"No.. no not right away, I can't go yet.." She didn't figure straight away that his reluctance was due to the fact that he was turned on, she just assumed he meant he had to get dressed, into jeans at least. He seemed a little desperate though, as if he was scared of leaving the room at the moment, as though he needed her there. "I'll need a minute, you can go to your room, I'll get her when.. in a minute." He suddenly seemed really muddled and confused as if he wasn't sure what he was supposed to be doing. He needen't have worried though since she wasn't thinking about the fact that he might be aroused, after all they hadn't been kissing each other with the passion they usually had before he usually started to become impassioned.
"I'm really sorry, I just need a minute on my own, it's just.. being with you in my dream.. and then you came, and the way you held me, and then way though you touched me.. the way you said you loved me.." She finnally twigged what he was trying to explain to her. Her face flushed a darker red colour as she realised, her eyews dropping away from his.
'Ah.. Oh.' She felt guilty now for working him up even though she was only trying to comfort him and make him feel better.
"It's really nice to hear you say you love me," A moment later she felt him lean across and kiss her gently, his lips soft and warm against hers. His hands had lifted to tuck her hair behind her ears, his hands brushing over her smooth skin as he did so, making her shiver slightly. He increased the passion a little in their kiss and then pulled away from her, she gave him a nervous smile only half visable in the gloom. "I love you, and I'm never going to stop loving you." She waited a moment but Riley seemed content to just lie there with his head upon her lap. There was a little pause before she reached across to suport his head with her hands as she wriggled away from under him.
'I'll go wait in my room.' She pressed a kiss down on the top of his head before she got to her feet, moving across to the door and opening it again. She opened the door and slipped back into her own room, hurriedly getting changed into her night things since she was still wearing her clothes. There was something a little thrilling about waiting here for Riley to come to her room.
Cat: It feels like my world is slipping through my fingers and I don't know how to hold onto it
Re: A 'Finn'tastic Christmas Eve Dinner
Since he didn't appear to be moving, really he couldn't, he just wanted to stay like this, he could sit here all night if she made no effort to move. But much to his utter disappointment - and somewhat to his relief - she gently slipped her body away from him, giving another kiss on the back of his head after she spoke to him.
'I'll go wait in my room.' His arms moved to cling about the pillow once again, closing his eyes as he listened to her leave his room and go into her own. It was a few minutes that seemed to drag on forever for him before his body calmed down, also the disappointment in her leaving helped as well as the thought of Marc and what he did to her with Riley's body.
Pulling on his dark jeans, and grabbing a white long sleeved shirt which he quickly put on as he left his room, not bothering to button it up so the shirt was open to reveal his sleeveless singlet beneath. Down stairs he found a collection of small bodies scattered about the floor, most of the kids grouped together around the couch in the center of the room. The floor was covered in thin foam mattresses in order to make it a little more pleasent, Penny and Roger where given additional comfort by placing some of the coushins and old pillows under them. Everyone was used to these arrangements, they all had small houses yet large families that stayed over, Riley instantly decided he wanted to do something to make their stays more comfortable.. he just had to figure out how he could do that.
Waking up Stephanie was easy, the woman was simply staring up at the ceiling, not only because the couch wasn't the most comfortable thing to sleep on when so pregnant, but she was also thinking.. about things.. the baby.. her life. She hadn't wanted to have kids so young, not at first anyway, she always figured they'd be later in life, when things where smoother for her, and she could handle them. But Ben had been upset when he found out she as on birth control, he was getting paranoid that there was something wrong with him since she wasn't getting pregnant and they'd been together for over two years. Stephie didn't know that Ben was raised on thinking that family comes first, after all, most of them worked on farms so in their lifestyle it meant that they needed to be younger in order to handle both the stress of their daily lives as well as spending time with their new growing family.
She hated being pregnant, especially at this stage where everyone knew she was with child and it was also hard for her to move about as swiftly as she used to be able to. Her back hurt all the time and that was just one of the many set backs of getting pregnant. But she still was thrilled by it, resting here now she could feel the baby sometimes move, she longed to get it out of her but at the same time, since Ben only wanted two kids, this would be the last time she'll ever have a tiny life growing inside her.
Riley had offered to stay down here earlier, but Ben didn't want the Kids to have Riley near them incase he did something in his sleep, like hit one or roll over on one, Riley had been a little upset but said nothing since he's been having nightmares and that side table could have very well been one of these children if he was down here. Lifting her head up after Riley whispered for her attention, Stephie flashed a nervous smile, half wondering why he was all dressed up at this time of night, not aware of how extremely shy Riley was about others seeing him even partially undressed. He hadn't been like that when he was younger, not a whole lot, he didn't mind working without a top, and same goes for now, only while Cat was at Washington Dawn had said some girls stared at him and even though part of him doesn't believe her, he figured they where just whispering about him and making fun, or pointing out all his faults, but he didn't want ANYONE other then Catherine to look at him in the way Dawn was suggesting and so was more nervous about others looking at him now.
It was a bit of a struggle to get her off the couch and to the stairs without waking up anyone, but he hoped they didn't disturb the others, if they did no one did more then shift slightly, but they could be doing that from the discomfort of the ground. Once up the stairs Riley kept staring towards Catherine's room, so close.. so close.. he just had to get Stephie inside to his bed and then he could go to Catherine and hold her all night. Once Stephanie was tucked away into Riley's bed, he smiled a little in thought that one day that would be Catherine, whispering his good night, he left, closing the door to his room and going into Catherine's quietly.
There was a bright grin flashed towards her, he hands gently shutting the door as silently as possible before removing the shirt he wore and folding it while stepping towards Catherine. He felt really shy suddenly, not in the sense that he didn't want to to be here or it was all too awkward for him, he just missed being with her, at night, holding her, waking up with her, and then there was the added fact he was a little curious as to what his parents would think, he felt like he was going behind their backs and this was all a big secret between him and Catherine.
