Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Owen heaves a large, leatherbound trunk filled with an assortment of garlands, tinsel, and ornaments for the Christmas tree, down the grand staircase to the foyer. He drops the trunk with a resounding thud onto the floor. "That is the last of the ornaments." He claps his hands together in excitement, "Now, let's deck these halls."

“Yes!” Flora rolled her eyes at Owen’s joke, but she still jumped up and down excitedly and made a beeline towards the heavy trunk, opening it. “We have to start with the lights first, that way we can decorate around them.” She stated seriously. She pulled the lights out of their box and sat on the ground against the sofa to start detangling them.

"Brilliant idea, young lady." The cook eases himself down onto the floor, sitting crossed-legged next to Flora, as he helps her untangle the lights, "Very illuminating." He winks at the teenager, amused at his own pun.

“Owen....” Flora groaned while shaking her head. “Don’t let Hannah hear your stupid puns, or you’ll be sleeping on the couch tonight!”

Dani looks on fondly from the open front door, at both the cook and the young Wingrave lost in their mammoth task of untangling Christmas lights. Good luck with that, she mused to herself. Having just returned from her daily walk around the estate, she decided to surprise them before they noticed her presence. Closing the door softly behind her, she bellowed in her most authoritative voice, “Uh! You two had better not be starting without me, I hope?”

Owen nearly drops the tangled heap of lights, startled at her presence. He takes a minute to collect himself before speaking, "We wouldn't dare, Miss Clayton." Owen replied in a playful manner.

“Of course, we haven’t! We’re just preparing everything!” Flora stood up and walked over to the blonde au pair. She pulled her in for a quick hug and looked up, “how was your walk?”

Dani allowed herself to be pulled into the hug, breathing deeply and cradling Flora’s head against her for a brief moment, savoring every second. As they both pulled away, she held on to Flora’s upper arms, wanting to maintain contact. Dani gave a teasing smile, before looking Flora directly in the eyes, “it was... perfectly splendid.”

Owen rolls his eyes comically at the au pair's choice of words and resumes the colossal task of detangling the infernal lights. "Talk about Spaghetti Junction." He muttered under his breath.

Flora wiggled her way out of Dani’s grip, and sighed with feigned disappointment, “not you too.” And she pulled the au pair with her to where the decoration-filled trunk was placed. “While Owen and I detangle the lights, you can sort out the colours if you want.” She pointed at the multiple boxes of ornaments, “we haven’t chosen which colours we’ll decorate the tree with this year.”

“Now that I can do.” Dani carefully perused the boxes, marvelling at all the ornaments and their beautiful colours. With a proud little grin, she proclaimed “I'll choose the best colour scheme this tree has ever seen,” before raising 3 fingers, “Scouts Honour... Wait. Do you guys even have Boy Scouts here?” But before anyone could even open their mouths to reply, she continued “doesn’t matter! What I mean is: if there’s one thing Americans can do, it’s Christmas.”

Jamie opened the back door and stomped her boots a few times to clear them of slush before stepping inside. The warmth from the house hit her immediately, and she shrugged her jacket off, hanging it by the door and smiling as she felt her skin warm. Immediately she could hear the cheerful voices coming from the foyer, and she wandered in, hands shoved deep in her pockets. "What's all this?" she asked, trying to hide her excitement when she saw the decorations spread out on the floor. She loved Christmas, but she didn't want to lose cool points just yet by being too eager. "Dani, were you a scout?"

Heels silently clicking against the rustic wood floor, Hannah shyly scanned said room with her dark, mysterious eyes finding Jamie at the front door and the rest of her family sat carelessly on the floor. As the three rummaged through a pile of Christmas decors, the housekeeper muttered "Looking festive in here, I suppose?" as a reserved smile slowly crept onto her face.

"Dani was a scout," Jamie turns to inform Hannah, a smirk playing on her lips. "Did you know that, Hannah?"

Momentarily lost in her very important task of choosing the tree ornaments, Dani looked up towards Jamie, finally registering what she had conspiratorially muttered to Hannah. “Oh, no. No, I wasn’t a scout, it’s just a figure of-" realisation suddenly dawned on her, as a smile of recognition crept onto her face. “You were just playing with me, weren’t you?”

"You caught me, Poppins," Jamie gave her girlfriend a wink. "Although the uniform..." She trailed off, smirking. She changed the subject, stepping around Dani to look into the box. "Owen, didn't we have more ornaments last year? You skimping out on us? Or you just don't want to crawl into the attic?"

"We did," Owen confirmed, eyes focused on the jumbled mess of the string of lights, "but if I recall correctly, you said they looked rather tacky." He averts his attention briefly from the lights to the gardener, giving her a knowing look, "And that they should be burned on an open fire." The cook resumes with the untangling as he adds, "So I donated them to the local charity shop.”

