Chapter 23

Leah grabbed her carry-on and watched as Garret started unloading luggage from the back of the car. Luggage she didn't pack. To say she was panicked would be an understatement, what if CeeCee didn't pack what she needed? Not that she knew what she needed; she was still completely clueless about where they were going. The only thing she had been allowed to pack were her toiletries. When she went to grab underwear Jake just stood in front of her drawer shaking his head no and told her to trust them.

Her visit with Seth had been a blast. They ended up sending the limo back to the Casino and Seth drove them around in his new car all day. He took turns goofing off with Jake and having thought provoking conversations with Paul. Leah was sadly the brunt of all their jokes, but she wouldn't have had it any other way. She was happy and the day had been perfect even if she never got to have her skirt—which she had specifically worn for the occasion—lifted at her old elementary school. Jake promised her that they would make it up to her that night, which they did.

She boarded the CLB plane the next morning exhausted, but totally satisfied. When they got home she spent the day cleaning, doing laundry and wrapping presents while Paul and Jake went to the office to make sure things were under control and ready for their extended absence. They had a quiet dinner with their friends to exchange gifts and now here she was about to board the plane again. Digging in her bag she took out the package she was looking for and walked up to Garret.

"Did you need something Miss Leah?" He asked, concern on face. The concern turned into a shy smile when she handed him the present. "What's this?"

"It's your Christmas present, Silly. I won't lie; it was kinda hard picking something out. I know we don't know each other very well, but I hope to change that eventually." Garret looked nervously over her shoulder. She turned her head and saw Paul and Jake walking their way.

"Don't leave the lady hanging, Garret. Open your present." Jake encouraged with a smile. He had no idea Leah had done this, but he wasn't surprised. She also left presents for Hannah and Gabriel. Garret looked uncomfortable, but did as he was told. He opened the envelope first and Leah quickly started to explain what it was and her reason for getting it.

"This one is sort of for both of us. It's a gift certificate to West Coast Armory in Bellevue. It's an indoor range. I thought maybe you could teach me how to shoot." When he started to protest Paul interrupted him.

"It's fine, Garret. She asked me about this a few weeks ago. She found our guns and asked me to teach her how to shoot. I though you'd be the better man for the job. You did teach us after all."

"I just figured it would be a good way to get to know one another and after seeing you loaded down like Dirty Harry the other day, I now know you're the perfect man for the job."

"Just don't blame us for the gun. We tried to talk her out of it but she insisted." Jake added with a frown.

"What did you get her?" Garret asked still not fully convinced this was a good idea.

"A Sig 9mm." Paul told him. "A black and pink Sig 9 mm." He added gagging with disgust.

"Oh shut up. You should see it, Garret, it's so cute." Leah said extremely pleased with her gun choice.

"We're not having this conversation again." Jake said ignoring her. Guns were not meant to be cute. "Finish opening your present so we can get out of here, Man. We have a plane to catch."

Garret opened the little box and smiled. It was a Kindle HDX.

"You once told me you missed reading, I thought it would be a good present."

Garret remembered their conversation, but what surprised him the most was that she had as well. They had been sitting in traffic and she was sitting in the passenger seat like she so often did when it was just the two of them. She once told him she didn't like being driven around like some pretentious diva. She was reading on her kindle and he asked how she liked it. They got into a pretty deep conversation about different books and authors. He admitted he used to love reading but never had the time anymore.

"If you don't like it I can get you something else. I just thought it would be easier for you to buy books and then you could read them anywhere. I mean you're always waiting on us for one reason or another you may as well take advantage of that time. I left instructions on how to open you're Amazon account and there's also a fifty dollar gift card so you can by some books. "

"I love it, Miss. Leah, thank you. Its perfect." He admitted still bowled over by this little female's generosity.

"Phew, I'm glad. You had me worried for a minute." She wrapped her arms around him and gave him a big hug. "Merry Christmas, Garret."

"Merry Christmas, Miss. Leah." He said finally returning her hug. Stepping back he looked at the guys and nodded. "You take care of this one."

"That's one thing you never have to worry about. The house is yours, My Man, but no more orgies. It took us a month to clean up after your last one." Jake teased and Garret shook his head.

"Don't listen to him, Garret." Leah said with a mischievous glint in her eye. "You can have as many orgies as you want." Paul and Jake burst into laughter when a blushing, stuttering Garret quickly said his goodbyes and ran to the car.

