Part Sixteen – Lightning can strike twice

It had proven to be an interesting week so far; I still found it hard to wrap my brain around the idea that Christmas for those in the Eagle Union and Maple Monarchy fell a full two days before it did back home. Still, my last-minute gifts at the duty-free shop seemed to go over well enough, I think they all understood that it was truly the last minute for me. I understood that they didn't get anything for me as they had no idea I would be here and that was fine, but what NJ gave me was rather touching. She had managed to sneak away with my side of photos from that photo booth we had used when I first came to Halifax. She had taken them and framed them with the half she kept.

But that was neither here nor there right now, all I know is that my mobile is ringing, rolling to my side I lift it up to see that it's only oh-four-hundred right now, but the word on the screen made me accept the video call. Looking at the screen I can see my mother, most of my aunts, Uncle John, and most of my sisters. It's daylight where they are and my mother says, "Happy Christmas Mitchel."

Rubbing my eyes I respond, "Happy Christmas, Mom."

"T's still dark wh're that gent is. What timeth is't th're Mitchel?" my aunt York asks.

With a yawn, I answer, "Too early."

"Oh-five-hundred is not that early, Mitchel." My mother lightly scolds me.

"It's not if I was in Halifax." I counter a little dryly.

"You're not in Halifax?" my mother asks, her head tilting to the side.

From off-screen, I hear a baby fussing and my Aunt George speaks up, "Did he find a young woman to spend the night with? Was it that New Jersey you were telling us about Wales?"

I see York give a toothy grin as she teases, "I did bet that gent's been in h'r knick'rs already."

Rolling my eyes I sit up and turn on the lamp and move my mobile over so that they can see that I'm alone in bed as I say, "No, I and NJ are friends."

"Spending the holidays with someone, alone like this, Mitchel, says otherwise." My aunt Howe pipes up.

Flopping back down onto my back I say, "We're not alone, her sisters are here as well."

My mother's face pales, Aunt York exchanges a look with Howe, Sovereign chokes on her tea and Conqueror tilts her head to the side as she asks, "I'm not so sure little brother, she's brought you home to meet her sisters."

I wave dismissively as I ask, "Where's Dominion?"

All of the kansen exchange looks like they are trying to figure out what to say, but it was Uncle John who spoke up, "She and His Majesty are… enjoying some private time."

I blink a couple of times and ask, "So she agreed then?"

"Aye, she did, was there ever any doubt?" he asked me back.

I smile and shake my head as I answer, "No, but I thought he was going to ask on New Year's?"

Conqueror laughs and shakes her head as she says, "He was going to, but the box with the ring fell out of his pocket last night and she picked it up and saw it and said yes right then and there."

I shake my head and let out a yawn before rolling to my side and putting my mobile on the nightstand with the case kickstand keeping it upright as I sigh out, "I really wanted to be there."

My mother smiles at me as she says, "I know, but you have to respect those you work for if you want them to give you more freedom to do what you want."

I nod in agreement just as Aunt George comes into view with my new-ish cousin, she takes their hand and waves it at me as she says, "William, that's your cousin Mitchel. He couldn't be here this year, but maybe next year we can all get together."

The little baby yawned and nuzzled her bust and she sighed out, "I'll be right back, he's hungry, again."

My mother laughed and shook her head as she teased her older sister, "Just like his mother, always hungry."

Just as Aunt Geroge left the frame I saw her flip up her right index and middle finger at my mother, causing more laughter to erupt from everyone. From down the hall I heard a toilet flush not long before the door to the room I was in opened, looking over my shoulder I saw NJ come walking into the room, she was in a massively oversized white tee-shirt with the Eagle Union crest in the center of her chest, one hand scratching her belly while she used her foot to close the door behind her. I could see that she had her eyes closed and I figured she was navigating out of instinct at this point, from the screen I heard my Aunt York suggest with a hint of jest, "I doth belive that gent's about to conducteth a night raid, most wondrous alloweth that gent beest."

"Remember Mitchel, no grandkids, at least not yet." My mother said with a wink as she closed the link.

I don't get to protest, but I feel NJ get into the bed and snuggle up behind me, I feel her chest expand as I feel the air move past my neck as she takes in a deep breath before letting it out slowly and she makes a content sound in the process. I reach over and shut off the lamp and try to get comfortable, NJ sees me as a friend, right?

I start to question that very question as I feel one of her legs move up and over my left hip while one of her arms comes around my side and up my chest to grip my shoulder as she mumbles something incoherent in my ear, I'll admit, I kind of missed this kind of cuddling with someone, shutting my eyes I take a breath and let it out slowly as I try to go back to sleep.