Riley's fingers seemed to slowly undo his buttons before he pulled down his jeans, what if she was staring at him? What if she was checking to see if he was still excited or not? He blushed slightly at the thought, but to push it aside quickly otherwise it might start to get him worked up again if he allowed his mind to drift over onto such things. Creeping into the bed with her, leaving his clothes neatly folded on the ground beside the bed, he tried to careful n his movements as he could while settling in beside her. The only thoughts in his mind right at that moment where that he was back in bed with her, repeating almost like a victory chant, he was with her finally after all this time, like earlier that day had just been a tiny step and now this moment was a huge leap in repairing their relationship, well that's what Riley figured.
Looking at Catherine rather slyly still, his hand reached out for her, he wanted to hold her all night, he didn't want to even sleep, he wanted to watch her, make sure she stayed in his arms until she woke again.
Re: A 'Finn'tastic Christmas Eve Dinner
The warmth of the bed and the fact that it was late had consipered to make Catherine tired again, curling herself up a little and letting herself half doze off. She stirred a little as Riley pushed door open, her eyes opening and looking acorss at him, even though she really couldn't see anything in the dark. The moon was only a thin crescent at the moment and hardly gave off any light. She could make out him pulling his shirt off and folding it before he unbuttoned his jeans and let them fall to the floor.
He bent down to fold them, while Cat shifted her body a little more to the side so there would be room for him in her bed. She was feeling a little aprehensive about this whole thing, it had been a long time since they'd properly slept together, this morning hadn't felt anywhere near as nerve racking as this did. She was glad that he'd decided to keep his singlet and boxers on though, she'd have felt completley out of place if he'd been naked in her bed, at least this way they were still partly dressed.
Riley lifted the cover a little so he could climb underneath and lay down next to her, there was still a little distance between them but she could feel his arm reaching over towards her. There was a sudden feeling of fear run through her as she thought of what Marc had done to her using this body, what if Riley just pinned her down and forced himself upon her. Her skin jumped a little at the feel of his arm as it rested over her back. Her face was turned to look over at him, her expression softening as he touched her, she had to remember that this was Riley and Riley wasn't going to hurt her.
Cat: It feels like my world is slipping through my fingers and I don't know how to hold onto it
Re: A 'Finn'tastic Christmas Eve Dinner
For a moment he had thought he had done something wrong, or he might have put too much weight into his arm, even though she didn't say anything, Riley's hand very slowly drifted away from her back. Maybe she didn't want him here, but she'd tell him to leave wouldn't she? Or was she just gritting her teeth and allowing him so that Stephanie could have his bed?
Allowing his hand to search for her own, he lovingly took hold of it, trying to be so gentle so that there was no chance at all that he'd hurt her. Carefully cupping her hand with both of his, feather soft in touch and slow in movements, again his mind warped with images of his dreams, questions about what was real and what wasn't plaguing his mind and ripping him apart with horrific uncertainty.
He wished things where greatly improved and easier between them, but it wasn't so simple, it's like they where so far in their relationship and yet not only have they barely spend many nights together, they have not even lived together for a half the amount of time as they lived apart while knowing each other, far less even. Maybe if they had not rushed to hastily into this, maybe if they hadn't met while he was on his death bed, then things would have been nicer, slowly and they'd have gone through a longer courting period and gotten to know each other more. It would make hard times like these a little more comfortable maybe, well Riley might just get the chance to attempt to court her properly, but first he would have to lose everything he's ever dreamed of having in his life before he can get to repair the single most important thing he's ever been given, her love.
Riley smiled a little as he caressed the back of her hand with his fingers while his other hand held her more slender hand, maybe she thought he was just here to sleep with her? Riley closed his eyes so it would look like he was tired, even though he wasn't really, though he could still drift off in a while if he tried to. But he didn't want her to think just because he had been worked up before that was the only reason he was here.. he just wanted to be near her again, to sleep with her, to wake up and have her there beside him.
Re: A 'Finn'tastic Christmas Eve Dinner
It seemed he'd noticed that she'd jumped slightly at the contact of his skin on hers, she hadn't meant to, she was just a little jumpy at the moment what with everything that had happened to her. His arm moved away from her's and searched for her hand instead, taking hold of it with both his own. He was being very gentle and quiet, in fact neither of them had said anything yet, the only sound to be heard was that of their quiet breathing. Her tired eyes blinked a couple of times before closing for a long moment, signaling how sleepy she was.
One of his hands took hold of hers, holding onto it quietly, the fingers of his other hand stroking over the back of hers in a very soothing manner. Her dark eyes opened and looked over at his, she wanted to say something but she didn't know what, maybe a large part of her wanted to apologise for what had happened between her and Marc but at the same time she just wanted to forget that anything had ever happened.
She could see that his eyes were closed, she looked over at him for a moment, but he didn't open them again. She decided he must be tired and let her own eyes close again, her mind slowly drifting away into sleep.
cat had a dream that she was in an English lesson back at Xavier's and the teacher had just asked her to read out loud from the book they were studying. Standing up and moved across to the front of the class, opening the book to the correct page she looked down at the words and opened her mouth. The words seemed to jumble up as she looked at them, changing their shape and form even as she watched, untill there was no chance she could read them. The teacher called out for her to start reading in an irritated voice, telling her that they didn't have all day. In a stumbling voice Cat tried to read out what she could see in front of her, people began to laugh. She felt a hot blush run though her as she stumbled onwards through the words untill people began to jeer at her. In a burst of passionate shame she threw down the book, running to the classroom door and pulling it open, storming through it and slamming it shut behind her. She was brought up sharp by the reslisation that she wasn't in the hallway but that she'd stepped instead into an initiative cell. She swung around, feeling herself go cold to open the door again but it was gone to be reaplaced by a white wall. She heard the sound of laughing and looking back over her shoulder saw to her horror the form of Joan standing on the other side of the eletrical barrier.
