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You were sitting in the studio listening back to what you just recorded. Sandra had convinced you to do covers of Christmas songs and you even wrote one of your own. It was warmer in the studio than normal, but it was needed to combat the cold from the snow outside. Your phone went off as Christmas Magic ended, your attention diverting to it. The screen was lit up with the photo of Jack you made his contact photo. "Hey, Jack," you answered, a smile on your face.
"Hey, do you need a ride home? It's late and real snowy," he offered.
Your chest warmed at the offer, your mind thinking over how you got here. "That'd be great actually," you told him, leaning back into your chair. "How long until you get here?"
The sound of Jack's blinker was all you heard for a moment. "About 15 minutes," he told you.
You laughed a little. "You were already headed this way before you called, weren't you?"
Jack hesitated for a moment and you laughed even harder. "Yeah, I was," he finally admitted and you practically snorted. "Yeah, yeah, laugh it up," he said and you could practically hear him roll his eyes.
"Thank you for coming to get me though, you didn't have to," you acknowledged his effort. "Especially since it's your night off," you added.
"It's no big deal," he promised, his blinker going off again.
"I'm going to hang up on you now, I want to try and get this last song done before you get here," you told him.
"Alright, I'll see you soon, honey," Jack told you.
"See ya, Jack," you smiled and hung up. You weren't sure when Jack started calling you honey, but you liked it too much to bring it up in fear he'd stop. You didn't focus on it too much before popping your neck and standing, heading back into the recording booth to record the last song you had to do.
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Jack's truck was warm and the snowflakes on your jacket almost instantly melted once you were in it. You tucked your purse on the floor by your feet and quickly shoved your hands in front of the air vents. "It's freezing," you told him, moving your hands away from the vents to rub them together.
Jack chuckled, turning the fan up a little more. "Kinda has to be so it can snow," he teased.
You rolled your eyes, shoving his shoulder a little as he shifted into drive. "Jerk," you muttered, a good natured smile on your face. You were watching the road as Jack drove, a smile as you saw a group of kids making snowmen in front of a corner store. "When was the last time you played in the snow?"
Jack looked over at you for a moment, his brows furrowed. "Uh, it's probably been a good decade or two," he said and you looked over at him with raised eyebrows.
"Unbelievable," you muttered with a shake of your head.
"When was the last time you did?"
You paused for a moment, pursing your lips. "Fair enough," you muttered, scrunching your nose at him in faux annoyance. You had given Jack the code to your front gate a few days ago when the snow first fell and he drove you home, it made it easy for him to unlock it before it slid open. Jack pulled into your driveway, waited until the gate closed, and then drove up to your house.
Jack and you jumped out of his truck and you bent down before he could question you to make a snowball and throw it at him. "Honey, what are you doing?" he asked, watching as it flew past him.
"Ok, my aim is off, don't move," you tried again, nailing him in the chest. "Yes!"
Jack bent down slowly and your eyes widened as you slowly started to back away. "Oh, no you don't," Jack threw the snowball and it hit you in the stomach before you turned around and started running. "Honey!"
You were laughing as you ran, joy filling the air as you looked over your shoulder only to realize Jack was hot on your heels. "Ah!" you shouted, laughing as you tried to run faster only for Jack to catch up to you.
The warmth radiating off Jack chased off the cold that cling to you as he wrapped you into his arms. "You started this," he muttered and you playfully tried to get away.
"What are you…" you trailed off when you noticed he was leading you to the pile of snow that whoever shoveled your driveway made. "No, no, Jack!" you laughed as Jack fell into the pile with you in his arms. "It's freezing!"
"It's snow, what did you expect?" Jack was standing before offering you his hand. You let him help you up before you both rushed inside, Jack making a pitt stop at his truck to lock the doors and grab your purse.
You shivered as you stripped off your coat, hanging it by your front door. "Do you want something warm to drink?"
Jack hung his jacket with yours and made sure to put your purse on the entryway table, he had been in your house once before but it still baffled him that you just causally had a grand piano. "What are you offering?"
"I have teas, hot chocolate, I can make a pot of coffee," you listed some off, looking at your tea cabinet.
"If you don't tell anyone, I'll have a hot chocolate."
You gasped before looking at him, faux shock all over your face. "Jack Abbot is breaking his health streak? I've gotta tell the press!"
"Alright, ok," Jack rolled his eyes, watching as you hummed to yourself with a pleased smile while you moved around to make the hot chocolate.
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You were sitting on your couch when your Christmas album dropped, a satisfying feeling over the positive opinions that you saw. You had been nervous, they weren't exact copies of the original songs, you did add a bit of your jazz-pop sound to them. You were worried how Christmas Magic would go over, but you smiled at some of the people saying they didn't even realize it wasn't a nostalgic Christmas song at first. You had rejected every interview about the album, it was straight forward and you felt no need to explain that you just decided to do it when Sandra brought it up.
