't sure if it was okay to accept a second gift from Melinda. But her expression turned to one of delight when she pulled the metallic paper off, and revealed a set of plastic pink gingerbread cutters, each in a different novelty shape.

"I can make my own!"

"Yes you can." He grinned, making a mental note to call Melinda as soon as he got a chance – she really didn't need to have bought Lola anything, but the fact she had was a beautiful gesture in itself, especially considering she'd only really met her properly once. "You'll have to see if she'll help you," he added, without even thinking about it. Suddenly the image of the two girls baking together, bonding and laughing and getting to know each other, was one that would not leave his head.

"Yeah!"

He watched her open the last few presents, helping her to unstick the sellotape that threatened to frustrate her when it attached itself to her fingers, and desperately attempting to keep some kind of order to the room when she decided to take multiple things out of their boxes at the same time.

He pulled her onto his knee against her protests, and pressed a kiss into her hair. "Happy Christmas princess."

Later that morning, Phil promised her pancakes, so whilst Lola was on the phone with her grandmother, excitedly relaying the list of gifts she had received – including some new story books, a stuffed dragon toy with sparkly wings, and plenty of chocolate – he headed off towards the kitchen and set about preparing his daughter's favourite meal. It was a treat, pancakes, one he only made for special occasions such as this, birthdays, and maybe when she was upset. Despite her only being four, she still knew which mornings meant they would share a stack of them however, and the smile as she saw Phil cooking them was always worth it.

Soon enough, after apparently exhausting herself with conversation of Christmas morning, Lola wandered into the kitchen to join him, having hung up the phone on her own already. She clambered up onto one of the chairs at the dining table, and proceeded to watch him flip the pancakes over in the frying pan, cheering and giggling when he succeeded and failed. Before long, there was a stack of pancakes on the plate waiting for them, and Phil grabbed a squeezy-bottle of chocolate sauce from the cupboard on his way to join her at the table.

Ten minutes later, and the only trace evidence remaining of the breakfast they had shared was the sticky chocolate sauce smeared all over Lola's face. Phil wasn't sure how she was such a messy eater – he wasn't, nor had Audrey been – but he still found it completely adorable how she turned every meal into a way of being creative with her food.

Their afternoon was spent at his mother's house, as Christmas day had been for him every year of his life. They were joined, as usual, by Steve and Maria, who lamented Lola with yet more presents. She really was a lucky girl, and they all doted on her, but Phil was thankful that she never acted spoiled at all. His mother bought her a new costume for her swim class, patterned with fish scales so she could feel like a mermaid in the water. Maria and Steve bought her a paint set, complete with brushes and sponges and everything she could need to create an even bigger mess than she already usually made. Lola was thrilled; Phil was less so. But the grin on Maria's face as she whispered to her niece to "decorate the walls" earned her a glare. Steve rolled his eyes at them both, and Anne told them to sit down and stop behaving like teenagers, and everybody ate the most amazing Christmas dinner of their lives.

Anne Coulson really knew how to cook.

Afterwards there was Christmas pudding and cake, ice cream, tea and coffee, and biscuits, and before long they were all sat in front of the television, completed sated, and very happy. Lola watched the screen avidly, the adventures of a green monster who hated Christmas capturing her attention wholly, and Steve sat cross legged on the carpet next to her, wearing the paper crown he had won out of a cracker, and explaining the parts she didn't understand. Maria watched fondly as he chatted with his "niece", and felt a strange and unfamiliar flutter of hope in her chest, that maybe one day he could be like that with their own children. She'd never considered herself maternal, so the thought shocked her slightly, but as she let the ideas mull about a little more, she realised maybe it wouldn't be such a bad thing if they did have a family of their own.

But after the wedding, of course. Her dress was already chosen and ordered, and there was no way in hell she was planning to get it taken out in order to fit in a baby bump. Definitely not.

Phil and his mother sat on the opposite sofa to Maria, and spoke quietly about how he'd settled into his new life. She asked how his job was going, and he ranted slightly about the amount of books he still had to get marked over the Christmas holidays. It was a good thing he was going in full time as of January, but it meant he could no long spend Thursdays with Lola. Anne would take her to aqua class from now on, and would continue having her on Fridays too, and Phil thanked her for what felt like the millionth time for being so willing to help. She insisted it was no bother at all, and that she loved her granddaughter for keeping her feeling so young.

