Laura always enjoyed the idea of traditions; the concept of taking a custom from her childhood and bringing it into her life as an adult and passing those customs and beliefs on to her children. Even taking some of her partner's traditions and incorporating them with her own. She also loved the idea of sharing her traditions with the people she loved and creating new traditions with her new family and lifelong friends.
On the other hand, Carmilla never really cared for traditions. Her father grew up in a Jewish household, celebrating Hanukkah, her mother grew up Christian, celebrating Christmas, and every year during the holidays, their family always celebrated both. That was just what they did. She remembered a Menorah always being lit next to the Christmas tree and before she met Laura, she didn't know that not all families did that. She didn't think of it as a tradition. It was just what her family did.
After Carmilla's father died, the only "tradition" her mother stuck with involved a glass of wine, or three. There was never another Menorah or Christmas tree in the house again, that she knew of, or that her mother put out anyway. Carmilla resorted to creating her own "traditions" after that, which, more or less, involved doing whatever Laura and her family did during the holidays.
Laura's family was really into Christmas. They did the whole pick-your-own-tree-and-cut-it-down-yourself thing, which at first, Carmilla thought was pointless when there were perfectly good fake trees that were already strung with lights and plastic ornaments, sold in stores. It didn't make sense to her to put in so much effort to get a tree when you were just going to be constantly sweeping up its fallen needles until it died completely and you were basically forced to throw it away barely even a month later. But, after a few years of tagging along with the Hollis' during the holidays, she began to realize the entire ordeal had nothing to do with finding the perfect tree or decorating the house in hundreds of string lights and annoying, cheesy decorations or making enough gingerbread cookies for the entire third world or drinking hot chocolate with marshmallows in it or having snowball fights in the front yard or singing and dancing to Christmas music in her pajamas. It was the concept. It was spending time with family, blood related or not. It was seeing the happiness radiating off their faces. It was the unconditional love in the air. It was everything Carmilla forgot she needed.
le 24 decembre
As an adult, Carmilla believed she could do what she pleased. As an adult, she believed she could wake up at two in the afternoon on Christmas Eve and not have anyone tell her otherwise. As an adult, Carmilla realized she was incredibly mistaken. Especially when she was living and in love with a Hollis.
Laura was a morning person. Carmilla knew this. But, apparently on Christmas Eve, Laura became an extra early morning person. Carmilla didn't know how she felt about it at first. She could feel Laura's excited energy rolling off her in waves, even before Laura announced she was awake. Carmilla registered a light breath tickling her nose and groaned, knowing what was about to come next and that her body was nowhere near ready. Without opening her eyes, she went to roll over, away from her girlfriend, only for Laura to catch her by her wrists and pin her to the bed with her arms above her head and Laura sitting on her stomach, Laura's face mere inches away from Carmilla's, as she groaned again, this time almost whining.
Carmilla still didn't bother opening her eyes as she grumbled, "Laura, love of my life, sweetheart, do I dare ask, 'what in the frilly hell are you doing?'"
Laura bounced a little on her knees, causing Carmilla's body to jostle with the movement. "It's Christmas Eve, you grump! Come on!"
Carmilla grunted in response, but knew she wouldn't win, in the end. She cracked one eye open a sliver and chanced a glance at the clock on their nightstand as she warily sat up, her fingers lacing with Laura's as Laura's legs wrapped around her waist, and Laura's bottom settled in her lap. As her tired eyes focused on the glowing numbers, they immediately went comically wide before snapping to Laura's eager stare and wide smile.
"It is fucking six a.m., for crying out loud. Are you trying to kill me, woman?!"
Laura simply giggled out, "no, silly, we just have a lot to do today. I like to get an early start," and accompanied it with a kiss to Carmilla's nose before climbing off of her and practically skipping to the bathroom. Carmilla didn't move until Laura skipped back out and had to drag her across their bedroom floor to the bathroom where she tugged urgently at Carmilla's sleep shirt and underwear and threw them into a pile in the corner before pushing Carmilla under the warm stream of water from the shower and joining her a few seconds later.