Cat's form moved around in the bed as she wandered in the strange dream she found herself in, pulling her hand away from Riley's and rolling over onto her back. Her mouth was slightly open and her breathing seemed a little strained.
ooc: Sorry I wasn't really sure what to put.
Cat: It feels like my world is slipping through my fingers and I don't know how to hold onto it
Re: A 'Finn'tastic Christmas Eve Dinner
The night felt like an eternity for Riley, he hadn't slept for for at least an hour till after Catherine dosed off, even if it wasn't really that long, since he hadn't spent a great deal of time alone with her in this way, it still felt amazing. Not only because he was here with Catherine, but his little baby was here with them as well.
When he had managed to get to sleep he didn't have any overly creative dreams, mostly it was of him and Catherine talking, they where in the car and he kept taking photo's of things they passed and Catherine as well while she drove. It was going really well, not that Riley knew what they where talking about, he didn't really hear much in his dream, mainly her laughing, which was a nice change for once.
But while they where coming to a corner, bright lights blinded them, a large bus, or truck, Riley couldn't make it out, it was huge, the echoing horn billowing in the air as a warning to the danger they where in, it had to cross into their path while turning the sharp corner, not suspecting an on coming car. The small car smashed into the truck, which was odd, even if Riley's car did crash into something like a truck, it was armour plated and also had a saftey cell around the actual area the people sat, adding extra security to the passangers of the vehcile.
There where screams as the car impacted with the on-coming vehicle, but that's when Riley's eyes snapped open, taking in a sharp breath in reaction to what he had seen. Blinking for a moment, grateful it was only a dream, most likely brought on by the fact they had gone into Town the day before and he'd been fretting over his fear of driving with others. Riley let out the air he was holding in his lungs, turning his head towards Catherine, it was still early, probably about six or seven the latest in the morning. People would start getting up and moving about within an hour or two, Riley propped his head up with his hand, his elbow digging into the bed slightly as he was on his side, watching Catherine as she slept.
He could tell she was dreaming, she was shifting about slightly now and then, but he was afraid to wake her up, last time he woke her up from a bad dream she had thrown herself out of his arms angrily and ran off to the bathroom. He wondered what she was dreaming about.. paranoid that it might be some form of nightmare involving Marc, or possibly Jon, another rush of guilt flowed through him at the thought that maybe she was having a nightmare of Marc because she could sense Riley's body nearby.
Re: A 'Finn'tastic Christmas Eve Dinner
It was only a short while before she rolled over onto her side, moving out of her dream and into a more peaceful slumber which wasn't invaded by intiative opperatives. One of her hands was resting under her head as she slept, her frame snuggling down a little more into the bed, unknowingly concious of the temperature outside the bed was a lot cooler than the inside. A couple of minutes later her body seemed to inch across so she was closer to him, sensing the fact that he was warmer than the cold wall the bed was against.
With kids in the house and the extra special fact that it was christmas meant that there wasn't much chance of Catherine getting much more sleep. It was only about quater of an hour later that a babble of noise seemed to break out downstairs as the kids woke uo, excited over the fact that it was Christmas day and then there was the discovery that Stephie wasn't where she'd gone to sleep.
Catherine let her eyes open slowly as she woke up, as if reluctant to believe the fact that it was morning. It was after all a lot earlier than she would usually have woken up at. She shut her eyes again, her body stretching a little, listening to the confused babble of noise from downstairs as everyone rolled up their sleeping mats. Her dark eyes opened again and focused across on Riley who was watching her, a smile formed on her lips as she looked at him.
'Good morning.' She moved the hand under her head, flexing it a little since her weight resting upon it had caused a pins and needles like feeling in it. She tucked her hair behind her ear, looking at him rather shyly, as if this might be the first time they'd ever laid like this with one another.
Cat: It feels like my world is slipping through my fingers and I don't know how to hold onto it
Re: A 'Finn'tastic Christmas Eve Dinner"Morning Catherine," He replied in such a way that the words rippled with a sence of devotion that was his heart was drowning in, as if the very words themselves had been soaking within his feelings for the entire night, eagerly awaiting their use in the morning for when Catherine woke. He smiled over at her, wanting so much to lean towards her and smother her in his affections, and yet half worried someone will hear them within the room and thin they where doing something else.
"Are you hungry?" Moving his arm that wasn’t holding his head up towards her, the tips of his fingers stroking aside some of her hair, just as an excuse for him to be allowed to reach out and touch her, he was liking this, the feeling of being so close to her. Part of him was able to believe that everything from now on between them would be alright, still they’d have to tread carefully but otherwise as long as they show each other they love one another it hopefully can’t get bad again.
"Ben and Stephie are leaving in a few hours, I can bring your breakfast up here if you want, you can eat in bed, if you don’t want to go downstairs with everyone, but you still haven’t opened your presents, Emily didn’t want to open hers until we went down and opened ours." Riley grinned a little, yet seemed to be keeping his voice down as if not want to either wake anyone up or get caught being in here with her, even if he figured his parents knew they where sleeping together, it would still embarrassing if they walked in on them while they where laying here like this, or even worse if they where actually making love.
Re: A 'Finn'tastic Christmas Eve Dinner"Morning Catherine," His voice was rather quiet and very gentle, something in his tone making the sleepy girl blush slightly. Her lips curved up into a smile again as she let her eyes look over at him before her gaze dropped away again to centre on his shoulder and the arm that was propping his head up. Her eyes seemed to drift away to the door as if expecting someone to come in and interupt them, not that they'd be interupting much.
"Are you hungry?" She let her body roll over onto her back so she was looking up at the white ceeling, there was a quick nod of her head in answer to his question. It felt nice yet so akward lying here like this with him. It had been so long since they'd been anything like this close to one another, the thought that they were patching things up was a pleasing one however. She didn't know that in a few short days her life would be turned upside down and that she'd loose Riley's baby. For a while after that her life would take a downwards spiral before things started to look up for her once again and she'd be able to patch her life back together again. She'd be torn apart from Riley and it would take effort from both of them and patience to get back to even the stage they were at at the moment.
