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"come on doll, it's time to give everyone their Christmas present" he cackles from above my shackled hands. I shake my head no, but as always my protests are useless as he drags me down the stairs and sticks a bow to my hair...

"Emmy! Wake up! It's Christmas!" 

I groan and shove my head under the pillow, doing my best to ignore my twin's yells. 

"ugh Alex get off you dick" 

"Come on Em, I finally have a partner in crime to help me wake everyone up" he begs, shoving his face into mine and attempting to do puppy eyes.

"fine just please never make that face again"

I am tasked with waking Mason, Kieran and Will whilst Alex gets Aiden, Lucas and Jaxon. We split off, Alex armed with an air horn which I'm sure will go down well - especially with Jaxon. I decided to start with Mason and climb up on one side of his bed where I prod him in the chest until he stirs.

"Emmy?"

"Wake up it's Christmas" I whisper.

Mason doesn't respond apart from pulling me into his arm and shushing me to go back to sleep. That's at least until an air horn goes off, followed swiftly by a lot of swearing and Alex sprinting into the room and diving between me and Mason, whispering a desperate "save me". Jaxon storms in with murder in his eyes, followed by the rest of my brothers who are rubbing their eyes and laughing at Alex's predicament.

Half an hour later, Jaxon has finally calmed down and we're all sat crammed into the living room with my oldest brother nursing a huge mug of coffee. Alex gets up and starts handing everyone their gifts, darting away quickly after giving Jax his. Apparently everyone opens their secret Santa gifts first individually and then we open the rest of our gifts all at the same time. As the youngest, I open mine first and get a book of piano music and a book called "All the Bright Places". My brothers all open theirs and then we all have to guess who got us. I guess Aiden, which is right but am confused about how he knew I could play.

"Come on Em, whenever we walk past the music room, you look like you wanna fuck the bloody piano - it wasn't too hard to work out" His answer reward him with a slap on the back of the head from Mason who mutters "language" in his ear as he reaches past to grab his next present. This is apparently a sign as the rest of my brothers all start tearing into their gifts. I get some new clothes, some scrunchies, a couple of books and a shit ton of chocolate. I make sure to hug all my brothers - this time last year I never would have expected that this could be my life. 

All my brothers head into the kitchen for pancakes and I'm left with Mason who's watching me as I start picking up the wrapping paper spread across the floor, shaking each bit carefully to make sure I don't accidentally throw away someone's present.

"We can clean it up later you know, you don't have to do that"

I just shrug in response, old habits die hard I guess. 

"Come sit Em, I have one more present to give you" 

I look up at him confused, I've already received so much. He hands me a black box and nods at me to open it. Inside is a beautiful locket with E. Armani  inscribed on the back. I open it revealing a picture of a family of 10, all different ages but all smiling so happily at the camera, even the two babies sat in the arms of a man and a woman.

"All of us have matching ones - even mum and dad had one, but when mum moved out she left it behind and Dad destroyed it along with his own. He couldn't bear to look at the woman who stole his daughter."

This is the first that I am hearing about our father, I've never quite dared to ask. Seeing how important family is to my brothers, if he was still alive you'd think they'd mention him at the very least so I've always just assumed that he passed away.

I glance back up at Mase, breaking my chain of thought. He too looks deep in thought and there's sadness hidden deep within his eyes. I nudge him and place the locket in his hand before turning around so he can do it up for me. Once he's done that, I pull him into the tightest hug I can manage. Of course with Mason being Mason, it lasts less than a minute before he pulls me up to go and get some pancakes before "the rest of our pig-headed brothers eat them all" as he delicately words it.

We spend the rest of the day watching movies, eating, playing games and eating some more. My favourite game we play is Monopoly which I almost win, until Mason overtakes me in the final round of the game. I fall asleep on the sofa with my brothers again, the content smile which has sat on my face all day never fading.

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