"No es el tamaño del perro en el combate, es el tamaño del combate en el perro."
"It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog."
Christmas morning had become routine by now. The kids got the new product of the year for their generation and mom and dad got the usual jewelry, tools, and accessories. Angel had gotten new chew toys and treats in her own stocking.
Psymon sat on the couch in jeans and black thermal waiting for Elise to come over. Angel laid on his lap as he pet her belly. He didn't really know what to get her for Christmas but he figured something simple so when her birthday rolled around he could outdo this gift.
"Nervous?" Melissa asked sitting on the other side of the dog.
"I hope she likes my gift."
"If she truly loves you then the thought is all that counts. True love begins when nothing is looked for in return."
"Whatever," Alyssa said from the love seat, "I hope she doesn't stay long."
"Yea the sight of you will make her sick," Psymon said.
Elise parked her car out front and began walking up the sidewalk to her boyfriend's house. She was about to knock on the door but heard obnoxious yelling from inside. She guessed between Psymon and one of his sisters, most likely Alyssa considering she was stuck up in her opinion.
The yelling stopped and the door opened revealing the quant woman that was his mother Denise, "Come in dear."
Psymon led her by the hand to his roof top where he set up lawn chairs. They each held a gift for the other to open as the snow pounded down with no wind.
"Open yours first," Elise said handing him the gift.
He smiled taking it and unwrapping it. The first gift was a personalized rubix cube with pictures of him and her. Memorable pictures like from their first date, thanksgiving, and a picture of them kissing. He opened the second gift to find a runaway alarm clock. He had to laugh. His mother would rant to Elise about his bad habits of falling back asleep when woken up for school. This alarm clock would go off at a designated time and when the snooze button was hit the alarm clock would roll away and keeping emitting random beeps and flashing lights.
"Thank you," he said leaning over and kissing her.
He then handed her the gifts. She gently unwrapped the long box to reveal a beautiful platinum rose within it. It sparkled and shined as her face lit up, roses were her favorite flower. She opened the next little box to reveal half of a white gold split heart necklace that read his name. She looked at him about to ask about the other half as he pulled it out from under his shirt. Her half of the heart was placed on the same chain as his silver cross.
"These are the best gifts you've given me yet."
He pulled her up from his seat and held her close kissing her in the winter wonderland.
His father rude voice son interrupted, "Yo guy, let's go. We're gunna be late for Grandma's."
Psymon opted to take his truck so Elise didn't have to breathe the same air as Alyssa in his dad's truck. He liked his own truck better considering his tires were chained up and ready for the foot of snow they would be traveling through. But as they drove on they realized the snow was getting heavier and heavier and thickening to well over two feet on the ground that wasn't plowed.
He could tell Elise was becoming nervous and laid a hand on her knee as some kind of reinsurance. But lo and behold they finally arrived as the women made their way to the porch and the boys loaded gifts off the F250.
Grandma Cobs being herself opened the door for them and greeted them with her genuine smile.
"Hello everybody," she said giving everybody hugs and kisses. She hugged Psymon and gave Elise a kiss on the cheek, "You must the young lady my little Psymon has been talking so much about. Oh Psymon, I can see your face, and my lord have you gotten tall."
"Grandma…"
Elise laughed as the old woman led them downstairs for the main course.
The dinner was of course huge and delicious and everybody gave their two cents on the topic of Psymon's height and haircut. His cousins, aunts and uncles told Elise all of the funny stories the family had archived over the years. The family then sat around the TV watching A Charlie Brown Christmas when dinner was done.
"Oh Christ, here we go again," Psymon's cousin Cody said sitting next to Psymon.
"What?" Elise asked sitting on the other side of him.
Psymon leaned into her ear, "Every single year after dinner we watch the same movie… every… single…year- ow!"
"Shh," Denise said pinching his shoulder from behind the couch as Elise laughed.
The movie came to the same ending as it did in 1965 when it debuted. Psymon stood up stretching as Elise poked him in the stomach, "Ah!"
They all walked to the door saying their goodbyes. Psymon turned the knob to open the front door and peered outside as he opened it. About three feet of snow had piled up against the door and nothing was to be seen beyond that except a white plain.
"Where's my truck?"
"What the hell?" Alyssa asked seeing that all the vehicles parked outside had clearly disappeared beneath the blanket of snow.
"I guess we're snowed in," Melissa said.
Given the fact that Grandma Combs wasn't letting anybody leave the house everybody was to sleep there. And against Denise's better judgment, Psymon and Elise got their own room. A simple loft upstairs in the strongly built Victorian house.
They laid on the floor wrapped in comforter watching the snow outside fall dramatically in the all window room. "Isn't it pretty?" she asked.
"Not as pretty as you," he followed with a passionate kiss.
They ran fingers through hair and over skin. Psymon realized his hands were up her shirt and pulled them out, "Sorry," he said.
She sat up and straddled over his hips, "I think I'm ready."
"You think? You don't have to do this Elise."
She leaned down to his lips, "I want to."
As they continued to remove clothing and touch and feel, prying eyes proceeded to watch them.
Melissa kneeled as her sister stooped over her watching through the crack in the door. They watched their younger brother roll on top of Elise and have his way with her.
