Hey guys! Thank you so much to all those who have stuck around to read. It's been a long year with many ups and downs, but we've made it!

From the bottom of my heart, I wish you all the very best for this new year!

Anyway, I apologize for any typing mistakes if there is any, and, without more to add, I leave you to it.

I hope you enjoy this new chapter and let me know what you think!

CANDY, MISTLETOE, AND, A NEW START?

For the next couple weeks, in order to quarantine herself, Lea stayed in her apartment pretty much 24/7, all she went out for was to take the trash out and, anything she could have possibly needed in that time, she ordered online and got delivered to her doorstep.

She had made her mind up about staying with Shaun for the holidays, even thought she had not told him yet…

By the end of the two weeks, she finally went out for 3 days in a row, but only to get tested for covid, after that, she packed her things, mainly clothes, in a suitcase, and at night, she went to Shaun's apartment.

She knew that if she had told him before, he would have said no to the idea. She also knew that by just showing up to his doorstep with a suitcase, the reaction she was going to get from him was probably not going to be a very welcoming one, but she had thought about it way too much in the past weeks and made a choice, all that was left was to figure out how to persuade him to let her stay if he tried to send her back to her place…

And there she was, standing right outside his door. She grabbed some courage and took a deep breath before knocking.

Shaun, who was comfortably sitting on the sofa watching the weather channel, heard the knocking and looked at the clock on the wall. It was 8:55 p.m. only fine minutes left before the time when he usually talked to Lea, when he wasn't at work. So, hoping that whoever was knocking wouldn't take much of his time so he could call his girlfriend in time, he got up from the sofa, put on a mask and walked to the door; looked out through the peephole and saw Lea who was nervously chewing on her lower lip while waiting.

She knocked on the door again and he hesitated for a moment, but ended up opening the door without a question, because he had no energy left to argue over her well being that night…

Lea smiled softly behind her own mask as soon as she saw him and he only stood by the door, holding it halfway open, waiting for her to say something.

"Hi" She said.

"Hello"

She knew he was probably not going to invite her in just like that, so she reached into her purse and pulled out some papers, then cleared her throat a bit before speaking again.

"I know you're probably thinking I shouldn't be here, and I totally get it… You're right, I shouldn't, but…" She paused, took a deep breath and looked him in the eye. "Over the past two weeks and 3 days, I have not gone out of my apartment at all, except to take out the trash and to get tested" She handed him the test results. "I know rapid tests aren't very reliable, you've told me many times, but I've gotten tested 3 days in a row and all of them have been negative…"

Shaun took the papers and looked down at them while she studied his expression for a moment, but there was nothing apart from tiredness in his eyes.

"We… We have been apart for like six months and they have been like the most stressing 6 months of my life, probably of yours too and of everyone's… the point is, the holidays are coming and I really don't want to be alone… I know it may be selfish or something, but I can't really go all the way to Hershey to be with my family and, to be honest, I don't really want to… I want to be with you…"

He pondered her words for a minute and she stared at him, almost knowing that an outright "No" was about to come out of his mouth, but, to her surprise, Shaun stepped back a little into the apartment, further opening the door as he moved, then opened his arms, ready to welcome her with a hug.

Lea's eyes sparkled with surprise at the sight before her, but without thinking twice or even asking if he was sure, she stepped forward into the apartment and into his arms, wrapping hers around his waist in a kinda tight embrace, and, as he also wrapped his arms around her, she let out a sigh of relief and contentment…

Shaun had had a rough day at the hospital, in fact, the past 6 months had been rough for him and his colleagues, but somehow, Lea being there and him holding her, washed away some of all that stress.

—

For the Murphy family, holidays used to be as normal as they could be for any kid, except for the fact that his dad was usually drunk on those days, as well as other days, and that used to kill the mood, but his mom would make the effort to get them a toy, or something they liked, and they would open said presents on Christmas morning.

Later on, after Shaun's brother died and he went from one foster home to another and then Dr. Glassman basically took care of him, the holidays became very secondary to him.

Glassman was only half jewish, but he had never been religious or big into celebrating Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas or even Hanukkah, etc; he was always working on those days, and when Shaun was in med school, he would occupy his time studying, so those holidays weren't a big deal in Shaun's life, until he met Lea and, as he got to know her, he learned that, unlike Glassman, she was a very festive person.

