Hawkeye happily bounced down the stairs after his shower and walked over to Lizzy who was seated in an overstuffed chair by the fireplace, a book in her hands. She didn't even notice him as she eagerly read through the worn book. Hawkeye sat down on the floor in front of her crossing his legs like a young boy.
After almost five minutes, Elizabeth finally looked up and smiled. "How long have you been down here?"
"About a half hour," he lied. Lizzy rolled her eyes.
"Oh give me a break, this book isn't that interesting." He smiled and patted the floor beside him. Lizzy climbed down from the chair and leaned into her fathers arms.
"You have to realize that she loves you." Lizzy said quietly. Hawkeye closed his eyes and tried to bite his tongue.
"Where is your mother anyway?" he asked, gladly changing the subject. Lizzy rolled her eyes and stood up, brushing the wrinkles out of her skirt.
"She went over to your house so she could take a hot shower in peace." Lizzy angrily began to walk into the kitchen.
"Oh come on Lizzy, give me a break." She turned back to him, tears quickly forming in her eyes.
"You're an idiot if you can't see it." She whispered.
Hawkeye was about to answer back when Margaret walked into the room. Lizzy quickly closed the kitchen and Hawkeye sighed.
"What was that about?" she asked, raising one eyebrow curiously.
"Guess what Margaret? Your daughter inherited your mood swings." Hawkeye laughed and jumped up before he could receive a much-deserved punch to his ribs.
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"Ha-ha I win!" Hawkeye shouted loudly. "You both cheated but I still won!" He threw down his cards and began to gather the cookies that were tossed into the middle of the table. "Read 'em and weep ladies."
Margaret and Lizzy both groaned and leaned back into their chairs. "I give up," Margaret said, biting into her last cookie. "I haven't had a good hand all night."
"No eating the poker chips," Hawkeye told her, pulling the cookie out of her hand. "And maybe you would do better if you stopped cheating."
Lizzy giggled and stood up. "Can't we play something else? I'm sick of poker, especially when I can't win anything more than cookies."
Hawkeye laughed and stood up, "Sure, what do you have in mind?"
"Kevin gave me a Parcheesi board; how about that?"
"What a romantic gift," he teased, causing Lizzy to blush furiously.
"He has trouble picking out gifts, that's all." She defended her boyfriend.
"I can't think of anyone with the same problem," Margaret teased.
Hawkeye threw up his hand in surrender. "All right, point taken."
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"Night Lizzy," Hawkeye kissed his daughters forehead and she headed up the stairs. "Night Margaret," he called after her.
"Goodnight you idiot." She called back, she closed her door but as an afterthought she opened it again and stuck her head out.
"I thought I would let you know that I'm locking this door, so you can't try anything."
"Thanks for the heads up," he said sarcastically. Last year he had woken Margaret up by "sprinkling" snow on her. He thought it was pretty funny, but she hadn't agreed with him.
Hawkeye always spent Christmas Eve with Margaret and Lizzy even though he only lived a few blocks away. When Lizzy was younger he did it because he loved seeing her face when she came downstairs, now it had just become tradition.
Hawkeye walked over to the fireplace and sat down, yawning as he stared into the dying flames, soon his eyelids drooped shut.
