Forever and Always - Scomiche One-Shots

Love at Christmas

It's unedited and took a different turn than I expected. It was supposed to be a cute wee festive fic but this somehow happened so I apologise for any mistakes and messes.

Christmas was Mitch's favourite time of year. He loved the colours and lights and the scent of gingerbread filling the air wherever he went. But mostly, he just loved being able to go home and spend quality time with his family. He didn't visit nearly as often as he would like but his crazy work schedule doesn't care about family time. If it's not earning him money, it doesn't matter. That was his boss' view on the matter anyway, but that was no surprise when his boss was a power-hungry, money-loving asshole who doesn't know what being loved even means. But he was free from that asshole for at least two weeks. How he managed to wrangle that was a mystery to him but he was not about to question it.

He was back on Texas soil and in the car headed for his childhood home. They pulled up to the kerb where Mitch thanked the cab driver and unloaded his suitcase from the trunk. He wasn't surprised to see Nel waiting on the front porch for him, a red apron tied around her waist and a massive grin on her face.

"There's my baby boy! I've missed you, kissy boy. You really need to visit more. You hungry? I can whip you up a sandwich if you like. I have turkey, the good kind, none of that processed plastic nonsense and there's-"

"Mom." Mitch cut her off, a smile tugging at his lips. "Let me at least get in the door first."

"Alright, come in, come in. But first..." she put her hands on his slender shoulders. "Give your mother a hug."

Mitch chuckled but happily obliged, wrapping his arms around her back and squeezing tight.

"Love you, mom."

"I love you, too. Now, let's get you out of the cold. You're probably not use to this climate anymore, living under that unnaturally hot LA sun."

Nel was back up the stairs and almost in the door with Mitch's bags when they were distracted by the door in the house over slamming shut and a giggly little girl racing away from her father.

Mitch stopped in his tracks to watch the family of 3 climb into their car. He knew who lived in that house, they had lived there almost as long as Mitch had, but he hadn't seen him for years.

"Mom, is that Scott Hoying?"

He looked much the same, just older and more worn like the stress of raising two children was showing physically. It did nothing to distract from his overall attractiveness though. The years had certainly treated him well.

Nel looked over the fence to where Mitch was looking. "Yeah, he must be home for Christmas this year." She paused to shake her head, her saddened eyes filled with pity. "Such a tragedy."

"What is?"

"His wife passed away about two years ago. He's raising those two kids on his own now. The holidays must be unbearably hard for him."

"His wife... died?" Mitch asked truly shocked, the last he had heard they were still a picture perfect family who went on annual family vacations and wore matching sweaters on the front of their Christmas cards. His heart ached for the blonde struggling to strap his preschooler into her car seat. Last time he had actually seen Scott, his daughter had not long been born and Mitch could physically feel the love radiating from him. They had looked so happy.

"Terrible car accident. She was so young." Nel sucked in a breath and physically shook her body to rid herself of her empathetic sadness. "Anyway, let's get inside. I have cookies coming out the oven in a few minutes."