DISCLAIMER: RH characters not mine. The Greatest Gift of All belongs to Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton. I have no idea who started the tradition of mistletoe, so they will just have to be thanked anonymously. Santa Belongs to everyone, no matter what you call him, Father Christmas, Père Noel…Jolly Old St. Nick, Kris Kringle, De Kerstman and so forth. I don’t think he’d mind being in a story, after all, it is Christmas. Please review and have a fantastic holiday everyone!

Written by: Aryea

TITLE: Once Upon A Christmas

CHAPTER THREE

Late that evening, Sydney wished Derek a Merry Christmas as Nigel gave Claudia a goodbye hug, with a promise that they would meet up the following day for a visit. Karen had left an hour earlier to pick up her brother from his own Christmas party and Derek had offered to share a cab and see Claudia back to her hotel.

Claudia giggled and pointed above Nigel and Sydney’s heads. “Hey guys! You’re under the mistletoe! That means you have to kiss!”

Both looked up and Nigel quickly stepped back and away from the sprig of holiday cheer Sydney had set up in her foyer. She glanced at him, slightly disappointed, but didn’t say anything as she moved to pull Claudia’s coat out of the closet.

“Well, if you won’t,” the young blond sniffed at Sydney as she stepped forward and grabbed Nigel by the front of his shirt, he’d removed his jacket and tie hours ago, and pulled him back under the mistletoe. “I will. Com’ere, Honeybun.” She captured Nigel’s mouth with hers in a deliciously invigorating kiss, and while the Englishman kept his hands at his sides, he reciprocated in kind.

When she released him, Nigel swayed slightly as he worked to get his feet back under him and his breath back inside his body. “M…Merry Christmas to you too,” he managed, his cheeks scarlet.

“Aw, what the hell, it is Christmas,” Derek suddenly announced and pulled Claudia aside. He slapped his hands on either side of Nigel’s face, pulled him forward and kissed him on the lips.

Nigel made it for three seconds before he started giggling and pushed the agent away. “Get off, you bloody great oaf!”

“You sound just like my last date,” Derek sighed. “I’m beginning to get a complex.”

Everyone laughed as Nigel wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and smirked.

Claudia and Sydney hugged and kissed each other goodbye.

“Now that’s what I’m talking about,” Derek retorted noticing Nigel’s interest as well in the two women. “A little girl-on-girl action.”

Sydney laughed and slapped his chest. “Pervert!”

Derek slipped her another kiss on the cheek, and then tossed his arm over Claudia’s shoulders. “Come my dear, your chariot awaits.”

Nigel and Sydney stood on the threshold of her front door and waited until their two friends climbed into the waiting taxi cab. They waved as it drove off.

“How long, you think before she has his trousers off?” Nigel asked, mildly.

“How long will it take them to get to her hotel?” Sydney grinned.

He nodded and sighed as they stepped back inside and closed the door. “Poor Derek, he’s no idea what he’s in for.”

Sydney shivered from the chill the open door had created and moved back to the living room. “He’ll enjoy it as much as she will.” She kicked off her shoes and moved barefoot through to her dining area. “I really should have thought about paper plates.”

Nigel grinned and joined her, collecting plates and silverware and wine goblets from the table and carrying them into the kitchen. “It wouldn’t have been as nice though, to eat off paper plates.”

“I suppose not.” Sydney started to rinse the plates and load the dishwasher. “Easier cleanup though.”

“The dinner was fantastic, Syd. You did a great job.”

“Thank you, Nigel.” She accepted the glasses he handed her and set them in the upper rack of the dishwasher. “Did you have enough to eat?”

“More than enough,” he assured as he gathered up the remaining plates of turkey and bowls of vegetables and salad. “You made enough to feed an army, with plenty for leftovers.”

She grinned and pointed with her toes to the lower cupboard across from her. “Tupperware containers are in there.” She looked over the half a turkey remaining on the platter. “Put some of that in an extra container for you to take home. You can have turkey sandwiches for the week.”

“Thanks, Syd.”

She started adding the silverware to the rack and then accepted the extra bowls to rinse once Nigel scrapped the food from them into the containers. “Take some gravy and potatoes, too,” she instructed as she rinsed the bowls. “I’ll never get through all these leftovers without help.”

He grinned and nodded. “I noticed that Karen’s pie didn’t make it for leftovers.”

“That’s because you’re not looking properly,” Sydney decided and wiped her hands on a towel before opening the fridge and showing him the two pieces she had squirreled away. “One for each of us.”

“You’ve thought of everything.” Nigel handed her the containers of food. “Now where will you put it all?”

Sydney scowled at her already stuffed fridge and started moving things around. “Give me a sec, there’s room in here somewhere.”

Nigel watched with appreciation as she bent from the waist and started rearranging things on the lower shelves. The dress hugged her in all the right places and he wasn’t above a little ogling of those places.

She straightened. “Okay, let’s have it.”

He started handing her the containers, leaving out the few he would take home. “Amazing,” he decided when she managed to fit everything inside and still close the door. “Only a woman could do that.”

