Something in the Way You Move [O'J]

Christmas Morning (part 2)

Danny's POV

Jessie and I walk downstairs with my arm wrapped around her waist. I really hope it's not obvious that we just had some O'J time. My brothers would never let me hear the end of it. Not that my sisters wouldn't, it's just that my brothers...

I jump the last few steps and turn to catch Jessie. She jumps lightly into my arms and I spin her around, placing a kiss on her lips as I do so. I hear Ian snickering at us and flip him the bird without pausing my kiss with Jessie. Everyone laughs and we break apart. A Santa hat is crammed onto my head as I bound into the living room. I might hate waking up on Christmas morning (only since I have to wake up early, though, not because I hate Christmas!), but once I'm up I'm a proper nutter. I look around the room and can't help but be impressed by the amount of presents crammed under the tree, not to mention the tree itself. I notice Callie's sitting on one of my mum's knees, snuggled up to her and probably telling her a story, since they're both laughing. I whistle sharply and immediately Callie turns to look. I open my arms and tilt my head to the side, and she quickly throws herself into them, knocking me a step backwards. She may be only sixty-something pounds, but she can pack a ton of force! "Could we talk for a minute, Callie?" I ask her quietly.

"Of course, yeah," she murmurs, returning the quiet tone.

I lead her out onto the porch and close the door behind us. "So you're...you know, okay with this and all?"

"What...what do you mean, am I okay with this?"

"Celebrating Christmas. I'd bet everything and then some that you didn't get to celebrate it at least the past two years, and I doubt you'd remember if you did beforehand...?"

"Oh!" She pauses, looking out into the distance. After a minute, she sighs quietly. "Yeah, I'm okay with it," she mutters. She sounds anything but okay with it.

"What's wrong, love?"

"It's just..." she searches for the right words. After failing to find them, she continues, "Never mind. I don't think you'd understand it. It's weird."

"Please tell me? Or try to?" I murmur. "I mean, if it upsets you and you don't want to talk about it..."

She sighs again. "It's not that it's upsetting, really, it's just...hard to explain. I'm thrilled to be actually celebrating Christmas with family and presents instead of a day free of beatings. Not that that wasn't a great thing; hell, it was the best damn thing that ever happened to any of us! But anyways, it's just that...it's just that I feel like I'm somehow betraying my parents by being happy here. I don't get it."

I nod slowly. I could understand why she felt that way. I wrap an arm around her shoulders. "Perhaps you'd like to go and make peace with your parents tomorrow? I'd like to see my dad, personally."

She turns to me, a surprised expression on her face. An unasked question, answered. "Yeah," she tells me. "Yeah, I think I'd like that."

I smile. "Good," I murmur. We stand outside for a minute or two longer before I break the silence. "You know, we should probably head back inside before they send a search party out for us."

She laughs. "You think they would?"

"Wanna keep them waiting a few more minutes and find out?"

She tilts her head to the side, then to the other side, considering her options. "Nah, it's too cold out," she says. "Let's head inside!" I open the door and she bounds through and into the living room. Whatever mood she was in outside is gone. She settles herself between Vicky and Dara and starts chatting with them. After a while, mum calls out, "Alright, everyone! Listen up, I'm only saying this once. Kids are over on the far side of the tree, everyone's got their own little piles all nice and organized, and adults are over this side of the tree. You can have at it whenever you like!"

Immediately, all the kids shoot from their seats and dart around to the other side of the tree. There is a huge ripping sound, as they all tear into their first presents, before they start surfacing again. After each present, they run out and thank whoever gave it to them. After half an hour or so, they all pop out for the final time, beaming and laughing. They all settle with their parents and it's the adults' turn to open their presents. Even though we could have opened them while the kids were opening theirs, we like to watch them open theirs because their reactions are just priceless. We all start to open our presents, shouting thanks across the room since we're too lazy to get up and walk over to them like the kids. After a while, everyone's finished opening their presents and a quiet peace takes over. Everyone's all curled up with one another and we spend the next few hours just talking. It was nice, really, to just spend some legitimate quality time with the family. After a time which only felt like minutes (but in reality was many, many hours) we're called for dinner. We get up and head into the dining room.

We all sit down around the table, which, miraculously, could fit all of us. Callie sits to my left and Jess sits to my right. Everyone starts taking food from the massive piles of it on the table. We down it all in about an hour, everyone stuffing themselves to the point of bursting. And then cramming some more food in there. One by one, everyone excuses themselves and heads to bed. Jessie and I are among the last to head up. I strip into my boxers and collapse onto the bed with a groan. "So much food..." I mumble into the pillow.

"Tell me about it! Does your mum always make that much?" Jessie asks me.

"More or less, yeah."

"I'm surprised everyone could move after they ate all that...!"

"Most of them couldn't; that's why they waited before leaving the table."

She laughs. "You're kidding, right?"

"You wish I was!"

She prods my side. "Yeah, I do. Now scooch over, you're hogging the bed!" I roll onto my side and lift an arm up. She curls up into me and gives me a quick kiss and nuzzles her head between my neck and shoulder. I smile and kiss the top of her head. "Good night, Jess," I murmur to her. "I love you."

"Good night, Dan. I love you too," she whispers softly. Slowly, we sink into a deep, dreamless sleep.

-------------------------------

GUYS SORRY FOR NOT UPDATING IN FOREVER :( I'LL TRY TO UPDATE A LOT THIS WEEKEND TO MAKE IT UP TO YOU :)

Vague chapter is vague...I didn't really feel like going into detail in this chapter. Don't worry, though, there will be a chapter that has specifics about Christmas later on! :)

Almost 6,500 reads WHAAAAAAAAAAT? Guys, really, I don't know why you read this BUT it's really appreciated and I love you all <3