"Ben and Stephie are leaving in a few hours, I can bring your breakfast up here if you want, you can eat in bed, if you don’t want to go downstairs with everyone, but you still haven’t opened your presents, Emily didn’t want to open hers until we went down and opened ours." Cat perked up at the news that Ben was leaving, remebering his awful comment of the night before, hopefully it would be the last time she saw him too. The idea of eating downstairs with everyone was a bit daunting but then again he'd jsut told her she had presents. She hadn't really been expecting to get anything, she'd already had her gift off Riley, the wooden horse and no one else knew she was coming up here. She felt bad for a moment though, she hoped whoever had got her anything hadn't felt obligated to do so because she was up here.
'Ummm I'll get up.' It seemed for once at least she didn't feel ill which she was counting as a good thing. There was a small flush of exciement that you always get when someone gives you a present, or in this case tells you you have gifts. Part of her wanted to scramble out of the bed and give Riley his present but another part of her was embaressed and there was a fear that he wouldn't like what she'd bought him.
Cat: It feels like my world is slipping through my fingers and I don't know how to hold onto it
Re: A 'Finn'tastic Christmas Eve Dinner
There was an excited look about Riley as she said she'll get up, that means they can open presents together, he can't remember still the last time he opened a present, and sure he was upset they spent money they don't really have on gifts, he still wanted to see what they thought he might like, you can normally tell a lot about someone by the presents they get you, though at the same time you have to take in account as to the amount of money they possess.
Slipping out of the bed,he grabbed up his jeans and slipped them on, he felt really shy about getting dressed and undressed around her now, normally when he was undressing in her presence they where about to make love. He felt a lot odd, as if she might stare at him just to make sure he wasn't roused and might try and coax her into loving him. So as a result he kept his back to her as he quickly buttons and zipped up his jeans, bending down to scoop up his shirt he had taken out of his wardrobe while going down to get Stephie.
Half turning to looking back at her while he tucked his singlet in, Riley offered a nervous little smile before glancing at the door as some people made their way to and from the bathroom. When he opened the door, his room door was also ope, signalling that Stephie had woken and departed from there to go down stairs with the others. Riley offered his mother a nervous little smile as she left the bathroom and said good morning to them. While she went down stairs Riley hurried into the bathroom to quickly freshen up, hurrying out a few short minutes later to race down the stairs into the kitchen.
"Morning!" The food was already set out onto the table "Catherine's eating breakfast with us! Can she have cereal?" He sounded awfully excited, darting to the cupboard while his mother pulled out the milk and set up a place for Catherine "Catherine we only have Cornflakes! Is that alright?" His hand was shifting through the things in the cupboard and he had no clue if she was still upstairs or not, and since everyone was up he didn't see the point in keeping his voice down, besides, he was really excited about all the goods things that where now happening in the past day.
Her eyes watched him, still full of sleep as she waited for him to leave the room. The fact that he dressed with his back to her meant nothing to her really, her eyes looking over the muscles in his arms before dropping away from him. It didn't occur to her that he might be shy of getting dressed in front of her. Her eyes looked back to him again as he moved out of the room towards the bathroom, she could hear people passing to and fro outside her room. She was a little nervous that someone would come in and disturb her when she was changing so she instead crept over to the door and locked it, unknowing that the locks on both her and Riley's doors were the same.
Rather hurriedly she pulled off her nightwear, shoving them under her pillow and then hunting around the room for her clothes. She pulled a clean pair of socks out of her holdall and put them on, at the same time as struggling to get her black top over her head. She managed it but managed to rather muss her hair up. For some reason she felt like she wanted to make a good impression this morning but at the same time the knowledge that there were presents downstairs for her made her want to hurry and she found herself torn between the two feelings.
Opening a small zip on her bag she pulled out her hair brush and a black tie for her hair. Brushing her hair she pulled it up into a pony tail, getting up she crossed over to the small mirror that was ontop of the chest of draws that was in the room. Making an irritated noise in the back of her throat she pulled her hair free, using the brush she pulled the top portion of her hair up into a pony tail, leaving the bottom half free, it greatly softened the look of her face. One of her hands reached up to her ears before she turned around and crossed back over to her bag, searching through the pockets untill she found the pair of earring she was looking for. She stood in front of the mirror again, reaching up and using her reflection to place the earings in to her ears, her eyes looking at the gold studs with their little diamonds that Riley had given her the night they'd gone to the dying star nightclub.
Hurrying down the stairs she was just in time to hear Riley calling out telling her that there were only cornflakes. She pulled a slight face at the news, Cat pefered sugary cereal if possible over what she considered boring cereal like cornflakes. But it was Christmas day afterall and there seemed to be a kind of infectious festivity in the house. She stood in the doorway looking almost shyly into the kitchen which seemed full of people of all ages. There was a quick little nod of her head in response to his question, her eyes sliding around the room to look at everyones faces. They all looked really different by the light of day and she felt herself wanting to just slink back upstairs. If there was one thing Cat didn't like was being picked out of a crowd and at the moment her and Riley were an object of interest for the household.
Cat: It feels like my world is slipping through my fingers and I don't know how to hold onto it
Re: A 'Finn'tastic Christmas Eve Dinner
When he glanced back at her, Riley had pulled free the box and helped finish setting up her place, he seemed to pause though and stair at her a little while placing down the milk. She looked really pretty, a little more done up then usual, he liked her hair like that, it made her look so kind and alluring at the same time. It took a moment longer to notice the fact she was wearing the earings he had gotten her when they went on their very first date, which was down at the dying star, just before she run off on him and the rest of the school. Smiling at her while taking a step away and pulling out her seat a little for her, Riley then rounded the table since his mother was setting down his plate of bacon and eggs opposite to Catherine.
