Maybe After Tomorrow (Hatchetfield)

Chapter 22

"Emma?" Paul said almost breathlessly before she ran toward them, throwing her arms around them and sobbing into his shoulder. He had to bend down to accommodate her height.
"Paul!" she said frantically and through tears, "Paul, I thought- I- I never-"
"Shh, shh, sweetheart, it's okay."
"I love you so much."
"I love you too."
Paul guided her out into the hallway where they sat on the stairs.
"Emma, I missed you so much."
"I was so scared."
"Me too. When I called the first time-"
"So that was you."
"M-hm."
"I... I was so scared I was never gonna see you again..." Emma started to cry again.
"Hey, hey, it's okay. I'm here now. Everything's gonna be okay. Okay?"
Emma nodded slowly. "I really thought I'd lost you."
"I thought I'd lost you too. Until Ted and Hidgens came and found me."
"Yeah, where were you?"
"Somewhere in Clivesdale-"
"Oh, Paul, I'm so sorry."
"Yeah, it was really hard." Paul feigned wiping a tear from his eye and they both laughed. "Anyway, I think all the survivors were there. We weren't supposed to call anyone so that we couldn't tell people outside of Hatchetfield what happened. And they were sure there were no other survivors."
"God, I'm just so happy that you're back."
"Me too." Paul kissed the top of her head and pulled her into a hug.

A few minutes later, Henry walked out of the living room, followed by everyone else. "You two wanna come get breakfast? I'm making waffles."
"We'll be in in a second," Paul said.
"Okay."
Once everyone else was in the kitchen and the door was closed, Paul turned back to Emma. "Merry Christmas, Emma."
"Merry Christmas, Paul."
Holding her hands, they leaned in and kissed her before they both walked into the kitchen.
The second they walked in, they were greeted with the sight of tinsel and even a little tree in the corner. It was decorated with silver and red baubles and a star glistened atop it.
They sat down, watching as Henry took two wrapped boxes from beneath the tree and checking the labels.
"Now, Tim and Hannah, I wasn't sure if Santa was going to make it this year," he said, looking between the two of them, "But it appears he did."
The two excitedly took the boxes Henry handed to them, tearing away the sparkling red paper.
Tim excitedly opened the box containing a toy car, meanwhile, Hannah just stared.
"What is it, Banana?" Ethan asked.
Her gaze was fixed on the box, her lips parted. "It's a ukulele. I've been wanting one for ages but mom never let me!"
"Well, I guess Santa found out somehow."
Hannah laughed, "You were right, Ethan."
"What do you mean?"
"We can still have a good time."
Ethan smiled at her, "I might still remember a little about the ukulele from school. I can show you later?"
Hannah grinned and nodded.
     Tony couldn't help but smile when he looked at his son and saw the way he interacted with Hannah. Maybe he was only just starting to properly get to know Ethan, but he was already proud of him.
"Oh, I nearly forgot..." Deb said, turning to Alice and handing her a small white box, "Merry Christmas."
Alice undid the green ribbon that was tied in a bow then took the lid off to reveal a necklace with a star pendant that had the colours of the lesbian flag swirled together in a marble pattern.
"Saw it yesterday and thought you might-"
"It's beautiful. And I will be back in two seconds."
Alice sprinted to her room and back before sitting down and handing Deb a box, "I completely forgot I had this for you. It's just lucky it was in my jacket pocket on the night of Black Friday or I wouldn't have had it to give to you."
Deb opened the box to reveal a heart-shaped rainbow pride pin.
"I love it. And I love you."
"I love you too."
The two kissed briefly before Alice saw Bill wiping a tear from his eye and laughed.
"Sorry, I'm just happy to see you two together again," he said, and everyone laughed.
Henry then handed everyone a plate of waffles before sitting down himself and looking at Ted, his eyes flitting down to his lips for a second. When he saw Ted smile and nod, he leaned in.
"Merry Christmas, Teddy."
"Merry Christmas, Henry."
Then their lips met briefly and everyone at the table stared, confused. Other than Emma, who smiled at them.
The two stared back, not quite sure how to proceed.
"Yeah, these two started dating. Cant believe none of you noticed," Emma said, desperate to break the silence.
Everyone nodded and continued eating their breakfast before going through to the living room to watch Santa Claus Is Coming To High School.