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

[teenagerenegade]

"That dress really suits you," says Charlie, beaming, as he comes to sit beside her with two glasses of mulled wine in hand. He hands one to Rosie and then settles himself. "They're...Sabrina mentioned going up to Kagura for New Year, and...I don't know how I feel about that," he says.

[forthsofar]

"Thank you," Rosie says to both the compliment and the offered glass, sitting up a little on the couch as Charlie settles next to her. She takes a sip of the wine as she listens to him talk, her dark eyes fixed on his face and seeing the hint of uncertainty there. "Nick said the same thing to me," she admits. "I don't know what to think of it either."

From pictures she'd seen, the lodge itself was back to normal, all wood beams and huge glass windows looking out onto the snow--but even with the evidence right in front of her Rosie still half-expected those cold stone corridors and gloomy torchlight from their terrible June. "But we would all be together, this time."

[teenagerenegade]

"And I've seen pictures that people have taken up there this season," he says. "And it doesn't look the same as it did when we were up there in the summer, so..." He takes a sip of his wine. "It won't feel the same either, will it? So maybe we can pretend that it's just somewhere completely different." He glances across at her. "Sabrina and I...we had sex for the first time up there on New Year last year."

[forthsofar]

"It won't feel the same," she says, more firmly than she entirely feels at the moment. "And if it ever starts to feel that way, not that it will, we'll do everything we can to make it as different as possible." If anyone can, it's the four of them--and all of them together, most of all.

Rosie smiles softly, a faint blush tinting her cheeks as Charlie glances over at her. "Sabrina told me about that," she admits. "A few months ago, back when...well, after I'd been with David for the first time, to be honest."

[teenagerenegade]

Charlie's got a glass forehead at the best of times, and his face makes it perfectly clear what he's thinking when Rosie mentions David's name. His nose wrinkles.

"Did she?" he says. "IN a positive context, I hope?"

[forthsofar]

"In a very positive context, don't worry," she says, amused and gratified in equal measure by how obvious Charlie's reaction is when David's name comes up. "This was all before any of us knew what a snake he was, anyway."

Her smile turns a little more wistful, and she leans her head on his shoulder, letting out a soft sigh. "Knowing what I know now, of course, there's no comparison between you at all."

[teenagerenegade]

He smiles when she leans against him, turning his head to press a kiss to her tumbled dark curls.

"You definitely traded up," he says.

[forthsofar]

Charlie says that, and Rosie looks almost immediately towards where Nick and Sabrina are standing, engrossed in their own conversation. "I really, really did." She smiles against the rim of her glass, then takes another sip of wine.

[teenagerenegade]

"I'm happy that you're happy, Rosie," he says, leaning to kiss her temple when she settles back against him. "You deserve it more than anyone else I know."

[forthsofar]

"Thank you, Charlie," she says, her free hand resting lightly and companionably on his bent knee as they stay cuddled close together. "I'm glad we're all happy, that...that we've found a way for us all to be happy, even when the city's made it difficult in one way or another. It's not anything I ever expected, but I'd never give it up."

[teenagerenegade]

"Me either," he says, softly, staying closer to her, enjoying the warm pressure of her hand on his knee. "I saw what happened to my mom when she just...settled for what had happened. Just tried to go on with it. I'm...that's never going to happen to me."

Charlie loves his mom, but that doesn't mean that she doesn't make him desperately sad sometimes.

[forthsofar]

Rosie nods, remembering that afternoon on the beach and the way Charlie had entrusted her with that difficult truth about his past and his family. As it had that day, her heart aches a little for him, hearing the faint woundedness behind the things he says.

"It won't," she says, with as much conviction as she can manage. "We'll make it as different as we possibly can, however we can."

[teenagerenegade]

"If anyone can, it's us," she says, flashing a broad grin at her, nuzzling into her shoulder. "Do you want your Christmas present?"

[forthsofar]

"Of course I want my Christmas present, Charlie," she giggles, ruffling his hair as he presses his face into her shoulder. "It's not very mature of me at all, I know, but I've been looking forward to presents all day. Just like nearly every Christmas."

She grins at him, then waves her hand towards the tree. "I put yours over there too, so you know."

[teenagerenegade]

Getting up from where they're sitting, he goes over to the tree and retrieves the two parcels. Rosie's is large and soft, containing a sweater, soft and mossy green, that he'd seen in a store and immediately been able to picture her wearing. He holds it out to her.

"It's just..." He blushes faintly. "I saw it and thought of you."

[forthsofar]

The present he hands her is so much larger than the one she'd gotten him, and for a moment Rosie feels just the slightest bit guilty. But it's the thought behind the gift, not the size, that matters most, and she knows it. The wrapped parcel in her lap, she looks up at Charlie for a moment as he stands there blushing, a bright smile on her face and her heart overflowing with affection. "In that case, I can't wait to see what it is," she says, waiting for him to sit before she tears into the paper.

The sweater inside is beautiful and soft, the kind of green that she knows looks striking on her; she lets out a pleased little giggle as she strokes a hand down the plush knit, fingers tracing the delicate pattern of cables. "Oh, I love it," she says, leaning over to kiss his cheek. "Thank you."

Sitting back, Rosie glances with ill-concealed anticipation at the other gift in his hands, the narrow box containing a pair of gloves in a rich brown leather that's almost the same chestnut as Charlie's hair. "It seems we both saw things out shopping and thought of one another," she says. "I hope you like them."

[teenagerenegade]

Charlie has never been the kind of boy who rips into gifts. He takes his time, carefully unsticking the tape and unfolding the paper. When he sees the gloves, a broad grin spreads across his face and he immediately tries one on, flexing his fingers.

"These are perfect," he says. "I love them."

[forthsofar]

Charlie's as methodical about unwrapping the gift as he is with so many other things, savoring each stage of the process, and while Rosie always finds it endearing, in this moment she can't wait to see his reaction to what lies inside the curls of ribbon and the shiny foil of the wrapping paper. At last, he's taking the gloves out, beaming as he tries them on, and Rosie answers his grin with one of her own.

"Oh, good," she says. "I know you'd been saying you needed a new pair, so..."