The Experiment

Chapter 30

Christmas Morning

Bobbie rolls over carefully and looks at the guy laying beside her. In quiet moments like this she couldn't believe they actually worked through their differences, but she's so glad they did, she loves Harry more than she ever thought it was possible to love another human being. Yeah there's time she worries about their future, them going back to school, him reverting back to the way he was before, but Bobbie truly believes Harry has changed and won't hurt her that way.

Harry cracks his eyes open. "Why are you staring at me?" He asks Bobbie as he pulls her closer to him.

"Just enjoying the fact that I can see that beautiful face again." Bobbie whispers.

Harry snorts. "You're the beautiful one. You about ready to get up? I'm sure the others are ready to eat and start opening gifts."

"I guess, I'd rather stay here with you all day, but that'd be rude." Bobbie laughs as she swings her legs to the side of the bed taking the clothes Harry hands her.

Harry leans down and kisses her. "We'll be rude as hell later and leave the masses on their own and sneak off for a short walk in the woods." Harry says as he takes Bobbie's hand and leads her out of the room.

"Sounds good to me, I need the exercise." Bobbie says as they walk into the livingroom to see everyone there already, with donuts and coffee sitting on the coffee table. "Wow eager much?" Bobbie laughs as she and Harry sits down together.

"Actually, Harry is usually the first one up on Christmas morning. I was surprised I beat him down here this morning." Gemma teases.

Harry sticks his tongue out at his sister. "Yeah well I had a good reason to stay in bed this morning. My snuggle buddy was nice and warm." Harry smirks. "And smells better than you lot." He adds with his face in Bobbie's neck.

"Okay you two, that's enough." Anne chuckles. "Now we can either eat then open gifts or open then eat."

"Or eat and open at the same time." Louis says interrupting Anne. "That's my vote." He says rubbing his hands together.

"Or that." Anne says as she throws a pillow at Louis. "Alright, Harry you staying were you're at or are you going to hop over to that tree and pass out those gifts like you usually do?"

Harry grins, stands up and grabs Bobbie's hand. "We will hand out the gifts this year." Harry says. "It will be the start of a new tradition." He says as he pulls Bobbie toward the tree, once there he sits on the floor and pulls her onto his lap. "Okay the rules are, for those who have never been to a Styles Christmas is, no one gets a gift until the person before them has opened their's and showed everyone what it is." With that said Harry reaches under the tree and grabs the first gift, he reads who it's for then hands it to Bobbie to give the person.
This continued on until there were just two gifts left under the tree, Harry picks one of them up, kisses Bobbie and hands it to her. "Mom this is another one for you. It's from all of us, well because it took us all to keep you from knowing we were making this for you." Harry tells Anne as Bobbie hands her the gift.

Anne takes the gift from Bobbie, looks at everyone in the room. She has come to love Bobbie, Gail, and Marta just as much as she loves Louis, they are a part of their extended family now. Slowly Anne peels away the wrapping paper to reveal a CD case, looking closer she sees it's a CD of Bobbie singing some of her favorite songs.
"Oh my God, how the fuck did you do this without me knowing?" Anne asks as tears stream down her cheeks.

"Really? Mom you seriously think Bobbie needed to walk around that much these past few days?" Gemma asks.

"Yeah, just don't complain about the birds you hear in the background. " Harry laughs. "They give some of the song character."

"I love you guys so much." Anne cries as she hugs each person in the room.

"Okay this last gift is for Bobbie." Harry says as he hands her the small gift.

Bobbie looks down at the gift in her hands, the shape and size of the box looks like a diamond tennis bracelet would fit in it, but Harry knows she doesn't like things like that so there's no telling what's in this thing. Slowly Bobbie opens the present, easing the lid off the box, she gasps and jerks her head up to look at Harry.

Harry smiles, he takes the box out of Bobbie's hands, turns her to face him. "Babe, you know I love you more than anything in this world. This is just another way of showing you I mean every word, and that I'll never hurt you again. Will you marry me?" He whispers, ignoring the gasps in the room.

"Oh, God. Harry, I love you so much. Yes, I'll marry you." Bobbie cries as she throws her arms around his neck and buries her face in his neck.

Harry wraps his arms around her waist and just rocks her for a few seconds. Harry then pulls away and picks up Bobbie's hand, placing the ring on her finger. "I love you." He whispers.

"Love you." Bobbie whispers back.