Painted Ivy and Wax Hearts

AvalonReeseFanFics

A/N: Another day another late chapter. Sorry about that I got distracted yesterday. So here's your next update, we've got lots of cute things and one little splash of drama. Hope you guys are still enjoying it and I'll see you guys sometime next week!

Chapter 9

The first morning after Charlie was back, Bo helped Charlie down the stairs to where Vincent had made her breakfast. Her favourite kind of tea and of course, pancakes. While she ate the two boys watched her between sipping their own coffees and both of them noticed at the same time that Charlie kept looking at one thing.

The Christmas tree.

"Did you want to decorate it today?" Vincent asked her and Charlie nodded vigorously. Bo smiled into his coffee, he was glad that he had let Vincent talk him into this, but he wasn't going to say that to either of them.

"We did buy some premo decorations this week," Bo admitted. "You'll have to go through what I got and see if you like anything. What you don't like I'll return."

Charlie's smile grew and Bo's pride soared. "Can I do that right now?" she asked.

"Once you're done breakfast. I'll take you over to the couch, okay?"

Charlie nodded again and returned to her pancakes. Bo watched her for a little longer before Vincent put a hand to him and he let his brother pull him away.

"If I go to get the stuff from the basement will you stay with her?"

Bo nodded. "Of course."

"Okay, put on cartoons asap though, she loves those," he told him heading towards the stairs.

They usually kept that door locked, so Charlie wouldn't accidentally venture somewhere she wasn't supposed to go. But they had very little storage so they had put all the stuff they had bought down there.

Charlie was done her pancakes seconds later and then Bo was helping her get to the couch. He left her briefly to get her mug of tea and when he returned he noted that Charlie was staring off in the direction Vincent had gone.

Bo put the mug in her hand and then sat down on the couch beside her. "I didn't know we had a basement."

We. She had said we like they were all in this together. Bo smiled. He couldn't help it. He loved the idea of her and him in this together, that this house was now hers, that she… and him… and just... damn… this girl really was growing on him.

But the other problem was that she had noticed the basement. And the basement led back to the Trudy's wax Museum via Vincent's mad laboratory.

"Yeah, probably not a good idea for you to go down there with your leg the way it is," he said after a moment of silence. "It's uh… yeah it's like a hoarder's basement, too many things for you to trip over."

Charlie nodded and then turned back to the tree. "Well, if it's as creepy as the rest of the house I probably won't wanna go down there anyway."

Bo tried to keep his smile from being too smug. As long as she was scared, she wouldn't go down into that basement. And they'd be safe.

Vincent made two trips to the basement before Bo moved Charlie to the couch and another two trips as she was watching cartoons.

He put all of the boxes at her feet and then smiled up at her. She looked around at everything he had brought up and eventually asked: "Wow you got all of this stuff for me?"

"Well our stuff was moldy," Vincent said and that smile widened.

"Okay, go through the boxes, pick what you like, what you don't like I'll return and then we'll decorate."

"Oh! If we're going to decorate we're going to need hot cocoa and Christmas music."

Vincent turned his eyes up to Bo who had not gotten either of those things and Bo sighed.

"Fine. I'll pick up Christmas music and cocoa when I'm returning the ornaments."

"Wonderful, make sure it's Elvis. I know for a fact he has a Christmas album, so don't even try to tell me it doesn't exist."

Vincent was smiling and Bo was shaking his head as Charlie dug into all he had bought. He had a feeling this was just the beginning.

-HOW-

Once Bo was back from returning all that Charlie called tacky and buying all the things she had asked for, both boys helped her up and led her to the tree.

They had a system, Charlie would lean on Vincent, Bo sat on the floor handing her ornaments, she would tell Vincent where that ornament should go.

She hung all the ones that she could reach, he did the high branches she couldn't reach. And when they were done with one side, they'd rotate the tree instead of expecting Charlie to walk around it.

They took turns taking breaks to sip on Hot Cocoa while Elvis played in the background. She wasn't sure how it happened but it looked like she was finally going to get that family Christmas she had seen on TV and had always wanted.

And she hadn't even tried to find it. It had just seemingly found her.

-HOW-

Christmas day came quicker than expected. And with it came a list of chores and items to get. For starters Charlie was making them a Christmas feast. Vincent was certain that they were going to have too much food for just the three of them, but she said Christmas leftovers were the best part.

It had been such a long time since they had had a real Christmas that, honestly, they had forgotten what it was like. They were just going to have to believe her.

Then she had wanted a proper Christmas set up, which meant cleaning the living room, including dusting the whole room and mopping the floor. Then she wanted the couch moved so they could move the kitchen table out of the kitchen and into a more open space. Then she wanted that table decorated out of something like a magazine.

Vincent though Bo would argue, but he didn't. He just made Vincent help him with it.

Then came the dress code. That's right, she expected them to be dressed up. Not all day, of course, but for dinner. She wanted the two boys in suits and she wanted to wear her grey, flower trimmed dress.

