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“I just want you for my own
More than you could ever know
Make my wish come true
All I want for Christmas is you
You, baby…” (Mariah Carey, "All I Want for Christmas is You" ---> Author's note: I don't own this song, it belongs to Mariah Carey!)
I sang as I danced around the living room, decorating the tree I had the Zachbots set up, and eating cookies and candy I made.
“What ARE you doing?!?!” I heard Zach’s familiar voice screech behind me, and I turned around to find him glaring at me.
Zach looked at the glass ornament I held in one hand and the half-eaten cookie I held in the other. I glanced back to the Christmas tree I had been decorating, and responded, “umm…celebrating?”
“CELEBRATING!?!?” Zach exclaimed. He angerly waved his hands around the living room of our forest home, “look at this MESS! Boxes and paper and tree needles are everywhere! Even you! YOU have chocolate ALL OVER your mouth!”
I blushed, sit the cookie down, and quickly grabbed a napkin beside the tray of cookies and candy I brought into the living room with me. As I wiped my face, I watched Zach walk over to my computer and turn the Christmas music I had been playing off. He also turned my laptop off and slammed it shut.
“ZACHBOTS!” He shouted, “Clean this mess up, NOW!”
I saw one Zachbots head toward a box of delicate ornaments that belonged to my mother, and although I had kept my cool so far, I shouted, “OH NO, YOU DON’T, ZACHARY. Do not touch ANYTHING, Zachbots.” The Zachbots stalled, having been programed to respond to either Zach or me at this point.
“You DON’T tell THEM, what to do VIOLET!” Zach countered, red in the face, as his voice rose even higher.
I walked up to Zach and waved my left hand in front of his face. “For starters, I helped program them, ORIGINALLY, so both of us have the power to override any commands they receive. And secondly, ever since you put this RING on my finger, I am your WIFE, and YOU programed them to follow ALL MY COMMANDS, in addition to YOURS.”
Zach blanched and nodded in agreement, “You are right, I’m sorry, I just don’t like Christmas, you know that, and today made me hate it even more.”
“What happened?” I asked him as I took his hands in mine and led him to the couch. He flopped down on the couch and proceeded to tell me how the Wild Kratts had ruined his, Donita’s, and Gourmand’s plans. I asked the Zachbots to hand me the tray of sweets, and I held it out to Zach. He looked at it warily and took a chocolate chip cookie.
“We had ALL their technology, Varmitech Village would have been a success, it’s not fair that they, their animals, and animal powers ruined everything AGAIN.” His eyes opened wide as he ate the cookie, “this tastes like…like, my mom’s chocolate chip cookies…how?”
“Your mom called here, she wanted to talk to you, but since you were not here, she talked to me. She gave me the recipe because she thought they may cheer you up. I have been dying to get her recipe, I am so happy she shared it, how are they?” I looked at Zach, gripping the tray in anticipation.
“They are great, thank you!” He took another, and I mentally patted myself on the back.
“But…how? How did she know what happened, that I would need to be cheered up?” Zach looked at me with his wide eyes, and he noticed I turned from him a bit.
“She called because she knows how you feel about Christmas, how you have felt about Christmas, since…Since you lost your father.” I looked back at him expecting him to be upset, but he just looked shocked.
I continued, “since we are now married, she wanted you to have a better relationship with Christmas. She wants us to have Christmases like she and your father shared throughout their marriage.”
Zach looked at me, took my hand in his, and squeezed it. “So, I take it, she told you to do all of this?” Zach gestured to the tree, other decorations, and the sweets.
I smiled and shrugged, “she helped me make the final decision. I had already made a lot of the sweets, I knew you would not complain if sweets were waiting for you when you returned home, and I had a tree picked out and all the ornaments ready. As soon as she gave me the cookie recipe, I had the Zachbots cut the tree down. I made the cookies as they set the tree up and started decorating it. Then I took over decorating the tree, which explains the mess, I am sorry about that, I will start cleaning it up.”
I stood up, placed the treat tray back on the table, and I started putting the empty ornament boxes back in their storage containers. I looked back to Zach and saw him rubbing his chin as he looked at the tree with his eyebrows crinkled. “Zach? Are you okay?” I asked, and I saw him stretch his legs out on the couch, lean against the arm rest, and face me with his arms crossed.
“I still don’t like Christmas, but I think it might grow on me,” he responded.
“Why do you think it will grow on you?” I asked walking towards him.
“Well, all you and my mom have done to try to make me like it again has convinced me it can’t be as bad as I have made myself believe it is for the past twelve years. And the Wild Rats ruin every day, Christmas is no different. Besides... Never mind.”
