Page 21 of Dreaming of an Omega Christmas
“Merry Christmas,” I told him with a grin.
“Merry Christmas,” he said, sitting down.
I put on some soft Christmas music and we sat quietly for a while just enjoying each other's company and our holiday breakfast.
“Time for presents?” Falkanar asked.
“Sure,” I said. “I know we only said we were going to get each other a couple small things, but…” I hesitated and looked over at the tree. Falkanar had gone to bed early last night, claiming he had a bit of a headache, and I took the liberty to sneak a bunch of presents under the tree. “I may have gone a little overb…” I trailed off as I realized the number of presents under the tree had doubled, and half them were ones I didn't recognize. I looked at him with a raised eyebrow, and he broke into a wide grin.
“I may have gone overboard as well,” he confessed.
“You sneak.”
I headed to the tree and grabbed one for each of us and then joined him on the couch and gave him a kiss on the cheek. And we tore through the presents together.
“Open yours first,” he suggested.
I opened it up and was greeted with a beautiful iron plaque with our address. It was decorated with what looked like iron holly leaves, and even though it would be perfect to have up year round, there was something distinctly Christmasy about it.
“I love it!” I said giving, him a kiss. I glanced down at the lumpy package in his hand. “I'm afraid yours is a little…”
“I'm sure I'll love it anyway,” he promised. He eagerly tore into it, revealing a bright red ugly Christmas sweater, with a big reindeer on the front. He frowned at it for a moment, turned his gaze to the identical one I was wearing, and then back to the one in his hands.
“Matching ugly Christmas sweaters?” he asked. I could tell from his tone that he was as amused as I was.
“I saw them and couldn’t resist,” I said, grinning as he pulled it on. It looked just a little bit snug in the waist and I hoped that I hadn't bought any of his other clothing too small.
“How does it fit?” I asked.
“Perfectly,” he said. “And it's cheesy, but I do love it.”
We opened the rest of our presents and it was clear that not only did we think alike, we also were very good at picking out exactly what the other person wanted. I got Falkanar mostly clothing, since I knew he still needed to stock up on his wardrobe. And even though I didn't think they made great presents, he was touched. I also got him a couple of homier things, like his very own desk and chair, and took advantage of his early bed time to completely part of my office, so that we could each have our own portion of it to work in. He was thrilled when he saw. He got me my own fair share of clothing.
“I noticed,” he said, “your closet was pretty lean. So, I thought you might like to stock up too.” He wasn't wrong, I acknowledged, my own tension from moving around frequently and my small, infrequent paychecks and my uncertain paydays ensured that I hadn't done much in the way of clothes shopping for myself, either. And even though I had lived here for a few months now, I still wasn't really in the habit of going out and buying a bunch of things for myself. In fact, the Christmas decorations and the presents for Falkanar were the most I had splurged on.
“I have another present for you,” he said, running hand across his new desk, “But you'll have to wait until later.”
“I'm intrigued. Do I get a hint?”
“Nope,” he chuckled.
~~~***~~~
We spent the day enjoying each other’s company and visiting Traviel and Elarian. Even though we all said we wouldn’t exchange gifts, we totally did. As the sun set, we sat once again by the fire. The smoke looked almost purple and I found myself thinking about the genie and the fact that Falkanar and I could have a baby, just like Traviel and Elarian did, if we wanted to. Our very own baby.
I remembered the way it felt for Traviel to watch Elarian’s slowly growing pregnancy and run his hands over his mate’s stomach to feel the baby kicking. And even though I had honestly really wanted that for me, I hadn't thought it was something I could have. But now that Christmas was over and we were ready to start our new lives together, I suddenly felt like more than anything, I was ready now.
“Falkanar, do you—”
I started at the same moment he said, “Travis, I have…”
I chuckled. “You first.”
Falkanar shook his head. “No, please.”
I took a deep breath. “Do you want to try to have a baby?” I said, before I could get cold feet.
He looked stunned for a moment, then broke into a wide, wonderful smile. “I'd love that.”
