December, 24th

Cheyenne anxiously nibbled her bottom lip as she gazed down at the meticulously-wrapped rectangular box in her hand, rotating it over and over. To say she was nervous was an understatement. She sighed and stood up from her spot on the sofa, the box clutched in her right hand and waddled over to the Christmas tree.

The sweet smell of pine gently tickled her nostrils while the twinkling Christmas lights warmed her indigo-ocean coloured eyes. She halted before the tree, bit her lip and gracefully dropped to her knees, setting the meticulously-wrapped, rectangular box amongst the dozen Christmas presents. She hesitated and picked up the box again, before setting it down in a different place, expertly concealing it behind a larger present.

Nodding, she crawled out from under the Christmas tree, her bright lilac hair flying out around her and plopped down onto her backside, the warmth of the heated floors comforting her, dreamingly she admired the tree. She had done a good job, a really good job, considering she had, had to decorate it alone. Tears prickled her eyeballs as she thought back that day, her memories vivid and raw. Frantically, she blinked them away. It wasn’t his fault, she reminded herself, he couldn’t help it.

The slamming of the front door brought her out of her thoughts and she quickly shook her head, once again, the blue-tipped, lilac strands whipped out around her. Puzzled, she glanced up at the clock besides the bookshelf. 6:50pm. It was getting late, soon her family would be here.

“Chey?” His warm voice rang throughout the house.

“In here, Zack,” her voice wavered slightly as her nerves sparked to life once again, but she ignored it. Instead, she chose to focus on his footfalls, listening to them echo down the corridor until stopping altogether when he reached the entrance to the lounge.

“You know, you did a great job with the tree,” the man in question stated, a lopsided smile fixed in place, as he caught sight of his wife kneeling before the Christmas tree. He strolled over to her, only to stop behind her and placed his left hand on her shoulder, tenderly squeezing it as he too, admired the tree.

Cheyenne gazed up from her spot on the floor and weakly smiled at Zack, her indigo-ocean orbs filled with love. “Thank you.”

“Everything okay, Babe?” Zack returned his attention to her, worry lighting up his iridescent jade eyes. He carefully watched her nod her head in reassurance and sighed, something about her silence was bothering him but he didn’t press. Today was not the day to cause a fight.

“Where are you going?” She piped up after a couple of minutes had passed between the two of them, and his footfalls had once again filled the comforting silence.

“I’m going to go shower,” halting, Zack spun around and threw her a smirk. “Got to get ready for tonight.”

She watched him leave and blew out air. Awkwardly, Cheyenne picked herself off the floor and begrudgingly followed her husband up the stairs. Her steps were light and prudently placed, a tattooed hand gently placed on the banister to help her balance.

The sounds of a shower running greeted her ears as soon as she stepped into her shared bedroom. Timidly, she skulked over to the bathroom door and pushed it open before slipping in. As soon as the door was closed, she sauntered over to Zack and grabbed a fist full of his shirt, surprising him, and pulled him down towards her, kissing him.

Shocked, he relaxed into the kiss, his tongue trailing along her bottom lip, leaving her lip tingling in its wake. On instinct, his hand trailed down to her hips, sliding under her shirt and gripped them, nails digging into the exposed skin. She hissed in pleasure, her mouth opening slightly. He took the opportunity, and slid his tongue into her mouth while pulling her closer to him. Instantly, her arms snaked around his neck, her fingers knotting themselves in his hair, tugging gently. Their tongues fought each other for dominance, her tongue ring gently clinking against her teeth.

“What are you doing?” He broke the kiss, breathless.

“Kissing my husband,” Cheyenne once more planted her lips onto Zack’s.

As soon as their lips met, Zack swooped Cheyenne into his arms, his hands groping her ass. She giggled against his lips and wrapped her legs around his waist. Capturing her lips with his, he backed her into the wall and pressed his body into hers. She whimpered as she felt his semi-hard member ground into her and broke the kiss.

“Babe, I need to get ready and so do you,” panting, Zack pressed his forward against hers, his breath hot on her face, his dick twitching. “Everyone will be here soon.”