Spending Christmas with her, two years ago when they were only roommates, had been nice, and this year, with everything that was going on in the world and with how he had been feeling lately, the truth was that he didn't want to be alone either, so, whom best to be with than his girlfriend, right?

They hugged each other for a moment until he moved away to pull her suitcase in and close the door.

She looked at him with a soft smile and pointed to her mask. "Is it okay if we take these off?"

Shaun looked at her, briefly thinking about that, then moved to the kitchen counter where a bottle of hand sanitizer was resting and he rubbed some on his hands before offering some to her, too.

"Mmh… I'm not sure… I don't want to be alone during the holidays either, but maybe we should come up with a plan to keep each other healthy for as long as you stay here. After all, I'm still working at the hospital everyday and you could get covid because of that"

"Right…" She said as extended one of her arms with her palm up and he squirted some gel on it.

—So, no kissing yet… at least he's actually letting me stay…— She thought as she rubbed the gel on her hands.

Shaun nodded putting the sanitizer back on the counter, then walked back to the living, sitting on the sofa again to resume watching the weather channel.

Lea watched him, still standing near the door, then he turned his head around a bit to look at her, like wondering if she was going to join him. She smiled and walked to the sofa, then sat next to him and they quietly watched the weather predictions.

"Where's Park?" Lea said after a few minutes as she glanced around.

"He's on call at the hospital, but he doesn't live here anymore"

"What? Why?"

"I think he didn't like living with me… and he'll ask for a few days off so he can go spend the holidays with his family"

"Oh…" Lea let out and got a bit lost in thought.

She knew, first hand, how difficult being Shaun's roommate could be, specially when he's stressed, and lately, there had been a lot of that; Shaun had been very moody the last few months.

Everyone was stressed and, probably, as health care workers, what they wanted at the end of the day, was to get home and get some peace and tranquility, not be nagged around about random things like the way you hang the toiled paper in the bathroom, or the way you accommodate the groceries in the fridge or in the cupboards, so maybe Dr. Park couldn't stand that, apart from his own stress, and he left for the best.

Luckily, by then, Lea knew Shaun better. She was used to his way of doing things and he was used to hers, and hopefully, being together would help with his moodiness.

Lea was on the sofa, in the middle of a video call with some coworkers when Shaun arrived home from the hospital.

As soon as he walked through the door, she picked her laptop from a pile of books she had placed on the coffee table to use as a stand, then moved over to sit against one arm of the sofa, her back facing Shaun's bedroom, so her colleagues wouldn't catch him undressing in the background…

—

"I don't want you to get covid… I don't want anything to happen to you"

Shaun had told Lea, in the middle of the night she arrived to his apartment, when, after not being able to sleep because of worrying, he tried to figure out the best way for them to live together through the holidays while also keeping her safe, and when he finally came up with a plan, he felt the need to wake her up and tell her right away while she was laying right next to him, on his small bed.

His plan dictated that he would arrive from work, get rid of his shoes and jacket and spray them with disinfectant, get rid of the rest of his clothes and put them in the washer, then head into the bathroom to take a shower, and, only after he had basically washed away the hospital and the patients he had had contact with that day, they would be able to talk and do whatever they'd want to do together.

Shaun was exposed to the virus everyday, and, no matter how careful he was, how much sanitizer he sprayed on his stuff, how much he scrubbed himself in the shower, inevitably, one way or another, Lea was going to be exposed, as well.

The risk was still there, but it was one they were willing to take, because they realized needed each other to get through the madness as mentally sane as possible. So maybe there was no way to get rid of the risk, but they were trying to minimize it as much as they could.

—

Adhering to his plan, Shaun pulled his shoes and jacket off, sprayed them, rubbed sanitizer on his hands and proceeded to strip off of the rest of his clothes before pushing them into the washer, all while Lea watched him from the corner of her eye as the video call with her coworkers was almost over.

In another situation, one that didn't involve being in the middle of a pandemic or in the middle of a work call, she would be playfully wolf whistling at him and/or joining him in the shower, but, "rules are rules" and she had to finish her call and wait for him to wash all the virus and other stuff off of him before even attempting to touch him…

Later that night, after enjoying dinner together, they were sitting on the sofa, talking about how Lea was considering getting an air mattress to place right next to his bed because there was clearly not enough space for both of them on his twin mattress, since she had a tendency to move in her sleep and sometimes end up in starfish position, using most of the space, which made Shaun uncomfortable and he'd leave the room to go sleep on the sofa, but then he'd say it was a comfortable sofa to sit on, but not so much to sleep on.

