A/N: Thank you all for reading this to the end, and particularly to those that left reviews, PMs, favorites and follows. I have responded to all but the guest reviews, to which I can't send replies. This short AU story appealed to me, and obviously to some of you too. Thank you again.

And thanks to my friend, Capt LiL, for the beta. He managed to fit it in around his work, and family life, for which I am very grateful.

So, the day Sarah had been dreading has arrived…

That Christmas Spirit

Chapter 6: Christmas Day

Waking up the previous day had been great, but today was just wonderful. She wasn't just lying on Chuck as she had before. This morning, they were both naked and she was sprawled over him more. Her legs were entwined with his and, yes, her feet were warm, but her whole body was pressed against his, gloriously.

As she cast her mind back, their night of love-making had been truly amazing. Everything had been perfect, in every way, every time. She couldn't believe how wonderful it had been or how good she felt both after it, and now.

If sex was all it took to fall in love with someone, Chuck was it for her. He was everything she could want in a lover. Of course, sex wasn't everything, but it was certainly important that they were definitely compatible in that way.

She wanted to kiss him and possibly make love again before facing the day. However, she knew they needed to brush their teeth, for more of that passionate kissing. She didn't want to move, though.

"Oh my god! You're still lying on me. That really happened, didn't it?" he mumbled.

She wriggled against him, causing a happy groan from him. "Multiple times, Lover," she replied. She leaned up and gave him a peck on the lips. "We need to brush our teeth so I can kiss you properly, then maybe again?" She climbed off of him and headed into the bathroom. He was right behind her.

"God, your derriere is great to look at normally, but naked is even better!" he muttered. She deliberately wiggled it this time and he groaned. "Remember you want to get back to bed before…"

The thought of what he was suggesting nearly stopped her, but they needed to clear their mouths of bad breath first.

She dragged him back to bed and, once again, he proved how perfect he was for her in bed.

Chuck sat opposite Sarah at the kitchen table just loving how she looked. She had a glow about her. The smile was even better than her usual one.

Then, he remembered what day it was. With everything that had happened over night and this morning, he'd forgotten who he was, let alone what day it was. "Merry Christmas, Gorgeous," he said.

Her eyes widened. "It's Christmas Day!"

He grinned. "It is, and I was woken to the best Christmas present I've even had."

She looked at him for a moment before responding. "It was for me too, Chuck. The only present I could ever want, but I hope it's not a Christmas-only gift."

He laughed. "Like I mentioned before. Not just for Christmas."

She reached over and held his hand. "It was perfect, Chuck. Thank you."

As always, taking credit for everything wasn't right. For him, all of that was hers. "It wasn't all me, you know. You made it perfect."

She smiled a little shily. "Maybe we're just perfect together."

He nodded happily. "Please keep thinking that."

"You can't have self-doubt after that, Chuck!"

He sighed. "Sarah, I've wrapped myself in self-doubt for the last five years. It's part of me now."

"Maybe I can change that," she offered.

He smiled. "Having you as my girlfriend, is certainly starting that. Even though I was struggling to work out why you wanted to be with me, now I'm beginning to feel good about myself. So, thank you, Sarah."

She smiled. Then said, "Let's see how today goes, huh?"

He gripped her hand. "It'll be a good day, Sarah."

She looked unsure but said, "If we survive the day, I'm hoping for more loving tonight."

He nodded enthusiastically and suggested, "Maybe at my place?"

She looked shocked. "And have your sister and her boyfriend listen to us?"

He looked at her as he shook his head. "I've had to listen to them every night for the last five years. Maybe payback time."

"Well, I don't want their first day seeing me to be one where they hear me, as well."

"Sarah, you're not noisy… unlike them."

She looked unsure. "I'd have to stuff my face in your pillow to make sure I was quiet."

Not wanting to think about that or their desire to again before they left, he decided to change the subject. "Well, we've showered and dressed. How long before you'll be able to face going?"

She sighed. "I guess I'm just putting off the inevitable. Half-an-hour?"

