Room 238, Christmas morning (again, gets NWS)

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Aeryn wakes up early, and John's still asleep next to her. She could wake him, but if the holidays really tire him out, she can let him sleep for a while longer. She's fine laying here for a while, anyway. It's warm and comfortable, and she didn't even steal all the covers from him like she usually does.

It occurs to her that she could go next door to get John's presents, then remembers that would require moving.

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John starts to mumble in his sleep. Something about being the court jester in the kingdom and not being able to find his shoe.

[Family kept me busier then I thought. Sorry!]

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It's amazing sometimes, how much Aeryn shrugs off as translator microbe flubs. She leans in and kisses him lightly, just to see what he does.


[NP!]

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The soft touch of lips is enough to chase away court jesters and lost shoes.

He doesn't open his eyes when he asks, "Is this heaven?"

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Aeryn blinks, confused. "It's your room," she tells him.

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He opens his eyes and smiles up at her. "Close enough. Merry Christmas."

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"Marry Chrissmass," she tells him. "How am I doing so far?"

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"You're doing fine, honey." He reaches up and pulls her down for another quick kiss. "Just you being here is what I wanted."

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"Hm. Not exactly what I heard," she says with a tiny smile.

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He laughs and curls closer to her. "Rumors, vicious rumors. You're lying in my bed and I don't think," he stops and peers under the covers, "you have any clothing on. That's a mighty fine Christmas present for me."

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She drapes an arm around him and the smile widens. "If I'd known it would be that easy, I wouldn't have worried about it."

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He returns her smile. He kisses down her neck and whispers, "But I did get you some gifts."

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"I do remember hearing something about that before we got distracted..."

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"Should we get out of bed and do the Christmas thing?"

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"We really should," she says, not voicing the thought that if they don't get out of bed now, they probably won't leave for the rest of the day.

She sits up almost reluctantly, reaching for her clothes to put on for the trek next door. The shirt's just loose enough that she thinks it's probably his, but she doubts he'll mind. She dresses quickly, and kisses him before saying, "I'll be right back."

[whitedeathpod.livejournal.com]

After he watches her leave, he climbs out of bed and slides on a pair of boxers and pants. His shirt's gone so she must've put it on.

He reaches into his closet and pulls out another t-shirt, sliding it on.

Then he pulls her pile of gifts out from under his bed and waits for her to get back.

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Aeryn meant to be back sooner, but one of the gifts may be slightly claustrophobic. She returns (unscathed) with them, sitting back on the bed and asking, "How do you want to do this?"

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"Take turns?" He pulls out one of her smaller presents and hands it to her.

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She hands over the smallest of the packages. If he looks inside the box, he'll find one has been replaced with these.

Aeryn opens John's gift, and she's barely sure now how these got to be a thing with her, but it never fails to make her smile.

[whitedeathpod.livejournal.com]

John opens his gift and laughs. "These are great, Aeryn. Thank you," he says and leans over to kiss her.

John hands her another gift.

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She opens it, not knowing why she likes it so much except that she does. "Thank you," she says, and passes over his next one. "Parker actually told me to give this to you," she explains, and busies herself with putting on the bracelet. Maybe she takes a little while with it.

[whitedeathpod.livejournal.com]

He smiles at her while she puts on the bracelet. "It looks good. Leather is definitely your material."

John opens his next gift and exclaims, "Pictures!" He smiles widely and opens the photo album. "Pictures of you! Aeryn, thank you."

John hands Aeryn a thick packet. "I did this in your name."

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She reads the largest print on the first page of the packet aloud, then pauses as she realizes what that says. "You adopted a polar bear?" she asks. "I know they're lenient with pets at this school, but I don't know if they'll agree with that."

[whitedeathpod.livejournal.com]

John laughs. "No, the polar bear doesn't come here. What that means is that I adopted a polar bear in your name. It means your protecting that polar bear from all the way down here." He shrugs. "I thought you might like knowing that, while you have all the stuffed animals, you have a real polar bear too."

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"I have a polar bear," she repeats, and yes, it sounds weird. But it's a good kind of weird. She leans in to kiss him. "Thank you."

The third, last and biggest box is making a little bit of noise. It sounds almost as if something's trying to ram its way out and can't quite make it. She made the packaging as easy as possible, but now she's expecting the lid to start coming off of it. "This one's going to take some explanation," she warns, and pushes the box towards him.

[whitedeathpod.livejournal.com]

John opens the gift, pulls off the lid and pulls out...a really weird mechanical thing.

"This is...what is this?"