Jamie pursed her lips slightly. "Touché," she muttered, quickly cutting her eyes to Dani. Inside she was practically vibrating with excitement at the sight of the Christmas decorations, but she forced herself to remain composed. She sat on the floor next to Dani and pulled the box toward herself. "Maybe these aren't all bad," she said, pulling a few baubles out and examining them.

Chapter Text

“Done!” Flora announced happily after a little while of untangling the lights. “We can put the lights in and then we can put the baubles and ornaments in! And after that we can have a snowball fight. It’ll be perfectly splendid!” It wasn’t hard to tell she loved this time of year. Flora always had, she loved the hot chocolate, Christmas songs, time with her Family and she absolutely loved the snow that would come every few years. Her enthusiasm faltered a little. This year, it was her first Christmas without Miles. He may have grown into a prick nine out of ten times, but she still loved him. And she missed the snowball fights with him and winning from Dani and Jamie or Hannah and Owen. She noticed her face had fallen and tried to quickly build up the happy mask again, it had worked well several times since he had gone to university. She was 17, damn it, she shouldn’t miss her brother this much.

Oblivious to the housekeeper looking directly at her, Flora felt a gentle hand settled on her shoulder. "Everything all right, dear?" Hannah asked sounding more like a whisper than a question, her head gracefully tilting to the side, eyes searching for truth in Flora's. "Something on your mind?"

Flora knew that lying to Mrs. Grose wouldn't be of any use, she saw right through her. She always had. It made hiding something from her near impossible. So, she decided against it, besides she had gotten better at asking for help, or so she hoped. And so she softly whispered back, "I just miss Miles..."

Dani's ears pricked up at the mention of Miles' name across the room. She knew Flora had been feeling Miles' absence much deeper recently, the holidays can do that to a person. Dani and the others had tried their best to keep Flora’s mind off of Miles not being there, but there’s only so much they could do. It hurt her heart to see Flora so down. As she sat there, staring off into the distance at Hannah and Flora, it hit her. Dani had an idea. Every Christmas at Bly, Miles had been the one to place the star on top of the tree. Although Flora had always been so desperate to do it herself, she always let Miles have the honour. No matter how much he insisted otherwise, she wouldn’t give in. With him being the older one, she felt it was only right that he got the most important job. She’s such a selfless kid, Dani mused. She eased herself up off the floor, trailing her hand across Jamie’s shoulders as she passed, making her way over to Flora and the housekeeper. “I'll be back in a minute,” she reassured the gardener. Upon reaching Flora, Dani placed her hand gently on the young Wingrave's back. “So, I was thinking. Since you’re now the Lady of the manor, I feel like it’s high time you have the honour of putting the star on top of the tree this year. You know, since you’re so grown up now, it only seems fair.”

Jamie felt goosebumps break out along her arms at Dani's touch, but kept her head down, focusing on the ornaments in her lap. Somehow the hooks had gotten all tangled together, and though she was good at the intricacies of gardening, her fingers felt clumsy with this task. She glanced up at Dani as she spoke with the little girl--or really, she should say young woman, now. In Jamie's mind, Flora was still a child, but she had to acknowledge that both of the children were growing fast. As much as Miles got on her nerves from time to time, she had to admit that she missed him as well. Feeling a little too mushy for her own good, she lobbed an ornament at Owen. "Oi! How did these get so tangled?"

Flora looked at Dani with big, brown eyes. “Are you sure? It’s always been Miles his honour. But now that he’s at university... I suppose you’re right.” She gave Mrs. Grose and Dani a hug. They really are perfectly splendid. “Thank you. I will give him a ring after tea, hopefully he will pick up.” There was also the matter of the oldest Wingrave, “I will call Uncle Henry too, he’s alone for the holidays and no one should be alone at this time of the year.”

Meanwhile, Owen clumsily caught the ornament and gave the gardener a scolding look. "You break one of these," He holds up the offending ornament, "and Hannah will string you up on this tree." "And another thing," Owen pauses for dramatic effect before adding, "no dessert for you, missy."

Jamie cast a nervous glance at Hannah and then wrinkled her nose at Owen. She held out a hand. "Give it back then. And I'll finish fixing this mess. Who put these away last year anyway?" She paused. "And what is for dessert?"

Owen hands back the ornament to Jamie before scrunching his face in thought, "I have no clue who put away the decorations last year," He rubs the back of his neck in embarrassment, “I was kind of plastered on mull wine and was dancing like a prat around the kitchen." He clears his throat to cover his amusement. "As for dessert, my classic Victoria sponge cake."