As they walked toward his apartment, she wished they'd come in separate cars, rather than together in his. Then, she could've just slipped her hand out of his and run for her car to get away. Now, she felt trapped.

She looked around, trying not to think negatively like that. There was a fountain in a courtyard with the apartments around the edge. Christmas lights had been put up from the sides to that fountain. They weren't on at this time of day, but she was sure that they had been last night. If she ignored those lights, the setting was very nice.

Then, they homed in on the apartment he shared and she tensed. He was holding her hand. She wasn't sure if that was to comfort her, or ensure she didn't bolt. Either way, he squeezed it gently.

She looked up into his eyes, and felt some of that tension ease. Not all of it, but enough that she felt she could face the ordeal ahead.

He put his key in the lock and opened the door, guiding her in with a hand at her back, or was that again to make sure she moved forward?

"Hi, guys, we're here," Chuck called out as they stood in the hallway.

A beautiful woman with straight brown hair appeared around the corner. She was clearly Chuck's sister. Sarah could see some features she shared with her brother. "Merry Christmas," Ellie said as she beamed at them, another thing that made her look like her brother, who she hugged tightly.

"Merry Christmas, El," he said.

Then, Ellie turned to Sarah and looked at her. "Wow! You're beautiful," she said. Before Sarah could respond, she was pulled into a hug, too. Sarah was amazed at how tightly his sister did that. She felt she should say something, but she could hardly breathe.

Once she was released from the hug, Ellie didn't let her go but held her shoulders. "I'm so excited that you're with him, Sarah, and with us today."

"Thanks for having me, Ellie and Merry Christmas."

Ellie wrapped her arm around her and led her into the living room. "Tell me if we go too over the top," she said.

Sarah realized that Chuck had warned his sister of her feelings about Christmas. She wondered how much he'd said and wished she'd quizzed him on it.

A tall blond man was at the oven in the kitchen, but once he closed the door, he turned around and beamed at Sarah. He walked quickly to her, saying, "Wow! Quite a catch, bro." When he reached her, he took her hands and said, "Welcome to our home, Sarah. I'm Devon. It's wonderful to meet the woman who's swept Chuckster off his feet." He pulled her into a hug, but it wasn't as tight as with Ellie. He let her go quickly, too. "What would you like to drink? Wine, beer, something stronger?"

Sarah wasn't feeling as bad as she expected, so didn't need a strong drink. "Wine?"

Devon nodded. "Red or white?"

Sarah smiled. "Red, please."

He walked over to the dining table. "These two prefer white, so I hope shiraz is okay."

Please," she responded. She turned to Chuck. "A white wine drinker?"

"I can drink anything," he replied. He looked at Devon. "I'll have a shiraz too, please."

Devon looked surprised. "Living on the edge, Chuckster," he said, and poured a second glass.

Sarah offered to help, which was gratefully accepted. It seemed that Chuck's absence earlier meant that dinner preparation wasn't as far ahead as it should've been, so help was definitely needed.

"I don't understand," Chuck complained. "I don't help in the kitchen, anyway."

Ellie looked his way briefly. "No, you don't, but who do you think had to make the place look presentable in your absence?"

"Uh, one of you two?" he replied, pointing at Ellie and Devon, as he realized what that meant. "Rather than doing food prep in the kitchen."

Sarah felt bad because it was her fault he wasn't here. The feeling of ruining Christmas was creeping up on her. She had to fight it down, but saw a way to partially rectify the situation. "I'm good at chopping vegetables."

Ellie looked at her like she was a godsend. "Please. Chuck, you set the table."

Sarah was given potatoes to peel and chop for the mash Ellie would make. Ellie was also planning sweet potato casserole, so those needed peeling and chopping, too. Sarah was surprised to see carrots as well. "Something one of our British friends suggested," Ellie said. "They have a lot of vegetables with their Christmas dinner, but carrots are our favorite."

Sarah remembered seeing part of a Vicar of Dibley episode where the vicar got invited to four Christmas lunches and got into a Brussels sprout challenge at one of them. "Not Brussels sprouts, then?"