She smiled and showed him the bottle of champagne that Derek had brought and they had not bothered to open because Nigel’s wine had been so well appreciated. “Feel like a little bubbly?”

Nigel retrieved two clean champagne flutes from the upper cupboard. “Oh indeed, yes indeed.” He held the glasses over the sink as she popped the cork and a bubble of froth surged to the surface. She giggled as she attempted to get some of the mixture into the glasses. Nigel smiled. “Well done.”

She accepted her glass and moved back towards the living room, turning off lights as she went, so that only the fire in the fire place and the lights from the tree glittered around them. It immediately brought her back to her earlier memory, seeing her parents dancing in the same magical glow of Christmas.

“Come back, Syd,” Nigel whispered in her ear and she turned to smile at him. “What were you thinking about?”

“Christmas past,” she sighed as she settled on the sofa and curled her legs up under her. “It creeps up on me sometimes.”

He settled beside her. “Yes, me too.”

“I remember my parents always dancing, especially at Christmas.” She smiled wistfully and sat back, cradling her champagne flute. “I loved her laugh. Dad was always making her laugh. They were so happy together, so much in love.”

“That’s a nice memory to have.”

“I don’t think it’s that way with him and Jenny. I mean, I think he loves her and I accept that he has to move on with his life, but I think when he said that Mom was the one for him he meant it.”

Nigel sat back and sipped his champagne. “It’s nice when you see someone that has truly met their soul mate.”

“What about your parents? Were they close?”

“I suppose they were.” He shrugged. “They were English, well my father was. My mother was Irish. She was a very no nonsense kind of woman while he was quiet and reserved.” He stared at the fire, contemplatively. “They loved each other, they were affectionate in their own way, but they weren’t….what’s the word, demonstrative I suppose.”

Sydney nodded, wisely. “Maintaining the proper appearance and all that?”

“I reckon.” He smirked. “Mum had a temper and Dad rarely seemed to get angry, so I suppose they were well matched.”

Sydney set her drink on the table and turned sideways to look at him. “Do you miss them?”

He nodded. “Every day.”

“How long has it been?”

He took a deep breath and laid his head back, closing his eyes. “Eleven years, four months, nine hours and…” He glanced at his watch then put his head back again. “Fifty two minutes.”

Sydney caressed his arm, sympathetically. “It must have been horrible losing them both. I don’t know what I would have done if I’d lost Mom and Dad, together.”

“Losing any parent is difficult.” He sighed and opened his eyes to look at her. “But, life goes on. I was lucky, I suppose. It didn’t happen until I was sixteen. I can’t imagine what it was like for you to lose your mother when you were only nine.”

“It wasn’t a good time.” She reached for his flute because her own suddenly seemed too far away. Then her witnessing Professor Newel being murdered barely a year later had been almost as hard. She handed him back the drink. “Anyway, let’s not talk about sad things.”

“All right then, why not tell me about your pearls?” Nigel suggested and listened as she told him the story of diving for oysters, leaving out the part of her mother and the hurricane.

“That’s a great story. You dove for them yourself, at only eight?”

“Worked my skinny ass off,” Sydney agreed and leaned forward. “Touch them. You can tell the difference between real and fake by the texture.”

Nigel hesitated only a moment before reaching forward and touching two fingers to the pearls. He rolled one of then between his thumb and forefinger. “I don’t know very much about pearls, but these certainly are lovely.”

“The real test is to run them over your teeth,” she said and started to remove the necklace.

“No, keep them on, I believe you.” He smiled and pulled his hand back. “They look lovely against your skin, Syd.”

Sydney lowered her hands and left the necklace alone. “I was thinking about that day, the Christmas I gave these to my mother, earlier, before you came.”

“Yes, I had a visit from the ghost of Christmas past as well?”

“Really?” she reached for her glass of champagne and sat back. “Tell me about it.”

Nigel related the tale he’d remembered on the drive over, his playing with his father and the fight with Preston.”

Sydney frowned. “Doesn’t sound like a very good memory of Christmas.”

“It isn’t one of the better ones, certainly, and I’ve no idea what sparked it, but…” He shrugged and stared into the fire again. “It wasn’t all that bad. My father had given me a play sword and Knight’s helmet, so it was a special day. I loved those toys.” He sighed. “And I supposed despite our differences earlier in the day, it was the one of the few times that Preston tried to be nice to me. Perhaps Dad spoke with him as he had me and he’d decided to be brotherly again.”

“How long did that last?”

“Well, we did go into Greenwich to find the castle set he’d seen, but then he spotted some bird and buggered off, leaving me to find my one way home on the tube.” He finished off his champagne and set his glass aside. “Three days without him being a total ass, I suppose that could be considered a good Christmas.”

Sydney grinned. “Maybe it means you should forgive and forget?”

“Forgetting Preston is what I live for, forgiving, well that’s another matter.”

“He is your brother, Nigel.”

“He’s also an idiot and totally untrustworthy.”

Sydney sighed and let the subject drop. “So, why didn’t you kiss me earlier?”

