"There'll be much mistltoeing and hearts will be glowing when loved ones are near. It's the most wonderful time of the year."
~ Andy Williams, It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year
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"So this is my parent's vacation house. Pretty much all my family is coming. There's my immediate family, obviously, like my mom, dad, brother Tommy, his wife Lauren, and his baby Maggie. My Aunt Mary and her husband Paul are coming. My little cousins Julie, Chris, Sarah, Alex, and Andrew. My older cousins Danny, Lily, her husband Jamie, her parents, my aunt and uncle Trish and Richard, and-" she cut herself with a sigh. "My mom is watching us through the blinds." Sophie exasperated and buried her face in her hands.
To Sophie's shock, Cillian intertwined his fingers with hers and lifted her hand to plant a kiss on the back of it. To show her mother, of course. "It's okay." He reassured her just as she had so many times before.
Her face flushed and she shook her head, smiling softly at the "fake" gesture. "Well, if at anytime you're uncomfortable and want to leave, we need a... a secret code word or signal or something."
He ran a hand over the scruff on his face and asked, "how about this?" He gently squeezed her hand three times.
She pursed her lips and nodded. "Three squeezes and we come up with an excuse to leave." She agreed with a grin. "Alright, let's do this."
They hopped out of the car and made their way to the house, his hand swooping down to capture her small one into his large one as he lead her to the front door.
They knocked and her mom waited a little longer than necessary, pretending to make it seem like she wasn't stalking them from the window.
"Sophie! Oh, I missed you so much!" Angela exclaimed as she threw her arms around her daughter.
"I missed you too!" Sophie chuckled and hugged her back. She pulled away to stand by her "husband." "Mom, this is-"
"This must be Cillian!" She cut her off, already pulling him into a hug. "My goodness, look at you! You're so big!"
"That's what she said!" One of her cousins shouted from across the room.
Though he was rigid as a pole, Cillian bent down and gave her a one armed hug. "It's nice to meet you, Mrs. Johnson."
She pulled out of the hug and smiled up at him. "Please, call me Angela. Better yet, call me mom!"
"Mom!" Sophie exclaimed and shook her head at her mom's eagerness.
"What? I am his mother in law." She persisted, brushing her off. "Look at his arms! His arms are as big as my head!" Her mom exclaimed as she excitedly wrapped her hands around his large arm. Thankfully, he was prepared and didn't flinch.
"Give him some breathing room, honey." Sophie heard her dad, Robert, chuckle from down the hallway.
Sophie heard his footsteps approach and gulped. She expected the usual from him. The usual scowl on his face, maybe a side eye, a firm hand shake, and his voice being an octave deeper to intimidate her husband.
However, when her dad's eyes met Cillian's, he looked like a scared puppy. He had quite a few inches on her dad, a lot more muscle too. Of course, Cillian's resting face looked like he was contemplating a murder, so that didn't help.
When Cillian saw her dad hesitate, his lips twitched into a small, barely there smile, setting her dad more at ease. He decided to not make Sophie feel even more humiliated than she already was, and stepped forward to shake her dad's hand. "Nice to meet you, sir."
With one hand, he shook his hand. With the other, he dad gave Cillian's shoulder a hard pat and earnestly said, "thank you for your service."
Cillian's cool demeanor cracked for a moment and he stuttered a bit, fumbling over the words to say, completely baffled by her dad's comment. He's never been thanked for such a thing.
"Sophie! You're home!" Her younger cousin cheered as he dashed over to scoop her up in his arms.
"Whoa, since when are you taller then me?" She laughed as he nearly knocked her over, and set her back down on the ground.
"I think the better question is, who's he?" He shot back, straightening his shoulders to look intimidating. Fortunately, her fifteen year old cousin was not intimidating. That didn't keep her from being nervous, though.
"This is Cillian, my husband." She introduced the two.
Cillian nodded his head in greeting and offered his hand for her cousin to shake.
He eyed the large man skeptically for a split second before firmly shaking his hand. "I'm Chris. And are you sure? She didn't kidnap you and force you to marry her, did she?"
"Christopher-"
"Blink three times if I need to call the cops."
"Okay, that's enough." She cut him off, and playfully bumped his shoulder with hers. "Where's your sisters?"
No sooner than she finished her sentence, she instantly heard the pitter patter of small feet scramble down the stairs.
Sarah was the first to launch herself into Sophie's arms, ecstatic her big cousin was here. Her big brown eyes lit up as she ran a hand through her cousin's hair. "Hi, Sarah!"
And little six year old Julie was after. Her adorable little face beamed up at Sophie and she hugged her legs as tight as she possibly could.
After that, they stood in complete silence as they gawked at the large intimidating man behind her. Sure, their brother was now taller then Sophie, but he was completely dwarfed by whoever this new man was.
Suddenly self conscious, Cillian ducked his head, wanting to look smaller. The last thing he wanted was to make her younger cousins scared of him.
"Who are you?" Sarah was the first to speak, peering up at the large man.
"And how are you so big?" Julie but in, completely serious.
Cillian lowered himself to his knee, wanting to appear less intimidating and more on their level. He offered his hand once again, a warm smile on his face. "I'm Cillian, nice to meet you." He replied, looking into both of their little eyes as they remained fixed on him, roaming every part of his large form. The girls took turns shaking his hand that completely engulfed theirs.
