Thank you for the reviews.

Okay, so I get that this might not be completely to Eddie's character but it works for this. You know, like from the Christmas Clichés I gave you last year... Maybe one of them is a little more into Christmas than the other...

Set during 2007 and Series 3.

Day Four
Christmas Jumpers

When it is announced that they can start wearing Christmas jumpers at work, Rachel can't believe that Eddie has that many Christmas jumpers to wear a different one each day for the last four days and apparently he has more.

Word count: 1,188

Rachel knew that she had to make the, in her eyes, dreadful announcement that the staff could start wearing Christmas related items of clothing to work on the last Friday of November as the new week started in December. She thought that it would mainly be the men with ties and the odd Christmas cardigan/jumper from everyone else.

She knew that Eddie wasn't a tie person. She didn't quite think that he would be a Christmas jumper person though. But he had surprised her on the first school day of December by wearing a Christmas jumper, which wasn't as ghastly as she expected it to be (so she assumed that it was a present). When he had shown up on the second with a different Christmas jumper, Rachel assumed that he was rotating them. The third day was where Rachel worried how many Christmas jumpers Eddie had, especially when she only had two to her own name (hence why she wasn't completely partaking in wearing Christmas attire. Save for Fridays and the end of term. Because there were only two Fridays and she felt like she could get away with wearing her two without anyone really noticing that she only had two).

The fourth day, and Christmas jumper, was where Rachel drew the line and knew that she had to ask Eddie about it. Mainly because she couldn't believe that the man owned that many Christmas jumpers.

"You must be running out." Rachel said as they sipped on a mug of her special hot chocolate and ate his mince pies.

"What do you mean?" Eddie asked.

"The Christmas jumpers. You must be running out."

He shook his head. "I have enough to get me through the period. All 13 days."

"You own 13 Christmas jumpers?!"

"Well, Cathy is 17. The stupid thing started when she was born."

"What stupid thing?"

"Mum decided that we needed a tradition. Therefore, she decided that every year she would get us a Christmas jumper. All matching. It must cost her a fortune now."

"I suppose the ten grandchildren doesn't help."

"As much as she wishes that we all saw Michael, I am sure she is secretly pleased that she doesn't have an extra one to buy for. I mean, there is her and my dad, James and Zoe and their three, me, Alice and Ryan and their four, and Tony and Claire and their three. So that makes… 19 Christmas jumpers that she buys."

"I own two."

"Now we have to change that, Mason."

"No, we do not."

Rachel already knew the smile on Eddie's face before he stood up. He walked into the antechamber before returning to her office, slightly looking her up and down.

"Alice." He said.

"Eddie, no."

"Come on, Rach. It will be fun."

"No."

Rachel couldn't help but sigh as she watched him walk off. Because she knew what he was up to and she hated the idea.

"No." Rachel said as Eddie walked into her office with a carrier bag in his hand.

"You are wearing one." He said as his face lifted into a smile.

"Yes, and the next time I am going to be wearing one is next Friday and after that, the end of term."

"No," Eddie said with a shake of his head. "I've got enough so you can wear one every day up until the end of term."

"What part of no don't you understand?"

"They are all like the one you are wearing. I told Alice that you would want the more subtle ones."

"No."

"Please. For me."

She felt like saying yes, just to stop him from pleading any more. Because she felt like it was more embarrassing for him to be pleading her over this than her actually wearing the bloody jumpers. Although, she felt like he knew that she was going to give in to him when she sighed.

"Just this once Lawson. I'll get them back to you."

"Alice said you can have them."

"No, she has to have them back."

"Four kids later, even she admitted that these are maybe a little too tight. Don't get me wrong, she is still a healthy size. Just, I haven't seen her wear some of these since Dylan. Her second. Born '96."

Rachel took the bag off him and peered inside before she placed it down by her bag. She couldn't stop herself from looking up at Eddie and shaking her head.

"I didn't realise that you were so into Christmas." She said.

"Of course. Christmas is massive in my family." He paused. "Is it not in yours?"

Rachel felt herself hesitate. Mainly because she didn't know how to answer that question. Because Christmas to her was an awful time of year. One filled with too many bad memories.

"Bit hard to make a massive thing of it when there are only three of you." She ended up saying.

"One year, I'll have to make sure that you do Christmas properly."

And what a dangerous thought that was.

Eddie had kept back a couple of jumpers that Alice had given him, just in case Rachel had decided that she wasn't going to wear one of the ones that he had given her on the Monday morning. But she surprised him by wearing a black pencil skirt, a white blouse and a jumper with a reindeer on the front of it. He could instantly feel his lips curling up as he took in the sight of her. And if he couldn't love her anymore.

He shook his head to clear his last thought, knowing that they had only known each other for a month and he was rather wary of doing something that might destroy their growing professional and personal relationship.

"You're wearing one." He said.

"Just in case you brought me a ghastly one to wear. I mean, are you actually going to wear that one? The kids are going to tear strips out of you."

"Why?" He said as he looked down at it.

"Really."

"Yeah, why?"

"You have just Santa's legs. Do you not think that you are going to be asked 'where Santa is going?'."

"Never have done before."

"Then you are braver than me."

"Maybe, you just have a dirty mind, Mason."

He watched her as she took a sip of her drink. "Maybe. But that is all I think."

If anything, he didn't mind what she thought. Actually, he loved to hear what she thought about different things.

And it was why he hated to hear that Christmas wasn't a massive thing in her family. Because it was definitely the happiest time of the year for him. Which is why he had a plan. That over the next couple of years, he would slowly introduce Rachel to his family's way of doing Christmas. He knew that it would mean that their relationship would change but he was all for that. He just hoped Rachel was as well.