As the light outside faded, and another lot of snow began to fall, the flickering fairy-lights draped across the tree became the only source of light in the room, but nobody rose to turn on a lamp. It felt cosy, and festive, and just what Christmas should feel like, and before long the movie had ended, and Lola was curled up on the sofa, asleep leaning against Maria's knee.

Inevitably, as he knew at some point it would, Phil's mother asked him why he hadn't brought Melinda to dinner with him. At the mention of her name, Phil practically saw Maria's attention prick up, and knew full well she was listening to their conversation, despite pretending to be reading a book over Steve's shoulder. He could have rolled his eyes again, but there was no point, so he just took a gulp of his coffee, before telling her that Melinda had gone to her own mother's house.

"Have you met her mother?" Anne asked quietly, watching her son with an expression of curiosity.

Phil shook his head. "No, in honesty I don't even know where she lives; Melinda doesn't talk about her much."

"She lives out in the middle of nowhere in this massive fancy house," Maria piped up, not looked over but confirming Phil's thoughts she had been listening.

"Have you been?"

Maria finally turned to face him, giving up on her pretence completely. "No, but she's talked about it a bit."

"You met her mother?"

"Yeah, twice, both times at Mel's flat. She's…." Maria flustered around for the right word, obviously trying to be complimentary but truthful. "She's nice, but kind of strict, if that makes sense?"

Phil swallowed. "Strict how?"

"Oh you know," she gestured with her cup wildly, almost waking Lola in the process. "Traditional. Tiger mom. Ambitious plans for her only daughter. Wanted Mel to have a career in medicine or law or something. Makes her talk in Mandarin when they are together –"

Phil didn't even know Melinda spoke Mandarin.

" – Oh, and she probably won't approve of you," Maria added cheerfully. Seeing the expression of anxiety forming on his face however, she stopped, and after Anne shook her head exasperatedly at Maria's jibing, Maria looked back to Phil.

"I'm joking, you know?"

"Yeah."

She could tell her words had genuinely caused him worry, and Maria realised why he'd taken it to heart.

"You really like her, don't you?" she asked quietly, all trace of mocking gone from her voice.

Phil looked down into the last dregs of his now-cold coffee, before telling her the truth. "Yeah," he replied, smiling weakly back at his sister. "I do."

His mother laid a hand on his arm, and as he glanced from her supportive smile, to his sound asleep daughter who was drooling on her aunt's knee, and back to Maria again, who was now talking in hushed tones with Steve, he wondered how different, or similar, his life would be, this time next year.

Melinda looked around the room, and smiled slightly. Her mother had never been fully on-board with the whole Westernised culture of Christmas, but over the years there were many small details from it that had wound their way into her home.

In the far corner of the dining room, stood a small fibre-optic tree, with a singular star poised upon the top; the tips of branches glowing white light. Along the windowsills, were collections of red scented candles, lit and flickering in the dimming afternoon light, filling the room with a warm spiced cinnamon smell. The occasional glass ornament decorated the sideboards and fireplace, from a perfectly crafted robin on the coffee table, to the crystal snowman that resided next to the television each year. Outside the window, snow was falling, and despite the lack of cheesy songs or tinsel or fairy-lights, to Melinda, this felt like Christmas.

It wasn't the festive house that everyone else she knew celebrated in, but to Melinda, it was home.

"What are your friends doing today?"

Her mother's question brought her back to the present, and Melinda found her mother watching her carefully, as she served a second helping of steamed noodles onto her plate.

"Natasha has travelled back to Russia to visit her sister. Bobbi is on call, I think. And Maria is with her family."

"So they are not alone."

"No Mama, they are not alone."

Melinda knew full well that if she had even dared to let one of her friends spend Christmas Day on their own, without offering an invitation to join them, she would be in serious trouble with her mother; Melinda was well aware her mother would see to it that nobody they knew spent the holiday period alone.

The two of them consumed their dinner together in quiet, an occasional question directed at the other cutting through the silence of the house. It was peaceful, as her mother's house always was, and Melinda had never been sure exactly how that was achieved; despite living alone for several years after she had moved out, she had never been able to garner the same aura of calm that filled her old family home.

Once the main meal had been eaten and cleared away, Melinda set about pouring the tea, and they sat again in comfortable silence, until her mother spoke.

"Qiao Lian," her mother lowered her cup from her lips, placing it back onto the saucer in front of her, the china pieces clinking together in the silence of the house. "You are keeping something from me."

