May all your Christmases be bright...

[awickedtime]

Raised in the Church of Night, Nick's never celebrated Christmas before, but it's important to Charlie and Rosie, so it's important to Sabrina, so it's important to Nick. He'd basically given Rosie and Charlie free rein to decorate the apartment, which is draped in lights and glitter, the tree shimmering merrily in the corner. It's not dissimilar to some of the festivals that he had celebrated in his life. The iconography is different, though.

They've carved out time to spend together, in the midsts of all the other meals, all the other obligations with the found families that they've made themselves. Nick had agonised over gifts for the girls, less so for Charlie, and they're neatly wrapped in paper and metallic ribbon. He's proud of how pretty they look, if he's honest.

Comments

[signed_sabrina]

She leans into the little kiss, her eyes closing as if it's to be savored-- if she's learned anything this year, it's how important focusing on each moment is, that this is what they hold onto when terrible things inevitably happen.

"Warmer," she agrees. "Brighter. So much more love, just... existing. I wish I had gotten to be with you last-- oh, let's call it winter holidays."

[awickedtime]

"If only we'd figured everything out sooner," he says, turning the box over in his hands. "It'll be Lupercalia soon - think we can count that as an anniversary?"

[signed_sabrina]

"I wouldn't trade," she says, after a moment. "But it's a nice thought."

And then he mentions Lupercalia, and her eyes widen a bit, her thoughts heading into territory that really couldn't be qualified as nice. "We can count it," she says firmly, knowing there's no way to hide that she's thinking ahead. "And celebrate it however we please."

[awickedtime]

"Now that's a lovely thought," says Nick, leaning in closer to her for a moment. "Especially if we can get Charlie and Rosie involved. Might be a little bit cold here for soaking up moonlight, though?"

Greenvale had never really felt warm, but it never really felt as cold as Darrow seems to get, either; a peculiar microclimate all its own.

[signed_sabrina]

"Like we couldn't arrange for a little spot in the woods to be just warm enough," Sabrina answers, her eyes sparkling. "Totally possible, if we wanted. That one's more about-- enjoying life, than celebrating any dark so and so's."

And she can't deny how much she wants to finish what they'd started.

[awickedtime]

"We could totally do that," says Nick, a smile tugging at the corner of her mouth. "A whole new ritual. Just for us this time. No room for the Dark Lord and Lilith."

[signed_sabrina]

Sabrina leans in and presses a kiss to the turn of his mouth. "We definitely have some unfinished business around this holiday," she murmurs, and then turns to tuck into his side instead, a sure move the keep herself from getting handsy.

"I think we did well with this holiday, though," she says, smiling at the decorated apartment, at Charlie and Rosie where they're bowed over something.

[awickedtime]

"Yeah, we did." He sits quietly for a moment, just watching Charlie and Rosie, love blooming in him, pressed against his ribs like something solid. Warmth floods through him. "A whole new holiday for the four of us. We can celebrate it how we want."

[signed_sabrina]

"We're going to have ridiculous costumes that look like the cover of a gothic romance novel, right?" She's only half kidding. "If I can't run around in billowing cloaks and tightly laced corsets, it's not a real holiday."

[awickedtime]

"Do I get to see both of you in billowing cloaks and corsets?" asks Nick, idly playing with a strand of her white blonde hair. "Because that? Is something that I could definitely get behind."

[signed_sabrina]

"Oh, very much," Sabrina assures him. "We'll have to lace each other up again, I'm sure." They're supposed to mostly behave on Christmas, she believes, so she leaves it at that. Mostly.

"Could see both of us do a lot of things."

[awickedtime]

"Can I watch this time?" he asks, running his hand down her side when she says it. "Because I really do feel like I missed out last time."

[signed_sabrina]

"Are you saying you'd like to see a show, Mister Scratch?"

Of course, she lights up at the prospect-- it's a good one, after all. "I think we can certainly do something with that."

Maybe she really should have been High Priestess.

[awickedtime]

"I'm not not saying that, Ms Spellman," he says, and then he laughs at the look on her face. "It's not my birthday for a while, unfortunately, but you can definitely file that idea away..."