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Mei held the steamy coffee mug with both hands and settled in the couch. She had no words to describe how thankful she was to have Winston welcoming her in Gibraltar after her waking up but… If she was being honest, she was terrified. She could feel her heart pounding like crazy. She loved the snow, the smiles brought by Christmas and she loved the welcoming Holiday as a whole. But that was the first Christmas in decades that she was going to spend without her team… Without her family.
In her lap, Snowball cuddled in a comforting way, as if it could read Mei’s thoughts.
“You miss them, don’t you, Snowball?” Mei caressed the little thing, earning a sound that she interpreted as a sob. The woman smiled sadly. “Me too… me too. But at least I still have you, darling”
Snowball was basically her treasure. Mei still felt nauseated every time she thought about her friend’s sacrifice in her sake. She didn’t have words to express how much his presence meant to her. She didn’t want to lose him again.
Still caressing him, she looked around. After Overwatch’s disband, the watchpoint in Gibraltar had been abandoned. But, with Winston’s plans of reuniting as many people as he could to revive the organization – or at least to bring back the will to make the difference in the world-, the place was slowly coming back to life, being a shelter to whoever looked for it (even though the only people who lived there entirely were Winston, Mei and Snowball).
Mei had awaken to a whole new life. The world was chaos – mainly to the former members of Overwatch -, and all she could do about it was to study all the data gathered in those nine years she had been hibernating. And that she did, religiously, every single day. Except, of course, for that Christmas morning, in which Mei gave herself the right to take a break and just… feel.
She took a sip of her coffee, which wasn’t as hot anymore, thanks to the cold hands, while watching the small Christmas Tree Winston had put in a corner, as a part of the attempt to make the watchpoint something closer to being a home.
The woman heard the sound of a door being open and straightened up in the couch. The heavy steps clearly belonged to Winston.
“Already up, Mei?” the gorilla greeted. Until that day, knowing him for over a decade, Mei hadn’t dared asking where or how he slept. But okay, he had given her a couch and a home, so no complaints from her side. “Merry Christmas, Mei. Merry Christmas, Snowball.”
“Merry Christmas, Winston” Mei rested the mug in the couch’s arm and hurried to hug the gorilla, for a moment putting her worries aside.
“I’m glad you are here” he said. “How are you?”
The question made Mei step back and laugh uncomfortably.
“I’m fine... as much as I can be” Winston definitely knew what was going through her head. He pulled her to another hug.
“Yeah, I figured that was going to happen”, he said softly “Your gift is on its way”.
That caught Mei off guard.
“Oh my God”, she exclaimed, whining “Winston, I didn’t buy you anything! I didn’t think we’d celebrate it like this, I’m so sorry” I’m sorry, I’m sorry”
Winston smiled at her despair.
“Calm down, it’s not this kind of gift. I knew you’d freak out if I did so” he explained “Instead… oh, there it is.”
He turned to face the door, and Mei and Snowball exchanged looks, then curiously following Winston’s eyes.
At first, they didn’t see anything. Then Mei caught a flash of light with the corner of her eye and then suddenly,,,
“Mei-rry Christmas!”
Mei felt like she was going to explode. Lena’s arms were tight around her. the girl laughed, still higging onto Mei’s neck.
“Winston invited us over for lunch. Of course we had to come!”
Mei smiled at Lena then turned to greet Emily.
“Merry Christmas” both said. At this point, Mei’s smile was so huge she was afraid she would rip her face off. She glanced at Snowball, and they smiled together.
Winston straightened his glasses.
“Angela and Fareeha are on their way. Hana couldn’t make it, but she said Merry Christmas”.
Mei nearly jumped in his back.
“Thank you, big guy”
And she really meant it. Because seriously, she had awaken that day predicting it would be dark and painful. However, Winston woke her up with a big smile and with the certainty that Mei had a new family. Not that she would forget her former team, but she would allow herself to live again, always carrying them in her heart.
And she could only thank to be able to spend Christmas that way.