When We're Together (Damon Albarn)

Chapter Twenty-Two

Monday 25th December 2006

"Mummy! Daddy! You've got to wake up!"

I opened my eyes slowly to see Missy jumping on my stomach, Foxton doing similar to Damon  whilst Primrose was trying to climb onto the bed.

"Has Father Christmas been?" Foxton exclaimed as he sat down on Damon's chest once he opened his eyes.

"I'm sure he has" Damon mumbled sleepily as he pulled Fox off of him and put him next to us instead.

I glanced at the clock and when I realised it was only just gone 5am, I copied Damon's actions and put Primrose and Missy next to us.

"Let's have a little bit more sleep, then we can go and see if Father Christmas has been" I told them as I closed my eyes and wrapped my arms around Missy.

"Sounds like a good idea" Damon agreed, we'd both been incredibly unorganised and ended up sitting up wrapping their presents until about three o'clock this morning.

"No!" Primrose exclaimed as she wriggled out of the bed, taking unsteady steps until she was stood on the bed "We need to go down now!"

It didn't take long for Missy and Fox to climb out from the duvet and start jumping on the bed. The three of them determined to get us out of bed. I caught a glimpse of Damon's sleepy grin and I knew that there was no way we'd manage to get them to get back to sleep.

"Go put your dressing gowns and slippers on and then we can all go downstairs together, okay?" The three of them jumped off of the bed and ran down the hall to their bedrooms.

"Good morning" I laughed as I turned my attention back to Damon, who was struggling to keep his eyes open.

He moved himself across the bed, wrapping his arms around me and nuzzling his head into my neck.

"Merry Christmas love" He whispered, tenderly pressing his lips against mine. I knew that our time was limited but a part of me didn't want this moment to end. It wasn't often that we got to have a moment of calm together, and despite everything going on we were actually okay, we weren't great and we certainly weren't how we were before, but things felt a tiny bit more normal between us.

"Mum! Dad! Come on!"

"How many regrets do you currently have?" I asked Damon quietly, laughing as I spoke. We may have had a few too many baileys whilst wrapping presents and as I sat watching Damon messing around with screwdrivers and batteries, I could tell that his hangover was catching up on him.

"So many" He whined, rubbing his forehead as he looked between the instructions and the parts of a car garage he had all around him "I thought we agreed no more plastic shit?"

I laughed as I moved across the lounge, sitting next to him and resting my head on his shoulder, he instinctively leant down and placed a kiss on top of my head.

"Oh we definitely did, but we just can't say no" I smiled as I spoke, the three of them were far more interested in the boxes and discarded wrapping paper.

Damon hit the side of the garage causing a sudden high pitched, shrill noise to erupt from it, we both groaned in unison, it was one of those toys.

"You're the best dad, thank you" Foxton exclaimed as he jumped up from where he was sat, haphazardly throwing his arms around Damon's neck before picking up the garage and taking it back to where he had lined up the cars in anticipation.

"That is most definitely staying here" Damon whispered in my ear, his laughter sending shivers down my spine. I nodded my head in agreement, Damon and I had mastered the art of leaving the most irritating toys in Iceland or Devon.