-Sean-
Last Christmas, Charlie and I slept together for the very first time. Then I promised her I would one day make her my wife, and then we had our first major argument. I’m hoping that this year we avoid any issues and make it the best Christmas ever. Just the fact that Charlie is home with me already makes it fantastic. She wasn’t supposed to come home until right after New Year’s. Thanksgiving was tough, but fortunately I grew up celebrating Canadian Thanksgiving and not American. With my teammates around me, it wasn’t completely miserable. I’m just so glad that she’s here with me now for Christmas.

Unlike last year, neither of us bought each other presents. With Charlie in the hospital, we weren’t even sure if she would be home in time. So we agreed no to do anything special. I lied, of course. But I don’t really consider the house a gift, though, since we were going to buy one anyway. It’s more like just a Christmas surprise.

I wake up first on Christmas morning and savor the feeling of having Charlie curled up against my side for a little while. For so many months, I missed having her warm body snuggled next to mine. Our bed always felt cold, and not once did I get a good night’s sleep. Every single night I woke up at least one time, feeling the bed next to me hoping that it was all just a bad dream and she was right there next to me. Of course I was always disappointed, and I would lay there for an hour in misery before I could finally fall back to sleep. But now I don’t have to worry about that anymore. I let my fingers stroke her hair and admire how truly beautiful her soft features are. She looks so peaceful, I don’t want to ever move from this position.

Charlie’s hips shift slightly and I know she’s starting to wake up. I bend my head down to kiss her forehead and her eyes flutter open. She looks up at me, but I can tell she’s still mostly asleep.

“Good morning, beautiful.” I say in a soft voice. “Merry Christmas.”
“Merry Christmas.” She mumbles before snuggling her face into my chest.
I let my fingers move to he shoulder and begin drawing slow circles on her back.
“Do you want to sleep a little longer or would you like to get up?” I ask. “I can go make breakfast and bring it to you.”
“No. You’re not allowed to leave this bed.” She says into my skin. I chuckle lightly.
“Okay.” I say. “Do you mind if I turn the tv on? A Christmas Story is on.”
It’s both of our’s favorite Christmas movie, and I love that it’s on all day on Christmas.
“Yeah, let’s watch it.” She says, shifting so she’s still cuddled up with me but can now see the flatscreen on the wall. I reach for the remote and turn it on, flipping to the right channel. It’s about half way in, but we still haven’t missed Charlie’s favorite part.

We spend the next hour laughing and quoting along with the movie, and when it’s over we’re both wide awake and ready for some food. I drag myself out of the warm sheets first and head to the closet where I grab Charlie some clothes first. Most days, when she has somewhere to be, she plans her outfits out the night before and leaves them next to he bed so she doesn’t have to get up to pick something out. She can’t put on her prosthetic before she puts on jeans, so it’s helpful to have them right there. But on lazy days, she has me grab her a pair of sweatpants or yoga pants and a shirt in the morning. I almost always grab one of my shirts for her, since we both love when she wears them. We moved all her panties and bras to the table next to the bed, so no matter what she’s wearing, they’re in reach. That was something the woman from the support group had suggested, and so far it’s worked out well for us.

I toss her the yoga pants and Christmas sweater I’ve chosen and head back into the closet for my own stuff. By the time I’ve thrown on my sweatpants and shirt and walk back into the room, Charlie has her yoga pants and prosthetic on, and is taking off the oversized shirt she slept in last night. As she pulls it over her head, her naked breasts come into view and I bite back a groan. Even though she’s been home a week, we haven’t been able to spend some quality time together yet. I was in Boston for two of those days, had home games two other days, and we ended up spending time with friends who wanted to see Charlie again the other days.

Before I can stop myself, I’m crossing the room and kneeling on the floor in front of her. My hands cup her breasts and begin massaging them. I look up into her face before attaching my mouth to one of her nipples. I roll it between my tongue and lips and her eyes roll back while one of her hands finds its way into my hair. I make sure it’s nice and erect before switching to give the other one the same treatment, causing her to breathe my name. I pull away and move my mouth up her chest and neck, stopping to nip at the spot be her ear I know drives her crazy. Finally I attach my lips to hers and gently push her backwards on the bed, hovering my body above hers. I want her so bad it’s almost painful. I gently bite her lip and she parts them, allowing our tongues to dance with one another. My hands slide down her sides to her hips, where I squeeze them gently. She moans into my mouth and I feel myself grow rock hard. My hands start to travel to her thighs, but Charlie unexpectantly pulls back, halting my movements.

“I think we should go eat breakfast.” She says, looking everywhere but my face.
“What’s wrong?” I ask.
“Nothing. I’m just hungry.” She lies.
“Don’t lie to me, Charlie. Please.” I beg.
“I want- I’m just- I don’t-” She sighs, tears starting to form in her eyes.
“You aren’t sure how it’s going to work now that your body is different.” I state. She nods silently. “Baby, we’ll figure it out. Together.”
“What if it’s too awkward? What if you don’t like it anymore?” She asks, the tears falling down her cheeks. I wipe them away with my thumbs as they fall.
“If it means I’m with you, I promise you I’ll still like it.” I reassure her. “It may be awkward at first. We’ll have to figure out if it’s easier with your prosthetic on or off. It’ll be a lot of trial and error. But I promise you Charlie, I’m going to still love being with you.”
“I have so many scars.” She says, looking down.
“I’ve seen them all already.” I say. “And I think you’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever met.”
“You have to say that, you’re my fiancee.”
“That’s absolutely true. But I’m also your fiancee because I think you’re completely perfect. You’re a beautiful person, Charlie. Both on the outside and the inside.”
She snuggles rests her head on my shoulder and we wrap our arms around each other.
“I’m sorry.” She whispers.
“Don’t be. It’s okay. Next time, we’ll take it slower. Okay?” She nods. “Okay. Now let’s go get some breakfast.”

