Love's Requiem

"Ready?" I asked Niko with a grin as we went up the stairs.

"I'm not even sure what to expect." Niko chuckled in Croatian as we got to my apartment door.

"Neither do I, I haven't been home since September." I told him as I pulled out my keys and unlocked my door.

We walked in, and I flipped on a light.

"It's nothing special." I added as I threw down my backpack on to the couch.

"It's nice." Niko smiled as he locked the door behind him.

"Okay, so I have an extra bed room where you can put your stuff." I began as he followed me to the room. "And you're going to love it." I added with a smirk.

"I'm afraid." I heard him mumble as I turned on the light in the room, and then looked back at him to see a smile on his face.

As it's always been, the extra bedroom was decorated with all soccer memorabilia.

"Of course." He laughed putting his bags down and taking off his coat.

"I'll let you settle in while I warm up the food." I told him as I quietly left the room taking off my coat, as well.

I was in the middle of pulling out whatever I had in my backpack, when Niko came out of the room and sat in the living room.

"Everything good?" I asked him, as I put my ipod in the charger I had in the living room.

"Yup, ready to eat?" He asked me as he got up, and followed me in to the kitchen.

"I thought you'd never ask!" I said running to the table,

"So what is this?" He asked cautiously unwrapping the sandwich.

"It's like," I paused to think of a good comparison for it, "think of it as healthy McDonalds."

He took a bite and nodded, "Not bad," He laughed.

"See told you, Jesse and I always drive out to Long Island to get this and then we spend the rest of the night driving around."

"So how was the rest of your tour?"

"Good, when we were in Spain we went to a bull fight!" I told him as he chuckled.

"I'm glad you had fun, when's your next one?"

"February."

"A month off? Very nice."

"How about you?" I asked him.

"I have a game as soon as I come back from here in a week and a half."

"I'll be watching." I smirked, "So Jesse and I compiled a list of everything I have to take you to see while you're here so you can have a real taste of New York."

"I'm afraid."

"Don't worry your pretty little head." I smiled.

After we finished eating, I was ready to call it a night.

"So before I forget I have a question." I began as I plopped down next to Niko on the couch after I changed in to my pajamas.

"What's that?"

"So Christmas, I usually spend with Jesse. And his mom said I was more than welcome to have you for dinner as well so do you want to spend Christmas with him or do you want me to make us dinner and it just be us?" I asked him.

"It's up to you."

"No, it's up to you you're the guest."

"I wouldn't mind spending it with Jesse."

"Okay," I smiled "I'll tell him later." I nodded as I got up and stretched. "Now I don't know about you, but for the first time in almost five months I can sleep in my own bed."

He shut off the TV, and followed me to the hallway.

"I can't believe you have him in your hallway." I heard him mumbled when he saw the framed Cristiano Ronaldo photo Jesse had given me for Christmas.

"He's dreamy." I sighed.

"He's a dick."

"He was nice to me."

"Because you have breasts."

"Well you do too so he must love you." I snorted, as he chased me in to my room, and tackled me on my bed.

"Is that us?" He asked after I turned the light on, and he looked at the picture frames on my night-stand.

"Yeah," I smiled grabbing them to show him.

The first one had the picture of all of us from my birthday last summer, and the second one was a picture my grandma had sent me from when Alex and I visited of Niko and I in her kitchen.

"I'll see you in the morning Isabella." He told me kissing my forehead.

"It is the morning!" I mumbled, as I got under the covers. "Night Niko." I told him as he left.

Unfortunately that night I had a really bad dream that ended up waking me up. It was already 7 am so at least I had gotten two hours of sleep. I picked myself up out of bed still a bit shaken from the dream and headed in to the guest room, and slid under the blanket next to Niko.

"What's wrong?" He mumbled to me in Croatian as he woke up from my movement.

"Bad dream." I whimpered, as I saw a smirk play out on his face.

"Everything is okay." He told me as he I rested my head on his chest, soon falling asleep again from the movements of his breathing.

The next morning despite it being Christmas Eve, I introduced Niko to an ever-occurring ritual of the post tour laundry day, and unpacking.

"You know Isabella today we're supposed to be going to church and holiday related things,
not laundry." Niko joked as we lugged the two sacks of clothes back to my apartment.

"Hey, the laundry mat was empty I never get that lucky! And besides we're in New York that means my rules of Christmas Eve." I explained.

"And what would that be?"

"Head to Bayside later tonight to get insanely drunk."

"How delightful." He told me sarcastically.

"Fine, what do you want to do today?"

"Well," He paused think.

"Actually you know what, I have the perfect idea of what we're going to do, don't worry." I smirked getting an idea as we climbed up the steps of my building.

After I was finally settled in, and Niko had finally unpacked a little as well, I made sure I had the presents I bought in Europe wrapped and ready for the next few days and tomorrow night.

"Finally!" I said triumphantly heading into the kitchen to make myself some tea. "What time is it?" I asked Niko who was watching something on TV in the living room.

"Almost 5." He told me as I pulled out the measuring cup of water I had just micro waved and made both of us a cup of tea.

"Didn't take as long as usual." I smiled handing him a cup.

"So what's your plan for tonight?" He asked me as I rested my head against him.

"It's a surprise but if I was you I'd dress warmer." I told him. "We're going to leave here around 7."

"Where are we going?"

"All I can tell you is we're not going to Bayside to get drunk." I assured him with a smirk.