December 11th - Ribbons and Bows

"Seriously? An elf?" Morgan laughed, "Oh, man, I would give anything to have been there! Please tell me someone had the foresight to take pictures."

"I hope not," she grumbled darkly, shuddering. "You're taking way too much pleasure in my misfortune."

"It's not 'misfortune' if you signed up for it..."

"No one said anything about elves," she said under her breath.

"But you had fun, right?" he pressed, "All costumes, carolling, and public humiliation aside?"

There was a reluctant pause before she sighed, "Fine! I enjoyed it... Are you happy now?"

"Very." He gently ran a thumb over her cheek, smudging the sparkles there. "The whole elf thing explains the body glitter, then?"

She cursed softly under her breath. "I thought I got it all..." She furiously scrubbed a hand over her face, trying to remove the last sparkly vestiges. "It was Garcia's idea, she said it 'completed the illusion'... Whatever that means."

He chuckled, "Of course it was."

They sat in her living room, wrapping gifts. It was probably a good thing she wouldn't have to drive home later because she appeared to be drowning her day of embarrassment in a carton of egg nog and rum that had stopped being egg nog a half hour since.

"So, what are you going to do about your father?" he asked eventually.

She frowned, apparently not enjoying this change in conversation. "Honestly, I don't even want to think about him right now... I've got to go to one of my mother's functions tomorrow and I can only handle one nightmare parent at a time..."

"Fun..." he quipped.

"Yeah..." she said sarcastically, rolling her eyes. "But at least she's making an effort lately."

He smiled. "I'm glad." There was silence for a minute in which he resolutely made up his mind about what he was about to do. "Speaking of parents... Since you probably don't have a lot of plans, would you like to go down to Chicago for Christmas with me?" She looked surprised, if not a little shocked. "That way you get a real Christmas; if that doesn't make you believe again, nothing will..."

"Won't I be intruding?" Your family doesn't get to see you very much, I'm sure they won't want some stranger taking up their time with you..."

"For one thing, you're not a stranger. And for another, my mom will probably be so happy to see me with a human female, she'll..." He paused, "Well, I'm not exactly sure what she'd do...and I'm not sure whether to be excited or scared..."

She chuckled. "Well, I guess I could come with you...since I've got nothing better to do..."

"I can't wait."

******

Coming back into the room after what seemed like only a minute's absence, Morgan found Emily fast asleep. He stood back, smiling, for a moment; to be fair, he was impressed that she had lasted this long... Even sick, Garcia was easily the energizer bunny and Emily, who was considerably more laid-back, had just spent all day keeping up with her; it was no surprise that she was exhausted.

Very gently, he lifted her into his arms and carried her to her bedroom. Lying her down on the bed, taking great care not to wake her, he pulled the blankets around her, then once again stopped to gaze at her. Softly, he brushed her hair away from her face, marvelling at how beautiful she looked, almost angelic.

He kissed her forehead and whispered, "I love you, girl," before backing out of the room and quietly closing the door behind him.

It felt good to be able to admit his feelings for her, but at the same time, it was hard knowing that she still had no idea because he was still too scared to tell her the truth while she was awake...

Returning to the living room where they had been working, he realized that they hadn't even gotten through half of the gifts they had to wrap. Not surprising, since they had spent more time joking around than actually working.

Grabbing a cup of coffee, he went right back to work, hoping to finish before Emily awoke.

******

Emily awoke at nearly ten o'clock that night, yawning and stretching, before becoming very confused upon realizing that she hadn't fallen asleep in her bed and yet, that's where she was right now...

Scrambling out of bed, she tried to remember what had happened those few short hours previously, nearly falling on her face when she got tangled in the sheets. Well, at least she was still dressed...that was a good sign.

She scrubbed her hands groggily over her face, pulling them away covered in glitter. Then, she remembered...Morgan...

Taking the stairs two at a time, she sprinted back into the living room only to find it deserted. He was gone... She felt a small twinge of disappointment, having hoped that he would be there when she awoke...

Then, she realized that something else was different than when she had fallen asleep: all her gifts had been wrapped. And they most definitely hadn't been a few hours previously.

She felt her eyes pricking with tears of gratitude as she realized what Morgan had done. He was so good to her, she'd never had anyone who cared so much, who was so devoted... She was so lucky and he probably had no idea how grateful she was to have him...