I help her sit back up and she throws on a bra and the sweater I gave her. Together, we walk out into the kitchen and begin making our breakfast. We don’t make much, since we know we’re eating a big dinner with some of the guys. What Charlie doesn’t know is that this dinner is going to be in our new house. She thinks it’s going to be at Brayden and Janine’s, and we’re going over early to help them.

“So what’s the plan for today?” She asks.
“Well, right now we spend time just you and me. Then we’re all going to Kimmo’s to spend some time with the kids. Pretty much everyone will be there. And after that we’re heading over to Brayden and Janine’s to help them cook dinner.” I respond.
“Sounds good to me.” She says, plating our scrambled eggs. I pull the bacon out of the frying pan and place a couple pieces on our plates. Charlie walks over to the refrigerator and grabs the orange juice. I get two cups down and hand them to her. When it’s done, I grab the toast from the toaster and take our plates to the breakfast bar. Charlie joins me with our juice, and we sit down to eat.

When we’re done, Charlie heads back to our room to take a shower and I quickly clean up the kitchen. I head back to our room and I see she’s already laid out her outfit on the bed. Her prosthetic is sitting on the bed, but I notice her crutches are still leaning against their spot against the wall. She’s supposed to use them whenever she moves around without her prosthetic, but she usually chooses just to hop instead. It makes me nervous because she could easily fall and hurt herself, but she’s so stubborn I know not to say anything about it. It would probably just cause a fight and she still wouldn’t use them.

I walk into the bathroom and peak into the shower. I shed my clothes and tell her not to turn the water off. She says she’s done anyway, so I turn the shower head to the side and help her stand. I pick her up to get her out of the tub. Her naked skin rubs against mine as I lower her and it drives me absolutely wild. She notices the change in my body and giggles.

“I would offer to help you with that, but we have to leave soon.” She says as I wrap the plush towel around her body.
I bite her earlobe and whisper to her. “That’s okay, I’ll just think about you when I shower and take care of it myself.” Her breath hitches and I roughly grab her ass.
Before I can do anything I know we don’t have time for, I step into the shower myself. I hear her shut the door on her way out and go to work.

Fifteen minutes later, I’m stepping out of the shower feeling a lot more relaxed and ready for the day. When I get into the bedroom, I notice Charlie left a pair of my jeans, a white v-neck shirt and a gray sweater I don’t recognize on the bed. I put them all on and am surprised at how much I love the sweater. It’s not my normal style, but it actually looks pretty good on me. It hugs my chest and arms in all the right places, but doesn’t look like I’m going to rip it. I’m staring at my reflection in the mirror when I hear Charlie come back into the room.

“Wow, it looks even better than I thought it would.” She says.
“I love it.” I respond, giving her a peck on the lips.
“Good. Merry Christmas.” She rubs her hand down my arm.
“I thought we said no presents.” I tease.
“I would bet anything you bought something for me.” She says.
I pause and she laughs.
“I do have something for you, but it’s not a Christmas present. More like a Christmas surprise.” I say, trying to be vague.
“Well this is something for you, but it’s not a Christmas present either. It wasn’t even wrapped.” She retorts.
I sigh and smile.
“We both had to find a way around it, didn’t we?” I ask.
She laughs and nods her head.
“Okay, we both look good. Now let’s go before we’re late.” She says, heading for the door.

I grab the mini box I had hiding in my drawr and shove it in my pocket before following her. We drive to the Timonen household and join our friends for a fun afternoon of laughter and love. I spend a decent amount of time with Fiona Timonen, who wants to show me the new book she got that will teach her how to speak French. I make sure to tell her if she ever needs help or wants to practice that she can speak with me, and she says that a bunch of the other guys told her the same thing. I’m amazed at how smart she is for a seven year old. She already knows both English and Finnish, and now she wants to learn French. But then again, she’s Kimmo and Johanna’s child so her intelligence isn’t really that much of a surprise.

Eventually, the time comes around when I know we’re going to have to leave. I give Brayden a nod and he announces that he and Janine need to head home. They say their goodbyes and a couple minutes later, Charlie and I follow suit. I can feel my palms getting sweaty and I’m hoping she doesn’t realize how nervous I am. We get into the car and I head towards our new house, only a couple streets over. Charlie doesn’t realize what’s going on at first, but when I pull into our new driveway she gives me a bewildered look.

“What are you doing?” She asks.
“Parking.” I say, digging into my pocket for the box.
“You can’t just park here, Sean. Someone lives here!” She exclaims.
“They aren’t inside yet.” I respond, handing her the box.
She looks at me with wide eyes and I smile. She slowly takes the box from my hand.
“Is this my Christmas surprise?” She asks in a small voice, opening the box.
“Welcome home, Charlie.” I say, watching her take out the key.
She doesn’t even try to hold back her tears as she inspects it.
“You bought us a house?” She sniffles.
“Yeah, I did. I was getting frustrated trying to make the apartment prosthetic-friendly. Since we were already looking at houses before, I just took what I knew you liked and added a couple things. I wasn’t planning on buying until you came home, but this one.... It was just too perfect. It has everything we wanted, Charlie. And more. I knew someone else would snatch it up if I didn’t act right away so I got it.”
“Can we go look at it?” She asks.
“Of course.” I say. I hop out of the car and run around to her door, helping her get out.

We walk up to the front door and I let her go ahead of me. She shakily puts the key in the door and unlocks it. I intertwine our fingers and we walk into our new home for the first time together.

Notes