AUTHORS NOTE: So I know we're now in February but I promise that I'm nearly done with this Christmas story. Next Christmas, I'm going to write it so many weeks before Christmas happens.
DISCLAIMER: I don't own the characters you recognise off your screen.
[Secret Santa]
Every year, the group would do Secret Santa on Christmas Eve. It originated from the times when they had to work Christmas Day but always got the Eve off and it hadn't stopped since but none of them really wanted it too. The task started in the morning when they'd travel into the town with a silly small budget and they'd have to come back with a present for the person they'd pulled out of that hat.
"You ready to walk down to town," Michelle asked Robbie as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders, her lips pressing a kiss to his cheek as she looked into his face from her awkward angle. He ran his hands up her arms before nodding his head. It was also a decision that you never got your partner a present so it meant Robbie would have Michelle there to help him buy for his Secret Santa. Standing up, he grabbed their coats and held out his hand. "We'll see you later." She called out to Jackie and Niall who'd been curled up on the couch reading together.
As they moved round the lake, she turned to look at him. "Who'd you get?" She asked cheerfully and he showed her the slip of paper that had Ewan's name written on it and she smiled. "That's so cute. Do you know what you're going to get him?"
"Ewan's simple. He just loves being embraced by a family that he'll accept anything so the first thing that strikes me as Ewan-ish than I'm buying it. He's a lot easier than Jackie, who I got last year." He admitted without realising he had done it. She looked over at him and smiled.
"What did you buy Jackie last year?" She asked as she laced her fingers through his so that she didn't fall over the roots that were starting to come up from underneath the soil. He looked over at her before smiling.
"I got her this silly little gold necklace with a gold snowman on." He laughed as he remembered how Jackie had laughed at the present. "It was stupid. She probably threw it in the bin the minute she got home." He said shaking his head with a bark of laughter. Michelle looked over at him and smiled. "So who did you get Miche?"
"I got Niall." She said and Robbie winced. "No. It's fine. I already have a few suggestions in my mind. He really likes stuffed animals so I was thinking about just trying to find him one of them."
"When did you get that close to Niall?"
"During hide and seek?" She said innocently not noticing Robbie stop. She eventually turned back to look at him, her eyebrow raised in confusion. "What you doing?" She asked as she moved back towards him.
"You like Niall." He pointed out but before she could anger, he continued. "Miche, there's a reason you're the only ex-girlfriend I'm still in touch with. I see you as a best friend and I know when you like someone. You might be friends with Stuart and Ewan but if I told you to tell me three things that weren't obvious to someone about them then you'd struggle because you wouldn't. Whereas you can tell me that Niall has a stuffed bear collection? If Jackie knew that then she wouldn't still be with him." He pointed out.
"Robbie, please. Niall is here with Jackie and that's how it is. I'm here with you. I can't suddenly run off with Jackie's..." She stopped talking and smiled suddenly but she knew that would result in Jackie hating her. It was a good plan but not something to do at Christmas time.
Reading the grin, Robbie groaned. "That's why you spend so much time with Stuart and Ewan. You guys are fucking plotting, again!" He shouted causing her to smile rather than wince. She moved towards him, her arms wrapping around his waist as she pulled him into a hug because she knew that he wasn't really angry with her. "Oh what am I going to do with you, Miche?"
"Just hug me and tell me you love me?" She teased because that was the phrase they'd also use when they were in an actual relationship and they'd argued. He just chuckled as he pulled her into a firmer hug.
"As I said you're my best friend so I'll always love you." There was a pause before he finished with, "thank you for plotting, babe." She couldn't help but smile into his chest.
"By the way, when we're swapping presents tonight I think you should take a close look at Jackie."
Sitting down at the table, Robbie scooped Ronan up onto his knee and pressed a kiss to her cheek as everyone else settled. She smiled up at him happily before wrinkling her nose up at the whiskers starting to form on his face. "You need a shave, Uncle Robbie!" She chastised as Michelle sat down next to them.
"That's what Auntie Michelle keeps telling him, Ronan but does he listen? He might listen to you though, cupcake." She teased making Robbie to turn and glare at her before leaning over to rub his whiskers all over his face causing her to squeal and Ronan to giggle happily. Jackie moved into the room and saw the scene in front of her. It felt like a blow to the stomach to see such a cute family scene playing out but she didn't let that smile falter as she moved further into the room and took a seat.
"Robbie not been shaving again?" She asked as she looked up at them. Robbie then saw what Michelle had meant. Lying against her chest was a small snowman pendant and he couldn't help but smile as he turned to look at Michelle, the twinkle in her eyes showing that she knew what he was grinning about.
"When does he ever shave when he has a lassie sharing his bed?" Michelle laughed rolling her eyes. "He has some sort of Neanderthal belief that women like the unshaven feel against their skin."
