❝bracelet (pronounced ˈbrāslit or breys-lit), noun
an ornamental band or circlet for the wrist or arm.❞
He woke up slowly to the wintery sunlight filtering in through the window, and felt her presence beside him. She was so wonderful. So perfect. She was still fast asleep, her full, perfect lips slightly parted, and her eyes closed, concealing the angelic green irises beneath her eyelids. Her eyelashes fluttered against his neck, and he shuddered involuntarily.
"Good morning, my dove," he breathed softly into her ear.
"Good morning," she mumbled back.
"Merry Christmas," he said, tightening his grip around her body.
She sighed, nestling closer to his warmth. "Merry Christmas," she said, and he chuckled, kissing the top of her head. "Are you wearing shorts, at least?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Because the kids are gonna run in and come into the bed with us. You know they will."
He laughed slightly. "Have I told you lately how much I love you?"
"You haven't for... I think almost three hours now."
"That's far too long." He kissed her deeply. "I love you. More than anything the world could ever give me. You and our children are the best things that could ever happen to me. I love you so much, my darling. You're so beautiful, and I'm so glad that I have the privilege of waking up beside you in the morning."
"At this point, Hunt, I'm just so happy that I'm alive. And that I have you, especially given all we've been through."
"It's been tough," said Hunter. "But we'll stick through it all, won't we?"
She kissed him gently. "Of course, bluejay. Together."
"That's right." He hugged her closer. "Together."
They lay there together in silence, simply enjoying each other's company. It was a sweet, sad moment that they shared- they knew that their time together was nearly up. But they knew it wasn't long until they'd be back together in America, with everything they could ever want or need right there with them.
"Your shirt smells like your cologne," said Ryan softly. "Can I keep it?"
"Why not just keep a bottle of the cologne?"
"That's not the same thing," she complained.
The door opened, and Ryan heard small feet tottering across the floor. "Christmas!" said the young boy cheerfully.
Hunter laughed. "Good morning, Spence."
"G'morning, Papa! Presents!"
"That's right, darling," said Ryan. "Excited?"
"Yeah!"
"That's good to hear, pumpkin," said Hunter with a chuckle. "Hey, why don't you come up here and give Papa a kiss?"
He scrambled up and gave Hunter a huge kiss on the cheek, nestling himself between his parents on the bed. "Can we open presents now?" he asked.
"Alright, then. Come on."
Spencer scrambled out again, yelling excitedly, and Ryan chuckled under her breath. "Whoever ends up marrying him is gonna have a real handful," she said.
"He's gonna be a heartbreaker," said Hunter with a laugh. "Breaking all the girls' hearts, left and right."
"Let's go," said Ryan, slowly rolling out of bed. "I'm so achy."
Hunter simply smiled, and she hit him playfully. "Oh, very funny, Hayes."
"You said it, I didn't," he said, laughing.
"Sure, sure. Come on, then."
He followed her to the living room, where Spencer had surrounded himself in the pile of gifts. He grinned up at Hunter and Ryan, and they smiled back. "Why don't you wake your siblings, too?"
"Okay!" He ran into the other room, where the others were sleeping, and they heard a loud ruckus, and groaning. Hunter laughed. "Do you want to make something for breakfast?"
"I wasn't thinking about it much."
"Let's go out for breakfast, then. On me."
"Are you sure? I can whip something up-"
"Or you could relax a little." He kissed her cheek. "You should just be relaxed."
"Easy for you to say. I'm just... I'm nervous, Hunt."
"I know, honey. But you're going to do perfectly."
She smiled up at him, and he kissed her temple. "You're so beautiful."
Phoenix was dragged out of the room by his left arm by Spencer, and Ryan laughed. Robin eventually followed, and Elle looked positively exhausted. Spencer plopped down in the middle of the presents again, and Elle distributed the presents without too much of a struggle. Spencer tore into his and yelled excitedly. "A car!"
