A very Grim(ley) Christmas (Gia)

[Craven Grimley]

[23rd December]

Christmas time and present wrapping. This was so not his thing but here was the mountains of presents awaiting wrapping and his father would be their soon to join the festivities. Then again, his dad said this every year and it never really happened. He never really showed up on Christmas eve and normally it was spent instead with Dilan, Gabriel and the staff that didn’t have families to go off to at Christmas time. That’s why Craven made a point of buy those who spent Christmas with them, presents.

The big Christmas tree in the lounge would be decorated today. Normally it was him, Tanner and Gia that decorated the tree. Gia was an expert at decorations and they always did it right before lunch and during lunch even. Little sandwiches were already laid out on the coffee table and new decorations were stacked beside the tree ready to be ripped apart to stash across the tree. The fire place was lit and on the plush couch nearest to that fireplace were all the presents for Family, friends and staff ready to be wrapped by Craven and Gia.

Tanner wasn’t there for the first time in a long time. In fact, his brother had grown distant and it was hardly surprising. What with all his dad’s talk of universities lurking around each conversation the two of them had. Craven had however, insisted that Tanner stay close to him instead of joining a high end University for his degree in law. Tanner was a good enough bullshitter to make a career out of it anyway so it was the right career path but Vermont did law too.

Tanner had already hinted, that come June when he graduated from Hammel, he’d apply to study in Vermont so the brothers could remain close together. It brought a smile to Craven’s face as he entered the lounge and moved to the plush white rug to sit down in front of it and wait for Gia to show her face. They had lots to do and a whole room to themselves to do it in. Maybe he could even try and mend their cold relationship a little. Things just seemed off, but it was more his fault then hers, he knew.

[Gia Elliot]

She didn't want to know. She hadn't wanted to know who it was that Craven had slept with earlier that semester. Who had taken her boyfriend's virginity. She wanted to just pretend it hadn't actually happened. After all, Craven wasn't still seeing the person, and Craven had ended it all on his own. And anyway, Gia still found herself the luckiest girl in the world that Craven even noticed her, yet alone liked her and was dating her. She just wanted to be left in blissful ignorance. And yet, she had to find out. It wasn't even her fault. She hadn't even gone into their minds. She wasn't going to touch that area of Craven's head, and she avoided reading strangers heads anyway. But the awkwardness between Craven and Romeo when they had bumped into each other at the mall had certainly led to those uncontrollable surface thoughts.

She wasn't going to say anything, but it was still a lot to process. While the other person was a mystery, Gia could secretly despise them without actually hating anyone. Now she had good reason to hate Romeo and Gia didn't like that fact. It also made the cheating thing real. So she'd stayed away from Craven as much as she could. She just didn't want to be around him and be remind of the whole issue. Besides, he was being just as aloof and awkward as she was, so it wasn't entirely her fault. To make matters worse, Gia was feeling homesick and really just wanted it to be the holidays so she could just curl up and read her books without worrying about tests and homework and pop quizzes and knowing all of the material that had been covered. Seeing her mother, and how sick she clearly was over Thanksgiving had certainly shortened the amount of time that the cleaning girl had wanted to spend away.

The holidays couldn't come fast enough, and Gia had been spending as much time as she could with her mom. Despite everything that she had read about how multiple sclerosis was a chronic condition and people with it lived for years and years, they also seemed to become more decrepid over time. What happened when she didn't recognize her mom anymore? When Diane couldn't function properly without constant care nearby? What happened to a cleaning woman when she could no longer clean? Still, there were traditions that needed to be upheld, so when Gia had finished what work she had, thankfully it tended to be reduced when there were fewer guests in the house, and the boss-man was out of town, she headed to the kitchen to bake cookies before the tree was decorated and the presents wrapped. She wasn't much of a baker, but still. Cookies were cookies.

Maria was thankfully visiting family, so the skirting around her to get what was necessary was, in fact, unnecessary. She hurried quickly with the plate of warm, doughy chocolate chip cookies to the lounge and walked up behind Craven, placing the cookies on a nearby table and slowly falling to her knees and covering his eyes with her hands. "Guess who?" she whispered softly against the back of his neck. She wanted the tension to go away between them. More than anything else regarding their relationship she wanted it back the way it was. Back when they were they and there was nothing but love between them. No secrets. Nothing hidden. No chilled awkward silences. She had forgiven him the cheating already. That was done. She just needed to get over now knowing who the his... was it appropriate to call Romeo his mistress?

"I made cookies?"

