A Christmas Accident

A Festive Fall

"I didn't get chance to apologise earlier." Gabriel murmured whilst the others were distracted, making Sang pause and look up from the box she was sorting through.

"What do you mean?" She asked as she pulled another bauble free and put it in the pile on the left.

"For my behaviour earlier. I didn't mean to embarrass or upset you for cuddling with North." He said as he played with the bottled water in his hands. "I have a habit of speaking before I think sometimes, but that's no excuse. So, I'm sorry."

Pausing her task, Sang rose to her feet and gently took Gabriel's hands in hers – forcing him to look up. Her expression softened when she saw the guilt in his eyes.

It was clear to her that he was uncomfortable over the knowledge of how he had made her feel earlier, but she was grateful he was acknowledging the potential hurt he had caused her.

"It's okay. Thank you for apologising – but you didn't upset me. I'm made of stronger stuff then that." She winked, hoping it would make him smile and let go of the guilt.

Thankfully it worked, and he perked right back up as if he had never even looked sombre a moment ago.

"Thank fuck for that. It's bad enough that Mr. B gave me hours, but I couldn't bare the idea of you being pissed at me too."

Chucking quietly at his put-out expression, she let go of his hands and sat back down on the floor. Sitting beside her, he started helping her sort through the baubles and unique decorations for the tree.

It seemed when Erica and Jessica had removed everything – they had just chucked it in a couple of boxes, and now they were spending time sorting everything out so they could start decorating the tree.

Something that Sang was extremely excited to do.

"When you said Mr. B gave you hours, what did you mean?" She asked, and Gabriel froze.

"Shit!" He whispered, shaking his head and Sang paused what she was doing to look over at him curiously. "It's just something we've been doing for years. When one of us steps out of line or breaks a family rule – we have to do hours as a group." He shrugged, obviously struggling to explain himself.

Sighing, he dropped another silver bauble into the pile and looked up to meet her eyes.

"Hours are what we refer to as extreme workout sessions. Depending on the severity of the transgression, depends on how many hours gets assigned." Kota said, giving Gabriel an unreadable look.

Confused, she looked between the pair who seemed to be communicating silently, and she bit her bottom lip as she watched them.

Sang thought the whole hours thing was strange – but then again, she didn't know what a healthy family dynamic was supposed to look like, so she couldn't be sure if it was normal or not.

But she had never heard anyone speak of something like hours before, and watching them communicate with their eyes told her there was more going on then she thought.

"Hey Pookie!" Tearing her eyes away from Kota and Gabriel, she found Sean standing a few feet away and she almost laughed when she saw what he was wearing. "What do you think?"

"I think you look very festive." She managed to force out, trying to fight her laughter at his Christmas jumper which she was sure Luke had given to him.

It was dark blue, covered in tinsel with two baubles taking up most of the room on the jumper and the words 'Jingle my Bell's printed boldy below.

Groans echoed around the room as everyone caught sight of his jumper, and their reactions seemed to please Sean as his smile brightened as he approached her.