And 'a lot' they did.
Before noon, Laura had Carmilla dragged all over town.
Bundled up in scarves, beanies, gloves (mittens for Laura), Carmilla's thicker leather jacket and combat boots, Laura's floof of a winter coat and snow boots, they first stopped at the only cafe in town for a large hot chocolate and an even larger black coffee, and two sprinkled doughnuts. Then, much to Carmilla's dismay, they walked to the convenience store where Laura picked up a few things, then the hardware store, then to some other store where Laura picked up a few more things, then another, and another, all the while Carmilla waited outside each establishment collecting the bags Laura brought out like bracelets. By the time they made it back around to the car, Carmilla was frozen, hangry, and ready for a week long nap. Laura allowed them to stop and get one more warm beverage and a light brunch before driving a few miles to the outskirts of town and to their next stop.
Carmilla fell asleep on the short drive to their destination and Laura had to drag her from the car, still half asleep. Carmilla barely paid any attention to where Laura was dragging her by the cuff of her glove and was slightly surprised to see they were actually at a Christmas tree farm.
With all the hustle and bustle of "life" they didn't have time to go out earlier in the month to pick out their tree, so the pickings were slim, but after a lot of bargaining with the jolly man that ran the place, Laura still managed to find one that she fell in love with, even if it was shorter than Laura herself, for a decent price. The branches were full and lively though and immediately, Carmilla could see it sitting, overly decorated with string lights and ornaments too heavy for its branches, on a table in the center of their two door walls looking out into the backyard. It was sickening. She was actually excited to decorate it.
Back at the house, Laura helped Carmilla bring the bags in from the car and up into the kitchen where they unceremoniously dumped them all onto the kitchen table. Carmilla left Laura to unpack the bags in favor of untying their tree from the roof of the car and half dragging it back up the stairs, while trying not to get pine needles everywhere. The dogs immediately zeroed in on the mass of branches and curiously followed Carmilla and the tree until she carefully dropped it on the floor in the middle of the large room. She rolled her eyes at the dogs as they cautiously circled the new addition to their house, their noses working away to try and figure if it was a threat or not.
A fire was started in the fireplace, store-bought eggnog was cracked open, poured, and consumed in copious amounts while lights were strung with practiced ease around the fireplace, looped through the banisters, and hung around the balconies. Last minute decorations were hung, tacked, nailed, and placed about on the main floor. Four unique stockings were carefully hung along the fireplace mantel, each with a name lovingly sewn into the fabric. Laura's was originally from her grandma, hand-knit and made from scratch with a now-faded yellow yarn that Laura had picked out when she was little. Laura tried to replicate her grandmother's handiwork with a handful of black yarn, but miserably failed, resulting in Carmilla's disaster of a stocking that would've made a better tube sock. Carmilla loved it anyway and smiled when she hung it on one of the hooks over the fireplace. The dog's stockings were store-bought after Laura discovered her lack of skill in the art of knitting, she did sew in their names though and allowed Carmilla to hang up Finnegan's monster stocking, while she hung up Doc's Doctor Who stocking.
Once the stockings were hung (by the chimney with care - or faux lack of care, in Carmilla's sake), Laura put together the intricate tree set up and began repositioning the branches so they were all evenly spread. Carmilla begrudgingly volunteered herself to string the lights around the tree, barely managing without tangling herself in the mess. Laura put herself in charge of placing the tinsel, and together they put on the little amount of ornaments they had, with Laura claiming they were supposed to collect as much personal/individualized ornaments on their own, before she took out four boxes and handed two to Carmilla, one with 'Carm' scrawled into the top, and the other with 'Finn'. Carmilla simply raised an eyebrow before lifting the lid off the box with her name on it. Inside was a small ceramic Oscar the Grouch ornament with a red Santa hat on and 'Bah, Humbug!' carved into the bottom, to which Carmilla let out a bark of laughter accompanied by a kiss to Laura's cheek as she passed her to hang it up on the tree. Finn's ornament was a simple dog head with a ripped up present it its mouth. Carmilla hung it up next to hers with an amused smile. Inside Laura's box was an IOU note written in her own handwriting with a string attached, meant as a reminder for Carmilla for next year that it was up to her to get Laura's ornament. Carmilla rolled her eyes as Laura hung it proudly smack dab in the middle of the tree. Doc's ornament a Tardis with 'Doc' carved into the ceramic with Christmas lights hung around it and Laura had taken the liberty of drawing a small dog in one of the windows. She hung it next to her note.