"You're getting awful feisty, Ms. Clearwater." Paul observed.

"Good. I need all the help I can get to stay on top of you two."

"You don't need help with that, you can get on top of me whenever you want." Jakes eyes slid over her. "In fact, we have a long ass flight ahead of us and I rather like the idea of you getting on top of me—multiple times."

"Long flight huh, how long? Like across the country long or another country long?" She tried getting their destination out of him.

"Nice try. Not happening." Paul replied kissing her nose. "C'mon. Your Christmas present awaits."

Leah let them lead her onto the plane where the smiling stewardess greeted them.

"Good morning." Paul said handing her a large envelope. "All required documents are in here for when the time comes."

"Yes, Sir, I'll take care of everything. The flight plan has been approved and all the other arrangements have been confirmed. If there's anything else, let me know. "

"Thank you, Mia." Paul walked into the cabin taking off his coat. Jake followed suit plopping down in one of the oversized chairs.

"Can I get you anything to drink? Coffee? Juice?" Mia asked Leah as she settled in next to Jake..

"No, I'm good thank you." She frowned when Mia walked away to prepare for take off.

"What's with the sour puss?" Jake asked, sliding his thumb over her mouth.

"I just realized the planes crew will be missing Christmas with their families. Maybe we should wait a couple of days to leave."

"Don't worry, they are being well compensated." Paul assured her.

"Not everything's about money."

"I never said it was. Ask her if you're worried about it." Leah waited for Mia to come back and then she did just that. Mia's answer surprised her and made her fall in love with them all over again.

"Don't be silly, Leah. I don't know if you knew this or not but the pilot is my husband. Mr. Lahote and Mr. Black are not only paying for our hotel stays, but they also gave us a spectacular Christmas bonus. We're very excited about spending the holidays in…at our destination. The Co-pilot Chris is meeting his boyfriend there in two days and has been taken care of as well. Please don't worry about us. Just focus on you and those two very generous men of yours and leave the rest to me. Now, if there isn't anything else I can get for you we've been cleared for take off so you need to buckle up. Do you need me to go through the whole stewardess speech?"

"No. I think we have it memorized after the last two days. Thanks, Mia." She waited for her to disappear into the cockpit before choking on her next words. "Ok, I was jumping to conclusions and I was wrong. You guys totally rock."

"You know it!" Jake smirked giving Paul a fist bump. "Now…lets talk about our reward for being such good boys."

~DC~

Paul closed his eyes as waves of pleasure rippled through him, his hips slowly undulating, pumping his cock in and out of Leah's hot mouth trying to draw out his orgasm. She reluctantly released him when Jakes forceful thrusting made it impossible to keep him in her mouth. He watched with reverence as she submitted to Jake completely, giving him total control of her body, trusting him to give her what she needed. She whimpered and clawed at the sheets her body arching and meeting his thrusts, reaching desperately for her release. Green eyes, glazed with lust, met his right before she started convulsing. Burying her face in Paul's chest she screamed as her orgasm shattered her. Jake—hell bent on pounding them both into oblivion—quickly followed with a garbled shout of his own.

Covered in sweat and barely able to breath Leah's mind finally caught up with her surroundings.

She was naked.

She was naked in an unfamiliar bed with Paul and Jake.

She was naked in an unfamiliar bed with Paul and Jake…on a plane.

"Welcome to the mile high club, Baby Girl." Paul said his eyes full of laughter. He knew she was about to completely freak out.

"We were only supposed to take a nap." She whispered as memories assaulted her. Once they had reached cruising altitude Mia served them a gourmet breakfast complete with Mimosas. Leah drank more than she probably should have and was feeling no pain when the guys finally convinced her she needed to take a nap. She happily followed them, stumbling to the bedroom that came complete with a queen size bed. Exhausted, they stripped down and snuggled together falling fast asleep. She vaguely remembered the steamy dream that woke her up and what immediately followed.

She started blushing.

"That's right. You're the dirty girl who started this so you can't get mad at us. We're the victims in this scenario. You took advantage of us while we were sleeping." Jake said his smile lighting his eyes.

"Oh my God. I totally did. I'm such a hussy." She exclaimed blushing even harder.

"Not that we're complaining, but wanna tell us what that was all about?" Paul asked pulling her back into his body to cuddle.

