Underneath The Mistletoe {Phan} (Book Three)

🌨Two🌨

"Phil, I don't mean to say this to alarm you, but there's a little girl sleeping in our guest bedroom."
I sat up and rubbed sleep out of my eyes, letting out a yawn as I did so. "Oh, I'm not alarmed at all. That's just Ellie."
"What do you mean "That's just Ellie?!" Dan crossed his arms. "Who the hell is she?"
I explained to Dan everything that had happened on my walk last night.
"How long do you think she'll be staying with us?"
I shrugged. "I want her to stay with us for Christmas. I want her have a good day when it comes."
"Yeah, I can understand that."
"But..."
"But what Phil?"
"I'm going to have a make just a tiny adjustment to OGDTBCEPT." I whispered, speaking extremely quietly without meaning to. It was just something I did whenever I was nervous.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, it won't be about giving you the best Christmas ever. It'll be about giving Ellie the best Christmas ever." I spoke so quietly that I honestly wondered how Dan had heard me. I looked up at my brown-haired love a few moments after I had spoke and after he hadn't responded. The look on his face showed that he felt no emotion whatsoever.
"D-Dan, are you okay with the change of plans?" I found myself looking down at my mismatched socks and avoiding eye contact with Dan all together.
Dan placed his hand underneath my chin and forced me to look back at him. "Yes, I'm totally okay with the change of plans. You already gave me the best Christmas ever last year. Last year, you made me love Christmas again and you even proposed to me. You also did these little things that made me fall in love with your favorite time of the year again, such as that snowball fight that we had. That's damn near impossible for you to top. Besides, that little girl just got abandoned by her own mom and dad. She's already on track to not having a good Christmas. And I know that you want everyone to be happy on Christmas day."
"I do." I nodded in agreement. "I love seeing people's smiles, especially on Christmas because that's what Christmas should be all about."
"Exactly." Dan smiled. "Make someone else happy this year. You already make me happy every single day."
"I love you so much Dan." I pressed my lips to his and ran my fingers through his hair. I felt my heart pounding in my chest, which is something that had occurred the very first time Dan and I had kissed. It was amazing how after four years of dating and a few months of marriage, I still felt the sparks of love I had felt about a month before Dan and I first started dating.
"I love you too Phil." Dan breathed a few moments later when he broke off the kiss due to having to draw in a breath. "Go make her happy."
"I will." I promised. I planted a quick kiss on his forehead before I went over to our closet and began picking out the outfit I was going to wear today. "I'll stop at nothing to make sure that she has a good Christmas."

*****

"Good morning Ellie." I smiled as the black-haired and brown-eyed girl yawned and rubbed sleep out of her eyes as she sat up. "Did you sleep well?"
She nodded in response.
"I'm glad." The smile on my face grew bigger. "Are you ready to have some breakfast?"
"Totally." She stretched for a few moments before getting out of bed.
"Well, we can have whatever you want."
"Whatever I want?" Ellie seemed surprised by this.
"Of course. Why do you sound surprised by this, if I may ask?"
"My mom and dad never let me have what I wanted for breakfast. They would always make me eat whatever they wanted." She sighed. "They always made me eat the same things too. I had eggs and toast every single day for breakfast."
"Well, I can assure that I won't make you eggs and toast since you don't want it."
Suddenly, excitement filled her eyes. "Can you make bacon? My mom didn't like eating pork so we never got to eat it and I've never eaten bacon before."
"You've never eaten bacon before?" I asked her in shock.
Ellie shook her head.
"Well then, it looks like we're having bacon for breakfast."
"Did somebody say bacon?" Dan poked his head into the room and I could tell just by looking at him that just by hearing the word, he had become hungry.
"Phil, who's that?" Ellie whispered nervously to me.
"That's Dan. He's my husband." I whispered back to her with a smile on my face. "He's very nice so don't be afraid to talk to him."
"I seriously heard someone say bacon." Dan slowly opened the door and stepped into the room.
I couldn't help but chuckle as I walked over to my husband and wrapped my arm around him. "Yes Dan, I said bacon. Ellie over here was just telling me how she's never had bacon."
"What?! How can you go an entire lifetime without bacon?! Bacon is one of the best things to ever exist!"
"My mom hated pork so I never got to eat it." Ellie explained to Dan like she had explained to me.
"That's such a shame." Dan walked over to her. "Don't you worry, I'm going to make you my signature bacon and I'm going to make sure that it's the best bacon that I've ever made in my entire life."
"T-thank you so much." Ellie was clearly shocked by Dan's kindness.
"I don't think that we've actually met yet." Dan held out his hand towards her. "My name's Dan."
"I'm Ellie." The young girl looked down at her feet as she took Dan's hand in her own and he shook it before letting it go.
"That's a nice name. I like it a lot." He smiled.
"Thanks." She smiled back at him.