Ellie looked at her and grinned. "I know what you're thinking, but no competitions like that here. No, we're not having those or parsnips or roast potatoes."

"So, how'd you want the carrots chopped?" Sarah asked.

"Slice them into rounds, please," Ellie replied.

Sarah quickly peeled all the potatoes and the carrots, then washed them. Moving them over to the chopping board, she started on the carrots first.

When she heard a gasp, she stopped and looked up, worried someone had hurt themselves. She found both Ellie and Chuck staring at her. "What's wrong?" she asked.

"Nothing, you're just so fast," Ellie replied.

"It's a bit frightening," Chuck added.

She smiled. "I'm good with knives." She wasn't going to mention where she learned that skill.

She soon had all those vegetables how Ellie wanted, put them in the pans as directed, and was then shooed out of the kitchen to rejoin her boyfriend.

"You're amazing," he said to her.

She laughed. "My amazing chopping skills?"

He grinned. "Yeah, I guess that does sound silly." He handed her a refilled glass of wine.

"Trying to get me drunk?"

"Will that help?" he asked.

She smiled. "I'm fine. I don't need that."

He looked relieved. "Good."

She leaned closer. "And you don't need to get me drunk to have your way with me later, either." She kissed his cheek after that, as he thought about that comment.

Ellie called Chuck for help and Sarah nodded that she was ok.

She then wandered around the room, looking at the family photos. There were, surprisingly, none of Chuck and Ellie's parents, just ones of the two of them together at various ages and then ones with Devon and Ellie.

She realized that, like her, Chuck hadn't talked about his parents. Because her childhood was so bad, she'd not asked about his. She wasn't going to ask today. That might be what would destroy the mood, but she wanted to know.

"Mom and Dad both died, leaving Ellie to bring me up." Chuck's voice took her by surprise. She was momentarily annoyed with herself. Part of her training had been situational awareness, and she'd excelled. Now, she seemed to have lost that, or rather, it didn't work with Chuck.

She turned to him. As he'd started, she asked, "How old were you?"

"I was nine when mom died. It was my fault she went out in the pouring rain to get something for me from the pharmacy. The truck that hit her killed her instantly. Dad was devastated and completely lost it, blaming me, as I did, then blaming himself for letting it happen. He never recovered and left us when I was twelve."

"I'm so sorry to hear that, Chuck, and that you had to tell me today of all days." She pulled him down for a tender kiss.

When they separated, he smiled, a little sadly, but it was a smile. "It was a long time ago, but thanks for caring." He visibly tried to cheer up. "Hey, my sob story got me that wonderful kiss, so some good came of it."

"You hadn't told me about all that before," she said.

"It wasn't relevant," he replied. "And I didn't want you to be with me out of pity."

She pulled him in tightly. "We're both such broken people," she murmured.

He kissed the top of her head. "But more complete when together."

He was right. That was another reason why they were right for each other. She was glad she came today as she wouldn't have known this otherwise.

"Have you just told her about mom and dad?" Sarah looked at the annoyed brunette standing with her fists on her hips, glaring at her brother. "Not a very festive topic, Chuck!"

Sarah said to her, "I suspect it informed how close the two of you are together, especially at Christmas."

Ellie stared at her with her features softening. She looked back at her brother. "She's smart, too." With that she turned and walked away from them.

Chuck was keeping an eye on his girlfriend all the time. Even when apart. Maybe especially then. She seemed to be holding up well.

That conversation about his parents had, in spite of Ellie's concerns, helped ease Sarah's tension. It seemed that knowing how he and his sister had not had great childhoods made her less upset about her feelings at this time of year. It made him wonder why she hated it so much that she felt as she did about it. Something must've made her moody and the previous boyfriends not wanting to be with her. He hadn't asked her, but now suspected it was something about her time with her parents. Neither of them had talked about their past before, but maybe her time had been as bad as his. He wanted to know.

For now, he'd just enjoy seeing her truly smiling and laughing with Ellie and Devon over their Christmas lunch. No one had mentioned the C word, for which he was grateful.

