All I Want For Christmas Is...
Title: All I Want For Christmas Is...
Summary: How some of my favourite Total Drama Island pairings spend their Christmas.
Disclaimer: Nope, still don't own TDI.
Pairings: Justin/Beth, Harold/Eva, Duncan/LeShawna, Noah/Gwen, Ezekiel/Izzy, Harold/Bridgette
Warnings: Some humour, fluff, language, all that good stuff
Winter-Rae: I love these two together. It makes me very happy. I also apologize if this is bad. It's been a bad week. Enjoy.
Italics-flashbacks
All I Want For Christmas Is...
Chapter 5: The Best Christmas Ever: Ezekiel and Izzy
December 23rd
"Would the red haired woman in the Christmas ornaments display please stop scaring the customers? If this continues I will have to call security and have you escorted off the premise. Have a Merry Christmas."
"Curses, foiled again!"
Said red head dodged behind a large nativity scene and waited until some of the shoppers passed her by. This red head was of course Izzy, the brilliant and slightly unstable member of the former Screaming Gopher team. Whose stealth moves weren't as slick as they were back on Total Drama Island.
'Married life has gotten the better of me,' she thought to herself. Then, as she thought of her husband of only two years she grinned.
'Now where is that sexy man of mine?'
She climbed up to the top of the nativity scene and glanced around the mall, using her hands as makeshift binoculars. After a few moments of searching she located her shy husband in the CD section. He was browsing through the eighties section which happened to be her favourite. He had a CD in each of his hands and he looked as if he was trying to make up his mind on which one to buy. Bryan Adams in one hand and Jon Bon Jovi in the other, Izzy had to admit, he had taste for being homeschooled most of his life.
"Excuse me...uh ma'am."
Izzy looked down at the floor, still using her hands as binoculars, and saw a mall worker looking up at her. He looked very confused as to how she had managed to climb up to the top of the display. Izzy grinned and waved down to him. But she turned serious and hushed him.
"Shh, Izzy is stalking her prey."
"Izzy?" the worker asked, arching an eyebrow. He was a young man, probably around 24 or so, close to her age.
"Yes," she answered. He shook his head, still confused.
"Wait a minute...you're Izzy?"
"In the flesh!"
He shook his head.
"Your prey, ma'am?"
Izzy motioned for him to join her and when he didn't she reached down, grabbed his arm and hauled him up to sit next to her. He was amazed at her strength. Izzy pointed to the CD section.
"Yes, see that big hunk of man right there, the one with the wreath under his arm and the CDs in his hands?"
"The one in the toque."
"Yeah," Izzy said, nodding quickly, "Isn't he sexy!"
"Umm, I wouldn't know ma'am, now can we please get down off of the manger scene?"
Izzy giggled.
"Okay!"
She hopped down and looked up at him, waiting for him to join her. He was about to follow when he saw another woman approach the young man they had just been looking at. She grabbed onto his arm and looked very happy to see him. He bit his lip. This wasn't going to end well. So being the concerned person he was, especially around this time of year, he felt it was his duty to inform this pretty if not unstable redhead about her husband.
"Ma'am," he said, "Some girl is flirting with your husband."
She laughed at him.
"Of course they are," she said, "Some girls always want what they can't have. But now I have to go over there and show her it's not polite to hit on a married man. Especially when he's married to me; Izzy can get jealous sometimes you know. Merry Christmas!"
She waved to him and hurried in the direction of the CDs. The mall worker just stared after her and then looked down at the floor. How the heck was he going to get down from here?
The attack, as Ezekiel called it, from the random girl had totally caught him off guard. Here he was just trying to figure out which CD to get Izzy for Christmas when, BAM! She grabbed his arm and started to flirt with him. He tried his best to get rid of her, even making sure that his wedding ring was visible, yet she totally ignored it and continued talking at an alarmingly fast rate.
"You should never have been voted off," she purred in Ezekiel's ear, "I liked you the best, and your accent is so hot! Say something to me, please!"
Ezekiel tried to pull away from her but had no luck, she had his arm in a vice grip.
'Shopping is dangerous eh,' he thought to himself.
"So what have you been up too since the show, you should have tried to sneak onto to Total Drama Action like Courtney did?"
"No way," Ezekiel replied, "It was more fun to watch them eh."
To be honest, Ezekiel hadn't really thought too much about Total Drama Island in the past few years. He had been busy in getting on with his life and getting ready to go back to school. For after the show he managed to convince his parents to let him enrol into a public high school. They had been dead set against it at first but he argued that it would be better for him in the end. Because by going to a real school he could get used to real thing before college. They agreed in the end and by grade eleven he was in a real high school.