"You didn't answer my question." Julie pointed out.
"Well, I- uh-"
"He eats his veggies." Sophie's Aunt answered for him. She offered him her hand and he shook it. "Hi, I'm Mary, Sophie's aunt."
"My sister." Angela piped in.
"Unfortunately." Mary mumbled under her breath.
Cillian nodded in greeting and Sophie broke their handshake to give her aunt a hug. "Don't be mean already, I heard that." She chuckled.
"Heard what?" Angela wondered.
"Don't worry about it." Sophie smiled, innocently.
"Well, honey, I could use some help setting the table, dinner is almost ready. Would you mind helping me?" Angela asked. "Oh, and Cillian, I have a dish on a top shelf and I can't reach. Would you mind?"
Both happily obliged, happy to help out. It was nice it was a small group of her family here so far so Cillian could settle in before he was hounded by everyone. They all seemed to do their best to make him comfortable but still secretly tested him to see if he was treating Sophie well.
Dinner went.... great, honestly. Since she informed her parents of Cillian's PTSD, they were all respectful and didn't ask too many questions. It was safe to say, they all loved him! Even her little cousins couldn't get enough of him. They believed the fake stories, everything was perfect!
Almost too perfect....
"Alright, kids." Robert chuckled as he stood up from his chair. "It's pretty late. Time for bed."
The kids groaned but complied, and made their way up the stairs. Julie, on the other hand, yawned and made grabby hands at Sophie, wanting to be picked up.
She smiled at the cute sight and scooped her up, her head immediately finding it's way into the crook of her neck. She carried her with one arm and held Cillian's hand with her free hand. "I'm gonna take them up. The guest bedroom is up those stairs, second door on the right if you wanna meet me there." Sophie whispered to him.
He agreed and watched as she retreated down the hall, carrying the sleepy cousin to bed.
Shortly after, Sophie shuffled into the guest room. "I'm exhausted." She murmured with a breathy laugh. "Sorry if they were a bit much for you. I love them but I know they can be-"
"It's okay." Cillian reassured her, softly. She tilted her head, skeptically. "I...I don't mind kids."
"Good..." she muttered. "Because this is just the beginning."
He raised an amused eyebrow.
"All my cousins, uncles, aunts, God knows who else are coming over tomorrow to meet you." She chuckled, before she grew more serious. "Is that... okay with you? I don't want to stress you out."
"It's okay." He confirmed, gently.
Suddenly, it dawned on her. To her parents, they were married. Well, legally, they were. However at her own home, they had separate bedrooms. But now...
"Umm," she cleared her throat, shuffling her feet. "Sorry we have to share a room."
She swore the corner of his lips quirked up just a smidge. "I feel I should be saying that to you."
Right. He probably was kinda looking forward to this. Heh. She tried to smile, but it came out as more of a grimace. She opened her mouth to respond but stopped when he threw a pillow on the floor. "What are you doing?"
His eyes briefly met hers, not even bothering to get a blanket. "Sleeping."
She rolled her eyes as she crawled into the bed, pulled the covers back, and patted the spot next to her. "C'mon, Cillian. You don't bite, right?"
You know, maybe that was the wrong thing to ask a werewolf, considering he already did...
If he had the ears of a wolf, they'd be flat against his head in guilt.
Before he could politely deny her request to join her, she told him, "that was a bad joke, sorry... and you promised you wouldn't again. I trust you."
He hesitated, but ultimately crawled into the bed with her. He was practically teetering on the edge, wanting to respect her space.
"This was my childhood room, y'know." She changed the topic, hoping to put him more at ease. "Well, it's our vacation house, but we've had it since our childhood."
His head lolled to the side to look at her better. "It's nice."
Her nose wrinkled. "Eh. It was better before my parents converted it into the guest room, when I had my bright pink walls and zebra print bed sheets." She laughed, pulling a small smile from him. "Do you remember what your childhood bedroom was like?"
His gaze turned to the ceiling, as if he was picturing it. "I do... lots of dinosaurs."
She chuckled, settling back against the pillows. "What was your favorite?"
"T-Rex." He said as if it were obvious.
"Of course it was. So basic." She teased. "Do you... have you ever thought of going back? Now that you're..." free. Now that you're free. But was he, really?
He shook his head, surprising her.
"Really? Why?"
His firm chest drew up sharply with a breath, before he admitted, "I don't think there's anything left."
Things grew quiet for a moment, Sophie feeling bad for killing the mood. "Is there a chance something or someone is still there?" She wondered.
"No." His jaw ticked and his gaze dropped to the blankets. "No, probably not."
Ever so slightly, she inched closer to him, unsure how to comfort him. "I'm sorry." She whispered. With her lower lip caught between her teeth, she told him, "if it makes you feel any better, my family loves you. They're our family now."
He tilted head back to peer up at her through his lashes. "Thank you, Sophie." He said, sincerely.
"So... do you still like dinosaurs?" She wondered, lightening the mood- which he was grateful for.
"I think so." He decided.
"Good." She said and grabbed the remote. "Let me introduce you to Jurassic Park..."
•••
Let the Christmas fluff begin!
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Question of the chapter: what are some Christmas/winter activities you would like to see Cillian and Sophie partake in?
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