Make It To Me (Chris Evans AU Fic)

Chapter 8

"Okay Nina, are you ready for today's joke? It's a special Christmas joke in honor of today being Christmas Eve," Jake leaned on the counter before adjusting his badge.

"How bad is it today, Chris?" Nina leaned to look around Jake to see the handsome dark haired officer dressed in his well pressed uniform with Sarge at his side.

Chris scratched at his strong jawline covered in short stubble, "Oh today's is phenomenally painful. Even Sarge howled when he heard it."

Jake lightly slapped his friend on his toned chest, only making Chris laugh as Jake turned back to Nina and said, "Okay so who is Santa's favorite singer?"

"Who?" She humored him.

"Elf-is Presley!" Jake could barely get the answer out while he started cracking up.

"You know Jake," Nina began while digging out a treat to feed to Sarge, causing his tail to wag wildly as he ate it and got scratches from the woman. "That may have possibly been the worst one I've heard you tell."

"I told Noah that joke last night when we all were having dinner at your and Sarah's place and he thought it was hilarious," Jake argued.

Chris smirked, "What does that tell you? A six year old thinks you're joke is funny."

The group all followed their normal morning routine and went to the small table that Nina had their coffee's sitting at with their daily napkin sketches. Today they both had the same one, the two of them with elf hats on, which made them each laugh.

"I wanted to thank you guys for the police officer costume you got Noah. Katie told me that he slept in it last night because he wouldn't take it off," Nina's eyes sparkled. "Hey wait! Before I forget...."

Sarge lifted his head as he watched Nina get up and hurry to the back. The dog trotted behind the sweet woman as she grabbed the three boxes from behind the counter and handing one to Jake and two to Chris.

"This one," She pointed to the one on the bottom while looking at Chris. "Is for your mom. It's that picture she wanted a drawing of. Then the other is for you."

Jake had already tore into his and tipped his head back, laughing loudly when he saw the thick book of practical jokes. Chris just shook his head, telling Nina not to encourage him but she just told him to open his present.

Chris did as he was told and ripped into the paper until he could pull the lid off the box. He saw a warm looking red and blue flannel shirt and pulled it out of the box, feeling how soft it was.

"Now you officially own something in your closet that isn't either your uniform, or a black or white tee shirt!" Nina explained, making Chris laugh before she went on. "That one is kind of a joke though, the real present is underneath it."

Reaching under the tissue paper, he pulled out a picture frame and saw that inside it, there was a beautiful painting of Chris' new home. She even had painted Chris sitting on the porch with Sarge next to him. It was obvious that Nina had put a lot of time into the painting, getting every detail just right.

"Nina," He gasped before lifting his eyes to her hopeful caramel ones. "This is the best gift I've ever gotten. It's gorgeous! I'm going to hang it in my living room."

She smiled widely, making her eyes squint up in a way Chris thought was just adorable while she told him, "Oh I'm so glad you like it!"

"Like it? I love it!" Chris put the painting down so he could give her a tight hug. "Okay but now I have your present! I was going to give it to you the other night when Jake gave you his but I wanted to wrap it nicely so anyway..."