Chapter Fifteen: Sideshow Christmas

Christmas Joy

Christmas morning Katie was awoken by Dom singing very off key downstairs in the living room. She sits up and hisses as her head starts to pound as her vision swims, she may have over done it a little last night partying.  She had managed to convince Melina to leave two canisters with her before she left for a family vacation. Katie had spent all night partying by herself, trying to fight off the despair that seemed to be hanging over her ever since she went to Melina and remembered her past. The sound of Lisa's laugh shakes her out of her mood and she goes about getting ready for Christmas with them. She grabs her nicest outfit and heads to the bathroom, running into Han on her way there.

 

He steadies her before brushing past her to join the others in the livingroom. Not even glancing to make sure she was OK. Katie sighs and goes to the bathroom. Turning on the shower to full blast she steps under its hot spray and thinks of the confusion that was Han. The day after she told him what had happened, He went back to acting cold and distance, as if the kiss never happened. It hurt, she had just shared with him something she herself hadn't remembered and he brushed her off. It would have hurt less if he had just been cold the whole time. But that kiss, there was so much passion in it, so much urgency, it left her breathless just thinking about it. With Han being hot and cold with her and the memories that just refused to shut off Katie had been having a hell of a vacation, She had been relying on the Coke more and more to the point where she craved it every minute of the day, even when she was high she wanted more. She was almost done with the supply Melina had given her. Shaking off her stress she turns the shower off and gets dressed. She wouldn't let Han or the Coke ruin This Christmas. She goes to her room to finish getting ready 

 

Han's breath leaves him in a whoosh as Katie entered the living room. Her dress was a deep green  with black lace that flattered her nicely. The deep green of the dress makes her eyes stand out and shine, her blonde hair was curled and the banana curls framed her face, the hot pink strands had been clipped back with barrettes. She looked beautiful, like an angel, Han was transfixed. She smiles at him before laughing at Dom who was Singing "We Wish You A Merry Christmas." She sits next to Lisa and smiles at her when she gives her a hug, not realizing he was still looking. After his initial shock wore off he notices just how pale she is, even with all her makeup on. He notices that she had lost a great deal of weight and that her dress, though flattering, hung off her body because it couldn't quite fill it, the sleeves were slowly making their way off her shoulders. She looked sick although she hid it well with a bright smile and carefree laugh, he could tell that it didn't reach her eyes like it use to.

 

"Take a picture it will last longer." He hears Mia say from behind him. He had been leaning against the Archway of the living room, his back to the Kitchen. Mia had been coming out of this kitchen with a plate of sugar cookies. He smiles at her and tries to steal a cookie to which she slaps his hand away. "Paws off, if you want a cookie join us, don't just linger and stare." She says giving him a hard look before entering the living room. Han pushes off the frame and  was about to join the others when the doorbell rings. He turns to answer it but Dom stops him.

 

"Wait Han Don't" He says and turns to Katie. "You go get it kid," he says, a small smirk on his lips. Katie looks at him with and eyebrow raised just as the bell rings again followed by an obnoxious pounding. She gets up, straightens her dress and quickly walks to the door. Who the hell would be pounding on the door on Christmas she thinks. She Passes Han who sat himself on his usual armchair and smiles at him, surprised when she sees a look of concern flash across his face. She looks away quickly , afraid he might know about her partying and quickly heads for the door, the obnoxious pounding had resumed. "Get the door Katie! Hurry Up?" Dom yells. She reaches the door.

 

"Whoever is pounding on the door WILL YOU QUIT IT!" She yells as she flings open the door.

 

"Oh S**t Tej I think the youngester is getting fiesty, what do you think?" Roman says looking at Tej who was nodding.

 

"Yeah she's fiesty alright, and rude, I don't think she deserves her presents, we should go bring em back." He responds, a huge smirk on his face. Katie Squeals in delight and Runs into Roman's arms.

 

"Oh My God GUYS! I didn't know you were coming!" She says as she feels Roman pick her up in a huge hug. She feels his laugh vibrate through her as he walks into the house, Tej right behind him shutting the door carefully.