He ended up really enjoying it. And being a fairly smart individual he quickly learned how to treat other people his age, yes even girls. However he did have the occasional slip up every now and then. Who wouldn't after being raised in an isolated home for most of their lives?
He made a few friends, most of them girls. Another surprise. Most of the girls in his school thought his awkwardness interesting and after seeing what had happened on the show they were all too eager to teach him about women.
But the greatest thing for Ezekiel was finding out that he and Izzy lived in the same town and thus were in the same grade and classes. As soon as Izzy had seen him in the hallway of the school on the first day she was giggling happily.
"Zeke!"
Ezekiel jumped as a flying green and red blur ran at him and hugged him tightly. He was surprised to see Izzy looking at him with her bright smile, a smile that made his knees shake. It was no secret that he had liked the red head while on the island, being eliminated in the first round had disappointed him greatly, but seeing her now made that worth it.
"Hi Izzy," he greeted, sounding confused, "What are you doing here eh?"
"Silly boy," she replied, "I go to school here, though I can't be sure for how long. Apparently the principal might have found out that it was me who borrowed the school's tech equipment, for a little project on the side...which blew up...during a staff meeting."
That meeting had really started their friendship. The two of them had been inseparable for the next two years of high school. Her friends became his friends and while he liked them well enough Izzy was the one he was always thrilled to see. The main reason he liked hanging out with the redhead was that she was the only one who was willing to forgive him and give him another chance.
She was also a lot of fun and science class was the best when working with her. The two of them had nearly gotten kicked out of class once for setting the lab on fire. But it was chalked up to being an accident and for the most part it was. How were they to know that the chemicals and powders Izzy was mixing together would cause a fire? In Ezekiel's mind they really needed to think about re-labelling some of the bottles in there.
The two years of high school had gone by extremely fast. Next thing Ezekiel knew they were applying to colleges and universities; Izzy to be a veterinarian and Ezekiel to be a math teacher. Lucky for them they had found a place where they could go together. And while waiting for university to start the summer that had been the best one of his life.
He and Izzy had both gotten jobs at one of the local 24 hour diners in town; Izzy was one of the waitresses and he was a waiter. Since they were the new kids, as well as the students they naturally got the worst shifts, but getting paid ten bucks on hour made up for it, if only just a little bit.
They hardly had any customers so they past the time talking as they went about their work. Izzy would stalk the shelves and Ezekiel would clean the place. After all of that was done they would cook up a huge meal for themselves and sit on the counter to eat. It was like they were running the place. While it might not have seemed all that interesting to some people, to Ezekiel it was great. They had each other all to themselves.
"I think we should move in together," Izzy mused to him on their last shift. That statement had surprised him.
"Why?"
"Well, we're going to the same school so why not move in together and share the expenses of a place?" she replied, "Besides, who else is going to keep me from blowing up something!"
He laughed.
"Sure Izzy, if you want too."
"You're parents going to be alright with that?"
"Absolutely not," he replied with a grin.
"Perfect, then it's settled."
And Ezekiel was right. His parents, more his father, was not too happy about it.
"You most certainly are not!"
Ezekiel sighed. He had just told his parents about his and Izzy's plans to live together.
"I knew that girl was a bad influence on you!" he dad said loudly waving his arms in the air in frustration, "You used to be a respectable young man and now you're running off to school so you can live with that insane child! Next thing you know he'll be planning to marry her!"
"Oh wouldn't that be nice," Ezekiel's mother sighed. Unlike Ezekiel's father, she really liked Izzy, "Are you dating Izzy, sweetie?"
"No mom eh," Ezekiel replied, "We're only moving in together to share costs, that and to look out after each other. Come on dad, who do you know that will keep a better eye on Izzy then me and vice versa?"
"Forget it!" his dad yelled and stomped off. Ezekiel sighed. His mother patted his shoulder.
"You know your father," she said, "Don't worry, I'll take care of this, you just finish packing. I'm sure you and Izzy will be fine living together."
So for the next four years Izzy and Ezekiel lived together, three of those years as an official couple. And all of those years his father was very agitated and annoyed with the idea. So when they graduated university and Ezekiel announced he was going to propose to Izzy his father really hit the roof.
"You're too young!" he barked.
"Dad, we're 21 now," Ezekiel replied, "We'll be 22 by the time we're married eh. And besides, I already asked Izzy's dad and he's cool with it."
"You're going behind my back!"
Ezekiel was fed up. All his life he had to listen to his father's rants; first of how women were inferior, then that he couldn't live with Izzy, he couldn't date her and now he wasn't allowed to marry her. He had enough.
