28.
The day came lot quicker than Jack expected. Now, since he didn't sleep, he felt like a zombie. So yes, he very much regretted sleeping so late last night. Still, he was actually very excited for today.
After cleaning himself up, and putting on his blue hoodie, black jeans, a winter coat and some boots, he went down to the dining room.
"Good morning, Jack" Idun said with a smile, while she was drinking tea. "Did you sleep well?"
"Morning Mrs. Winters" Jack said politely. "Yes I did. Thank you" He said, and took a seat in the table.
The door that connected to the kitchen swung open, and Elsa appeared carrying a plate full of bacon. She was wearing an old-fashioned cozy patterned sweater that was gray and maroon, she had a large wool scarf wrapped around her neck, black leggings, maroon winter boots, and her hair was in a messy bun. She looked adorable.
They both just stopped still, gazing at each other, blushing.
"You know, if you two keep blushing like that maybe we won't need to light the chimney thanks to all the heat your cheeks are radiating" Anna said walking out of the kitchen with a plate of scrambled eggs and another one of pancakes.
"ANNA!" Elsa hisses, blushing even more. Idun was giggling, and Jack was mortified. "D-Don't listen to her, Jack." Elsa said and walked to seat next to him looking everywhere but the three people that were on the table. "Good morning" She said quietly to Jack, handing him the bacon.
"Good morning, princess" Jack said.
"Sorry I won't be able to join you for breakfast" Adgar suddenly said walking in while looking at his watch. "Oh, Good morning, Jack. Sorry I couldn't join you for dinner yesterday." Adgar said with a small smile.
"Don't worry about it, Mr. Winters" Jack quickly dismissed.
"Okay, I need to leave now if I want to finish everything today" Adgar said and gave his wife a peck in the cheek. "You girls have everything handled for today, right?" Adgar said to his daughters.
"Yes, papa." Elsa said. Adgar nodded and waved goodbye to everybody, to then leave.
"Okay, finish up already you both" Anna said getting up. "We have a lot to do, you can resume you breakfast date some other time" She said smirking, and leaving the room before Elsa could say anything. Elsa groaned loudly.
Idun just giggled.
X
"So, what are we doing first?" Anna said in the backseat. Elsa insisted on driving, since Anna was pretty reckless, and the streets of New York were quite complicated. And, as expected, Anna forced Jack to seat next to Elsa.
"I think gift shopping first, since it's still early and the stores won't be so crowded. Plus, the tree is going to be a problem and the groceries need to stay fresh" Elsa said, and started the car, to the speed towards the city.
They decided to head to Nordstrom, since they could find gifts for everyone there.
"Okay. I'm gonna go search something for Kristoff first, you two lovebirds can go together! Call me if you need anything" Anna said smirking.
"Anna stop it!" Elsa scolded again.
"Oh, and don't forget to buy your ugly Christmas sweaters! Behave!" Anna said, and left.
"I swear I'm going to kill her" Elsa said flushing in embarrassment, Jack just chuckled.
"So, 'ugly' Christmas sweaters first, princess?" Jack asked her, pretending to bow to her. Elsa was crimson.
"S-Sure" She said.
After they search for their sweaters, they finally found them. They were ugly, and ridiculous, but somehow awesome. Elsa picked a white sweater with the face of a snowman, that was full of sequins and the snowman's hat was made of bright red tinsel. Jack chose an Elf body gray sweater embellished with pompoms and jingle bells. He also decided to buy North a sweater (even if he probably has thousands of them) since he probably was on his way and he forgot to mention the little winters tradition. North's sweated was a large black and green sweater with lots of embellished 'Ho! Ho! Ho!' (Embellished with every Christmas decoration possible).
"Are you going to buy Nic a gift? Asides from the sweater I mean" Elsa asked, observing their sweaters with a funny smile.
"Yeah, I don't know what though" Jack said.
"You can go look for something if you want, Jack. I know I'm keeping you here" Elsa said with a smile. "I'm gonna look for my parents and Anna's gift over there, you can come back when you find something" She suggested, nut quickly widened her eyes. "N-Not that I don't want to be with you, or anything! Because I want to- I mean I like your company! Is just that we-" She tried to say, but Jack was chuckling.
