Jude stirred, slowly waking up, opening her eyes to see Tommy staring down at her as he slipped back down beside her on the floor in front of the freshly fueled fire.
"Hey," he said softly, "Merry Christmas."
"Merry Christmas," she replied sleepily, looking around the room at the twinkling lights on the Christmas tree and the snow falling softly outside, "Why did you get up?"
Wrapping his arms around her, he pulled her closer to him, burying his face in her hair. "The fire was dying," he said, his voice muffled, "I got up to put some more wood on."
Yawning, Jude stretched lazily, Tommy's shirt rising dangerously high on her legs.
"You're gorgeous," He said, gazing at her, staring up and down her body appreciatively, "What did I ever do to deserve you?"
"Well," Jude began slowly, smiling to herself, "I guess technically you could say that by being in BoyzAttack, and being such a gorgeous teenheart-throb, you became a good producer, and then you got to produce me."
"You had to bring up BoyzAttack, didn't you," Tommy groaned, rubbing his face with his hands.
"Hey," Jude said, leaning over to give him a peck on the lips, "You offered to watch that Behind the Music yesterday—I might just take you up on that today—I hear they're also running your old Christmas special."
Rolling her eyes at his expression, Jude pushed herself off of him, running quickly across the cold room to the tree, grabbing a few presents from a stack she dove back under the blankets, Tommy laughing at her the whole time.
"Stop laughing or you won't get your presents," she said in a mock serious tone.
"Yes mother," came his flippant reply, as he grabbed the first one off the pile, tearing through the paper to reveal a bottle of Burberry cologne.
The next few packages revealed a sweater and a wallet, and finally a pair of cufflinks, all things Tommy had wanted, but hadn't told Jude about.
"How'd you know?" He asked incredulously, holding up the sweater, feeling the warm merino wool between his fingers.
"What do you mean?" Jude asked, looking confused as Tommy laughed at her, "I just thought they would be things you'd like."
Still laughing, he pulled her close to him, giving her a kiss before explaining. "I've been thinking about getting these things for awhile, but could never find a reason to buy them for myself," he said, leaning in to kiss her again.
"Mmm," she murmured against his lips, "I did good then?"
"Real good," He assured her, brushing her mouth one last time with his before jumping up from his spot.
"Where are you going?" Jude asked, a bit of a whine creeping into her voice, "I'm cold!"
"Don't you want your present?" Tommy asked, digging through the presents buried at the back of the tree, grabbing a blue bag.
"Ohhh!" Jude exclaimed, "Gimme!"
"Hold your horses," Tommy laughed, barely sitting down before Jude grabbed the bag from his hand.
Quickly pulling the pristine white tissue paper from the bag, she took out a blue box, a red ribbon tied around it. Gasping as she removed the ribbon, she took off the lid, opening the leather pouch that lay inside, revealing a sterling silver asymmetrical heart shaped necklace.
"Tiffany?" she asked incredulously, her eyes searching his, "How did you know?"
"I just thought you'd like it," he said, smiling as he put it around her neck.
Fingering the pendant, she looked up at him lovingly, "How does it look?"
"Hmm," He said, pretending to think, "you know, it looks gorgeous on you, but there's something missing."
Reaching behind his back, into his pocket, he pulled out a smaller blue box, handing it to Jude.
Jude's heart pounded as she took it from his hands, her own trembling as she took the ribbon off of it.
'Oh God,' she thought to herself, 'It can't be a ring, can it?'
Opening the box, her heart fell a bit when she didn't see a ring box, but another leather pouch, this one holding the matching drop earrings.
"I
love them, Tommy," She said softly, fingering them, trying not to
sound disappointed, "They're perfect."
Pulling away from the
kiss they shared, the pair lay back down on the floor, staring at the
perfectly lit tree, holding each other in their arms.
"Hey Jude," Tommy said, ignoring his girlfriend's groan at the overused pun, "The angel's a little crooked—why don't you go grab the ladder and fix it?"
"You're kidding right?" she said, staring at him like he had two heads, "Why do I have to fix it?"
"Because I don't care if it's crooked, but I know you do," He said laughing at her, pulling the blankets off of her.
"I hate you," she said, fuming as she went to grab the step ladder from the corner by the tree.
"I love you too, sweetie," Tommy replied sweetly, following her, standing beneath her as she began to climb up the ladder.
"Why are you down there—trying to sneak a peak?" She asked, looking down and she climbed, "It's not a free show."
"Easy there tiger—just here to catch you if you fall."
"Why would I fall—It's a freaking stepstool," Jude ranted, not bothering for an answer as she reached for the angel.
Standing on her toes, Jude strained to move the angel, suddenly noticing something was different about its halo.
Pulling it off of the top of the tree for a closer look, she gasped as she pulled a three stone, emerald cut tiffany ring from its head.
Looking down at Tommy shocked, she opened her mouth, unable to speak.
"So?" He said expectantly, "You fix it yet?"
Still speechless, Jude looked from the ring, back to Tommy, and back to the ring as he stood below laughing loudly.
Suddenly, her knees gave way, and she was falling off of the ladder straight into Tommy's arms, who then fell straight onto the floor.
Finally able to speak, Jude began laughing, laying on top of Tommy, clutching the angel in one hand, her ring in the other. Leaning up, she kissed him smiling broadly at him as Sadie and Kwest came running into the room to see what all the noise was about.
"What's going on?" Sadie said sleepily, "I was sleeping."
"Merry Christmas to you too," Jude said, still giggling, then continued on, flashing her left hand at her sister, "We're getting married."
As Sadie squealed on the stairs hugging Kwest, Tommy pulled Jude to him once more.
"So I take it that's a yes?" he asked softly, his face inches from hers.
"You better believe it," Jude replied, staring into his eyes.
As the two leaned closer toward each other, a cry came from the stairs, just as their lips were about to meet. Their heads snapped in the direction of the panicked couple on the stairs.
"My water just broke!" a panicked Sadie exclaimed.
As they all hurried around, trying to get out the door to the hospital, Tommy pulled Jude aside, pressing his lips to hers quickly.
"I think this has been the best Christmas ever."