"I just had a dream."

"Must have been one hell of a dream to get you going like that." Jake said as rolled over facing her.

"Nah…the reality was way better trust me. Since you wont tell me where we're going can you at least tell me what the plan is?"

"We'll be landing in New York right around dinner time. The plane has to refuel so we'll get dressed and head into town for dinner. We have reservations at Masa, it's a Japanese restaurant that I think you'll really enjoy. After dinner we'll re-board and fly the second half of our trip. When we reach our destination we'll check into our suite where we'll have our Christmas. We have a special dinner planned and of course presents. We'll also sit down and figure out exactly what you want to do and where you want to go when we're there. We have one business meeting, but other than that we'll be totally at your disposal." Paul explained being as vague as possible.

"No hints?" She flirted batting her eyelashes up at him. Smiling he just shook his head.

"No, but how about another distraction?" Grinding against her bottom he looked at Jake. "What do you think, Jake? You up for some distraction?" Jake never answered him; he was already burrowing under the blankets—more than up for it.

~DC~

The plane hit a small pocket of turbulence and Leah let out a little scream before steadying herself against the bathroom sink. Whoever thought getting ready for a dinner date on an airplane was a good idea had obviously never tried it. Frustrated, she let go of the sink and continued struggling with her zipper.

There was a small tap on the door before a smiling Mia poked her head in the room.

"I just wanted to give you a heads up. We're going to be experiencing a little bit of turbulence and you have about forty-five minutes until we land." Leah started blushing when Mia's roving eyes landed on the messed up bed, laughing she let herself in and closed the door behind her. "You look like you could use some help." She said gesturing to Leah's dress as she crossed the small space.

"Yes, please." Her arms were sore and she was sweating from trying to pull up the zipper that ran up the entire back of the dress. She was going to kill CeeCee. Not only was it difficult to get on, the damn thing was skin-tight, molding to every curve she had.

"Herve Ledger huh? I love his stuff even though it is a bitch to get into."

"Herve what?" Leah asked feeling completely unsophisticated and not caring. She sighed with relief as Mia easily zipped up the dress.

"Your dress, it's made by Herve Ledger. He's famous for designing form fitting bandage dresses. See the bands." She pointed out the grey strips of material that made up the dress. It was beautiful. It had a scoop neck and went just below her knees. There were little cutouts running along the neckline and towards the bottom of the dress. "It looks really good on you. Its made to show off your curves and you have those in all the right places. Don't be self-conscious. You look beautiful. And as difficult as it was to get in to, that zipper will make getting out of it effortless if you catch my drift."

"Thank you. It's hard to not to be self-conscious; this isn't something I would have picked out for myself. CeeCee packed for me. I'm sure I'm going to be forced out of my comfort zone a lot on this trip." Mia's last words finally sank in and she glanced at the bed blushing again. Mia caught it and started laughing out loud.

"Girl please, you have nothing to be embarrassed about. Trust me, you're a novice when it comes to the mile high club. Sex on a plane bed is all well and good, but come talk to me when you've had it in the cockpit while the pilot is still flying the plane." With a flirty wink the subject was dropped. Mia's laid-back personality and genuine friendliness put Leah at ease, which was she really needed at the moment. They spent twenty minutes doing her hair and make-up and then another ten gushing over her shoes.

Leah hated all the fancy clothes and jewelry but her aversion turned to utter adoration when it came to expensive shoes. She was quickly becoming a shoe whore and the light grey Louboutin Bianca round toe pumps were her idea of heaven.

Grabbing her coat she followed Mia to the main cabin just as her husband made the announcement to start landing preparations. Taking a seat across from Paul and Jake she buckled herself in.

"You look beautiful." Paul complimented her.

"Very beautiful." Jake agreed. "And if this dress is any indication of what CeeCee packed for the rest of the trip I'm buying that girl a new car."

"Thank you and Embry just bought her a car for Christmas remember." Leah reminded him avoiding their eyes. She still got flustered when they complimented her.

"You're not wearing any jewelry." Paul observed.

"I didn't pack any." She gave him a sly smile. "I wasn't allowed to pack myself remember."

"That's true. How remiss of us." His smirk had her groaning inwardly. What did they do now? They were uncharacteristically quiet, casually sipping scotch as the plane landed and taxied to the gate. After they felt she was sufficiently bundled against the cold they ushered her off the plane and into the warmth of the waiting limousine.

