Oíche Chiúm [For Rory]

[sandandwater]

She's keeping the fact that this Christmas is bittersweet to herself. No one else needs to know how heavy her heart is or that her thoughts keep drifting towards difficult conversations she doesn't want to have, at least not yet. Pippa won't ruin Christmas, wants 'just one more' happy occasion with Rory. She would like to celebrate something with him, anything at all, even if it is a holiday that she treats as a secular tradition instead of a religious event.

No loud Christmas parties for her this year. No crowded solemn midnight mass for him. Tonight, it's just...peaceful here in her apartment. The dog is sleeping under the coffee table where her very brightly lit (and incredibly pink) tree sits surrounded by stacks of presents. The stereo is on low, old holiday standards adding to the atmosphere as Bing Crosby dreams of a white Christmas and Rosemary Clooney counts her blessings instead of sheep. Everything smells of cranberries and gingerbread, plates full of cookies are on the dining room table(cooling, except for the ones Rory keeps popping into his mouth) and Pippa is partially following the trials and tribulations of Ralphie as she watches the television on mute.

With a playful smile, she takes a bow off one of the presents and presses it to Rory's chest when he joins her on the sofa. "Do you think you can stop biting the heads off gingerbread men long enough to open presents?" Pippa nods at his stocking, which she has filled with mostly unwrapped gifts: polishing cloths and guitar wax, replacement strings, new picks and a fret board cleaner. There may also be plenty of chocolate in there as well. He's a musician and a púca, the stocking is full of necessities.

The rest of her gifts for him are a bit more heartfelt. There's the leather portfolio she's filled with blank sheet music, a box filled with postcards already stamped and addressed to his family members (so he can keep in touch when Breaker Street begins to tour) along with an atlas and a felt-tipped pen (to keep track of where they have been and where they are going), sweaters Pippa picked out to replace some of his more worn clothing, jeans that she knows will flatter him on stage, and lastly the watch she picked out for him. Rock star appropriate, simple and beautiful and Italian made.

Pippa picks up her mug filled with tea and sips it as she waits for Rory to make up his mind about unwrapping things.

Comments

[fey-fire.livejournal.com]

"I think I'll last for a bit, sweet," Rory chuckles, waiting until Pippa pauses in sipping tea to give her a gingerbread-flavored kiss. He's placed an assortment of presents under the tree for her as well. In addition to the whisper soft, cowl necked sweater in periwinkle blue and the DVDs of chick flicks not yet part of her collection, there's a flacon of a bright, fresh perfume (http://www.luckyscent.com/images/products/44701.jpg) based on fruits, florals and sandalwood. His last gift he must admit is as much for him as for her, a silk negligee with lace trim (http://pics.livejournal.com/fey_fire/pic/00003rcb).

"So where should we start, love?" he asks, snuggling in next to her. "Stockings? Packages?"

[sand-andwater.livejournal.com]

"Mmm...with another kiss." She tips her head back for the requested buss and smiles as she gets it. "You taste like cookies."

As for his question, she shrugs one shoulder and sinks into him. He's warm, larger than her and she can tuck herself under his arm and rest her head on his shoulder quite comfortably. It's a good place to be for the night. "Would you believe I've never really done this much?"

Pippa makes a choice and reaches over for his stocking, laying it in his lap. "I suppose we should start with that."

[fey-fire.livejournal.com]

Given what he's heard of Pippa's relationship with her family, he can indeed believe that. All the more reason to make tonight as sweet as possible for her. "As milady wishes."

Rory collects Pippa's stocking and sets it in her lap. It's stuffed with a fair assortment of girly bits and pieces, a prettily bound notebook, gel pens, knickknacks and jewelry, her preferred shades of lip and nail color (he's not above snooping on her vanity) plus chocolates and other sweets. In the bottom there's a set of day of the week panties (http://www.hipundies.com/product-images/zoom/23850.jpg) that's rather more grown up than her current assortment. Also 100% silk.

When he starts investigating his own stocking, naturally he unwraps a chocolate bell first thing and pops it in his mouth. After that he sorts through the small gifts, murmuring thank yous as he sorts the chocolates from the musical items. "Oh, excellent," he crows when he finds the fret board cleaner. "I misplaced mine."

[sand-andwater.livejournal.com]

PIppa shakes her head at his sniffing out and consuming of candy on top of the cookies he's already ingested. "I'll never know how you manage to avoid making yourself sick, eating the way you do." It's said with affection and maybe a hint of jealousy as she eyes the chocolates that were in her own stocking. She'll be saving those for much later.

Instead, she plays with a new tube of lipstick, applying it then pressing a kiss to his cheek to leave the soft pink shape of her lips against his skin. "Thank you."

And then she looks a bit sheepish as he holds up the fret board cleaner. "No, you didn't." Pippa's gaze falls on her sleeping puppy. "Mr. Beaker absconded with it and by the time I realized he had it...well..I just pitched it. I'm sorry. I do try to keep him out of your things."

[fey-fire.livejournal.com]

He gives her a cheeky grin. "Metabolism." Well, that and a slightly equine disinclination to vomit, but he refrains from including that detail. Even if Pippa does look adorable with her nose wrinkled ...

The lipstick mark Rory leaves, a decoration to go with the bow still clinging to his chest. At her admission of Mr. Beaker's vandalism, he laughs quietly and kisses her temple. "You do a good job, love, overall. And he seems to be growing out of the chewing." Gradually, but yes.

When she pulls out the set of panties, he gives her a smile that tries for sweet innocence and doesn't quite make it. "Did I get the right size?"

[sand-andwater.livejournal.com]

"Wholly unfair." If she doesn't watch what she eats, she packs on the pounds. Still...Pippa gives in and unwraps a chocolate herself, taking a bite of half the confection before offering Rory the other half. The one she claims has all the calories.

The panties, she laughs at. "Are you trying to tell me something, Ro?" As she sifts through the silk bag, discretely checking a tag for the size, Pippa manages to return his smile with a deceptively sweet one of her own. "Oh, I think they'll be a little snug but you should be able to get them on."

She's kidding, mostly, but that doesn't stop her from fingering the delicate lace trim as she gives her boyfriend a thoughtful look before picking up the small jewelry box that had been in her stocking as well. Holding it out to him, "It's lovely, Ro. Help me put it on?"