Zach and Belle’s First Christmas

Christmas was a huge affair for Zach’s family.

They spent the morning opening presents and watching movies before spending the night at Gigi’s, having dinner and playing games. But that was changing this year and while Zach was excited for it. Some of his family was struggling with the change.

Even though he was living with Gigi now, he started spending a few nights at Belle’s and spending afternoons helping Corey and Amaya with their homework, which allowed him to hide Christmas presents in multiple places. He had dropped off the presents for his family underneath their tree and was grabbing his presents for Belle, which he had hidden in his old room when Amaya walked in.

“You know, you’re going to miss the talk along to Almost Christmas,” Amaya said as she messed with the zipper on her Rudolph onesie. “Who’s gonna recite all the lines with me now?”

Zach chuckled before looking at his sister with a raised brow. “Is this your way of saying you’ll miss me being here Christmas morning?”

“This is my way of saying I’ll miss me and Corey jumping on your bed to wake you up on Christmas morning.”

“I definitely won’t miss that,” Zach said as he zipped up the bag he brought to put Belle’s presents in. “Where is Corey anyway?”

Amaya bit her lip. “In his fort.”

Zach sighed before saying goodbye to Amaya and heading down the stairs to get his coat. Maryland wasn’t known for delivering a white Christmas, but it was always cold. He dawned his black peacoat before putting his gifts in his car and heading into their small backyard where his dad had set up a small playset for Corey two years ago. It got used a lot in the summer but during the winter, Corey would only go in if he wanted to be alone.

Zach climbed up the small ladder attached to the set before looking inside to see his little brother huddled in the corner of the wooden structure, rolling his toy cars over the palm of his hand. “Hey, Bud,” Zach greeted as he heaved himself into the small space, his feet hanging out of the entrance. “It’s cold out here. You should really come inside.”

“Don’t wanna,” Corey mumbled as he started rolling his car on the floor.

“Well, I’m about to leave soon, so I just wanted to say goodbye before I g—” Zach dodged as Corey rammed his car into the wall next to him. “Hey,” Zach said as he noticed his brother’s furrowed brow and angry little fists. “What’s wrong?”

Corey glanced up at him before picking up his toy again. “I don’t want you to go.”

Zach closed his eyes as he sighed. “Come here,” he said as he gestured for Corey to do so. The six-year-old sat in his spot for a minute before eventually crawling over into Zach’s open arms. “Buddy, we’ve talked about this,” he reminded his brother as he rubbed Corey’s shoulder. “I’m not missing Christmas with you.”

“Yes, you are,” Corey said glaring up at him. “You’re not gonna be here.”

“I’m not gonna be here tomorrow morning,” Zach corrected gently. “But I’ll be at Gigi’s for Christmas dinner and games.”

Corey shook his head. “It won’t be the same. You said you’ll always spend Christmas with your family and you lied.”

Zach bit his lip. “I didn’t lie, Bud,” he sighed.

Even though he still managed to spend a lot of time with his siblings since he decided to stay in town, there were times that Corey was still a bit clingy, and though he loved his brother, Zach couldn’t coddle him forever and this was one of the times when he had to explain the bigger things to him. “Corey, you know how nice it is for all of us to be together on Christmas morning. Getting up and having Mimi’s hot chocolate while we open presents. Then we go to Gigi’s and have all of our favorite foods and play games all night.”

Corey nodded enthusiastically. “Yeah, it’s the best.”

“Yeah, it is,” Zach agreed before turning more to Corey. “But, not everyone gets that. Some people don’t have a family with them on Christmas. They spend holidays alone.”

Corey frowned a bit more. “That’s sad.”

“Yeah, it is.” Zach nodded. “Well, Belle’s one of those people who doesn’t have her family to spend Christmas with. Now that I’m becoming part of her family, I want to spend some of Christmas with her so she’s not alone.”

“She’s not alone. She has Appa.”

Zach chuckled. “Appa’s great, but it’s not the same and you know it.”

Corey looked down at his family. “I know.”

“And since Belle’s family now, I’ll be spending some holidays with her.” He put his hand on his brother’s head and tilted it up so Corey would look at him. “But that doesn’t mean I love the rest of my family any less, okay?”

Corey nodded. “Okay.”

Zach nodded back with a smile. “So, I’m gonna spend Christmas morning with Belle,” he explained before slightly tickling Corey's stomach, making the little one laugh. “And then we’re gonna spend Christmas night with you all.” Zach pulled back his hand. “That sound good?”

“Yeah,” Corey giggled.

Zach smiled before hugging Corey tight. “I’ll see you later, Buddy.” He let Corey go before starting to maneuver himself out of the fort. “But, seriously, come inside soon.”

