A/N Ok for the record, Willy Wonka lies; I tasted my transported chocolate bar and it does not taste the same. Hehe. Own Nothing, except my condensed chocolate bar I already ate. Thanks to my loyal reviewers and to phantom, the comma queen, for being my beta.

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Chapter 29: Christmas

It was very early on Christmas morning when Willy and Charlie came into Christy's room to wake her up. Charlie jumped on her bed being a little rough as young boys are and bounced around. She bolted right up and held back a cry, instead she called out his name in a semi-cheerful tone. Willy looked at her with worry when he saw the pain in her eyes. Two days before she had to go and get checked again and they did something to help her knee heal. They told her it would hurt more now, but it would be better later. That on top of the bouncing made her feel like there were lightning bolts running through it.

Christy was not a morning person in the least and actually was able to fall back to sleep for a few minutes on the way down to the Chocolate Room. Once there she saw that the Christmas tree was shining brightly and there were a bunch of colorfully wrapped presents underneath it. She smiled as Charlie sped over and patiently waited. This would be his first Christmas with actual presents and food. She smiled happily for him, it was usually fun to see kids on Christmas and Charlie was no exception.

Willy handed her a hot chocolate while Grandpa Joe played Santa Claus. Some oompa-loompas were singing carols again and she watched Charlie begin to open some things. The whole process took awhile and at the same time seemed to go really quickly. Everyone had loved the items she had picked out. All of the Buckets went in to get her a very long series of books that looked rather interesting. She would need another bookcase to put them on.

Still sleepy, she didn't notice that Willy didn't open the present from her. Most of the presents Willy got were hand made since no one saw any sense in actually buying him something. He was really enjoying himself and Christy wondered how he used to spend Christmas before the factory, he was acting just like Charlie was. She wanted to ask, but didn't want to ruin the day by sending him to that lala-land he called a flashback.

After almost all of the gifts were opened, Charlie began playing with a building set that his dad had bought for him. Mr. Bucket, acting like a big kid himself, starting helping him. Willy came up behind Christy and handed her a present wrapped in black and green, her two favorite colors. She was excited because she had no clue what could possibly be inside. She tore the paper off and saw a couple of leather bound books. She opened them to find that they were blank music sheets.

"I noticed that you scribble your song writings on scraps of paper. I thought this would be easier for you." Willy was trying to figure out her expression. 'Does she like them?'

Christy really did like them, it was the best thing she had ever got. She reached out to give him a thank you hug, but he pulled away much more than usual. He looked really scared as she looked up with her eyes full of hurt. She was used to him stiffening up and maybe even slightly pulling away, but totally jumping out of her way hurt her more than she could imagine. He laughed nervously and went to help Charlie with the building set. Mrs. Bucket, apparently saw the whole thing, came up behind her to comfort her.

"Don't worry dear, he just really doesn't like being touched, at all." Christy nodded at her. Obviously, Mrs. Bucket didn't know that Willy spent every night with her or that he had to endure her hugs numerous times before. Christy kept her mouth shut, she didn't want to ruin anyone's holiday or tell anyone something that Willy wanted to keep secret. Mrs. Bucket went into to make breakfast convinced that she had made Christy feel better.

Christy rolled over to Charlie to watch him have fun. She convinced herself not to think about what had just happened; at least not until she could get him alone. If he was so set on being "best friends" then he had to act like it. Charlie was having a lot of fun and soon breakfast was almost ready. Before everyone went into the house, Grandpa Joe noticed one last present that was hidden under some already shredded wrapping paper.

"It's for Willy." Grandpa Joe handed him the little present from Christy. Since she was mad, she suddenly wished it wasn't there. He opened it and thanked her not totally sure what it was. He knew it was music, but he wouldn't know until he listened to it that it was all of her songs. "Alright let's have breakfast."

Charlie and Mr. Bucket got up from their new activity and went into the house. Everyone else followed them. Willy moved over to Christy as if to push her and stopped for a second until everyone was out of sight and put his arms around her trying to make up for the hug he backed away from. "I can't do that in front of anyone yet."

Christy glared at him for a minute debating on whether to be understanding and pretend it was alright with her or to be honest and tell him that it would take a lot for him to make up for it. She decided for the middle way out. "I understand, but I am still mad at you." She wheeled herself in and left Willy outside by himself for a bit. He decided that it could have been a lot worse and went into to enjoy Mrs. Buckets cooking.

After breakfast, Charlie decided that he wanted to try out his new video game that Christy had bought him. He ran to the theater with Willy and Christy trailing behind trying to catch up. Willy watched the whole time fairly bored with the whole thing. If it involved the television he usually wasn't interested, but he endured movies and such for Charlie or the oompa-loompas. Christy was having a great time, it was a bit of a racing game and Charlie had the advantage since Christy was still in the casts on her one arm. They were about even on most of the races.

Mrs. Bucket eventually found them and called Charlie away telling him that he needed to spend some time with his grandparents during the holiday. About 2 minutes after he left, Mr. Bucket sneaked in with a shooting game that he had bought himself. It was one that Mrs. Bucket would have never approved of for Charlie to play or even see being played. Christy and Mr. Bucket had a great time for the rest of the day until they heard Mrs. Bucket call them for dinner.

Everyone gathered around the dinner table, just like they did every other day, but for some reason they seemed more excited. Christy just assumed that it was because it was their first real nice Christmas together, she was probably right too. Mrs. Bucket served a great dinner that left everyone feeling too full to move. Christy wasn't sure how she or anyone else fit in the dessert she made. Soon the day was just about over and the grandparents were falling asleep on their beds, Charlie's building enthusiasm was slowing and Christy was leaning to the side in her chair almost falling asleep herself. Willy waved goodnight to everyone, wishing them a Happy Christmas, and took Christy up to her room.