"That we don't have a lot of time. I know, princess. I'm gonna look for something, and then I'll come back to you, okay?" Jack said smirking.
"O-Okay" Elsa stuttered and blushed, to watch him get lost in the store. She sighed.
Elsa finally found gifts for Anna (that was a white sweater that said 'Santa, I tried' and a box of assorted Godiva chocolates; for her mom (a beautiful and soft scarf with a Nordic style pattern) and a little something for Prof. North (reindeer fuzzy socks and a reindeer beanie) she just needed to find something for her dad and she was don-
Fuck.
X
Jack was walking through the store, he still hadn't found anything for Nic, which was extremely annoying since practically everything was Christmas themed and Nic loved Christmas, so it should be easy for him to find something.
"So" Suddenly a voice said right from behind him, making him jump on his skin. He turned to see Anna smirking at him. "What are you gonna give Elsa for Christmas?" She asked curiously.
"How do you manage to be so sneaky?" Jack asked raising an eye brow.
"I got my ways" Anna shrugged. "But, going back to my question..." Jack blushed, but rolled his eyes.
"I already have a gift for her" He quietly said, and Anna squealed.
"Oh my gosh, really?! Can I see?" Anna said jumping up and down.
"Not yet" Jack said smirking. Anna frowned.
"Aw, why not?" Anna pouted.
"I just want Elsa to see it first" Jack said trying to fight another blush.
Gosh why on heck was he blushing like mad?
"Okay, I just let it pass because I think it's cute that you want her to see it first" Anna said. "Anyway, look at my wonderful Christmas sweater!!" She exclaimed excitedly, showing the green sweater with lots of tinsels wrapping it and lots of pom-poms from different colours. It was a Christmas tree.
Jack just gazed at her like she was crazy.
"Aaaaaand, I bought Kristoff a pair of reindeer pajamas and a Santa Claus themed ball for Sven! What do you say?" Anna asked showing him both items.
"Uh, nice I guess..." Jack just said.
"Great! Okay, I'm gonna since I'm ready I'm gonna wait for you and Elsa near the cashier. Don't take too long!" She said, and disappeared again.
Okay then.
X
She immediately turned on her heels, facing the other direction, trying to go unnoticed.
She started to walk slowly, covering her face as she could with her scarf to the opposite direction, until someone bumped on her so hard she almost fall face on the floor.
"Watch were you're going" high-pitched voice. She almost growled in annoyance, feeling the anger boiling in her veins.
"Excuse me?! I was walking that way, you're the one that almost rolled me over!" Elsa said clenching her fists besides her hips.
"Nuh-uh, it's still your fault. You're the type of people that manages to ruin everything" Tooth said, placing her hands on her hips. "You're just a loser that likes to believe she's a princess"
"What's your fucking problem? You don't even know me! You have no right to talk about me that way" Elsa growled.
"I know that you took Jack from me" Tooth said with her face flushed in anger.
"Took him from you? What planet where you living at?" Elsa exclaimed in complete disbelief. "In case you didn't notice, you were the one that pushed him away by cheating on him!"
"Oh really now?" Tooth said with a sarcastic smile. "If I 'pushed him away' then how you explain him coming back to me like a lost dog? I had him right where I wanted him, and then you came!" Tooth accused, gazing at Elsa with disgust. "Do you really think he's gonna love you back?" She snarled, and Elsa blinked in surprise at the question. "Oh, don't look at me so surprised, its pretty damn obvious that you're drooling for him" Tooth said. "Too bad he's never gonna like you"
Even though the words were coming from her, they still hurt. A lot. Even though if she was the one saying this to her... it could be true. Still, she wont let her know that it hurt her.
"You're insane" Elsa said, with a frown. She turned on her heels and began walking at the opposite direction.
"Maybe I am, but you know I'm right" Tooth said, and Elsa stopped in her tracks. "You're nothing for him, just a pretty face with money, how could you ever think he would be any different? He's just using you. He'll never see you as anything, not even a friend." Tooth said, and Elsa's heart shattered. Tooth smirked at her evilly.
"Isn't your boyfriend looking for you?" A voice behind Elsa said, and both girls snapped their head towards it. Jack was standing behind Elsa with a frown.