[Craven Grimley]

As was to be expected, Craven tensed up when he felt her hands covering his eyes. His eyes shut. He didn’t need to hear her voice to know it was Gia. The familiar scent of her floral hand lotion she wore when she was working to much and the lavender in her hair shampoo told him who was finally beside him. Her whisper against his neck made hair stand up across his skin.

Since the night during the thanks giving holiday, when he’d taken her virginity, all he’d wanted was her close to him. Maybe that was the key to fixing their relationship. More passion. More closeness. She was his girl. Though Romeo had awakened his desires and his sexual needs, he only pictured Gia in his bed. No one else came even close.

Of course he wondered what it felt like to kiss other people, like Adrianna for example but nothing more than a curious kiss. Didn’t every guy have the desire to obtain what was considered to be unobtainable… like Adrianna. He’d always thought she was unobtainable. He’d never thought she’d wanted to be close to him until she’d mentioned it, in not so many words of course.

He’d also never thought that Romeo had any interest in him until that night where he’d been all sweaty and half nude happened. Craven lifted his hand and slowly pulled one of her hands from covering his eye, turning so the other hand fell away from his face and he could look at her. He moved his free hand to cup her face pulling it closer to kiss.

”They smell fantastic Gia.”
He whispered against her lips before deepening the kiss. Just then he felt eyes on them and slowly pulled away turning his eyes to the doorway where Dilan stood, beautiful black wings hanging on either side of him like a fallen angel. He was leaning lazily against the door way, face expressionless as he watched them.

Craven cleared his throat and quickly pulled away from Gia pointing to the plate of cookies behind him.
”Uh did you want a cookie? Gia just made them. They’re still warm.”
Dilan lazily pushed from the doorway, strolled over to the chair and sat down in it before fixing his eyes on them.
”Wow, Little Grimley. Last I heard from Cooper, you were dating the Adrianna girl. The dark one that was here for Thanks giving. That ended so quickly.”
Craven flinched and looked between the smirking Dilan to Gia and then to Dilan again.
”You won’t tell him will you?”
There was a long pause where Dilan’s eyes focused on the member of staff that Craven was actually dating.

[Gia Elliot]

Gia had never really noticed the combination smell from her lotion and shampoo, but it was certainly nice that Craven had. There was really something intimate about knowing who someone was based on the scents they wore. Especially if you actually liked the combination of the scents. Gia was comforted by the smell of Craven's soaps and shampoos as well. They made her want to curl up and cuddle with him for hours on end. She smiled as he pulled her hand away and edged closer. Why on earth did relationships have to have rough patches? It didn't make things interesting or fun or delightful or new. It made it hard. And Gia didn't want it to be hard. Or particularly interesting, honestly. Nice calm, peaceful relationship that would bore anyone not in it.

She drew in a deep breath as he pulled her face closer, and let her eyes drift shut as he complimented the smell of the cookies. Gia only hoped they tasted as good as they smelled. It was a bit difficult to ruin the smell of a chocolate chip cookie, even if you did destroy the taste completely. At least they weren't completely burnt though. If anything, they were as far from burnt as cooked cookies could be. But the words turned into a kiss, and the kiss deepened, and any and all trains of thought running through Gia's mind stopped functioning. She didn't notice the man watching them. Not his presence, not his thoughts, nothing. Not until Craven broke the kiss did she follow his gaze to the winged relative of the Grimley's.

This was bad. The family wasn't supposed to know about them. They wouldn't approve. Gia and Craven both knew that, and when secrets got out, boy did they have a tendency to blow up in people's faces. That was the only reason Gia hadn't told her mother. People, even servants gossiped, and surely to confirm rumors, people would ask Diane if it were true. That wasn't a position Gia wanted her mom in. Either lie, or risk putting the relationship at risk. No, it was better if she didn't know. Gia edged away from her boyfriend, just as much as he edged away from her. Maybe, just maybe they could somehow rectify the situation?

The angel spot, and Gia glanced at the rug. Yes. Adrianna. As grateful as Gia was that the girl had stepped up to pretend to date Craven to keep Gia and Craven out of the spotlight in his family, right now it was coming back to bite them. Gia just wanted to be able to say that was a lie, and that it had been her all along, but as easy as that was for a lot of people, it wouldn't work. Her eyes flicked back and forth as well, but as soon as Craven asked if his uncle would keep the secret, Gia turned to only watch the black-winged man, pleas running through her mind, though she dared not let them touch his. Only if Craven asked her to change his mind would she even attempt that sort of thing. No, she was praying he'd keep their secret on his own. As a semi-incentive, she nudged the plate of cookies toward him.