Because it was Christmas Eve, Carmilla allowed Laura to convince her into making cookies as their dinner. They made them from scratch and admittedly got most of the batter on the kitchen floor, instead of into small dough shapes on the cookie sheets. There were snowflakes, snow people, snowballs - Carmilla's contribution - Christmas trees, even a few "presents", which were all decorated after they cooled and Laura threw away the multiple burnt batches because Carmilla, seemingly out of nowhere, produced a bit of mistletoe and hung it over her and Laura's head every chance she got, which evidently lead to much less innocent kissing and more so heavy petting over their clothes before Laura put a stop to it and returned to the previous task of making her intricate cookies. Before long, they were both covered in powdered sugar and flour and who knew what else when Carmilla rebutted Laura's refusal to give in by flinging a handful of flour at her chest, to which Laura had to respond by grabbing anything she could and flinging it at Carmilla. Thus, the mess. They didn't even bothering cleaning it up before Laura dragged them into the hallway bathroom, stripping down on their way, and straight to the shower, where she first washed Carmilla thoroughly and then herself and made sure Carmilla cried out her name at least twice before she wrapped her in a towel and lead her to their bedroom for a surprise she had been waiting for all day - matching Christmas onesies. Carmilla couldn't complain, still in a blissful state as she stepped into the obnoxiously joyful pajamas and zipped them up to her chin. Laura made sure to get plenty of pictures.
It was barely 11 o'clock by the time Laura insisted they both exchange one gift before they went to bed. Carmilla was prepared for this, having been with the Hollis' on more than one Christmas Eve when her mother deliberately went out of town for the week. After grabbing her gift for Laura, she topped off their eggnog, grabbed the plate of cookies, added another log to the fire, and settled next to Laura where they had set up camp on the living room floor in front of the fireplace with blankets and pillows and next to Laura were two boxes, wrapped neatly in black wrapping paper with Carmilla's name written in silver Sharpie. The rule was one gift before bed on Christmas Eve, so Carmilla was a little confused to see two boxes, but didn't question it as Laura smiled up at her when Carmilla handed her her eggnog and the plate of cookies.
When Laura didn't throw the boxes in Carmilla's lap like she was prone to do, Carmilla took the initiative and handed Laura her gift. It was simple and heartfelt and had cost her nothing to come up with, but Carmilla was still obviously nervous about having Laura see the gift. Carmilla watched Laura's face for any reaction as she slowly unrolled the piece of paper with nimble fingers. At first glance, Laura gasped as tears sprung to her eyes. She wasn't sure what she expected, but a carefully detailed charcoal portrait of her, Noah, and her parents was not it. And suddenly Laura was reminded of the fact that none of them were there to celebrate the holiday with her - their holiday - , and that her parents never would again. And then Carmilla was holding her, her head resting against Carmilla's chest as she cried. She hadn't even realized she was practically sobbing at that point. Carmilla felt somewhat guilty, but when she tried to take the portrait away, Laura held it closer to her, almost shielding it with her body, as much as she could, taking extra care not to crumple the paper. As Carmilla continued to hold her and press soft kisses to her forehead, Laura began to calm herself down and was eventually able to place a solid kiss onto Carmilla's lips as her thank you, since words seemed to fail her.
