Disclaimer: I don't own Bloodlines.
Chapter Three: Sydney/Adrian/Hopper ~ Hopper's Advent Calendar
On the first of December, Adrian gave Hopper a present. It was an Advent Calendar that he had made himself, and inside every square there was a mini piece of pie and a small picture of Adrian, Sydney, Hopper or a mixture of them. There were also twenty-five days, one for each day of December, for the countdown of Christmas.
When Adrian gave Hopper his gift, Hopper was delighted, especially when he opened the first square and found a picture of himself asleep along with a piece of apple pie. Adrian, pleased that Hopper enjoyed his gift, called Sydney before he went to college.
"Can you come over here after school? Hopper and I have been dying to see you - and you have to see the Advent Calendar that I made him, he loves it!"
As Adrian left him alone in the apartment, Hopper quickly got bored, and then he spotted the Advent Calendar, hanging up on the fridge...
. . .
Adrian picked Sydney up from the school and they went back to his apartment so that Sydney could see Hopper after being apart from him for the last four days. But when Adrian opened his front door, he was not expecting what was awaiting him.
The kitchen table was full of shreds of cardboard and crumbs of pie. Hopper had tore open all of the Advent Calendar looking for all of the pie.
"No!" Adrian gasped, as Sydney tried to keep a straight face. How could Adrian not have expected this to happen? "I never even got to show you all the pictures..." Adrian whined. "Where is that rascal anyway?" He glared around the kitchen, trying to spot Hopper.
"I don't know," Sydney answered. "I think that we should find him."
"I am so mad at him," Adrian announced. "How could he rip up all my hard work like that! And I thought he actually liked the pictures." Sydney smiled and shook her head. "He's a callistana Adrian, not a child."
"Ah, but he is Sage, he's our child."
. . .
Adrian and Sydney searched the apartment for half an hour before they found Hopper. He was curled up in a corner of Adrian's bed with all of the pictures of Adrian, Sydney and him around him. He was holding one very close to him, which Adrian recognised as the twenty-fifth, Christmas Day, a picture of all three of them laughing.
Sydney leaned back into Adrian's arms as they watched their little callistana sleep, all worries and anger forgotten.