Counting Down to You

Day 2

AN: I am going to start posting pictures of this story on my Instagram account for spoilers, hints, and countdowns. Find me at vmarslover

Disclaimer: I do not own TMI or Die Hard. Nor am I an author, and I have no beta. I only own the plot.

Counting Down to You: Day 2 (1K)

December 2nd

As soon as my alarm's blaring goes off, I shoot out of bed, excited for the day to begin.

Why, may you ask?

Well, it is day 2, and I have transformed into a child with anticipation for my next advent calendar.

Just like yesterday, I climb out of bed and change and get ready for the day. I glance at my phone, and there is no message from Jace, and worse. No knock at the door.

Maybe there isn't a gift today?

It is understandable; Jace is across the country and yesterday was enough of a surprise that cheered me up, giving me a sense of normalcy.

December has always been a busy month for my family, with all our family traditions all crammed into one month.

But things changed when my parents divorced, and our tradition of picking a Christmas tree on December 1st stopped.

Jonathan, my brother, grew up and left New York for Florida as soon as he graduated.

Leaving my mother and me to ourselves most of the time.

My parents ended on fairly good terms, so much that they can be in the same room as each other on Christmas Eve, which is the most important day of my life.

This is why on December 2nd, I am worried, Jace won't be there.

Jace has been my constant for the last 5 years, and he was there when my parents divorced, and we built new traditions as a couple. One of which is him carrying on with my advent calendar that my mom had stopped a year before the divorce.

During that dark year, it kept me going through school by having Jace by my side and giving me an outlet and sense of normalcy that I desperately needed.

Which is why this year feels so strange. The traditions that survived the divorce were split in half. Some I do with my mom. The rest I do with my dad. But Jace was always by my side through both sets of events. Expect this year.

Sure, I could have gone with him, since I have gone before when he was travelling, but it did not feel right leaving my mom alone and not following through with our traditions. Not to mention, she would have to run the café alone, which did not seem fair.

So here I am.

Changing out of my warm fluffy pyjamas for black jeans and a plain red top that reads "Fairchild Café" while also running a comb through my hair. Then finally walking out and opening my bathroom to my baby boy running towards me and jumping at my feet.

I pick the tiny Frenchie up and cuddle him in my arms as he licks my face while I laugh. He eventually stops and whines about being let down until I obey him.

The second his feet hit the ground, he is off and runs out my bedroom door, probably to wait for breakfast.

I stumble into the kitchen and hit brew on my coffee maker since I don't think I can function enough right now to wait until work to have coffee.

I give Max fresh food and water, and he begins to inhale it. I sigh; he never learns.

When my coffee is ready, I lean against the counter wishing Jace was here with his arm around my waist.

Wow, I am clingy this week.

Just as I conjured those thoughts, my phone rings, and it's another face time from Jace.

I quickly answer, and my stomach fills with butterflies as I wait for the screen to load.

Eventually, his golden face appears, and I smile.

"Well, good morning, beautiful," he says.

"Good afternoon to you; how's the weather?"

"Warm, I don't even have to wear a coat," he says as he smiles at me.

"Wow, way to rub it in, bud."

He laughs, "You asked"

"Yeah, yeah, fine. What's your plan for the day, babe?"

"I have a meeting with Alec and with the lawyer. Nothing interesting. How's Max?"

"You know, the same. Inhaling his food. Maybe we should try those bowls to get him to slow down."

"I'll see if Magnus has any recommendations when I see him for dinner."

"Okie Dokie," I answer and look at Max as he finishes and sits beside me, looking up at me with hopeful eyes.

"Now, it is day 2. Have you found your gift yet?"

"No, there was no delivery," I answer.

He laughs. "Did you even look under the tree we did before I left?"

I sheepishly shrug, and with my phone, walk over to the tree. There lay 6 boxes. I look through them and discover day 3 in yellow paper, then day 8 in green, day 10 wrapped in silver, day 20 in pink, day 24 in a big purple box, and finally I find number 2 that is a rectangle box wrapped in yellow paper.

Seriously? When did he have time for this?

"Go ahead and open it," he says, and I smile at him as I tear at the paper like a wolverine.

It is a cupboard box all taped.

I sigh and get up and open the drawer in our coffee table and use the box cutter.

Once I lift the lid, I laugh and look at my phone.

"I hope you know this means you are admitting that die hard is a Christmas movie now," I say as I wave my new DVD copy of Die Hard.

He laughs, "I will never admit that, but I figured it would give you something to watch while your brother watches 'Home Alone' again."

I laugh and smile at this man. I am so lucky to call mine, "I love you; thank you so much."

He looks at me and smiles, and says, "I love you too. Day 3 is yellow, right?"

I nod. "Why so many colours this year? You usually do one colour."

"You'll see. I got to go. My meeting begins in 5; I hope you enjoy it. I'll call you at dinner."

"See you, have a good day," I say, and he bids me farewell and tells me to say to my mother for him. I agree and end the call looking at the tree with 5 gifts.

Where are the rest? And why so many colours?

AN: Hope you enjoyed it; remember to review it and let me know your thoughts. It was a lot of fun planning out the gifts. My friends are tired of me, bugging me with my ideas.

Questions: What gift will Clary open tomorrow? Where are the rest of the gifts? Why are there so many different colours of wrapping paper? Is Die Hard a Christmas Movie?

See you all tomorrow!

Stay Safe!