Forget-Me-Not (A Tom Hiddleston Fanfiction)

(49) Answers

"Tom?"

"Yes, love?"

"It's a week until Christmas and your advent calendar is empty." Nina knelt in front of the fireplace as she was meticulously arranging Christmas cards and her eyes had fallen on the completely empty purple cardboard cuboid.

"Yes, love." This time he said it as a statement, not managing to keep a smile off of his face. "I might need to go out and get another one."

"Another advent calendar? You'll end up with enough chocolate at Christmas." Nina sighed, falling so that she went from her kneeling position to sitting on her feet. "I wonder if I'll be able to get a Christmas present to James."

"I'm sure you will, Nina. We can find a way." He finally looked up from the book he was reading, still smiling. But when was that man not smiling? "Have you gotten all your Christmas shopping sorted?"

"Yes, thanks." She went over a mental list of last minute things she'd gone out to fetch the previous day. A CD. An expensive perfume set she'd ordered in to a local shop. Various 'stocking fillers'.

Mistletoe...

She smiled to herself as she ate her chocolate of the day when suddenly the doorbell rang. "Were we expecting anyone?" Nina said, finishing her mouthful.

"No, I don't think so." Tom frowned, glancing up from his book again. "Did your mother ever get back to you with dates for her visit?"

"No, but surely she wouldn't show up without warning..." Nina got up, brushing the fluff off of her knees, before wandering around to the door. There was no glass in the door, and there wasn't a peephole so unfortunately whoever was there was left to Nina's imagination as she fumbled around for the keys.

"Merry Christmas!" Her parents chirped cheerfully, and Nina stared at her mother, whose arms were laden with bags; and her father, who she hadn't seen for a little while, had a cake tub of sorts in his arms. She heard Tom mutter something under his breath from somewhere behind her, and a soft clatter as he probably knocked a bauble off of the tree on his way to get changed out of his pyjamas. Thankfully Nina was already changed, although her jeans and old t-shirt weren't up to much.

"Well, this is a...surprise..." Nina stepped to the side as an indication to her parents that they could come in. Her presents for them were wrapped but they were hidden away with everything else that she'd bought and she had planned on dropping them off on Christmas Day or perhaps even Boxing Day.

"Where's Thomas? I've bought something for him." Nina's mum sat directly in the middle of the sofa, a habit of hers that bugged Nina no end, and put everything on the floor in front of her. That left her father to sit in the armchair with the tub in his lap, and Nina sat at the end of the sofa closest to her father.

"Thomas is here!" Tom called, coming back in, now wearing a white t-shirt and a smart pair of jeans. He sat down on the other side of Mrs Ferguson, then stood straight back up again. "Where are my manners? Would you like a drink?"

"A coffee would be lovely, thank you." Mrs Ferguson looked expectantly over at Nina's father who mumbled something about a glass of water. Tom left the room, humming quietly to himself, leaving Nina to return an expectant look to her mother next to her.

"James. Care home. Explain."

"Nina, it's Christmas, I didn't want to bring this up now." Mrs Ferguson looked extremely uncomfortable but at that moment Nina didn't care. She just wanted to know that her brother was okay.

"Well if we don't discuss it now, when are we going to discuss it?" Nina's voice raised slightly. "Mum, I need to know why you got rid of him."

Her mothers face visibly paled. "Now, don't phrase it like that..."

"Well, however I phrase it isn't going to change the fact that you've given up on him!"

"Girls!" A deep male voice barked, but it wasn't Tom. The two Ferguson girls both turned their heads to stare at Nina's father, his sudden outburst having taken them by surprise. "It's a festive time of year so why can't you just get along? I'm sure Tom won't appreciate this...this squabbling."

"No, Tom won't." Tom repeated his 'walking into the room at exactly the right moment' trick, balancing a full mug, a full glass and a small tub of sugar with a spoon wedged in it which he set down on the coffee table. Clearly as puzzled as Nina by Mrs Ferguson's habit, he sat down on the other side of the woman who now seemed to have forgotten the past few minutes as she paid full attention to her mug of steaming coffee.

The room was silent save for the clinking of the spoon as Mrs Ferguson stirred her tea, and it was quite an uncomfortable silence. Nina avoided eye contact with everyone, since she didn't have anything at all to say, until Tom had had enough and decided to clear his throat before thinking of a conversation starter. "So... Are you looking forward to your holiday? Are you going anywhere nice?"

"Yes, actually, we're going to a private villa in Turkey..." Mrs Ferguson then proceeded to talk Tom to death about the villa, and the pool, and it's view, and how it was billed as 'pets allowed' but old Val Smith couldn't take her hamster and so on. He managed to nod, smile and even laugh in all the right places whereas Nina looked as if she were about to fall asleep at any moment. "So, are you going away any time soon?"

"Neither of us have got anything official planned but I'm due to do some press in Oz next year and I was still hoping that Nina would want to accompany me." Nina's mum tittered away then, saying about how Tom was sweet and polite, and how she wished she had a son like him.

"So, was James not good enough then?" Nina muttered to herself, staring at her hands which rested in her lap.

"Sorry, what was that, Nina?" Nina's dad somehow heard whilst her mother didn't; she was now in full conversation with Tom about Australia.

"How could you do that to James, Dad? You'd gotten so far with him." Nina leaned a little closer to him, speaking softly so that she wouldn't start anything else with her mother. Her father just shook his head, sitting back slightly, and joining in with the conversation about opera houses and large red rocks.

Nina felt somewhat excluded but at that point, she wasn't exactly bothered. She needed a break, she needed a holiday. Spontaneity wasn't her strong point, but she could get something sorted for Christmas Eve or Christmas Day at least. She'd feel bad for leaving Tom, but if she told him, she wouldn't be able to face those puppy dog eyes of his. No, she'd get something cheap booked and just leave.

Nothing said 'Merry Christmas' more than leaving your flatmate alone to watch Christmas telly by himself.

[A/N] but luckily, there's fangirls that will happily take nina's place! not originally where i was planning for the chapter to go but i have a few ideas and then plenty more things for upcoming chapters! drop a vote and prepare for the next chapter, it should be a good one...
yours truly :) x