Aubrey ran through his mental checklist once again as he and Jessica walked up the sidewalk toward Booth and Brennan's front door. "We've got the gifts for the kiddos, right? And the bottle of scotch for Booth…"
"Yes, and a bottle of merlot for Dr. Brennan." Jessica nodded her approval at the label on the bottle. "This is a nice wine, James...good choice…"
"Thanks." He smiled as he gave her a quick kiss. "And thanks for coming with me this evening. Booth said they decided to have friends over for dinner on Christmas Eve since they're having a big family dinner Christmas Day. Parker's plane gets in about noon tomorrow, and Dr. B's brother and his family are coming from North Carolina."
"I'm glad you asked me to come with you. I've been looking forward to it. However, I do need to know one very important thing before we go any further." Jessica rolled her eyes as Aubrey made a silly face at her. "Be serious for a minute, okay? Listen, do Christine and Michael-Vincent still believe in Santa Claus? I don't want to say the wrong thing and break their little hearts this evening."
Pausing on the front step, Aubrey thought things over carefully before he answered. "I'm not really sure. Christine's pretty smart, so she may have figured things out by now, and who knows what Angela and Hodgins have told Michael-Vincent?" He rang the doorbell and shrugged at Jessica. "I tell you what...let's just play it by ear. We won't bring Santa Claus up in conversation tonight, and we'll see what the kids have to say about who's gonna bring their presents tomorrow morning."
"That's very logical. Good plan, Superman…" Jessica giggled as she put her arms around Aubrey's neck. "Have I told you lately how smart you are?"
"I think your exact words were smart ass…" Grinning broadly as he pulled his girlfriend closer, Aubrey gave Jessica another, more passionate kiss.
"Okay, break it up! Quit that, Aubrey. We've got little kids in here." Booth stood in the open doorway, grinning at the couple as they hastily backed away from each other. "Are you two gonna be able to keep it PG-13 this evening?", he chuckled. "Or am I gonna have to separate you? Maybe I should make you sit on opposite ends of the couch..."
Blushing furiously, Jessica followed a sheepish Aubrey into the Booth-Brennan abode. "I can't believe you embarrassed me like that in front of Agent Booth…", she whispered, slightly flustered as she glared at her boyfriend.
"Relax...he's kidding...I think…" Aubrey was interrupted by a chorus of squeals.
"Uncle Aubrey's here! Uncle Aubrey's here!" Christine and Michael-Vincent, clad in their Christmas footie pajamas, danced around their favorite visitor. Christine pulled on Aubrey's arm as he made his triumphant entry into the family room. "Did you bring more gummy bears with you tonight?"
"Gummy bears?" Brennan arched her eyebrow at Aubrey as she balanced Hank on her hip. "Why does Christine think you'd bring her gummy bears, Aubrey?"
Pulling his usual 'who, me?' face, the younger man shrugged and raised his hands in the air as he looked guiltily at his girlfriend's boss. "I have no idea, Dr. B…."
Christine laughed at the silly, forgetful adults. "Don't you 'member, Uncle Aubrey? Daddy had to go find Mommy at the lab one night and you stayed here with me while he was gone and you had gummy bears in your pocket, and you gave me some and I ate them instead of my broccoli 'cause broccoli's yucky…" The little girl's eyes grew wide as she clapped her hand over her mouth. "I forgot...that was sposed to be a secret, right?"
"Don't worry about it, Honey." Aubrey ruffled the little girl's hair. "I think your Mommy and Daddy figured that one out a long time ago." Laughing, he sat down and bounced the little girl on his knee as he patted the seat on the couch next to him. "Here you go, Buddy." Michael-Vincent crawled up on the couch with a well worn book. "Oh, good! The Grinch! That's one of my favorites!" Changing voices as he spoke the different characters' dialogue in the story, Aubrey led the children on a trip to Whoville to see how the Grinch's heart grew three sizes as he discovered the true meaning of Christmas.
Jessica sat in a nearby armchair watching her boyfriend, fascinated by how easily he interacted with the two small children, especially considering he'd been an only child himself. She smiled as she realized one of the many things she loved about him was his refusal to take himself too seriously. In some ways, her boyfriend was still a big goofy kid, but she didn't care. His enthusiasm for life was contagious, and she looked forward to catching that enthusiasm from him.
After the story was finished, Christine and Michael-Vincent went to snoop around the tree, hoping to find some small packages with their names on them. Aubrey caught Jessica's eye and nodded to the empty seat next to him. "Care to join me?"