 

"That was the whole Idea youngster, It was meant to be a surprise." Tej says as Roman puts her down in the living room. The others shout their various approval and joy of their visit. Roman slings his arm around her shoulders and ruffles her hair before slipping away to give Bryan a hug. She galres at Tej in a mocking way and he gives her big innocent eyes like he did nothing wrong.

 

"I am not a youngster, will you quit calling me that?" She says crossing her arms. Tej looks at her and laughs.

 

"Roman the YOUNGSTER is acting up again I really think we should give back her presents," Tej calls to Roman who was stealing one of Mia's cookies.

 

A Pang of Jealousy shoots through Han as he watches Katie almost cling to Roman. He remembers Dom telling him once how Roman was the one who had gotten Katie to break out of her shell and because of that she was closer to him then probably anyone else in the room. He knew that if he hadn't pushed her away she would be close to him, it was the price he had to pay. She leans her head on his shoulder and laughs as he jokingly pats her head before putting his arm on the back of the couch, giving her better access to sit next to him. Han looks away and focuses on Tej who was embellishing a story about Him and Roman and a girl they met on the beach, He smiles and laughs at all the right places trying to focus on something other then Katie.

 

She could feel Han's eyes on her and could practically feel his concern that was radiating from him. She leans her head on Roman's shoulder and is pleasantly surprised when he lets her sort of snuggle up against him. Roman to her was like another big brother, Bryan being the other. It was Roman and all his obnoxious craziness that had made Katie break out of her shell when she first been rescued. As she listens to Tej's story she thinks back to that day. It was about two months after Doma nd Bryan had rescued her, and she still was terrified of every little thing. Loud noises made her jump, if they walked up behind her she would scream in fear and burst into tears, and worse if any of them raised their voice even slightly she would flinch, curl up in a ball and burst into tears. She hadn't talked at all since being there except at school. It wasn't until Roman and Tej came up to visit that she finally broke free of the fear.

 

When she had first met Tej she was Terrifed. Here was this loud obnoxious man barging into the house yelling for Dom. She had been walking out of the kitchen with a glass of water when she spied him shouting for Dom halfway up the stairs. She had Screamed and dropped the glass, it shattering on the floor. Tej saw her, cursed and ran down the stairs, coming at her. She screamed and forgetting the sharp broken glass on the floor ran across it bear foot, the glass slicing her feet. She darted past him and hid in the living room behind the couch (back when the couch was up against the windows). He came into the living room and in a gentle voice tried to coax her out from behind the couch after some time he had finally managed to get her to at least sit on the couch in front of him. When he noticed her bleeding feet he jumped up making her flinch and told her not to go anyway before dashing upstairs to the bathroom. It was then that Roman opened the front door and came in with their bag. She shrieked making him jump and drop the bags on his foot.  When Tej came back with  small first aid kit he found Roman jumping on one foot the other in his hand and Katie quietly giggling on the couch watching. Her first giggle since being there. When she saw Tej she squeaked and shrank back on the couch, huddling into the back of it afraid of him. Tej told Roman about her foot and he took the kit from him, turning to Katie he asked if it was OK if he went and sat next to her and fixed her foot. Her face paled and her eyes went wide, tears streaming down her face but she nodded anyway. He gently sat down on the other side of the couch and opened the kit to grab alcohol wipes and bandages. He held them up for her to see and told her that all she had to do was stretch her foot over to him. She obeyed and as he fixed her up, telling her everything he was doing before he did it so she would know. Tej at that point had picked up the broken glass and called Dom telling him what had happened. Dom Had Speed over and when he reached the front door he Heard Katie giggling inside. When he walked in with Bryan behind him he was stunned to see Katie giggling and trying to bandage Roman's "Hurt" foot as he mademock noises of pain. Since then Whenever The guys visited Katie clung to Roman.

 

 At the sound of everyone's laughter she shakes her head and tunes back into Tej's story. Apparently it had to do with a Girl on the Beach that Roman had tried to pick up. She smirks and shakes her head suppressing a moan of pain when her headache feels like it was going to split her head. She puts her hand against her temple and gets up.

 

"Hey I'm gunna go get a glass of water, anyone want anything?" She says They shake their heads no and thank her. Tej smirks

 

"Don't go breaking the glass now OK? We don't want a repeat." He teases as she sticks her tongue out at him making him laugh. She turns and heads for the kitchen her headache pounding against her skull.

