The 4th Day of Christmas
Penn Advertising has a special Christmas Present for Grand Design.
Hi everyone. It's December 27th and this fic isn't finished, sorry I'm trying to get better at these types of deadlines. I do plan to publish the rest of it as long as folks are interested. There was a slight mix-up with the chapters and this chapter, Chapter 5 briefly replaced the 3rd Day of Christmas so if any of you see that it should correct itself. As always please leave me your comments and don't forget to check out my long Merlin AU The Exile.
4th Day of Christmas
"I have something for you, for you and your dad actually."
Gwen reached for the envelope Arthur was holding.
"Ah," Arthur held it up out of her reach. "Let's go sit down in the back and look at it."
"You remember what happened the last time we were back there?" Guinevere smiled at him coyly and straightened the lapels of his jacket.
"The first part or the second part?" Arthur asked.
"I was thinking of the first part."
"I was thinking of the second part," Arthur said dryly. "And since I have not been deprived of your perfect self for a year and I don't want your dad pissed at me I think we'll be okay."
"Oh, well."
The look Guinevere gave him suggested mild disappointment.
"Let me lock up and then we'll see what's in this mysterious envelope."
Arthur leaned against the store's display case, resting one elbow near the cash register and watched Guinevere walk to the door. She was wearing skinny jeans, knee high black boots and a fitted red turtleneck. Who said women didn't dress sexy in the winter?
She switched off the light of Grand Design and looked at him over her shoulder before crouching to flip the second lock on the door. Arthur followed her movements with eager eyes certain she was crouching in such a way as stick out her plump little tail even further. Not that he minded in the least.
"You had better stop that?"
"Had I?" Gwen asked as she got to her feet.
"Yes otherwise I'm gonna be picking up where we left off the last time and I really want you to look at this."
"All right let me see." Gwen sat down at her desk and swiveled to face Arthur.
"This is a Christmas gift from Penn Advertising to Grand Design."
"Really?" Gwen took the envelope from Arthur's hand more than a little curious now and pulled out a color packet.
"It's your new marketing campaign for 2013 and just in time for the store's 90th anniversary in June. I was thinking Merlin might do the website."
Guinevere thumbed through the packet and felt her heart begin to swell. She had taken over many of the operations for her family's business upon returning from college. One of the things she had done was modernize their online business and update Grand Design's image. Three years ago only ten percent of their business had come from the internet and presently forty percent was online and that only seemed likely to grow. Many people bought trendy cheap jewelry or expensive jewelry they didn't understand the value of costume jewelry which could be beautiful, elegant and durable and even passed through generations of families. Her campaign had been about making costume jewelry relevant in the modern mind and pulling customer's all across the U.S. rather than leaving them at the mercy of local trends. It had worked but she had also deemphasized the store's rich history in Bronzeville.
The campaign Arthur had created brought that back into focus starting with Thomas Grand second generation jeweler out of a long line of blacksmiths. He'd fled the Great Terror in the south like many blacks. In Chicago he had found success, as well as a measure of freedom. Arthur had started there and then added images of black celebrities such Billie Holiday, Lena Horne and Louis Armstrong getting jewelry with the founder and connecting to an idea of success, glamour and history while looking forward.
"Arthur, this is beautiful. How did you come up with this?" Gwen flipped back through some of the pictures eyes lingering on a photo of her father sitting on the display case next to the old school register when he was a boy.
"When you started talking about the vintage pieces it got me thinking about the store's anniversary and that wall of pictures you have out there. So I called your mom and she got me the photos."
"This is -I don't know what to say. My dad can't help but be impressed."
Gwen smiled and looked at Arthur over her shoulder. She held his eyes for just a moment before turning her attention back to the packet. A moment later she let out a surprised little squeak as Arthur got to his feet and spun her chair around.
She bit her bottom lip ever so slightly and looked up at him through downcast lashes. She liked looking at him, his tailored suit, his golden hair and bottom lip lush and red. She let her eyes linger on his mouth for several long seconds before meeting his gaze. Arthur's eyes narrowed with a look that sent a tightening tingle through her groin.
"Come here," Arthur held out a hand to her. Guinevere set the packet on the table and let him pull her to her feet savoring the feel of his strength and solidness as he did so. He leaned down to kiss her and some inner, mischievous sprite stirred and she stepped to one side at the very last minute just out of his reach.
"Guinevere ," Arthur complained and the faintest of frown creased his brow.
"What?" She asked innocently and stepped out of his reach again.
"What are you doing," he asked as she backed away from him watching, waiting for him spring so that she could elude him again.
"Nothing," she grinned and took a step backwards, straightening her spine which had the affect of pushing her breast forward while widening her eyes and parting her lips just so in an expression of feigned innocence. "I'm not doing anything."
He lunged. She shrieked and ran and made him chase her around the back room, giggling with delight as she dodged his reaching hands, tickling him once or twice to get away before finally, breathlessly letting him pin her against the wall.
"You are very naughty Guinevere." Arthur said in between breaths.
"Am I?"She asked in anticipation. His muscled body was warm and solid against hers. He stroked a curl away from her face.
"Very."
His lips descended onto hers then, hot and soft. She sighed into his mouth and let her eyelids flutter shut. She tasted chocolate in his kiss and pressed against him, parting her lips so that his tongue, warm and velvet slick could find hers. Hot delicious weakness spread itself through her limbs and she slid her hands over his firm muscled shoulders to clasp them around his neck.
"Déjà vu."
Guinevere froze and felt Arthur go tense. She opened her eyes and looked to see her father standing in the doorway of the back room.
"Dad, hi," Gwen greeted her father who did not look remotely pleased.
"Sir." Arthur took a step back.
"You have an apartment." Tom pointed at Guinevere. "You have a condo." He pointed at Arthur. "You both have jobs, money, so you can afford a hotel. So why do I keep seeing this?"
"Don't be mad Dad." Guinevere walked away from Arthur and grabbed the presentation from the table. "Look at this." She handed him the packet.
"Guinevere," Arthur protested.
She waved him off and watched her father's face fill with surprise and then delight as he thumbed through it.
"Baby this is wonderful." He put an arm around her shoulders and planted a kiss on her forehead.
"Well," she said and stepped out of his arms. "You had better thank Arthur cause he did it."
Tom looked at Arthur and he saw mild annoyance in the younger man's face.
"It's a Christmas present from Penn Advertizing to Grand Design."
"You did this?"
"Your wife helped me get the pictures."
Tom stared down at him.
"Well it's good work." Tom sat on the edge of the desk expression perplexed. "What do you want Arthur? Do you want to be a part of this family?"
Arthur licked his lips gathering his thoughts.
"I want us to all be friends again. I want your respect again. I did want to be part of your family once and I never stopped wanting that." He paused and took a deep breath. "I shouldn't have cheated on your daughter. I've made things right with her and now I just want to make things right with you."
He felt Gwen's take his and she gave him a comforting squeeze. Tom gave him a long measuring look but Arthur held his ground and waited. He knew he would never hurt Guinevere or Merlin again.
"All right," Tom said at last. Arthur let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding. "All right."
"So you're going to be nice to Arthur at Christmas?"
"Yes baby, I will be nice at Christmas."
"Yah!" Gwen gave a small cheer and put her arms around her father giving him a long hug.
"So when does this campaign start?" Tom asked as Gwen leaned a head on his shoulder.
"I was thinking a month before the store's 90th anniversary." Arthur said.
Hi I hope you all had a good Christmas and the series finale didn't get you down too much. Please enjoy and leave me some comments.
