Chapter ten (Rowan and John)

Rowan, clad in a think jacket and warm snow pants left the house in order to find her friend in the large city of London. John was nearby and she wasn't about to let him spend Christmas all by himself, she was a big believer of spending such holidays with family, even if it wasn't at her own home. A few days earlier they had travelled from Japan to England to spend time with her deceased father's family; she didn't object and found that the family she hardly ever saw to be quite relaxing.

Shivering Rowan pulled the jacket tighter around her body whilst trying to fix up her beanie, it was snowing so in her mind it was the perfect Christmas. The streets were hardly empty as kids ran around throwing snowballs or riding down small hills on sleds. Occasionally she was hit with stray snowballs but she merely smiled at the young children, her eyes, though, were on the lookout for the brown haired boy she had become accustomed to calling a friend.

John should have been waiting by the light post but he was no where to be seen and Rowan was growing quite worried after waiting half an hour. Soon enough she heard the patter of footsteps and the gruff 'oof' of someone falling. Turning around she spotted him in a worn out black jumper and holey black pants, hardly anything warm in the cold winter day. His hair was matted to his forehead and Rowan found herself blushing and looked away before he noticed, she did after all find him very attractive, and with his hair all wet it was no exception.

"John are you alright?" she called out to him, with difficulty, as her snow boots were heavy on her feet; she ran to him and smiled gently, "happy Christmas John." John looked up at her and regarded her softly, to him; Christmas was pointless, as was Easter, Valentines Day and Birthdays. He had no family so he never found any of it really special and exciting, Santa didn't exist and neither did the Tooth Fairy or the Easter Bunny but for Rowan he was going to make an exception.

"Happy Christmas," he drawled, he stood up and brushed his pants off but winced when Rowan's warm, gloved hand reached up and brushed some snow flakes out of his hair. He found that although her touch was unexpected, it brought a sense of security and warmth, her whole face was tinted pink but her eyes reflected happiness.

"Come on then, we're off to my house, you're not suited well to be hanging around outside," she smiled and then turned around and ran towards the direction of her grandmother's.

"Rowan! I don't want to go!" John barked in his husky voice, he remained in his original spot and watched the black and red haired girl stop a few meters away from him. They looked intensely at each other for a few minutes, in this time the sixteen year old girl had moved forward and was currently standing a few inches away from him.

"You're coming and that's final," Rowan growled, her hazel green eyes glinted angrily as she started into his fathomless black eyes.

"You're not the boss of me," John replied coolly.

"And you're not going to stay outside on Christmas."

"I don't believe in Christmas."

"Because you're an orphan and don't know what it's like to have a true family," Rowan crossed her arms over her chest and matched glare for glare, "I'm giving you the chance to have a real Christmas and you are not backing out." Turning on her heel she walked away leaving John stupefied, never had someone talked to him like that, in that tone, let alone a girl.

Feeling through his pockets he found his beyblade but finding it too harsh and mean to use, he looked down and smirked.

"Oi!" Rowan whirled around and gasped, "did you just throw a snowball at me?" A small smile spread over her face and John found himself staring, he didn't want to admit it but he found his only trustable companion slightly attractive. He was only a boy after all and he did have attractions to the opposite sex…it was just that his past and his reputation for being the mysterious silent type stopped him for continuing with anything further. He was just insecure and found that being alone was far better than needing to protect and care for someone, he hadn't the time.

In his stupor he was knocked backwards by a giant snowball to the face, growling his tried to get up only to fall back down by another snowball. "You do know that is cold right?" he growled finally getting the chance to catch up to her and tackle her before she could throw another ball.

"Well you should come home with me and get changed into something warmer than rags." Rowan retorted, she rolled away and stood up, "it's getting late and Christmas dinner should just about be ready, then we can unwrap presents and stuff." John looked away and bit his lip, he wouldn't be getting any presents, he didn't have a family. "Well come on, its roast and I love roast!"

"Oh he is handsome cousin," a young girl winked at John and looked steadily at Rowan, "and he is your boss," she bit her lip and sent a seductive look towards the brown haired boy.

John sat stiffly between Rowan's two uncles; they were both talking animatedly and clapping him on the back occasionally. He was studying the way the family acted around each other, the laughter and the smell of a home cooked meal all new to him. "Girls come help set the table!" Rowan's aunty called from the dining room, two young boys ran into the room through her legs both trying to hit each other with their toy aeroplanes. "Jim, Tim will you please," she cried out exasperatedly.

John watched this finding their behaviour odd, why did they all care so much? How could they love a bunch of brats that were trying to bombard each other's heads with fake planes? One thing John didn't understand…it was love and families. Things he didn't have.

A few minutes later they were called into the dining room which seemed to be the most extravagantly decorated. Decorations hung from the ceiling, mistletoe hung in doorframes and on from lights, the large Christmas tree stood in the corner beside the piano. Christmas carols were playing from a small CD player on the cabinet but overall John just felt at home as the smell of roast filled the room.

"Sit, sit John, anywhere you like," Jasmie – Rowan's mother - placed her hands on his shoulders and steered him towards the centre of the table beside her daughter.

