December 24, 2002
The house was at capacity. People were crowded round the grand piano in the lobby singing, hired staff were weaving between clusters of people carrying trays of champagne and hors d'oeuvres, children were squealing with excitement and sliding down the huge curved bannister when their parents weren't looking. Nicksmas was in full swing.
Somewhere in the middle of it, Stevie was doing the rounds, kisses and small talk and "I'll catch up with you later," as someone else pulled her attention away. It was a rare occasion where her hair was tied up - she'd wound it into a chignon to highlight the earrings she'd woken up to on the pillow next to her that morning.
They were blue diamonds, with a gold crescent moon in the setting. She had squealed and rushed to put them in before racing to find Sheryl, who was in the music room working out chords. She was laughing already when Stevie burst through the door and threw herself into her arms.
"Merry Christmas baby! You like?"
Stevie was in her lap, kissing every part of her face she could.
"They're perfect! They're the same blue as your eyes, oh Sheryl, I'm obsessed with them! I didn't know we were doing gifts already though?"
"I know, I just got too excited. I'm sure you can forgive me?"
"Yeah, I don't know about that..." she smirked, inches from Sheryl's face.
"No? Damn. What do I have to do?"
"Well, you could -"
Their lips met in a kiss that soon became passionate. Sheryl was running a hand up Stevie's nightshirt as a loud, jarring tone echoed through the house. The door chime on the incredibly high tech security system Stevie had installed but had no idea how to work.
Sheryl suspected the White House bunker didn't have as much security as Stevie's place. She appreciated the reason behind it though so she didn't say anything she knew would have hurt Stevie's feelings.
She hadn't heard any more from Brian, and there had been no sign of him either. She still thought a lot about it and was very wary, but it no longer occupied every waking moment the way it had at first.
Stevie squealed again in reaction to the door and dashed out of the room as Sheryl sat in somewhat frustrated confusion.
"I thought we were going to - never mind, I guess."
She was about to start playing again when she made out Karen's voice, clearly trying and failing to calm Stevie down. She was incredibly excited about something, and it wasn't long before Sheryl heard her making her way carefully back up the stairs.
She walked into the room carrying a large box and softly singing We Wish You A Merry Christmas. She placed the box at Sheryl's feet and proudly stepped back.
"For me?"
"Uh-huh."
"Thought we weren't doing gifts already?"
"Well. I lied."
"It's a box."
"Yep."
"It's a big box."
"It is."
As Sheryl moved to take off the lid, it moved by itself. She jumped before realising and looking up at Stevie, who was beaming from ear to ear.
"You did not."
"Open it!"
She ripped off the lid and locked eyes with a yellow Labrador puppy, a red Christmas bow tied to his collar. Silently picking him out of the box, she sank to the floor and curled up with him tucked in her arms, face buried in his fur as he sniffed and licked her head.