[Craven Grimley]

Dilan smirked at Gia, tilting his head from her to the cookies. Such a quiet girl and Craven was sure Dilan could sense she was frightened to speak her mind, that her respect for the family name was keeping her from defending them. Craven could also tell that his uncle wanted something from her, from them maybe even. Craven watched Dilan intently as he reached over to take a cookie after the nudging of the plate toward him.

"Hmmm... You're right. They are still warm."
Silence fell again as Craven glanced between Dilan nibbling at the cookie then to Gia beside him. Craven huffed and sighed.
"I don't care. Tell him. She's my girlfriend. We have been dating ever since October and I got commitment on the brain. It's serious and he can do whatever the hell he wants with that information."

Craven wrapped an arm around Gia's waist and pulled her into his embrace so that he could wrap both arms around her. Dilan smiled and bit into his bottom lip watching them. There was a strange twinkle in Dilan's eyes which definitely made Craven worry a little.
"Why is it, Miss Elliot, that you fear speaking to me or raising your voice when Me and my sister, Craven's mother, used to be in the exact same place you were at your age? We just married rich. Seems like you have some Stark traits in you too Gia."

Craven raised an eyebrow at this knowledge. He never knew this. His eyes flicked from Gia to Dilan then a slow smile settled on his lips and he nudged Gia so she'd say something and not be so quiet.
"I think he approves of us."
Craven whispered into Gia's ear taking in her scent while he was there. So his dad had no reason to be mad at him for this. He was repeating history, that's all.

[Gia Elliot]

Gia watched the older man nervously. He wouldn't tell Cooper, would he? She had to concentrate on actually breathing to keep her hands from quivering at the nerves that wouldn't stop. Her breath caught as Dillan leaned over and picked up a cookie, and it wasn't released until he mentioned that they were still warm. Warm cookies were always good. No one could dislike a nice, chewy, warm cookie. But when Craven sighed, Gia's hand found its own way to his and squeezed softly. Months. They'd been going out months, and it was only just now getting out. It had been a good run. Hopefully this wouldn't put an end to...

Commitment? Commitment on the brain. That most definitely eased up the nerves, and Gia turned in surprise to smile at him. Too bad 'whatever the hell he wants' including firing and dismissing and banning Gia and her mother, as well as forcing Craven to transfer to one of the other schools under pretense of giving him a more worldly view and networking. Gia was very aware of all the different things that could go wrong with their relationship because of the status gap between them. She laid her head against Craven's shoulder as he held her tight against him, but her eyes flashed to Dillan when he addressed her directly.

Same place? What place would that be? The poor place, or the 'my mother is a maid for his dad and is the only source of income' place? They were definitely not the same place. At least in the poor case the father couldn't cut off the limited money supply. Eventually, with Craven nudging and whispering to her to actually say something, Gia squeeked out a few words. After all, it wasn't like she could just shrug off a direct question from a Grimley. "I don't want my mom fired because of me. Or because of us." She cringed at her own words and prayed neither of the two men would take it the wrong way.

[Craven Grimley]

Always the comfort. Always the soft squeeze of his hand to reassure him. He had to fight for them. It could NOT end like this. He loved her far too much for it to end like this. He cared too greatly for her. It was strange, sitting there with her as his girlfriend when just a year ago, she'd been his best friend and he'd protected her from being icing covered because Tanner, who back then had been inseprable from Craven's side, had manage to secure his hands around a bowl of icing sugar Maria had made. Tanner had for a long time been a big part of his life.

Things started changing when Tanner turned seventeen that year. His rebelious stage had taken a turn for the worst and he was barely speaking to Craven anymore. At some point, Craven would become aware that he could not, would not avoid it any longer. He'd man up and face it. He'd sit his brother down and try and knock some sense into him to regain some semblence of what they had once had together. He kept thinking that maybe Tanner had figured out who he was dating and was either pissed Craven had gotten to Gia first. Or felt threatened by Gia.

Craven knew the latter was much more likely and he kept a very close eye on Gia in case he did something to hurt her in some way. Craven blinked glancing from Gia to Dilan who blinked in surprise at Gia in turn. Craven was about to say something in objection, body stiff and feathers ruffled but Dilan said it first.
"Then you are most definitely dating the wrong guy. Choosing a guy over family? That's a little off don't you think Miss Elliot?"

Craven frowned in alarm and widened his eyes at Dilan. What was he playing at? How dare he say that? Why was he making them feel guilty for loving each other?!
"Why would you say that?"
Dilan shrugged slightly.
"What's the point of secret kisses and little white lies just to have a relationship? What's the point in pretending? I was simply wondering Craven. What's the point?"