She bit her lip, gently nibbling the flesh and nodded. Mentally kicking himself, Zack set her down and placed a sloppy kiss on her forehead. She sighed and walked out the bathroom just as Zack shrugged out of his shirt.

Three hours later, Zack and Cheyenne found themselves strategically placed amongst family members, their conversation drowned out by the cacophony of boisterous laughter and drunken Christmas carols.

Wedged between a rather drunk and loud-mouthed Aunt Bessie and Zack, Cheyenne ran a hand threw her lilac mop and glanced at Zack, watching as the corners of his eyes crinkled and his shoulders bounced. She watched as he gently nibbled the tip of his thumb before vigorously nodding his head to whatever Zack’s brother had just uttered. She grinned softly to herself and absentmindedly placed a hand on her stomach, gently tracing invisible patterns.

“What are you staring at?” He whispered quietly to her, gently squeezing her thigh under the table.

“Mmm?” She pressed her lips together, feigning she didn’t hear properly. She scooted closer to Zack, her chair scraping against the sleek wooden floors, and tiredly placed her head on his shoulders.

“Everything alright?” he asked while he lovingly draped an arm over her shoulders, subconsciously pulling her closer to him. She sighed and welcomed the warmth that was Zack.

“Mmmhmm, just tired,” she fibbed, not entirely lying.

“What are you two whispering about?” Cheyenne’s mom suspiciously narrowed her eyes at the young couple.

“Presents,” Zack chuckled and winked at his mother-in-law in good humour.

Margret rolled her eyes playfully, desperately trying to supress her laughter. She eyed the couple carefully, her eyes wandering over their faces, searching for something. Throughout the evening, Margret had felt that something was off with her daughter and she couldn’t quite place her finger on what it was.

“Mom?” her daughter’s voice broke through her motherly ponderings. She snapped her attention to her daughter, meeting a familiar pair of stormy ocean-like eyes.

“Yes dear?” Magaret’s voice was soft and evoked long lost childhood memories of cold winter nights and crackling fires.

“Shall we move this to the lounge? It’s getting pretty late and I’m sure the children are dying to open their presents,” Cheyenne blatantly pointed to Zack at the mention of children.

“Hey!” Zack pouted, and softly jabbed Cheyenne in the side. She squeaked and jumped out of his embrace, scowling at him.

“Alright, alright,” wholeheartedly laughing, Margaret pushed her chair back, stood up and motioned towards the lounge before walking off.

Following her example, the rest of the company followed suit. One by one, each guest trickled out of the dining room and into the lounge, where the children eagerly awaited the presence of the adults, their eyes round and doe-like as they gawked at the mass of presents that were gingerly scattered around and under the tree.

“About time!” Scottie, Zack and Cheyenne’s nephew whined, his brown locks framing his cherub face. Besides him, his sister nodded enthusiastically, her own brown locks whipping into the older boy’s face. Not happy, Scottie roughly pushed his sister away, almost sending her to the floor only to find himself being shoved as well.

“Enough!” Zina scolded the two, her voice sharp. “Scottie, leave Clary alone or no presents!”
Besides her, Zack snickered at the two children who reminded him so much of himself and Zina.

“Don’t encourage them asshole,” Zina turned to her brother and tenderly punched him in the shoulder.

“Alright, that’s enough,” Zack’s mother stepped in between her two eldest children and shook her head at them, her eyes alight with a concealed smile. “Or else, you both won’t get presents.”

A good-natured laugh spread over the company and soon everyone was comfortably seated, each individual quietly anticipating opening a present.

“Sarah, Honey, why don’t you hand out a present to everyone?” Margert motioned to the sea of presents, hoping to stir her youngest child.

Sarah rolled her eyes at her mother, and dispassionately dropped her phone onto the couch. Dragging her feet, she lazily motioned for Scottie and Clary to follow her, and stopped before the mountain of presents. One by one, she sorted through them: one for Mom, one for Dad, one for Aunt Bessie and Uncle Herman, one for Zack’s annoying brother, one for Zina and her bizarre husband, one for Zack’s mom and dad. Carefully, she handed them over to Scottie and Clary, who diligently delivered them to the corresponding person.