"You know what dad," he said, "This marriage is going to happen with or without you! While I would rather have your blessing on this I'll take Izzy down to Vegas and marry her there, so help me I will!"
"You wouldn't!"
"Watch me! She'd much rather have Elvis impersonators marry us than listen to your garbage any day!"
The wedding didn't happen in Vegas and Ezekiel's dad was a little friendlier towards Izzy nowadays. Though he still would point out how much of a bad influence she was.
Ezekiel sighed as the girl latched to his arm continued to talk. Jeez was she ever annoying. Ezekiel was thankful that Izzy wasn't annoying like this. Speaking of the red head, where was she anyway? The last time he saw her she was going to scale the ornament shelves to find the perfect tree topper to replace the one she had broke this morning.
"Psst."
Ezekiel arched an eyebrow and looked around.
"Something wrong?" the girl asked.
"I thought I heard something eh."
"I didn't."
"Psst!"
The girl stopped talking; apparently she was hearing the sound too now. They both looked up to see Izzy peeking over a rack of CDs at them. The girl jumped as Izzy let out a battle cry and leapt at them. Ezekiel was prepared for this random act however. He braced himself and Izzy landed safely in his arms. She hugged him and then nuzzled his cheek.
"Hello wonderful man of mine," she greeted, "Izzy missed you."
"Who is she?" the girl demanded. Izzy glared at her and then stuck out her left hand to show off her wedding ring.
"I'm his wife, you floozy. Now beat it!"
The girl scoffed but made no action to move. It wasn't until Izzy snapped her jaws at her that she jumped and took off.
"Territorial much eh?" Ezekiel teased her as he set Izzy down and linked arms with her.
"And I have every right to be too," Izzy declared proudly, "Can't let those nasty gold diggers try and take my husband away."
"They'd never succeed eh," he told her, "I'm too happy with you."
Izzy hugged his arm and then tried to sneak a peek into his shopping bags. He held them away from her and she pouted.
"Zeke is no fun," she said.
"Zeke knows how much Izzy likes surprises," he replied with a laugh, "So he knows that even though Izzy's curiosity would get the better of her; she prefers a surprise. So stop looking already!"
Izzy giggled.
"You know me so well," she complimented. He smiled.
"You certainly keep me on my toes," he mused, "But I wouldn't have it any other way."
December 24th
Izzy heaved a sigh; not an annoyed or sad one, just a sigh. She was bored, very bored, so bored that she was pretty sure she brought new meaning to the term bored.
It was Christmas Eve and all the preparations she and Ezekiel had to make for Christmas were done so she had nothing to occupy her time. Ezekiel was hanging their stockings over their fireplace, an odd tradition in her mind. Whoever started that tradition was probably more than a little bit crazy. But it was something Ezekiel had done every year as a kid so they continued it. Izzy liked seeing him happy.
She tapped her fingers on the table, starting a small beat. Soon she was bobbing her head and whistling. Then she grabbed a spoon to tap on the table so she could start singing.
"I am the ice cream man, running over fat kids with my van. When I ring my bell, you should see the fat kids run like hell. Woohoo! Break it down!"
"Izzy what are you doing eh?" Ezekiel asked as he stuck his head into the kitchen where Izzy was continuing her jam session.
"Zeke!" she said, "I just wrote a song! You wanna hear it?"
She sang it again for him. Ezekiel looked at her for a moment and then laughed.
"Pretty good Izzy," he said, "Although I think it might have already been written."
"Curse those plagiarisers," the red head muttered, "They shall all pay for stealing my song!"
Ezekiel grinned. He could tell Izzy was getting bored. Odd occurrences like this were a dead giveaway. What most people knew was that a bored Izzy could sometimes be a dangerous Izzy when she decided to do something to occupy her time. The best thing to do was to suggest they do something and then let Izzy pick what they should do. That way if the activity was a little too dangerous she could be talked down into something else.
"Izzy?" he said placing his hands on her shoulders, "Are you bored?"
"Yes!" she replied, sounding very relieved. Ezekiel started to massage her shoulders.
"Want to do something?"
"How about sliding!" she suggested, "Remember the jump we took the other day and crashed into the tree! That was so fun!"
Ezekiel blanched. Sliding was the last thing on his suggestion list. The last time they went sliding he was pretty sure that he was going to die.
As they slid, Izzy had steered towards a large jump, against his begging. When they took it, they went flying and the toboggan crashed into a tree. Izzy landed in a snow drift but he wasn't that lucky. He landed on the side of his head and slide for a few feet with his body straight up and down. As he finally came to a halt he heard someone at the top of the hill...