"Good morning Catherine," Martha placed her hand on Cat's shoulder while walking past her, most of the others filed out of the kitchen and moved back into the family room in front of the warm fire, though it had been on well into the night while they where up late talking, so the house was still nice and warm compared to outside, the ground was coverined in snow since it had been falling most of the night, most of the area outside was coated with white, only patches of colour could be seen, like the red barn walls especially.
"Everyone's doing work today," Emily walked in rather sleepily, her hair that had been platted the night before was ruffled and messy, her hand lazily rubbing at her eye to wipe away the morning tiredness.
"Morning Emily, what are they working on?" Riley's fork was poking lightly at the fresh eggs before he started cutting at them, placing them onto the neatly cut pieces of toast and adding a neatly cut bit of bacon onto that to create easy to eat bite sized portions of egg & bacon on toast.
"Just the usual Christmas stuff.." She added with a little yawn while opening the fridge and pouring herself a glass of apple juice, the way Riley seemed to be staring at her as if expecting more of an explination to follow caused Emily to pick up her glass and take a seat at the table beside Catherine for the moment. "Martha starts cook again for tonights dinner, while she's cooking Jonathan and I cleaning and Ben is helping, Ammie and Dave are helping as well, Ammie and Dave are baby sitting and the Stephanie is going to rest until we finish and Ben is able to leave." Taking a drink from her glass, she then continued speaking "And then Jonathan is taking you and Catherine out for your big present, and then when he gets back he's taking Ammie and Dave plus the twins and they're going into town for more food, I might go with them." Ben's voice called out rather aggitatedly, yelling her name as if it alone was some form of demand, the small red head rolled her sighs with an annoyed sigh as she climbed off the table and made her way into the other room.
Ammie and Dave came into the kitchen moments later with two girls that looked similar, Haley with Ammie and Nina with Dave, both girls looked rather tired and yet at the same time seemed to be looking around with bright curious eyes. Ammie sat down beside Riley and Dave took a seat beside Catherine, once again Riley's attention drifted away from his food even though he was really hungry and took more interest in the young child on Ammie's lap. There was that excited and keen look about his smile and within his eyes again like the night before, showing how keen he was to have his own.
With a smile, Riley shyly stared down at his place once again, listening to both parents coaxing the young ones to eat their breakfast, which was really just Ammie and Dave's egg and bacon left overs from before, the girls don't eat food unless they had seen their parents eating it as well or at least someone else. When Riley was finished, he moved over towards the sink and was slowly washing his dish, he was a little unsure what was expected of him today. Everyone seemed to have plans and he hadn't been asked to do anything. Well they still had to open their presents, Riley's mind wondering for a moment what Emily had meant about his 'big present'. Riley decided to wait for Catherine before heading off into the family room, busying himself with cleaning any of the dirty dishes he could find on the benches.
Re: A 'Finn'tastic Christmas Eve Dinner"Good morning Catherine," Cat gave her a little smile as she felt Martha's hand rest down on her shoulder. There was a tiny bit of pain mixed in with the look she gave Riley's mother though. She didn't have a mother and was unused to such simple gestures of affection. There was a sudden rush of jelousy over the fact that Riley had something she could never have even if she was married to someone, his parents still wouldn't be hers. They'd never be able to love her the same as they would do their son. Cat looked away and down at the bowl of cereal Riley had given her, reaching her hand across just as Emily walked into the room looking tired.
"Everyone's doing work today," Emily approached the fridge as Cat opened the bottle of milk and poured some over the cereal before tkaing up her spoon. Riley had inquired what everyone was doing and while Emily pulled the fridge opend and assessed the contents inside she reeled a list of what everyone was doing off. Cat could only put a few faces to names, to her if felt like there were fifty people in the house, she'd become quite accustomed to it just being the four of them. It wasn't too bad here either after Riley had got her the television and her CD's. If she hadn't had either of them she'd have been a lot more bored than she already was. She hadn't even been out to the barn to see the horses she'd been that entertained just having her television up here.
Her attention was grabbed away from her cornflakes again as Ammie and her husband came in with their little girls, she couldn't help but noticing the look on Rile's face as he looked at the children. She could tell from it just how much he was looking forwards to the arrival of their little child. She had no idea that she'd loose her baby in such a short space of time, nor that her life was going to slip into a steep decline after that. After a long moment she started eating again, looking up only after Riley had pushed his plate away and got up to do the washing. He seemed really cheerful in all his movements. Cat finnished her cornfalkes and then stood up, looking a little uncure of what she was supposed to do now.
Cat: It feels like my world is slipping through my fingers and I don't know how to hold onto it
Re: A 'Finn'tastic Christmas Eve Dinner
With Cat's movement caught in the corner of Riley's eye, he glanced back at her, scooping up her plate and washing it quickly before grinning and taking hold of her hand. Leading his girlfriend into the other room, Riley shifted behind her as soon as they entered the room, only because Ben had stopped talking and threw Riley a rather nasty glare. Bed hadn't been pleased when Stephie wasn't where he left her, and to find her in Riley's room only made him angrier, Ben was acting as if the bed and Riley where some form of walking virus. Emily grinned and yelled out excitedly as she left the table and hurried towards Catherine and Riley, grabbing hold of Cat's hand and tugging them towards the tree.
"I got to help choose your present!" She seemed really excited, pointing to the collection of neatly wrapped and nicely decorated boxes. Emily grabbed Riley one of the gifts, it was thin and wide, but hard as well, while he stared at the blue and silver coloured gift, Emily looked delighted as she handed Catherine a red and silver leaf patterned gift, there was a gold ribbon about it with some curls of silver ribbon and a bow on the front.
Catherine got a computer game, Emily was sure if she liked TV and all that stuff then she had to like computers as well. She asked Ben to help get her a game but he wouldn't have anything to do with it, so Jonathan and Martha got her a game between them, computer games where not cheap! But they knew Riley had a laptop so they hoped she'd be able to use that and that they haven't gotten her something that she wouldn't be able to use.. they'd be really upset if the laptop wasn't able to handle games, which of course it could, but they weren't sure about it. Riley had a photo of the family, in comparison to price they knew it was unfair, but Riley had another gift coming, they just wanted to wrap some things under the tree for him. They didn't know just how desperate he was for pictures, not just of him and Catherine, but of them as well, so he would think he had the better deal in gifts.