She smiled demurely as she sat next to him and patted his thigh. "Only if you can behave yourself in public. I don't want to get into any more trouble with Booth and Brennan."
"Okay...I'll try to behave until it's time for us to leave, but I have some interesting plans for later..." Aubrey winked at her as he kissed her cheek. "I bet Booth's got some mistletoe hanging in a doorway somewhere in this house, and if we're lucky, maybe he'll let us borrow it so I can get a kiss or two from my favorite girl."
"Really?" Jessica gave her boyfriend a quizzical look. "What makes you think he has mistletoe hanging up somewhere?"
"Oh, just a little story Ms. Julian told me last week. It seems that she arranged for Dr. B and Booth to spend some time kissing under some mistletoe in Dr. B's office several years ago…"
Aubrey's story was interrupted by the hubbub and happy exchange of greetings accompanying the arrival of Cam and Arastoo. Finally, with the guests all present, the group sat down to a feast of vegetable lasagne, salad, and homemade cheesecake. Booth grinned as he put two pans of lasagne on the buffet. "One for Aubrey and one for the rest of us." Raising his glass as he stood at the head of the table, Booth offered a toast. "Here's to our good friends...the people who make up our second family."
The happy group around the table raised their glasses in response. "To good friends."
Booth took a drink from his glass and gestured toward the table. "Okay, everyone...dig in." Soon the dining room was filled with animated talking and laughter as the group shared stories of past Christmases they'd celebrated together.
"Believe it or not, Aubrey, Booth and I spent our first Christmas together quarantined in the lab at the Jeffersonian." Brennan smiled at her husband as she told the story. "We'd been exposed to a pathogen and couldn't leave…all because Booth brought me a Christmas gift of sorts...a decomposed body that had been found in an old fallout shelter..."
Aubrey gave Booth a surprised look as he laughed out loud. "A corpse for a Christmas gift, Booth? What a romantic idea. You really know how to impress a girl, don't you?"
"Being confined together like that is definitely the hard way to get to know people, isn't it? Spending three days in close quarters over a holiday?" Angela grinned as she nudged Hodgins in the ribs. "See what happens when you don't follow autopsy protocol, Jessica? People end up getting married."
Hodgins laughed good naturedly. "Yeah, I know...it was all my fault, alright? But, for the most part, things turned out okay, didn't they? Look how happy we are now."
Chuckling, Booth turned to Aubrey. "You know what they say...nothing brings people together like a Christmas lung fungus."
Angela nodded to Aubrey and grinned at Jessica. "Maybe Brennan can tell you about the time she had to collect all of Booth's clothing as evidence in a crime. I bet you might like to recreate that scene yourself with a different FBI agent, right, Ms. Warren?"
Booth was scandalized. "Hey, they don't need to know about that, Angela…"
"Oh, I don't know." Angela flashed a naughty grin at her host. "I still remember how entertaining it was to see Brennan push you through the lab on that cart while you were wearing only your boxers…that was definitely a pleasant Christmas gift for the rest of us."
"Daddy, why did you take your clothes off at work? Didn't you get cold?" Christine tilted her head as she gave her father a confused look.
"Your Daddy was very brave that day, Christine. His clothes got dirty because he was in an explosion, and I had to help him remove his clothing to preserve the evidence that got stuck to them…" Brennan licked her lips, giving her husband a flirty glance as she remembered what had happened in the exam room that day. "It was somewhat embarrassing for Daddy, because he had to undress in the lab. However, that evidence helped us solve the crime."
"Oh, okay." Satisfied with her mother's explanation, Christine returned to her dinner, missing the silent exchange between her parents as her mother arched an eyebrow at her father, who chuckled happily when he realized they'd be replaying the removal of clothing in the lab scene in their bedroom later that evening, although the outcome would certainly be different than it had been at the lab that day. He was glad there would be no need to call on the saints to help him behave appropriately later that evening...
Oooooooooo
After dinner, the table was cleared and everyone adjourned to the family room. "Time for gifts!", Booth said, smiling as he gave a small box to Aubrey. "I think this might last you a day or two."
Grinning happily, Aubrey crowed as he unwrapped the package. "Oho! Look at this! A gift card to the doughnut shop! Thanks, Booth!"
