Anubis and Sadie were woken by a loud knock on their door; "Come on, Wake up you two, it's Christmas!" Came the voice of Bast.
Sadie bolted upright, "Anubis, wake up" She said, shaking his arm.
As he stirred from his sleep he could feel his arm being shaken rather violently. Sadie was usually a nice thing to wake up to, but when she was sat up shouting "It's Christmas!" down his sensitive ear, Anubis was slightly annoyed. His arm shot up, over her mouth. "Sadie, I know, calm down, my ears are more sensitive than yours."
Sadie calmed herself, waiting patiently. Sitting up against the soft black pillows, Anubis turned to her. "Merry Christmas" he said, giving her a soft kiss, smiling. Anubis got out of the large, king-size bed and went to the en-suit bathroom. He filled the white stone sink with cool water and got a light blue flannel from the edge of the sink. Looking in the mirror he checked his teeth from different angels to make sure they weren't damaged. Grabbing a bar of soap from the side he cleaned his face thoroughly to rid himself of dirt and any remaining feelings of tiredness.
As he surfaced from the sink he noticed Sadie in the mirror; she was in their bedroom (he hadn't closed the en-suit door, why would he need to after all) stretching to rid the last stubborn feelings of tiredness from her body, after these months they'd spent together she still caused him butterflies in his stomach. He turned his attention back to washing himself. Putting a fluffy white towel over his shoulder, he grabbed his toothbrush and moved on to his teeth. This he took great care with, making sure he thoroughly cleaned his mouth. Once this was done he moved on to dry his damp face with the towel. Pulling the towel from his face he noticed that, as usual, his fur had fluffed up. "Hurry up!" came the voice of Sadie as Anubis reached for a brush to fix his fluffed up fur. As soon as he was satisfied Anubis went back into the bedroom, grabbing his dressing gown on the way. Sadie was already at the door waiting with her dressing gown on as well as he tied his up at the waist. "Come on then, hurry up!" She said, practically bouncing on the spot. A smile forming on his lips, Anubis agreed, "come on then Miss Kane."
Sadie bounded downstairs as soon as the door opened. Anubis however took his time. Walking across the small landing he knocked on the white, wooden, door.
A knocking roused Sarah from her sleep. Getting up, her brain kicked in, 'today, what's happening today?...' she thought, 'Wait... I'm at Sadie's... and it's Christmas day!'
As she poked her head round the door she was surprised to see Anubis stood there in his dressing gown and (she assumed) his pyjamas, "Yes?" Sarah asked, blushing for a reason she couldn't find.
"I, um, came to wake you up. Sadie's already downstairs, and I don't think we should keep her waiting, she's really excited." Anubis explained, blushing under his fur. Sarah smiled, "That's Sadie for you." She pulled her dressing gown onto her from the back of the door, slipping on her slippers as well. Sarah opened the door with her foot as she looked for her phone. "Merry Christmas Anubis." Sarah said whilst reaching under her pillow for her phone, eventually emerging with it chirping at her. "I always get loads of texts on Christmas" she murmured.
Anubis sighed, "Yeah, I get one or two, usually from Horus showing off..."
"So you've never had a proper Christmas then?" Sarah asked, feeling sorry for him.
His ears drooped. "No, I guess I haven't" He said glumly.
Sarah stepped out of the room, closing the door behind her with a soft 'thump'.
"Come on Anubis, cheer up, Sadie won't want you sad on Christmas!" Sarah soothed. "And you know how persuasive Sadie is." She added with a smirk. At this his ears picked up. "You are right, she is rather persuasive." He muttered, smirking.
"Ugh" Sarah muttered, slapping Anubis' arm.
"Ouch, what was that for?" Anubis asked, rubbing his slightly bruised arm.
"Pft, forget it, let's just go downstairs." Sarah replied.
As they descended the stairs they heard sounds of complaints and laughter.