In Emily's hand she held another present, it was a box , but it had both of their names on it, and Emily seemed really excited about this present, waiting first for them to open what they already had in their hands before she gave them this gift. Riley had told Ammie and Dave about getting her the Lord of the Rings book and they got her the rest of the series since they had no idea what she would like. Riley felt a little bad telling them that now because he hadn't seen her with the book really. They got Riley a few books as well, and the rest of the family pinched in to get them both the gift that Emily was holding, it was a small hand held video camera that was also able to be used as a photo camera and had a whole assortment of extra features. Both grandparents hadn't been pleased with Ben refusing to help pinch in, he wasn't being very nice to their long lost Riley and their new member of the family, Catherine.
"You get this one last! It's from everyone else." Emily informed them gleefully while cuddling the wrapped video recorder to her chest, they all wanted to see and hear from Riley and Catherine as often as possible and he could hook the camera up to his laptop and download the files and send them to his parents (His gift to them was a computer that will be set up in his room so they can have access to a computer and the internet). While Catherine began to unwrap her gifts, Riley watched her for a moment before Emily urged him on, focusing on neatly uncovering his presents.
"That's not how you do it, you rip the paper." Riley stared at her, she stared back, there was a chuckle from the others at the table, which caused Riley to look over to them for a moment before explaining to Emily why he was being so careful.
"I thought if I didn't rip it then it could be reused.." It was very nice wrapping and Riley couldn't understand why people just ripped it apart. Emily stressed her voice a little when she replied saying 'that's not the point Riley, it's Christmas', with a blink, still not really understanding the point, Riley carefully ripped the nice wrapping and it caused Emily to grin brightly, which amused Riley enough to smile back at her. He seemed very taken by the picture of the many smiling faces staring at him, looking delighted over the gift that he gently placed to the side while Emily handed over their wrapped books for them to open.
The young Finn hopped about a little impatiently while waiting for Catherine to finish opening the books, Riley seemed to study all four really thick books he had been given and Emily wasn't able to wait for him to finish readying the backs of every single one before opening this - what she considered - amazing gift.
Re: A 'Finn'tastic Christmas Eve Dinner
Emily clasped hold of her hand, tugging the older girl impatiently towards the tree, Cat couldn't help breaking out into a smile at the young girls enthusiasm. She looked behind her just to check that Riley was still back there. Emily dropped hold of her hand and croutched down next to the tree so she could pull out a present that she egerly held out towards Riley. Cat knelt down next to her, she didn't like the fact that other people in the room seemed to be looking over towards them, it was making her feel out of place and conspicious.
"I got to help choose your present!" There was another smile on her face for Emily as the girl passed her across a brightly wrapped package. It felt like a DVD type of shape which made her grin a little more. She'd watched all the ones that Clairce had brought though her portals and also those that Riley had given her. At the time she'd felt horribly guilty over the fact that she'd just yelled at him before hand. She pushed that thought aside though as she egerly opened the presents. She was a little dissapointed that it wasn't a DVD inside the wrapper but a computer game instead, she tried to give Emily a bright smile, trying to remember that it wasn't what you got but the thought that was behind it. She'd never really played any computer games before but this one did look interesting, it was called the sims and it looked like you had to make up houses for little people and then manipulate their lives. Her eyes wandered over towards Riley wondering if he'd let her use his laptop to play the game on, come to think of it she wasn't sure even sure he'd brought it with him.
'Thanks.' She turned her eyes upto his parents who were sitting at the table and then back down to Emily again. Looking back at Riley she saw he seemed to have a photoframe though from this angle she couldn't see what was in it, she assumed it was his family or something like that. Emily was shoving another gift towards her though, grinning happily, Cat was rather suprised to see it was from Ammie and Dave, she didn't even know them yet they'd got her a present. There was a small awful feeling that was rising inside her though at the thought that she hadn't got them anything, or Emily but she couldn't be blamed since she didn't know about them. The knowledge didn't make her feel any better though.
As soon as she'd pulled the books free from the paper her eyes lifted to look at Riley, it was quite obvious from the spines of the books that they were part of the series that he'd brought her the first from. The fact that the first one was missing made it clear Riley must have suggested this gift to them. She was a little dissapointed they were only books, it wasn't like she'd ever read them. She still looked around and thanked Dave and Ammie politley giving them a smile before she looked back at Riley and Emily who seemed to be dancing on the spot she was that that excited about the box she was holding in her hands. It seemed Riley had got books too, though he seemed quiet engrossed in reading the backs of them.
Cat: It feels like my world is slipping through my fingers and I don't know how to hold onto it
Re: A 'Finn'tastic Christmas Eve Dinner"And this one is from everyone else, there are other presents for you, but Riley said they are from your friends that go to your school." Throwing a curious glance towards the scattered collection of small gifts, Emily then held the present out for Catherine to take, throwing Riley a stern look since he still hadn't lifted his eyes to see she was handing out another present.
Emily was the type of girl who, even if she really loved the gift, would shove it aside for later study until all objects with her name on it where shredded apart and she knew what was inside them for her amusement or use. Riley caught the stare and shyly turned his focus to Catherine so he could watch her unwrap the present, there was a card on it, with a pretty christmas tree, Riley reached out and took it off while Catherine worked on taking apart the wrapping.
"To Riley and Catherine, we hope this comes useful and you enjoy using it, it is wonderful to have both Riley returned to our home, and the additions of our family that have come with him, Merry Christmas you two, the Finn Family." Riley read it outloud for Catherine to hear while she was busying herself, his eyes turned curiously to stare at what it was, it felt nice to have something that was both of theirs, it felt.. really wonderful actually, like they where really starting to be a family of their own.