“Okay.”

With that, Zach made his way back to his car just as his father pulled into the driveway from his last-minute shopping trip. Zach took a deep breath. While he and his father weren’t still at odds with each other, there were still times when things could be really awkward between them.

Jed got out of the car and looked at Zach over the car door. “Heading out.”

Zach nodded. “Yeah, I gotta stop at Toe Beans before I go to the cottage.”

Jed nodded before he stepped out of the car and pulled something out of the backseat. “I got you something to put under your tree up there.” He held out a small box wrapped in gold paper and a red ribbon. “It’s for you and Belle.”

Zach smiled before taking it. “Thanks, Dad.” Zach opened his car and put it in his bag of gifts before turning back to his father. “See you at Gigi’s?”

Jed nodded. “Yeah.”

Zach shifted on his feet before walking around the driver’s side of his car. “Just so you know, Corey’s in his fort. I told him to come in but wanted to let you know.”

Jed smiled. “I’ll let him hang there for a bit longer. Gives me a chance to sneak in these Christmas and birthday presents.”

Zach chuckled. “You need some help?”

“Nah, you go on.”

Zach smiled before getting in his car and heading off to finish his last few holiday errands.

The cottage was all lit up for the holiday when he arrived. The lights on Belle’s Christmas were shining through the window with all their might along with the strings of lights that she had surrounded each of the house’s windows with.

The wind was blowing so hard that when he gently pushed open his car door, the wind snatched it out of his hand. He quickly got out and closed it before running around to the other side and grabbing his things out of the passenger seat. He sped walked over to the front door and unlocked it with his key before running inside.

As soon as he managed to close the door and toe off his shoes, he heard Appa’s excited paws running down the stairs from Belle’s workspace in the attic. He put down his Toe Beans order and bag of gifts just in time to catch Appa who had leaped up to give him a hug and lick his face. “Appa,” he groaned before guiding the Australian Shepherd back down to the floor. 

While he was turning into an Appa guy, it didn’t mean that he loved being covered in dog fur and drool. The dog looked ready to rear up again so he quickly commanded, “Appa, sit.” Zach smiled as the dog did just that. “Good boy,” he praised as he bent down and rubbed his belly before finally noticing the reindeer antlers secured on top of Appa’s head. “See you’re already dressed up.”

“Of course, he is.” Zach looked up to see Belle coming into the room, her face all aglow with matching antlers on her head. “I wanted to do a quick photoshoot with him for Instagram but the sound of his favorite person coming in distracted him,” Belle said as she bent down and rubbed Appa’s head.

Zach snorted a laugh before standing up and pulling out his phone. “Here.” Belle immediately smiled wider as Zach dug a treat out of Appa’s walk pouch next to the door. “Appa,” he called. With the dog’s attention fully on the food in his hand, he took a few photos of the two of them before finally giving up his treat and showing the phone to Belle.

“Aw,” she cooed as she scrolled through the photos. “So cute.”

Zach smiled as he took off his coat and put it on the coat hanger next to the door. “Hey,” he said as he wrapped his arms around Belle’s waist, pulling her closer.

Belle smiled as stood up on her toes for a second to peck a kiss on Zach’s lips. “Hi.”

Zach messed with the curls coming from behind her headband before caressing her cheek. “How you doing Sunshine?”

“I’m doing okay,” she said with a slight nod. “Really, I’m just…” she sighed before looking up at him with watery eyes. “I’m just glad you’re here.” 

Zach smiled as he wiped away the potential tears.

He hadn’t lied to Corey when he said that Christmas was really hard for Belle.

It had been one of her favorite times of the year before she lost her grandmother and best friend, Kailey, two years ago. She had told him that last year, she skipped the holiday completely and sat in her grandparents’ old house alone with Appa and that this year probably wasn’t going to be much different. The idea of Belle spending the day in the cottage alone didn’t sit right with him while he spent time with his family, especially since Kit was spending the day celebrating with her mom’s side of the family while Joon worked at the cafe with his, so no one was really going to be able to visit Belle. So when she had another bad day like the one on Kailey’s birthday, Zach decided to spend Christmas morning with Belle and bring her around to Gigi’s that night.

So she remembered that she wasn’t alone anymore.

Belle hugged him tight before running over to her bedroom and he slowly followed behind. She was digging in her dresser by the time he got to the doorway. “You are just in time to change into these,” she said, pulling two bundles of bright red pajamas with green trees and reindeer heads spattered on the fabric out of the drawer.

Zach raised a brow with a laugh building up in the back of his throat. “You got us matching pajamas?”

