BTW: Credit goes to Randomsarcasm42 for the idea of catching things on fire. :-)
Christmas Eve, Cameron, Massachusetts...
Batty was grinning like a maniac, and Skye couldn't figure out what was going on. At least, she couldn't until Jeffrey, who was standing next to her in the doorway slapped his hand to his forehead and groaned.
"Really, Batty? Could you get any more cliche?"
Her sister laughed, confusing Skye all the more. Sighing, her husband rolled his eyes and pointed at the door-jam above their heads. She glanced up, and promptly groaned. Mistletoe. Leave it to he family to come up with something that stupid.
Turning, fully prepared to give her sister the, are you really that insane lecture, her arm brushed against Jeffrey, and she paused. Maybe this wasn't such a bad thing after all. Deciding to deal with Batty and her pranks later, Skye looked up a Jeffrey with a devious gleam in her eye. She smirked, and he groaned.
With deliberate fingers, she ran her hand over her husband's collarbone, a place she had discovered drove him nuts. Her smirk widened as he clamped his eyes shut and swallowed thickly. Gradually, she moved her fingers up to his jaw, right under his ear. He took a deep, controlling breath, and swallowed again.
Knowing full well how Jeffrey operated on a self-imposed hands-off policy when they were around her family, she had realized just how much teasing she could accomplish this way. Hopefully, enough to make him feel required to pay her back when they were alone again. She always looked forward to his payback.
It was her turn to be shocked, though, when he grabbed her suddenly, and forced his mouth over hers in a rough kiss that completely took her breath away. Jeffrey usually opted for gentle love-making over the desperate amour that her sisters liked to read about.
In fact, she could probably count on her hands the number of times her husband had kissed her like this. Not that she was complaining. He yanked her closer to him, and she lost the power of coherent thought. She felt a line of fire spread across her lower back as he slid his hand under her t-shirt, and she moaned softly.
A second later, however, Jeffrey pulled back and stared at her wide-eyed, looking absolutely horrified. That was when Skye remembered where they were. Wincing, she turned to see how her younger sister had taken the performance.
She needn't have worried, though. Batty was leaning against the wall, one hand over her mouth and tears running down her face, silently laughing her head off. Her other hand held her cell phone. Without even looking, Skye knew that it was on video mode.
Sobering slightly when she saw her older sister's murderous expression, Batty pushed off the wall. Still laughing under her breath, she hit a button and grinned at her sister and brother-in-law. "Oh, you two were priceless! I got a better video from you guys than I even did from Jane and lover-boy!"
At this, Jeffrey's shocked face broke into a grin and realizing the humor of the situation, joined her in laughing. Skye, however didn't take it quite as well. Glaring at her sister, she growled quietly.
"Batty, delete that video."
"Sorry, but that's not going to happen."
"Batty, delete that video, or you'll be sorry."
"Oh, really?"
"Batty, if you don't delete that video in the next three seconds, you had better run for your life."
The girl didn't hesitate for a second. Phone in hand, she leapt off the couch, and ran out of the living room as fast as she could. Jeffrey shook his head, grinning. That would be an interesting chase.
Suddenly experiencing a pain of hunger, he found his way into the kitchen, and began to snitch at what Aunt Claire was cooking. Apparently, he wasn't the only one who was doing so. Mr Pen, Iantha, Jane and Nathaniel were all prowling around, looking for scraps. The noise of running footsteps and hollered threats could be heard from upstairs, where Skye and Batty had continued their chase.
In fact, the noise drowned out Ben and the twins' desperate cries for help from the living room. It wasn't until a few moments later, when the three burst into the kitchen that the rest of the family was alerted to the emergency. Ben, now fourteen, burst in with his two younger sister behind him, coated in black soot and looking a bit burnt. Iantha was the first one to jump up.
"Oh, my goodness! What happened?"
"The Christmas tree's on fire! We were trying to put real candles on it, you know - like they used to, and suddenly everything went up in flames. We need help!"
In the next few minutes, everything was chaos. Skye and Batty temporarily called a truce, in order to help salvage their living room, but that didn't do much to keep things in order.
An hour and a half later, as the fire trucks pulled out of Gardam Street, the Penderwicks stood in their living room, looking at the mess that surrounded them. They would have to do some serious cleaning, but the house was otherwise unharmed. And yet, hanging there in the doorframe was a single sprig of mistletoe, swinging back and forth, as if haunting them. Somethings just refused to change.
Well, it certainly wasn't my best, but I hope it wasn't too terrible. I'm sorry it was so short. Thanks for the reviews! They mean an awful lot to me. :-)
Pseudonymperson - Thanks. I'm sorry it took me so long to get this one up. I will, hopefully, be quicker in the future. :-)
Guesswhichguest - Amazing name, by the way. :-) I LOVE that idea! Look for it in the future. :-) Thanks for your assistance.
Penderwicks4ever - Thank you!
Randomsarcasm42 - Yet another brilliant idea! :-) Thanks!
Guest - Awww.. thank you!