EXTRA CHAPTER!!!!
These are very rare (not really), but I'm super excited for getting the Monarch card decks so why not?
~Mia
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"members of a chosen family mourn over the lack of family in their lives and decide to build one of their own out of people they care for and who care for them in return."
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"MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!"
Snow fell down and littered the streets of Manhattan on this cold morning. Everyone went abroad or home to spend the most wonderful time of the year with their families.
Unfortunately for Maeve, the heavy snow closed the airports and she was unable to make it back home to D.C. Henley didn't want to leave her alone so she stayed in New York with her.
Due to the closed airports, basically everyone stayed back in New York. They were all sleeping because it was 6 A.M, or so Maeve thought.
She grabbed one of the pillows and stuffed her head under it. Henley continued banging on the door. "Get up!" She shouted, most likely alarming the entire building. "We have to open presents!"
Eyes still closed, Maeve heard the door open. Henley threw herself onto the bed with the small girl inside of it. Maeve let out an 'oomf', but the pillows around her muffled the sound.
"Go away." Maeve muffled and tried scooting away from the she-devil. Henley grabbed the covers and threw them off of her.
Maeve whined from all of the cold air hitting her skin as Henley reached for the pillow covering her face. Pulling it away, Henley gaped at her appearance.
Maeve's brown hair stuck up due to static and she forgot to take off her make up from the night before. She gave Henley a weird look. "What?"
"You look like shit."
"Well, what a wonderful way to be woken up." Maeve gave her a sarcastic smile. "Merry Christmas." She rolled her eyes and forced herself out of bed, walking to the long mirror beside her dresser.
Maeve only wore fuzzy snowman pajama pants and a tank top. Freezing, she grabbed a sweater from the foot of her bed and slipped it over her head.
Henley left her room as Maeve started rubbing off the makeup from last night with remover. She pulled up her hair into a bun and took one look at her appearance before walking into the hallway.
Maeve heard people talking in the living room. As she walked into the warm room, Merritt advanced towards her with a mug in his hand.
"G'morning rats nest." He handed her the cup of coffee. Maeve glared at him and took a sip, humming lightly because of the taste of peppermint cocoa.
Daniel sat in the arm chair in the far corner of the room while Jack positioned himself on the couch. Henley was probably making cookies or something.
Jack's eyes lit up immediately after he saw Maeve. "Merry Christmas." He smiled. Maeve returned the smile and nodded back to him.
After the incident at the mall, Maeve and Jack both came to the conclusion to keep things professional between them. One thing was certain and that was that the mission came first.
Henley walked into the room with a Santa hat perched on top of her head. "Okay." She clapped her hands together. "Time for presents!"
Daniel groaned from his spot. "I don't know what I'm doing here."
"I don't know what you would do anywhere else." Maeve replied casually. She sat down next to Jack as Daniel glared at her.
"I have a lot of places I could be." Daniel defended, crossing his arms.
"Like feeling up your groupie?"
Merritt laughed. "That's my girl." He plopped down next to Maeve in the couch, giving her a high five.
"It's Christmas, guys." Henley whined. Then, she became stern and serious. "If you don't get along, I will lock you out in the cold." Maeve held her hands up in defense and Daniel shrugged his shoulders, acting like the threat didn't phase him.
Henley walked over to the tree and bent over to grab the gifts. Merritt leaned forward over Maeve, trying to get a better look at her.
Disgusted, Maeve smacked him and pushed him away. Merritt looked at Maeve and smirked, giving her a wink. She gagged and looked away from him as Henley walked back carrying four presents, one for each person. "These are all from me."
Henley handed Maeve a nicely wrapped present with a big red bow on top. Eagerly, she tore the wrapping paper off and opened the white box.
Maeve gasped. "You didn't." Henley smirked. "I did." Maeve took out the fingerless leather gloves that she always wanted. She let out a squeal and jumped up, tacking Henley into a hug.
"Thank you!" Maeve screamed over and over again. "Wait wait wait!" Henley held up her hands. "There's one more thing."
Maeve looked at her confused as she went to retrieve the box that Maeve opened earlier. Henley shuffled through the tissue paper and held up a cute ring. It was silver and had the four deck suits engraved on it, along with the horsemen's logo in black.
Maeve was speechless as Henley slid it onto her ring finger. It was beautiful.
"You guys look like you're getting married."
"Shut up Merritt." The girls both snapped back at him.
As they were helping each other up, everyone else thanked Henley for their gifts. Jack got a bomber leather jacket, Merritt got a hat and a blazer, and Daniel got a sweater and a pair of shoes.
Merritt got everyone matching sweaters and gave Henley an extra pair of lingerie. When she opens the box, her face paled. Maeve looked in and started laughing uncontrollably with Merritt smirking by the side.
Jack got everyone magic props for the show. When Maeve opened hers, a big smile took over her face. She held up the four Monarch card decks in her hand. "How did you know?"
Jack shrugged and kissed her cheek. "Merry Christmas." Henley and Merritt cooed at them, which made Maeve playfully shove them away.
Daniel didn't look too happy by himself in the corner. Maeve felt kind of sad that he was excluding himself. When everyone else talked with hot cocoa on the sofa, Maeve made her way to Daniel with an extra cup.