"Is he dead?"
Ezekiel was certain the guy had to be the biggest idiot in the world.
Izzy looked up at Ezekiel and grinned.
"Sledding's out huh?" she asked.
"If that's okay."
"Sure is, let's see here, what else could we do?"
After a few moments she spoke again.
"Zeke?"
"Yeah?"
"I wanna go out for dinner."
"Most places will be closed won't they?"
"I know a place; I wanna see a movie too."
"Okay," he said, "that sounds good to me."
"Let's invite the others too."
"The others?"
"Yeah, some of our friends."
"You missing them or something?" he asked her. Izzy grinned.
"I just thinking that making Duncan and Noah spend some time together will be a source of amusement to all of us, don't you think?"
Ezekiel laughed. It was no secret that Duncan and Noah couldn't stand each other. He found it sort of odd as in his mind if the girlfriends were friends why couldn't the boyfriends be too? Izzy and Eva were friends and he got along well with Harold, so it was a logical assumption that Duncan and Noah should be friends too. Yet those two were more likely to strangle one another than ever be friends.
Ezekiel was about to say that maybe the other couples already had plans for Christmas Eve but Izzy was already on the phone. It was a safe bet that she was talking to LeShawna since her greeting was, 'What up my sista!' Izzy had different greetings for all of their friends, each one more amusing then the last.
Justin's greeting was a low growl in her throat, which was because Izzy still had an intense dislike for the male model, even after he had reformed and started dating Beth. Izzy tended to hold a grudge. Trent's was always a sort of music lyric. Harold's was a reference to Star Wars. Bridgette's was 'Hang ten Bridge!' Everyone always knew who was calling them before she said it was her, who else greeted friends their own personal greeting anyway?
Izzy hung up and looked at him.
"LeShawna and Duncan are coming and they are gonna called Harold and Eva on their way. Here, you call Gwen and Noah while I get ready."
She threw the phone at him, which he was expecting, so he caught it easily.
"You're getting good honey," she told him. Ezekiel laughed. He then dialled Gwen and Noah's number waiting for one of them to pick up.
"Hello?"
"Hey, Noah?"
"Yeah, who is this?"
"It's Ezekiel eh."
He heard Noah sigh.
"Hello Ezekiel," he said, "To what do I owe the pleasure?"
"Oh you don't owe me anything Noah," Ezekiel replied, "Izzy and I were just wondering if you and Gwen wanted to go to a movie and dinner with us?"
"As thrilling as that sounds..."
"Noah? Who's on the phone?" Ezekiel heard Gwen ask.
"It's Ezekiel."
"Let me talk to him."
Ezekiel heard the phone switch hands and then Gwen came on the line.
"Hey home school," she greeted, "How are you two doing?"
"Good thanks, are you and Noah up to movie and dinner tonight with me and Izzy? Duncan and LeShawna are coming too. Maybe Harold and Eva."
"Sounds great, we'll be there, text me with where and when."
Ezekiel heard Noah protest as Gwen hung up the phone. The bookworm wasn't the most social of people and while Gwen wasn't either Ezekiel knew she tried to keep connected with friends from the island. Ezekiel set the phone down and went to the stairs.
"Izzy," he called up, "They'll come. You just need to text them to tell them where and when."
"Okay!"
"Hey Izzy?"
"Yeah?"
"Does Noah owe me anything?"
"Izzy, you should try this eh, it's really good."
Ezekiel held his fork up to Izzy's mouth and she took a bite.
"Mmm, here have some of mine!"
"Wow, that's great too eh."
"Jeez, knock it off will you," Duncan said to them. He had pushed his plate away as the lovey dovey actions coming from the married couple were starting to annoy him. Izzy stuck her tongue out at him.
"You're just jealous," she retorted.
"Why would I be jealous?" the punk asked, "I'm not single."
Then, as if to prove this, he draped an arm around LeShawna's shoulders.
"No but you're not married like we are," Izzy replied, "You should get on him about that LeShawna."
The voluptuous woman laughed.
"I'm actually surprised you were the first two to tie the knot," she said. Izzy shook her head.
"We weren't."
"Oh?"
"That's right eh," Ezekiel said, "Lindsey and Owen eloped a month before we got married."
"How did the big guy get a girl like Lindsey?" Noah asked, flabbergasted, "It's not possible."
"Lindsey's alright," Gwen said, "I think that she started him on her diet and he isn't as gassy as he used to be."
The small group shuddered at the memory of Owen's gas problem.
"So where did they elope too anyway?" Noah asked, "A MacDonald's?"
"Florida," Izzy replied.