"What is it?" He was shifting aside from of the wrapping, already starting to clean up the mess and getting a glare from Emily commanding him to stop as she said that they clean up once the gifts are all unwrapped, Riley was amazed by all these unspoken rules, but grinned and allowed Catherine to obtain his entire devoted attention, occasionally glancing towards the box in her hand.
Re: A 'Finn'tastic Christmas Eve Dinner"And this one is from everyone else, there are other presents for you, but Riley said they are from your friends that go to your school." Cat accepted the gift Emily had just shoved towards her, her eyes slipped over towards Riley, suprised that Emily would choose her over Riley to open a joint gift to the both of them. She was about to start opening the gift when Riley reached over her and took hold of the tag that had been placed upon the present.
It was all so weird to her, their idea of Christmas, she was more used to her parents were everyone had to open one present at a time on Christmas morning after she'd been to church. She'd always been allowed her Christmas stocking when she woke up though. Everyhting had been so ordered at her house, all the wrapping paper had to go in a bin bag so it didn't mess up the floor and then she'd be allowed to play with her toys or watch a Christmas movie while her mum made Christmas dinner.
"To Riley and Catherine, we hope this comes useful and you enjoy using it, it is wonderful to have both Riley returned to our home, and the additions of our family that have come with him, Merry Christmas you two, the Finn Family." She blushed slightly as the card refered to the fact that she was pregnant. There was a sudden hope that they hadn't bought them anything to do with the baby. However once she'd removed the wrapping paper her face seemed to break out into a broad grin as she looked down at the video camera.
"What is it?" He looked over at her rather curiously as she studied the box she was holding in her hands. There was another pretty and happy smile which was directed towards Riley. There was no mistaking the fact that she liked this present best out of the ones she'd been given. She couldn't help feeling that since they were his family it belonged more to him than to her and when they split up she wouldn't mention anything about her having any useage of it.
'See...' She held it out for him to look at and take from her. 'It's a video camera.'
Cat: It feels like my world is slipping through my fingers and I don't know how to hold onto it
Re: A 'Finn'tastic Christmas Eve Dinner'See...' Reaching over, Riley's hands carefully took the camera from her 'It's a video camera.' Even if Riley could buy one for himself, heck, he could by one for the every member in the family and it wouldn't put a dent into his bank account.. well.. the current one he was using anyway. But there was something different about someone else giving you something, and especially something that he liked, there was a delighted look about him, especially since it could make pictures that he could take down on special discs and have turned into proper photos of really good quality.
"Thank you!" He turned his head towards them.. all of whom seemed really happy that they chose a present, which both Riley and Cat looked delighted about getting. "This is really wonderful, it was very kind of you to get this for us." He did feel a little bad that they had spent so much money on them, but they where so keen to impress and spoil both him and Catherine that they where willing to spend the money for this special occasion. Emily gave Catherine the diary Dawn got her, both to help write down home work and notes, Angela and her also went through all the dates and Marked them down, placing names and Birthdays of everyone and even adding little sticker photo's of their faces beside their names. They had heaps of people, all of X-Force, even Connor and his sisters, Heath, basically everyone Riley knew as well as all their closer friends, everyone had a little description in either Dawn or Angela's writing, explaining who they are and such.
Just because Catherine didn't know them yet didn't mean she wasn't ever going to meet them, and if she could recognize their faces the girls hoped she might be more inclined on speaking with others. Even people like Max where marked in there, all his caption said was 'Avoid with Caution' and in darkened letters Angela had written 'Male Whore' and Dawn had added beneath it 'Racist Pig & Riley Hater, scorn on Sight'. Since Cat and Dawn hadn't had a chance to sit down and interact, neither have been able to really work things out between them. Cat didn't understand that Dawn had been really upset to realize she just ran off without saying good-bye and then really hurt that she had left Riley in the state he had fallen to. And Dawn couldn't understand why she left, she didn't understand or know Cat well enough to figure out she didn't do it on purpose and it was only because she was scare and going through a hard time she wasn't sure she could handle, what with her first lover forgetting everything about her amongst some other things she was feeling and going through.
Angela got Catherine a sticky-photo camera like the one she has, she was obsessed with the thing, and even though it was only $20 she was having more fun it that half the other things people have gotten her. Angela figured Catherine might like to stick some friendly faces about the place, like on her school books or wall or whatever, no surface seemed safe from Angela's craze, even her bed posts have started to gather their own collection. There where small tags on both of their presents, Angela's said;
Merry Christmas Cat, wish you where here, it would have been fun to actually go out somewhere, Connor was planning on heading up to the ski resort, he's not going now for personal reasons, but it got me thinking.. we should go skiing!! It would be lovely don't you think?
Anyway, I hope you have a warm and lovely Christmas Cat, I hear you're getting spoiled as well, lucky you, I heard about your Christmas present from Riley, that's awesome.. I'm jealous.. no bragging in front of me or I'll cry! And how do you like the DVD's I chose for you (honestly, I had thought the TV, DVD and those movies where your presents, what spell have you put Riley under!?) I hope they're ok, Riley was in a panic (as usual) over what you might like. He wanted to find a TV just like your one that got broken, I had to tell the guy you really wouldn't mind if it weren’t the exact same in looks.
Take Care,
Angela.
Obviously she had wrote this before her training accident, since even if Catherine was there she wouldn't be able to move about too much still, even now she had to use crutches and she couldn't move about too much even with them. Dawns letter wasn't as sweet as Angela's, she honestly didn't know what to say, she didn't even really want to write to the girl, she felt stupid, and the fact she knew Cat wasn't getting her a gift made her feel as if she's been cheated.
I thought this might help, since everyone knows about you - Riley seems able to related anything and everything back to something to do with you or something you've done or done together - I thought this might help you get to know some of the people around you. We put in special dates, and Angela said she gave you her old phone card, well you have their numbers then, this'll help you put faces to the names in the phone.
