Christmas Wish

Chapter 1

December 25, 2020

Ciara stared into space while sitting on the couch in the Kiriakis living room. A knock at the door brought her out of her thoughts. It was Christmas but she would rather be anywhere than where she is: in the family mansion with her lying scheming cousin and Grandfather. Ciara wanted more than anything to visit Ben in Statesville, be able to be with him today of all days but she couldn't. Grandfather knowing about her visits meant that she had to be uber careful, even if it meant not seeing the man she loved more than anything on Christmas.

Ciara sighed heavily as she opened the door. Ciara's eyes widened slightly as she saw a man in a Santa costume. Ciara chuckled slightly, "You must be here for Mickey. Please, come in."

Ciara stepped to the side and Santa walked in. Ciara noticed Santa just staring at her. "I'm guessing either Sarah or Xander hired you?" Santa stayed silent. Ciara cocked her head to the side slightly, there was something familiar about this Santa, but she just couldn't quite put her finger on it.

Santa jiggled his belly, "So, why don't you tell Santa what you want for Christmas?" Ciara chuckled lightly but her face dropped after a moment. As she crossed her arms she said, "I don't think you could make my Christmas wish come true this year, Santa." Santa took a step toward Ciara and looked right into her eyes, "Why don't you tell me?"

Santa blinked and cleared his throat, "I mean, Santa is very good and making the impossible seem possible." Ciara chuckled bitterly, "Yeah, well..." Ciara pointed to Santa's sack, "...unless there's a key to my boyfriend's cell in Statesville and unless you can stop his execution for a murder he didn't commit, you can't make my Christmas wish come true this year."

"Wanna bet?" Santa lowered his beard and Ciara's eyes widened when she saw that Santa was Ben. "BEN?!" Ben nodded slightly, "Merry Christmas, Bobcat." Ciara stared at Ben slack-jawed for a moment before yanking him through the foyer until they were in a place that Ciara knew was hidden from her grandfather's security cameras.

Ciara leaned against the wall and Ben leaned toward her and captured her lips in a kiss. The kiss quickly turned passionate with Ben tightly gripping Ciara's hip as Ciara clung to Ben's neck desperately. This had been the first time the couple had been able to kiss in almost a year, at least without anyone watching. After a few moments of desperate kissing, Ciara pulled back and looked at Ben, she felt like she was in a dream. How was Ben standing in front of her right now?

"H-how did you-whe-when did you-?" Ben pressed his lips together somewhat amused at Ciara's stammering. Ben rested his white-gloved hands on Ciara's shoulders, "You know how I told you that my dad is a psychotic son on a bitch?" Ciara nodded slightly and Ben continued, "Well he is also powerful. He's got connections: both on the outside and in Statesville. He got one of the guards he has in his pocket to break me out and the Ray-" Ciara interrupted Ben, "The guy that kidnapped Mickey?" Ben nodded and crossed his arms, "Yeah, you kinda gave me an abridged version there, babe."

Ciara scratched her head nervously and looped an arm around Ben's neck, "I-it's not that I didn't want to tell you what happened, I-I just knew that you would worry when you had bigger things to worry about." Ben rubbed his hand up and down Ciara's shoulder slightly, "I'm just glad you're okay."

Ben's face turned stern and serious, "But NEVER do something like that again. Like I've said before Ciara, I literally couldn't stand it if anything happened to you. My execution might as well go through because I couldn't live if I didn't have you." Ciara sighed and her face softened slightly.

"Ray met me at this meeting spot and gave me this, figured it was the perfect disguise being Christmas and all." Ciara swallowed hard, "Wh-why did your father have you broken out?" Ben crossed his arms and sighed heavily, "Let's be honest Ciara, without a confession or any new evidence, I'm going to be executed. My dad told me I had to think outside the box and this seemed like the best option." Ciara chuckled slightly, "So... what? Are you just going to go on the run for the rest of your life?"