The First Noel

1/1

The view through the French doors out on the balcony overlooking the mountains was spectacular that Christmas Day morning. Snow had fallen over the area for the past couple of days and heavily during the night, temperatures had been hovering just below zero Celsius the past week and it all made for picture perfect views.

Houses were lined with lights and decorations and so was their balcony railing, even though they could barely be seen with all the snow covering them at the moment.

Rolling onto his stomach as he was slowly waking up, Matt frowned into the familiar pillow as he came up short, finding the other side of the large bed empty, and cold. Reluctantly picking his head up and glancing around he found that he was alone in the decorated room. There wasn’t a single part of the place that had evaded being covered in glitter and ornaments, all for the sake of Christmas spirit.

Not that he minded, it eased the ache of being so far away from his family during the holidays.

Turning back around he pushed himself up into a sitting position and barely managing to stifle a yawn, he reached up and ran his fingers through his unruly dark hair, silently wondering where his girlfriend had disappeared to.

It was barely seven in the morning, still dark outside and he knew for a fact that neither of them had to be up that morning.

However, just moments later when he was debating climbing out of the bed and searching for her, he got his unasked questioned answered when a waft of hot chocolate floated into the door through the slightly ajar door. Waiting for a moment, he broke out in a wide grin as the door was pushed open and the woman he called his girlfriend appeared in the doorway. Dressed in nothing but pink and grey panties and a grey, v-necked Colorado Rockies t-shirt and holding identical beige mugs with steaming hot chocolate in her hands.

“Merry Christmas,” she smiled at him, her pink lips spread wide and showing off all her pearly whites as she shuffled along the hardwood floors.

“Merry Christmas,” he replied, leaning over and brushing his lips against hers, morning breath be damned and he smiled against her lips as he could taste the chocolate she’d already had.

“Here,” she handed him one of the mugs before placing her own on her bedside table and practically bouncing back out of the room, only to return moment later, stockings in hand.

It was their first Christmas together and despite them both being into their twenties, they’d agreed to keep up the tradition of opening presents on Christmas morning, and placing a few of them in the stockings they hung on the mantelpiece in the living room.

“How long have you been up?” he asked as she placed the familiar stockings on the duvet and climbed in next to him, facing the headboard as she pulled her legs up and looked at him, blue eyes sparkling slightly.

“A couple of hours,” she admitted with a sheepish smile. “I couldn’t sleep,” she added with a shrug and a look in her eyes that he couldn’t quite read. “Excited for Christmas and everything,” she mumbled softly as she took a drink from her mug and averted her gaze to the stockings lying between them. “Can I open mine first?” she asked, looking up at him from under her lashes.

“Of course,” he nodded. There wasn’t anything in the world he wouldn’t do for her, keeping his own curiosity at bay was just one of many things he’d do for her.

The smile across her lips was worth it and he watched as she unceremoniously turned the stocking upside-down and shook it, letting the presents tumble out onto the bed. There were three, two badly wrapped ones that she immediately recognized as the key chains she’d been looking at just days earlier and one she knew he hadn't wrapped himself.

Biting her lip as she undid the wrappings, she resisted the urge to shake the small red box before opening it and breaking out in a wide smile as she saw the necklace spread out on a white cushion. Two silver hearts, both lined with tiny diamonds, intertwining the ends of the chain.

“I love it,” she smiled up at him. “It’s perfect,” she added before leaning over and brushing her lips against his. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” he smiled at her, nothing made him happier than seeing her smile. Taking the box from her, he removed the tiny necklace and taking the hint, she gathered her mussed up blonde hair and arched her neck slightly as she leaned forwards; allowing him to fastened the necklace around her neck.

“Thank you,” she said as she sat back down, fingering the hearts before letting it settle against the still tanned skin of her chest.

“You're welcome,” he told her before glancing at the stocking that still contained gifts. “My turn?” he asked with a glint in his eyes, and this time he didn’t miss the somewhat uncomfortable look that passed over her blue eyes.

“Of course,” she told him, making no attempt to explain the look.

Watching her for a second, he reached into the stocking and pulled out the two gifts, about to open the larger one when she stopped him and told him to open the other one first. Giving her a questioning look, she only smiled half-heartedly and shrugged slightly, only succeeding in causing his confusion to grow.

Figuring ‘what the heck’ he opened the smaller present first and frowned slightly as he pulled a small striped band, a clip in one end and a strap at the other end. “What…?” he began asking as looked up at her, only to find her fidgeting and picking her nails.

“It goes with the other gift,” was the only thing she told him, not meeting his gaze and causing him to worry what this was about.

Placing the band back in the box, he quickly tore the wrapping off the larger box and removed the lid, freezing as his gaze landed on the content. Slowly placing the lid down on the bed, he reached inside the box and turned the item over, his heart almost stopping as he read the three words…

“Sam…” he mumbled as he picked it up, looking over at the blonde woman who looked like she was going to bolt any second if he made even one wrong move. “Is this…what I think it is?”

“Yeah,” she nodded, once again avoiding his gaze, if only for a moment.

“I'm going to be a dad?” he asked under his breath, his hazel eyes never leaving her as he turned the small blue pacifier in his hand, the words practically burning themselves into his skin; ‘My Dad Rocks’.

“Yeah,” she repeated, nodding slightly as she looked up at him, a small smile playing across her lips.

“We’re having a baby?” he had to ask, the news not quite sinking in.

“Yeah, we’re having a baby,” she confirmed, only to squeal as he pounced and pushed her back onto the bed, pressing his lips against hers. He hadn't wished for much that Christmas, but this beat anything and everything he could ever have wished for.

“Merry Christmas, baby,” she whispered against his cheek as she hugged him close, her eyes fluttering close as he reached between them and placed a hand on her still flat stomach.

“This is crazy,” he mumbled into her collar bone as he lay stretched out next to her, hot chocolate standing forgotten on the bedside tables, and he rested his head on her shoulder. “There’s a little person growing in there.”

“Yeah,” she choked up slightly. “I saw the doctor about a week ago,” she told him, answering the unasked question hanging between them. “I'm nine weeks pregnant.”

“I love you,” he stated frankly as he leaned up and pressed his lips against hers, trying to show her just how much she meant to him. His hand splayed out across her stomach, he knew that his whole life going to changed in a couple of months, hockey would no longer be number one.

And he didn’t care…

He was becoming a dad.
♠ ♠ ♠
Sam

I usually don't write one-shots, because quite frankly I'm not good at keeping a story short, I tend to drag it on and make even a potential one-shot into at least a couple of chapters and it becomes a short story.
But in the spirit of the holidays, someone close to me instructed me to get out of my comfort zone and try something new. Pretty sure he wasn't referring to fan-fiction, but there you go =D
Hopefully it wasn't too bad