For the first time in twenty-three years, he celebrated Christmas Eve with his first family. Due to the fact that Emma was late booking a plane ticket home from London where she was studying, Lena and he had decided to give the presents on Christmas Day. That seemed like a fine solution, but Jens and Linda turned out to be disappointed, both sentimentalized by Tilda's birth. So they had invited him to celebrate Julafton at their place, with Agnetha and Christian. Christmas Day at his place, with Lena and their siblings, they would skip. They would go to Jens' parents. It all went a little differently this year, but it might be that this evening, with his oldest children, would be more relaxed than the day after. Lena was still a little resentful about the divorce. Although she was now dating a vague acquaintance of theirs, she still seemed frustrated. He understood, but he couldn't help it. The emotions he had experienced after Agnetha had informed him that it was not a lack of love, but a surplus of hormones that had killed their marriage, had been so overwhelming that he had seen no other way out.
"Shall we fix dessert, Christian?" he asked his son, as he stood up.
"Yep, let's do that. Let's just get this stuff back."
They both grabbed a bowl and a pan and then walked from the dining room to the kitchen.
Christian stopped for a moment to glance at his phone which had issued a sound.
Close to the kitchen door, which was open, Björn suddenly noticed that the lid of the pan began to wobble. He wanted to grab it, but apparently the damage had already been done. With a huge bang, the thing clattered to the floor.
Agnetha, who was standing in the kitchen, just about flew into the ceiling. In a jolt, she turned around. Her hands in front of her face. "Don't, don't!"He looked up and frowned. "Sorry, the lid slipped off. I couldn't stop it."
Somewhat surprised, he watched her as he heard her breathing about two feet away, with her arms wrapped around her.
He put the pan on the counter and wanted to put his hand on her shoulder for a moment, but she stepped back. At that moment, Christian entered the room. "You okay, Mom?"She nodded and looked around. "Yes, I was startled. Are you going to make dessert?"
Christian answered, but Björn saw that she was no longer listening. She quickly walked out of the kitchen, toward the living room. Again he raised his eyebrows. It wasn't that bad, was it? She was really reacting remarkably strongly.
"I'm taking a bathroom break, Christian," he said, even though he had no intention of doing so.
"Alright," his son replied, his eyes glued to the screen again.
"Elin?" asked Björn, pointing to the phone.
Christian looked up. A big smile and slightly red cheeks.
"Are you together yet?"
"Working on it," Christian replied with a somewhat cheeky smile that reminded him of Agnetha's.
As Christian continued to type a message on his cell phone, he walked out of the kitchen himself, heading for the living room.
As quietly as possible, he walked down the hallway. When he stood in the doorway, he saw her standing, next to the Christmas tree, leaning against the frame with both hands. She had opened the curtains and the window was also ajar. She was looking down. Her shoulders lifted, from the looks of it she was fighting with her breathing.
What was going on here? And what was he going to do? He thought it was dastardly to walk away when she didn't seem okay, but somewhere he also hated to let it be clearly known that he had followed her. On the other hand, it had come from commitment.
Briefly he reflected. Agnetha was still standing against the window, in her beautiful black dress with which she had just about blown him away a few hours earlier....
He decided to go ahead and ask how things were going anyway. Very gently he called her name.
Abruptly, she stood up straight. In a single gesture, she wiped her makeup down the drain. "Anything wrong? Can you find everything you need? Should I do something?"

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Voyage 2002
FanfictionABBA set in 2001 and later. What will their voyage be like? Agnetha, Björn, Benny and Anni-Frid have known each other since 1969. They have been through a lot together - a lot. ABBA came to an end, but Björn has been working on a new deal. Will th...