"You haven't introduced me to your father Rowan," John whispered, he allowed his team mate to fill his plate with mashed potatoes.

"Oh…he's dead," she replied passing the plate to her grandmother.

John was taken aback, she was missing something as well, her father. He didn't understand how they could have so much in common, it was like she was drawn for him, "how?" he asked gruffly.

"Lung cancer," Rowan shrugged and began slicing up her meat.

"I'm…sorry," John said unsurely, "I didn't know-"

"Not many people do."

"How can you act all fine and like everything is alright?"

"It was ages ago, I'm over it. People die and you just have to move on, that's what I did. I was angry of course I was and I was sent to boarding school which wasn't making everything better, I ran away and started beyblading, I met Yuri along the way and then I met you." Rowan smiled.

"But I was here in England, you were in Japan or something, how did you get here?"

"Let's say I have my ways." She winked and turned her attention to the five year old girl beside her. Shivering he picked up his knife and fork and bit into his dinner relishing in the warm fuzzy feeling it provided, for once he felt whole.

The dinner went by quickly and they were all enjoying themselves, by the time it was for tea and coffee they were all standing around the piano. "Come on couz, Hark the Herald Angels sing," Elizabeth called out, she was one of the older cousins that had come home for the Christmas.

"Mum used to tell me you guys went carolling?" Rowan turned to look at her Aunty. "Why aren't we doing that this year?"

"We weren't prepared for it, usually we'd stand in the city and sing but this year because there is more of us, we'll settle for singing by the piano."

"Rowan's a good singer," John blurted out; he closed his eyes but smirked wickedly at his female friend. "She sings a lot when she's in the bathroom or when she thinks no one is there."

"Really…" the cousin that had found herself falling in love with John smiled brightly, "well couz why don't you take the lead and I play your harmony," she handed over the carol book and Rowan found herself flipping through it.

"Um…" she blushed but shrugged; "ok…" she giggled nervously and looked down at her grandmother. The tune to Hark the Herald Angels Sing filled the room and her voice was the only thing that stood out apart from the music, pretty soon everyone was singing and laughing. When the carols were over the presents were unwrapped.

John found this time to be the most dreaded, what was he kidding, he wasn't getting anything? He slowly inched his way into the foyer and opened the door, he took off the lovely jumper that Rowan had lent him and placed it on the coat rack. "You can keep it," Rowan's saddened voice filled the small space and he bowed his head solemnly. She came forward with a bag in her hands, "John-"

"Rowan…thanks," John smiled sheepishly and scratched his head, "um…happy Christmas." He felt Rowan shoving the bag in his hands and the jumper he had taken off. Shrugging but giving her a last look he left, the harsh wind had hit him and he shivered unconsciously. The house was so warm, lit by a fire and ducted heating, the family and all the closeness was warm and he loved every minute of it. It just wasn't for him though…he was alone his whole life and things like this started playing games on your mind. He would be relying on her and he didn't need that, he didn't want that. Rowan was too good a friend to him and he left before he could truly thank her.

Sitting in the park he looked through the bag noticing various winter garments, a navy scarf, light blue beanie, the black jumper she had given to him to wear and waterproof black snow pants. Bewildered he went to the bathroom and put on all the clothes feeling cared for inside. His black eyes overlooked the small parcel and envelope at the bottom of the bag, exiting the bathroom he returned to his bench and slit open the rough paper wrapping;

Dear John,

Happy Christmas! I hope today was fun and comforting for you as it was for me and I hope that the clothes and such last you, after all you are a growing boy. You must understand that we share certain things in common, both of us not really knowing our families. While you don't truly know yours, I don't know my English side so it was nice to know you were there to keep me in check from my usual witty self. Thank you for being there John, I know I can count on you and I hope you can count on me. I'm here for you as long as you need me.

Happy Christmas, Rowan

"You did have fun right?" Someone fell onto the seat beside him and he looked to his right, noticing the thick woollen red coat and red beret.

"Nice clothes."

"Thanks, not my style but what can I say it's Christmas," she shrugged and then looked away.

"I did have fun."

"Really?" She sounded so unsure; he wasn't sure himself if he had fun because of his conflicting emotions. "Hey, you didn't open the parcel."

"Never got a chance to," he carefully pried off the silver wrapping paper and pulled of the lid, inside was small bat charm on a silver chain, he stared at it bewildered and then looked up her in an all knowing fashion. "Thankyou," he leaned up and kissed her softly on the lips, just like in the movies he had seen.

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Sorry if John was a bit OOC but I couldn't think of any other way to write him a Christmas story you know, because if I did it the way it was supposed to it'd be a bit conflicting lol. Anyway hope you all like that and sorry for the long update but school is a pain in the ass. I am currently failing in my best subject and doing well in my worst subject so that's weird and I had my Bio SAC (school assessed coursework) and I think I did reasonably well considering it's a year 12 subject. Anyway I'm on holiday and there will possibly be more updates, anyone going Commonwealth Games? I'm not but hey they're being held here so eh more traffic…just wonderful…