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Sherry hit "Send" and then looked at the large bag on the coffee table. It had seemed like THE BEST idea when she'd made the purchase. It had seemed silly by the time she got home. And now that she'd informed Jake of it, it seemed like the lamest thing she'd done in a while. "Impulse buys," she laughed to herself.



Sending the clarification didn't help. It was a lame gift, Christmas or not. Jake was going to think she was silly. Especially after he saw what was in the fairly large gift bag. She'd bought actual Christmas gifts that were on her list...was it too late to switch this out for one of those?

She exhaled and picked up the phone.



"I was just...excited." Sherry sank back on the couch. "I can blame all the stress of the holiday for my poor decisions."

Armagnac, always a voice of reason.

Sherry sat on the couch, turning her phone over in her hands. Minutes passed, and no reply came. That wasn't a huge deal, there were lots of things that kept of from answering their phone. Being busy, not noticing it ring... Sherry knew this. But that didn't change the fact that Armagnac was right. Sherry WAS excited. And nervous. She wanted to get this over with...before she chickened out entirely. Silly girl. She knew that while Jake might not be impressed with the gift, he wasn't going think less of her for it. So then what was her anxiety?

Armagnac's musing rolled through her mind.

Sherry gave a small laugh of acknowledgment.



"Thanks for that."

Sherry checked her phone again. It had been ten minutes. Not long at all. Sherry stood up...and decided to busy herself with cleaning. The kitchen area could use a wipe down, and she could always make her bed.

The one thing that seemed to bother Armagnac the most was Sherry's slight disorganization of her room. Sherry wasn't a total slob, but she could get a little lazy with putting things away. Armagnac, however, very much believed that everything had a place.

"Sorry. I just get so busy sometimes."

But right then, she had some time to kill. So she cleaned in the kitchen, straightened up the bedroom and the living room...
And roughly an hour later Sherry found herself standing in front of the coffee table eying the large bag again. Jake had not texted her back yet.

Sherry had other things she could take care of, but they all involved going out. Library, labs... "Hm. Let's...just take this down the hall and see if he's in. I can leave it on his door while I do my errands." Sherry grabbed the bag and turned toward her own door.

A few moments later she was at Jake's door, knocking. Three solid knocks, and then habit had her trying the door to see if it was locked.

She was really excited about this gift, ok.

There was a reason she always checked the door, it usually yielded results. And as long as she wasn't barging in and messing up his stuff Jake didn't usually seem to mind her poking her head in. Which is what she did right then. "Jake? Are you in?"

A cursory glance of the main room yielded nothing. All was quiet in the land of Jake's room. Really. Quiet enough he might not even be home."Jake?" She wasn't too loud, not wanting to disturb the tranquility of it all. Though usually if the door was open, he was in. "Hm."

Sherry slipped inside and moved toward the bedroom. If he was in, then she fully intended to have a hug. If he wasn't, well, leaving the bag in the room was much safer than outside the door.

One quick knock before she poked her head in the room. "Jake? Ah." She had to smile. Sleeping the day away, her wonderful Jake. She liked to watch him sleep. But that was also kind of a creeper thing to do if he didn't know she was there. "Hey," she whispered, moving toward the bed. "Wake up sleepy head."



It was too late, despite Armagnac's protests. Sherry had already placed one gentle hand Jake's shoulder, an was leaning over to give him a quick kiss on the forehead. Honestly, she was debating waking him up and crawling in next to him.

Armagnac was grumbling.

"Oh, no! It's okay," Sherry said, all smiles. "It really is." Nothing but smiles on the outside, even though her insides were all butterflies. Lame gift, woke him up, barged right in...what if he was really, really tired? She should have just let him be...or you know, not gotten these silly things at all. ...He'd probably not texted back because he was so tired. Oh. Good job, Sherry. Good job. "I-" She almost said 'I didn't meant to wake you,' but she totally HAD meant to. "Sorry I woke you up. I just-"



"-wanted to give you this." She held out the large bag. "I mean. Half of it's for you. Half for me."

"Must have been tired," Sherry said, turning to seat herself on the edge of the bed. "So I'm sorry. But, uh, once you open the bag I'll go. I have errands I can do." She felt foolish, really. Here wake up have a lame gift...

