As she opened her eyes that morning she couldn't help but smelling a sweet perfume in the air. It smelled like coffee and cookies. Her eyes started to focus, she really did want to look around and see what was happening and from where that smell was coming from, but it was so warm underneath the covers that she couldn't find the strength to get up. She decided to just turn around to cuddle against the men on her side, just to find out that no one was laying next to her. She brought herself into a sitting position, looking around confused, where was he? She heard the door opening and that's when she saw him.
"You're awake! I made you breakfast. I tried to bake some cookies but I don't know how good they might be... I also made some pancakes if the cookies are not edible" he chuckled, he had never tried to bake cookies and he didn't know what had come into his mind that morning.
"Thank you, I bet they are good" she smiled, even if they were bad she would have appreciated him baking for her.
"Merry Christmas" he smiled back, leaning in to steal a kiss from her lips.
"Merry Christmas" she echoed on his lips, cupping his face with her hand.
She actually discovered Cal was really good at making cookies and he was really surprised from his own baking abilities. They spent some minutes in bed eating cookies and hoping they wouldn't leave any crumbles on the sheets, otherwise they had to change them and they had just done so. They didn't have to wait for anyone, no one was coming for lunch, so they had all the time they wanted. Cal just had to video call his parents in the afternoon and she would have found a way to call Nick and Flynn. She really missed her son, she didn't really enjoy the fact that she couldn't spend the holidays with him but his safety was more important.
"What?" he asked, gently taking her hand and distracting her from her thoughts.
"I was just thinking about Flynn you know..." she explained, knowing he would understand what she meant.
Cal wasn't a parent, he had never tried to act like those people who always give you advices without living in your situation. He had always offered her support, a shoulder to cry on and some advices without pretending to know how she felt or telling her how to act.
"I'm really sorry, I can't imagine how you feel" he gently caressed her cheek, silently drying the single tear that was running down her face.
It became normal fo him, he had never told her not to cry, that everything was alright, because he knew it wasn't for her, not everything at least. If she had to cry, to let her emotions flow, he just let her. He had never judged her for that. He had always just been there for her, drying her tears without saying anything bad about it.
"I just hope to have some days off to visit him, I had thought about using those days to do it but there will be too many people traveling and if someone would check the passengers of every flight they could find me pretty easily, it would be too predictable that I would come back to Boston during Christmas" she explained.
She had thought about it more than once, but if someone was still out there they would have waited for her, coming back on Christmas was just a predictable move; on the other hand, though, she barely had one day off, she needed at least four days or a week maybe.
"You will, and if one day everything will be back to normal and you want to go back to Boston, we will find a place there" he said, holding her hand, making her understand that he would have been there with her.
She nodded, giving him a soft smile and a small kiss.
They spent some other time in bed, cuddling together and enjoying the late morning; they didn't really know what to eat, if they should start cooking or they would have just ordered in, or maybe got out to have some take away food. There was time to think about it, they had no where to go to, they just wanted to enjoy their first Christmas together.
"We should eat something" he pointed out, running his fingers through her hair.
"We should" she answered raising her head from his chest.
They got up lazily, not really wanting to leave the warmth of their bed to go to the kitchen, but Cal was right, they had to eat something, moreover she was starting to get excited over his reaction about her presents. On one hand she was really unsure about what she bought, hoping he would have liked it or at least understood the meaning behind it, but on the other hand she thought about the possibility of him not liking it completely. It was a big step for her, the first really big step she was willing to take since she came back form captivity. She actually had already took it by agreeing to move in with him and starting their life together, and maybe she was just overthinking about it, but she felt like the moment had came.
"Wanna open our presents?" Cal asked once they finished eating.
"Sure!" she answered, helping him putting the dishes into the dishwasher.
They both sat on the floor under the christmas tree and Cal handled her the two packages he had bought for her. She smiled at him thankfully before starting to unwrap the first one. She first found a pair of warm black gloves and her mind got back to some weeks before. He had told her she should have started to use them to prevent her hands from getting cold and she smiled. She loved the way he always cared about her, always making sure she was safe and warm when they were outside.
"Thank you so much, I love them" she said smiling up at him.
"You're welcome, in this way you won't freeze anymore" he chuckled.
"Ok open one of yours" Emily suggested, watching as he took the bigger one.
She was starting to get even more nervous, obviously not over the hoodie that he was now unwrapping, but about the other one.
"Is this you feeling guilty for stealing all my hoodies?" he chuckled, making her smile too.
"It might be" she said jokingly.
"Well thank you, so now we have a new hoodie" he kept up the joke, putting the hoodie on her shoulders.
He had always liked her wearing his clothes, he had always thought she looked cute with that hoodie that was far too big for her, but she liked wearing it.
"We do" she said smiling and wrapping herself in it.
She started to unwrap the other package too, finding a small box with a new pair of earrings, they were the same model as the ones she used to wear but they looked way more expensive and of an higher quality.
"You said you wanted to change yours since they were pretty warn out and old so I thought it might have been a good Christmas present to get you a new pair" he explained.
"Thank you so much, they're beautiful, you shouldn't have" she knew money weren't a problem for him but she still felt like he might have spent a lot for her.
"I wanted to" he simply answered.
"I hope you'll like mine even if it's not that expensive" she pointed out sadly, suddenly feeling even more unsure about her present.
"I'm sure I'm gonna like it" he reassured her.
The way he stared unwrapping his present felt like slow motion for her, she didn't know if it had been a few seconds or two whole hours. He finally managed to rip the paper around the box and he looked at her confused seeing the name of the jewelry on it. As soon as he opened it and saw what was inside his eyes lit up and went back looking at her. He then shifted his eyes back on the tag and they widened as soon as he read what was written on it.
"You don't like it, don't you?" she said sadly, avoiding his eyes, filling the silence between them.
Soon, she felt his fingers under her chin, pulling her face up, in order to give her a long and slow kiss. Her hand found his cheek, caressing his beard softly, what a pity he had started shaving more often, she really loved his long beard, but it suited him good anyway. When breathing became a need they stopped, panting heavily on each other's lips. He had never kissed her like that, damn she didn't even remember being kissed like that in her whole life!
"I love you too, you silly, I love you so damn much" he kissed her again.
They had never said those three words out loud to each other before, they had only been her whisper against his lips on that first morning they woke up together on the train. She wasn't sure he would have returned her feelings and she didn't know if she was ready for those words to be real. But now she was. He said that he loved her back; saying it was a surprise would have been a lie since they had been living together, which meant that their relationship was serious, but hearing him say it made her heart melt.
She kissed him back, holding his face between her hands as he angled hers better to kiss her even more deeper. She knew she should have told him sooner, that she was a hundred percent sure about her feelings for him, but she needed to be sure to be enough for him. Now she was, maybe she wasn't the best, but she was working on herself to be. However, he saw her as the best thing that had ever happened to him, he didn't need anything more for Christmas, having her in his life was enough.
-The End-