A/N Sorry guys, I forgot to say the song in the last chapter was Hero/Heroine by Boys Like Girls. It's amazing, and one of my favorites. I actually listened to it the entire time I wrote that chapter. My family was driven insane by my random bouts of singing it very loudly, badly, and horribly off-key. XD -hums song while typing away-
"Omigod, omigod, omigod! It's CHRISTMAS!! Get up, get up, get up!"
I jumped up and down next to V on his bed, which I was amazed I'd manage to find him in. I mean, honestly, I'd have thought he'd jump up the instant I opened the door.
"Go away. It's morning. We have no Christmas."
I stopped jumping and looked at him in shock "Are you seriously whining about getting up?! Awesome!!"
"We have nothing for Christmas." V stated again
"Sure we do!" Jaylyn piped, jumping on his other side "We've got pres-ents!"
"Correction, we have no tree."
"Umm, should we tell him now or later?" I asked
"We got a tree!! Creedy helped us get it down here." Jaylyn nearly screamed in her excitement.
V sat bolt right up in bed and was halfway to the door before what Jaylyn said caught up with him. He turned back to her slowly and charged at us. I managed to scramble off the bed just in time for him to dive back into him, sending Jaylyn flying off.
"Holy crap!" Jaylyn said, her butt hitting the floor. "Do that again! That was so much fun!"
I rolled my eyes and grabbed V's arm roughly, attempting to drag him out of bed. Ten minutes later--after much grumbling from V--we walked into the main area as Evey looked at the tree in wonder. We hadn't been lying, we'd gotten help (actually from Finch) to get a tree down here and move the piano. Decorated in gold and silver with warm amber lights, the tree took up most of the space.
I settled down in front of the tree (it having a pitiful three gifts underneath) as Jaylyn dragged V and Evey over. I plopped the only gift wrapped in Spongebob paper in V's lap proudly.
"That's from Jaylyn and I for both of you."
Evey tore it open eagerly while V looked on. She looked at the DVD case in her hand, confused by V's symbol on the front and nothing else anywhere. V, however, understood. He took if from her gently and placed it in the DVD player.
"MERRY CHRISTMAS V AND EVEY!!" Jaylyn and myself chimed from the TV.
"It was my idea."
"No it wasn't, Jaylyn! You just wanted to mess with them and record it. I said make a movie."
"Whatever. My idea."
"Grr. . ." I disappeared of screen for a moment
"Hey, where ya. . ."
"NINJA!!" I jumped on her from behind, smacking her repeatedly in the head with a pillow.
The video cut to a collage of clips we'd caught over the last two months. Some of the best "Contraceptive" moments; random little moments of closeness between V and Evey; my favorite, a shot of V practicing with Barbie and Evey secretly watching in the background. The movie itself was about ten minutes long, and ended with a clip of "As The Gallery Turns" a soap opera about V and Evey in the 'Hidden Gallery'. V didn't like that too much.
After the video finished, we settled back down by the tree and V handed Evey the handsomest gift. It's red wrapping paper and gold ribbon tied around it oozed elegance, even though it was extremely small. Evey unwrapped it carefully and gingerly opened the box. She gasped and lifted out a silver necklace with a 'V' of diamonds in its center. It was beautiful in is simplicity.
I smiled lightly, remembering Jaylyn and I 'helping' V pick a gift for her. In reality we had just pointed at everything in every store and said "Look, daddy five! Mummy four would love it!"
"Oh, V. . ." She murmured "I'm afraid my gift for you isn't nearly as beautiful."
She retrieved the only present left and handed it to V. It was wrapped as beautifully or as neatly, but one could tell Evey had tried to make it look pretty. He lifted the wrapped lid off the box and stared at what was inside.
"I won't be sure for another week or so, but I've got a very good hunch." When he didn't say anything, she asked "V. . .are you upset?"
"Upset, my sweet Eve? How could I be," He said softly, lifting a small pair of silver baby booties on a string out of the box "when you may be having my child?"
My jaw hit the floor while Jaylyn made lewd gestures and tried to say something. When the bloody hell did this all happen? I planned on asking just that. . .when my vocal chords started working again.
VEV
A month later, much had changed in the Gallery. Evey had confirmed she was pregnant, and V had jumped to create a father for the child. Evey argued the V was the father, but V shot back with 'how would she explain that she got pregnant by a dead terrorist a month after his death?' for which she had no answer. V refused to announce that he was still alive and Evey understood why so she never protested.
Inspector Finch had contacted Evey and asked her to lead the new political party and, therefore, England. She refused, using her pregnancy as an excuse. Moments after she left there V picked up on Finch logging into the old Norsefire database and looking up Vincent Licentia. V had picked the last name, claiming it was Latin for freedom. I merely shook my head and called him 'a bit of a dumbass' before walking away.
V had created an entire background for himself, including piecing together what he believed he may have looked like before Larkhill. Vincent's parents had been killed in a riot and had left him the sole heir of their fortune.
V recalled that what little hair he had before the fire was blonde and believed it was his natural color. When he emerged from his room to take the file photo for Vincent, my first thought was that he looked like Billy Idol. After that, everytime I saw 'Vincent' I burst out into White Wedding and imitated Billy Idol's sneer very poorly.
Despite Evey refusing to lead the government, V talked her into being the spokeswoman for it. The instant she realized what he'd done, she was furious. With her new status came the assumption that she would, in fact, end up leading. She was constantly being swept off for meetings and such, giving V all the time he needed to get his surprise ready for her. Much as we tried, we never did figure out what said surprise was. V wouldn't spill.
"Evey?" V said on evening
"Hmm?"
"I. . .have a gift for you."
Evey blanched and grabbed the arm of her chair hard. I threw my book to the side and ran over to try to calm her down. V seemed at as much of a loss as I was as to what was distressing her so much.
"V," She gasped, tears welling up in her eyes "the last time you said that, I nearly lost you."
"Oh, Eve." V knelt down in front of her and I moved off to the side "It's nothing like that. I will never put you through that again, I promise. However, I would like to show you rather than tell you."
Ten minutes later, 'Vincent' was speeding out of London and I was already completely lost. I hate navigating London, none of the bloody roads go straight. I always get lost which is why I take Jaylyn with me. She manages to not get lost.
V finally pulled into a long, narrow lane and announced we were there, only fifteen minutes from the Gallery, and that it was a straight shot from there to here. My internal compass begged to differ with the 'straight shot' part. He stopped the car in front of an old country manor hotel and helped Evey out.
"Do you like it Eve? It's yours, well ours actually." I was extremely confused. He bought her a hotel? "The Gallery is no place to raise a child, safe as it may be. Think of it as our townhouse, and this our home."
"V, are you serious? You bought her a hotel?"
Jaylyn's thoughts seemed to be the same as mine. He chuckled.
"Heavens, no. Vincent Licentia bought this old manor home and restored it for himself and Evey Hammond to raise their unborn child in."
"So let me get this straight," I said "this is a house?"
A/N So you all know, I've never been to London. Nope. Never been farther east than Washington DC, farther west or north than Chicago, and never been farther south than Disney in Florida. A photo of Evey's necklace and the house are on my website. As is an excellent photo of Billy Idol for those of you who have no idea who he is. (And I smite you for that) As The Gallery Turns is not my idea or title, it's SalaciousVictorian's. Yes, I asked long before I used it. Like, the instant I had the idea to mention it. Merry Christmas and Happy Late V Day!! (V is so much better than Guy Fawkes)