Hunter laughed, kissing the top of his head. "What've you got, Robbie?"
She opened hers and squealed excitedly. It was a bracelet making kit, topped with charms, beads and plastic string.
Phoenix opened his, and he smiled fully for the first time since he had come to London. It was a boxed set of canvases, paintbrushes, and acryilics, all of which he was starting to run out of.
Elle tore into hers and gasped. "New pointe shoes!"
"I heard your other ones broke recently," said Ryan, and Elle hugged her.
"Thank you so much, Ma!"
Ryan laughed gently, kissing Elle's temple. "It was my pleasure," she said.
The kids went away to play with their separate gifts, and Hunter smiled at Ryan, bringing out a box she hadn't seen earlier. "Well? Aren't you going to open Santa's gift to you?"
"I told you not to get me anything!"
"I didn't get you anything at all, darling. Santa did. Remember?"
She rolled her eyes, untying the box. She gasped slightly when she saw what it was. "A Pandora bracelet, Hunter?!"
"Of course."
"But- I- Hunter!"
"Yeah?" he said innocently.
"You know how I hate it when you spend money on me!"
"I didn't spend any money. Santa did."
"Don't give me that! Hunter, I-"
"I would do it again a thousand times," he said gently. "I promise. Shall I show you the charms?"
She blinked tears out of her eyes and nodded. "Okay."
"This," he said, taking the first one, "is a wise owl. And the green eyes, well... that's obvious, isn't it?"
She smiled slightly, and he took the next one. "This is a red robin. It's supposed to represent, well... Robin." He showed her the next one. "This is a phoenix."
"Hunter, this must have cost you so much money," she breathed.
"I couldn't find a lark, but I got the next best thing," he said, showing her, and she laughed.
"A double-decker bus with a Union Jack. Classy," she said, wiping her eyes.
"This is a swan. Because I know you call Elle your-"
"Little swan," she said, sniffling. "My little swan."
"Exactly. And, well... I did look for a bluejay, but I couldn't find one. So..."
"A locket," she said softly. "'Forever and always, my beautiful wife'." She kept staring at the bracelet, crying silently. It was so beautiful, how Hunter had managed to represent each and every single person in their beautiful family. She clicked the locket open, and found a tiny photo of the day they had gotten married. The photo that they had taken wearing their masks for the photoshoot, and that they had laughed through. Her favourite one.
"How time flies," said Hunter softly, and she nodded. "Do you want me to put it on for you?"
She nodded again, and he clasped the bracelet where her Lokai used to be. Hers had broken from wear, and so had Hunter's, but he had bought himself another one. He had kept the pick that Ryan had given him all those years ago, and sometimes even played guitar with it.
She hugged him tightly, and didn't let go for what felt like eternity. "I love you. I love you so much," she said softly.
"I love you more," he said softly, kissing her hair. "I pinky promise."
She pulled away and smiled slightly. "Well," she said, "time to go out to eat, I guess."
"Yeah. Let's go."
<><><><><><><><>
They came back home after eating breakfast at a little cafe in the city, and Hunter was with Spencer and Phoenix, playing some sort of game outside. Elle was either practising her dancing or she was studying, and Robin was sitting alone in the living room, trying to make her bracelet kit.
Ryan came into the living room, planning to study, and she opened her laptop, reading over her notes. Robin didn't look at her, and kept making her bracelet. She was struggling, though. The set was harder to use than she had originally thought.
She heard Ryan's laptop close. "Honey? Do you need help?"
"A little."
"What do you need help with?"
"Just with this thing. I can't connect it."
"That's a clasp, darling. We can connect that first, so that means you can add things so that they don't fall off."
"Oh."
"Would you like me to help?"
She was quiet, but she nodded. Ryan carefully threaded the clasp through elastic, and tied it. "There," she said. "Now, what do you want to make first?"
"I wanna make a bracelet for... me."