"It's Christmas Eve, Leah." Jake reminded her with a devious smile on his face. "We have a couple of presents for you."

"And you are not allowed to argue. Remember, we discussed this. Christmas is a special occasion and we get free passes on special occasions." Paul reminded her so she wouldn't fight them. "That being said…" they each took a beautifully wrapped box from their pockets and handed it to her. She stared at the identical presents and didn't know which to open first. Sensing her problem Jake picked them up and shuffled them around.

"There, now we don't know whose you're opening first so just open one." She smiled her thanks and started removing the gold wrapping paper. Opening the box she pulled out a velvet case. Setting it to the side she did the same with the other one. Once she was starting at two identical velvet cases she opened one. It contained a gorgeous earring and what appeared to be half of a bracelet. Confused she looked up. "Open the other one." Jake encouraged and she did. It contained the exact same thing.

"This is a Cartier Love bracelet." Paul explained. "Only we had it made just for you. They usually only have one screw, this one has two." They both pulled something small and silver out of their pockets and picked up half of the bracelet. Jake pulled her left hand towards them and they kneeled in front of her. After putting the two halves together they used little screwdrivers to secure it to her wrist.

"It's beautiful." And it was. It was white gold or maybe platinum and studded with several small diamonds. It was elegant without being gaudy. "Thank you." She leaned forward and gave both of them a kiss.

"These match." Jake explained pulling out the earrings. There were two circles. A small and a large one that resembled the bracelet and they were connected with small rings of diamonds. She would never get used to wearing stuff like this but she took them from him anyway and put them on. The smiles on their faces and the happiness in their eyes chased away any lingering doubts she had. They loved spoiling her and she needed to accept it.

"I love them. Can I take the bracelet off without the little screwdrivers?" she asked spinning it around her wrist and watching the diamonds twinkle in the glow of passing streetlights.

"No. If you look real close at the screws one is a Flathead and one is a Phillips. We specifically requested for it be made that way, so unlike other Love bracelets yours is unique. The designs around also reflect that alternating between a line and a cross. You need both of us to take it off, we each have a different screwdriver." They lifted them up so she could see the differences.

"I think that's what I love most about it. Its like me, I need both of you to hold me together, to make me whole. It's perfect." Paul smiled. He thought it was the opposite. Until her they were just two loose screws without a purpose. He wisely kept his thoughts to himself.

Dinner was an amazing experience and Leah would never look at Sushi the same way again. Every course was an exceptional display of mouth-watering food art, the world renowned Chef preparing it right before their eyes. As they were leaving she learned the restaurant was normally closed on Christmas Eve, but Paul made arrangements to have it opened just for them.

"That was amazing." She sighed cuddling into them as they rode back to the plane.

"Yeah, but he never feeds you enough. I'm still hungry." Jake complained. "I want a Big Mac."

Leah started laughing at the distraught look on his face. He was right, it was the perfect amount of food for her but Jake and Paul were both used to eating a lot more than they had. Rolling down the partition she addressed their driver.

"If we pass an open McDonalds would you mind stopping?" She asked the driver.

"Of course, Miss. There's one on the way." Smiling she raised the partition and kissed Jakes cheek.

"You didn't have to do that."

"Yes I did. I need you full of energy." She threw a seductive look Paul's way. "You might want to get something too, from what I understand we still have a long flight ahead of us."

~DC~

Jake was going to kill whoever was knocking on the door. Despite his continued shouts of "GO AWAY!" the knocking continued. Half asleep he looked at Paul and Leah who were still out cold, Leah's behind was cuddled into his groin, her legs entwined with his and Paul was using her breasts as a pillow. How they didn't hear the obnoxious pounding on the door was beyond him. Giving up he made sure his bedmates were adequately covered and told the persistent destroyer of dreams to come in.

Mia entered with an amused smirk and a cart. "Good morning, Mr. Black." She said trying not to laugh. "We will be landing in about an hour. Here is the breakfast you requested."

"You suck." He grumped rubbing his eyes.

"Yes I do and very well or so I've been told by my husband, but that's besides the point. C'mon, open those big brown eyes, get that brain working and remember where we're landing?" Even happily married Mia wasn't immune to Jacob Black's charms. She almost swooned as clarity finally hit him and his smile lit the room.