"Hey." She stood in front of the chair watching as Daniel looked outside the window. Maeve offered him the mug and he took it, muttering a small, "Thank you."
She sat in the chair next to him and stared out the window as well. The silence between them was nice as Maeve watched the weather outside. It was a winter wonderland out there with everything covered in snow.
"I lied."
Maeve looked over at Daniel. "Hmm?" "I lied about having somewhere to be." He sighed and took a sip of his hot chocolate. "I'm usually by myself now."
Maeve gave him a sympathetic smile. "Why aren't you with everyone else?" She looked over at the others joking and laughing on the small worn couch. "It's Christmas."
Daniel shrugged. "I'm not a 'cuddly' type of person."
"Everyone knows that."
Daniel glared at Maeve, who put her hands up in defense. "What? It's true." She repositioned herself in the love seat so that she's looking at him. "Danny, just stop pushing us away."
"I'm not." He shot back quickly, then looked at her confused. "Wait, did you just call me Danny?"
Maeve shook her head and patted his arm. "Think about it." Taking her hot chocolate, she joined everyone else back at the couch.
Danny got up and quietly handed out his presents. "For you all, I guess."
Maeve nudged Henley, wiggling her eyebrows. Henley rolled her eyes and opened her present. Danny got everyone gift cards to a random store. Maeve smiled at the thought that hers was for Urban Outfitters.
Danny stood there awkwardly beside the couch, waiting to see everyone's reactions. Maeve looked up and smiled. "Thank you, Danny." Everyone else followed shortly.
Maeve clapped her hands and got up. "Okay, my turn." She handed everyone their presents. Jack got a new deck of cards since his was worn out and Danny got another sweater as well as a deck of Monarch cards. Maeve knew how much Danny liked those kinds.
Henley got a couple pairs of gloves and Merritt got another hat. He inspected it carefully. "Why are you all giving me hats?"
"Because you're bald." Maeve bluntly said.
"Wow, thanks."
Maeve held up the sweater that she got from him. "In my defense, you got us these ugly sweaters." Each person had a different color and design; Maeve's was dark blue with a snowman on the front and snow falling from the sky.
Merritt motioned for her to try it on. Maeve rolled her eyes, but grudgingly pulled it over her head. It was a size too big.
"I look like a pumpkin."
"Awww." Merritt cooed. "You look cute, pumpkin."
"I hate you."
Danny looked down at his. It was a bright red color with a reindeer in the front. Merritt had on a dark green one with weird sewed on snowflake patterns.
"Oh!" Henley got up. "Put them on, we need a picture!" Everyone groaned and she shushed them as she looked around for the camera.
Maeve itched her arms and looked at Jack, who wasn't so happy either. His was all white with Santa clause in the center. She tried not to laugh at his appearance, but failed.
Jack glared at Maeve, a smile taking over his face when he saw how bad hers was too.
"I hate you, Merritt!"
"You love me."
"Okay, stand by the tree!" Henley came back into the room with a camera attached to a tripod. She placed it a few feet away so that everyone could be in the picture.
"Timer is on-" Henley pressed a button and a red light started to flash. "Now!"
She scurried over to the others and squeezed in next to Jack. "Put these on!" Henley handed all of them Santa hats and began applying red lipstick spots onto their noses.
"What are you doing?" Merritt tried rubbing off his. Henley smacked his hand away. "I'm trying to make you look like Santa."
"Don't you mean Rudolf?"
"Whatever, just don't touch it."
They all smiled and waited for the timer to go off. A couple seconds passed and the red light continued to flash.
"Did you even do it right?" Danny asked. Henley glare at him. "I know how to work things, Danny. No one move and keep your noses on."
Obviously, no one listened because everyone immediately tried rubbing the lipstick off.
When the camera did snap the picture, Henley was reaching over to fix Danny's nose and everyone else had theirs smeared all over their face.
Everyone froze and turned to the camera after the flash went off. "Dang it!" Henley scurried over to it to check the picture.
Everyone gave each other guilty looks because Henley wanted the picture to be perfect. They all waited for Henley to start lecturing them, but a smile broke out onto her face.
She brought the camera over to the horsemen standing in front of the tree. "Turns out," Henley scrolled through all of the pictures. "The camera flashed multiple times when I was trying to fix everything."
Everyone laughed as they saw each other fighting and squirming in all of the pictures. The last one was Maeve's favorite.
Jack managed to sneakily kiss Maeve's cheek for the photo as she laughed at how uncomfortable Danny looked. He was trying to move away from Henley, who tried fixing his red spot on his nose.
Merritt tried getting Henley to go back because she accidentally put a line of red lipstick on his forehead while trying to reach over.
Merritt touched his forehead and looked down at his fingers. Sure enough, they were covered in red lipstick. "Damn."
"That's perfect." Maeve laughed.
She turned to everyone behind her. "Thank you for the best Christmas I have ever had."
"Aw." Merritt cooed. "Group hug." He wrapped his arms around Maeve in a bear hug. Jack and Danny followed; Henley was last.
As they all hugged in front of the Christmas tree, the flash went off from the camera.
This time, everyone made sure to smile.