"Okay. Do you want to put your name on it?"
"Yeah!"
Ryan smiled, giving her the letter compartment of the beads. "Find the letters you need for your name, then find the beads that you like the best."
"Okay," she said, beginning to look through the set. Ryan, meanwhile, saved her work and shut down her laptop. Perhaps it was time for her to finally talk to Robin in this little moment they had, as mother and daughter.
Robin wasn't looking at Ryan much. Whenever Ryan caught her looking, she glanced the opposite direction, and she didn't make much conversation. Eventually, Ryan tried to actually make conversation. "Honey?"
"Yeah?"
"How's school?"
"It's okay."
"Yeah? What are your friends like?"
"I'm friends with Dilly, and Trish, and Zoey."
"Are they nice?"
"Yeah. They like Barbies."
"That's cool. But I thought you didn't like Barbie?"
"No. I like animals. But only the boys like animals, and the girls all say boys have cooties."
"That's just silly," said Ryan, chuckling. "You know that boys don't have cooties. Phoenix doesn't have cooties, does he?"
"No. I don't think they have cooties. But the girls are mean to the girls who hang around with the boys."
"You don't have to listen to those girls, you know. There's nothing wrong with hanging out with boys, and you should tell them so."
"There's not?"
"No. In fact, if you like to be alone instead, that's okay too. But if you like those girls even though they like Barbie, then it's good to have them around, okay? You know what's good for you."
She nodded, and showed Ryan the beads. "I got my name."
"Awesome! Okay, so now..." She slid the beads onto the elastic and showed her. "See? Now it says 'Robin'. Isn't that cool?"
She smiled. "Yeah."
"Well, let's finish this one off." Ryan noticed a theme in the beads she was choosing. "You like blue?"
"It's my favourite colour."
"Mine, too." She smiled. "I like the blue that peacocks have on their feathers."
"Me, too!"
"That's awesome!"
Robin smiled at Ryan, and she was strongly reminded of how much like Hunter she looked. Her facial structure, and her smile, they were exactly like Hunter's. She gently stroked her long plait. "I like how Papa did your hair today."
Her eyes brightened suddenly. "Can I do your hair?"
She laughed. "Of course you can, my little Robin Hood. Let's go and find some hair clips and hair bands."
"Really?"
"Of course. And after, maybe we could do our nails with Ellie?"
Robin suddenly lost the spark of excitement in her green eyes. "Oh."
"What's wrong, petal?"
"Nothing."
"Come on, tell me. We were doing so well."
She shrugged slightly. "I... I don't think Ellie likes me."
"Why not, honey?"
"She doesn't talk to me much. And she's always angry at me for little things."
Ryan thought for a moment. "How about," she said slowly, "just the two of us tonight? When I come back to America, we'll all do it together, but for now, just the two of us. How about that?"
"Okay." She smiled again. "Can we go and get hair ties and stuff now?"
She kissed the top of her head, feeling like she had finally gotten through to Robin. "Of course we can."
<><><><><><><><>
Hunter played guitar quietly as Ryan read over her notes again. "Honey?"
"Mmm?"
"Are you nervous?"
She hesitated, then nodded. "A bit."
He put the guitar down and slid down onto the floor, kneeling beside her instead of sitting on the couch. "I know I'm not much, but is there anything I can help with?"
"You should sleep, my darling," she said, kissing his cheek. "It's quite late."
"I'll stay up with you, it's alright." He gave her a gentle hug. "Would you like me to make you some tea or something? I know the English love their tea."
She laughed. "Very funny. Yes, some tea would be wonderful."
He nodded, standing and going to the kitchen, making them both a mug of tea each. He stirred two sugars into hers, and didn't put in any milk. He was reminded suddenly of the first time she had visited their cottage, when Elle was sick with chickenpox, and she had brought over food and that little blue ukulele that Elle still played every now and again.
He went back with the two mugs, and she smiled. "Just how I like it."