"Oh my God, I'm so telling mom!" Alyssa whispered. Melissa stood up and pulled her sister by the wrist back to their room.
"Don't you dare say anything! Like you've never had sex before?"
"So you're totally ok with that ho fucking your brother?"
"Shh! Just leave him alone!"
"Girls," Tom said peering into the room, "Be quiet will you?"
"Sorry," they said in unison.
Tom closed to door and debated on whether or not he should stop Psymon. He overheard what the twins had said and didn't know what to do. So he turned away to his room where his wife waited. Tom decided the boy would be punished in the morning for defacing his poor grandmother's house.
The next morning Tom stood over a sleeping Psymon. Tom chucked a hand full of flour into his sleeping face.
"Ahh!" said waking up instantly. Psymon sat up trying his best to wipe the flour off of his face, "What the hell?"
"Get your ass downstairs."
Psymon was instructed to go straight downstairs with the flour still all over his face and hair. He saw Elise laughing with her hand over her mouth sitting between his mother and Melissa. The entire family started poking fun at him. "Am I being punished for something?"
"Sit down and eat, we'll talk later."
It was near afternoon and the snow had not calmed down any. Psymon showered and put the same clothes on. He left his girlfriend with his mother and ventured upstairs to a roof. He went into the room his sisters stayed in and opened a window then lighting a cigarette. Before he knew it Tom opened the window.
"Yea?" Psymon asked.
Tom stepped out next to him. "I know what you did last night, and so do your sisters by the way."
Psymon didn't move, he didn't speak, he didn't even breath. How could he have been caught?
"I should've listened to your mother. Did you at least use protection?"
Psymon kept his eyes down.
Tom put both hands on Psymon shoulder forcing him to look at his father, "Did you?!"
Tom shook him again, "Huh?"
Little did Tom realize the fright in his son's eyes. Psymon didn't see Tom anymore, but was currently looking the devils eyes himself, Dominic Stark. Tom's grip tightened and suddenly Psymon dropped his cigarette and his hands were on Toms arms.
Psymon saw the white hot hate in his biological father's eyes and it truly scared him but his mind told him to fight to stay alive. It soon became a pushing shoving game and they gripped each other even harder. Psymon pushed Tom then threw a punch to his face connecting.
Tom stunned for only half a second threw his own punch and the fight had officially escalated. Father and son fighting each other for different reasons had hold of each other. Psymon couldn't feel pain or anything right now for that matter and didn't care what happened. Upon that thought he held "Nick" in a death grip and pushed both of them off the three story roof.
Denise, Elise, Grandma Combs, and Aunt Terry all sat in the kitchen gossiping.
"Psymon was a sickly lookin' thing when he first came," Terry said sipping her coffee.
"Teresa," Grandma Combs scolded.
"Well he wasn't the healthiest kid exactly, but he grew out of it," Denise said.
"Now he's tall and scrawny," Terry commented making Elise laugh.
Suddenly the four women saw two figures fall from the sky outside the bay window of the kitchen.
"My Lord what was that?" Grandma Combs yelled.
Becka and Joe ran in hearing the loud yells of the other women.
The twins, Cody and his uncle Jeff walked as Becka and Terry found their brother and nephew outside laying on the ground.
Both men were knocked out cold. Joe and Cody had gone outside to fetch them. Psymon laid on the couch wrapped in a comforter. Tom had woken up and was holding a cold package of peas to his head. Both of them were covered in bruises and bloodied cuts.
"We were having an argument," Tom started to explain to everybody, "and he wouldn't listen to me. I held him by the shoulder and the next thing I knew he threw a punch at me and we started fighting. Well something really ticked him off and pushed me off the roof and in panic I held onto him and we both came down."
"Why on the roof?" Terry asked.
Terry didn't get an answer as Denise began her onslaught. The usually sweet loving mother was on a rampage now that someone hurt her baby.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" she yelled, "You promised from day one to never lay a hand on him."
"Denise-"
"I can't believe you Tom! Its one thing to argue but it's another when you know his past. What if he had another episode? Every time you get him worked up it could happen again and you do it anyway!"
Alyssa and Terry held Denise by the arms and pulled her into another room, "You promised him!" she yelled before a door closed in front of her. Melissa held Elise's hand and guided her into the same room as her sister and mother.
Denise was crying now and wanted to be with Psymon but they wouldn't let her out of the room. Terry sat her down and held her as she cried. Melissa sat next to her mother trying to comfort her.
Alyssa got up and instructed Elise to follow her. They left the room and into the kitchen. They sat down. Since the beginning of Elise and Psymon's relationship, she and Alyssa hadn't spoken to each other once. So this was odd.
"I'm sorry you had to see that," Alyssa said, "My mom has never gotten that worked up before."
Elise didn't know what to say other then, "its human nature."
"Look, I know we have our differences and seeing how you're not going away anytime soon, I think we should let bygones be bygones."
Elise felt her catty side come on. This girl was trying to set amends with her, and it made her feel like she won in a way. Alyssa had given in first. Elise 1, bitch 0.
"I agree," Elise said, "especially if I'm stuck in this house with you."