Caitlyn awoke first on Christmas morning, and slid out of bed. She felt the fluffy carpet under her feet, and grinned to herself. She'd always loved Christmas, even when she hadn't got many presents. She loved it even now, in a house she hadn't been in for years, and not a decoration in sight. She stood up and walked over to her case, and undid the latch so that it fell open. She rummaged through it and took out a pair of black pinstripe trousers and some underwear. She quickly pulled them on under her nighty, which was an enormous T-shirt her friend Stacy had bought her from Disney world. It was shocking pink, and had a picture of Minnie mouse on the front. She glanced in the mirror,
"Watch out Harvard." She said to herself, pulling her unbrushed hair into a loose pony tail. She danced over to the door, and snuck into her mother's room. Emma was fast asleep, and much to Caitlyn's delight, was snoring. She would have something embarrassing to bring up later at least. She closed the door carefully, wincing at the click of the door. For a moment, she didn't know what to do, but then decided to head to the kitchen for some breakfast.
She walked in, humming to herself, and was surprised to find her uncle already in there. "Hey," She said, "You're up too."
"Do they teach you observation skills in law school?" Robert asked her,
"I dunno. Do they teach sarcasm in med school? If you can remember, back in the stone age I mean." She ducked as a piece of toast flew past her head. "Mmm. Toast."
"Make your own. I'm the invalid." Robert took his own breakfast over to the bar and sat down on one of the stools. Caitlyn shrugged and put some bread in the toaster.
"Aren't you supposed to be using crutches?"
Robert looked overly thoughtful for a moment, "Um, Yeah."
"You're a doctor."
"Who's idea was it to buy 'Mama's strawberry milk'?" Caitlyn took some butter out of the fridge.
"That would be me." She began opening draws, looking for a knife. She found one in the third draw along and paused to make a comment about how far away from the toaster they were. She reopened the fridge and took out the strawberry milk, about to take a swig.
"Hey, no drinking straight from the carton in my house missy." Caitlyn paused, the carton half way to her mouth and turned to look at him, one eyebrow raised,
"Because I'm going to pass my cooties onto all the other people who drink it?" She suddenly grinned, "Aw, did ickle Wobbie want some stwawberry milk?" Robert looked at her scornfully,
"Don't patronise me kid," He warned her,
"Why? You got a machine gun hidden in that metal arm?" She stuck her tongue out at him and made a big thing about drinking as much as she could without choking from the carton. "How cool would that be?"
"Is your mom up?"
"Nope. She's snoring though." Caitlyn took her toast and slid over to the bar, landing neatly on the stool opposite her uncle. "You know how it's Christmas?"
"Really?"
"And people are supposed to do things for other people at Christmas?"
"What do you want?" Caitlyn looked him in the eyes, with a stare that would benefit her in future when she would be interrogating people on the witness stand.
"I want you to promise me something."
"Go on."
"You promise?"
"I don't even know what it is yet." Robert said, amused, "Get on with it."
"Never ever, ever, ever keep anything like this from me and mom again." Robert sighed, "Come on, you gotta promise me."
"Okay." He said. Caitlyn looked satisfied.
"Good. I'm glad we got that out of the way. So…" She took a bite of her toast, "Seeing as we're having a sharing moment, how about sharing a little about you new love life?"
"Excuse me?" Caitlyn rolled her eyes,
"Oh come on." She said, in a bored voice. "That's not going to work." She could tell that he didn't actually seem to be able to find the words to answer. She tried a different tactic. "So what's her deal anyway? Elizabeth. She's got a kid right? So what are we talking? Sleaze like my dad? Divorce?"
"Her husband died two years ago. Brain cancer." Caitlyn pulled a face,
"Ouch. Still, no chance of them getting back together I guess." Robert looked serious.
"It's not funny." He said, "Mark was a doctor at County. A lot of people relied on him." Caitlyn looked sheepish,
"Sorry." She said. She looked thoughtful, "I've never seen you talk to anyone as easily as you talk to her you know." Robert shrugged. "Look, I'll stop bugging you about it. For now." Caitlyn got up and walked over to the side board where the coffee machine was. "However, just a general observation… I think it's about time you found some one to make you happy."
Susan woke up to feel Chuck's arms wrapped around her waist. She smiled, and turned over, wrapping them both up more in the warm covers.
"Mmm… Good morning." She said, kissing him,
"Merry Christmas." Chuck said, his arms still wrapped round her, "Until ten." Susan groaned,
"Ugh. Work. On Christmas day! It's not fair." She yawned, "Should we call in sick?"
"I don't think many people would buy it." Chuck reasoned, "Besides, it'll all be over at four." He turned his head to look at the clock, "It's only eight thirty. We've got another hour."
"I have to get dressed." Susan said, trying not to laugh as he began kissing her neck, "And I gotta eat… and do my hair… put some makeup on…" She finally gave in and began giggling, "Or I guess I could just stay here a little while longer…"
"Eat later." Chuck suggested, "And your hair looks sexy." Susan rolled her eyes,
"Thanks. Yours looks…"
"Sexy?" Susan looked at him for a moment,
"Yeah. Sure honey." Chuck raised his eyebrows,
"Are you mocking me?" Susan shrugged and looked away, "I think you're mocking me."
"No I'm not," Susan protested,
"Yes you are." Chuck disappeared under the covers and began to tickle her. Susan shrieked,
"Chuck!" She was laughing, and trying to get away, "No don't! Chuck!"
Elizabeth finally sat down at ten am. She everything was ready for dinner, and she could now take the time to enjoy some time with her daughter. Ella had been opening presents slowly all morning, and every time she took the wrapping off one, she would fold the paper into a neat little square and put it back underneath the tree. Elizabeth took the mail and sat down in an armchair to open it.
"Mommy look," Ella said, picking up her new Barbie doll and taking it over to show her mother. The Barbie had a nurses outfit on and came with a baby and a doctor's bag. "How come you don't have a bag like that?" Elizabeth looked up from the first envelope,
"Well, I've got one a little bit like that," She said, looking at it, "But I think Barbie's is much better than mine sweetheart." Ella looked serious.
"Yes." She said, "Yes, because I can fit this one in my pocket." Elizabeth laughed,
"That's right." She said smiling, "Did you open your present from Rachel?" Ella shook her head, "Well go and open it then. And then you can call your sister and say Merry Christmas." Ella grinned and ran over to the tree again, where she carefully extracted the present from her half sister. Elizabeth went back to opening her mail. The first one was a card from her father, with a letter inside. Mostly about work, the hospital, and general good wishes to his daughter and grand-daughter. She opened the others and put them on the mantle piece.
"Ella, did you want to call Rachel now?" She asked her daughter, who had just finished folding up the paper from Rachel's gift which was a pale pink sweater with glittery decoration, and a very old looking teddy bear. She walked over to her mother and held out a folded up piece of paper. "What's that darling?"
"A letter," Ella said, examining the teddy bear sceptically, "Is it from Rachel mommy?" Elizabeth has reading through the letter,
"Yes," She said, finishing the letter, "It's about your present." She knelt down next to her daughter, "She says, that this teddy bear was a present from Daddy to Rachel on her first day of school. She wants you to have it." Elizabeth smiled sadly. Ella was still looking at the bear, and trying to push the eye that was falling off back in. Ella barely remembered her father, but Elizabeth knew that one day, Rachel's gift would mean a lot to her sister.