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So this continues...

Set during 2008 and after the last chapter.

Day Twenty-Two
Four AM Start

Eddie wakes up Rachel at four am on Christmas morning so that they can start opening presents, for Rachel to say 'You wake me up at four in the morning to open presents like a child. At least let me make a cup of coffee first. We don't even have kids.'

Word count: 1,437

Eddie was aware that he was heading to Rachel's more or less empty-handed. It was why he made a stop between his parents and her house to get a couple of things. They had already exchanged gifts but if Eddie was going to do this properly (like his mum had told him too) then he needed a few things. He felt like the best way to do things would be to bring what he called Christmas to Rachel (as she wouldn't come to it).

He stopped himself going into the shop straight away (although he was very aware that he was probably going to be hated by every employee in the shop) and made a list of everything that he wanted before he shopped as quickly as he could for the list.

He went back to his house quickly to make sure that his plan was going to work. He wrapped up the few things that he brought so that he had something to give her. He was very aware that Rachel would tell him that she didn't have anything to give him but he didn't care. He was going to make this Christmas all about her, with the hope of making it the best Christmas yet for her.

He just hoped that this idea was going to work.

Rachel knew that she didn't tell Eddie enough about how much she loved his affectionate side. So there was a part of her that didn't mind waking up to his arms around her waist, holding her close to him, pressing kisses into her neck. She could put up with Christmas if this was how she was going to be woken up every Christmas morning.

"Well, this is a nice wake-up." She mumbled as she snuggled back into him a little, keeping her eyes closed.

"Merry Christmas Rachel," Eddie said before he placed a kiss on her cheek.

"Merry Christmas Eddie." She opened her eyes briefly to note that the room was still rather dark. "What time is it?"

She felt the bed move as Eddie rolled back for a moment to check the time on the clock on the bedside table.

"Just before four am." He said as he settled again.

Rachel slowly nodded at what Eddie said without properly processing it in her half-asleep state. But her brow creased as it hit her and she opened her eyes.

"Just before four am?" She said.

"Yeah."

"Four am?"

"Yes, Rachel."

She turned in his arms to look at him.

"Four am?" She repeated.

"Yeah, come on." He said before he placed a kiss on her lips and got out of bed.

"Eddie, it's four am."

"As you keep saying."

"You can't get out of bed before half seven on a workday."

"I know."

"So on the one day I allow myself to lie in is the one day you can get up early."

"Well, the Lawson traditions are coming to you if you aren't going to come to them."

"What Lawson traditions?"

"You'll find out. Come on."

Rachel sat up but didn't make any attempt to get out of bed. She wasn't lying. Christmas was the only day that she had a lie-in (usually until about nine, maybe ten, o'clock) but her stupid boyfriend had got her up earlier than she ever would have imagined.

"Eddie, it's four am." She repeated, trying to make him see sense.

"As you have said. Many times." He said, stopping in the middle of the doorway.

"You've woken me up at four in the morning for some undisclosed reason and you are expecting me to go along with it. We don't even have kids."

"I promise it is for a good reason."

"Five. Give me five minutes." She said, watching him go. "And you better make me a coffee for this."

Rachel fell back against the mattress, fighting the urge to go back to sleep while wondering what the hell Eddie had planned.

Rachel, somehow, found herself out of bed and downstairs, working out whether she should be angry or confused about what was going on. Although the sight of Eddie in his pyjama bottoms and a worn t-shirt, humming to himself in the kitchen as he made her a coffee was something that she wanted to remember for the rest of her life. She always knew that she was lucky to have Eddie in her life. It was moments like that which made her want them to stay in the moment for as long as possible.

She could only smile as Eddie went to walk out the kitchen, smiling up at her as he noticed her watching from the stairs.

"Here you go." He said as he handed the drink over, looking up at her.

"How are you functioning? You don't function before nine o'clock usually."

"Is that what you are going to focus on at the moment?"

"It is what I am going to focus on all year."

"Then maybe we should do the first of the Lawson traditions."

"How many traditions are there?"

"Not many. Come on."

Rachel sighed as she watched him walk into the living room, feeling her eyes roll by themselves. She didn't want to be completely dismissive but she was sure that this could have waited a couple of hours. She blew on her coffee and took a quick sip before she made her way down the last few steps and into the living room.

She knew that she had a handful of presents under the tree (mainly from Melissa and Philip but there were a couple from a couple of friends) but it was clear that Eddie had obviously been busy in the time that it took her to get out of bed. He sat her down on one of the sofas before he handed over a present.

"Eddie…"

"Just open it, will you?"

If it was anyone else, she probably wouldn't have even given it a thought. But as it was Eddie, her stupidly soppy boyfriend, she sighed before doing as she was told. She was extremely confused as to what it could be. Even more so when she held it up to find out it was a Christmas jumper.

"I mentioned to Alice that I was thinking about inviting you to Christmas," Eddie explained. "She told Mum that I might be bringing a plus one and she added a Christmas jumper for you to the list. She didn't want it to go to waste so I was told that I had to bring it for you.

"The first of the Lawson traditions is that we get up around four am to be given our Christmas jumpers. And it is around four am because the year that Mum started, e.g. the year Cathy was born, Cathy was ill. Nothing serious but she wasn't sleeping and she had the whole house up. That was when Mum announced the tradition that she was starting. It just felt fitting that every year now, we get up ridiculously early. The kids are always the first ones up."

"Eddie…"

"It is a gift."

"Why didn't you explain this upstairs?"

He shrugged. "I just thought… Like I said, the Lawson traditions are going to come to you if you aren't going to them. I know that we can't change the past but I hate how Christmas isn't a great time for you and the reason why it was ruined for you. I want to change that."

"You have just by being in my life."

He shook his head. "Trust me, Rach, this is going to be the best Christmas ever. If you just go along with what I have planned."

It was so strange to Rachel how if it was anyone else standing in front of her, that she would have refused and just asked for a quiet Christmas, for her to sneak off at times to do work. But she didn't feel like she could refuse Eddie. How could she refuse the man that has a plan to change her view on Christmas?

"So, what's next?" She said.

The smile on his face grew and that alone made her feel excited to see what he had planned. This was the start of her being introduced to a Lawson Christmas and she knew that this would either mean that she would want to join in next year or be wondering whether a year was long enough to come up with a good enough excuse.