"Yeah, well, just make sure you remember to share the doughnuts with your boss." Booth reached under the tree for another package. "This tag says 'to Michael-Vincent'…"
"Daddy!" A bouncing Michael-Vincent took his package over to Hodgins. "It's a present for me! Who's it from? Can I open it now?"
Laughing at his son's excitement, Hodgins looked at the tag. "This is from Agent Aubrey." Seeing Aubrey nod slightly, Hodgins gave the package back to his son. "I think you can open it now, but let's check first to see if there's a package from Agent Aubrey for Christine, too…" They looked under the tree. "Here it is…okay, give this to Christine and then let's see what you got."
The children wasted no time in unwrapping the packages, sending paper and ribbon flying as they raced to see who could open their gift first. "Look, Daddy!" Christine ran to show her father what she'd received. "It's a build your own robot kit, Daddy! Mine's red and Michael-Vincent's is yellow. We can build them and then race them…and look…" She pointed at her younger brother. "Hank got a stuffed dinosaur."
"Those are some pretty cool presents, aren't they? Did you remember to say thank you?" Booth smiled down at his little girl as she nodded vigorously. "Good." Giving the younger man a thumbs up, Booth grinned as the kids looked through the instructions for building their droids. "Thanks, Aubrey...that was really thoughtful. The kids will have a good time with those kits. I'm sure the scotch and merlot will be put to good use, too, after a long day of work. We appreciate it."
"My pleasure, Booth. I'm glad the kids like their gifts. Hey, I think Jessica and I are gonna head out…" Aubrey picked up his jacket and put his arm around his girlfriend. "Thanks for dinner. Have a good Christmas tomorrow."
"Yeah, you, too. So you're taking off a couple of days after Christmas, right?" Booth winked slyly at Aubrey as Jessica went to say goodbye to Brennan. "Are you gonna be married when you come back to work?"
"What? No!" Aubrey stammered out his denial, embarrassed at Booth's suggestion. "What ever gave you that idea? Drop it, Booth! Just stop, okay?"
"Stop what?", Jessica asked innocently as Booth snickered at Aubrey's discomfort. "Did I miss something?"
"Nothing important. Are you ready to go, Jess?" Aubrey piled her jacket into her arms and practically pushed her out the door. "Good night, Dr. Brennan. See ya, Booth…"
"Thanks for dinner, Agent Booth." Jessica waved as Aubrey hustled her down the sidewalk. "Merry Christmas!" She glared at her boyfriend as they got into the car. "What was that all about?"
"It was nothing...I'm just ready to get home." He reached over to pat her knee. "I want to spend some quality time with my beautiful girlfriend on Christmas Eve, alright?"
She smiled coyly as she glanced at Aubrey, wondering if she should tell him that she'd overheard Booth's nosy questions, and then deciding against it. She chuckled softly as they drove to his apartment. It was going to be an interesting Christmas.
Ooooooooo
Later that evening, Aubrey and Jessica sat on the couch in his living room, shoulder to shoulder as they played another noisy round of Goldeneye on his video gaming system. Aubrey grunted in frustration as he tried to move James Bond out of harm's way, but Jessica's thumbs flew across her controller, allowing Xenia Onatopp to catch up with Bond and shoot the spy, thus ending that round of game.
"Arrgh….You got me…" Aubrey put his hand over his heart, closing his eyes as he pretended to collapse on the sofa. He opened one eye to glare at Jessica. "Hey...where did you learn to play this game so well?"
"I have many special talents, James…video gaming is just one of them." She giggled as he pretended to pout. "Sorry...I'll let you win next time."
"I don't want you to let me win…" Aubrey threw his controller aside as he put his arms around his girlfriend and pulled her close. "I'll just have to find some way to distract you next time we play."
"What do you have in mind?" Jessica grinned slyly as she moved to straddle Aubrey's lap. "I'd think you'd like me to continue to be Onatopp, and you'd like to let me to win when we play the game or when we wrestle, right?"
Aubrey groaned softly as Jessica nibbled at his ear. "So you're saying that you'd take advantage of your feminine charms to try to beat me at a video game? Do you really want to win that badly?"
