AN: This one's sad and short - the song is 'Blue Christmas.' Sam and Artie are separated during Christmas and it's just not the same when they're not together.
Artie sighed as he looked out the window of his hotel room. It was about a week until Christmas and there was no snow. There was rain however, which was not something he was used to. Being a director meant traveling a lot though, and sometimes that included places where it didn't snow at Christmas. Part of him was glad that it wasn't snowing though – it didn't really feel like Christmas this way at least, and he knew that he wouldn't enjoy the holiday this year. When he had to travel for his job, he did it by himself since it wasn't fair to make Sam take off just to travel around with him and sit in hotels while he directed. Unfortunately that meant that this Christmas they would be separated.
They had already exchanged presents and were going to open them over Skype together on Christmas morning but it wasn't the same. They hadn't been able to decorate together, go shopping, or just spend time together at all. Artie wasn't woken by Sam being excited that it was snowing out and there were no walks in the snow. He tried to stay cheerful, since many others involved in the production were going to be missing family and friends over Christmas as well, but Sam not being with him was like a constant ache.
They had planned on celebrating Christmas on set and everyone had a Secret Santa that they were supposed to get something for. Artie had picked his present out weeks ago and it was wrapped, waiting to be opened. The one present sitting by itself looked lonely which just reinforced the feeling in Artie. He didn't want to sit around and mope but since there wasn't anything else for him to do, he continued to do just that. Everything on TV was Christmas specials and commercials with families celebrating the holidays together, all happy and jolly and he didn't want to watch something that he couldn't be involved in.
The house was always quieter when he was on his own, but it seemed almost stone dead quiet now. Sam couldn't stand it and usually had music or the TV on so there was some background noise. He hated when Artie was gone and it sucked that this time it was over the holidays. He had half-heartedly tried to get in the Christmas mood but it wasn't the same thing. He had put the decorations up by himself and even gone out and gotten a tree, but it just didn't seem to matter. There were a few presents underneath – the things that Artie had already gotten him – but it seemed silly that he had a tree just for those.
It had really hit him that this Christmas would be a lonely one when he woke up to the first snowfall and had nobody to tell. The side of the bed where Artie normally laid was cold and empty and he ended up sitting on the couch by himself, wrapped up in a blanket, watching the snow drift down. He knew that Artie loved his job and what he did, but he couldn't help but hate it a little bit, especially during times like these. For once, he wished that it wouldn't interfere with their family and lives.
He would be going over to his parents' house on Christmas after he did his gift-opening with Artie over Skype and he was glad that he got to spend time with his family – he just wished that Artie would be there too. Although he knew that this wouldn't always be the case and Artie probably wouldn't miss another Christmas, it still sucked majorly and he couldn't bring himself to even care this year.