Merry Christmas, Darling l Popov Safehouse #65

Christmas Morning

Tre walked down the stairs, the Christmas decorations hitting him hard. It was almost a year since he'd been in America.

It hurt.

Knowing his presence would be missed was the only thing that made him go down the stairs, his eyes downcast, but he was still effortlessly staying out from under any mistletoe.

He made his way down the grand staircase, not using any of the garland-covered railings. The Christmas Cheer here was tangible in the air, and it was almost choking him.

The members were all off on their own for Christmas, so the house was noticeably emptier.

Papa Popov moved past him, up the stairs toward his office. Tre paused respectably, waiting for the Papa to pass, as was custom.

"There is something for you in the kitchen." Papa said, moving past him. "Happy Christmas."

"Happy Christmas, Papa." Tre said softly, before moving past the man to the kitchen. He was not looking forward to whatever was in there. His hand had found its way to the small of his back, going for his gun. He didn't draw it out, not yet.

He pushed open the kitchen door, his eyes going to its sole occupant.

It couldn't be.

Ash fidgeted in the kitchen. She sat down on the chair and the got up again, walking about a bit before sitting back down.

It had been a year, what if he was different, or-or... a year is a long time to expect someone to...

She thought she might be sick. She pulled at the hem of her dress wondering why she had put the thing on in the first place, and let her fancy heeled shoes drop to the floor. Her father had told her to look presentable for Papa - don't put their name to shame.

But for Tre... she just felt.. silly. Like a kid playing dress up. She smiled as she played with the brim of her hat. Daddy would have a fit if he knew she hadn't taken it off, even when talking to the older man. She let her feet tap against the chair leg, as she nervously spun the small hand gun on the counter.

Her grip on the object tightened as she heard the door open, whirling around holding it stead she tensed... and then froze completely.

Tre.

She felt the spot on her shoulders - the spot with the tattoo - begin to tingle as she stared at the boy. He looked so different, and yet... not. She wanted to run across the room but she suddenly found she couldn't move. She couldn't even lower the gun.

her voice which she meant to sound blaise, joking, came out more choked and hoarse with emotion.

"Long time no see, Angel."

Tre's body reacted faster than his mind did, his gun pointed at the girl before him. He knew her. He knew everything about her. She looked.... different. Older. More...

He gun didn't lower.

"Wings." He said gruffly. He didn't know how to react around her anymore. He'd missed her. His eyes were taking every bit of her in, and it felt as if a tremendous weight had been lifted from his chest. He felt like grinning like an idiot, felt like running to her and throwing his arms around her...

But that would be... inappropriate. Papa would undoubtably have eyes on them.

His golden eyes swirled with warring emotions, meeting her blue gaze. How he'd missed her eyes.

"It has been long." He said, his voice low, almost a growl.

She met his gaze, never wavering from anything, her hand steady, and her gaze even more so. She knew what he was thinkning, she was thinking it too. And all she wanted was to close the gap between them - but there were eyes upon them, there would always be eyes on them.

"Too long."

Her hand shook slightly as she blinked, memories coming back to her, flashes his hands, lips...

Tre.

Screw it, she had never liked playing by their rules anyway. Setting her weapon aside more violently than she probably should have, and completely ignoring the fact that he still had one trained on her to, she ran across the small space and threw her arms around him, burrowing her face into his neck.

"Merry Christmas, Tre."

Tre dropped his gun.

His arms caught her easily, holding her against him. Suddenly it was as if it were a year ago. With the touch of her skin, the tingling on his back came to an abrupt halt, and he knew were he to look in a mirror, his wings had returned.

His Wings had returned.

He buried his nose into her hair and closed his eyes, drinking in her scent as if it were Oxygen. He could barely contain his laughter and abundant happiness at the sound of her voice.

"Merry Christmas, Ash."

She knew she should probably let go now. Her fathers words rang in her head.

It won't be like last time he had intoned. You will learn to control yourself or you'll come home.

She should, but in the end Ash knew she wouldn't. She hadn't even bothered to respond to her fathers order. She knew he knew it had almost been pointless too.

But the threat was hollow anyways - at least to her brain. To her brain the day he left, Philadelphia had ceased to be home. This right there... that felt like home to her.

She looked up as she heard barking, and Heaven - always following her like a shadow - came bounding across the room. She called a few pointless orders as the dog came jumping at their legs.

"Heaven missed you too."

Tre let laughter, thick, boiling clouds of it, unleash from his throat, spinning her in his arms. "I've missed you!" He beamed, unable to keep the raw elation out of his voice. "I've missed you so so much, Wings!"

He glanced down at the dog at his feet - only his, as he'd lifted her off the ground - his stupid-happy grin growing wider. "Heaven!" He said happily. "Nice to see you, girl!"

Then, at long last, he stopped spinning, and met Ash's eyes once more, barely noting they were nose to nose. "Wings." He breathed.

"I can fly now. I've got my Wings back."