"J-Jack? What are you doing here?" Tooth said paling.
"Isn't it obvious? I'm with Elsa" Jack said, still frowning at her.
"What?" She said, but then she targeted laughing out loud while Jack and Elsa gazed at her with poker faces. "You're kidding right?" Tooth asked once she finally realized that they were not laughing.
"Why exactly would I?" Jack asked.
"You're gift shopping with this?" Tooth asked with disgust.
"No, I'm gift shopping with Elsa, and I'm spending Holidays with her" Jack said sternly, and Tooth opened and closed her mouth like a fish, while staring at the two in disbelief.
"Why?! What do you even see in her?" Tooth exploded, her face red in rage.
"Nothing that concerns you, thats for sure" Jack said. "Now, I'm gonna tell you this nicely just once. Stay the hell away from Elsa and from me." He said, while protectively stepping in front of Elsa.
"B-But she's the one th-"
"I don't fucking care! She did nothing to you. Stay away from her" He said, and gently grabbed Elsa's hand to walk away from Tooth.
After a few seconds, they heard her scream in anger.
x
"Gosh what took you so long?" Anna said exasperatedly. While they were practically running towards the car with the shopping bags after paying everything.
"Sorry, we got distracted" Jack said, and placed all the bags in the trunk.
"Distracted, huh?" Anna said and winked at Elsa, making her blush.
"Not the kind of distracted you're thinking!" Elsa immediately exclaimed.
"Your blush says another thing!" Anna said. Elsa just groaned.
x
After driving out of Nordstrom's parking lot, they went to the nearest target they could find. They spent at least two hours buying everything, and all of them were exhausted.
They decided to look for everything separately, so they could finish everything sooner. Every time Elsa crossed paths with Jack, she apologized to him, mostly because she believed he was bored out of his mind and this maybe was not his idea of a 'great' Holiday. Jack overtime dismissed her, telling her that maybe it was a bit tiring, but he was actually having fun.
And overtime Anna crossed paths with the two of them, she managed to somehow push Elsa and make her fall right into Jack's arms, or any other type of those kinds of embarrassing situations.
After finally finishing the groceries for the whole Holidays, they went straight to buy a tree.
And Anna didn't have any better idea than choosing the biggest and tallest tree there was.
They tried to tied it at the top of the car for nearly two hours, all staff members from where they buy it were helping. After finally managing to tie the tree, and driving incredibly slowly to the house just in case.
They arrived around 9 p.m. and they were exhausted.
Luckily for them, Mrs. Winters and the staff from the house decided to better start decorating the house since the three of them were not arriving. Once they did, Elsa explained her mom that they were late for multiple reasons, Idun said that it was okay, and she told them to prepare themselves for dinner since Mr. North was coming.
The staff and Mrs. Winters managed to finish the tree, and after everyone was ready they started placing their gifts under the tree.
North and Adgar came soon after, almost at the same time.
North looked thrilled. He instantly complimented the house and the decorations, giving each of them a warm hug, obviously thanking the Winters for such a nice invitation. He also gave little snow globes to everyone, as a 'thank you' gift. Elsa was amazed by hers. It was a beautiful Ice castle, she'd never seen a snow globe like it.
After that, they had a joyful and delicious dinner together. Again, exchanging stories and experiences (mostly North's this time).
Even if they were enjoying the conversation, after about two hours, Idun took the roll of the responsible mother she was and send everyone to bed (yes, including North and Adgar). She explained that sadly they needed to wake up early tomorrow again, since they needed to cook and prepare the house for Christmas dinner.
When they went to bed, everyone drifted to sleep almost instantly, except Jack.
He heard the conversation between Elsa and Tooth, at least big part of it.
He heard how Toothiana accused Elsa of being in love with him.
It made his heart flutter, and it made him feel a whole zoo in his stomach but... some part of him couldn't bring himself to believe it. Maybe it was because it was coming from her. Toothiana said just so much lies, he just couldn't bring himself to believe it. Even if unconsciously, he really want it to be true. Plus, the fact that she stayed quiet when Tooth accused her, it was really confusing.