"Excuse me?" Melinda wasn't sure how her mother did it; no matter what she said or did not say, if there was something she had not shared with her, whether intentionally or not, Tian May seemed to possess an extra sense that afforded her that knowledge, and she would ask her daughter about it until told.

"There is something happening in your life right now, something which you are keeping quiet."

"I…"

"Is it a man?"

Melinda sighed, looking back up to meet her mother's gaze, and nodded. She knew her too well, and was the only person who could really see through her when she was not revealing the entire truth. But she still wondered how on earth she could have worked that out based on their previous conversation.

"Yes, Mama."

"You are in a relationship."

Her mother looked happy with that, and she really should have kept her mouth closed, but Melinda's next words slipped out regardless. "Well, only sort of."

Her mother frowned slightly. "You either are in a relationship or you are not."

"It's complicated."

"Love usually is."

"I don't…" she shook her head. "It isn't that serious."

"Yet."

She had no response to that. Despite how both she and Phil had agreed that, for Lola's sake, they would take their relationship slowly, something deep down inside of Melinda was already building up to the idea that one day, it could potentially be something more than just casual. And that scared her.

Her mother was watching her think, already able to tell there was something else behind her words. Tian had a softer edge to her voice in her next words.

"Speak, Qiao Lian."

Melinda sighed again. "I like him, Mama, I do. But it is complicated. He has a child, and I –"

"– And you do not wish to be a step-mother, is that it?"

"No, it's not that – "

"– Is the child's mother still around?"

"No, she died a several years ago."

"Is he still in love with her?"

Melinda was beginning to feel like she was attached to a relationship lie detector, with questions being fired at her constantly regarding every detail of her love life.

"No, I don't think so."

"Have you met the child?"

"Yes."

"And you like them?"

"Yes." The speed in which Melinda answered her mother's final question almost surprised her. She did like them, she realised, she liked them a lot. Lola was a great kid, who definitely took after her father, and Phil was… well, Phil was great. She smiled slightly as the memories of the previous evening came back to her.

"Then there is no problem."

"If it became serious…" she admitted, chewing her lip as she spoke, "then it's a big responsibility." Melinda realised, that for the first time she was expressing out loud just how much the idea, that despite how much she did like them, one day being a more prominent figure in both of their lives left her feeling both afraid and nervous. And maybe a little bit excited.

"Yes, Qiao Lian," Tian agreed, watching her daughter carefully and giving a small nod. "It is a responsibility. And you must not mess him around, for the child's sake.

"I know that," she replied, a small blush rising to her cheeks. Her mother – thankfully – didn't know the half of her chequered relationship history, but Tian May still seemed aware that her daughter did not have the best track record when it came to dating. "I wouldn't do that to him."

"Then there is nothing to stop you," her mother finished, rising from the table, and reaching out to pat Melinda's hand softly, before heading towards the lounge area, leaving her daughter alone with her thoughts. That was one of the things growing up in a household with just the two of them in had provided; they each knew when the other required a period of solace and calm, even if it were for ten minutes.

Melinda spent the next half hour clearing the kitchen of crockery, pans and cutlery, before sorting and placing the left-over food into various Tupperware boxes, labelling them in Mandarin – her mother liked her to use the language often, saw it as practise – before stacking them neatly into the fridge. When she was done, and the room looked once more as though there had not been an explosion of food and flavour only a few hours before, she headed in to join her mother, who was reading a book in her favourite armchair. Melinda took a seat on the sofa across the room, curling herself into the same plush red cushions she had sat upon as a child, and grabbed her e-reader from the table next to her. She let herself get lost in the words of another world for a while, as a new fall of snow drifted across the window.

"Who is he?"

Melinda glanced up, but Tian did not appear to have stopped reading. She knew what her mother meant though; the years had also resulted in an ability to continue conversations that had been finished hours earlier, as though nothing had happened in the period in between. And knowing her mother, and the connections she still had from her days working for the government, Melinda had a feeling Tian would probably run some kind of background check on him as soon as she left, despite being retired.

"His name is Phil."

"Phil."

"He's Maria's older brother."

Her mother nodded, as though that was an acceptable answer to her, but still did not raise gaze to meet her daughter's.

"I always liked Maria."