Then he was kissing her.

Ashleen's laughter joined his as the spun around the room. She pulled herself closer, having to wrap her legs around him agian for fear of flying off, or smacking them against the wall.

"I missed you more," she agrued, a teasing tone coming to her otherwise estatic grin. He was here, he was really here, in front of her.

The dog sent out a small yelp as Ash leaned into Tre's kiss but she didn't care. She really didn't care. It was christmas, and after twelve long months, more than three hundred and Sixty-five long days she had found her way back to him and she wasn't going to let anything take her away.

Papa had opened her door, when she had been brushing her wet hair after a shower. Something was happening down stairs, she knew, but... she didn't have the heart to go look until Papa told her to.

She padded down the steps, feet light and soundless. The door to the dining room was still open, so she moving over there and peered through the door.

And caught the kiss.

She closed the door, causing a small squeak from ungreased hinges. Her vision was blurred, but she hated to admit tears were actually forming. She was free- she didn't have to marry Tre anymore.

But, part of her wanted to.

Five hundred twenty five thousand six hundred minutes. That was how long it had been since the last time he'd seen her. Checking the clock, he realized that the time of his plane take off, the time he would have lost sight of her out of the plane window, would have been exactly two minutes ago.

He'd lived a year without her. Now he didn't want to be without her for more than a moment.

His lips travelled along her jawline, nipping at her neck in reverent glee. He'd never let her go.

The squeek of the door barely meant a thing to him, but he turned and checked at the bark that Heaven gave. He knew to listen to the dog's warnings.

He didn't catch who it was.

He set Ash down on her feet, his eyes worried, but he did not let go of her. The thought didn't even cross his mind.

"We shouldn't have done that." He murmured, losing himself quickly in her blue eyes. "If Papa sees..." He pulled her against him, feeling as though the distance between them need never exist again.

Ash smiled, closing her eyes at the feeling of his lips on her skin. Had it really been a year? In that moment she couldn't remember the time with out it. She couldn't almost pretend she was still in America - they were still in America.

Once she was set on the ground again, she spared just brief glance to the door, not even caring that it might have opened or not before turning to grin at Tre again. She met his worried gaze with a steady on of her own.

"If Papa sees..." she repeated, a flippant statement on her lips but some part of her mind that had grown up in their time away told her to hold her tongue - at least where the old man could hear. "I'd still do it again."

Tre offered her a small little half-grin. "So would I." He agreed, brushing his lips against hers once more. Without even thinking about it, he deepened the kiss, ignoring the incessant barking that Heaven had started. The kiss stretched on for what could have been hours, but it wasn't long enough. They'd been apart way too long.

Slowly, he pulled away, hesitating with his lips a hairsbreadth away from hers, before moving his head back a safer distance. He kept her securely against his chest, his arms around her. He wasn't sure he was physically capable of letting her go. Closing his eyes, he rested his forehead against hers and sighed, a grin tugging up the corners of his lips.

"God, I missed you." He breathed.

Ashleen closed here eyes, smiling against his lips even as her pet gave out the usual warning barks that meant bad idea. She couldn't see how this could be a bad ideas.... ever. She could barely believe that this wasn't a dream, that she wasn't going to wake up at any moment, and still be in Philadelphia.

Alone.

"I missed you too," she breathed, her hold on him tightening. "So much it really did hurt, physically hurt."

She stood still for a long moment, just letting it all sink in, allowing herself to believe that it was really true, that it was more real than any of her dreams.

"Oh," she breathed, a small smile growing on her face, and her eyes lighting up, "I brought you something." She looked at her bag across the room, not really willing to let go of him to move to it.

He leaned forward, and his lips brushed her ear. "I wish it had hurt." He murmured. "I just felt so numb, couldn't feel much of anything." He nuzzled into her neck, kissing it softly. "But now..." His trail of kisses returned to her ear, and he grinned, though she couldn't see it. "I feel like all my nerves are alive."

He nipped at her ear, tugging on it with his teeth. "Do you want to go get it?" He murmured, pausing in his movements.

"Hurts not all that fun either," she mumbled, losing her train of thought as his lips got up to her ear. She shivered abit, and bit her lip.

"Well I would," she said, smirking slightly, "If you weren't being soooo..."

She leaned towards him again, ready to... Heaven's bark distracted her. She glared down at the dog for a moment, who stared back at her until she sighed, and pulled away from the boy again, not letting of his hand though, dragging him across the room as she pulled out the small package out of her bag, wrapped in the only scraps of wrapping paper she could find in the Safe house.

Apparently the mob didn't believe in holdiay wrapping.

She bit her lip, suddenly feeling self concious as she held it out. It was probably stupid, but... "Merry Christmas."

[OOC - FYI, there is a journal in le package - said journal will already have writing in it.]

Tre watched her, letting her lead him by the hand. He winked at Heaven, and the dog half growled before sitting and wagging its tail. He smiled down at Ash and took the wrapped thing in his hand. His other hand was securely in hers, and he didn't want to let it go. It would mean he'd have to stop touching her.