He didn't know what to think, but he knew he didn't want to get exited about it, when it was way more probable to not be true.
x
And finally December 24th came.
Even if they woke up early, everyone was a lot more cheerful than the previous days. Elsa practically knocked Jack's door down since he overslept, but once they were all ready for the day, they divided the work.
Idun, North, Elsa and (because of Elsa's insistence) Jack, would be cooking; and Adgar and Anna (since they could potentially cause an explosion in the kitchen) would be preparing the house for the evening.
Elsa and Idun were in charge of the turkey, mashed potatoes, and different other main dishes. North said he would be doing Russian Christmas recipes including Pagach, Kutya and Bobal'ki, (which represented different and deep meanings). And finally, Jack and Elsa were in charge of the desserts and the cookies for Santa.
Elsa came to the conclusion that Jack was terrible in the kitchen, still at least they had fun.
Once they finally finished everything, Adgar lighted up the chimney, and sent everyone to get ready.
The first ones down were Adgar, Jack and North. It was actually a bit awkward seeing both large men with the ridiculous christmas sweaters. Happy was a little word to describe how North was, it all started when Jack showed him his sweater, he was just so happy Jack could actually see him tearing up; once they both went down, Adgar served them both Apple cider, and even if he was not drunk, Jack was sure that North was about to sing christmas carols.
Anna and Idun were the next to go down, Anna proudly saying that there sweater was the ugliest and the most ridiculous this year.
And then, Elsa finally appeared woking down the stairs. She was wearing her snowman sweater, her hair was in her signature braid, and she had black leggings and red uggs.
"Is a ugly christmas sweater for god's sake! That's supposed to make everyone look ridiculous! How you manage to look good in it?" Anna whined.
"Anna" Idun said and giggled.
"What? Jack agrees with me" Anna said and smirked at Jack, that was gazing at Elsa with wide eyes and a blush adorning his pale face. At the mention of his name, Jack shook his head slightly and glared at Anna, and she just stuck out her tongue to him.
Elsa (now tomato red) walked slowly towards them, hiding her face how she could.
"We should have dinner now" Adgar said and everyone walked to the dining room.
x
Little to say, everything was delicious. Everyone ate almost every dish, including the typical Christmas dishes, North's Russian dishes, and the Winters's Nordic dishes. Everyone stuffed their faces with food.
After Adgar did a small toast, telling that this was a very special Christmas for him and his family, and that they really enjoyed the company of their two guests, also telling them that they need to repeat it, maybe next year in Arendelle.
After having the dessert, all 'adults' said goodbye and went to sleep after not being able to eat anymore, Anna disappeared, and Elsa saw Jack go outside, so she filled a plate with chocolate fudge, and went to find him.
Jack was seating outside in one of the benches, just observing the Winter Wonderland that was now the garden.
"Mind some company?" Elsa quietly said. Jack just chuckled and gestured her to join him. Elsa smiled and took a seat next to him, to then offer him chocolate fudge that he gladdly took, even if he was full. "It looks beautiful, doesn't it?" Elsa asked, while she was also gazing the snow covered garden.
"It does" Jack agreed silently.
"You should see it in spring, its so colorful and full of life" Elsa said. "Still, I prefer it this way. It looks magical"
They stayed in silence for a few moments, not knowing exactly what to say. Jack was actually with an inside struggle. He knew he had to say something, anything. She and her family had been just too kind to them. But the fact that she looked so beautiful, and Tooth's words ringing on his head, were making everything more difficult.
"Anna is right, you know. You look really great today" Jack stupidly said before he could help it. He instantly blushed and wished the the earth could swallow him right there.
Elsa turned crimson.
"T-Thanks" She stuttered, feeling her heart about to explode.
Another awkward moment of silence.
He inhaled deeply.
"Elsa" He started, almost breathlessly. Elsa instantly gazed at him, making him blush once he saw her intense and bright cerulean eyes.
"Yes, Jack?" She asked quietly, looking at him in curiosity. Jack felt the need to advert his eyes, at least just for a second.
"I... I just wanted to say" He said, clearly struggling with words"...Thank you" he finished whispering. Elsa blinked in surprise at first, but then smiled sweetly at him. "This has been probably the best Christmas I had in a long time" he added.