"I wouldn't mind going somewhere warm," LeShawna mused, "But Duncan seems to have a thing for intense cold. And also a thing for keeping me in it."
Duncan snickered.
"I wanna go to Florida too eh," Ezekiel said, "That's were Disney World is."
"Wait a minute," Noah said, "You've never seen to Disney World? Isn't that like a new requirement for youth now-a-days? Not that I would know."
"He never got to go either," Gwen whispered to Izzy, "More child bitterness coming out in t-minus 3-2-1..."
"Of course all of my other siblings did," Noah went on, "The curse of being the youngest of nine children I suppose."
"That's a lot of kids eh," Ezekiel pointed out, "Well Noah, if Izzy and I ever get a chance to go to Disney World we'll make sure to invite you and Gwen along."
"Thanks," Noah said while rolling his eyes. Gwen elbowed him in the ribs.
"Where are Eva and Harold," she asked, turning to LeShawna and Duncan, "Didn't you two call them?"
LeShawna was making 'be quiet' motions from behind Duncan. However she was too late.
"Don't even get me started on that guy!" Duncan growled, "He totally hung up on me."
"Really?" Ezekiel asked, "That doesn't sound like Harold eh."
"He said that he and Eva were busy or something like that."
LeShawna, Gwen and Izzy merely rolled their eyes and shook their heads.
"Silly boy!" Izzy told him as she ruffled his hair, "He and Eva are getting down with their bad selves."
Duncan arched his eyebrow and looked at LeShawna.
"As if you couldn't pick up on that!" she told him.
"That a boy Harold," Noah said approvingly, "I'll forever be impressed that he tamed the Iron Woman."
After dinner the six friends wished each other a Merry Christmas and headed home for a good night's sleep.
"Have a good Christmas guys eh!" Ezekiel said, "Hey, we should all have a New Year's Party! Invite everyone from the island, Chris and Chef Hatchet too eh."
None of the others were overly enthusiastic about that suggestion. Izzy said she'd go for it as long as she was allowed to invite the bear and sick it on Justin. Ezekiel didn't think Beth would appreciate that very much so he dropped the idea.
December 25th
"Merry Christmas Zeke!" Izzy yelled loudly at 6 o'clock in the morning. Izzy was a morning person, always had been and probably always would be. She also loved Christmas. So combining the two equalled a morning Ezekiel was sure would be loud. Izzy had actually been up since about 4 but since she wanted Ezekiel to have a bit more sleep, she waited two more hours before waking him.
Ezekiel moaned in reply and pulled the blankets over his head. He, unlike her, hated mornings. He stopped being a morning person back in university, sometimes needing at least three cups of coffee before he was able to function.
"Zeeeeeeeeeeke!" Izzy said again, "I have something for you."
"If it's not a really large coffee with two shots of espresso I don't want it eh," he replied. Izzy giggled and peeked under the covers at him.
"Well I do have a coffee with it if that makes you feel any better, minus the espresso though, that stuff gives you the shakes."
Ezekiel let out a yawn and then sat up, stretching. Izzy was in her pyjamas holding a mug of coffee in one hand and an envelope in the other. She handed both to him and was practically bouncing on her feet, waiting for him to open the envelope. He took a sip of the coffee, and then set it down to open the card.
"Merry Christmas Izzy," he said to her, sitting up more so he could kiss her on the cheek, "What did you get this tiiiiiiiiime," a yawn interrupting his sentence. Izzy wagged her finger at him.
"Open it and find out silly."
He opened the card and some tickets fell out onto his lap. He picked them up and his eyes snapped open, he was wide awake and alert now.
"You serious?" he asked her. She nodded.
"Of course!"
"I thought we were gonna wait eh?"
Izzy waved that comment off.
"Every kid should have a chance to go there at least once; since you never did I thought this would be a great time. That way it'll be just the two of us to explore and have fun."
Ezekiel looked at the tickets. The plane left in two days, taking them to Orlando, Florida. Also with the plane tickets were their tickets to go to Disney World.
"Thanks Izzy," he said smiling brightly, "This is really great."
The red head jumped into bed next to him and hugged him.
"You are most welcome my Zeke!"
She kissed his lips but before anything could go farther Ezekiel remembered something.
"Izzy!"
"Yeah?"
"We have to invite Gwen and Noah!"
Winter-Rae: I'm not gonna lie, this one gave me a hard time. The song, my cousin used to sing it, the sledding accident...yeah it happened to me. Not fun! Anyway! Next one is the last one and it's Harold/Bridgette. That one won't go up until I finish Lost With You. Why? I don't know, I guess I'm horrible. Thanks for reading guys! Cheers!