Jessica shrugged, laughing softly as she ran her hands across his shoulders and down his chest. "It's not whether you win or lose, it's how horny you can make your boyfriend…"
"I see." He chuckled as he glanced at his watch. "Well, you've been very successful in that department, Jess. Anyway, it's getting late, and you know Santa Claus won't stop by the apartment until we're in bed fast asleep…"
"He may have to wait for awhile before we reach the fast asleep stage." Jessica ran her fingers lightly across her boyfriend's lips. "I have a gift for you to open tonight, but I need you to wait here for a few minutes before you see it." Rising from the couch, Jessica gave him a seductive smile. "Give me a ten minute head start." She turned and walked quickly into his bedroom, closing the door behind her.
"Ten minutes? I don't know if I can wait that long…", Aubrey whined. "Jessica…come on, Jessica…I wanna see my present...It's my bedroom after all..."
A few minutes later, he heard her calling softly to him. "Ready, James. Come and see your gift…"
"Finally!" He strode to his bedroom but stopped suddenly as he opened the door. "Wow…"
Jessica was laying in the middle of his bed wearing a very short royal blue satin and lace babydoll nightgown with a matching thong. The deep v-necked bodice was made of sheer embroidered lace, allowing the creamy skin of her breasts to peek through. The satin that made up the rest of the slip fell softly to the top of her thigh, offering a tantalizing view of the sheer lacy thong to Aubrey's appreciative eye.
"Merry Christmas, James…" Jessica smiled demurely as she batted her eyes at him. "I picked this out especially for you."
"You look so beautiful…", he murmured. Sitting next to her on the bed, he reached out to caress her shoulder. "Gorgeous...this color is perfect. I can't stop looking at you…"
"I'm glad..." Jessica eyed her boyfriend's lean frame hungrily. "...but I think you're wearing too many clothes to appreciate it properly…" She reached her hand under his tee shirt and began to tease her fingers along his abdomen. "You need to lose this shirt and those jeans…now..."
"As you wish…" Being an intelligent man, he knew when it was in his best interest to follow orders. He wasted no time stripping down to his boxers, quickly climbing back into bed. "Better?"
"Much. Come here…" She gently pushed on Aubrey's shoulders as he lay back on the bed. "Since it's Christmas Eve, maybe I should unwrap your package first…" She licked her lips as she brushed her fingers lightly along the bulge in the front of his undershorts. "What do you think?"
Squirming slightly under her attentive ministrations, he shrugged slightly. "Oh, I'm in no hurry. We can take our time, I guess." He reached under her nightgown and ran his hand lightly across her soft skin. "After all, it's not really Christmas yet, and I want my present to last a long time when I finally unwrap it." He pulled her closer, kissing her deeply before moving his attention down toward her lacy bodice. He gently teased her rosy pebbled nipples with his tongue, enjoying the contrast between her smooth skin and the lace. "God...so good…"
Jessica arched toward him, wanting to get closer to him as he drove her wild with his mouth on her breasts. "Oh yes...so good." She lay with her head on his shoulder, and her hand dipped into his shorts as she began to move her fingers teasingly across his arousal. "You're amazing, Superman...you make me feel so good..."
"I aim to please." As he kissed her, he ran his fingers down to her hip and then to her thong, teasing her, zigzagging his index finger across the lacy front of the undergarment as she moaned with pleasure. "You like that, don't you? When I touch you like that?"
Biting her lip, she nodded as she swiveled her hips toward him. "Yesss…", she sighed.
He dipped two fingers inside the lace, stroking her gently as she stroked his erection, enjoying the way the blue satin of her nightgown shimmered with her sensual movements. "God...you feel so good...so ready for me…" Soon his whole hand was in her thong, massaging her gently as she clung to him, moaning softly. "God, I want you so bad, Jessie…"
"And I want you, too." She groaned softly as she turned away from him and shimmied out of her thong, throwing the damp garment on the floor before turning to her boyfriend, clawing desperately at his shorts. "You need to lose those boxers now! I need you now, James...get inside me now, before I go crazy…"
Giving Jessica a silly grin, he pulled off his boxers and threw them on the floor. "I'll be glad to oblige you, Jess, but I actually kind of like it when you go crazy. Wait…" He stopped her before she could pull off her short nightgown. "Leave it on for now, okay? I like it...a lot..." He pulled her onto his lap so that she was facing him with her hands on his shoulders, kissing her passionately as he sat with his back against the headboard. She straddled him as he buried his face between her breasts, his groaning increasing as he began to thrust himself slowly but firmly into his lover. Jessica pulled herself closer to him as he began to suckle her nipples through the lace bodice, loving the feel of the roughness of his tongue and the lace against her skin. He held her hips to keep her in place, increasing his rhythm as she began to mewl softly with each thrust. He knew she was close to her climax, and he bucked harder against her as she clung to him tightly, arching her back as she felt herself begin to shatter. Pulling Jessica closer still, he pumped into her hard until she finally screamed his name, collapsing against his chest as he achieved his own release.
