Surrera Advent Calendar 2021

Day 15

Today's story is by Ash (reddixon)

„It's perfect," Andy said with a smile as she sat comfortably in the passenger seat next to her husband.

"It's huge," Robert countered easily as he maneuvered his SUV a bit more gingerly than he normally did.

"The new house is huge..." Andy replied. "We have to fill the space." She knew he wasn't really complaining and was just giving her a hard time.

Only a few months had passed since they moved into their new home. It had taken forever to find something and have an offer be accepted due to Seattle's tight housing market, but when it happened they both knew the house was perfect. The right mix of traditional and clean modern lines. It had an open main floor, spacious bedrooms and a great lot size for the city. Andy was already planning parties in her head. To be honest, it was more space than they needed now, but after having so many important conversations over the past year, they both knew they eventually wanted to grow their family.

"Will we even have enough decorations?" Robert questioned genuinely. He'd seen the boxes labeled Christmas in the garage and that didn't seem like it would be enough.

"Oh...we'll have enough." Andy said lightly, but her tone piqued Robert's attention.

"Andy..." he replied with a quick glance to the side.

Her shoulders rose slightly into a shrug. "What? I just ordered a few more."

"What's a little..." Robert pushed. He didn't really care. What he loved most was how happy all this Christmas stuff seemed to make his wife.

After the first couple years of their relationship being so crazy and chaotic, literally getting to the brink where it seemed they wouldn't make it, they'd made it through the fire and were happier than ever. In therapy, Andy was making peace with her past, marriage counseling had helped them listen, communicate and work through their conflict. He felt more certain than ever that they could make it through anything.

The PR work he'd done for SFD along with keeping his head down and working hard had paid off. He'd been reinstated as Battalion Chief and in a strange twist of fate, the captain overseeing 19 requested a transfer out of his battalion. After more than a year at 23, Andy had returned to 19 as Captain. It felt like things were finally falling into place. Life now really was better than he dreamed it could be.

"I mean I don't know exactly...But better to have too many decorations than too little." Andy answered with a slight grin.

Robert laughed and shook his head gently. "What am I gonna do with you?" Andy squeezed the hand she held and Robert brought it up to his lips for a quick kiss. Just as the crossover pulled to a stop, the happy couple exchanged a warm look.

Robert's strength and size coupled with a little guidance from his wife made getting the tree up fairly easy. Once in place the happy couple set about decorating it.

"Ribbon goes first," Robert said adamantly.

"What? No. Lights definitely go first." Andy quipped back.

Robert rolled his eyes slightly, "Then the ribbon covers the lights..."

Andy looked over to her handsome husband and fluttered her lashes before giving him sad puppy dog eyes. It was a look she'd perfected... pretty much always guaranteed to get what she wanted.

"You can't win every argument with that look." Robert said with a bit of annoyance in his voice.

"So lights first is what you're saying..." Andy laughed knowing he had acquiesced.