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When I awoke several hours later, I found I was alone in the room, no sign of NJ ever being in it. Or so I thought, till I pulled the sheets back and saw her drool on the pillow behind me. Looking around the room quickly I lift the pillow and take a sniff; it still smells like NJ, so I know I wasn't dreaming it was her at least. Putting it back down I start to wonder if she'd been sneaking into the room during the night this week or this was just something that was a one-off? With a sigh, I get out of bed and throw on some loungewear and head out in search of coffee.

From the kitchen, I hear Iowa laugh and call out in a teasing tone, "You're such slut."

"I don't know why I did it!" that was without a doubt NJ protesting something.

As I keep walking towards the kitchen I hear Iowa laugh harder as she says, "Face it NJ, you're into him, or rather should I say you want him in you."

Even that made my cheeks get hot and I come to a stop as I hear NJ groan out, "Is it that obvious?"

Iowa seems to switch gears almost instantly as she says in a much more warm and less mocking tone, "Only to me, I don't think Mo or Whisky have caught on to it yet."

"What should I do, Iowa?" NJ asks back in a tone of voice that seems almost pleading with her older sister.

"I know what I'd do, but for you, just be honest with him; tell him that you want to be more than just friends." Iowa says back to NJ as I lean against the wall.

NJ is quiet for a few moments before I hear the fridge open and close and a twisting sound of a bottle can be heard as she says, "It's not that easy Iowa, he's been hurt badly by people that said they wanted what I do want."

I hear Iowa move and pour something before she says, "I heard about what he was forced into to, how he was betrayed by someone that he opened up to." She pauses to drink I think before she says, "So you can either be honest with getting it out in the open or you can be quiet about it and hope something happens that may never happen."

I hear something thump against the table and then NJ moans out, "This sucks."

Iowa laughs again and uses that teasing voice again, "Well you could always suck."

"Iowa!" NJ calls out at her sister, making Iowa laugh harder. I start to wonder how long I should stay here because I really want coffee. After a moment I hear NJ add, "Alright, I'm done with this, for now, I'll figure something out."

"Sure, sure." Iowa says before things go quiet again for a moment before NJ shouts at her sister again, "Iowa!" making Iowa laugh hard again.

Pushing myself off the wall, I start to walk towards the kitchen again, just as NJ comes around the corner, when she sees me, she goes bright red and moves around me as she says, "Excuse me!"

I watch her head down the hall towards the bedrooms moments before I hear a door slam shut. Looking into the kitchen I see Iowa still laughing away, a cup of coffee in one hand. When she notices me, she goes over to the cupboard and gets down a mug, and pours me a cup as she asks me, "You heard everything, didn't ya?"

Taking the mug and sipping from it, I back up and lean against the counter as I sigh out, "I did."

Iowa sips from her mug and asks, "Did you know she crawled into bed with you around four this morning? She claims she wasn't awake when she did, but I'm not so sure."

Holding my mug with both hands I shake my head as I say to her, "I think she was out of it, though my family didn't think so."

"What'd ya mean?" Iowa asked as her head tilted to the side and she drank more coffee.

Smirking down at the black liquid in my mug I tell Iowa, "My mother, Prince of Wales, called me, thinking I was still in Halifax so that I could enjoy Christmas morning with them. Anyway, while I was on the video call with them, NJ walked in like she was sleepwalking and snuggled up behind me, causing my Aunt York to think a night battle was about to start."

Iowa puts her mug down seconds before she doubles over laughing as she gasps for air she asks, "Does NJ know that part of it?"

I shake my head and sip more coffee before adding, "I don't think so, but to make matters more complicated my mother reminded me, 'no grandkids yet.'"

This made Iowa hold her sides as she bent at her knees laughing as she said, "Oh this is too funny!" When she's done laughing and wipes her eyes she stands upright again and touches my arm as she asks, "Then question is, big guy, what do you want?"

Looking at my coffee I sigh, "Being cuddled again was nice, it's been a long time since that happened."

"NJ is cuddly." Iowa says as she moves to lean against the counter beside me in the same position.

Sipping the coffee I look out the window to the snow-covered yard as I say, "I'm just worried about opening up like that to someone else, I don't think I'd survive being hurt again."

I sense Iowa shrug before she puts her hip in contact with mine as she says, "Look, I'll be blunt right now; if you wanted any kansen on the planet, I don't think there isn't one that wouldn't spread her legs for you. But right now, I only know one that," she pauses and places a hand on my chest over my heart and continues, "wants what's in there, and she came to that decision on her own, no one is making her feel that way." She pauses and takes her hand off my chest and places it under my chin, forcing me to look at her as she asks, "So my question is, Big Guy, is that worth opening up for, or do you want to just live in a shell, alone?"

Heaving out a sigh I say to her, "And how would I do that?"

Iowa smirks at me and moves to press her body against me as she whispers in my ear, "If it was me, take me to bed and show me what I'd be getting." I gulp slowly as Iowa leans back and says, "But for NJ, show her you're open to the idea, maybe next time the two of you go out somewhere, hold her hand."

