The Demons We Found

2.1 December 24, 2006

                  

We are here. You made it to book 2. I'm proud of you. This is probably my favorite maybe of the books? This was one of the last ones that I wrote too. I tried to focus in character development in the non-OCs because that gets left out in fanfic a lot I think. Anyway, the book that made me fall in love with this universe's Mike: The Demons In Our Eyes.

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"In the middle?" Jaime's truck rolled to a stop on the cracked blacktop and he killed the engine.

I leaned over and kissed him for just a quick peck on the lips, but then he made this whining sound that ripped me apart inside. I scooted to the middle to kiss him a little longer and a little easier; I needed to with how he was acting. I heard the shrill noise of children outside the car and remembered where we are. I stopped kissing him. I didn't want to be here. This is his fault.

"Why do you still look like you want to slaughter me?" He asked through that sexy smile of I-just-got-kissed.

"I don't want you dead." I assured him. "Incapacitated would do."

Jaime just laughed and took his keys from the ignition, "Get out of the truck. You think that big weddings are fun-"

"No." I corrected him.

"-my family does Christmas even better." He kept talking, as if I hadn't said a word. I guess it didn't really matter if I did or not. I was still here, spending Christmas with his family. I hate holidays.

I sighed as we walked across the damp grass, "Isn't it a little early for me to be at your parents' for Christmas?"

"We've been together for two years. My mom would beat me if she found out that I let you spend the holidays alone." Jaime said, taking my hand and dragging me faster over to the front door.

"I have the past two years? And it's not even Christmas.." I muttered. His mom didn't care before; she was a great lady, his whole family was so awesome to me. They were kind and open and I think I like them more than my own. I might like them a little less if this is going to be a new tradition though.

"I didn't know the past two years, and It's Christmas Eve- Noche Buena." He corrected me. I barely remembered any of this stuff. Christmas was never happy for my family.

Jaime reached one arm around me and one for the knob to the front door, but he didn't quite get there before it flung wide and Jaime's mother was swatting children out with a shoe. "Out! All of you. Go sing next door! You not break my house! Jaimito! Is you?"

"Jaime!" one of the little girls yelled, running over to him. She attacked his legs and he groaned, lifting her little body and her bright red dress up into his arms. He blew a raspberry into her neck and she giggled, singing him a quick little song. I wasn't sure what it meant, but Jaime was beaming at her as if she were the most perfect thing in the world, and her song could cure every ailment he might ever encounter in life.

The song ended and Jaime frowned dramatically. He looked at her in mock-displeasure. I smiled, she was cute. "No room for you here, Diana."

The girl kept smiling, despite Jaime's apparent rejection. She wiggled around until he set her carefully onto the ground, where she took off with the bigger kids for the house next door. I had never really been to this neighborhood this time of year before, and it was catching me off guard. There was such a strong community.

I lived in a relatively white neighborhood, with a relatively assimilated family. My dad always hated my mom's Cuban cooking, and my mom never bothered to learn anything Mexican, so more often than not we would have lasagna for holidays and called that a new tradition. Christmas was always regarded as a time for mourning the loss of my abuela who died when I was four. Dad would disappear into the garage, and mom would lock herself away at the bakery she co-owned, supplying everyone else's holiday needs. I just watched a lot of TV.