Craven frowned and shoot a look to Gia slowly pulling his arms from around her.
"I don't want to put your mom in danger. I can keep it quiet if you prefer."
Craven muttered half defeatedly to his girlfriend.

[Gia Elliot]

Well that wasn't fair. What made Craven the wrong guy? And she wasn't putting a guy before her mom, was she? She was still helping her mom as much as she could. Those high to reach places that required getting on something to reach, all those spots that needed extra balance, Gia was doing so her mother wouldn't get hurt. She had no intention of putting anyone ahead of anyone else, except herself. She'd put whoever mattered to her before she put herself. Everything inside her filled with guilt at the thought that she was putting her own happiness with Craven ahead of her mom, and her eyes fell to the floor, mouth closing.

This was why she was scared to talk to the other Grimley's. Even if they weren't in that higher-than-you attitude, somehow they all made her feel like she was trash that needed to be put out at the next pick up. Her grip on Craven's hand loosened, though she didn't let it go completely. She simply leaned against his chest instead as the Craven complained about the words that Gia was now scared were true, and Dillan complained about the whole secret relationship thing having no point. It wasn't such a secret at school. It was really only Craven's family that Gia was worried would find out and retaliate.

But Dillan had a point. Was there a point in the whole secret thing? They'd find out at some point, especially if Craven had commitment on his mind, like he'd said. Gia had suspicions that her mother had already figured a bit of it out, though neither Elliot had said anything on the subject. Gia was released and she turned to look at Craven, a slight frown on her face as he spoke. Oh she really wanted to keep it quiet, but maybe, just maybe, Cooper wouldn't decide to deal with it by firing her mom. Especially if what Dillan had said was true, and Cooper had been in the same place that Craven was now: dating a girl who was below him. She still wasn't going to talk. "They have to find out eventually."

[Craven Grimley]

Craven stared at his uncle for the longest time. Gia was quiet again and he didn't know what to do with a girl that was this quiet. It was absolutely unnerving when she was this quiet. Awkward for him. He wished she'd speak and shine like he knew she could. She was always in the background. Always silent. Always quiet around his family, sometimes even his friends and he didn't know how to deal with it. Craven gave a soft sigh and nodded at his uncle hanging his head too in a dejected way. He understood what was being said.

The amount of times he'd wanted to scream Gia's name from the rooftops and claim she was his girl was surprising to him. He loved Gia so much it hurt sometimes. How was he supposed to deal with something that she was afraid of. That was it. He decided right there at the same time Gia's voice echoed into his head. He smirked and nodded letting his eyes meet hers. Finally he lifted his eyes to Dilan's.
"I'll tell him. Christmas day, I'll tell him."
Dilan smiled and got to his feet snatching up another cookie then moved to stand befor the two of them.

"Hey, if anything does go wrong, you have a back up plan. Me."
Dilan leaned in and kissed the top of Craven's head before taking Gia's free hand, meeting her eyes and kissing the top of her hand.
"Good luck."
Dilan whispered dropping Gia's hand before turning and heading off to go find Gabriel. The room was silent for a long time.

"You're not the wall flower Gia. You could have said something you know. "
Craven muttered as he got to his feet to grab a box and some wrapping paper to start wrapping.

~~~

[Christmas Dinner]

Christmas morning was a lazy event. People had little to do for the Christmas feast that would start at two followed by presents being opened because that's how they'd aparently done it since his mother's death. Craven smirked softly as he made his way down the stairs all dressed in his sunday best for his could hear his father's voice, softened by mulled wine and the warmth of a touch of christmas spirit.
"... did a good job. That's why I leave it to them."

"I agree but I think they would appreciate it more if you were around to wrap with them. It's a family event if you ask me."
"Dad!"
Craven screeched and ran to his father who turned before the fire place and opened his arms to Craven.
"I'm so sorry. It was manic out there."
Craven hugged his father taking in his father's scent and an anxious tremble passed through his body.

Feet shuffled and the room began to fill finally behind Craven bringing the food for their Christmas feast.
"I have something to tell you..."
Craven tightened his grip on his father at the sound of his own words then pulled back to search the tiny group of servants in the room searching for Gia but his father was already moving to the head of the table.
"It can wait, I'm sure..."

Craven frowned and followed his father to sit beside him at the head of the table but when the butlet wanted to take a seat beside him, he slammed his hand on the seat and shook his head.
"No, this is for Gia. I'm sorry."
Craven said softly causing a look shot at him from his father.