"So, you like it?" Carmilla asked, timidly, into Laura's hair as Laura wrapped her arms around Carmilla's waist. Laura's response was another kiss pressed to Carmilla's lips accompanied by a soft, whispered, "I love it".
Laura wasted no more time in shoving one of the boxes with Carmilla's name on it into her girlfriend's lap the second she vacated it. She was nervous, Carmilla could tell. She kept glancing at the second box out of the corner of her eye, almost as if she wanted to snatch the box in Carmilla's hands away and give her the other one instead. But she didn't. She let Carmilla open it. Carmilla wasn't careful with the wrapping paper as she ripped open the sides and tore the paper away, revealing a plain cardboard box, taped shut. With the help of Laura, she managed to get it open with a pen from the coffee table. When Carmilla opened the flaps and saw what was inside, she was overwhelmed by the amount of emotions that immediately flowed through her. She quickly glanced at Laura, eyes wide, before her gaze, once again, fell to the contents of the box. Inside, laid a beautifully polished silver menorah with simple, handmade candles, individually wrapped in bubble wrap. Carmilla was too shocked at the fact that Laura even remembered Carmilla's father was Jewish to register that Laura had progressively gotten more restless as she continued to silently stare into the box in awe. And in complete Laura fashion, she began to backtrack in a ramble.
"Okay, I know I'm a little late for Hanukkah this year, but I figured we could light it next year...for your dad...if you want...unless you think that's stupid or completely offensive or something then I could get rid of it or return it because it's real and was expensive and I don't just want to give it away but I thought you'd like it and if you don't we can totally pretend this never happened and that I didn't make a complete fool of myself by making shitty beeswax candles with Perry at three in the morning because I got a backup gift just in case-"
Just as Laura went to turn to grab the second box, Carmilla took hold of Laura's hand and pulled her closer before messily landing a kiss to Laura's now silent mouth. Carmilla didn't let go until Laura moved back, in need of air. The silence between them didn't last very long before Laura broke it. Again.
"So, that means you like it right? Because you're crying, but you're kind of smiling and you're like the Queen of Mixed Signals right now and usually I can read you, but-"
"Oh, would you shut up and come here? It's perfect, Laura." And Laura couldn't help but melt into another kiss as Carmilla's lips found hers again, less messy, more purposeful, and full of everything Carmilla couldn't say with words, yet Laura understood perfectly.
They were still in the middle of a kiss when Laura slipped the other box into Carmilla's lap and mumbled, "You still want this gift though, right?" Carmilla just smirked and unwrapped the paper, using the pen again to help cut the tape. She burst out laughing at what Laura was trying to get at with giving her a yoga mat with constellations on it. "Now, we can do yoga together and maybe you won't mind doing it if you have something you're interested in to look at."
"I already had that and it had nothing to do with the mat, Cutie."
With a wink and a smirk, Carmilla carefully placed her gifts from Laura to the side and gently pushed Laura back so that she was lying amongst the pile of blankets beneath them, working at the zipper of Laura's onesie with one hand, while the other traced its path along Laura's smooth skin, only stopping when she reached Laura's reindeer boxers, breaking out into uncontrollable laughter and a barely distinguishable, "you sure do know how to woo a woman, Hollis" between giggles.
le 25 decembre
When Carmilla woke up on Christmas morning, she was surprised to see the sun shining through the uncovered windows and the space beside her empty. Her worries quickly subsided though, as she recognized the sounds of someone in the kitchen and a strong whiff of bacon and eggs and freshly brewed coffee and hot chocolate hit her nose. Rolling over, Carmilla went to get up, but stopped herself as a not entirely unwelcomed ache shot through her legs and groin and she groaned. Slipping back into her boy shorts and onesie, that had been strewn about the living room floor the night before, Carmilla padded into the kitchen, spotting Laura at the stove, flipping pancakes, in nothing but her reindeer boxers. Carmilla smirked, wrapping her arms around Laura's middle and placing a gentle kiss to her cheek before resting her head in the crook of her neck and mindlessly trailing her hand up to cup Laura's bare breast, massaging it gently with her thumb, leaving goosebumps across Laura's skin.
