A/N: I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'M SORRY I TOOK SO LONG TO UPDATE life has been busy, school's been going on almost non-stop, and my knitting hobby got the better of me SO HERE'S A LONG CHAPTER! And since it's finally September it'll probably feel a little less weird to be reading about Christmas. Thank you SO much for all the lovely reviews that you guys have been leaving! I really can't thank you guys enough and I appreciate every single comment you guys left on this fic. I've only proofread it once so I apologize if there's any mistakes. Regardless, I hope this chapter doesn't disappoint. Enjoy and let me know what you guys think! xx
"Henry," his guests greeted.
"Maureen, Dad," he replied curtly, carefully keeping his face void of expression. Their visit caught him off guard, to say the least.
Elizabeth's voice rang from behind before she appeared beside him. "Who is it?"
"Elizabeth, this is my sister Maureen and my dad Patrick." Henry wound a protective arm around her, watching his family's reactions. "Maureen, Dad, this is Elizabeth."
Maureen regarded her skeptically, her brows narrowing the slightest bit before she carefully rearranged her features into a smile. Henry knew what she was thinking and tightened his hold around Elizabeth. "Nice to meet you, Elizabeth."
"Same to you, Maureen. Henry's told me a lot about your family. It's lovely to finally meet you guys."
"I could say the same," Maureen smiled sweetly - a little too sweet for Henry's liking.
"Are you guys in town to visit Henry?"
"Oh, yes, my dear brother told us he wasn't visiting us this Christmas so we decided to come visit him instead. I hope we weren't interrupting anything."
"No, not at all! Come in!" She turned to Henry. "I'll tell Jason your family's here." She slipped into the living room ahead of the McCords and briefly introduced them to him just as they walked in.
"Are you and Dad staying for long?" Henry asked, as he helped them out of their coats.
"Couple of days, I guess. New girlfriend, huh?"
Irritation sparked at his sister's mention of Elizabeth. Ignoring her question, he asked if they had a place to stay.
"We're staying at an inn nearby," she waved her hand dismissively.
While he almost hated the idea of them staying with him, they were still family. "We have a spare room upstairs. Maybe you guys could stay here…?" His mind was screaming at him to do otherwise, to just entertain them for the evening and send them out of his door for the night, but he brushed the thought aside.
"That would be great. C'mon, Dad, let's grab our bags."
Henry almost retracted his invitation immediately, quite certain that his family's presence under the same roof meant a potential disaster. But he held his tongue, knowing that any mildly hostile remark could instantly turn into a huge storm.
He joined the others at the couch, kissing Elizabeth's hair as he passed by.
"Is everything okay?" she whispered.
"Yeah, don't worry about it. Are you guys exchanging presents?"
"Yeah, Ali and Stevie insisted we open our gifts at the same time."
"Wow, I wonder what it is," he chuckled. He had received all sorts of interesting gifts from his daughters over the years. Elizabeth looked at him curiously when he laughed at the memory of them presenting him a Superman onesie just last Christmas.
Ali and Stevie brought them their gifts, handing each of them a soft package. Quickly pulling away the ribbons and layers of wrapping paper, they found sweatshirts lying inside. Everyone burst out in laughter as they saw the huge quote on the front.
Henry chuckled, recognizing the familiar words. "Good ol' Thomas Aquinas."
Just then, Maureen and Patrick's voices floated into the living room. "Hey, kiddos, how's Christmas Eve coming along?"
"Aunt Maureen! Grandpa!" The two girls squealed in delight as they got up and hugged them. "We didn't know you guys were gonna be in town!"
"It was all impromptu, your uncle Shane and aunt Erin regret not being able to come with us, but they send you guys their biggest, warmest hugs." Patrick hugged them a little tighter, making up for the absence of half the McCord family.
It wasn't long before all the presents were unwrapped, with the exception of Henry and Elizabeth's gifts for each other, and the food coma started setting in as time went by. Stevie and Ali resisted when Henry insisted they go to bed at around midnight, but it soon turned into futile protests filled with an endless stream of yawns. Unwillingly, they trudged up the stairs into their rooms, mumbling sleepy 'goodnight's as they went.
Henry heaved a sigh of relief as the adults cleaned up the place, grateful that the evening had passed without any issue despite his sister and dad being around.
Or so he thought.
Once everything was back in its place, Henry gestured to Elizabeth to move to his room and exchange their gifts. She promised Jason that it would just be a while more but just as they were about to exit the living room, Maureen spoke.
"Henry, it's been months since we've seen each other. C'mon, can't you spend some time with your family?" she asked, her voice uncharacteristically high-pitched.
"Yeah, I'll be right back." He gave her a small smile before continuing down the hallway.
That was clearly not the answer she was hoping for. She instantly dropped the act. "Seriously? We rarely see you and now you're just gonna hide in your bedroom with your new girlfriend? What, is she more important than us?"
"Maureen," he warned. It wasn't new; his sister was easily displeased by his girlfriends ever since he had started dating.
"Oh, I'm so sorry we were interrupting. Dad, maybe we should just grab our stuff and go. C'mon."
Henry shifted so he shielded Elizabeth from the argument. "Maureen, cut it out. I'm not going to kick you or Dad out. Elizabeth's leaving soon, we just want to exchange our presents."
"Yeah, sure, couldn't you have just exchanged it just now? You never seem to see how all these women have you wrapped around their fingers! Look at what happened to Melissa. I bet she's no different." She looked pointedly at Elizabeth, disdain clearly coloring her features.
