A/N Again the disclaimer. I do not know personally anyone mentioned. This is purely a fiction exercise. Also because English is not my native language you may have to excuse some mistakes I may write. That being said I hope you enjoy it. :)

After Christmas festivities Grant is now back home. He arrived last night late so you haven't seen him yet. You didn't pick him up at the airport because you were avoiding to be seen in public places and he said he was tired so he went straight home to bed. These limitations in your relationship annoyed you. It almost seemed you didn't care for each other when all you wanted was to hug him the moment he stepped out of the plane, instead of leaving it for next day.

Grant himself seemed to have grown a little distant after Christmas. His texts and calls slowed down a lot and he seemed almost cold. These last few days were almost like a torture to you. You thought that maybe Grant was finally getting tired of this thing he had with you. The problem was that you had fallen for him, you didn't know what to do and that was driving you crazy, mad, sad, nervous and unhappy all at the same time.

Sunday morning, the morning after he arrived, he's knocking on your door to pick Jett. You were already expecting him so you let him in.

"Hi." He forces a smile.

"Hi. How are you?" You ask with a tense face letting him in.

"Good, a bit more rested, you?"

"I'm fine... No, I'm not fine." You close the door and you look expectantly at Grant.

"Why not?" He asks puzzled.

You look at him like even more puzzled. Again you don't like to waste time so you're always pretty direct. "Why? A few days ago before Christmas you were all like 'I miss you', 'I can't wait to be with you again' and all that stuff and after the holiday it was like you were a different person. Barely any phone calls or texts... And now you've arrived and not even a hug... What happened?"

"I'm just doing what you want."

"What? What I want? What is that supposed to mean?"

Grant sighs and he walks to the living room. You follow him and you ask again, "What do you mean? What do I want?"

"You don't want to take things seriously, it's ok, I understand. Sorry I pushed you trying to make things official. You just can't expect me to keep behaving the same way I have, all sweet and caring. I can't." You notice his eyes are quickly filling up with tears.

You raise your eyebrows baffled. "What the...? I don't want to take things seriously?!" You look almost desperate. "Grant, we've talked about this endless times. You said you could handle us being together in secrecy even though I told you more than once that I was sorry I couldn't give you more. You said it was ok, you didn't care as long as we were together. You know why I can't take things to the next level and tell everyone we're together. I can understand that you're tired of something like this and you want more. I'm really more than sorry and sad and angry that I can't give you more, but you cannot say I don't want to take things seriously. You can't because it's all I fucking want!" At this point you fall on the couch bursting into tears.

Grant closes his eyes for a second like he's trying to digest your words. You keeping sobbing on the couch and Grant finally comes sitting next to you. He puts an arm around your shoulders and pulls you into his arms to a tight embrace. "I'm sorry." He simply says while he caresses your back.

You try hard to stop crying while you enjoy his hug. When you finally regain control you look at him, "where the hell did you get that idea from, Grant? That I don't want to take things seriously? What happened on Christmas day? You changed overnight. Was it something I said? Because I seriously don't recall anything..."

Grant sighs while a tear runs down his cheek. "It was something you didn't say."

You look at him even more puzzled. "What?"

"When we talked about our gifts..."

You're getting more and more confused. He offered you a beautiful, gorgeous dress that you loved and you are supposed to wear it tomorrow at your birthday party and New Year's Eve. You wonder what that has got to do with the rest.

Grant continues. "After you opened my present, all I was hoping for was an affirmative answer from you. Your answer would be your Christmas gift to me."

"An answer? What answer? I told you I loved the dress. I really did, I didn't say it just to please you, you know I'm not that kind..."

Grant shakes his head. "I'm not talking about the dress. I'm talking about the picture."

You frown completely puzzled. "What?! What picture?"

"Oh my god." Grant takes both of his hands to his head like he had an epiphany. "You never saw the picture, did you?"

"What picture? What the hell are you talking about?" You remember your conversation with Grant on the phone on Christmas day. You told him you loved the dress and he asked you if that was it. You said you were even going to wear it on your birthday party. After that phone call Grant was never the same again.

Grant seems now resigned. He shrugs. "I'm so stupid. I should have asked you. Instead I just assumed your answer was no." You can see he's angry at himself.

"Grant, I don't understand. What are you talking about?"

"Baby, I'm sorry. I really am. I'm sorry I've been an ass these last few days. Can you forgive me?" He holds your hand and looks at your with red eyes. You can see he's really suffering.

"Oh Grant. Of course I forgive you." You hug him back again. "But what was that picture you keep talking about?"

"Do you still have the box of the dress?"

"Yeah..."

"I put a picture in there..."

You scowl trying to remember. "Wait a sec." You stand up and you go to your bedroom where you have the box with the dress. You open it, remove the dress and under all the tissue wrapping paper there you find the picture. It's what everyone would call an adorable photograph. It's you and Grant sitting next to each other on the couch at his place, with Jett lying on your laps. You're both smiling and even Jett is all photogenic for the picture with a Santa Claus hat on his head. You remember Doug taking pictures of this moment.

"So cute." You comment. You turn the picture and on the back you find some words written by Grant. 'Merry Christmas, my dear. By the time you read this I'm probably missing you like crazy. And make no mistake; this picture is a selfish gift. It's gift to tell you what I want for Christmas. And what I want is what's in this picture. Jett, I already have. And you... Do you want to be officially my girlfriend?'

"Oh my god..." You comment when you finish reading it with your heart melting. "So sweet... He thought I had seen the picture and because I didn't mention it he thought my answer was no... Oh dear."

With the picture in your hand you go back to the living room to join Grant again. He looks at you expectantly. "Oh Grant, I'm so sorry. I had no idea... I didn't see it…"

He smiles. "It's my fault, not yours. Sure, you didn't say yes but you didn't say no either. I should have just asked if you had seen the picture instead of just assuming you had."

"The picture is adorable. So cute. And if you still care, my answer is obviously yes."

Grant stands up and gets closer to you. "It's all I care." With no more words he's kissing you passionately. "I missed you so much." He says when he finally lets you breathe.

"I missed you too..." You caress the back of his head and you kiss him again.

"Now that was the best Christmas present I got." Grant grins.

"And mine... Better late than never." You joke. Then you remember. "Hummm, Grant, by the way, before our little...misunderstanding... I had decided something. I can't keep up with this. It's too stressful, too nerve-wracking, for you, for me... Besides you deserve more. Hell, I deserve more. If this is really serious for both of us then I'm gonna talk to my boss."

Grant stares at you with eyes wide open. "What?"

"Yeah, I'm gonna tell her. There's got to be a way to sort this out smoothly... I have more clients now, maybe she can assign you another publicist, someone who's not me, and then we can be properly together..." If a month ago someone told you you'd be saying this now, putting someone as your first priority instead of your job, you'd have laughed right at their face.

"Oh baby, as much as I appreciate your intention I don't want you to put your job in jeopardy. I've done some thinking of my own too and I decided that right after the New Year I'm gonna talk to some lawyers and see what our options are. Can you please hold on till I do that? Please?" He pouts.

You hesitate for a moment but you know he's right. Which on the other hand only makes you love him more. Not only does he worry about you but he's also trying to solve your problem. "Sure, I can." You nod with a smile.

"Thank you." He caresses your cheek. "Besides I don't anyone else as my publicist. You're the one and only."

You smile foolishly and, before he can see you blush, you just turn around. "Ok, so, I'm gonna look for Jett, ok? I'm sure you're missing him like crazy..."

Grant laughs and follows you. You end up spending the whole day and night together.