"You let me sleep in," Carmilla practically purred into Laura's ear.
"I figured you could use a bit more rest." Laura was smirking, Carmilla didn't have to see her face to hear it in her tone of voice. She chuckled lowly, placing a kiss against Laura's bare shoulder.
"You were right. You are exceedingly talented with your hands," Carmilla murmured appreciatively, backing into the island and crossing her arms as she watched Laura flip one last pancake onto a stack already on a plate, turning the stove burner off, and turning around to face Carmilla.
"I can't take all the credit, Carm." She placed the plate of pancakes onto the counter next to Carmilla's hip and a jug of syrup. She went to turn around to grab silverware and two plates, but Carmilla snarked out,
"You're right, the sex was subpar, at best." Laura turned her head, arm half extended towards the cupboard and glared daggers at the smirk on Carmilla's face.
"Ass." Carmilla's smirk grew tenfold.
"You love my ass." Laura rolled her eyes, blushing slightly.
"Damn straight."
"Last night was anything but straight, but...feel free to remind me exactly how much you love it." And, Laura rolled her eyes again.
"Sometimes, you're worse than a high school boy." Finally having gathered the desired cutlery, Laura took her place on the other side of the island from where Carmilla was still standing, now facing her, smirk still in place.
"Have a lot of experience with high school boys, Hollis? Because if I remember correctly, there were a lot less boys and a lot more of my hands in your-" The blush that spread across Laura's cheeks was significantly more prominent than it had been.
"Oh, shut up and eat your breakfast-" Carmilla shut Laura up with a brief kiss to her lips.
"-yes, ma'am."
"-and then we can open the rest of the gifts." And with that, Laura was shoveling pancake into her mouth at alarming speeds while Carmilla rolled her eyes, a lazy smile adorning her face, and walked around the counter to her seat at Laura's right and silently hoping she wouldn't have to perform the Heimlich on Christmas Day.
By the time Carmilla finished eating her pancakes - at a normal human speed, as to avoid choking to death - Laura was practically buzzing with pent up excited energy she had very clearly been trying to suppress the entire morning. Carmilla smiled and slowly, methodically placed her fork and knife down onto her empty plate, meticulously wiped her mouth with a clean napkin, and folded her hands in her lap before turning to Laura. She was staring, waiting, wide eyed and on the edge of her seat.
"Okay, spaz, you ready to-" Carmilla couldn't even finish her sentence before she was being dragged to the tree and pushed into a seated position in front of it. The dogs joined them seconds later, Finn's head fine a place in her lap while Doc rested at her side, in between Carmilla and Laura's knees.
Laura immediately began organizing the wrapped gifts into piles in front of each member of their little family - a bone with a ribbon wrapped around it and a large stuffed squeaky toy for each of the dogs (one a dinosaur, the other a moose), one small bundle in front of Carmilla, and in front of Laura sat an oddly shaped hard thing, another oddly shaped hard thing, two smaller rectangle shaped things (one flatter and wider than the other) and yet, another oddly shaped hard thing. Laura hardly waited before tearing into the poorly wrapped gifts in front of her, throwing any present-opening etiquette out the window. She's too engrossed in unwrapping an unnaturally large desk globe - that may have to have its own table - that she didn't notice the look of pure adoration and unabashed love on Carmilla's face.
Carmilla waited until Laura had opened her desk lamp, engraved pen with her name on it, the leather bound journal Carmilla found last week in an old book store in town, and her new leather briefcase that she had engraved with Laura's initials before she even glanced at the carefully wrapped package in her lap. She had a fleeting that everything she needed was already there with her and that nothing would change by tearing away the paper, but it was gone when Laura looked over to her, waiting patiently - well, as patient as Laura could be on Christmas Day - and started working at the corner of the paper, carefully peeling away the tape. She saw Laura's hand twitch and couldn't help but smile.
