Return to New York

Christmas

Neither Tina nor Queenie had to go to work on Christmas Eve. They spent the day with Newt, simply talking about anything they wanted to. The next day was Christmas.

Newt woke up to a quiet tap on his door. He climbed out of bed and made his way over to the door, running a hand over his face. He slid the door open to reveal Tina, still in her pajamas. She grinned at him and he offered her a sleepy smile.

"I'm sorry, did I wake you up?" she asked.

"You did, as a matter of fact. And I don't believe you're particularly sorry about it," Newt chuckled.

Tina laughed. "No, I'm not. You slept in and it's Christmas. I'm going to go change now. Why don't you do the same?"

Newt nodded and she turned and left. He closed the door and quickly changed into his white shirt and brown pants. Then he joined Tina and Queenie in the kitchen. Queenie had prepared breakfast so the three of them sat down at the table and ate. When they finished the meal they moved over to the living room.

"Here, Newt," Queenie said. She handed him a small, rectangular package. "Merry Christmas."

Newt grinned. "Happy Christmas." He reached for a small box and handed it to her. Then he slowly unwrapped his present. It was a small notebook.

Queenie began to unwrap her present.

"I saw that in a shop a few days before I left England and I thought you might like it," Newt explained quickly. 

Tina looked over Queenie's shoulder to see what she had gotten. It was a necklace with a matching pair of earrings. They were definitely Queenie's style.

"Thank you, Newt," Queenie said. Then she turned to Tina. "Go on, open your present."

Tina slowly began to unwrap the package Queenie had handed her. She knew what it would be. Queenie always gave her clothes, usually dresses. Sure enough, it was a dress. She pulled it out carefully, the dark blue fabric slipping through her fingers.

"You know I'm not going to wear this," Tina said, blushing slightly.

"Yeah, you will," Queenie said. Then she unwrapped the box Tina had given her. Tina had bought her sister some perfume that she had been wanting for a while.

Newt slowly handed Tina a small, rectangular package. "I didn't know what to get you but I remembered how much you like to read so I decided to get you this."

Tina looked at him curiously then carefully unwrapped the present. It was a book, a book she hadn't read before, but a book she had been meaning to buy.

"Thank you, Newt," she said, handing him a package. She watched as he unwrapped it slowly. She had gotten him a box of stationery. There was a slightly fancy quill, a bottle of ebony ink, and a stack of paper with faint horizontal lines and his monogram stamped in the upper lefthand corner.

"I don't know how many letters you write," Tina said. "Besides the ones you write to me, of course. Anyway, I thought it might be nice to have some personalized paper to write on."

Newt looked up at her. Their eyes met and they stared at each other for several seconds. Then he finally managed to speak.

"Thank you, Tina," he said softly. "I love it. It will be very useful."

The rest of the day passed quickly. In the afternoon, they went out of the apartment and Apparated to a deserted pond. The ice there thick enough to skate on so that's what they did. All three of them were excellent skaters. Queenie danced across the ice with ease but Newt and Tina could move faster and were soon racing each other across the frozen water.

When they had decided they were too cold and too tired to continue, they went back to the apartment and Queenie made them hot cocoa. They drank it as they sat by the fire to warm themselves. Then Queenie made dinner and they ate together. After they had cleared the table, they went back to the living room and talked for several hours.

Eventually, they all went to their rooms to get ready for bed. Newt had just finished changing into his pajamas when there was a tap on the door. He called for whoever it was to come in. The door slid open and Queenie came in.

"I know you were hoping it was Tina," she said. "Teen's in bed though and I've got something I know you want. I'd have given it to you this morning but Teen'd probably have killed me."

"What is it?" Newt asked, curious.

Queenie stepped closer to him and handed him a small package. He glanced at her curiously before gently pulling the paper away. He studied what was in his hands. It was a silver picture frame, beautifully decorated, but the picture inside was what caught his attention. It was a picture of Tina. She smiled at him through the glass, her lips parting to reveal her straight, white teeth. She reached up and pushed a strand of hair out of her face before letting out a silent laugh.

"It was taken a while ago," Queenie explained. "Before she lost her job, back when she was happy. You know, after she was demoted, she never smiled until she met you."

Newt looked up. "Really?"

"Uh huh. And now, every time she smiles, it's not because of her job or anything, it's always because of you. Whenever she's smiling, as in really smiling, she's thinking about you."

Newt felt his cheeks grow warm. "Oh. Well, tha-- thank you, Queenie," he stammered.

"You're welcome. I know you wanted a picture of her for your case." Queenie spun around and left the room, sliding the door shut behind her.

Newt looked back down at the picture in his hands. Tina's smile grew as their eyes met.

It's just a picture, Newt, he reminded himself. She's not smiling because of you. She was happy when it was taken so she'll smile at anyone who looks at her. But a small smile still crept onto his face. It was wonderful to see her smiling like that. And I can see her smiling in real life too.

Newt quickly descended into his case. He made his way across the shed to the shelves by the door. He carefully set the picture frame on the shelf above the one where the picture of Leta sat. He ran a finger along the edge of the frame.

"Oh, Tina," he murmured. Then he went back up to his room and went to bed.

A/N: Heheh . . . So . . . I'm supposed to be doing my homework right now since I've got English and Physics and PreCalculus. But I'm not. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Please vote and comment.

I know this chapter was a bit shorter but I'm not going to be too concerned about the length of the chapters in this book since the book will be so long. Some of the chapters will probably be very long while others might be kinda short.

Random thing one: The other day I was in the science building at my school and on the board I saw this written: NAHCO3. I really wish the 'h' and the 'c' were switched cause then it would say 'NACHO3' as in 'nacho'. Anyway, I'm stupid.

Random thing two: I almost cried in Bible class. We're studying relationships this semester and today our teacher was explaining how you can't have a healthy relationship without free will. All I could think about was Queenie. Now you know why I was almost crying.

Anyway, I need to go do my homework.

Have a good day!

Bye!

Written January 10, 2019.