That, too, was accepted without argument.

Something that surprised Vincent to no end.

He would have thought Bo would have been against it, but since Charlie had gotten hurt and then gotten attacked and he had been nothing but kind to her. Also since getting attacked Charlie hadn't wanted to make out, but that was fine with Vincent. Though he would have liked the assurance that she still liked him over Bo, as he was starting to assume that she didn't.

But by Christmas day even Vincent was excited about what was to come. There weren't crazy amounts of gifts under their tree, but there were four more than last year. Two for Charlie and one for each of them. Neither brother had gotten a gift for the other and both had been fine with that. Charlie hadn't been but it was too late to do anything by the time she had noticed, which was last night.

Charlie was first awake out of the three of them. And when Vincent and Bo managed to get downstairs they found that she was already starting on the small turkey she had made Bo buy. She hadn't made a big breakfast like she usually did either, because she was going to be making a big lunch.

And besides, Vincent was too excited for his first Christmas since his parents were alive to really be hungry. He wasn't sure how Bo felt, but Vincent was too excited.

As soon as she saw Vincent and Bo downstairs she smiled and gave them a: "Merry Christmas boys!" that they returned without a second of hesitation.

"I'm going to put the finishing touches on the turkey before I put it in the over and then we'll open gifts, okay?" they both nodded and then she added: "Go sit by the tree, I'll be there in a minute."

They nodded again, turning away from her to do as she asked and then they both sat and waited patiently and silently. Well… almost.

"Did you help her downstairs this morning?" Vincent asked, his voice hushed.

Charlie's foot was still wrapped up, and it still hurt her to put pressure on it. Both boys were fairly certain that she didn't have a break or fracture, since she could put pressure on it, but she had huge band around her ankle where they had clearly had to strip her infected flesh away. Not that it had helped as it was still slightly infected, though now they had that under control.

They did, however, monitor the shit out of that injury making sure that the scabs had started to appear, and the infection was basically going away on it's own.

Still, it meant that the boys would take turns carrying her up and down the stairs. Even though she was certain she could do it without their help. But neither Bo nor Vincent could stand to watch her try and hobble up and down the stairs.

So when Bo shook his head to Vincent's question both of them frowned. Because that meant Charlie had gone down the stairs by herself.

It had probably taken her like fifteen minutes just to get to the kitchen.

Charlie washed her hands before joining them, taking both Vincent and Bo's hands in hers to help get herself down into a sitting position between them. Then it was time for presents.

They put the presents that were meant for one another in front of themselves and then waited.

"Why don't you open one of yours first?" Bo offered. "Since you have more to open then us."

She only had one more than both of them, and Vincent could tell that she wasn't comfortable with that.

She looked at the two gifts and then, before Vincent could say anything, Bo picked up his and put it in her lap.

"Open mine first."

Charlie shot Vincent a wide-eyed playful smirk that made him snort and Bo scowl. She didn't argue though and carefully went about peeling the wrapping paper away.

Compared to all the other gifts, Bo's gift for Charlie was the largest. Charlie had shook it once and said it sounded like a board game or a puzzle. Something they could do together, she had thought. Though that wouldn't have been Bo's style at all, he hated having to do things together.

Or at least that's what he said. Vincent was starting to think that he just said that because he didn't want to admit he wanted to be included in everything Charlie did.

What was revealed was two beginner planting sets. One for vegetables and herbs, and one for flowers. It came with the pots to put them in, a window sill plant holder each, the right soil for each pot and the seeds to plant.

"I didn't know which one you'd want so I bought both," he said a mix of both sheepish but proud.

As the only one who could leave town, he was the only one who could buy a gift. Vincent had been too proud to ask Bo to buy something for him, worried he'd mess it up on purpose. So he had made Charlie's gift instead.

"Oh thank you! I can't wait to plant these!" she cried leaning into to hug him. Bo smiled at this hug, a smug sort of challenging smile shot right at Vincent over Charlie's head. As if he had no idea that Charlie was going to hug Vincent the second that she opened his too.

"Okay, you two open yours together!" she ordered which they did.

Bo got his open first, his gift being bigger than Vincent's he was clearly very excited. On the inside was a piece of reclaimed wood that had been sanded down and varnished. The words: "Bo's Keys" had been wood burned into the wood and from it jutted out several sizes of bolts and screws.

"It's for your shop. So you always know where your keys are, or if you have someone else's keys that day…"

Bo's eyes looked over every single inch of that plaque before turning to her and saying: "Did you make this?"

"Yep," she said proudly. "Do you like it."

When Bo eventually gave her a breathy: "Yeah," Vincent could tell that he actually meant it.

Charlie then turned her eyes to Vincent who had paused in his own gift opening to watch Bo's reaction. With her attention once again on him, he peeled apart the wrapping loving how excited she seemed to be, just sitting there bouncing as she waited.

When he got it open, he found a mason jar filled will all sorts of different layers of colors and a little wax alligator. Well… he was pretty sure it was an alligator.