His statement about no having a gift, while a little hard to hear, made all the butterflies in her stomach do a flip and a flutter. No text, no gift... She smiled and choked her fear back down. He had not forgotten her. He'd been tired, it was early, and really, Jake wasn't the type to do a ton of gifts. She knew this. Her nerves were just running high and Armagnac was right. She did want attention. She wanted to know she hadn't been forgotten again. Sherry told herself she was stupid and smiled at Jake.

"Oh!" She waved her hand in a 'disregard' motion. "It's still early. And honestly you don't have to get me anything. Nothing at all. I already have you." And now she was being cheesy. Oh, great. The gift was cheesy, too. Was she blushing? Yes, yes she was. Her warm face told her so.

"This is just silly thing I thought would be cute." Her giant bundle of nervousness was causing her to talk a little too fast. "It's um, a couples thing, I guess. I have proper gifts for you, too. But you should open this one now." She gave him an expectant look.

The bag held two stuffed rabbits. Teddy bear like in shape, and maybe a foot while sitting. One was black, one light golden brown. The black wore a purple ribbon around it's neck, the brown a gold. On said ribbon she'd had embroidery done. Teal letters that spelled Jake for the black rabbit and white letters that spelled Sherry for the brown. She'd wandered past a pop up *Personalize Your Holiday Gifts* shop. They did basic embroidery and engraving, and had several items they sold just for such purposes. Sherry had jumped on it.

"Oh." Now Sherry felt guilty. Her brain was forming an apology when Jake continued, and he all but hit the nail of her worries on the head. He was probably talking about forgetting the holiday, though, and not her, but still. She liked to hear those words.

She squeezed his hands and smiled as he kissed her forehead. "Then I have all I want." Jake would find himself in a hug a moment later, Sherry wrapping her arms around his neck. "I mean it."

After a long moment of just sitting there and enjoying the moment of that hug, she spoke again. "And I'm sorry I didn't ask you to come shopping. I knew I'd be gone a while and I didn't want to bore you. Plus I wanted your presents to be surprise." Sure they might have just been clothing...but that was only because Jake was practical like that.

She sighed, then leaned back so she could look at him. "And it's ok if you think the bunnies are lame. I can keep them both if you want." The smile on her face was pleasant, but the look in her eye was clearly searching for a reply.

Sherry only smiled more. "You have not been shopping with me a lot, have you?" It was entirely a joke, but she hoped her utter love of his statement showed through in her tone.

She laughed, just a short laugh, when he chose his bunny. "Good. That's exactly the way it was meant to be. Like I said, half for you, half for me." She paused then, and her embarrassment flared up a little. "I...I saw them in a shop, where you could get stuff personalized. And I thought it would be nice to have one named after you, for me. Since you know work and stuff means I don't always have you around to hug." She reached for the black bunny and gave it a pat on the head.

"And sometimes I just need a hug." She smiled, not entirely sure she'd meant to say that part out loud. "Armagnac made fun of me and suggested getting it a friend, and I thought it might be cute.... I hope that's not conceited of me." She laughed at herself, but didn't make eye contact with Jake. She focused on the bunny. "I know plushies aren't really you..." Sherry turned bright red. Yep. She'd bought a thing for her and tried to pass it off as a gift. "I...hope you don't think it's too weird." Now she looked at Jake. "It's weird."

"Isn't it though? All the clothes shopping, and looking at things," she said with a laugh.

The look on her face turned to one of warm 'aww' and fuzzy feels, and she nodded in agreement. There was a reason she never took of her necklace, or the ring. Little reminders were a thing she loved. It seemed the constant threat of death was making her even more sentimental than she had been in the past.

Few things could have wiped the smile off of her face, though. The one right then. Even if Jake was just pretending to like the bunnies she appreciated it.

"They do make great sleeping companions when one is alone," she said through her smile. "Are you," she continued, leaning into his hug, "telling me you want more stuffed toys? Or just pillows? Because I didn't even think to get you any bedding for Christmas. But if you're looking for more stuffed toys I can name several shops we could visit."