The smile immediately fell from her face though when she finally pulled the wrapping paper away and revealed what Laura was so eager for her to see.
The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling. Illustrated by Rudyard's father, John Lockwood Kipling. Published in the United Kingdom by Macmillan in 1894. A first edition copy.
Carmilla could have cried at how preserved the cover was and how near perfectly preserved the pages were. In fact, she did, but she only noticed when a warm hand found her cheek and wiped away the tear trails.
"Where did you- How'd you even- How much did you-?" Carmilla couldn't even form a sentence, she was so baffled.
"I know a guy in the UK, and before you ask how much it was - it was a lot, so we don't need to go there." Carmilla shook her head.
"Laura, this is too much, I can't-"
"I don't care how much it was, Carm. It was worth it just for your reaction, alone. And besides, now I won't have to hear you complain anymore about the missing copy you can't find in the bookshelf upstairs. Also, now you can read it to our kids in the future. I know how much it meant to you when your dad would read it to you."
"Laura." It sounded more like an exhalation of breath than anything else, but Laura was close enough that she was able to hear it. She leaned in and placed a gentle kiss to Carmilla's hairline, before sitting back, one hand clasped in one of Carmilla's.
"There's still two more."
"Two more what?"
"Books," Laura nodded to the half opened package still in Carmilla's lap.
"Oh." Carmilla shook her head, carefully removing the unwrapped first edition of The Jungle Book and placed it gingerly on top of the coffee table. When she looked back down in her lap, she blinked. Then blinked again.
In her lap sat a first edition copy of The Second Jungle Book and The Rukh. The third and first books in the series The Jungle Books. Before Carmilla could say anything, Laura rushed out, "I was going to get the second one anyway, so my friend threw in the first book for free." And then Carmilla was kissing her, only broken by the thank yous that Carmilla mumbled against Laura's lips. It didn't go further than that though because the dogs were soon barking and the doorbell was going off and Carmilla was scrambling up from her position on the floor, almost at lightning speed. She got to the door before she had to double back, throwing Laura her onesie to put back on, checking herself out in the mirror that she didn't look like she had just been practically sobbing over a book and the promise of a future. With one final look at Laura who was zipping the onesie up and over her shoulders, Carmilla opened the door and stepped aside, already knowing who was on the other side, a small smile on her face as she watched Laura's face - first full of confusion, then surprise, then complete happiness.
With a squeal and some weird dance, Laura ran full force into her brother's arms, nearly knocking the two of them over and somehow managing not to trip over Noah's bags at their feet. With Noah still trapped in Laura's bear hug, he could only thank Carmilla with a wink. She nodded back with a small smile. Laura didn't let go until Noah had to practically peel her off of him. When he did, the first thing out of Laura's mouth was,
"What the hell are you doing here? I thought you couldn't make it this year?!" Noah just shrugged and gestured for Laura to go back into the house, Carmilla grabbing his bags before he could even think about it.
"I got a few days leave, so I figured I'd spend it with you and your- " Noah chanced a quick glance to Carmilla, who was wearing a slightly panicked look and subtly shaking her head, " -girlfriend," he smirked as he caught the end of Carmilla's eye roll.
"Well, good. I got you a gift and it'd be pretty expensive to send wherever you're living nowadays- "
"-Hawaii."
"Hawaii? Really? Never mind, of course you're stationed in Hawaii. Anyhow, my statement still stands." Carmilla chooses then to butt in.
"Alright, cupcake, go get his gift." Laura nodded her head, agreeing and rushing past the two of them to sprint up the stairs to her and Carmilla's bedroom. Noah watches Carmilla watch Laura run down the hallway, up the stairs, and into the bedroom, where she knows Laura will be rummaging through the closet. When Carmilla turns her attention back to Noah, she's met with a smirk and a raised eyebrow. "What."