He stopped talking and looked at me and smirked, then shook his head and hid his mouth with his hand.
“What is it Zach, what were you going to say?” I came up to him and laid my hand on his shoulder, he looked up at me and removed his hand from his mouth to reveal his signature mischievous grin.
“I can get used to coming into the house and seeing you singing, dancing, eating, and wearing stuff like that. If Christmas is the magic answer for all of that to happen, then I could REALLY start to like Christmas again.” He grabbed my arm and pulled me towards him, resulting in me landing in his lap.
He placed one hand on my thigh and pulled my braided hair loose with the other. “So, you like the dress?” I tossed my head back as he played with my hair, and I looked at him through my half-shut eyes.
He bit his lip and nodded, “you know I love it when you wear my favorite colors, but when you wear red, it is… perfect.”
I nodded and stood up, much to his disappointment, but once I twirled in the dress, letting the layers flare out around me, he groaned in appreciation.
“Well, I’m glad you enjoy it. It doesn’t fit that well, but I like the color and design.” I saw Zach’s flustered expression, and I decided to push my luck farther. I grabbed an unopened box of ornaments and set about decorating the tree again. “Do you want to help me finish decorating the tree?” I called out, after hearing Zach stand up from the couch.
“No,” I heard his voice whisper huskily from behind me. He grabbed the box out of my hand and set it down. As I turned to him, I saw the fire blazing in his eyes, which meant he wanted me. “But I would like you to help me with something.”
“Oh yeah, what is that my love?” I asked giggling.
He grabbed my face and brought it towards his, before he kissed me, Zach said, “You damn well know, Mrs. Varmitech.”
VvvvvVvvvvvV
Zach hovered over me, propped on his elbows with his hands gripping my bare shoulders, as we lazily kissed one another. I ran my hands through his rumpled hair, eliciting little sighs of pleasure from him as we basked in the afterglow of our lovemaking.
Zach detached himself from my lips and looked into my eyes. He smiled widely and shook his head, “you are so perfect,” he whispered, then he planted a final kiss to my lips before he rolled off me and onto his side of the bed.
I took in his pale, naked form for a few glorious seconds before he pulled the covers up over us and snuggled up against me. Zach draped an arm protectively over my waist and laid his forehead against the crook of my neck.
Zach’s breathing settled and I knew he was on the verge of sleep when a Zachbot alarm jarred him awake, “What the HELL is THAT for!” He exclaimed. I went to set up, only to have Zach yank me back to him.
“THAT is for the turkey, which I need to take out of the oven.” I answered as I broke free from his surprisingly strong grip.
Zach sat up in bed and eyed me suspiciously, “you made a turkey?”
I looked at his pale chest which still bore faint scratches from where my nails had recently dug into his flesh.
“Well, not a whole turkey. I made a turkey breast, just enough for the two of us, you like turkey, right?” He watched me put my clothes back on and nodded.
“I made turkey, green bean casserole, homemade bread, my grandma Tyler’s macaroni, and Amy’s candied sweet potatoes; would you like to come eat some of it?” I watched his green eyes widen; I knew all of those were among his favorites.
“I guess, but I would rather stay here with you.” He patted the bed and wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.
“Well…” I sat back on the bed and reached my hands under the covers to find that he was still aroused, “I may have something special planned for dessert if you come and eat like the good boy I know you are.”
“Really?” he gasped. His face contorted into a pout when I moved my hand away and walked toward the door.
“Yes. I’m guessing you don’t hate Christmas anymore?” I asked as I watched Zach stand up, stark naked, and gather his clothes, hastily pulling them on as he followed me to the kitchen. I laughed as he stumbled and bumped into the walls, trying to redress and keep up with me all at the same time.
“Definitely not! Keep doing what you are doing, and it will become my favorite holiday before the night is over.” He answered pulling his shirt over his head.
I washed my hands and grabbed the potholders to remove the steaming meat from the oven, then I replied, “I hope you are prepared for a long night.”
“Oh, trust me, I am…” His unkept hair shrouding his narrowed eyes made him look even more attractive than usual.
“You are a mess,” I snorted, “but you are my mess.”
Zach smiled and kissed my forehead before he wrapped his arms around me in a tight embrace, resting his chin on the top of my head.
“Merry Christmas, Violet,” he whispered, kissing my hair.
“Merry Christmas, Zach,” I sighed as I listened to the steady, calming thump of his heartbeat.
For our first Christmas together as a married couple, considering how much Zach previously claimed to hate Christmas, I thought everything went quite well, and I looked forward to spending the rest of the evening enjoying the company of my beloved Zach.