Open When...(Paul Walker Fanfiction)

Letter #7: Open When...You Need To Smile

^^low quality pic, high quality person❤️

YOU NEED TISSUES FOR THIS ONE!!!!

Song: Turning Page by Sleeping At Last {I've waited a hundred years / I'd wait a million more for you}

^^goes perfectly with this chapter, you'll see why >:)

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December 24th, 2013 (11 weeks, 1 day)

"Okay, I'll see you soon, Mead! Have a safe flight. Bye." When I end the phone call, I force myself to take a deep breath. I try to muster up some sort of positivity for my visitors. It is the holiday season, after all. I'm supposed to be all happy and cheery, but my person isn't next to me. One good thing is that Meadow is coming home today, after a long stay in Hawaii. It's actually only been a couple of weeks, but right now, a couple of weeks seems like an eternity. I turn the corner into the hallway, but Callie is standing right there. "Jesus, Callie. Why are you lurking?"

"Why aren't you jumping up and down? Meadow is coming home." She crosses her arms and leans against the wall.

My lying skills aren't that great, but I manage to put a smile on my face. "Well, it might have to deal with the fact that you scared the shit out of me. Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got some last minute Christmas shopping to do." I can feel her eyes on me as I pass her, but I ignore it. When I walk into the kitchen, I find Andrew giving Luke his bottle. "Thank you. I mean that. I'll try to be back soon."

Callie appears next to me. "And where are you going?"

"Christmas shopping. I've still got some gifts to buy, yours included." That last part was a lie, but I knew if I told her that it would give me some room to breathe.

"Yay! Buy me what I told you to get!" She calls after me as I walk to the front door.

Once I close the front door, I focus on my mission. This Christmas, I haven't done much shopping; but then again, I've spent most of my time since Paul's accident in the hospital. He hasn't made any more progress than he did a few days ago, but I'm still very optimistic as to him waking up. My Christmas wish can still come true.

During the drive to the mall, I go over whose gifts I need to buy in my head. Surprisingly, there are several people that I've yet to purchase anything for. One of the things I haven't bought yet is my gift for the Dirty Santa game that we're going to be playing at the Walker house tomorrow. Honestly, I'm not feeling entirely up to it, but I'll probably participate anyways. It's a Walker tradition that I love being a part of. Besides, I cannot miss Callie's first year of playing.

There's a couple of gifts for Meadow that I haven't purchased yet, and those are my top priority right now. Her flight will land in six hours, so I have to get them and then wrap them before she gets home. My stressed out brain starts to relax when I think about her coming home. It's been so weird without her being at home. I'm so anxious for her to get home. Everything will be a little better once she is here.

Traffic is as bad as I had expected it to be. What would take me about thirty minutes to get to the mall, takes me an hour to get there. I can feel my stress levels rise back up, and I take another deep breath to calm down. This Christmas is going to be good this year, I can feel it in my bones. All I have to do is just have a little faith. That may mean having to put gifts in empty cereal or shoe boxes, but seeing my kids' smiling faces will make it all worth it. Of course, for tomorrow to truly be wonderful, my husband will have to wake up in less than twenty four hours.

I find a parking spot rather easily, and I rush inside to get started shopping. The mall is absolutely packed with people, and I mean packed. I can't go more than five feet without having to excuse myself from bumping into someone. The amount of people here reminds me of Black Friday shopping, except they are much calmer.