The Exception (H&D Sequel)

Chapter 1- Merry Christmas

He looks so innocent and child-like. His soft brown eyes glow with excitement and happiness, much like the little boy in my living room on the first Christmas we spent together. His hair lies tousled on top of his head but he still looks amazing. His fingers struggle with the wrapping paper, trying to fold the little flaps over neatly and then tape them. His eyebrows furrow in frustration, causing his forehead to crease.

"Need some help?" I ask him, finishing up the last bit of hot chocolate in my mug.

His head snaps up and he nods as a soft laugh escapes his mouth. "Yes please." He pushes the medium sized box closer to me and I take it into my hands, folding the red and white candy cane wrapping paper over and taping the flap down on both ends of the box.

I pick up the box and place it on top of another one, adding to our pile. "How about you start wrapping the boxes and I'll finish them?" I suggest.

"Sounds good," he smiles his adorable smile and picks up the next gift.

"You two look so cute in your matching onesies!" My mom shrieks, entering the living room. She bought us matching reindeer onesies last week and forced us to wear them tonight. "I need a picture of this. Get in front of the tree," she orders, pulling her phone out from her pocket.

"Mom," I whine.

"Stop whining and get in front of the tree," she demands.

I do as told, letting out a groan and Shawn chuckles. He scoots closer to the tree and sits next to me, wrapping his arm around my waist. My head falls onto his shoulder as I pull my knees up to my chest.

"Now smile," she chirps. I smile for the picture and quickly remove it when it's taken. "Are you staying the night Shawn?" My mom asks.

He responds with a polite yes and we finish wrapping the boxes. My mom hugs us both goodbye and leaves to go to a friend's Christmas party.

"What do you want to do now?" He questions.

"Christmas cookies!" I shout, jumping up and grabbing his hand to pull him up. He chuckles, standing up and walking to the kitchen with me.

After baking the cookies, Shawn eats almost half of the batch and I have to make more so there's enough for my mom.

"Baby, it's midnight," Shawn informs me.

"Yay!" I squeal. Shawn and I have this special tradition. Every Christmas at twelve in the morning, we go somewhere private and open our gifts from each other. And since we have the house to ourselves, we don't have to go anywhere.

Shawn and I grab some cookies and sit down in front of the fireplace with our presents.

"You first," he tells me, chomping down on another cookie.

I smile and hand him the smallest box. He tears apart the wrapping paper quickly and opens the box to find four pairs of nice but masculine looking studs.

"Aw, thanks babe," he chuckles as he sets the box down.

I nod and he hands me a purple gift bag with light blue tissue paper sticking out of the top. Pulling the paper out of the bag, I eagerly look inside to find multiple gifts. The first thing I pull out is a red and green flower crown. I laugh and place it on top of my head before continuing. A white teddy bear with a purple ribbon tied around its neck catches my eye next. After that is a few tubes of lip gloss, lipstick, mascara and a gift card to Mac. The next present Shawn receives contains a few guitar picks because he goes through those like crazy, a gold and a black capo, and a couple beanies. I get a whole box full of sheet music from classical to romantic to 2015's greatest hits.

"Okay, so this next gift isn't in here, I have to go get it," I inform him. I couldn't keep it out here because it's too obvious what it is from the shape of the box. I stand up and walk to my mom's room, pulling the huge box out of her closet. I slide it across the brown hardwood floor, for it's too heavy to carry.

"Oh my gosh," he mumbles under his breath as soon as I come into view. "You didn't!"

"I did." The grin on my face holds all of my excitement and Shawn jumps to his feet.

"Marie, you did not buy me a new guitar," his hand flies to his hair to push it out of his face as he walks toward me.

"I did, but that's not even the best part. Open it."

He quickly tears the paper off of the box with a wide smile painted on his face. His fingers rapidly open the box to find a black acoustic guitar with silver writing on it.

A gasp falls from his lips after reading the signature and I think his eyes nearly pop out of his head. "Tom Petty?" I nod. "How the hell did you get Tom Petty to sign this?"

"I ran into him at Guitar Center when I was picking out your guitar. I had to hurry up and pick one to buy so he could sign it before he left. Perfect timing, I guess," I shrug.

"Holy shit," he says in awe.

I giggle. "And I was thinking that whenever you meet a guitarist that you like, you can have them sign it if you have it with you. You could have like a collection of autographs."

"Babe, this is so cool. I love it," he grins.

"Great," I smile, satisfied with myself.

He picks his new instrument up and walks me back to the fireplace. "Here's my last gift for you," he says and takes a gold box out of his pocket. He opens it and pulls out a silver bracelet. "It's a charm bracelet."

He clasps it around my wrist then pulls a silver Christmas tree out of the little box and hooks it on.

"You can add charms whenever you want," he tells me. "On special occasions or just whenever you feel like you need a new one," he chuckles, his hand scratching the back of his head. He seems a little nervous about whether I like it or not.

"Thank you so much," I tell him, leaning over and pressing my lips to his. I think my small gesture soothes his worry. He grabs my waist and pulls me down next to him, wrapping his arm around me.

"Merry Christmas, Angel," he says softly, placing a kiss on my cheek.

"Merry Christmas, babe."

The rest of the night, or morning, consists of Shawn playing his new guitar and singing me beautiful holiday songs. This night couldn't be more perfect. My life couldn't be more perfect. But it seems a little too perfect, honestly. Almost too good to be true.