"Not all my ladies have had your pure English Rose skin, darling." He pointed out causing her to blush at him as he rarely complimented these days as they were just in the friendship circle meaning he treated her like one of the lads. He pointed his tongue at her before they all started to hand out the presents.
Jackie sat on the back porch, her woollen cardigan wrapped around her thin frame to protect her from the cold winter snow that was falling again as she stared out over the lake. She couldn't help but keep replaying the scene of Robbie and Michelle teasing each other with young Ronan on their knee. She also couldn't help but imagine the vision with her replacing Michelle. "I'll give you a penny for them." She turned and forced a smile for the man that she'd been thinking about.
"My thoughts aren't even worth a penny," she laughed as she looked up at him. "Has everyone else gone to bed?"
"Well seeing as it's two am, I'd guess so. They all want Santa to come in the morning." He teased looking over at her before sitting down. "Are you okay?" He asked and she looked over at him. How did she answer that question without the two of them getting into a fight?
"I don't know how I am, Robbie. There's a part of me that wished I hadn't come here this Christmas but the other part of me is really enjoying it here. I love this place. I always have. I was the one that made you start this stupid Christmas tradition in the damned first place but I feel as if it's dirty now." She admitted causing him to move over and wrap his arms around her, his forehead pressing against hers.
"Why don't you just accept the fact that you'd be having a good time this year if you could forget last year?" He demanded and she felt tears filling her eyes. She couldn't admit that. She didn't want to do that. If she forgot last year then it would mean forgetting that one night they'd shared, the way their lips had hungrily pressed against the others, the way their hands had investigated every inch of their skin until it burnt and the way they joined to make sweet noises in the early hours of the morning.
"Do you want me to forget it?" She whispered through her tears and Robbie felt his own tears starting to form as he shook his head.
"Jacks, I wouldn't want you to forget it but if it makes you enjoy this Christmas then do it. I don't want you to be miserable at such a magical time of year." He whispered before doing the only thing he knew to do. He took her face in his hands and pressed a loving kiss to her lips, his hands moving to run through the brown locks that he had wanted to sink his fingers into for days now. Breaking it off, he rubbed their noses together but whispering. "We should move inside before we catch our deaths thanks to the cold."
She nodded her agreement before moving into the living room where she watched as he ate the cookies and drank the whiskey that had been left out for Santa. "This tradition is so much more magical with children." She admitted as he turned to look at her, a small smile on his face as he nodded his head. She was right. It really was. He loved having Ronan and Leigh about the house so that they could have the happy giggles first thing in the morning as they woke up at the crack of dawn.
"I was hoping that this year we'd have had..." he stopped talking as he looked down at the piles of presents that lined the Christmas tree he'd had put up for them coming by the husband and wife that kept his cabin clean while he was away.
She looked up at him. "You were serious about that marriage proposal last year?" She whispered and Robbie looked over at her, his face now dark with anger.
"Why would I joke about it with you, Jacks? Sure. I could imagine me playing it as a joke on Miche or someone but never you. You're too god damn important for me to destroy that. Did you know that? You're myeverything and yet you threw it away thinking I was having a laugh at your expense?" She could understand why he was angry. She had doubted him even though he had never gave a real reason to do so because she knew that Robbie would never play that kind of prank on her. He respected her too much to do something so stupid.
"I'm sorry, okay. I don't understand how you could want to marry me. I mean next to Michelle I'm just a dowdy old housewife. She's glamorous, beautiful and so full of life!" She pointed out knowing that the woman had worked as a model before she'd turned to a simple career of working as a wedding planner.
"How do you know that I don't want boring if that's how you see yourself? I don't care what you think about yourself, Jacks. I just think you're amazing just the way you are but you're the one that denies it all the time and I'm fed up of trying to convince you otherwise. Jackie without sounding like a tool this is a very Wham moment." He pointed out and before he even said it she knew what he was going to say. He was going to tell her that this was her last chance of being with him before he moved onto someone else.
"You can't mean it."
"Jacks, I have a beautiful woman warming my bed right now and I haven't touched her because I'm praying that you'll wake up and admit you love me." He pointed out and she looked at him, her face searching his face to see if that was a joke. He wasn't sleeping with Michelle. How was that even possible? She was gorgeous and Robbie's usual type.
"You brought her here because I brought Niall. She was your back up plan like she always is." Jackie finally realised causing Robbie to nod his head in agreement before shrugging his shoulders.
"I'm tired of arguing, Jacks. This is the last time I'll talk about this, I promise." He said staring towards the door but before he could go any further she took hold of his wrist and pulled him back against her as she took hold of his lips with hers. She couldn't stand the idea of being without him and she also knew that he meant it when he said he wouldn't continue to broach the subject.
"I love you, Robbie. I can't let you walk out on me. Please." She whispered against his lips and he couldn't help but growl as he took hold of her lips with his, Niall and Michelle totally forgotten.
TO BE CONTINUED...