 

Han sees the pain flash on her face before she stands up and heads for the kitchen. He steals another cookie only to realize it was the last one.

 

"hey Mia is there anymore of these?" He asks holding up the half eaten cookie in his hand. She nods toward the kitchen before turning back to Roman, peppering him with questions about Rio. He stands up, grabs the empty cookie platter and heads for the kitchen. When he enters he sees Katie knocking back a few pain pills and sipping water. "You OK?" He asks spying the rest of the cookies on a cooling pan. He takes the spatula and loads the platter, the scent intoxicating. Katie nods and leans her head against the closed fridge, sighing.

 

"Um yeah just a headache." she says in a breathy whisper as she watches him. From the corner of her eye she sees him put down the spatula and walk over to him until he was right in front of her. She lifts her head and stares into his dark eyes. His concern was written all over his face as he lifts his hand to brush back her curls, his fingers leaving tingles in their wake where they touched her skin.

 

"What's wrong, you don't look good, I mean you look beautiful, but you look like you are coming down with something." He says softly fumbling trying to not insult her. His concern touches her but she quickly brushes him off. Aggravation floods her. Why the hell would he care?

 

"I'm fine, ." She snaps, not even caring when he flinches, his eyes wide, " And you can stop pretending to care, Its very insulting." She says.

 

Han sucks in his breath, he was about to rebut and say that he indeed cared but one look at her face showed him that no matter what he said she wouldn't believe him. Lowering his eyes he goes and grabs the cookies.

 

"think what you Want Katie, I'm not going to fight with you on Christmas." He says and walks out. Katie exhales and slumps against the fridge. When he was brushing away her hair all she had wanted was to lean against him, knowing he would have held her back. But she didn't. She was tired of the Hot and cold act. He was hurting her and all he cared about was the "Right Thing to do". She shakes her head though it killed her and left the room. She dredged up the stairs. Maybe A little help would make this day better. Before she could go up the stairs though she hears Lisa yelling for her.

 

"Oui Katie get your a*s over here, Presents!" Katie groans. All she wanted was to slip away to her room and give herself her OWN Christmas present. He plasters a fake smile onto her face and drags herself back to the living room. She sits back down next to Roman and tries to keep her smile as Mia hands out the gifts that had been under their small little tree. She gets something from everyone, Bryan, Mia, Dom, and Lisa, as well as something small from Tej and Roman, everyone but Han She tries not to let that bother her as she opens her gifts, The newest In this Moment CD from Mia, pink Hair dye from Lisa, jeans from Dom and a shirt from Bryan, no doubt they had help from the girls since the outfit was surprisingly stylish. She saves The boy's present for last and when she opens the little case she smiles at the little trinket inside. It was a small snowglobe with the Famous Cristo Redentor in the center, the words Rio De  Janeiro Brazil painted in a delicate calligraphy at the bottom. There was a twist key that when Katie winded it up it played quiet Brazilian music as the synthetic snowflakes whirled around inside the globe. It was stunning. She looks up at Roman to see him looking at her, gauging her reaction and she knew that he was hoping she loved it.

 

"You guys this is amazing! thank you!" She jumps up and hugs them both, relief evident on their faces.

 

"Rome here found this little shop where they made homemade snowglobes, I wanted to get you something else like a gift card but he said you'd like that better." Tej says trying to play off being cool. She laughs and tackles him with hug making him laugh. She sits back down on the couch and watches as everyone else opens their gifts. She was especially happy when Han opened his gift from her, a bag of his favorite chips that she had Shawn import from Tokyo. His huge smile was all the thanks she needed.

 

Han Smiles wide as he tears open the paper of Katie's gift, reveal the chips inside, he had forgotten he told her how much he missed them, they were only found in Tokyo. He'd have to tell her to thank her brother. when everyone was done and was about to head outside to eat (Bryan was makign steaks on the grill) Han cleared his throat to get their attention. They all turned to give him a confused look and he was suddenly nervous though he didn't let it show.