He hoisted her upward, backing up and sitting on the table, pulling her into his lap so they were facing each other. "There." He said. No need to let go now.

His eyes went to the present, and he ripped it open, revealing the small book inside. He glanced up at her before flipping through it, recognizing her handwriting almost instantly. "A journal?" He asked, grinning and glancing up at her. The other half was empty, and he guessed he was supposed to write there. He wanted her to tell him though, rather then come to conclusions.

Or maybe he just wanted to hear her voice, even though he knew things that seemed way more productive than talking.

Ash let out a tiny laugh as she was lifted and then pulled onto his lap, wrapping her arm around his neck as he tore into the gift.

She swallowed and blushed slightly, feel nervous again as he looked at it. It was stupid really... just...

"My Journal... from last year; I wrote something everyday... sometimes just a line or two, some days more," she shrugged and to stop feeling so silly she reached over to flipp the pages over to show a small folder in the back, "And there are a few pictures in here too... It may be silly but... I use to pretend, sometimes... that I was telling you these things so you wouldn't seem so far away."

She swallowed and duck her head, feeling suddenly more exposed than she ever had been before.

Tre's eyes softened, and he leaned forward to brush his lips against hers. "That's so sweet, Wings." He said softly. He hesitated for a moment, his eyes sliding to her right and lingering there, before he nodded. "Okay. I have something for you too." Rather than put her down, he wrapped his arms around her waist and held her in place before he stood. With a wink at her, he swung her around his body, stopping when she was at his back, and pulling her knees up so it was like she was sitting on his back.

"Hold on." He ordered.

Then he was running, with Ash riding piggyback. He made his way out of the kitchen and up the grand staircase, darting down different hallways before he slid to a stop outside of a door.

His bedroom. He bent his knees and let go of hers, so she could stand. He took her hand. "Ready?"

Ashleen let out a call of surprise as she was suddenly run across the building. She rolled her eyes even as a smile grew on her face and she snuggled close to him. At least something didn't change. Tre was still... Tre.

"Of course," she said as she was put down, smiling slightly. She was curious what she getting... it wasn't exactly like he knew she was coming...

He grinned sheepishly and nodded, putting his hand on the doorknob. A faint golden glow shot from his hand, and the door clicked open, and he pulled her in after him.

His room was still messy, the papers and drawings on the floor much as they had always been. What was different was the amount of ice sculptures around the room. They had doubled and tripled, the amount of ice actually bringing down the room temperature a bit, so it felt a bit chilly. He pulled Ash against him, smiling down at her. "These are my sculptures." He said, looking around the room. "They're all for you."

The girl gasped as she looked around the room. There were so many....

"Tre," she breathed her eyes trying to take them all in at once, ignoring the slight chill trying to invade her, "They're all..."

She let out a little stunned laughed as he pulled her against him. "Amazing, simply and utterly so."

Ashleen nodded her head to emphasize the point.

"But... How..?" She was of little doubt that all this was done without magic. Which means his powers grew while she was gone. The thought made her a little sad but the was determined not to dwell on it.

"I'm just a bit stronger now." He teased, tracing the shape of her jawline with his lips. "I would show you... but you know what I noticed?" he purred, his lips now trailing down her neck. "We're together." He murmured, nipping at that spot on her neck. "And we're alone."

Then he captured her lips with hers, interrupting anything she had been saying, and kissing her so thoroughly that he distracted even himself. His hold on her tightened, and this time he swore to never let her go.

Ash couldn't even remember if she had been saying anything, the words, pointless to begin with would have been lost as soon as Tre's mouth found hers. She closed her eyes, making a soft sound in the back of her throat as she kissed back, wrapping her arms around his neck.

She leaned into him, breaking appart only for a gasp of air, and even that second seemed like too long. Who need air, when they had... had...

Ash's mouth moved away from his, trailing kisses along his skin.

Tre shivered delightedly. She was just so-so-so

Here.

He caught her lips with his again, pulling her closer and moving to pin her onto his bed. The papers had yet to return since he'd last brushed them off, so it was smooth sailing. He moved his lips against hers, groaning softly as he pressed into her, pushing her deeper within his sheets. It hit him agian.

Here.

His lips moved along her jaw line, and he nipped at her sensitive neck, grinning. He felt as though his happiness was seeping out of his pores, there was so much of it.

Ash moaned against his lips, as she was sandwiched between Tre and his bed. Their bodies getting tangled as he pushed against her, and she pushed back. They were becoming like two magnates. Pulled towards each other and Ash wasn't sure if anything could pull them apart again.

She let out a soft laugh, that ended in a sigh as he began to nip at her neck.

Ashleen strung her hands through his hair, making up for all the times she had want to reach out to do that, to just touch him, in the past year and couldn't.

But now she was here, and she was going to take advantage of every opportunity she could.