"An hour? Holy shit! We need to wake up." He started to jump out of bed but remembered Mia at the last second. "Thank you, Mia. I got it from here."

"I'm coming back in ten minutes to make sure you're all up."

"That's not necessary." He argued and she gave him a look. The second she shut the door he snuggled back into Leah and started kissing her neck. "Wake up, Beautiful." He mumbled. She was warm and soft and smelled like Leah and sex. His body simultaneously relaxed and woke up when she slowly turned until she was facing him and wrapped herself around him like a python.

"Ten more minutes." She begged kissing his chest before burrowing her nose into it. Paul chose that exact moment to press himself up against her back effectively elevating the snuggle level to DEFCON five. Jake was defenseless. Closing his eyes he told himself five more minutes wouldn't hurt.

The pounding was back.

"What the hell?" Paul growled before yelling. "Go away, Mia!"

The door swung open. "No! You're running out of time, unless you want to meet the customs people in your birthday suits?" Her words had all three of them groaning, but finally waking up. "Up and at em', you have an hour and a half before we land and you all need to eat and take a shower.

"An hour and a half? You said an hour ten minutes ago." Mia smiled at Jakes confusion. Right before the door shut they all heard laughing and what sounded like "I lied."

"Why do we always hire mouthy, disobedient employees?" Paul asked no one in particular. Leah started laughing.

"Because they keep you on your toes." She replied getting out of bed and walking to the carry on bag that had been packed for her. Grabbing clean underwear she looked at her boys who were leaning against the headboard watching her. "Is there really a shower?" She asked.

"Yup, through that door." Jake said pointing to a door she hadn't noticed before. "But make it quick, there's limited hot water and we all know how you love your hour long showers. It wouldn't be a problem if we could all fit, but it barely fits one person much less three. There should be towels in the cabinet."

"God, this is weird. Is it safe? There is just something wrong about all this." She didn't voice her worries out loud, but what if the plane crashed. Shouldn't they be buckled in? What if they hit turbulence? Seeing the worry on her face Paul got out of bed. Taking her hand he led her to the bathroom and opened the door.

"You're perfectly safe. I promise." He gave her a gentle kiss and ushered her in.

It was the fastest shower of her life.

After they all showered they ate a small breakfast of coffee, juice, fruit and some kind of egg frittata thing. Leah sat on the bed in her towel and watched them get dressed. She loved how good her men always looked, each with their own unique style. Jake was wearing a pair of worn jeans with a dark green sweater and his black boots. Paul was sporting a pair of designer jeans, a white t-shirt that was covered with a tan button up sweater vest and a dark blue blazer. His matching brown belt and shoes made him look like he just stepped off a runway.

Paul made sweater vests hot!

Resigned to the fact that she would have no control of her own clothes she went to the garment bag hanging in the closet and pulled them out. She had to give CeeCee total outfit props. It was simple and warm, yet classy. A pair of low-rise boot cut jeans with a white button up and a long sleeved black, tan and gray argyle cashmere sweater. The outfit came complete with a black belt, the cutest pair of Michael Kors leather Mary Jane pumps and a baby soft black pea coat. Leah was happy and more importantly—comfortable.

As the plane taxied to the terminal Leah looked out her window trying to figure out where they were. It was hopeless. She knew it was a foreign country but other than that she was stumped. About fifteen minutes after the plane had stopped a group of official looking military men bordered the aircraft. Paul went straight to them shaking their hands and speaking beautiful, perfect Italian.

"Jake…" she whispered excitement rushing through her blood.

"Yes, Sweetheart?"

"Are we…are we in…" Before she could ask her question one of the men walked up to her and handed her a passport.

"Benvenuti in Italia, la signora Clearwater, ci auguriamo che il vostro soggiorno." Taking her hand he graced her knuckles with a kiss and met her shocked stare with a saucy wink. "Giuro, le donne americane si fanno più bella ogni volta che vedo uno."

Leah didn't know what to say. "Ummm…thank you?" The men all laughed and after a few more words with Paul, left the plane. Leah just stood there, in shock.

"I think we finally broke her brain, Jacob." Paul said still chuckling. Pulling her into his arms he smiled. "Allow me to translate. Senior Carabiniere welcomed you to Italy before he violated your hand while simultaneously flirting with you. He then said that American women get more beautiful ever time he sees one. Before they left he asked with way too much hope if you were our sister, when I told him you were our girlfriend he laughed and called me a fool for voluntarily sharing such a beautiful woman."

