Thank you for the reviews.
Firstly, Merry Christmas everyone.
Secondly, with it being the happiest time of the year, I thought I would spread some happiness to a rather... depressingish story. Plus I had the idea and it wouldn't leave me alone and it is a Christmas present to you all that have been following this story since October. Because I love you all and this wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you.
So first Christmases. We have one set during series 3, Sophie's, Tommy's and maybe something else as well... I mean this is just meant to be enjoyable. So please enjoy. (Also I have kinda based Eddie on one of the partners at work, a grump most of the time but loves Christmas.)
First Christmases
2007
"Morning," Eddie said happily.
Rachel knew that it was rather rare for her deputy to be actually happy and it surprised her.
"Morning."
"What?"
"You're… happy?" She paused. "I don't mean it like that."
"I get what you mean. I mean, why not? It is basically the end of term and Christmas is just around the corner."
"I didn't think that you would be a Christmas person." She said as they started up the stairs to her office.
"Love Christmas and it will be even better this year if I get to see Micheal."
"Maybe it is the start of something special for you two."
"What about you? What are your plans?"
Rachel hesitated. She had been meaning to make plans with her sister but hadn't yet contacted her. She knew that spending time with Melissa and Philip was better than spending Christmas on her own.
"Probably met up with my sister and nephew."
"I… I didn't realise that you were an aunty."
"I rarely talk about them. I… I don't have the best of relationships with my sister. Although in recent years, we have both made an effort to try and fix our relationship."
"Well if you can get me and Alison talking again, I am sure you can sort everything out with your sister."
"You and Alison's situation is a lot easier than my sister."
"Because it is someone else's problem."
Rachel dropped her bag behind her desk and started to take off her coat. "Exactly."
"Then let me help."
"We will sort it out. I don't need you interfering."
"And I am fairly certain that I told you not to interfere with my private life."
"Yours was hurting you. The lack of relationship that I have with my sister is down to many mistakes on both sides. I can survive without her in my life."
"Still."
"Eddie, you don't want to get involved in the mess that is my private life."
"Maybe I do."
It was subtle but it was there and Rachel didn't quite know what she thought about it. She knew that they had been getting along a lot more and the better they seemed to work together, the better their personal relationship became. So much so that she would regard him as her only true friend. It was just figuring out whether she wanted more from him or not.
2009
Eddie didn't understand why Melissa was making so much fuss. Sophie was only just over a month old. She didn't care that one tree was red and gold while the other one was silver. She didn't care about how many presents were under the tree or how many were for her.
But he had learnt that both Melissa and Rachel loved Christmas and that they both wanted to make it as they remembered as children. It was the reason that Rachel gave him when he told her that she didn't have to buy Micheal a present for the two Christmases that he had with her at Waterloo Road. He just expected that Melissa would be the same.
Melissa's attention was purely on Sophie, something that Eddie didn't agree with. Just because Philip was almost 18, it didn't give her any right to forget about him. Especially when Melissa was meant to still be making things up to him.
But Eddie was slowly learning that Melissa's obsession over Sophie was probably due to the fact that she felt like she had won.
She had Eddie. Rachel didn't.
She had a daughter with him. Rachel didn't.
She was spending Christmas with him. Rachel wasn't.
Sophie wouldn't remember her first Christmas, but Eddie would. He would remember how he wished that everything had been so, so different.
2011
As much as Rachel loved Christmas, she knew that there was no point going overboard with it. Tommy was only six months old and he knew something was happening by the tree and everything else, but he didn't know what Christmas was. When he was three, she could make more of a deal of it and she would go into full Christmas mode.
Rachel loved Christmas just because it was the only time she could look at her family, as a child, and believe that they were a proper family. It was the only time of year that she knew her mum wouldn't run away and her parents would actually make the effort to try and get along.
Christmas for them started Christmas Eve and would go on until Boxing Day. The food, the games and just the fun would be there for them to enjoy and it was those times that she remembered. It was really the only time that she wanted to remember from her childhood.
So she was glad when she could have a somewhat family Christmas. She snuggled up to Adam as he started to drift off as she watched Philip attempting to distract Tommy from the tree. He had taken a liking to some of the baubles and, for some reason, no matter how high she put them, he always seemed to manage to get hold of them. Maybe an idea for next year was just not to have any or just buy cheaper ones that she didn't mind if they broke.
Even though she knew that she was happy where she was, her thoughts started to drift and the questions that she had yet to ask Philip started to come to mind. She started to wonder about Melissa and Eddie and her niece or nephew and whether they were spending Christmas altogether. She wondered why Philip was here with her and not with them. She wondered whether Eddie was happy. She wondered whether he was taking his chance of being a proper father. She wondered whether her decision and broken heart was all worth it.
"Does anyone want a drink? Because I am going to fall asleep at this rate." Adam said, moving slightly to stretch. "Or anything to eat."
"Honestly Adam, I am still stuffed from lunch," Philip said.
"And I'm comfortable so don't you dare move." Rachel said.
"Understood Mrs Fleet."
It was something that Adam had got into doing recently and she wondered whether she could ask him to stop. It was like he was confirming that he was hers, which she knew. She knew that she was Adam's because she was here with him. But she wondered whether he knew when her thoughts had turned to someone else. Someone who broke her heart but still seemed to have it.