"Jack, this was the best Christmas I ever had" She said, looking right in his eyes. "I'm... really glad that you agreed to come" and a faint blush appeared in her cheeks.
"I'm really glad you invited me" Jack said.
They stared in silence, looking at each other. Jack didn't know what to do. She looks so damn beautiful, the faint blush in her cheeks and her gorgeous eyes on him making her look eve more cute. And her lips... her lips looked really kissable, even more than they usually were.
His heart was beating in his ears, and his face grew hotter by the second, but now was the chance, wasn't it? She was right there, centimeters between them.
She was so close.
He looked at her eyes, feeling his eyelids feeling heavier. He was about to finally lean in...
...Until something bumped o Elsa's head.
"Shit" somebody whispered behind them. They both snapped their heads towards the voice.
Anna was seating a few feet behind them, dressed all in white in attempt to 'camouflage' her body, holding a... fishing rod.
Jack and Elsa's eyes trailed the fishing rod from Anna's hands to what bumped Elsa's head.
A mistletoe.
A. Fucking. Mistletoe.
Elsa's face flushed in embarrassment and anger, and her head snapped at her sister again.
"ANNA!" Elsa growled, while Jack just stared at the mistletoe in shock.
"What?" Anna said smiling sheepishly.
"Are you serious?!" Elsa nearly screamed.
"Aw, come on! It's tradition you now, you need to kiss now" She said dismissively, and tried to place the mistletoe above them again.
"Anna!" Elsa tried to say again, but instantly quiet down when she felt Jack's warm and soft lips on her right cheek.
The world stopped.
Jack didn't know how he did it, or where he found the courage. He also thought that maybe it was actually the perfect opportunity to kiss her on the lips, but he couldn't. If he ever had the wonderful change to kiss her, it wouldn't be like this, not because some tradition, or with some lame excuse to share a kiss she probably did not want.
If he ever got the chance to kiss her, he was gonna make sure she wanted him to kiss her too.
Still, he couldn't stop himself to kiss her on the cheek. It was still a wonderful feeling, and he felt on fire.
He... he really liked her.
Or maybe even more than 'like'.
Maybe he fell in love with her.
Elsa was melting, she knew that if they were standing up, she'll surely fall on her knees.
Her poor heart was about to explode, and butterflies were not just in her stomach, they were all over her body.
She never felt so happy.
"AWW! That was so cute!" Anna finally said, and Jack took it as a cue to separate himself from Elsa.
They looked at each other for a second, both blushing, but quickly adverted their gazes in embarrassment.
Anna took this as a chance to escape from Elsa.
Elsa frowned once she saw her sister escape the scene, but quickly became embarrassed once again once she was left alone with Jack.
"I- uhm.." Jack tried to say.
"Uh... We should-" Elsa stuttered as well.
"Go to sleep?" Jack said.
"Y-Yeah" Elsa said, and they both awkwardly went to their rooms.
Jack really hated Anna at the moment, and so did Elsa.
What could happen if she didn't interrupted them before?
Little did they know, they both were hoping for the same thing.
And, even if they were kind of disappointed about the interruption (kind of, since Jack actually kissed Elsa in the cheek) they were also exited for tomorrow, like everybody in the world.
Who didn't love Christmas, anyway?
A.N.: Hey guys! Me again... So, if you didn't know, I wrote in my profile that I couldn't update yesterday because there was a huge power off here, because of an ugly (really ugly) storm.
Storms here are pretty strong, even if we don't have tornadoes and stuff. So, yesterday since the power was out, so was the wifi.
So, I'm updating this today, and tomorrow we're back in our usual updating time, please remember that.
Anyways, there's a few things for today.
#1 I decided to left December 25 out, because it'll go better next chapter.
#2 In case some of you did not noticed, this fic was also inspired by the song 'Fix You' by Coldplay, it was actually the main source of inspiration, I totally forgot to tell you.
#3 I went to watch Moana again and I love it.
#4 I think... you didn't like the previous chapter very much, which makes me sad, really, really sad... I hope that you can tell me the reasons why you didn't.
I think thats all! Reviews will be nice!
We'll read each other tomorrow.
Silvana.