"We're in Italy?" She asked jumping up and down in his arms.

"We are. Merry Christmas, Baby girl."

~DC~

"Are you ready to open presents?" Jake asked Leah who was lying in his arms in front of the fire. Paul had his head on her lap and was practically purring. She had been playing with his hair for the past thirty minutes.

They eventually got off the plane and Jake told Leah they were in Rome. They waited until their luggage was loaded into their car and then said good-bye to Mia and the rest of the planes crew. They would be meeting up periodically as they flew to different locations, but until then they were free to do what they wanted. Mia had been right, this was an amazing holiday vacation for them. Leah couldn't take everything in even though she tried, her eyes trying but failing to capture every detail of the city outside the car window. Her mind was racing as fast as her heart trying to think of everything she wanted to see and do.

They checked into their suite at the Hotel De Russie and were immediately taken to their room, actually apartment would be a better description. Leah was experiencing a new level of luxury and she couldn't catch her breath. Before they even got in the door all of their belongings had been unpacked and the gifts they brought were placed under a huge Christmas tree in the living room. With the time change it was close to two in the afternoon when they finally got to the Hotel and jet lag was starting to settle in. After a light lunch they went to bed to take a nap and when they woke up Paul and Jake welcomed Leah to Italy in their own, very pleasurable way.

They spent the day relaxing and making plans for the next two weeks. They would be meeting with the Vouturi brothers whose head office was located in Rome, but then they were going to go on a grand tour of Italy including Florence, Venice and Naples. They had a delicious dinner that included the traditional anti-pasto, insalata caprese, fish, chicken and several types of pasta which they washed down with the smoothest wine Leah ever had pass her lips. After demolishing a tray of decedent pastries they plopped down in front of the fireplace where they still were an hour later.

"I'm not sure I can move yet, I ate too much." Leah groaned. "Besides, you better not have any presents under that tree for me. I think you've more than took advantage of the whole "special occasion" clause."

"Just a couple more. One is your actual present and the real reason we're in Italy, the other two…well they are just something to let you know we love you just as you are." Paul explained from under the tree.

She sat up when Paul set three boxes in her lap. The first two were small and contained Amazon gift cards for fifty dollars each. She was almost as excited for those as she was about the Italy trip; a girl could never one-click too enough. The second was a little more difficult to find. They had wrapped her present in ten different boxes, each progressively smaller until all that was left was a fancy envelope that said Teatro Di San Carlo. When she pulled out three tickets she almost started to cry. They were ballet tickets for Romeo and Juliet or in this case Romeo e Giulietta.

"Oh my god. You guys and your damn loopholes, I can't believe this. It's like I'm living a fairy tale."

"Yeah, except we get to have hot kinky threesome sex with our princess." Jake said making her laugh. She threw herself at both men alternately smothering them with hugs and kisses. After they settled down she gave them the presents she had brought for them. She felt more than a little stupid, her gifts weren't expensive, well not all of them. Most were from her heart and she hoped that was enough because there was no way she could ever repay them for all the beautiful gifts they had gotten her.

She handed her first gift to Jake. It was a life-sized replica of Iron Man's Arc Reactor.

He jumped around like a little kid for ten minutes.

When Paul opened up his first gift she wanted to cry again, damn emotions. They had talked about their best childhood memories one night and Paul said he never really had any until he moved in with Jake. He told her he did remember when he was little he used to have a stuffed animal that he loved more than anything. It had been a gift from his only grandparent before she died. A Curious George stuffed monkey and the book Curious George visits the Zoo. They were the only two toys he'd had. Paul told her his dad got mad at him for knocking over an open beer someone left on the floor and burned them both right in front of him. He had been heartbroken and so had Leah when she'd heard the story. Now, as he sat staring at his brand new stuffed Curious George doll and a copy of Curious George Visits the Zoo she was wondering if she made a mistake.

"Paul…" Oh shit was she triggering an episode? "Are you ok? I'm sor—"

"I'm ok, Leah. I promise. It's perfect." Strong masculine hands caressed he soft felt of the little red shirt and Leah could imagine small four-year-old versions doing the same thing.

"I wasn't trying to upset you."

"I'm not upset, I'm…I'm touched. It's not the gifts so much that you remembered. That you actually listened and remembered."