"Why haven't you done it yet?"
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Oh, cut the shit, you better not be getting cold feet, Karnstein."
"Shut up, would you? And no, I am not getting 'cold feet', I just haven't had the right opportunity yet," Carmilla ground out, between her teeth. She didn't want Laura to overhear.
"Bullshit."
"Not bullshit. I was going to do it this morning before we opened gifts, but she didn't wake me up at the asscrack of dawn and then she made breakfast and then she was practically plowing through her gifts and then she got me first editions of- "Noah cut her off with a laugh.
"Okay, okay, geez, I thought rambling was Laura's thing." Carmilla smacked him upside the head for that one.
"I'll do it tonight."
"You better or she's going to beat you to it."
"Like hell she is-" Their secret conversation was cut short by Laura yelling that she finally found what she was looking for and stampeding down the stairs again. Noah was looking through his bag on the couch when Laura finally joined them back in the living room.
"Okay, so I couldn't wrap it because, well, for obvious reasons, but I did put this cute bow on it, so...here. Merry Christmas, Noah." In Laura's hand was a brand new military issued duffle bag, something inside, weighing it down in her arms. Noah wordlessly handed Carmilla a small package, she took it with a raised eyebrow, and then he handed Laura a little larger box, in exchange for the duffle bag, which he placed on the couch next to his old, smaller one and unzipped it. Inside was a myriad of graphic novels of his favorite anime. He was surprised she even knew what it was. "I wasn't sure if you could actually take those with you or not, so I could always send them, but the bag, I figured you might need so-"
"I can take a few. Thanks, Laur," Noah smiled his appreciation before nodding towards the box still grasped between Laura's fingers. She beamed back at him and immediately tore into the wrapping paper haphazardly taped. Carmilla chose that moment to start opening her gift from Noah as well, leaving a sketchbook and tin of graphite pencils in her hand, but at the small gasp that escaped Laura's mouth her head shot up and a smile graced her face.
In Laura's hand was a camera. A new digital DSLR camera that was a few upgrades above her previous camera that still sat smashed in their office. It didn't take long before the camera was in her hands, a memory card in it, and lens in place. Carmilla knew Noah was getting her a camera, she had given him the idea, but she didn't know if Laura would still be interested in the hobby. The smile on Laura's face and the amount of pictures that were taken that night told her otherwise.
The rest of the night was laidback. Noah told stories from his travels overseas, passed out trinkets that he had picked up along the way and photographs with a few of the friends and family he had made. Carmilla and Laura listened with rapt attention, taking in every word, eager to hear more of what he was going through. Laura showed Noah the portrait Carmilla did of their family, he teared up, but managed to keep his emotions at bay as he surprised Carmilla in a famous Hollis bear hug. They drank wine and laughed and Noah made everyone a bowl of Ramen, claiming he hadn't had it in forever when he found it in the girls' pantry. Laura scowled Carmilla, she didn't even know it was in there.
When Noah finally announced that the jet lag was getting to him, Laura showed him the guest room while Carmilla made her way upstairs, nerves finally hitting her like a freight train. She decided a shower might be of some use to calm her down. Laura joined her not long after and they simply helped each other wash themselves in between stolen kisses, too tired for anything more. Carmilla left Laura to change in the bathroom while she went out to get a change of clothes from their closet and a little black velvet box from under her side of the bed before she got under the covers, her nerves flying back full force as Laura stepped out of the bathroom in sweats and one of Carmilla's hoodies, drying her hair with a towel. Laura dropped her wet towel in the laundry hamper and shut their bedroom light off just before jumping into bed, bouncing slightly, and diving under the covers, pulling them up to her nose before snuggling up to Carmilla's side. Carmilla chuckled.
"Don't fall asleep yet, sweetheart. I still have one more thing I wanted to give you." Laura's eyes lit up, Carmilla sat up, reaching into her pocket, under the covers.
