Love Will Find A Way

Part One - Chapter Seventeen: Moving In and Presents

Nicole couldn't have been happier when her chemotherapy had finished especially since she was in the progress of packing up her things in her apartment so that she could move into Cristiano's house.

Nicole would have to wait a few more weeks before she could find out if her treatment had been successful and if she had beaten leukaemia; she was a little nervous about what the results might say and had been focusing her energies on keeping herself occupied.

Cristiano was pleasantly surprised at how much of his own stuff had been in Nicole's apartment as they packed up for the move to his home; he hadn't thought that he had brought that much over when he had come to stay with Nicole in case she needed him and to support her.

Christmas was only a few days away and Cristiano was glad he had already gotten Nicole's present since she would be spending it with her family in Madrid while the footballer travelled back to Portugal to see his own family.

The footballer was a little upset that they wouldn't be spending the holidays together but there was little he could do about it.

Nicole had also gotten Cristiano's present early meaning she didn't have much to worry about since she was moving house; she was currently sitting in her empty bedroom while she looked around, not sure what to make of leaving her home of several years behind.

Cristiano smiled lightly as he joined her and sat on the bed; Alexis would be staying in the apartment since she was now back from Rome for good and was a little pleased she didn't have to share the apartment with the couple anymore.

"Are you ready to go?" Cristiano asked wrapping an arm around Nicole's shoulders as she nodded quietly it all seeming to surreal to her; he knew that this was for the best especially with the threat of Jesse hanging around.

***

It didn't take long for Nicole to settle into Cristiano's house since she wasn't allowed to do any heavy lifting which left it to Sergio and Cristiano; the two had been insistent that she rested since the brunette's finally chemo session had taken a lot out of her.

The couple were currently sat in the living room discussing their plans for Christmas since Cristiano wanted Nicole to come with him to Portugal while she was determined to spend the holidays with her own family.

"My Mãe really wants to meet you," Cristiano said as he kissed her neck, his arms were wrapped securely around the brunette and he was holding her close to him since he didn't want to let her go now that he had her with him; he smiled softly as she sighed and turned to look at him.

Nicole looked at him and smiled knowing what Cristiano was up to unfortunately it wasn't working.

He had been trying for weeks to get her to come back to Portugal with him and it wasn't going to work, she truly wanted to spend the holidays with her family in case it was her last.

"And I would love to meet her as well but I'm spending Christmas with my own family," Nicole said making her boyfriend groan and smack his head on the back of the couch, she laughed lightly as she pressed a kiss to his lips.

Cristiano pouted at her as she cuddled closer to him, he wished that he could convince her otherwise since he didn't want to leave her behind but he understood why she didn't want to go with him.

"But how are we going to trade Christmas presents... I fly out 23rd and I won't see you until the 2nd of January," Cristiano whined making Nicole smile sadly at him, she knew that this wasn't going to be easy for them.

Neither of the couple seemed to like the idea of spending more than a week apart however it was becoming necessary if they wanted to spend Christmas with their respective families; it was just something that they were going to have to do.

"What if we were to trade them now?" Nicole said making Cristiano's eyes snap to hers a wicked grin showing on his face as he nodded like a excited child; he knew it wasn't ideal but he wanted to be here when he gave Nicole her present.

The two quickly split up to collect the present that they had bought for one another; Nicole's was sneakily hidden in the back of her suitcase while Cristiano had Nicole's hidden in an spare room away from their bedroom.

***

It wasn't long before Nicole and Cristiano were back in the living room with their presents sitting on their laps.

The brunette's was a large flat rectangle shape which had Cristiano wondering what she had gotten him while the footballer's was a plain brown box with a red ribbon wrapped around it.

"So how do we do this?" Cristiano asked not sure how to proceed with giving Nicole her gift, Nicole rolled her eyes making Cristiano grin playfully; she knew that he was nervous since she was his first proper girlfriend and he didn't want this to end badly.

"Okay so what did you buy me?" the footballer asked turning back into the child that Nicole knew he secretly was; the brunette handed him the package making Cristiano look confused as he tilted his head curious about what she had gotten.

"I didn't... Sergio said something to me a few weeks back at one of my sessions and I know how much your Padre meant to you," she said softly making Cristiano look even more confused as he slowly unwrapped the present Nicole moved to sit next to him, however once he opened it tears formed in his eyes.

"I had your Madre send out the original photograph which I used to paint this," she said shrugging as Cristiano took in one of the few pictures his mother had of his father which had been skilfully painted onto canvas.

"Gracias my love," he told her making the brunette nod thoughtfully, the two stayed silent for a few minutes before Nicole's present started to move by itself making Cristiano smile knowing that this was going to be a nice surprise.

Nicole looked at him confused before he handed her the box which had holes in it, he had done everything to make sure that she wouldn't find out what he had planned.

"It's a bit of a house warming Christmas present," Cristiano admitted making Nicole raise an eyebrow as she set the box down and slowly slipped off the ribbon; he watched as she slowly opened the box and his arms wrapped around her waist.

"How?" the brunette asked in disbelief as a ball of white fluff looked up at her, she stared at her boyfriend shocked as he chuckled and carefully picked up the fluff ball and set it on Nicole's lap; he trailed his fingers through the puppy's fur knowing that this had been a good idea.

"When you were shopping with the WAGs last week, I saw the advert and thought it would be something you would like," he said as the puppy yipped playfully at the couple; Nicole smiled softly before she leant back and kissed Cristiano who held her close to his chest.

The puppy climbed up onto Nicole's lap and licked her hand making the couple laugh and pull away from each other and look down at the puppy who wagged its tail in excitement.

"He's a Maltese so he won't grow too big and shouldn't have too much energy," Cristiano said so sure of himself making Nicole pull him back into a kiss.

She couldn't believe that he had gotten her a puppy for Christmas; they had been together for four months and she hadn't been expecting this.