"I don't want you to feel forced to get a bigger bed just because I'm staying here for a couple months, so I think an air mattress is the way to go. What do you think?"

He nodded "Okay. I can help you to pick one"

"Okay" She smiled at him. "Onto other matters… Halloween is in a few days…" She grinned, but he was unimpressed by said holiday. "…I was thinking we could do something? I mean, I know we're not supposed to go out and party or whatever, but we could do something here, just you and me. I don't know"

"I don't like dressing up and having makeup on my face…" Shaun said. "One time… we didn't have a lot of money to buy costumes, but my mom managed to get a couple skeleton ones from a thrift store, but there were no masks, so she painted or faces… well, she tried to paint mine, but it was too uncomfortable. The costume seams were too itchy and the face paint felt too greasy. I had a meltdown and…"

"No…" Lea interrupted him and signaled him to stop with her hand. "I don't want to hear about how your dad beat the crap out of you for that meltdown that night…I'm sorry, but… no… those stories make my blood boil"

"He wasn't in town that time, actually…"

"Oh… Okay, that's great then"

He nodded "Should I resume telling you?"

"As long as there's no beating, yeah" She nodded.

"My mom was frustrated. She never really knew how to deal with my meltdowns, but Steve calmed me… I got rid of the costume and my mom washed the makeup off of my face, then Steve suggested I should be a ghost… It didn't involve makeup or a very uncomfortable costume, all we needed was a bed sheet… My mom used my bed sheet. She cut off two circles so I could see and we went trick or treating…" He paused for a moment as he recalled that night in his mind, then added. "Steve and I got a lot of candy, that night… My bed sheets always had two holes because I was always a ghost for Halloween from then on, whenever my dad wasn't around, because he thought it was a stupid holiday, but Steve and I liked getting candy" He smiled softly and nodded.

Lea smiled as well, looking at him lovingly, then moved to straddle his lap. "Well, you could be a ghost again, or you could be yourself and I would still give you candy" Her soft smile turned into a smirk.

Shaun looked at her confusedly.

"Grownups don't go trick or treating and, even if they did, we can't go out" He said shaking his head slightly.

"Who said anything about going out? I can still trick you AND treat you, right here…" She said, moving her hands up his arms to his shoulders then to the back of his neck, giving him an innocent look.

His sight got lost in the nothing as he analyzed her words and she grinned watching him, biting her lower lip knowing he would figure it out.

"Are you using candy and trick or treat as a euphemism of sex?" He looked at her again and she smirked again in response. "So, giving me candy means you would give me sex?"

Lea's cheeks flushed as she kept smirking, then gave him a small nod.

"Oh…" He let out, almost as an excited gasp, and his body shuddered slightly. "Can we start celebrating Halloween now?"

Lea laughed leaning her head back then looked at him and bit her lip one more time, nodding again, and Shaun immediately leaned in to kiss her.

After playing charades with Sarah, Michael, Claire and Morgan, through Zoom, Shaun and lea were chilling in the living, sitting on the sofa, side by side, watching Paranormal Activity.

"I don't like horror movies…" Shaun stated as they were halfway through the movie.

"Are you scared?" Lea teased and grinned, looking at him.

"No… You did scare me yesterday, though. I don't like it…"

Lea laughed softly as she remembered.

—

Shaun arrived from work, but something wasn't right.

Usually, when he gets home, the lights are on and watching tv in the living or working, or cooking in the kitchen, or in the bathroom, but this time, all the lights were off, even the ones on the patio, which he found odd.

The lights in the hallway were on, so a power outage was ruled out, but, where was his girlfriend? Had she gone out? Why? Where? Why didn't she tell him?

"Lea?" He said as he walked into the apartment and turned the lights on with the switch on the wall, near the entrance, then he reached to close the door, but Lea had been hiding behind it, wearing a creepy clown mask she had bought online, so when he closed the door, she jumped in front of him and it startled him.

After slightly jumping back, Shaun groaned and Lea laughed.

"Don't do that!" He told her then pulled off his backpack and jacket to hang them while Lea was still laughing.

"It's not funny…" He added. "And that mask is horrible"

Lea chuckled and pulled the mask off. "That's the point, Shaunie! It's supposed to be horrible!" She couldn't help to laugh again "You should have seen your face. Dammit, I should have filmed it!"