Iowa moves away from me over to the table and picks up an envelope off of the table before handing it to me and I ask, "What's in here?"

"Passes to the botanical gardens tonight," Iowa says pulling them back slightly as I reach for them as she adds, "take her on a date there tonight, but don't make it seem like a date."

I reach over and take the tickets as I say, "Alright."

"Good." Iowa says to me as she hands over the tickets.

XXXX

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It was cold out at the gardens, leaving me to blow on the steam coming off of my hot chocolate as NJ moved from sight to sight, taking in how the garden was illuminated with colored lights; she looked like she was thoroughly enjoying the lights. I found a smile had gotten onto my face as I watched her hop around in the snow, but that smile quickly faded as she gave me a mischievous look. That look was all the warning I got before snowball smacked me in the face. I wiped the snow away and saw NJ laughing as she launched another one in my direction, I managed to dodge it, but it hit my drink away and into the snow.

With a snort I started to move towards her, picking up speed as I did, NJ laughed and started to run, laughing the entire way. I gave chase through the snow, and over a barrier, as I ran out of the area illuminated it got dark and I lost sight of NJ, while my eyes adjusted to the lower light, I felt another snowball slam into my side as she calls out, "You gotta do better than that!"

Turning to the direction it came from I charge off and through the trees, once my eyes had adjusted I see her back peddling away, laughing and tossing another ball at me. Sidestepping it, I charge faster at her and get my hands on her hips. NJ's eyes go wide and she trips on the root of a tree sending us down into the snow. We were nose to nose and I feel her shift how she's laying on her back, her cheeks going deep red, I can see she wants to say something but is holding back. I get up off of her and extend my hands to her to help her up. Once she's standing again, NJ smiles shyly at me as she mumbles, "Thanks."

I look away and let go of her right hand, but lace the fingers on my right hand with those on her left as I say to her, "No problem, should we head back?"

She's quiet for a moment; I can sense she's looking at my hand that is holding hers before she says, "Yeah, should we call it a night?"

Nodding I answer, "If you want."

NJ moves closer to me and squeezes my hand as she says, "Yeah."

The walk back to her quarters was surprisingly quiet, but I felt more at peace during this walk, than I had probably felt in a couple of years. Maybe, just maybe I could trust NJ with my heart?

XXXX

XXXX

"Iowa, where's NJ?" Asked Whisky as she moved into the living room and ran a hand through her short red hair.

Looking over her shoulder Iowa pointed out the window as she said, "Out there."

Whisky came over to look out the window beside her eldest sister as she asked, "What's she doing outside?"

"I think getting what she really wanted for Christmas this year." Iowa said as she sipped her warm drink.

Whisky peered out the window just as New Jersey came into view in the street lights, shyly looking off to the side, her cheeks bright red and her left hand laced together with that of the large bulky frame of Thunderer. Whisky looked at Iowa and called out, "No fucking way!"

Iowa laughed as she scolded her youngest sister, "Whisky, we've talked about the cussing."

"But, but, but!" Whisky said, pointing at the view.

"But what?" Mo asked as she joined her sisters at the window before letting out a cry of dismay and saying, "But that's not fair!"

Iowa laughed a little as she said, "All is fair in love and war, Momo, but I think this is for the best."

Mo sighed and folded her arms across her chest as she pouts, "But I wanted him."

"I think NJ is just what he needs." Iowa says, pausing to sip and add, "Besides NJ's been wanting this for a while, even if she didn't know it."

"How is it going to work?" Whisky asked.

Iowa shrugged as she said, "I don't know, but I do know that our nations work together, a lot and they are basically neighbors so I think they'll figure it out."

"What do we do about it?" Mo asked.

"Give them space to try and figure things out for the rest of the holiday, then me there for NJ when reality hits her that he has to back up north at the end of the holiday." Iowa says with a frown.

Mo groans and asks her older sister, "Can we trade posts? I don't want to watch this."

Iowa laughed and nodded and said, "Fine, pack your stuff then, you and Whisky need to get underway the day after tomorrow then."

Mo groaned and stomped off to her room.

XXXX

Returning to POV

XXXX

NJ gave me a shy smile as we got to the door to her quarters, letting go of my hand and ducking inside quickly, once I got in Iowa was standing there, a huge grin on her face as she asked, "Good date?"

I smile a little as I answer, "I think so."

Iowa comes over and puts an arm around my shoulders as she says, "I'm going to stick around here and watch how this turns out."

"Thanks?" I say with some puzzlement in my voice.

Iowa grins and winks at me as she says, "You're welcome!"

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A/N: Well, I managed to get this one out today! I'll be taking an extra day off this week (tomorrow) due to a holiday here, and it's an important one for me. But starting on Friday, expect a bit of a jump forward in time!