Diving Deep (UK Crush #2)

Chapter 59

AN: Yes, lovely readers, we're finished! Hope you like this Christmas Day.

And, I don't know how many people engage with the media at the top, but you really should listen to that song!!! Yes, David Brent (Ricky Gervais, yes!), and yes, it's absolutely stunning. Chris Martin wrote it with him, and it perfectly captures how I feel about Teddy and Birdie, and how they feel about each other, the joy, the hope, the beauty.

When I opened my eyes, the sunlight was streaming in through the windows. I checked the clock; it was close to nine o'clock already, and I could smell coffee. I smiled and stretched, finally getting out of bed and going to look for Teddy.

    I walked into the living room and stopped dead in my tracks. The fire had been rebuilt, making the room very warm and cozy compared to the rest of the house, but that wasn't what had caught my attention. The area behind the sofa, which was normally just empty, was filled by a seven foot living Christmas tree, festooned with hundreds of colorful lights and gigantic, fat, candy canes, the kind I loved to eat. The bottom of the tree was clogged with presents; it looked like a tree for a family of at least five or six people.Teddy sat cross legged on the floor next to the tree in his pajamas, looking, well, as happy as a boy on Christmas morning.

    "Happy Christmas, Birdie, my love," he said, rising and coming to me, holding out his arms to wrap me up in a huge hug. He kissed me, long and romantic.

    I was speechless. I just stared at him. He was smiling, dimples huge, as he rubbed noses with me. "Are you surprised, love?" He asked. "Are you happy?"

    I nodded. Tears pooled in my eyes, but I managed to keep them there. I smiled at him.

    "And there it is," he whispered, rubbing noses again.

    "How did you do this?" I asked, managing to find my voice.

    "I'm Theo Shelley, I can do anything, don't you know that?" He asked, taking me in his arms and rubbing my nose with his again.

    "Did you sleep at all?" I asked, stroking his face.

    He shook his head. "Maybe a little, until you fell asleep.

    "It's our first Christmas," he explained. "I wanted it to be special, you know?

    "Oh! Nearly forgot!" He reached into his pocket and pulled something out, something hanging from a chain. He lifted it so I could see it.

    It was an ornament, a simple cardboard affair, probably bought at a local shop, with the words "Our First Christmas" written in curly script around the open circle. Into the circle he'd inserted a picture, taken in Japan, at the end of tour party, of me sitting in his lap, laughing, and him looking at me and smiling. It was a lovely, intimate picture, our feelings for each other obvious. I remembered perfectly when Ronan had taken it.

    "Come on, love, let's hang it together, yeah?" We walked to the tree and reached for a branch, lifting it onto a fragrant limb, settling it way back, so it wouldn't fall. We stood back, arm in arm, looking at it. He kissed my forehead. "The first of many," he whispered.

    I nodded. "The first of many," I agreed, leaning into him.

    "So where did all of these presents come from?" I asked him.

    "Why don't you look?" He asked with a smile.

    I knelt on the floor and started picking up random boxes. "To Birdie, From Teddy," said the first. "To Birdie, From Teddy," said the next. Every box said the same thing. I turned to him. "Are all of these from you to me?" I asked in amazement. He smiled and nodded, tickled to death.