"N-no… no, thanks" He said, frowning softly; completely unamused by what his girlfriend had done. "You're not even supposed to be here, by the door"

"Oh shit, yeah" She chuckled and jogged away to the bedroom. "Sorry!" She shouted and giggled once she was in the bedroom.

—

"Are you afraid of the dark then?" She asked teasingly.

"No, you startled me because you came out of nowhere with that creepy mask"

"Right…" Lea grinned. "Why don't you like horror movies then?"

"Because they are so unrealistic and predictable"

"Well, I have to admit that new movies have become very predictable, but they're just movies, Shaunie… Though, for some people, they may not be so unrealistic"

"None of what happens in them is real"

"How can you know for sure? Have you ever had a paranormal experience?"

"No, because they're not real, it's just fiction…" He said stubbornly. "… Have you?"

"I think so…"

"How? When?"

"Most times, when I'm feeling down, I think of my grandpa and I, like, talk to him in my head or something. It's like I pretend to have a conversation with him, imagining what he would tell me… Shortly after he died, there was a time, I was in my room, in bed, under the covers, at night. I was crying and thinking about him. I was laying on my side and then I felt as if someone had sat down behind me, I felt how the mattress, like, went down with some sort of weight… and then I felt as if someone touched my shoulder, like when you touch someone to offer comfort… more than get scared, I felt peace… and I'd like to think it somehow was my grandpa…"

"Mmh…" Shaun let out as he thought about everything she just said.

"You don't have to believe in ghosts or whatever. Movies are just movies. Even if those things aren't real for some, movies are just something to entertain people for a couple hours"

Shaun nodded then they resumed watching the movie.

Later, in the middle of the night, when they were already in bed and Lea was peacefully sleeping next to him. Shaun himself couldn't sleep. He kept thinking about what Lea told him and part of him wondered if it could be possible that those things were somehow true… Part of him wondered if at any of the places where he's lived, when he hasn't been able to sleep because he was feeling anxious and thinking of his brother, the noises he's sometimes heard were somehow made by his brother… Steve was always in his mind, and Shaun had a tendency to imagine what his little brother would say sometimes, too, like Lea with her grandpa, but, what if he was somehow more present than just in his mind?

In that moment, a creaking sound came from outside the bedroom, as if someone had stepped on the wood floor of the living. Shaun was staring up at the ceiling and his eyes widened a bit when he heard the noise.

Lea was laying on the sofa, thinking about the news she had gotten earlier that day when Shaun arrived from work and stuck to his routine, then, when he came out of the shower and saw her, he realized something was wrong.

"Hello?" He said leaning over the back of the sofa to look at her.

"Hey…" She replied in a soft voice and pushed herself up to peck his lips, then sat up and he moved to sit next to her on the sofa.

"Are you okay?"

"I… I don't know… I'm just a little shocked, I suppose, I don't know…"

"What happened?"

"My boss died… the head of the IT department at the hospital… he died yesterday. Did you know he was in the hospital?"

"No…Was he in St. Bonaventure? I don't really know him, so, if he was, maybe he was someone else's patient… Did he die of covid?"

She looked down at her hands and nodded a bit.

"We didn't know he was in the hospital or that he had covid. All we knew was that he was sick and was going to take a few days off, but…" She sighed. "Glassy called me earlier today and told me"

"Oh…" He said and paused for a moment, thinking about the situation. "But, didn't you once told me you didn't really like him because he liked doing things the old way which was a waste of time and he was also a bit misogynistic"

"I - I mean yeah, but that doesn't mean I wished he was dead…"

Shaun nodded slightly and Lea sighed again.

"Glassman named me the new head of the IT department" She blurted out and Shaun looked at her with surprise in his eyes.

"That's good!" He smiled at her. "You got a promotion!"

"No" She shook her head. "It's not good…"

"Why? Do you not want to be promoted?"

"I don't mind the promotion, I mean, it - it's a lot of work, but… this isn't how I expected to be promoted" She paused for a moment and bit the inside of her lip anxiously, then added "If I was ever to be promoted while working at the hospital, I wanted it to be because of my work, not because my boss died"

"You are very smart and I'm sure you are also capable of being in charge of the department… I'm also sure that if Dr. Glassman put you in charge is because he sees all that, too"

"It just doesn't feel right… like I didn't earn it… He's giving me the job because my boss died and there is no time or resources, right now, to find someone better… I also don't want to disappoint you, I think…"

"Why would you disappoint me?"