 

" Um well I wanted to save this for last," He says turning to look at Katie. He hands her a manila envelope, hoping she would Like his gift. She takes it from him, confusion clear in her eyes. She gingerly opens it like it was about to bite her and shakes out the small key chain from its depths.

 

Katie looks at the key chain. it was a small clear circle with the words Tokyo Japan in the center. She looks up at Han, an eyebrow raised.

 

"You waited till now to give me... a key chain?". Han smiles at her and points to the envelope.

 

"There's more look." he says and watches as she reaches in and pulls out the little pamphlet on Japan. Again she looks at him and Again he points to the envelope. She sighs and just tuns it upside down and shakes it until a postcard of Tokyo, the last piece came sliding out. She takes the objects and stares at them then looks at him.

 

"OK I give up..... You got me a bunch of Tokyo paraphernalia.... what am I not getting?" She says, slight aggravation entering her voice. Han just smiles and her and taking a deep breath reveals his gift.

 

"Well I remember how you told me you hadn't seen your brother in years because tickets to and from japan are expensive." I should know, he thinks to himself, " So I figured, for Christmas I will give you the option of visiting... Whenever you want to go visit him I'll pay the tickets, both ways. Whenever you want." He says in a rush, trying hard to keep the blush off his face. everyone in the room is stunned but he doesn't notice, his only concern was how Katie would take the news. He watches as at first she is too stunned to react, then slowly as the words sink in her eyes swim with tears as a genuine smile spreads across her face.

 

Tickets.... To Tokyo. The words sink in as tears pool down her face. He was Helping her to see her brother! She hadn't seen him in  4 years. Last time she saw him was a year after she moved in with Dom. She had finally mentioned to Dom about him and he had Called him up and explained the situation. Shawn had rushed back to the States as soon as he could to see his sister, he had had no Idea the life she had been living since Their mother had shipped him off to live with his dad because he was too much of a hassle for her to deal with. (Not that Katie blamed her, he had been street racing and made them move constantly because he kept getting into trouble whereever they moved). Shawn, Dom, and Bryan had had a long talk discussing what was best for Katie and they agreed that laving with Dom in a place she was familiar was better for her then moving to a forgien country not knowing anyone or the language. That was when she was 11.  She looks up at Han to see him nervously fidgeting, waitingfor her response, A smile tugging at her lips.

 

Han sits there, ringing his hand in the other waiting for her to speak. Suddenly without warning she launches herself at him and hugs him with such force he looses balance they topple to the ground. Everyone in the room breathes a sigh of relief and laughs as they fall tot he ground. He catches her in his arms and looks up at her, very aware that she was laying almost on top of him.

 

"HAN, This is,,, I dont, Oh My gosh THANK YOU!' She says to happy to get her words out, She gives him a huge hug and he gingerly hugs her back.

 

"You're welcome, but um can you get off?" He says awkwardly. Katie's face turns bright red as she realized the postion they were in. She scrambles off of him and jumps up, sticking her hand down to help him to his feet. He flashes her a smile and laughs as she hugs him again, so tightly the air leaves his lungs. "Can't Breathe" he manages to squeeze out. He hears Roman chuckling and shoots him a glare, along with a rude gesture that had him laughing harder.  Katie lets go of him and steps back.

 

"I'm going to go call Shawn," She says looking at clock on the wall which read 10:00AM. "Crap its 3:00AM there, I'll just leave a message." She says and excuse herself to run to her room. Dom looks at her retreating form and is grateful he thought to put an internation plan on her Phone. She reaches her room and flops on her bed, snatching her phone off her bedside table. Dialing her brothers number she can barely contain her joy.

 

" Moshi Moshi This is Shawn's phone, I'm not here right now leave a message bye" Shawn's voice says in her ear as she hears the Beep of his voicemail.

 

"Shawn Its Kate! you neeeeeed to call me back as sooon as you can I don't care how late it is over here! I have some GREAT news to tell you. Love you bro bye." She says and hangs up. She hugs her phone to her and processes everything. Han gave her the best give she could ever ask for. Better then Tej and Roman's Snowglobe, but not by much. She rolls over and forgetting her headache and her cravings goes back downstairs to meet everyone in the back yard.

 

This was By FAR the BEST Christmas she ever had