I'll Be Right Beside You

“CAM! JORDAN! GET UP! IT’S CHRISTMAS!” I groaned and buried my head under my pillow, feeling Jordan pull me tighter to his chest and attempt to hide his face in my neck while someone gently shook my shoulder as they all but yelled in my ear.

“Who the…? Jared; piss off,” Jordan grumped, seeing his little brother standing in the middle of the room. Jordan hadn’t gone back to his own bed last night, and now I was worried we’d be in trouble with his parents. I understood why they wanted the whole no room-sharing rule, and as much as I disliked it at times I didn’t want to break their rules or have them think I was disrespecting them by letting Jordan stay last night, not after all they had done for me.

“What time is it?” I asked, squinting at the over-excited redhead. He hadn’t even thrown a shirt on, and was standing in the middle of the floor in just his pajama pants. I somehow got the feeling he’d done this every year since he was little; woken up his brothers on Christmas morning regardless of what was going on.

“Like eight o’clock?” he offered, and I gave him the best glare I could muster for eight o’clock in the morning. I love Christmas as much as the next guy, but seriously Jared?

“You’re a big boy Jared; go back to bed for another hour or two and then we’ll see about getting up,” I yawned, and immediately Jared was kneeling beside the bed and shaking my shoulder, his pout on in full force.

“Please Cam? Please, please, please? How can you want to sleep in on Christmas?!”

“Because I like to sleep and I’m nice and warm where I am?” I replied, making Jordan grin and Jared roll his eyes.

“Well you can cuddle with my brother later – don’t you want to know what I got you for Christmas? And besides, Parker and Levi are probably going to wake mom and dad up soon,” he continued, and I huffed, knowing his reasoning had me beat. I should probably be thanking him for waking us up and possibly keeping his parents from knowing Jordan had broken the rules.

“No…” Jordan whined, tightening his grip on my waist as I sat up. I ruffled his hair before gently finger-combing it, something he loved. His soft sigh let me know he enjoyed the gesture, as much as he was trying to cover it up.

“Come on babe – your brother has a point,” I sighed, and he glared at the redhead who was now absolutely beaming.

“I still hate you,”

“Nah, you’ll love me when you open your presents, and when mom and dad don’t yell at you for sneaking into Cam’s bed,” he said, all but jumping with excitement. I ushered him out of the room while I slipped a bra on underneath my tank top and then pulled on one of Jordan’s old sweaters from his Peterborough days. All Jordan did was put on an American Eagle sweater, deciding that his pajama pants would do. I couldn’t blame him – I was wearing the black and gold plaid pair I’d put on last night, and I was too tired to fully change. I quickly brushed my hair, glad that it was sitting nicely before Jordan wrapped his arms around me and rested his chin on top of my head for a moment. In actuality this was our first real Christmas together, a fact neither of us was forgetting.

“AUNTY CAM! UNCA JORDAN! IT’S CHRISTMAS!” we both laughed as we heard the excited little boy crow at our doorway. Jordan opened it and Parker ran in, Levi hot on his heels as he jumped onto our bed and from there into my arms as I’d walked over. I sat down with Parker on my knee, beyond hyper already.

“Are you excited?” I asked, and he nodded. Jordan helped Levi up onto the bed where he curled up on my lap. Jordan sat down beside me and kissed my temple while Parker babbled on about the things he hoped he would get for Christmas, and what Levi supposedly wanted too. Jared leaned against the doorway grinning, occasionally speaking up before Parker insisted we’d waited too long and should go open presents now.

“What is it Freckles?” I asked as I settled Levi onto my hip, Jordan’s arm around my waist as we made our way to the stairs.

“Just watching you two with them, that’s all,” he shrugged, but I elbowed him, looking for more information.

“You two are gonna be awesome parents someday, that’s all. I never, ever thought I’d say that about Jordan in my life,” he smirked, earning himself a cuff upside the head from his brother.

“Hey, that’s not very nice,” Jordan grumped, and I sighed.

“Behave – it’s Christmas. No fighting or neither of you are getting your gift from me,” I warned them. Soon they fell back into their happy chatter as we made our way to the living room, finding Marc, Lindsay and Mike already there with Tanya and Lindsay, the first two looking worn out.