"Because you… You asked Glassman to interview me, to give me a chance, and he gave me the job. If I let him down, I would feel like I'm letting you down, too"

"He didn't exactly give you the job because I asked him to; he gave you the job because he saw you're good at what you do. He trusts you to be in charge because he thinks or knows you are that good. I think, even if there was the time and resources, he would have still chose you to replace you boss"

Lea sighed and Shaun reached to hold her hand, which made her look up into his eyes.

"You have to trust yourself. And trust me, too, because I know you are good, too" He added and she smiled softly, then looked down at their hand.

"It sucks that he died during this season, too. It sucks that he died at all. I didn't like him that much, but he had a family… I can't even imagine what they're going through"

Shaun nodded and they remained in silence for a moment, just holding hands, staring at nothing and enjoying each other's presence.

"I ordered a Christmas tree from that place where we rented a tree 2 years ago" He said, in hopes to lighten the mood and also to just inform her.

She smiled and looked at him again. "You did?"

He smiled some as well and nodded, then she leaned forward to kiss him.

The night before Christmas, Shaun and Lea were in the kitchen, preparing dinner for two, but they were about to get the help of Nonna Dilallo.

Lea had called her beforehand to schedule a video call with her, then she was just waiting for her to answer such call.

"You're getting pretty good at Zoom calls, nonna!" Lea said as soon as her grandma answered the call.

"Non proprio, tuo fratello è qui e mi ha aiutato un po'" Her grandma replied.

"Oh well, you'll be a pro at it entro la fine dell'anno, vedrai" Lea smiled, looking at her grandma on her tablet.

Shaun, who was standing on the other side of the kitchen island, chopping some carrots, immediately lifted his eyes to look at his girlfriend when she spoke Italian.

"Hey Donnie" Lea said when she saw her brother behind her grandma, then she looked around for the perfect spot to place her tablet, but in lack of one, she walked to where her books were and grabbed a few while her brother greeted her and Lea asked where their parents were, all while Shaun watched her with surprise.

Lea got back to the kitchen and placed some books on the counter, then rested her tablet on top.

"That's better. Can you see me, nonna?"

Her grandma nodded and Donnie approved of the angle, too.

"You speak Italian?" Shaun asked and Lea chuckled.

"I understand it more than I speak it. I only try it out with my nonna, other than that, I get too embarrassed"

"I think you're good at it" Shaun said with a small shrug.

"Do you speak Italian, too?" Lea arched up an eyebrow.

"No" He shook his head. "I can speak Spanish"

Both of Lea's eyebrows went up, then she smirked a little "I'd like to hear that one day"

"È il tuo ragazzo?" Her grandma asked.

Lea grinned and nodded. "Come here…" She waved her hand at Shaun, wanting him to join her on that side of the counter. He wiped his hands clean with a cloth, then walked to where she was.

"This isn't exactly how I expected you two to meet each other, but given the circumstances, it's the best we can do right now… Nonna, this is Shaun Murphy, my boyfriend" She grinned and her cheeks blushed. "Shaun, that's my nonna"

He shyly leaned a little to be more in frame and waved his hand softly. "Hello… I'm Dr. Shaun Murphy, nice to meet you"

Lea smiled big, her eyes almost disappearing as she looked at her boyfriend lovingly and excited, then moved her arm behind him to rub his back a little.

"Oh darling, piacere" Nonna Dilallo said, smiling as big as Lea.

"Isn't he cute, nonna?" She excitedly pushed her self up on her tiptoes.

"Bello" Her grandma nodded, still grinning and Lea giggled as Shaun's cheeks flushed pink.

"Okay…" He muttered and moved back to the other side of the counter to resume what he was doing.

"Did you get the… il kit per la pasta che ti ho inviato?"

"Yeah, it got here yesterday. I'm so excited. Thank you nonna!"

Shaun and Lea, with the help of her grandma, prepared a lasagna as their main dish for the night, then, on their own, they made a chocolate cake for dessert.

"We should have bought one at the store…" Shaun said as they stared at their creation.

A slightly crooked chocolate cake with chocolate ganache rested on the counter of the kitchen.

Lea rolled her eyes. "Oh come on… Yeah, it's not perfect, it's a little crooked, but the ganache was really good, you tasted it too, before we added it to the cake… There's some on your cheek, by the way" She grinned at him before picking the cake from the counter to put it in the fridge.