"Oh no Bast, you aren't putting that on me!" Sadie said firmly, slowly backing away from the cat goddess. Turning to Sarah, Anubis winked. Slowly moving behind Sadie he waited for the right moment. Bast saw what he was doing. Looking him in the eye she winked. Before Sadie had a chance to react Anubis had grabbed hold of her arms, holding them down while Bast rammed the bright red Santa hat on Sadie's head.
"Anubis, come on, I thought you were on my side!" Sadie complained.
"I am, you look nice and festive now." He replied with a smile.
Sadie laughed, "Festive. Wow, I never expected you to say that, you sound so.."
"So?.." Anubis nudged.
"Normal." Finished Sadie.
Anubis responded by tickling her, causing her to squirm and laugh, "stop it, haha, oy, come on now A...Anubis!"
The pair blushed furiously when they noticed both Sarah and Bast looking at them with raised eyebrows. "Come on you two, have you forgotten about your presents?" Bast asked. This got Sadie's attention. Sarah was almost sent flying as Bast opened the lounge door and Sadie bolted through.
Anubis was there to catch Sarah, smiling. Sarah blushed and hurried into the lounge after Sadie.
"Come on then, go in." Bast said, for once smiling at Anubis.
As he stepped into the large room he noticed the sofas had been moved apart to allow room for a large, brightly decorated tree in the corner.
Underneath the tree were brightly wrapped presents. However, the thing he noticed first was the five Red sacks in front of the tree. Each had a name on, Sadie and Sarah were waiting by theirs. Anubis stood speechless, "Is that... Mine?"
"Of course, now come on, I want to open mine." Sadie hurried.
At that moment Zoe trotted into the room, tail wagging happily as she sat next to her sack of presents.
"Where's Bast gone?" Sarah asked. No one needed to reply as Bast entered the room with a pack of letters. "I went to get the mail, now come on, enough dawdling, I want to see what I've got."
Surprisingly Zoe was the first to open her sack while the other's struggled a bit with the knots. "Well, I'm guessing that Bast tied this" Sadie muttered to no one in particular as she resorted to using her teeth. "hmm mmhm" she added, voice muffled by the rope in her teeth.
Anubis had no such trouble, discreetly summoning a knife from the duat he slit the rope loose. Picking up a small rectangular present he read the tag, 'To my dearest boyfriend Anubis, Love Sadie XXX'
It almost seemed like a shame to rip open the wrapping paper... Almost.
Anubis ripped it open as fast as he could. Inside was an expensive looking black box, which he flipped open at one end, sliding the contents out into his hand. In his hand sat a gold wristband, in the centre was engraved the head of a Jackal . Below this there was a small engraved message; "To Anubis, the one I love."
Anubis slid it on, admiring it. It covered almost half of his forearm and the gold contrasted his black fur.
Meanwhile Sadie was opening her present from him, a small box wrapped with a bow. Inside was a beautiful silver necklace in the shape of an Ankh.
She carefully placed it back into the velvet-lined box. 'I'll wear this later' she thought to herself, not wanting to lose it or misplace it. Turning round she saw Anubis sat facing the other way, admiring her gift. Wrapping her arms round him, hanging over his shoulder she whispered in his ear, "So, do you like it then?"
Smiling, he murmured back to her "mmhm, do you like your gift?"
"I do thank you, I'll put it on when I get dressed, I think it'll go with what I'm going to wear." she murmured in his ear before kissing his cheek and going back to her present opening: a PS3 from Bast, a game for it from Sarah, and some more from various relatives.
Anubis received a bottle of aftershave from Sarah, a new necklace from Bast and a few other anonymous presents.
Sarah got a silver ring from Sadie and Anubis, in the centre of the ring was a dazzling clear diamond. From Bast, Sarah received a matching pair of earrings to go with the ring.
After the excitement of the morning they were all in the mood to relax. The turkey was in the oven, stuffed and plump, snow was falling outside, the fire was burning well, Zoe curled up in front of it, blissfully content, chewing on one of her new toys. Bast was laid out on one of the sofa's, reading a book. Sarah was doing the same. Sadie had set up the playstation and was now in a heated competition with Anubis.
