Broken and Fearless // C.B.

Chapter 121

Colby's POV:

I woke Jules up the next morning and she mumbled something incoherent, but I'm pretty sure I heard the word coffee.

"Babe, you're pregnant," I reminded her.

"And a cup of coffee won't hurt," she snapped.

"How about a peppermint hot cocoa or a peppermint tea?"

"Colby, I swear. Coffee!"'

Not wanting to deal with an angry, pregnant wife, I relented. Luckily, there was coffee made. I grabbed a snowman mug and made Jules a cup of coffee the way she liked it.

I made my way back upstairs and handed her the mug.

She looked at me seriously and asked, "Do you want to build a snowman?"

I shook my head. "No. Drink your coffee and get dressed. We've got breakfast cooking and we'll be doing presents soon."

She stared me down and judgmentally sipped her coffee like I'd seen Dean do.

"Well? Are you coming?" I asked.

As though she was trying to spite me, she moved as slow as possible. I suppose that's what I get for waking her up, but I won't let her get to me.

She made her way to her side of the closet and pulled out a red shirt and a black, silver and red plaid skirt. "How's this?"

"You'll look beautiful. I'm going to help with breakfast. Come down when you're ready, okay?"

She nodded and set her coffee down as I left the room.

About half-an-hour later, she walked down the stairs. She'd curled her hair and done her makeup in a Christmasy way.

She twirled and smiled before asking, "How do I look?"

"Like a princess," I told her. "We've got breakfast."

Jules sat at the table and said, "Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Brock."

"Hi,Juliet," my mom replied. "Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas," my dad repeated.

"Merry Christmas," my wife answered. "This all looks delicious."

We all began eating breakfast.

Once we finished, and the dishes had been dealt with, we gathered around the Christmas tree to exchange gifts.

When the last gift had been unwrapped, Jules started organizing her gifts and the gifts she'd gotten for the baby in separate piles. Since knowing her, I'd always admired her eye for organization and to keep things neat.

She folded the onesies and the clothes she'd gotten into neat piles. Once everything was to her liking, she picked the pile up, her face barely visible.

"Uh, Colby?" she called.

"Yeah?"

"Be my eyes? I can't exactly see with all this stuff."

Instead of being her eyes, I took some stuff from her pile.

"Oh," she said. "Thanks. That's easier. I want to put this stuff in my suitcase, and then I've got a video to do before we have Christmas dinner."

"What video are you going to record?"

"Just a cover of a song. Nothing spectacular."

"I beg to differ. Your voice when you sing is spectacular."

Her cheeks flushed. "Um, thanks. Can you grab the guitar while I put these away?"

As I grabbed the guitar, I asked, "What song are you doing?"

"Mary, Did You Know." She started whistling the tune softly as she put her gifts in her suitcase.

Once she'd done so, she got ready to record. I chose to stay in the room and watch. I always loved watching her play and sing, because since overcoming her fear of singing publicly, I could tell she loved doing it. She always had a smile and a bright look in her eyes.

She started recording and smiled. "Hello, world of YouTube, it's your favorite emo. Jokes aside, I've got a little something special. Since it's Christmas, I thought I'd give you a cover of a song. Don't worry, I'll still be posting a video on the scheduled day. I'm thinking either truth or dare or a q&a, or a mix between the two. Comment what you'd like, and I'll confirm what I'm doing over Twitter. I'm going to be playing the song Mary, Did You Know. Hope you all enjoy, and please, be nice in the comments."

She began strumming chords and sang the song. As she did so, she closed her eyes and sang. I found myself swaying to the music, lulled by her voice.

When the song ended, she put down the guitar. "That's all I've got for you folks. Merry Christmas. Stay safe and if you're with family, enjoy that time. If you're alone, I wish you a blessed holiday and know that those who love and cherish you are in your heart. If you enjoyed, I'll be back next week, or rather, the scheduled upload day, with more cringe worthy content. Not that this was cringe worthy. Merry Christmas and stay safe!"

Jules stopped the recording and immediately went to edit.

I kissed her cheek and smiled. "I am so proud of you."

She returned my smile. "Thanks. I'm proud of me too. Think you could get me some peppermint tea?"

"'Course."

I went downstairs to get her her tea and luckily, fresh water had been boiled, and there was enough for a cup. I poured the water in a mug and put a tea bag of peppermint tea into the water and brought it up to Jules who was about half way through editing. A cover never took her very long to edit.

As soon as she finished, she sipped her tea and uploaded her video.

She turned to me. "Now, I say we offer help for Christmas dinner."

"That sounds like a great idea."

We went downstairs to help my parents with Christmas dinner and when everything was near ready, Jules went to set the table.

Food was soon put on the table and we all gathered around and soon started eating.

After everyone had had their fill, we gathered dishes and put them by the sink and in the dishwasher.

We settled in for a family movie night and Jules cuddled into me. I wrapped an arm around her shoulders as we watched the movie.

By about nine at night, after watching Christmas movies a majority of the day and The Nutcracker at her request, she was falling asleep on my shoulder.

I picked her up bridal style and laid her down on my bed. She instantly curled up. I laughed softly, knowing she'd probably gripe about wearing her clothes to bed, but waking her up never ended well. I usually ended up getting yelled at or having something thrown at me; that usually being a pillow.

I laid next to her and sat on my phone for awhile before falling asleep. In such difficult times, it was nice to have some familiarity surrounding the holidays, and I was lucky enough to be able to spend it with my parents and wife. Soon we'd be heading to LA to visit Brennen, and I knew Jules was still hoping to go back to Boston to spend time with her family.

I wrapped my arms around my sleeping wife and closed my eyes and soon my breaths steadied.