Sweet Christmas (BxB Romance Novella)

Chapter 4: Christmas Homecoming

Dressed in their newly acquired pajama and doozy from the eggnog, the whole family, including Robin, lingered by the crackling fireplace in the family room. A green scent of pine filled the room, as Aunt Donna refused anything but a real tree to pride her home. The sprawling tree was overfilled with multi-colored bulbs, glittery stars, and other assorted ornaments, many of them made by the children of the house during their childhoods. Emmie had proudly added a hand-crafted ornament this year, made entirely out of sticky glue and blue glitter it seemed. Although, everyone had of course immediately seen the resemblance when she told them it was supposed to be a bunny.

"Are you awake?" Robin whispered into Tyler's blond curls. His boyfriend had nodded off against his pajama-clad shoulder, apparently the soft flannel made for an excellent pillow.

"Mmmhhhmmm," Tyler replied unconvincingly. A small trickle of drool ran down his chin, which made the message even less believable.

It seemed like Aunt Donna's premonition about Robin having to carry Tyler to bed was about to come true. Hopefully, Tyler could walk on his own, with just some light pushing up the stairs needed.

That's when a creak from the door downstairs alerted Tyler. In the span of about a second, he was wide awake.

"Lance is coming!" he called out and jumped up--as much as he could jump with his prosthetic leg. With the glazed over-look of someone woken from a thousand-year slumber, he swept tangled bangs out of his eyes and wiped drool from his chin.

"Come, Robby!" Tyler impatiently pulled on his boyfriend's hand to make him rise from the sofa.

Robin had only met Lance briefly a few times, but from the stories he'd been regaled with from Tyler, it was clear his army corporal cousin was Tyler's number one hero, only rivaled by Liverpool soccer legend Michael Owen. This was why Robin was a bit nervous to spend a prolonged about of time with the guy. Because if Lance didn't find him good enough for Tyler, perhaps Tyler wouldn't either.

But Tyler's enthusiasm couldn't be denied, so Robin let himself get pulled off from his comfy seat to join the welcome committee for the new arrival.

As Tyler tugged his boyfriend out of the room, Emmie--who had awoken from her nap across Aunt Donna's lap from the commotion--grabbed Robin's hand, to not get left behind. So in a train of three, they set off down the stairs. "I need to show Lance my new leg," Tyler explained excitedly. "He hasn't even seen me walking again yet."

Lance lived at the army base about two hours away, and usually only came home for holidays. So while he'd been able to take leave to be with Tyler at the hospital right after the accident, he hadn't been able to watch his cousin recuperate from his injury and learn to walk again on his prosthetic leg.

Or fly on it. Because Tyler currently appeared to fly down the stairs, while Robin and Emmie struggled to keep up. And he flew right into the arms of his cousin, with enough force to almost knock the tall and muscular guy over.

"Hi there, little cousin," Lance, dressed in civilian clothing, greeted Tyler. "I see you're back on two feet again."

Tyler bent down to pull up his pajama pant leg and proudly display the aluminum rod and carbon fiber socket that was attached below his knee. "Soon I'll outrun you again," he teased with a cheeky smile. "Just need some practice on this thing."

Having made it down the stairs as well, Emmie quickly wrapped herself around Lance's leg. "Lancelot is home," she expressed happily.

"Mom should have never let her watch that King Arthur movie, " Lance sighed as he rattled the little girl's curls, "because that nickname never seems to go away." Still, with both Tyler and Emmie attached to his body, Lance looked up and noticed Robin standing halfway down the stairs, as usual, unsure of how to approach a situation.

"Hi Robin," Lance greeted him with a slight wave, as he couldn't quite move under the burden of cousins. "Nice to see you again:"

All of Tyler's family had welcomed Robin as one of the family but Robin still worried sometimes that his presence wasn't wanted. Perhaps he wasn't good enough, or witty enough, or smart enough. Perhaps he was an intruder during what was supposed to be a family holiday.

"Hi," Robin mustered up as a greeting and waved awkwardly.

"Glad to have you here for the holidays," Lance said. Perhaps he could read Robin's worries on his face. "Because maybe you can keep this guy in check..." Playfully, he tried to peel Tyler off him, "Ty, let me get inside properly to get my jacket off and bags gathered."

Robin came to Lance's aid by walking down the rest of the stairs to take Tyler's hand. "Give your cousin some room to breathe, Ty," he said. Tyler reluctantly abided by his boyfriend's command and detached himself from Lance.

"Thank you, Robin." Finally free from the welcoming embrace, Lance started to unzip his jacket.

Encouraged by Lance's grateful responses, Robin bent down next to Emmie--who was still draped around Lance's legs. "Em," he whispered, in a tone he'd heard Tyler use before. "Come here instead. I think Lance needs the use his legs for a moment."

Before Robin had room to react, Emmie had wrapped her little hands around Robin's own neck instead. The embrace was at once comforting and scary. He wasn't quite sure what to do next.

"Lift!" Emmie commanded.

Apparently, that was what he should do next.

With Emmie in his arms, Robin stood up. The weight of the five-year-old was quite a strain on his un-muscular arms but the warmth made him endure. He stood back, next to Tyler, as they watched Lance get his things inside from the car.

That's when Tyler noticed something was amiss. He looked down at the assembly of luggage in the hallway. "Why do you have so many bags?" he asked his cousin. "And why aren't you in uniform?"

Donna and Kevin--who were considerably less fast than Tyler in their movements--had now reached the top of the stairs and looked upon their returned son in confusion.

"I..." Lance sighed and bashfully looked up at his parents. "I left the army." His gaze fell as he picked up his arsenal of bags and started to walk down the hallway toward his bedroom.

As Lance walked away, he left a slew of shocked faces and mumbling whispers behind.

Author's Note: I just wanted to show a small glimpse of Lance right after he leaves the army, as that is important for the plot in Sweet Tea, but there won't be any more explanation in this story.

I actually also wrote a scene earlier this week of Ty calling Lance and telling him about Robby (which would be set right after the diner scene in SLB), which I might publish somewhere eventually. It would probably work best as a bonus chapter for SLB. Is this something anyone would be interested in reading? (it's basically a coming-out moment for Ty and it also establishes his close friendship with Lance further)