Shaun grabbed a cloth and wiped his cheek with it, then reached to help Lea, opening the fridge for her.

An hour later, they were sitting by the dining table, ready to enjoy dinner.

The entire apartment was filled with the smell of the lasagna and chocolate cake they cooked.

Soft music was playing in the background; a playlist Shaun found on youtube and played on the tv. The fireplace was on, the tree lights were on as well and twinkling, plates were served and wine was poured in glasses.

Before starting to eat, Lea looked at her boyfriend and smiled softly at him, then leaned forward to kiss him.

Above them, a piece of mistletoe was hanging from one of the lamps. It was hung there by Lea, even after Shaun told her it was a tree parasite and the mythological stories behind it…

After dinner, they found themselves in the middle of the room, swaying at the slow music that was playing. Lea had her arms around his waist and her cheek was resting against part of his chest and shoulder while he had his arms around her, too. Eventually, Lea moved her hands up to the back of his neck and gently pulled him into a sweet and soft kiss which not long after turned into more, and their night ended with them making love in the bedroom.

The music, as well as the Christmas tree, stayed on, but eventually, as the night went on, the tv turned itself off and only the tree lights remained on…

In the morning, Shaun woke up at the usual time he wake up. He didn't want to go and leave Lea alone on Christmas, but he had to go to work, but before that, there was something to check off his list of things to do that day.

He got out of his bed, put on some clothes, then went to the guest bedroom and pulled out two Christmas presents from the closet, and finally, he walked out of there and placed the presents under the tree before getting back to his bedroom.

Kneeling down on his mattress, he reached to touch his girlfriend's shoulder.

"Lea…"

She let out a soft groan.

"Lea, it's Christmas"

"Mmh…?"

"It's Christmas"

Opening her eyes slowly, her brain slowly processed his words, then her eyes fully opened and looked at him.

"Oh shoot, It's Christmas!" She grinned and sat up quickly. "I got presents for you"

"I got presents for you, too" He said and smiled at her excitement.

Still grinning, Lea quickly got out of bed and moved to where her empty suitcase was, pulled out two presents, turned back to Shaun and handed them to him.

"Not here" He said as he stood back up, then walked out of the bedroom and Lea followed him.

Shaun sat on the floor and Lea sat across him, then he pushed towards her the biggest box there was.

"Oh my God, Shaun… This is huge!"

"Open it" He urged her.

"Okay, mister" She grinned and ripped the paper off the box, uncovering just a cardboard box.

"It's backwards…" Shaun said and reached to turn it around for her.

"Oh…" She said before grinning as she realized what it was, then looked at Shaun.

"Eventually you will get back to working at the hospital and now that you are the head of the department, you will have your own office, your own desk. Standing desks are expensive, but I got you a converter" He smiled at her. "It has many health benefits"

Still grinning at him, she nodded, then looked back at the box "Wow, yeah, I've heard and seen standing desks and these converters, my old boss had one with a treadmill under it. It was pretty cool, but yeah, pretty expensive… Shaun, these are still quiet expensive, though, you didn't have to…"

"I wanted to. It will be good for you… You now have more work and would have to spend even more time sitting, but not anymore, because now you have this. It's perfect for persons of any height and the keyboard tray is also adjust…"

She smiled, looking at him lovingly while he explained all the good technicalities of her gift, then she leaned to peck his lips.

"Thank you" She said.

"There is one more" He smiled and reached for the other gift, smaller than the first. "Open it"

She chuckled at his urgency and excitement about her opening her presents, then proceeded to rip the paper of that box, too.

"Shaun…" She glanced at him briefly then looked back down at the ergonomic keyboard and mouse she had just unwrapped.

"Ergonomic keyboards are good at reducing the risk of you getting carpal tunnel syndrome and…"

"We're gonna have to set a budget for next year…"

"Y-you don't like it?" He looked at her.

"No, of course I do, I - I love it! It's one of the best ergonomic keyboard sets out there, and that's one of the best standing desk converters, too!" She pointed at the other box and he nodded with a soft but proud smile. "Which is exactly why we're going to set a budget for next year. You can't just spend all this money on Christmas gifts, Shaunie"

"I didn't get you anything last year, so…"

"We weren't even living together last year. We were…" She paused and sighed. "You know what? I'm sounding very ungrateful right now, and that's so not the case… I am really truly thankful for all this" She looked at him. "Like, seriously, thank you" She leaned over to kiss him again and he returned the kiss. "I love you"

"I love you" Shaun said and smiled again, then Lea looked at the presents she got for him.