2023
There was a couple of tentative knocks before the door slowly started to open. Sophie was glad to see Tommy was as awake as she was and she moved up and threw back the duvet to silently tell him to join her in her bed. She smiled as she saw his stocking in his right hand and he placed it on top of the covers before he turned to her.
"Merry Christmas."
"And to you." She said as she nudged him with her shoulder.
"I was… We didn't speak about the rules."
"Rules?"
"Like with presents and stockings."
"Still don't know what you mean."
"I would expect that we would have to wait for Mum and Eddie to be up before we open the ones downstairs. But I have always had to wait until after lunch before I could open anything."
"What?"
"Dad wouldn't allow us to open anything before lunch but Mum would always hide in my room with me while I opened my stocking."
"Honestly Tommy, the more I hear about Adam, the worse it gets."
"So?"
"Well the last time I had a proper Christmas with Dad, I was seven. When he walked out on Mum. Since he has picked me up on Boxing day and had me for the whole day. But I definitely remember opening presents in the morning. We had to have breakfast first. Mum would always make sure of that."
"So?" He repeated.
"I think we are fine to open our stockings now. If not, I am sure Dad and Rachel won't be mad. You're not with your dad now Tommy."
"Doesn't stop me worrying about everything that I do."
"You've got to tell Rachel how you feel and everything your dad did to you. Tommy, you aren't going to get better by yourself. You can't keep second-guessing everything that you do."
"I can't tell her that."
"Then tell Dad. He will understand."
Tommy sighed. "Have you opened yours yet?"
"No, I was hoping that my cousin was going to sneak into my room and we could do it together as it is our first Christmas together."
He smiled at her. "Well, ladies first."
Tommy could only smile as he watched his mother in the kitchen.
"Good, you two are up. The only person left still in bed is Eddie." She said.
"I am sure once he smells the pancakes, he will be down here very soon," Sophie said.
His mum turned to him. "I know everything that has happened previous Christmases but this year we are going to do Christmas properly. Which starts with pancakes for breakfast." She said before placing her finger in the flour and wiping it on his nose.
He brushed it off and tried to smile with her. He wasn't used to this version of his mum, realising how worried she had been over her actions with his dad about. How many things were their little secret?
"Lawson, you are up." His mum said as Eddie walked into the kitchen. "And just in time to. The first pancake is done. Who wants it?"
Sophie was quick to grab one of the plates and went to his mum to get it. Tommy knew that the first was never the best. He was more than happy to wait for the second one.
"Philip and Melissa are on route. Phil is going to pick her up from the airport, although I don't understand why she didn't just tell us that she was going to arrive late last night."
"Well, everything Melissa does seems to be a mystery," Eddie said.
"A proper family Christmas this year. Tommy, do you want the next one?"
He nodded at her as Sophie rejoined them in the main part.
"Dad, they had no presents before lunch. That isn't going to happen this year, is it?" Sophie said.
"Of course not. Rachel needs to be faster with these pancakes though." Eddie said.
"You cheeky sod. You could have got up and made them instead of just talking about them." His mum said.
She took his plate off him, not what she did with Sophie and slid the pancake onto the plate before she put it down and refilled the frying pan. She pulled Tommy into a hug before placing a kiss into his hair.
"We are going to have the Christmas that I have wanted for you since you were born. So today is all about you, me and this weird little family we have made. Not the way that Adam made Christmas."
"So stop worrying?"
"Because worrying is my job."
She handed him his plate with a smile.
"Comfortable?" Eddie asked as Rachel snuggled into his side.
"Extremely."
"You'll be glad that my plans aren't to move for the next hour or so."
"Good."
Rachel could hear Philip, Tommy and Sophie playing a game in the kitchen while she was most content with Eddie and Melissa.
"You do the same then?" Melissa asked.
"What?"
"Try and make Christmas like when we were kids."
"It is the only time I remember us being a proper family."
"Christmas was never the same after you left."
"Christmas on your own isn't great either."
"I will second that," Eddie said, joining the conversation. "Micheal finally text me back. Him and Katie are aiming to be here for lunchtime tomorrow."
"Proper Boxing day?" Melissa asked.
"I was told that I could do Christmas exactly the way I wanted." Rachel said. "And that is exactly what I have planned."
"I guess you haven't prepared him."
"What's the fun in that?"
"Prepared me for what?"
Rachel looked up at Eddie, who had his eyes closed, not seeing the way that she was biting her lip to stop herself from smiling.
"Our Boxing Day tradition."
He opened one of his eyes. "I think I preferred it when you two didn't like each other."
"Christmas has always been the only time of the year that we have got on. That isn't a tradition that we have managed to let go yet."
"Except for the years we have spent apart," Melissa added.
"And think, I offered to help you two out during our first Christmas," Eddie said.
"Yeah and if she had mentioned you by name that Christmas, maybe none of this would have happened."
"But in a weird way, would we want it any other way? I mean, listen to them out there. Maybe everything happened for a reason." Rachel said.
"I forgot about your positive outlook on everything." He said as he closed his eyes again.
Rachel stood by her words. As much as she would have loved to be in this situation sooner, it didn't matter to her the weird roundabout way that it had come around to be. She was right where she wanted to be and that was enough for her. Eddie was the best Christmas present anyone could have given her.