They were all stirred from their activities by a loud knocking at the door.
"Come in!" Bast shouted down.
"Merry Christmas!" replied two familiar voices.
Specifically, Carter and Uncle Amos. As they entered the room Sadie greeted Carter with her usual bone crushing hug, "Carter, I haven't seen you in ages, why didn't you write?" She questioned, "can you do anything right?"
He simply smiled, "nice to see you as well Sadie."
Anubis greeted Carter with a handshake, "Merry Christmas Carter."
"To you as well Anubis. How's Sadie treating you, not too roughly I hope" Carter replied.
"It depends what you mean by roughly" Anubis smiled.
Carter blushed, "I think I'll say hi to the others now."
Sarah buried her head back into her book, Carter was here. 'I know he's Sadie's brother, but still... ooft' she thought to herself.
"Hi Sarah, Merry Christmas" he greeted, Sarah could already feel herself blushing.
"Hi" She replied meekly.
Luckily Bast saved her. "Carter, come here my kitten!"
Carter span round, "Bast, how are you, it feels like it's been years!"
"I'm keeping well Carter, although I may be losing fur due to your sister."
At this Carter smiled, "So she hasn't changed much then?"
"Not as much as you Carter, you've grown so much since we first met."
Carter pondered this for a second. "Really, I don't think I have?"
"Come on, dinner!" Amos called from the dining room.
The majority of the dining room was taken up by a massive oak table, which today was set out with for the group. In the middle there was the turkey, followed by pots of vegetables. At one end sat Sarah, the other sat Carter.
On one Side sat Anubis and Sadie, on the other Bast and Amos.
Sarah blushed furiously, Why did she have to be facing him. At least she had Zoe by her feet. 'Ah well, just eat, don't look him in the eyes.' Sarah thought to herself, filling her plate with different veg.
Anubis tucked in to a slice of turkey, he'd never tried it before. Being a god he'd never really had to eat, he wasn't in the human world long enough.
'Hmm, I could get used to this' he thought to himself. Sadie was glad to see him enjoying his meal. His enjoyment was made even more obvious by the draft from his tail.
Amos was the first to start conversation, "So then, Anubis, you have surprised me. Never have I heard of a God falling in love with a human. I just hope you can handle her."
"Yeah" Bast chipped in, "Even I find her hard to handle."
"Well, I do my best to please her" he smiled, "although I do fail at times."
Carter let out a chuckle, "Nice to know you haven't changed sis!"
"Why am I the subject of conversation now?" Sadie complained through a mouthful of roast potato, "And Anubis you don't fail me, your wonderful."
Sarah smiled, finally adding to the conversation, "Well Sadie, that's rather soppy for you."
"Aren't I allowed to show my boyfriend some affection?" Sadie replied with a smile.
"Amos broke up the conversation, "Ah Anubis, me and Carter thought you might like to try this" he said, handing a brown bottle to Anubis.
Anubis read the label, "Hobgoblin. What is this?"
Carter piped up, "It's Ale, which is a type of beer that's rather popular over here, Amos likes it as well."
Anubis opened the cap with his tooth, using it like a bottle opener. He emptied the bottle into a pint glass that had been set out for him, filling it with the deep brown liquid. Lapping some of the liquid up he got a shiver. "I wasn't expecting it to be that strong flavoured!" he coughed to a laughing Amos.
The conversations went on and they ate till they were content. For the rest of the evening Sadie and Anubis lay together on one sofa, Bast and Amos sat on the next and Sarah, Zoe and Carter sat on the floor as they exchanged stories, presents and cheer. This is where we will leave the story for now. We will rejoin later. Will Sarah have told anyone her feelings for Carter? Does Carter have his own feelings for her? When will Zoe have her puppies?
Will there be a marriage?