“Here you go,” she placed a present in each child’s hand and couldn’t help the smile that appeared when their face light up with excitement.

“You forgot Uncle Zacky and Ney!” Clary whispered breathlessly before running over to her mother, present in hand.

Turning her attention to the now scattered presents, Sarah once more examined them. Suddenly, her eyes landed on the meticulously-wrapped, rectangular box with Zack’s name sprawled across it, strategically placed behind a larger present. Desperately wanting to return to her phone, she snatched the box up, along with a present for her and her sister.

“Catch,” she tossed the box at Zack, who expertly caught it. Next to him, Cheyenne stiffened when she caught sight of the box, and instantly nibbled on her bottom lip.

“Chey?” Sarah tilted her head to the side and curiously gazed down at her sister. Blinking, Cheyenne accepted her present and thanked her sister. Silently, Sarah retreated to her seat and fell into it, her present bouncing on her lap.

A hushed silence fell over the room as everyone eagerly tore through the annoying wrapping paper. An occasional hiss spilled into the silence as someone sliced their finger open on the wrapping, or miserably failed to remove the tape that so desperately clung to the chunky wrapping-paper.

Still, Cheyenne paid no attention to any of it, her mind was solely focused on the present in Zack’s hand. From the corners of her eyes, she watched him rip the meticulous wrapping off the rectangular box. Zack shifted next to her and leaned forward, inching closer to the edge of the sofa, and gingerly pried open the box. She held her breath.

Once the box had been pried opened, Zack’s calloused fingers peeled back the crepe-paper and froze. His heart stopped beating and all breath left his body. With trembling hands, he cautiously lifted the pink wand from the box and brought it closer to his face.

Two red lines.

His heart beat raced, furiously pounding against his chest, while his stomach knotted. He gulped and turned to face the love of his life.

Two red lines.

“L-love?” He managed to choke out over the lump that had formed in his throat, his eyes glazing over with unshed tears. He swallowed, angrily trying to swallow the lump away. “I-is…”

“Ar-are we?” he paused and swallowed, his voice barely above a whisper. “Ar-are you…”

“Y-yeah,” Cheyenne met his teary gaze, her own eyes brimming with her own tears.

Suddenly, she felt his calloused hands roughly grab her face on either side before his lips hungrily crashed down onto hers. Zack kissed her with a desperate passion she had never experienced before, his kiss was rough, desperate but lovingly tender.

“Ahem,” awkward throat clearing broke them apart. Zack found himself leaning his forehead on hers, her face softly gripped between his hands.

“I. Fucking. Love. You,” Zack whispered to her in between greedy kisses. She giggled, tears freely flowing down her cheeks, dragging her neatly applied makeup with.

“What the hell has gotten into the two of you?” Margaret nervously laughed.

Zack turned his attention to the crowd of onlookers, a wide grin across his face. Margaret nibbled on her bottom lip and cautiously set down her present.

“I’m going to be a fucking dad!” Zack yelled excitedly, waving the pink wand in front of everyone.

“It’s about damned time!” Margaret clapped her hands together and leapt from her chair, enveloping her son-in-law in a warm embrace before doing the same with her daughter.

A chorus of cheers and congratulations erupted from the merry gathering and soon, Cheyenne and Zack found themselves enveloped in the arms of those they loved.

In his mind, Zack excitedly started counting down the days until he could share the news with his other family, his bandmates, his best friends. He couldn’t help the huge smile, nor the tears, when he thought about how this had been the best Christmas he has ever had.

Notes

A'ight here we go! This story is dedicated to my lovely co-writer Cheyenne - or as you all know her by HarleyQuinzel1001.

I have planned to release these stories according to the day they happen on. So from now until whenever, I will be releasing my wonderfully cheesy - yes cheesy.... these are typical Christmas stories filled with hope and love and all that disgusting wonderfulness - stories.

So please leave your thoughts and comments, subscribe and rate!

Have a wonderful Christmas Eve to those who celebrate it!

C.H. Sullivan

Title Cred: Avenged Sevenfold - A Little Piece of Heaven