Secrets - Brollins

8.

The following week, Rebecca heard a knock on her apartment door. She looked at her phone, she wasn't expecting anyone and it was Christmas, everyone she knew were with their families.

Normally for Christmas she would always try to get home to spend time with her own family but with the given circumstances she didn't want to go home, she still hadn't told her parents the news and she knew when she did they were not going to be the happiest, especially given how hard she worked to get where she was.

There was another knock and she quickly walked over, looked through the peephole and didn't expect who she saw on the other side. She unlocked and opened it quickly

"Colby" she said with a small smile

"Merry Christmas" he smiled as he held a small bag out to her and she took it

"What are you doing here?" She asks as she moved out of the doorway to let him in

"Like I was going to let you spend Christmas alone" he laughed

"What about your family?" She asked as she sat the small bag on the counter and locked the door once more

"You are my family now" their eyes met and she smiled sweetly

"Technically gummy bear is your family" she said placing her hand on her abdomen and he smiled

"True" he nodded "but if you want to be even more technical, you and gummy bear are a package deal at the moment" he said and she laughed as she opened the bag and pulled out the gold foil bag

"Gummy bears?" She questioned "You bought me gummy bears.." She nodded

"Gluten free gummy bears" he noted "You can eat them, I checked" he nodded and she looked at the ingredients on the back of the bag with a nod

"Why did you bring me gummy bears?" She asked with a laugh

"I just figured given gummy bear's nickname he or she would like them"

"So you want me to feed gummy bear, gummy bears?" She asked "Isn't that some sort of cannibalism?" She laughed and he shrugged

"What are you doing on this beautiful Christmas night?" He looked around the apartment

"Beautiful? It's a blizzard outside!" She exclaimed and he laughed

"I know" he nodded "I was the one that drove three hours in this weather to be here with you so you better be just a little bit entertaining"

"Gingerbread house" she said and he looked at her confused "I build a gingerbread house every year" she clarified "I was getting ready to do it.. if you want to help" she shrugged

"I'm not making a gingerbread house with you as a grown adult but I will gladly watch you"

"Suit yourself" she shrugged as she walked to her table

Colby watched Rebecca read the instructions intently, if you'd tell him he would be watching her put together a gingerbread house on Christmas he would tell you you were insane.

"Rebecca.." He laughed and she looked up at him as she held the walls to the house with both hands "The roof is falling off" he shook his head

"I got it" she said

"You sure?" He asked and she nodded and held one wall up and place the two pieces of the roof back in their places and adding more icing to glue them together and a wall fell down in the process and she groaned in frustration as she threw her head back and he laughed

"WHY?!" She yelled

"Have you ever done this by yourself before?" He asked
"I always did this with my family.. I didn't want to break tradition this year" she said

"So you're telling me this is going to be a tradition with our kid?"

"That's the plan" she nodded as she grabbed the wall with one hand

"Move" he said as he stood up from his spot across from her and moved to her side of the table and he placed his hands over hers "I got it" he said

"It's going to fall" she shook her head "If I move my hands it will fall apart"

"No it won't.. I've got it" he said and she moved her hands away quickly causing the whole house to fall and she glared at him "It fell" he said

"No shit!" She yelled as she wiped her hands with a towel "I give up" she threw her arms in the air

"Oh come on.." He picked up the pieces "You can't give up" he shook his head

"What happened to I'm a grown adult and I'm not making a gingerbread house?" She mocked him

"I've watched you struggle for the last thirty minutes.. I felt sorry for you" he said "Come on" he motioned her over

It took another ten minutes for them to work together, but as the saying goes.. teamwork makes the dream work.. they had a fully standing house and we currently decorating it, Colby looked over at Rebecca who was strategically placing the gumdrops to make a driveway.

"You clearly suck at construction.. so how about I build the house and you and gummy bear can decorate it" he said and she smiled

"You've got a deal Lopez" she nodded

After cleaning up the mess from their building disaster, Rebecca made hot chocolate before joining Colby on the couch and she put on the TV quietly in the background

"What?" He asked as he looked over at her and she shook her head "I can tell something is bothering you" he said

"I feel bad" she pouted "If I knew you were coming I would have got you something"

"You're already getting me the best gift I will ever have.. it's just showing up a few months late, ya know with this holiday season the shipping is gonna take awhile"

"You didn't get the prime version? That ships in like two days?" She asked

"They didn't have that as an option" he smirked

"You should call the company and complain" she played along and he shook his head

"Nah" he shook his head "The factory is working super hard to make it perfect"