As she leaned back from her empty plate, Sarah smiled at him and blew him a kiss across the table. He'd meant to sit next to her, but she'd sat next to Devon and obviously wanted to be able to gaze across the table at him. He wasn't going to object, but tearing his eyes off hers was very difficult when one of the other two talked to him.

He knew it was crazy to have fallen in love with her so quickly, but he couldn't deny it. He'd even admitted it to her, and thankfully, that hadn't scared her off.

"I liked everything I ate," she said, with a grin and sparkling eyes.

"Is it anything like-" Devon started but stopped sharply at the glare he received from his girlfriend and the look of horror from her brother. "Er… never mind."

Sarah visibly deflated. She obviously was wondering how much he'd told the two of them about her feelings of Christmas.

"Sarah," Ellie looked determined to tell Sarah something. "I've never seen Chuck as happy as he has been since he met you." That made Sarah focus on his sister and a smile grew back onto her face. Chuck could've hugged Ellie right then.

Sarah then opened up a bit, looking at the person sitting next to him. "Chuck must've told you that I'm not a Christmas person, Ellie. I don't enjoy it and don't eat Christmas dinners or lunches. I don't do Thanksgiving, either. I don't want to talk about it, but that started with my time with my parents. I usually spend Christmas Day on my own. Chuck didn't want me to do that this year." She gazed over at him. "He wants me to enjoy the day. He's doing a pretty good job of it." She looked back at the other two."… with your help." She smiled. "You're all so welcoming."

"How could we be otherwise to the woman who's brought back the Chuck we knew before his problems at college?" Ellie asked, totally honestly.

Sarah looked at him, her eyes a bit watery, but the smile hadn't left. She reached across the table and he did the same, taking her hand in his. "We're obviously good for each other," she said. The look she gave him made him feel like he was the best thing that had ever happened to her. God, I love her so much!

Ellie's glances shifted between the two of them. "You are," she confirmed, her smile and watery eyes matched Sarah's, and Chuck suspected his own.

"Awesome," Devon commented.

Sarah sat quietly after the meal watching the other three exchange Christmas presents. She felt totally out of it and it reminded her that she wasn't part of Christmas. However, whenever he could, Chuck, who was sitting beside her most of the time, held her hand or pulled her into him, trying to stop her zoning out completely. She appreciated that more than she could say.

Ellie kept looking at her and appeared uncomfortable when she did. Eventually, she spoke. "Sarah, Chuck told us not to buy you anything, and we weren't even sure you'd be with us…"

"Ellie, I wouldn't want anything," Sarah responded. "And I haven't even known Chuck well enough to buy him a present, so I have nothing for any of you."

She noticed Chuck biting his lip to stop himself from talking about the wonderful gift they'd shared. She gripped his hand to say thanks for that.

"Well… we did get you one thing," Ellie said. She held up her hand as Sarah was about to respond. "It's only so you won't feel you don't fit in."

Chuck groaned next to her as Ellie stood and pulled Devon with her to their bedroom. Sarah glanced at her boyfriend questioningly, but then the other two returned with four wrapped gifts, each labeled. The one Ellie handed to her was soft.

"We'll all open together," the brunette said.

Sarah ripped open her first Christmas present since she was little. The onesie was soft and thankfully not specifically Christmassy, but a black starry sky. She knew stars were featured in Christmas, but this was more subdued. She looked up. "It's lovely," she said, feeling a bit teary.

The other three were holding matching onesies. "We have a tradition of wearing onesies as we watch Twilight Zone for the rest of the day," Ellie confessed.

"But you didn't know anything about me," Sarah said.

Ellie smiled. "Chuck gave us your approximate sizes. He said you were slim and tall. I just popped out and bought what I thought appropriate yesterday to match what we had."

Sarah looked at what she was holding. "I love it."

Ellie beamed. "Well, time to change into them." She stood and grasped Devon's hand and they set off for their bedroom.