“Yeah,” she said with a nod before looking down at the outfits. “I’ve always wanted to do the matching pj thing and I thought…” she looked at Zach before holding the clothes closer to her chest. “It’s too much, isn’t it?” She inquired, worry riddled throughout her eyes.

Zach slowly came over, grabbed one of her hands, and brought it to his lips. “I think it’s perfect.”

The smile Belle gave him was more than enough to counter how ridiculous he felt when he did put on the pajamas. Luckily, they were very comfortable. They filmed a few clips for her vlog of them showing off their Christmas pajamas, making her Grammy’s Naughty Nog, and prepping dough for the cookies that they were bringing to his Gigi’s the next day. 

They ended the night with watching Christmas movies in bed on his laptop and before he knew it, he was woken up on Christmas morning by the sound of Belle getting out of bed. He reached around, trying to pull her back in when Belle giggled and said, “Appa has to go out.” She pressed a kiss to his forehead. “I’ll be back in a minute.”

Zach chuckled as he laid back down, rubbing the last bits of sleep from his eyes before grabbing his glasses off the nightstand. He put them on before grabbing his phone and opening up his messages. By the time he sent off Merry Christmas texts to Kit, Beau, Mateo, and Amaya, Belle was coming back in and crawling onto the bed.

Belle smiled at him as she lied down on top of him. “Good morning,” she greeted in a cheery tone.

He smiled as he put down his phone before wrapping his arms around her waist. “Morning, Sunshine.”

Belle pecked a kiss on his lips before she laid her head down on his bare chest. He had taken the top of his pajamas off before going to bed so he didn’t overheat and now Belle was pressing kisses against his chest and trailed them up to the side of his face. He smirked before gently grabbing her chin and bringing her lips to his. He felt Belle smile against him as he sat up in the bed before she wrapped her arms around his shoulders.

His hands were just starting to trail down her back while hers caressed his chest when Appa barked. Zach groaned as he pulled back. He looked toward the door and saw the dog sitting in the threshold with his tongue hanging out of his mouth in glee.

“Cockblock,” Zach grumbled.

Belle kissed Zach’s cheek with a chuckle. “Later.”

“Later.”

They got out of bed and made some breakfast before settling down to open the few gifts they had put under the tree from various people. Belle had gotten some gifts from her subscribers, including crocheted plushies of themselves and Appa which she declared would live in her studio now. Zach opened a gag gift of orange-flavored and scented things from Kit. Belle was very happy with the physical copies of her newest favorites that Zach got her, including a signed edition of her favorite book, The Limits of Love, that he had been able to procure.

She kissed his cheek before handing him his final present from her. “Well, this present is technically for me but also kinda for you.”

Zach raised a brow at her before slowly opening the box. When he pulled off the top, he saw a bundle of red fabric, which confused him until he pulled out the red lacy nightdress that had a ruffled slit down the middle of it. In the box laid a matching pair of underwear.

Zach looked over in time to see Belle bite her lip and smirk. “I’m gonna need you to wear this tonight,” Zach declared.

Belle giggled again before pecking a small kiss on his lips. She glanced around the bottom of the tree. “Isn’t that everything?”

“Not quite,” Zach said as he put down his last present and picked up the box he’d gotten from Jed the previous day. “My dad said he got this for us.”

He slowly opened it and his eyes widened slightly when he looked inside.

“What is it?” Belle asked, leaning over to try and see before Zach took it out of the box.

It was an empty silver picture ornament with the year on it with a note attached to the hanging ribbon of it.

Dear Belle, 

In the Roberts family, we always put a new yearly ornament on the tree with a picture to show how our family has changed over the years. With you becoming part of our family this year, I wanted to officially invite you to join this tradition. We’ll be taking a group photo tonight at Georgina’s but this one is for you and Zach to start showcasing your own family on your own tree.

Wishing you all the best,

Jedidiah

Zach smiled softly as Belle squealed that she was getting her mini photo printer and some scissors, his heart filling with happiness as she did.

This was a tradition that his father started when he first married Zach’s mom and even though she wasn’t in the picture anymore, they kept the tradition going through the years and the fact that he was inviting Belle to take part in it meant a lot to him. It gave him hope that his father would continue working on himself not just for his kids, but for himself as well.

“This is so cute!” Belle said as she sat back down. “You guys do this every year?”

“Yeah, it’s our little tradition,” Zach smiled before turning to Belle. “And I’m glad I get to share it with you.”

Belle smiled before calling Appa over, taking him away from his newest chewing bone. Belle had him lay across her lap as Zach took out his phone and held it out in front of him.

“Say ‘Merry Christmas’,” Belle squealed.

Zach playfully rolled his eyes before getting his thumb into place to click the shutter button. “Merry Christmas.”