By the time New Year's Eve arrived, Melinda was missing Phil much more than she really wanted to admit. She'd spent almost the whole week following Christmas with her mother, and when she had returned on the 30th, Phil had been out with Lola already. But she took pleasure in knowing he'd missed her too, because when he opened his front door to welcome her to the party, they'd ended up standing in the driveway kissing until a not-so-subtle cough from Maria dragged them back inside.

Phil and Maria were jointly hosting, although it was being held at Phil's house, as according to Maria, it could double as a housewarming party too; Melinda had a strong feeling however it was more likely to be because it would mean she didn't have to tidy her own house the following day, once all the guests had left.

The house was still decorated for Christmas, but as Melinda walked through the front door, the atmosphere inside definitely shouted "New Year". All around were people chatting and laughing and drinking, and she felt almost overwhelmed by the fact that technically she was stepping into Phil's life tonight.

There were people everywhere she had never met; groups of people that all acknowledged Phil as he passed, and some who smiled at Melinda too when they saw the two together, but the majority of people were strangers to her. Passing the front room however she received a wave and smile from Steve, who was talking to a guy who glanced from Melinda and back to Phil with a grin.

"Hey," the guy called out, walking towards the two of them. "You must be Melinda."

"Yeah," she smiled.

"Clint" he said, holding a hand out for her to shake, despite the strangeness of the gesture in such an informal setting. "Phil here's said a lot about you."

She turned to glance at Phil, who, to his good grace, was looking slightly awkward, and currently shooting a look at Clint that told him to be quiet.

"What've you been saying?" Melinda teased, watching him with a slight smile.

"Only good things, I promise."

"Really?"

"Mmhhmm." He nodded, turning back at Clint for support.

Clint grinned and waved it off with a wink. "He's right, all good things; actually you're all he's spoken about for weeks now."

This time Phil really did look like he wanted him to shut up. Melinda had a strange feeling Clint would get on very well with Natasha; the two seemed like enjoy winding their friends up.

Melinda found Maria in the kitchen with her mother, and as soon Melinda walked in, Anne greeted her like an old friend.

"Hello Melinda," Anne exclaimed, smiling warmly and pulling her into a hug as soon as she stepped into the kitchen. "Did you have a lovely Christmas?"

Maria rolled her eyes in the background and grinned.

"See Mel, you're part of the family now."

Melinda smiled as Phil squeezed her hand, and she took the drink Maria handed her.

It would be fine. Everything would be fine.

Later on in the evening, after Phil had joined some work friends outside, and Maria had returned to Steve's side, Melinda wandered into the back room to find Lola in there on her own, watching a cartoon on television. She was surprised the girl was awake still at this time, but had to assume it was an exception due to New Year.

In fairness, there wasn't any loud music playing or anything, and most people seemed to be outside in the back garden in some kind of gazebo, meaning that if Lola did decide to go to bed, she wouldn't really be disturbed by the noise anyway.

"Hey kid," she smiled, dropping herself down onto the sofa next to her.

"Melinda!"

"You have a nice Christmas?"

Lola nodded happily. "Yeah, me and daddy made pancakes."

Melinda chuckled. Out of the whole week of Christmas that had just been, the fact she picked food out as the best part was awesome. "Wow, I bet they were nice."

"Daddy makes the best pancakes ever!" Lola threw her arms in the air, as though to explain how good they really were, and Melinda laughed. "He puts chocolate sauce on them."

"Sounds yummy."

"He said I should say thank you for the cutters." She turned to Melinda with a solemn expression on her face. "Thank you."

"It's alright," Melinda smiled. "You done any baking yet?"

"Not yet, he thinks you should help me."

"Does he now?" Melinda glanced out of the window, and watched Phil with a small smile. He was laughing about something with one of his friends, holding a bottle of beer, and she wasn't sure she'd ever seen him so relaxed. It was nice.

"Yeah."

Lola turned back to the television, allowing herself to become re-immersed in the cartoon characters dancing on the screen for a while. Melinda stayed with her, happy to remain indoors and away from the chill of December air outside – she could do busy social occasions when she had to, but she drew the line at standing in the cold for several hours waiting for midnight.

"Melinda?"

"Mmmm?"

"Are you Daddy's girlfriend?"

Melinda nearly choked on her drink, as Lola looked at her curiously.

"I…" she flailed slightly, not sure what Phil had told her, and not wanting to step on his toes in doing so. She settled for the safer option. "Well, what has your dad said?"