"These two…" She waved her hand around the presents he got for her. "Now make my presents for you feel very lame… but I still hope you like them" She chuckled and handed him the first present.

He began unwrapping the present, taking his time, making sure the paper wasn't ripping.

"You know we're going to throw that away anyway, right? You can just…"

"Ooh, I know what it is" He smiled when he uncovered one side of the box then ripped off the rest of the paper, and Lea grinned.

"Take it out!" She urged him, still grinning.

He opened the box and carefully pulled out an upgrade from the stethoscope he had been using for years, but this one also has his name engraved on the chestpiece.

"Please tell me is not just like the one you already have"

"Oh, no" He smiled and shook his head. "This one is better. It is supposed to sound better… And it has my name on it"

"Do you like it then?" Lea asked with a smile as Shaun hug the stethoscope on his neck.

"Of course" He got up from the floor and walked to where his backpack was, then pulled his old stethoscope out of it and got back to the floor, in front of the tree, where Lea stayed.

She couldn't help to grin as he began comparing the sound of the two stethoscopes by listening to different spots on his chest.

"Aortic area… pulmonary… tricuspid… mitral" He mumbled as he moved the chestpiece of the stethoscope against his chest.

"It does sound better" He smiled and carefully rested the new stethoscope on its box.

"I guess that present didn't turn out as lame as I thought it would be, then" She smiled. "You're a bit hard to gift something to, but I thought an upgrade from your old stethoscope would be nice, since you're starting your fourth year of residency very soon… Gotta be a little above the newbies, don't you?" She teased, then handed him his second present.

He ripped off the paper of the second box, then removed the lid, uncovering several pairs of socks with different patterns. Some were Christmas themed, some had origami figures on them, a couple had a medical theme, others had planets and constellations, and a few others were simply stripped or had dinosaurs.

"I know there's probably very few people who like to receive socks on Christmas, but I thought you would like those… they're supposed to be some of the softest ones, made of bamboo…"

Shaun pulled out a pair and inspected it, checking the seams and the texture.

"They feel nice. They're not lame, I like them. Thank you" He nodded then, just like she had done before, he leaned over their gifts and kissed her. A kiss she returned with a smile...

A bit later that morning, Shaun was all showered and freshly shaved, finishing up getting dressed by slipping on a pair of the socks Lea got him, then he ate an apple and a cup of yogurt before saying goodbye for the day to his girlfriend and heading to the hospital where he proudly used his new stethoscope.

Shaun had to work on New Year's Eve and almost didn't make it back home before midnight because the surgery he was in lasted longer than anticipated due to a few complications and a change of plan, he almost had to call Lea and ask him to go pick him up, but he managed to catch one of the last buses that would take him home that night.

Lea was in the living room with a bottle of wine, two glasses and food that she had ordered, waiting on the coffee table, while she watched a livestream of the ball drop event in New York City.

After entering the apartment, almost in a rush, Shaun stuck to his home-after-work routine and quickly got in the shower, coming out just in time for the countdown to the New Year.

One of the reasons he probably was hyped up about it was the fact that he knew Lea and him would kiss, and the second reason was that with the new year also came his fourth year of residency and he felt ready to take on the challenge.

The year had been incredibly stressful and hard for everyone, and although things didn't seem to have an end, yet, and in fact seemed to be getting worse, there was still hope and people began to see a little light at the end of the tunnel.

Shaun, as well as other health care professionals had gotten a first dose of a vaccine. His relationship with Lea was going well, she got a promotion and her relationship with her parents and brother was better, maybe not perfect, but definitely better, and more importantly, they were healthy. Shaun was healthy, Lea was healthy, too, and although she had planned to move back to her apartment once the holidays were over, after their trip to San Francisco, those couple of months they got to spend together were the best that could have happened to both, that year, which was why he wasn't ready to let her go back to her apartment, to live on her own again, nor to be alone again. He actually didn't want it to happen…

"3, 2, 1!" Lea shouted excitedly while Shaun looked at her with love in his eyes, then she pushed herself up on her tiptoes and kissed him

He returned the kiss wrapping his arms around her as they remained like that for a minute before Lea pulled back with a smile on her face and looked into his eyes.

"You should properly move back in with me. Not just for the holidays" He said to her and she looked at him at a loss for words.