He glanced at her, startled. “I beg your pardon?”

“Under the mistletoe. You kissed Claudia, hell you even kissed Derek! Why did you back away from me?”

Nigel flushed. “First of all, they kissed me. I was hardly a willing participant.”

“And second?” Sydney prompted.

“I…I…well, I didn’t want to put you on the spot, was all, Syd. I mean, I…we’re friends and…well things being what they were I didn’t think you’d think it appropriate.”

“So you’re gonna leave a girl standing under the mistletoe and not kiss her?” Sydney shook her head, tipped her flute all the way up to get the very last drop of champagne, and then leaned forward to set the glass on the coffee table. “That’s not very gentleman-like, Nigel.”

“I…I’m sorry, Syd. I didn’t think it would bother you so much.”

Sydney rose and grabbed his hand, pulling him up with her. “Well, you’ll just have to make it up to me.” She dragged him over to the hallway so they were under the mistletoe, closed her eyes and pursed her lips outrageously.

“What are you doing?”

“Waiting for my kiss.” She pursed her lips again and leaned forward slightly.

“You look like a monkey.”

She opened her eyes. “That isn’t nice.”

“Neither is teasing me.”

“I’m not teasing. I want a kiss under the mistletoe!” Sydney stomped her foot and put her hands on her hips, while her eyes danced with laughter. “It’s my house, my mistletoe and I’m the only one who hasn’t been kissed under it. Now get your uptight English ass over here and kiss me, or do I have go and pull in some shmuck in off the street to do it?”

Nigel was caught between horror and laughter. “You wouldn’t really…” His eyes widened as she stomped over to the door and tossed it open. She spotted what appeared to be a very drunk older fellow wandering the street, no doubt trying to remember which house was his.

“Hey, you, buddy? Come here I have something for you!”

Nigel waved at him, aghast! “No she doesn’t! She’s just a little tipsy. Merry Christmas!” He quickly pulled her inside and closed the door. “Sydney! You don’t even know him!”

She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him.

“I can’t believe you’re making such a big…” His words were cut off as she grabbed him and again returned to the mistletoe.

“I’m waiting.”

He couldn’t help but smile, that time. “If you insist,” he sighed, as if would be such a chore to kiss her. He had only been thinking about it all day. He leaned forward and lightly touched his lips to hers, tasting the champagne on them. Immediately, he wanted another taste and all sense of propriety and their earlier foolishness flew out the window as he gently captured her face between his hands and kissed her properly.

Sydney wound her arms around his neck and returned his kiss, eagerly. His lips were soft, pliable, and tasted of champagne. He knew how to kiss a woman, new just the right pressure to use and just the right way to form his lips to hers, without it being pushy or overbearing. Sharing, he was sharing a kiss with her, making it equal between them as everything else with them seemed to be.

When they finally parted, they were both flushed and breathless.

“Wow,” she managed with a small smile, keeping her arms around her neck, mostly to keep herself upright. Her legs felt like jelly. She had never been kissed so thoroughly. “Now that was worth fighting for.”

Nigel’s cheeks darkened to crimson and he lowered his eyes, shyly. “Yes, it was.”

Sydney’s head turned as the radio started playing Bing Crosby’s White Christmas. She slipped her hand into Nigel’s and pulled him back to the living room, back into the firelight and twinkling Christmas tree. “Dance with me?” she requested quietly.

Nigel noticed the difference in her tone, she was asking not demanding, and there was a slight tremor in her voice. He smiled and obliged, taking one of her hands in his while the other formed around her waist.

They danced to the music, slowly in a circle, as her parents had danced, and Sydney felt tears sting her eyes. She wrapped both arms around Nigel and he reciprocated, pulling her close, sensing her need to be held.

They continued to gently sway to the music right to the very end, and then they danced through I’ll Be Home for Christmas, Sydney quietly crying and Nigel holding her as tightly as she needed to be held. Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers started to sing and still they danced.

Dawn is slowly breaking, our friends have all gone home

You and I are waiting, for Santa Clause to come

There’s a present by the tree, stockings on the wall

And knowing you’re in love with me is the greatest gift of all

Sydney lifted her head to look at Nigel and slowly smiled. He smiled back, the truth of what they were and how he felt visible in his eyes. She sighed, contented and laid her head back on his shoulder

The fire is slowly fading a chill is in the air

All the gifts are waiting for children everywhere

Through the window I can see snow begins to fall

And knowing you’re in love with me is the greatest gift of all

Nigel closed his eyes as he held Sydney to him and continued their dance. Whether it was the music, the wine or just the spirit of Christmas, he had never felt so happy, so loved. He would remember this Christmas forever; a Christmas with Sydney.

Just before I go to sleep, I hear a church bell ring

Merry Christmas everyone is the song it sings

So I say a silent prayer for creatures great and small

Peace on earth Good will to men, is the greatest gift of all.

Peace on earth good will to men, is the greatest gift of all

IIIIIIIIIIIII

MERRY CHRISTMAS ONE AND ALL!