Christmastime with the Family

[Aeson Frey]

It had been almost a half hour since Aeson Frey had ridden his broom from Hogsmeade all the way to Grimwood Manor. Even though it was only snowing lightly, he had stayed outside long enough to be thoroughly covered in it. He was sitting on the icy ground a few yards away from the front gate to the mansion, staring at the pile of presents he had brought mostly for his daughter. He wasn't quite sure if he wanted to give the other gifts or "lose" them. It's not like anyone in the Grimwood house was expecting anything from him anyways. His grandmother had insisted he get everyone there something, but she was preoccupied in her own little world thinking that Fallon and he would get married someday. In fact, she had practically brainwashed him into getting one of his gifts.

Now that he was far away from his residence, he stared at the box he had brought with disbelief. In a fit of nostalgia, he threw the box further away into the snow before reluctantly retrieving it and opening it. He opened the jewelry box and took out the detailed silver ring inside of it. He held it in one hand and took out his wand with the other and with one solid motion, "FGF - Happy Holidays! All my love, AOF" changed to "EGF - Happy Holidays! All my love, AOF" Sure instead of etching an extra line he could have changed the whole message, but he wasn't thinking straight. He shoved his wand into the pocket of his slacks and shook his head. I can't believe I let ma'ams talk me into this in the first place... Now she'll hate me for referring to our girl as Elyse... Aeson repackaged the ring in its box and collected all of his Christmas gifts. He shook his head in order to get some of the white snow off of him before he waltzed inside.

Careful not to drop his gifts, Aeson managed to ring a doorbell and get escorted in by a house elf. He then preceded to the Grimwood living room and placed his pile of presents under the tree. His many gifts were from him and his grandparents, mainly to Vivianne but there were a few for the other Grimwoods. The sad thing was, that even though Aeson had practically brought a truckload of things, that he still had more. He saved the living gift for when Vivianne came to his house after Christmas was over. Not only did he want to save the best for last, but he didn't want to feel like he had forced Fallon to watch over a kitten and spoil their child at the same time.

He had a wide assortment of gifts ranging from fancy dresses as well as more casual clothes, books, jewelry (there was a silver necklace that was supposed to go along with the original ring that was still marked "To Fallon"), a doll or two, a scrapbook with assorted family pictures, a coloring book, some music, trading cards, candy and the like. He even brought a thermos of eggnog that his grandma had mixed herself and demanded he bring over, so after dumping his load he walked over to the kitchen to hand it over.

Although stressed before, when he saw his daughter he lighted up. The demon at her side didn't even bring back enough negativity memories to cancel the happiness Vivianne brought her. "Hey sweetie." Aeson cooed as he walked over and kneeled down to her level to give her a hug. "It smells good in here, have you and mommy been baking yummy things?" Reminded of his mother's brew, he looked over at Fallon. "Here, my grandma wanted me to give you guys this." He rose a bit and stretched out his arm to hand it to her before he crouched back down to talk to his daughter. "Gramama wants you to come over and bake with her, too, sometimes, kay? She gets lonely."

It wasn't that Aeson was trying to be rude to his ex, but he just didn't want to acknowledge she existed in case that meant they'd get into a fight. It was too cheery a season to argue, so if preserving merriment meant excommunicated Fallon, it was time to excommunicate her! ... Yet, the fact he still had gotten things for her spoiled his plans. Aeson looked over at Fallon, "Oh, right. And Merry Christmas. Hope yours has been going well." He expected something around the lines of 'it was until you showed up,' but he didn't care. If she did reply icily she would look like the bad guy in front of their dearest, so hopefully she'd realise he was just trying to be pleasant for the holiday's sake.

[fallon grimwood]

Things were going well. Fallon and Vivianne were enjoying a morning of baking and music and everything was fine... until Aeson walked into the scene. Fallon immediately stiffened, her jaw clenching tightly. The man sauntered over and addressed their daughter briefly before offering her a container of eggnog. Well, she might not like Aeson, but she dearly loved his mother. "Ah, Henna sent eggnog, fantastic. I love that woman. Too bad she had to have a grandson like you." She muttered the last part almost inaudibly and took the eggnog, going to the cupboard and pulling out a few glasses for herself and her family in the other room.

She poured the eggnog into the glasses and waved her hand over them, warming them to just the right temperature. She then pulled out some nutmeg and sprinkled it on top of each glass before putting the cups on a tray and taking it out into the living room. She gave out the glasses and then returned to the kitchen with her own in hand. She sipped at it slowly and came to stand beside her daughter and ex again. She had seen the presents and it hadn't made her any happier with him. Was he trying to make her look bad? She earned three times as much as him at least and her family was well off, but he had bought four times the amount of presents.

First he wanted to take time from her limited amount she spent with Vivi, then he bought more presents than she did, and now he wanted to have Vivi bake with someone else? Was he trying to take everything from her? She gave him a meaningful look that said, 'It'd be better if you stopped being an ass' in response to his comment about hoping her Christmas was going well. No doubt he expected as much, but honestly - when he had to show her up at everything why would she ever want to see him?

"Vivianne and I are almost done baking, why don't you go join my family in the living room until then?" Also known as 'get out before I scar our daughter by killing you in front of her'.