You never realized how lonely you felt until you had met Jack, and you were really feeling it now. You had some other friends who were famous, but you they were also busy this time of year and you didn't want to just bother them. Which left you at an awkward crossroad, Christmas was in two weeks and your parents were headed out Cabo for the season. You were facing the fact that you were going to be lone for Christmas this year, something that weighed heavy on your heart.
A part of you wanted to ask Jack if he had Christmas plans, but you were worried that he'd be working. There was something oddly sad about you not having Christmas plans, but you refused to complain about it to anyone or anywhere.
With a sigh, you stood and walked to your kitchen. You already had a small list of things to get for Christmas, mostly food since you were still going to make yourself a meal. But there was one on the list that haunted you, you still had to get Jack a present. You were having trouble with that one, he refused to tell you anything he'd like because "you don't need to spend money on me" he says.
You were still going to get him something, you just didn't know what to get him exactly. For a few days, you thought about defaulting to what you normally got people but you realized you didn't know Jack's size in clothing. You sighed and grabbed your purse, already knowing what you were going to get Jack. You had asked him once why he never wears jewelry other than his wedding ring, he told you that he just didn't have a necklace he could wear in the ER and bracelets weren't allowed.
The drive to the jewelry store truly was just filled with you jamming out to Michael Jackson and navigating the snow covered ground. The inside of the jewelry store was already playing your new album and you smiled as you walked up to the counter. "Hi, how can I help you today?" the older lady behind the counter asked.
You smiled at her. "I'm looking for a plain silver chain that's not too long but can be tucked into a shirt," you explained. "Preferably white gold so it lasts," you added.
The lady nodded, Sandy as you read from her name tag. "Are you looking to add something to it?"
"No, this is for a friend. Just a chain that he can wear," you clarified, a smile still on your face.
"Follow me, I'll get you into one of the private rooms and bring you some options," she told you, leading you towards the back.
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By the time you got home, you had Jack's present and a roll of wrapping paper you found with little stethoscopes on it. It made you giggle when you thought about giving it to Jack, a warm feeling towards Christmas coming back.
You were humming Love To Keep Me Warm as you finished wrapping Jack's present and your doorbell rang. There was three options on who it could be: Sandra, Oliver, or Jack. You were still humming when you opened the door, a smile spreading across your face. "I wondered if you hummed while alone," Jack mused, stepping inside when you let him in.
"Only when I'm happy," you told him, walking back to the mess you had after wrapping his present. You were just glad you already put away the bag you got when you got up earlier to find tape.
Jack took one look at the wrapping paper and chuckled, crossing his arms at you. "Please tell me that's not for me."
You spun around before bounding over to your trash can, dropping all the scraps into it before walking over to Jack. "Would you rather it be for Robby?" you teased.
Pulling you into a hug, Jack grumbled out his sentence. "You better not have spent too much money on me."
"There's no such thing," you told him, pulling away to look him in the eyes. "I've got more money than I know what to do with."
"You could pay to get a new back fence, yours is falling apart."
You rolled your eyes, gently shoving Jack's shoulder as he smiled at you. "This entire property is fenced in, why do I even need to fix the one that denotes what's my backyard?"
Jack sighed, walking over to sit on your couch. "Fair. Hey, where's your tree and decorations?"
You sat down on your couch slowly, shame burning in your veins. "I, uh, felt no need to put them up," you mumbled, messing with your hands. "I have no plans for Christmas and it felt a little sad to decorate if I was the only one here for it," you shrugged.
"Why didn't you say anything? I've got no plans for Christmas too," Jack asked, sounding genuinely sad that you didn't tell him. "We can do something."
You lit up, looking at him. "Really?" You jumped up from your seat. "I need to decorate!" Jack watched as you practically ran to your garage before you came back with a box, taking a few more trips before you had everything.
Jack stood and walked over, helping you unload. "Just tell me what to do," he told you with a nod. You nodded, handing him a little snowman figure.
"This goes on the fireplace mantle," you told him, grabbing the other one to place on the mantle yourself.
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Jack came over bright and early on Christmas Eve, holding a neatly wrapped present. You eyed it as he went to place it under your tree, but he beat you to questions. "Why is there more presents under here?" Jack asked, placing his overnight bag down on your couch.
You had laughed when you offered to let him stay the night, calling it a sleepover. "Because I got us matching pjs as Christmas Eve presents," you told him, a small smile on your face.
"Christmas Eve presents?"
"My parents would do it for us," you explained, handing him the coffee mug you were holding. It was exactly how he liked it, plain with a little bit of sugar to help curb the bitterness. "It was either pjs or some years they let us open our stockings early. It was just so we had on cute Christmas pajamas for pictures in the morning."
"Isn't you telling me ruining the present?"