"You think I'd forget anything about you?"
"Of course not, bluejay." She pulled the knitted wrap that she was wearing tighter around her body. "I know you would never forget a thing like that."
"Are you cold?" he said concernedly.
"No, no. Just... I don't know. Nervous. You know that."
"You should relax. Working yourself up before this exam will only make things worse, you know."
"I guess, but..."
"I may prove to be a good distraction," he murmured, kissing her lips once.
"Or you could go to bed and stop worrying about me. Students don't sleep, remember?"
"You're not just any student though, are you?"
She sighed. "My head hurts, bluejay. All these words are messing with my brain. I'm gonna fail that exam."
"Oh, c'mon," said Hunter gently, picking her up and sitting her down on the couch. "That's not true, you know it's not."
"Hunt, you don't understand," she said. "The dyslexia, it's just so... so..."
"I know. But isn't there special exam conditions for people with learning disorders?"
She sighed. "Yeah. I guess."
He frowned slightly. "Ryan, is there something you aren't telling me?"
She shook her head, looking down. "No."
"Ryan," he said, his voice raising on the second syllable.
"Nothing. I told you, it's nothing."
"Ryan Elizabeth, tell me what's wrong. Now."
She looked away in shame. "I... I didn't tell the university that I had a learning disorder."
"You did what?!"
"You don't understand-"
"Ryan, you know how bad it gets with stress! What if everything you've worked towards for three damn years, what if that becomes worthless?!"
"It's not like that!"
"Then what is it like?!" he said, nearly yelling. "You left me for three years and you're about to throw all of that away?"
"I'm not throwing it away!" she said, sounding hurt. "Hunter, I've passed the rest of my exams, I've done everything I can, it's just-"
"Why would you do something so stupid?!"
"Because it's a weakness!" she yelled, her voice breaking. They both realised that they were standing, and Ryan turned away, letting out a quiet sob. "Because," she repeated softly, "it's a weakness."
They were both breathing hard, and Ryan was trying hard to hide her tears. Hunter stared at a photo of Spencer on the wall, trying to calm down, and Ryan sat back down, adjusting her glasses and sniffling, getting back to her work. After a short while, Hunter sat down on the couch and began playing the guitar again softly, praying that the kids were too deeply asleep to wake up to the noise. There was a tense silence, and Hunter sighed.
"Honey?"
She didn't look up, or acknowledge that she had heard him. "Why?" he said quietly. "Why would you compromise yourself like that?"
She stared at her notes when she answered. "You don't know what it's like. You don't know how it feels when you tell someone you're dyslexic, and they look at you like you're some kind of mentally disabled person. You don't know how it feels to have people asking you, 'You know what that says, don't you?' It hurts so much that I'm weaker than I should be, and telling the university that just about sang me praise when I auditioned, that I was dyslexic, it... it felt unnecessary. It felt like cheating."
"Ryan, it's not cheating if it makes for a level playing field."
"I don't care for a level playing field," she said coldly. "I don't want to get an advantage just because-"
"You're at a disadvantage?"
She didn't look at him, and Hunter sighed, sitting down beside her. "Look at me."
Though she hesitated, she looked up. "I know you're too proud to admit that you have a weakness. But the best people do, it's what makes them human."
"It's too late now, anyway," she said quietly. "They can't change the exam to make it 'easier' for me."
"Wouldn't they just change your time limit?"
She shrugged. "I don't want them to. I'll be fine."
They were quiet for a while, until Ryan said, "Hunt?"
"Yeah?"
She took a deep breath, and asked the question that had been bothering her for years. "Do you resent me?"
The length of time that he didn't respond to her only added to her fears.
But finally, he took a deep breath and replied.
*A/N: d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-drop the bass
BAM BOM BOPA WOPA WOPA WOPA WOOOOW
BAM BAM DIDIDIDIDIDI
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Nethii <3*