"I made you my signature creation," she said. "And a pretty cool candle too… for all your midnight wax sculpting."

"It's great I love it. I'm going to put the alligator in my room," he said "Okay now open mine."

He pushed his gift back to her and went about opening it immediately. Inside was a simple box that held one little wax figure.

She pulled it out and looked it over. It was the first time she had seen one painted before. To be fair it was the first time he had painted one before. But this one was special so he had tried his hardest. He had only painted a dress and the hair though.

"It's for your room," he said. "To hang up by your mural, where ever you'd like."

"Aw it's so cute! And it kind of looks like me, doesn't it?"

She held it up to her face and then showed Bo and then Vincent. He had modeled it after her so he was glad that she had noticed.

"I can't wait to put it up, thank you," she cried before launching herself at him. Just as he knew he would, he got one of Charlie's hugs too. He was sure to shoot Bo a smug grin of his own over the top of her head.

Bo scowled while she wasn't looking but both boys knew not to get into an argument on that day, so they let her get back to making their Christmas Dinner and then went to separate parts of the house.

-HOW-

Christmas dinner was done just when she said it would be. And each boy got to contribute in some way. Bo got to carve the turkey, Vincent helped with the pie and the mashed potatoes.

Charlie set the table up with the good china she had made Bo buy for this occasion and put the good glasses out with the plates and cutlery.

She left only to get changed, coming back down in that grey dress with the flowers sewn into the hem. The two boys had already changed into their suits as promised and then dinner was ready to go.

Instead of a prayer, Charlie had a speech prepared.

"I know we're all hungry, but just give me a second, okay?" Both Vincent and Bo, who were sitting on either side of the table with Charlie at the head. They both nodded at her. "Okay… so… I just wanted to thank you two for this. Ever since I was little, I've wanted my own, perfect family Christmas. You know, like you see on TV? And… this is the closest I've ever come to it and… and… it's just perfect. So thank you, you know… for helping to make this for me."

Vincent couldn't help but be surprised. He had never helped someone realize a dream before and she was so seriously and genuinely happy to have this.

"Well, we were glad to help," Bo said. "I can eat now right?"

She nodded and with that they all tucked in to the delicious meal.

-HOW-

That Christmas had been everything she had ever wanted. It was perfect, and the food was great. They'd have left overs for days and she couldn't wait to show the boys the culinary masterpiece that was the Turkey-stuffing-leftover sandwich.

And she loved her gifts. So much so that she couldn't wait to get started on them.

After dinner was cleared away, she had planted all her plants and talked to Bo about where she wanted to put her fairy on the wall. It was, for that moment, sitting on her bedside table. And there it would stay, watching over her until the time came for Bo to put it on the wall.

She had gone to bed that night feeling happy and past content. But that had all been shattered when her window literally shattered.

Right away Charlie was up in bed watching as something bounced across her carpet. When it stopped moving she recognized immediately what it was. It was a head.

Now, Charlie wasn't prone to freak outs but that… that freaked her out. She screamed. She screamed long, she screamed loud.

She screamed for Bo.

From the further parts of the house she heard crashing. First from Bo's room than from Vincent's. Bo got there first, of course, as his room was closer to hers but he was followed closely by Vincent.

"What is it? What happened? Are you okay?"

"It's a head! It's a head! A head came through my window." she cried pointing at it. He carefully navigated the shards of broken glass before stooping down to pick it up.

"Don't pick it up!" she cried but he did it anyway.

"It's Wax, Charlie, it's just wax," he said but then he paused as he looked at it. "It's… you."

"What?" Vincent said carefully coming into the room too.

"It is Charlie!" he cried. "Someone's cut off the head of her wax statue!"

Charlie sat there for a minute but… why would they do that? And then throw it through my window?"

Bo seemed to have figured out exactly what happened but he forced a smile on his face and turned to them.

"She can't stay in here with all this glass," he told them. "Vincent, take her to your room for the night I'm gonna… I'm gonna see if anything's broken over at the museum. I'll be back, okay?"

He didn't even wait for an answer. He left to go to his room, where he put on a shirt, and his boots. Charlie lifted her arms up to Vincent who had her up in his within seconds.

"I'm sorry about your sculpture," he whispered to her, as he held her close. "I'll take a look at it tomorrow. I might be able to fix it."

He was holding himself a little stiffly and Charlie could guess exactly what it was that got him upset. Vincent was used to all her attention, and Charlie and Bo not getting along. Since her injury, since her incident with Lester, her and Bo were getting along, they were getting close.

And in her time of need she had screamed for Bo and not Vincent, only because Bo had saved her from the other scary things. Vincent always saved her from Bo.

"I'm sorry I called Bo. I just… I got scared and…"

"It's fine. He is the scariest."

Charlie laughed and ducked her head into the space under his chin as he carried her to his bed. This wasn't how she had wanted her Christmas to end. She wondered if this was an omen. Were terrible things looming on the horizon for her now? God she hoped not.