Thank you for the reviews.

This does give a little hint to what is going to be the penultimate part of this story. I don't quite know whether I like the fact that this is almost over with...

Set during 2008 and after chapter 7 (Snow Angels) and before chapter 14 (Mistletoe).

Day Nineteen
Christmas Tree

Rachel and Eddie are decorating the tree and Eddie picks up Rachel so that she can put the angel/star on top of the tree because she is too short to reach.

Word count: 1,401

There was something quite nice about how disorganised Eddie's Christmas tree was. There were old baubles from different sets and Rachel was sure that he had chosen the most ghastly tinsel on purpose, but there was just the way that Michael's face lit up as Eddie said that the last thing to do was to put the star on the top, with Eddie picking Michael up to do that.

"Are we ready for the big reveal?" Eddie said as he crouched down to turn on the lights.

Rachel joined in with Michael's shout of yes and her smile, somehow, managed to widen as the tree lit up the room. There were so many things that she would have done differently but it seemed right that things were not where she would have put them.

"What are you thinking about?" Eddie said as he came up beside her and put his arm around her.

"I am… marvelling at how disorganised everything is." She said before she looked up at him. "But I suppose that is just you."

"I'm not disorganised."

"Oh, so you have done that bit of paperwork that I needed yesterday then."

"Of course."

Rachel knew that he hadn't. Mainly because she had to go and find it in his classroom, after he had left to pick up Michael, and had to fill it out and sign it herself. She would like to say that she would train him to do it, so that she wasn't doing both their work, but she felt like he was starting to rub off on her, with her knowing that she wasn't going to get any work done that weekend. But maybe that wasn't a bad thing, with her remembering Eddie's little comment about her being a workaholic. She could have Christmas off, couldn't she?

In the time that she had thought through all that, Eddie had moved to be with Michael. She couldn't help but smile, knowing that she had done the right thing over a year ago and she knew why she was all a part of this. And she had just accepted that they were her boys.

But then she also knew that it made her want to jump a couple of steps. She would watch Eddie be a father and she wanted that for him again. And she would slightly mother Michael and she knew that it made her want to be a mother so much more.

"I don't think we are going to have as much fun with Rachel's tree tomorrow," Eddie said to Michael.

"What? Because all my stuff will match." Rachel said.

Michael's excitement seemed to have no limits as he asked whether they could go and do it right there and then. Rachel left Eddie to calm him down. Mainly because he was the one that got him all excited.

As Eddie got the last of her decorations down from the loft, Rachel thought that her and Michael would be better placed to start getting the tree up so that they could start decorating when Eddie joined them. The task, that she had managed to do by herself for the last god knows how many years, seemed more difficult with the four-year-old who was trying to help. But maybe that was because she was just used to doing things by herself.

Once Eddie had joined them, she did attempt to manage them as to where she thought certain decorations should go, she did realise that was an impossible task with her trying to remember which ones Michael put on (with his height, the bottom half of the tree) and which ones Eddie put on, with the feeling that Eddie might be less offended if she moved his ones.

As her boys finished up, Rachel found the angel that would sit on the top, with her noting that it hadn't held up as she remembered it being the year before.

"Rachel, we're done," Michael said as he came up beside her. "She's pretty. Can I put her on the top?"

As much as Rachel wanted to say yes, the couple of feathers that fell from the angel's wings to the floor made her hesitate. Just because Michael might not have the gentleness that the angel needed.

"I would love you too," Rachel said as she turned to him, "but I think I'd better do it. Just she is the first Christmas decoration that I brought 18 years ago. She has been with me for a long time and I think with me moving around a lot, she is just a little delicate now."

"Is Daddy going to help you like he helped me yesterday?"

Rachel had planned on saying no and going to find the steps that she would normally have used. But, as always, Eddie had other ideas and wrapped his arms around her thighs to pick her up and bring her closer to the tree.

"Go on then Mason," Eddie said.

With the mental reminder that she would have to speak to Eddie about what he had done, she leant forward slightly to place the angel where she belonged, making sure she was stable before Rachel said she was done. Rachel showed Michael where the switch was for the lights and they counted him down and got him to turn them on.

Rachel could have lived in that moment forever. Just because, for once, she was finding herself loving Christmas.

"I knew you would tinker with it," Eddie said as he walked into the living room to see Rachel moving a couple of decorations.

"I didn't realise how bare this part looked." She said.

"Did we not do it to your exacting standards then?"

She turned to him and took the hot chocolate off him. "I just would have done it differently."

"Really?"

"Of course. Starting with my silly boyfriend deciding to pick me up when I could have got the steps."

"Boyfriend?" Eddie questioned.

They hadn't talked about their relationship like they should have done yet and as much as Eddie would love to tell everyone that Rachel was his girlfriend, he got the impression that Rachel wasn't ready for that yet. Even if they had been dating for about four months.

"Eddie." Rachel said before she stopped. "Of course you are. Just… not yet."

"So you won't reconsider having Christmas at my parents?"

"That… is a bit of a jump."

"I think you are making it that way."

"The new year." She stopped. "Just give me a bit more time."

"But we have been this way for the last four months. Rach… either you want this or you don't."

"I do. Eddie, Christ, I do. And that is the problem. I want it so badly that I don't want anything to go wrong. I would love to spend Christmas at your parents but I have never met any of my other boyfriend's parents. What if they don't like me?"

"I am sure they will."

"And your family in general. I don't just have to impress your parents. I have your brothers and sister and sisters-in-law and brother-in-law. That isn't even adding the nieces that I am sure would have my blood if I broke your heart."

"You are overreacting. Rachel, they would love you. Because I love you and they know you make me happy. All you would have to do is be yourself and they would see why I fell in love with you."

"But… maybe I am not a family person."

"Rachel, you would fit right in. Trust me."

There was a moment, like the Christmas before when he asked her to join them, that he wondered whether she was close to taking his offer. He had hoped that she would have done this year. He just hoped that she would next year.

Not that he had asked her what she was doing about this Christmas yet. Mainly because he didn't want to find out.

"I can't." She said.

"Well… there is always next year."

"Yeah, I suppose there is."

Eddie did wonder where Rachel was in terms of their relationship and he wondered whether she had already put an expiry date on it.