"Carmilla Karnstein, you better not pull out some sort of sex toy because that is incredibly cliché and honestly, I am way too exhausted to even think about-" Laura's words die in her throat when Carmilla reveals the tiny box in her hand.
"Relax, it's not a sex toy."
"Wait. Is that-? What are you-" "So, I had-"
They both started talking at the same time that Carmilla pushed the covers back and went to stand up, but before she got very far, a warm hand clasped around her wrist and pulled her back down to the bed.
"No!"
"What?" Carmilla's face turned into that of horror. Laura's soon matched as she realized what shouting 'no' during what she thought Carmilla was about to do might sound like.
"No! No, I mean, yes! But, hold on. Don't move. Stay right there." Laura was off the bed in seconds, the blankets getting tangled in her feet as she practically fell into the laundry basket and began throwing dirty clothes around the room like a mad woman. When she finally found what she was looking for with a victory fist pump to the air above her head, she rounded the bed, talking record fast and not making much sense, "Being in love with you is like, I don't know, it's almost as if you're aiming an arrow at my heart, but I'm the one holding the bow and we're both at fault if either of us get hurt, but there's also a chance neither of us will and I don't really remember where I was going with that analogy, but I love you and I'm willing to give you the power to hurt me, although I trust that you won't and I hope that you trust me enough too even though our track record with that is like complete shit and-"
"Laura, breathe, I don't want to have to take you to the hospital on Christmas because you aren't breathing, just spit it out." Carmilla was smiling, not really knowing where her girlfriends rambling was headed but happy to patiently wait until she was done to get down on one knee and do what she had been waiting to do for some time.
Laura let out a nervous laugh before taking a much needed deep breath, lowering herself to one knee as she fumbled with the almost identical small velvet box as the one in Carmilla's hand and practically half shouted, half sighed, "Will you marry me?" Carmilla's smile fell as she finally realized what was going on.
"Well, what the fuck." Laura looked taken aback for a second before Carmilla shoved the box in her hand into one of Laura's, grabbed the box Laura was still holding out, delicately taking the ring from its perch inside the box and sliding it onto her left ring finger and Laura's look of shock turned into a bright smile. Carmilla took a minute to admire the ring on her finger before her gaze found Laura's again and found her already watching her. "What?"
"You wanted to propose first, didn't you? You know, we could go back and I could pretend I have no idea what's going on. I'm a great actor." Carmilla simply rolled her eyes, catching the glint of the ring she got Laura, still in the box and her glower soon turned into a small smile.
"No, it's okay." She reached forward, gently taking the ring in between her forefinger and thumb and grabbing Laura's left hand gently in her own. She spread Laura's fingers before sliding the ring onto her ring finger and bringing it up to her lips to press a gentle kiss against the cold metal. "This means you said 'yes', right?"
"Only if this means that you're saying 'yes', too." Carmilla rolled her eyes for what felt like the hundredth time that day, but there was nothing but love in the gesture as Laura smiled up at her from where she was still kneeling in front of Carmilla. She started to rise, gripping on the back of Carmilla's neck as she placed their foreheads together and lowering Carmilla back onto the bed.
Carmilla whispered, "I could never say 'no' to you," just as Laura's lips brushed against hers and her hands fell to rest on Laura's hips.
"Tell me you do still have that certain toy that we used to-" Carmilla cut her off with a brisk kiss before flipping Laura onto her back and rushing to the back of their closet. When she came back out she was carrying the abovementioned toy and Laura was trying hard, and failing, not to let her eyes linger on the phallic shape in Carmilla's grasp as she tried to figure out the harness contraption.
They didn't last very long before Noah was banging on the ceiling of the guest room with his shoe and yelling at the two girls to shut the hell up. They simply laughed and Carmilla yelled at him to get a damn pair of headphones because she was busy with her fiancée.
Her fiancée.
She was never going to get tired of saying that.
She'd only retire the title when she could finally call Laura her wife.