Angela went on a photo craze, all the names have photos, now you can see people Riley has probably mentioned off hand every now and then, we tried to tell you a bit about them so you understand who they are. Most of them used to be Riley's friends (we marked his friends with 'Riley's Friend' underneath the photo), a fair few haven't had the chance to interact - or even talk - with him for the last half of the year.
Also, Angela said you wanted to come home and that you didn't like it there, word of advice; you might want to tell Riley that, it's pretty obvious he hopes you'll go down more often if he gets you a gift like that.
But it nice you're at least trying to stay for him, at least that's what I figure since you didn't come back like you said you wanted to.. or are you staying because he asked you to stay? Either way, I really do hope you work things out with him.. he was doing cartwheels over the fact he has a kid, which we are all amazed by.. the fact he has a kid I mean, I hope he didn't do it just so you wouldn't leave again. I hope you're talking with him more about the baby now, you know he was asking me and Angela about that stuff since you always told him off for bringing that up. He wants to know when the baby will start kicking and moving, what names do you want.. stuff like that, you might want to talk with him, it'll help cheer him up.
By the way, my sister says hi, I know this is an awful thing to put in a Christmas card, but so you know, we're going down to that place that was holding you and Riley. Jennifer and some others (including me and Angela wants to tag along as well) are going to make sure that place is empty. So we might not be at the school for the first two weeks of the new year, and Jennifer has a present for you, but she will be visiting you later, if you're not back from Iowa she'll be heading up there, she's been really upset since she woke up, she seems keen on talking with you.
Dawn.
It wasn't the most cheerful letter, and there where some hints towards things Cat's done that have hurt Riley or something she's done that Dawn didn't like. But another part of her was also trying to tell Cat that she felt awful over what had happened to her, even if the young Witch was having a hard time coming out and saying it. Angela and Dawn where keen on going down and hopefully finding out who had done such a terrible thing to her, raping someone was soul and the fact Cat was a friend of a slayer made the crime more dangerous then ever for the culprit.
Since no one knew she had trouble reading they didn't know she might find it hard to read their letters, but Riley was already cleaning up the mess so he wasn't paying any attention to the last few presents Cat was opening. Since they normally only had Emily really with presents and everyone else only had one or two, it meant they hadn't made much mess while opening presents, and normally Emily would pass the gifts out one by one to everyone like she had done last night, only there was only Riley and Catherine and Riley was taking his time and enjoying the gifts so he seemed to fall behind a little, but it was also a good thing since the girls already gave him his present, they wanted him to cheer up so they gave it to him after they found him sulking on his own after Catherine got upset about him trying to ask things about the baby again. They had given him new paints and art supplies, his old room was half packed now with paintings and set up as a small drawing studio, half the ground was covered in a pale gray mat to stop the paint from staining the floor.
Re: A 'Finn'tastic Christmas Eve Dinner"Thank you!" Riley seemed as thrilled as Cat was over the gift the family had got them, his eyes lighting up as much as Cat's as he saw what they'd got him. There was an excited grin on his face as he looked over at his family before his eyes moved back to the box in his hands. There was a rather large part of Catherine that wanted to go and try out the video camera now but Emily had said that there were other gifts for her so she stayed resting on her knees in front of the Christmas tree. "This is really wonderful, it was very kind of you to get this for us." There was a flashed smile from Cat towards the rest of the family, it was the happiest she'd looked since she'd came here, her eyes sparkling as she looked back at Riley. She'd forgotten to say thank you to everyone but the happy expression on her face said enough really.
She looked back at Emily as the young girl pressed another present into her hands, she was more than a little suprised to see that it was from Dawn. The pair of girls had hardly spoken since the night Cat had run off and there was a feeling of guilt at the fact that Dawn had got her something yet she'd bought her nothing in return. Well it would be too late to send her something now, if she did Dawn would just know that she'd sent it because Dawn herself had got Cat a present.
Catherine ripped off the paper first, the diary falling out into her lap, her hands taking it up carefully and opening it, flicking through the pages, looking rather suprised that Dawn seemed to have gone through it already and filled parts of it in. Her hands reached over for the tag that was attatched to the paper she'd torn off, reading over the words quiet slowly. She seemed to go rather quiet at the knowlegde that Dawn and the others were going to the Initiative base, even if it was free from opperatives now she still didn't like the idea of people she cared about being there. Her eyes looked over at Riley but he wasn't looking at him, it wasn't like she could just tell him or anything, not with the rest of his family standing around like this.
Emily however was pressing another present onto her, Cat willingly opened it, though she looked a little subdued after Dawn's declaration of where they'd all gone this Christmas. She brightened up a little however when she saw that Angela had bought her. Angela's card that she'd attatched to the present didn't take Cat as long to read, mainly because it was shorter. It did however make her glance across at Riley with a rather curious look on her face, both letters had refered to something Riley had got her for Christmas, he hadn't mentioned anything to her that he'd bought her.
She wanted to run up stairs and get Riley his present and Riley's parents then but she felt too shy to move, knowing that everyone in the room had their eyes on them. Maybe she could sneak off and get them later. There was a final present for her from Jess, but she hadn't written a tag, just written happy Christmas Cat across the top. Inside were a couple of CD's Cat already had one of them but she still looked rather happy at the knowledge that Jess hadn't forgotten about her.
Cat: It feels like my world is slipping through my fingers and I don't know how to hold onto it
Re: A 'Finn'tastic Christmas Eve Dinner
Grabbing up some of their things as Jonathan declared that it was time to get to work, Riley seemed to wait for a moment, half hoping they would give him something to do, only they all wanted him to relax and enjoy this Christmas, they wanted to do this for him since he's been missing for song long. Looking a little disappointed when they asked if he planned on heading out anywhere, Riley just said something about him and Catherine having work they need to finish.
Emily helped carry some of their gifts up to Cat and Riley's room as well; Riley had given Catherine the digital video camera to hold and was carrying most of their books. Once their gifts where placed neatly in their rooms, Emily trotted down stairs to start helping Jonathan with the cleaning.
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