Lola shrugged. "He said he likes you, and yesterday he asked if I like you, and I do," she smiled, twirling her plait around in her fingers. "And then I saw you both kissing outside –"

Damn.

"– And grandma once told me that the people in my films kiss when they love each other."

"Well…" Melinda was lost for words, but as Phil was not present and there to rescue her, she had no choice but to go on with the conversation. "Your dad and I, we like each other a lot."

Lola nodded, clearly accepting of that answer. "I heard Auntie Maria tell Uncle Steve that you both should get a room." She frowned, and Melinda almost choked again. "Do you not have one? There is one here that nobody uses if you want it."

Despite making a mental note to kill Maria at some point in the evening, Melinda couldn't help but adore the innocence of Lola's comment.

"I have one, but thank you."

"Okay… do you want a biscuit?"

When Phil finally rescued her, Melinda had been slightly relieved.

"What did she ask you?" he said, as the two wandered out into the back garden, leaving Lola with her grandmother. The cool evening air whipped around them, and she immediately wished she had brought a coat – instead she moved closer to Phil.

"She gave me a thorough questioning over my intentions with her dad," she looked at him pointedly. "And then asked if I wanted the spare bedroom upstairs, because, and I quote – we should get a room."

Phil's eyes went wide. "She asked… shit."

"Yeah, blame Maria for that one."

"Oh, I intend to." He looked down at her with a smile, and tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. "So…"

"So?"

"Are we… do you want to talk about what this actually is?" he asked, gesturing between the two of them with his free hand, the other straying down her side to hold her waist.

Melinda swallowed. She'd known this conversation would be coming soon.

"I think we should."

"I don't know about you," he said, glancing around to check Maria wasn't listening in, "And I know we haven't discussed anything about being exclusive, or made anything official between us, but I'd quite like it if we…did?"

"If we made it both official and exclusive?"

"Yeah."

She smiled. "Yeah, I'd like that."

"You would?"

She rose up to place a soft kiss onto his cheek. "Yes. I would."

"So I can tell people you're my girlfriend?"

Melinda laughed lightly. "I guess you can."

As midnight neared, and sounds of fireworks exploding outside began, Phil knew he needed to go and find Lola – if she was still awake. She'd insisted she wanted to see midnight, but when he'd found her interrogating Melinda, he could tell she was tired then.

But when he headed up the stairs to check her room however, his mother came up from behind him.

"Phil, it's fine," Anne said, shooing him away down the stairs again. "I'll make sure she's okay, you go outside; it's almost twelve."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. Now go, there's a beautiful lady out there expecting a New Year's kiss."

Phil rolled his eyes and turned away; it would always be weird to him how supportive his mother was of his love life, but he was glad she was. And he knew she'd be okay looking after Lola when the fireworks outside started.

He reached the garden as the ten second countdown began, and at seven seconds to go, wrapped his arms around Melinda from behind, spinning her around to face him.

"Is she asleep?" Melinda asked him; Phil loved how she cared about Lola, and it made him like her even more.

"She's with my mother."

She nodded in response, and the two just looked at each other as they counted down the final three seconds together.

3…2…1

"Happy New Year" Phil murmured, his words almost drowned out by the cheers from the rest of the party. He pulled her closer with a soft smile.

"Happy New Year."

She leaned up to kiss him, smiling as she did so, and they both ignored the wolf-whistle that came from Clint's direction – Melinda knew he would definitely get along with Natasha if they ever met, and that was really not a good thought.

They missed most of the fireworks.

Melinda wasn't sure how much time had passed, nor how they had gone from being outside with the rest of the party, to inside his living room, alone, with all the guests having left already. The house was quiet once more, and aside from the occasional explosion in the distance, all the New Year fireworks seemed to have ended. Meaning it was probably way past midnight.

She was on Phil's knee, legs straddling either side of his, and they'd been sat like that for god knows how long. They'd found themselves alone in the room, and so she'd kissed him, and then he'd kissed her back, and before they knew it the buttons of his shirt were undone, and his hands were under her top, caressing the skin of her waist and hips.

"Stay" he murmured, pressing kisses into her hair and trailing fingers across her lower back, sending shivers down her spine.

Maybe it was the alcohol, but Melinda really had no desire whatsoever to get him to stop what he was currently doing to her neck either.

"Okay.

Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to leave a review so far, also to those who do so as a guest because I can't reply to you directly.

Let me know your thoughts!