"I remember everything you share with me." She whispered afraid to look at him because now she was about to burst into tears. He leaned over the growing pile of shredded wrapping paper, lifted her chin and kissed her.

"Thank you." Most people would assume he was thanking her for the gift but she knew it was for so much more. "I love you."

"I love you too."

"Ok, enough with the mushy shit. I want more presents." Jake said interrupting their moment with his usual lack of finesse. Paul sat back and winked at her right before punching Jake in the thigh. "Oww...what the fuck? Cut me some slack, it was getting too serious and there is still merry fun to be had by all."

"He's right." Paul acquiesced taking another box from Leah.

Twenty minutes later they were surrounded by a pile of gifts that brought out the kids in both of them. Millionaire Monopoly, all ten seasons of Smallville, Nerf guns, video games and a plethora of crazy boxers covered the small table.

"Stars Wars boxers…I knew there was a reason I loved you. You want to play with my light saber, Leah?" Jake asked hugging the boxers in question.

"Play with your light saber I will." She replied with a knowledge of Yoda speak that only a true sexy nerd could possess. "But first you have to open these." They took the small boxes from her and started to unwrap them. Jake pulled out the thick black leather bracelet; it was around an inch and a half wide with an intricate gold and silver symbol in the middle. Paul had a pair of black onyx cufflinks with the same symbol. They both looked at Leah for an explanation.

"I wanted to give you something personal. Something unique that represented all of us. Something special that would remind you of me whenever you wore it. The silver symbol is a trinity knot or Triquetra. It has several different meanings. Christians use it as a symbol for the holy trinity. Other religions, the more pagan ones, use it to symbolize earth, air and water or life, death and rebirth. Basically, it represents three separate entities that are inter-connected. I choose to believe it represents Paul, Jake and Leah; the gold circle is pretty much self-explanatory. It represents eternity. I know its girly but I like the though of us being together forever."

You could have heard a pin drop it was so quiet. Jake was running his finger over the symbol and for once his sense of humor was nowhere to be found and Paul kept looking at the cufflinks, blinking rapidly like he had something in his eye.

"If you don't like—"

"Don't, don't you dare suggest we don't like our gifts or what they represent." Jake said finally looking at her."I always knew there was someone out there just for us, and this proves more than anything that that person is you. Everything about these tell us that you not only know and love us as individuals, but that you know and love our unique relationship and understand how precious it truly is. I know I act like a jackass most of the time, but I have never received anything as perfect as this bracelet…because of what it represents. Not only do I love it, I'll never take it off, at least not until its replaced with a wedding ring and maybe not even then." He grabbed her arm, pulled her across the small space separating them and pulled her into his arms. He gave her several small kisses before whispering against the shell of her ear. "Thank you, Leah. I love you. It's the best Christmas present I've ever received." He gave her one more kiss and gently pushed her toward Paul who was patiently waiting for his turn.

"Like Jake I love what these represent, but they're not the greatest gift I've ever received. Nothing and I mean nothing can take that distinction away from you. You are the greatest gift I've ever received. My life has been one struggle after another, whether self induced or because of things I had no control over. All I ever wanted was for someone to choose me, to want me and to love me. Yes, I have Jake and his parents; they're my family, but you…you chose me. You chose me despite the fact that I'm loaded with a shit-ton of baggage and a million different idiosyncrasies that most people can't accept much less understand. You looked past all the bullshit and found the real me. What's even more amazing is that you love me in spite of it. I love the symbol and I won't settle for anything less than forever. Even a day short of forever is unacceptable because that's a day I would have to live without you and that's just not something I'm willing to do."

Leah was a speechless blubbering mess. Paul took a couple of tissues from the box Jake was holding with a knowing smile. Wiping her face he started to chuckle.

"What happened to merry fun?" He teased.

"This is fun." she hiccupped.

"Leah…" He chided his eyes seeking hers and finding nothing but happiness. "The only tears you should be crying are happy tears and to be honest even those freak us out a little. This is just the beginning; we have a long and happy life ahead of us. Me, you and Jake…we will have our happy ending, I promise."

"Now that we have that settled once and for all…" Jakes husky timber interrupted. They looked up to see him crawling towards them, pushing aside wrapping paper and bows as he went. His eyes briefly met Paul's before he reached for the sash on Leah's robe. "I believe we have one more present to unwrap."