I know I kinda disappeared... Bad History, Better Future is on my radar and once Monday is over and done with, I am hoping to be a lot more focused and... basically get shit done...

I decided that it was probably in my best interest to keep this as short as possible. Bearing in mind how last year went, I don't think I would be able to do the same thing this year. Hence why you are getting on 12 chapters... and they are going to be as short as I could make them. Some are definitely longer than others...

But please enjoy this and I will see you on Monday for the next one.

ONE - Christmas tree with ornaments, lights, and garlands

As an adult, Rachel could appreciate how everyone turned rather childlike over Christmas. In fact, she was infinitely more excited for Christmas now than she had ever been as a child. And Rachel always wanted to allow herself the Christmas that she would have wanted as a child. She owed that to Amanda.

So maybe she was a little more excited than everyone expected her to be when the tree went up in the foyer and she felt like they wouldn't have expected her to bring in decorations for her office. The little Christmas tree in the corner of her office was the perfect size, however, Rachel had always wanted to get more decorations on it.

And she didn't think anything of it when she told Eddie just that. She especially didn't expect him to walk into her office with a pack of tiny baubles and tinsel a quarter of the size that she could find in the shops.

"Eddie, wha…" She started when he placed them on her desk.

"I knew Mum had some stuff kicking about from when we were kids. Well, it was more my grandma's and Mum made sure to pick it up when they cleared the house after she died." He cleared his throat. "Grandma always had a very beautiful but precise Christmas tree. Everything had its place. But one year, she bought a small Christmas tree, about the same size as yours, and it was the grandkids' one. I think she'd just had enough of us messing up the big one because we would always knock the tree and not replace the ornament in the right place."

Rachel found herself speechless. It felt like an incredibly kind gesture for the length of time that they had known each other. Especially when it felt like they were just getting to the stage where they could efficiently work together.

To most people, they would have just seen them as ornaments. But Rachel could just feel the memories that Eddie had with them. And they were probably a key reminder of all the Christmases he had at his grandma's.

But she felt like she knew what would happen if she refused them. There would be a big back and forth about it all. And it would probably end up with one of them giving up and accepting what the other said. Rachel just couldn't understand why she thought that it would be her who would back down eventually.

"Are you sure, Eddie?" She said.

"They are only gathering dust at home. Actually, Mum thought that she had thrown them out."

She peered into the box of baubles and allowed the smile to rise on her face. She glanced up at Eddie before she stood up taking the box with her to change over the decorations. And it felt like it had been some peace deal between them as Eddie joined her to rearrange them.

Until they started arguing over where certain ornaments would go. And then it felt like nothing had changed, even though everything had.