“Hey, rough night?” I asked, and Lindsay nodded.

“Yeah, Mike didn’t want to go to sleep last night,” she told us, and Marc gave me a knowing smirk that made my cheeks heat up. Maybe we hadn’t been as quiet as we’d thought.

“And there was some kind of commotion going on outside – couldn’t tell if it was coyotes or what though, but it kept us up for a while after Mike went to sleep,” Marc added, and even Jordan turned pink at the accusation that all the adults in the living room caught on to.

“Jesus Jordan, mom and dad would kill you,” Eric laughed, and we both sat down awkwardly, not really wanting to partake in this conversation.

“Shut up, or they’ll hear you and then they will kill me,” he hissed, looking down the hallway before looking back at his oldest brother.

“Hey, leave them alone Eric – do you blame him?” Jared stepped in, and finally they let it drop. I’ve never loved Jared more in all my life.

“Thanks Freckles,” I gave him my biggest, cheesiest grin, which he returned.

“Anything for you, Short stack,” he replied, and Jordan rolled his eyes before pulling me closer to him. Marc let out a snort, and Lindsay smacked him for laughing.

“Dear God, sometimes I wonder which one you’re dating Cam,” he said, and this time got smacked by both of his sisters in law.

I rolled my eyes, deciding not to answer Marc as Parker and Levi drug out their grandparents to open gifts.

“Morning,” we chorused. Henry and Lindsay looked surprised to see the entire household was up and at it before they were, and then Henry merely shrugged before making a beeline for the coffee maker.

“Morning,” he replied, before taking a long drink, then relaxing slightly as he leaned against the counter. Parker was tugging at his pant leg, wanting everybody to file into the living room so we could start opening gifts.

“MOM! DAD! LOOK!” Parker yelled as soon as he saw the array of gifts now under the tree, a considerably larger amount than what had been there last night.

“Whoa, where did all those come from?” Marc asked, feigning shock as Parker bolted over to the Christmas tree. Levi was hot on his heels, with Michael toddling after the two of them.

“SANTA!” he gasped, his blue eyes as big as saucers as he stared at us all. We all shared a fake-surprised look, as if we couldn’t believe it.

“No way!” Jordan asked, and Parker nodded enthusiastically.

“Yes! It says so!” he confirmed, and soon Jordan was on his knees beside his nephews.

“Wow! Look at all of this – you must’ve been really good this year,” his nephew proudly nodded, before shrieking happily.

“Look Levi! Santa brought you presents too! And Mikey!” he announced, making Levi holler excitedly while Michael just sat there looking happy.

“Did Santa leave any of us presents?” Jared asked, joining Jordan and the boys on the floor while we all sat down on the furniture. They had Parker sorting gifts – with a lot of help from the two of them, until everybody had their gifts at their feet. Jordan scooted mine over so he could sit on the floor between my feet, letting me play with his hair while we all visited, waiting for Linda’s camera to turn on.

“Aunty Cam! You should go first,” Parker said, shocking me. He was so excited I didn’t think he could stand to wait another minute.

“That’s okay Park – You can go first,” I assured him, but he shook his head, coming over and sorting through my presents before pulling one out and handing it to me.

“Please?” he asked, and Jordan gently nudged my knee with his elbow, encouraging me to do as his nephew asked. Parker stood in front of me, nearly vibrating with excitement as I carefully unwrapped my gift.

“Aww, Park! I love it!” I exclaimed, lifting him clear off the floor to hug him as I saw my gift. He’d made my card, as well as having drawn me a couple of pictures, before there was a picture frame that had a picture of us and Levi in it from my trip out here during the summer.

“Really?”

“Yes! Of course I do!” I insisted, before planting a big kiss on his cheek, he grinned before hugging me tightly and then rushing over to his gifts, his big excitement over.

“Look, he’s pretty good at drawing,” I handed the pictures to Jordan, who took a few minutes to look them over before nodding.

“Yeah, he’s a lot better than me, that’s for sure,” he grinned, and I pressed a quick kiss to his forehead as Parker started tearing into his first present.