Sighing contentedly, Aubrey gently rubbed Jessica's back as she lay panting against him, enjoying the feel of the soft fabric of her nightgown beneath his fingers. "God, I love you so much, Jessica, and I love my gift.", he whispered. "I hope I'll be able to use it a lot this coming year."
A very drowsy Jessica snuggled happily against his chest. "I think we can probably work that out, James..."
Oooooooooo
It was 9:30 on Christmas morning when Jessica, wearing her short blue nightgown and some yoga pants, strolled into Aubrey's kitchen and put her arms around his waist as he stood at the counter. "Merry Christmas, Superman…"
He turned to his girlfriend, smiling as he gave her a kiss. "Merry Christmas to you, too, Jessie. I'm glad you're finally up. I thought maybe I was gonna have to start opening presents without you."
"Not a chance." She took a mug out of a cabinet and poured herself some coffee. "Want me to make us some breakfast?"
"Nope. I've got some cinnamon rolls baking in the oven. I figure we can have a light breakfast this morning so we can save room for Christmas dinner later today." Aubrey pulled two small Cornish hens from his refrigerator. "I'm gonna roast us some fancy little chickens this afternoon."
"Sounds good." She took a sip of coffee as she leaned against the counter, smiling shyly. "Sorry I slept so late. I hope I didn't mess up your plans for the day…"
"Nah. I didn't really have any set plans for today, and, anyway, we were pretty busy last night, remember? I knew you were tired." He grinned at her as he took the rolls out of the oven. "Now, just so you know, eventually, when we have kids, we'll have to get up a lot earlier on Christmas morning to open the gifts Santa Claus brought…" Aubrey's cheeks blushed bright red as he realized what he'd said. "I mean, you know, if a person has little kids...they, um...they have to get up, you know...early...oh, God...I'm so sorry. Shit...this is awkward, isn't it?" He turned away and tried to shrug off his embarrassment, hoping the floor would open up and swallow him so he'd be out of his misery. "I'm gonna just put the icing on these rolls and they'll be ready to eat." The silence behind him was deafening, and he wondered if he'd ruined Christmas, and more importantly, if he'd ruined his life.
Jessica hesitated a minute or two before slowly walking across the kitchen to where Aubrey was standing. She laughed softly as she gave him a gentle squeeze. "You're right, Superman.", she began, nodding resolutely as she leaned against him. "When we have kids, we'll have to get up at the crack of dawn on Christmas morning to see what Santa Claus brought to our house, but until then, I'm going to sleep in as late as I can, especially after having an all night tumble with my husband on Christmas Eve."
"Yeah?" Aubrey studied Jessica's face to see if she was serious before a smile slowly spread across his face.
She nodded, smiling back at him. "Yeah. Now, let's go open our presents while we wait for the rolls to cool down enough to frost." Jessica crooked her finger for him to follow her into the living room.
Oooooooooo
"I love my gifts, Superman." Sitting on the sofa next to her boyfriend, Jessica held up her new tee shirt. "Princess Leia is my homegirl." She ran her finger over the picture of the Star Wars character and grinned. "Perfect. And a complete set of Star Wars pez dispensers, and this little cosmetic bag…" She held up the zippered case that was printed to look like an evidence bag. "And especially my necklace." She gently touched the lightweight gold chain holding the small golden star set with a tiny diamond chip.
"Well, anything for my Starfire, you know?" Aubrey looked over his pile happily. "I like my stuff, too. A popcorn popper shaped like the Deathstar, and a phone charger shaped like the Millennium Falcon…a pair of lightsabers so you and I can defend the apartment from marauding stormtroopers ..." He held up some undershorts. "Superman boxers, and a set of cookbooks from the chili cook off we went to earlier this year. All this loot and that awesome nightgown you're wearing, too. I did really well this year, didn't I?"
"We both did, but I have one more gift for you." Jessica held out a small box for James. "It's something a little different. I hope you like it."
"Okay…" He unwrapped the small box and opened it, trying to catch the slip of paper that fell out of the package. "What's this?" He picked it up and gave Jessica a puzzled look as he glanced at the paper. "A web address?"
