Something in the Way You Move [O'J]

Christmas at Home

Jessie's POV

Today is the 28th of December, the day we're leaving Danny's family for London. For home. Callie and I are already packed, having packed last night instead of desperately running around trying to pack everything this morning. Danny, not surprisingly, went with the latter plan. He's an idiot.

But he's my idiot.

At this point, he comes bursting through the door, looking frazzled, and demands, "Have you seen my passport?"

We stare at him for a few seconds, having been playing a game of Spit before I say, "Check your pockets, Danny."

He quickly checks his pockets and lets out a relieved sigh. "Thank God. You two are ready, then?"

Again, Callie and I look up from our game of Spit. "Not at all; that's why we're playing Spit," Callie mutters. "Or we would be, if a certain someone would stop interrupting us."

"Hey, no need to get sassy!" Danny grumbles, zipping up his suitcase.

Callie rolls her eyes at me (she really is a sass master), a half smile turning the corner of her mouth upwards. "To answer your question, we are both packed, Da." She's taken to calling him Da now, especially since she's found closure a few days back. Danny smiles and sits down, watching us play.

"You know, if you had listened to us last night you could've been playing a game with us," I tell him casually.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. You're always right, I'm an idiot, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera!" Danny says, chuckling good-naturedly. We finish our game (Callie won; I've never seen a faster kid!) and we head downstairs to say our goodbyes. After about half an hour, we follow Dara out to his squad car, since he's driving us to the airport. We bid fond farewell to Dara, each promising him something different. Danny promised he wouldn't get into trouble, Callie promised to not fall into a coma again, and I promised to let Dara know if Danny was being a dummy. We all hug Dara and hurry into the airport.

About four hours later, we stumble into Danny's flat and crash onto the couch. "I'm shot," Callie murmurs, yawning. The kids apparently pulled an all-nighter last night playing games. I'm not surprised.

"You can sleep in a little bit," Danny tells her. "But first, you've got presents to open!"

Her head immediately pops up from the pillow she was laying on and she looks at Danny. He nods towards the Christmas tree and pats his leg, inviting her to use him as a chair. She slides off the couch and settles on his knee. After a nudge of encouragement from Danny, she begins tearing open presents, laughing with delight at the contents. After she finishes, she has enough art supplies and books to make both an art studio and a library. She gets up, as if to move her gifts into her room, but Danny stops her. "Now hold up," he says, "There's a few more presents from me and Jessie yet!"

He gets up and hurries into his room. A minute later, he returns, pushing a big box with a few smaller boxes stacked on top. Danny sits down again, pulling Callie back onto his knee. She quickly tears open the boxes on top. From me, she gets a gold-and-silver cross necklace, some lyric books (since she likes singing), ear buds and iTunes gift cards. From Danny, she gets a silver Claddagh ring (which Danny slides onto her ring finger as if it were a wedding ring) and an iPod. And then she gets to the massive box.

She pulls off the wrapping paper to find it wrapped in ductape as well. "This is your design, isn't it?" she asks Danny. He grins and nods. She shakes her head but continues opening it. About ten minutes later, she's managed to get all the wrapping off and opens the box. "Are these to throw at you?" she asks Danny, holding up a handful of pebbles and grinning.