"Nope, not since we always knew what it was. They were just wrapped to hide the pattern, that's the surprise." Jack watched as you pulled the last waffle out of the waffle maker before setting the plate of food down on the table. "Breakfast is done," you smiled.
Jack sat down with you, both of you eating in silence before you both cleaned up and moved to the couch. You already had Frosty the Snowman pulled up when you both sat down. "Starting with a classic," Jack mused, watching you press play.
You smiled at him for a moment as the TV buffered. "The best Christmas movie to start with if you ask me," you shrugged, scrunching your nose.
"Why's that?"
"It's low stakes, has great songs, and is a feel good movie," you explained.
Jack nodded slowly, turning his attention to the TV. "How can I argue with that logic?"
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Elf was playing in the background but the sound of your laughter was louder. You and Jack had finished letting the gingerbread men cool and were now decorating them. Only, you had frosting on your nose from where Jack put it there and he had some smeared across his cheek from when you tried to gey him back and he swerved at the last moment.
You threw a gingerbread at Jack, an undecorated one, and watched it break against his shoulder before it fell to the ground. "Did you just throw a gingerbread man at me?" Jack asked, grabbing one himself.
"Maybe," you giggled, watching him to try and escape his throw. Only for you to fail because his aim was better than you thought and you didn't move fast enough. "You know what?" you asked, scooping some icing into your hand before bolting towards him.
Jack grabbed your wrist, stole some of the icing, and smeared it across the expose skin of your chest, dangerously close to your boobs. You gasped, a little in shock and a little in arousal, before smearing the rest against the side of Jack's neck. "Do you feel accomplished?" Jack asked, eyes darting down to your lips.
You licked your lips for a moment, stalling for your brain to work. "Possibly," you breathed out, both of you leaning closer. Only for Jack's phone to go off at the last moment and he pulled away, going to answer it.
"Abbot," Jack answered, eyes on you. "I'm not working tonight, ask Robby," he said to whoever was on the phone. "Yeah, I'll see you later," Jack muttered, hanging up as you cleared your throat.
"We should probably get cleaned up," you mumbled, looking at anything but Jack. Jack nodded, the tension still crackling between you two. "We can clean this up later," you motioned to the mess of your kitchen before you turned and left for your room.
The quiet of the bathroom was a stark contrast to the loud joy from earlier, from when you were about to kiss Jack. You should have, you shouldn't have chickened out and pulled away like you did. But you've seen how the media can destroy a relationship before, you didn't want to lose Jack. And if that meant you were breaking your heart in the process, you could handle that.
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You woke up with your alarm going off, an 8:30 am wake up call. But you had told Jack you'd follow his family tradition of waking up and opening presents at 8:30. You yawned as you padded down the hallway, your pajamas a little rumpled from you just rolling out of bed. "Good morning," Jack announced, handing you coffee. "I'll make breakfast after presents," he smiled, leading you over to the tree.
A smile spread across your face at the sight of your matching pajamas, you had chosen them with great care. "You're very serious about this," you muttered, sipping your coffee; which was made exactly how you liked it.
Jack nodded, sitting you down on the couch before bringing over the two presents. You'd be the first to admit that it was a little bit of a sad Christmas, but all that mattered was that you two were together. "You open yours first," he gestured to your present sitting in front of you.
You reached out to place your mug down and grabbed the present. You eyed Jack cautiously, you hadn't told him what you wanted but he said that he knew what he was getting you anyway. "Jack," you mumbled when you saw the Cartier logo on the box. "These are so expensive," you shook your head gently but opened it anyway. Inside was a gold bracelet, Etincelle De Cartier Bracelet, the half paved one.
"You said you wanted one but knew you wouldn't wear it because you tend to only wear jewelry that hold significant meaning to you. I hoped that since I bought it, it would have a meaning," he shrugged, the expression on his face irritatingly neutral.
You blinked away the tears, slipping the bracelet on. "I love it," you whispered, wiping away a stray tear. "Open yours," you told him.
Jack was one of the people who unfolded the wrapping paper instead of ripping into it. "You just told me that your bracelet was expensive and you bough me something from David Yurman?"
You laughed, shaking your head a little. "I'm rich," you muttered, motioning him to keep going. With an eyeroll, Jack opened the box and faltered at the sight. "You told me that you don't have any necklaces that you can wear at work and tuck under your shirt," you spun your new bracelet as you spoke. "I figured I could fix it. That's white gold so it'll last and I got it in 20 inches so it should be just long enough to tuck but short enough to not get in the way," you explained.
Jack smiled as he clipped his necklace on, both of you wearing your new jewelry with pride. "I guess we had the same idea, huh?"
"I guess we did," you smiled before moving to sit with him, snapping a photo of you two with your presents on display for your Instagram. You just had to brag how much of a good friend you had.