"He is an annoying, annoying man," CJ Perry says quietly, curled up on a couch, head resting against a warm leg.
"Always has been," the voice overhead says quietly, unimpressed, almost disinterested. CJ would be irritated, wounded, if she didn't know the cause.
"I suppose I should know better than to let him get to me after all of these years," CJ muses, fingers trailing lazy shapes over soft cotton pillowing her. "And yet, I have not learned. It..." she exhales. "It hurts to see him floundering, I wish he would let me help, but he won't. And so I try to find other avenues, but then he gets angry, and..."
Fingers run through her hair, consoling, tender. CJ exhales, closing her eyes. "I wish it was as easy with him as it is with you."
There's a pause, then, "I'm glad it's not."
CJ chuckles grimly, pressing her head back to look up. "At least his being the way he is means we get to spend more of the holidays together."
"A fact I will never complain about," Tamina says, finally putting her book down and turning all focus onto CJ. "He and Rehwoldt are probably spending the days together anyway, so you shouldn't worry."
CJ lets out another broken little chuckle. "Yes, true. You always have a way of making me relax, see things as they actually are instead of how I overthink them into being."
Tamina smiles a little, continues to stroke her fingers through CJ's hair. "Yes, well. It's a gift."
"Your true gift is tree decorating," CJ murmurs, turning her eyes onto the frankly gigantic tree standing across from them. "It's a beautiful thing, you've truly outdone yourself."
"I feel like you say that every year," Tamina says, smile seeping into her voice. "Thank you all the same. I enjoy it. usually."
CJ gives out a real laugh at this one, tilting her head to once more look up at Tamina. "Unlike the year when that stray cat got in the apartment and knocked it over and we both had to start over from scratch?"
"Yes," Tamina says dryly. "I warned you to keep the door shut tight while we were going back and forth from the garage."
"You did," CJ admits. "Still worth it though."
Tamina rolls her eyes. "You still feed the damn thing when you think I'm not looking."
"Yes I do," CJ says with some pride. "I just like to help things, whether they want it or not."
Tamina grunts, then guides her in for a kiss. "I'm glad I stopped letting my pride keep me from this," she admits quietly.
CJ smiles at her. "Me too," she sighs.