Chuck stood and did the same with Sarah. She walked into his bedroom, seeing it for the first time. It suited what she knew of him perfectly. There was a computer with DVDs beside it, a couple of game controllers, a music system with a large selection of CDs, a stack of comics and some dolls, men's action figures, on a shelf. But her eyes were drawn to the queen-sized bed which looked so inviting. She was about to turn to look at Chuck when she heard a squeal from the next room and then Ellie's loud voice, "Not now, Dev! Later!"

She started to chuckle. "See what I mean, Sarah?" Chuck said, shaking his head.

He'd stripped off his outer garments and was putting on his onesie. God, I could pounce on him now!

She shook her head and unzipped her dress and slid it off.

Chuck gasped and stared at her in her blue lacy underwear. She grinned as she slipped off her shoes and sauntered over to him. "Like Ellie says… later." She stood on tiptoes to give him a peck on his lips. Then, she went to climb into her onesie, grinning to herself and looking forward to 'later.'

The traditional viewing was so much better with Sarah snuggled into him. They were on the couch together. Sarah had her legs tucked under her, which didn't surprise him. Her normally cold bare feet were being warmed by the onesie she was wearing. Her head was nestled upon his shoulder and her hands holding his arm possessively.

He still couldn't believe how lucky he was to have her as his girlfriend.

Sarah had never seen any Twilight Zone episodes, so the whole experience was new to her. He was pleased that she seemed to be enjoying it.

When the current episode ended, Devon stood up. "Comfort break," he announced as he headed to the bathroom.

"More wine?" Ellie asked and, on receiving two nods, refilled their glasses.

"I don't think Chuck's safe to drive," Sarah said. "So, it looks like I'll be staying here tonight." She pushed away slightly to look at Chuck. Her eyes weren't as focused as they usually were, but still bored into his with such passion that he knew what she had in mind for the night.

"Good," he replied with a higher pitched voice than normal.

Sarah grinned at his reaction.

She seemed to have completely forgotten which day this was, which made him feel that he and his family had achieved what they set out to do.

Once Devon was back, and Ellie seated, the next episode was started. Sarah settled back into him and this time he put his arm around her.

She'd shifted from wine to water part way through the evening, and Chuck had matched her. They both had too much alcohol in their systems to drive, but she, at least, felt relatively sober now.

"I think that's enough Twilight Zone for today," Ellie said. "We'll tidy up in the morning." She stood and held her hand out to her boyfriend who joined her. "Night, you guys," she said to Chuck and Sarah as the couple walked to their bedroom.

"Let's tidy up now, Chuck," Sarah said, standing and grabbing her wine and water glasses. Chuck did the same.

It wasn't long before they were both ready to head to bed. "Those two have finished in the bathroom. D'you want to go first?" Chuck asked her.

"Keep the onesie on," she whispered in his ear. "I want us to peel them off each other." Then, she ducked into his bedroom to get her toothbrush before walking into the bathroom.

Once they were both back in the bedroom. She stood waiting. He'd obviously remembered what she was wearing under the onesie and eagerly helped her out of it. She did the same with him, and their night of passion led from there, quietly, with her biting on his pillow a number of times.

Her last thoughts before drifting off to sleep in his arms were that unlike her expectations, Christmas was great if you were with the right people and, particularly, the perfect man. He'd infused her with that Christmas spirit that she'd been lacking all her life until she met him.

A/N: And that's it. I didn't want to take this beyond Christmas Day, but we can all see that our favorite couple are going to stay together. If you enjoyed this and haven't sent a review yet, please do. Obviously the same goes to those that have in the past.

This is the last chapter I will publish in 2023, but I'll be continuing the incomplete stories and starting new ones in 2024.

It's been an interesting year for me with downs as well as ups. Friends lost, sadly, but also new ones gained to join those that are special to me, and this community has been just fantastic. My wife and I caught COVID at the start of the year, which was grim, but we also managed to escape the UK for the first time in four years with a trip to Egypt, which will feed into a story at some point. So, let's end this year on a high and look forward to 2024 being even better.

If you celebrate it, Merry Christmas. If not, then Happy Holidays, and definitely Happy New Year to you all.