"That's enough!" Henry exclaimed, as loudly as he could without rousing his daughters from sleep upstairs. "You barely know Elizabeth, and it's Christmas for crying out loud! If you can't keep your opinions to yourself, maybe you should see yourself out. I'm taking Elizabeth and her son home. Do as you see fit."
Elizabeth stepped forward and touched his arm. "Henry, ー"
He softly interrupted her. "C'mon, let's go."
Jason sat on the couch the whole time, watching the adults' exchange in shock and awe. When his mom started gathering her things, he, too, hastily stuffed his items into his backpack before following them out of the door.
The ride home was silent and tension rolled off Henry in waves as he drove them back to Elizabeth's place. She glanced at him occasionally as they sped through the dark streets, but his gaze was focused on the road. It was clear that he was still fuming, his anger hanging almost tangibly in the air.
Jason sat in the back, watching his mom and her boyfriend barely exchange a word. He kept his mouth shut, but his thoughts restlessly bounced around in his head. What in the world happened?! Everything had happened so quickly he hadn't quite processed it yet. Well, one thing's for sure, Henry's sister is batshit crazy, he thought.
They pulled into the driveway about 10 minutes later, entering the doorway with arms full of presents. Jason willingly obliged when Elizabeth sent him to bed with a kiss, which left Henry and Elizabeth alone in her kitchen.
"I'm sorry about Maureen, I really am," Henry said softly, his hands running over his face. "I...I didn't think they'd come when I told them I'd be spending Christmas here this year."
"Henryー"
"I should've known, or they should've called. She shouldn't have treated you like that."
Elizabeth crossed over to him to wrap her arms around him and Henry automatically pulled her further into his body. An audible sigh escaped his lips. "Henry, it's okay."
"No, it's not okay. It's Christmas. And she barely even knows you. She had no right to speak about you like that."
"Baby, I'm okay, really." Her fingers gently brushed across his cheek. "They're family. If anything, it's better to have arguments than face silence."
"Butー"
She interrupted him before he could utter another word. "Like you said, it's Christmas. Let's just forget this ever happened. Come on, we still have our presents to open!" Cracking a smile, she turned around to grab her present for him from her bag.
As he watched her rummage through her bag, he wondered how he had gotten so lucky to have met her, and before he could help it ー "I love you."
The sentence fell from his lips before he could think about it.
She looked up and stared at him across the kitchen island. Did he just…?
"I mean, I, uh, I meant toー" Blood rushed to his face as he stuttered and tried to cover it up.
Elizabeth closed the distance between them and brought him into a searing kiss. His tongue pressed urgently against hers, their mouths moving together as if their lives depended on it.
When the need for air became too great, they broke apart.
"I love you too," Elizabeth whispered. They stood in each other's embrace until they regained their breaths. "I guess we didn't need the mistletoe this year…" she joked.
He chuckled. "I guess not." He kissed her tenderly once more, then led them to the couch to exchange gifts.
"Okay, me first," Elizabeth declared, grinning widely. "Ready?"
"Ready as I'll ever be."
"Alright, close your eyes." He did as she said. "No peeking! Hold your hand out." Removing the bracelet from its box, she clasped it around his wrist and adjusted it before telling him to look.
He held his hand to his eyes, watching the steel anchor glint briefly under the dim lights.
"I saw it at the store the other day and thought of you." She looked at him through her lashes as she played with his fingers. "I know it sounds really cheesy, and we've only been dating for awhile, but during these past few months, you've become my anchor and I'm really grateful for that."
"Wow, I love it! Thank you, babe." He pecked her cheek.
Her shoulders relaxed in relief. "I'm glad you like it," she beamed.
"My turn now. Close your eyes."
"Ooh, what is it?"
He shushed her affectionately and moved behind the sofa, nimbly putting the necklace on her. Immediately, she jumped up to the closest mirror to look at it. Two pendants now hung from a delicate chain around her neck, one that said "protect me" and the other an enameled heart charm.
"Wow," she breathed.
"I have a matching one." He pulled his necklace out, the exact same charms dangling from his fingers. "I thought it'd be nice if we shared something."
"I absolutely love it." She settled back into his side, resting her head on his shoulder as she sighed contentedly. "One of the best Christmas gifts ever. Thank you."
"It's not the best Christmas gift ever?" he teased.
She punched him lightly. "Nope, sorry, Mr Theologian. Jace can be an ass sometimes but he's given me pretty sweet presents."
"Fine," he laughed. He glanced at his watch; it was already close to 1:30 am. "I'd really, really love to stay, but it's getting late."
"I'd really, really love for you to stay too," they chuckled, "but you should go home."
They packed up, then lingered in the doorway, somehow hoping that they could prolong their time together. Not to mention, Henry dreaded returning home to deal with Maureen.
"I'm really sorry about my familyー"
She covered his mouth with her palm. "Henry, stop apologizing. I'm alright, I really am."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes," she replied firmly. "See, we still had a great night."
"If you say so. And yes, we still had a great night."
"Good," she grinned. She started chasing him out, knowing that Stevie and Ali were probably awake in their beds, waiting up for him.
"Okay, okay, I'm going now. Goodnight."
"Goodnight, Henry. I love you." A small thrill ran through her body, giddy with the novelty of saying those three words.
"I love you too." He leaned in, and they shared another spectacular kiss before he left.
For a moment, she stood there and watched his car drive into the street. Gently touching the cool metal now lying against her skin, she smiled, warmth blooming in her chest. When his car became tiny specks of light in the distance, she shut the door and retired to her bedroom for the night.
Little did they know Jason had stayed up, listening to them talk. For the first time, he thought, maybe Henry wasn't such a bad guy after all.