Jessica grimaced slightly as she tried to explain. "It's for a virtual scrapbook. See?" She accessed the link with her phone. "Pictures of you and me together at the chili cook off...the tickets from the Star Wars movie marathon...pictures that I accidentally took of you at the crime scene the other day...here's a couple of pictures of us from the other night at the Jeffersonian Gala…" She ran through several more pages. "Our whole relationship is right here online for you to enjoy, so you can be reminded of all the good times we have together."
"You put this together for me?" Aubrey accessed the link on his phone. "This is great!"
"It was fun to put it together. I wanted you to show you how special it is for me when I spend time with you." Jessica paused, blushing a little under Aubrey's intense gaze. "I love you and I want you to know that every day...how much I value our time together." Jessica continued by showing him some of the website's features. "You can access it from your computer, too, and you can add any pictures you want." She took a picture of him with her phone. "See, now I can just add this to the scrapbook, and you can look at it wherever you are, any time you want." She smirked as she added the picture to the online file. "Another good thing about this virtual scrapbook is that it's kind of like my relationship insurance policy."
Aubrey was confused. "Relationship insurance policy? I don't get it."
"If another woman comes snooping around you, trying to steal you away from me, and she won't take no for an answer, you can fend her off by showing her this file, and she'll know you're already taken. You'll have evidence to prove it." Jessica giggled as Aubrey threw a wad of wrapping paper at her. "I'll show you how upload pictures later this afternoon."
"I love it, Jess. Thanks." He gave her a kiss before he continued. "And, speaking of evidence…" Aubrey paused as he gave Jessica another package. "Here...well, go ahead. Open it."
Jessica tore the wrapping off the package and found a gray metal recipe box, about the right size to hold index cards. "Oh...this is nice…" The look on her face told Aubrey she didn't understand.
"Did you look inside?" He opened the lid and showed her the contents. "I know you squinty types like facts, evidence, and proof, right? These index cards are like the ones Booth uses. He writes his notes from the crime scene on them so he can look at them later, when he's doing a report. So I borrowed that idea, but instead I've written some facts and evidence for you, so you have proof that I love you. Look…" He pulled out a card from the box. "Read it."
Jessica glanced over the card before reading it aloud. "Fact: Jessica has a great sense of humor and she makes me laugh. That's why I love her."
He handed her another card, and she read it aloud as well. "Fact: Jessica is one of the smartest women I know, and that makes me smarter. That's why I love her." She read a third card. "Fact: Jessica is a beautiful woman, and I'm so lucky she's my girlfriend." She looked up at Aubrey with a stunned expression. "James…"
His shoulders drooping slightly, Aubrey sighed, disappointed that Jessica didn't seem to like her gift. "I'm sorry. I just wanted to let you know how I felt about you. I figured maybe you could keep this somewhere, and you could look through it from time to time if you wanted, and I could add to it as I gathered more evidence about how much I love you. Pretty stupid, huh?"
"No...pretty wonderful!" Jessica laughed happily as she looked through all the cards in the box. "There must be over a hundred cards in here, and you've something written beautiful on every single one." She brushed away a tear. "I never dreamed that I'd ever be able to find someone who loves me like this, James. It makes me feel so cherished...it's so amazing..."
"You really like it?" Aubrey beamed, elated at making his girlfriend so happy. "I was worried that it was too sappy."
"I love it. I really do. It's sweet, and creative, and thoughtful...it's a gift that reflects who you truly are." She leaned over to give him a kiss. "I love you so much, James."
"I love you, too, Jessica. You've made me such a happy man." He smiled as he brushed a strand of hair away from her face and tucked it behind her ear. "You've definitely made this the best Christmas I've ever had."
Jessica nestled against Aubrey and smiled back at him. "That may be true, but trust me, Aubrey...we'll have many more happy Christmases together."
Aubrey kissed Jessica gently as he held her in his arms. "I know, darlin', and I'm looking forward to that...thirty or forty or fifty years of Christmases with my sweet Jessie...that's the best Christmas gift I could ever receive. This'll be a December I'll remember for the rest of my life. Merry Christmas, Jessica."
"It's definitely been memorable." Nodding in agreement, Jessica brushed a tear of happiness from her cheek as she hugged Aubrey closer. "Merry Christmas, James."
And so ends my Secret Santa story for mphs95. If you have time to leave a review, I'd appreciate it. I wish each of you a wonderful New Year. Laura