Jamie broke into a grin. "Yeah, that was a good time. Maybe that should be a tradition, eh?" She turned back to the box. "I guess I can behave for cake."

Dani smiles lovingly over at Jamie and Owen; their back-and-forth battle of wits always gives her a sense of family. With her hand still resting comfortingly on Flora’s shoulder, she decides to join in on the fun. “Wow, Owen, I know your Victoria Sponge is heavenly. But Jamie behaving herself for it? That’s unheard of!” Dani winks at Flora and nudges her arm in jest, before placing her hand back on Flora's shoulder. “Though, to be fair, I don’t suppose there’s much that Jamie wouldn’t do, if it meant getting her hands-on cake.” Dani looks over at Jamie with a smirk plastered on her face, hoping Jamie had caught the double meaning.

Flora had cheered up by Dani’s kind words and Jamie’s and Owen’s banter. “Victoria Sponge cake sounds divine, Owen!” Then Dani made that gross joke and she pulled away from her, “Ms Clayton! Not in company of others!”

Jamie was about to shoot a retort at Dani, but then Flora spoke up. "Flora!" She exclaimed, her feigned shock only slightly greater than her real surprise at the girl's knowledge. "Dani, what kind of music have you been letting her listen to?"

“Miles his music is loud when he’s home! And I can’t exactly control what’s on the radio, Jamie. Also, I’m seventeen, not eight anymore.” Flora defended Dani. But she still giggled at the shocked gardener’s face.

"Yeah, Jamie," Dani teased, making her way back over to the gardener and the boxes of ornaments and decorations. "Besides, I don't know what you're all acting so scandalised about. I was just talking about Jamie's love of food... We all know the way to her heart is through her stomach," Dani says, as a last-ditch effort to preserve Flora’s innocence, as well as her own dignity.

Jamie shook her head and reached up. She grabbed Dani’s hand and tugged on it to prompt the au pair to sit back on the floor next to her. “Help me out with these ornaments, will ya?” She pulled a few more out of the box and put them in Dani’s hands, allowing her own hand to linger on her girlfriend’s. She leaned in and planted a kiss on her cheek, not wanting to be too affectionate “in the company of others.” “Is Miles staying at University over the holidays?” She whispered to Dani, not wanting to set Flora off again.

Dani smiled softly at the comforting, familiar gesture from her girlfriend. “Yeah, the last time I spoke to him, he said that he’d be staying there, rather than coming home for the holidays,” she quietly confirmed with the gardener.
Dani looked over at Flora morosely, “I understand Miles wanting to stay there for the holidays, this place holds so many memories for him, good and bad. So, it makes sense that he’d want that distance. But god, I just feel so bad for Flora, not getting to see her own brother for Christmas. That poor kid has been through things that no one should have had to go through at her age, and I just wish there was something I could do to make her feel better, I just-” Dani cut herself off, lowering her head to hide her face. She could already feel her eyes starting to tear up, 'no. I have to pull myself together', she thought. She desperately wanted to keep her emotions in check, for Flora.

Owen sensing the cheerful mood dampening, has an idea, "How about after dessert, we have a game night?" He smiles warmly at Flora, hoping that will brighten her mood.

Flora was still chuckling at Jamie's response when she sat back down next to Owen when he spoke up and offered a game night. And being someone who was way too excited for anything that brought them together more often she replied happily to Owen, "Yes! We can play monopoly or charades or Ludo!" She had always loved it when her family was together, especially now that her brother wasn't home. She had some friends she knew from town or she had met at sports she used to play but it wasn't a short drive to Bly Manor so she didn't see them that often. Whenever she thought about her family it gave her a warm and fuzzy feeling and she turned to Owen and manoeuvred her way into his side for a side hug.

Owen happily reciprocates the hug and glances around at the others with excitement plastered on his face, "That is this evening's plans sorted." He pats Flora on the shoulder, and he grimaces at the string of lights that still need to be untangled. "The tangles are endless," he quipped.

"That sounds great, Owen," Jamie said with a smile. The protectiveness she was feeling toward her little family and their moods softened her a bit. "But these lights," she shook her head. "They're like Dani's hair first thing in the morning." She tried to catch Dani's eye, hoping that the comment had cheered her a little. She cupped her face in her hands, using her thumbs to brush the tears away. "You're doing great," she murmured, remembering a completely different time when she uttered the same words. "She'll be fine. She's a strong kid. But...are you okay?"

Dani laughed softly to herself at Jamie’s attempt of poking fun at her. They both knew that Jamie was the one with wild hair in the mornings, her curls with a mind of their own. In a moment, Jamie’s hands were on her face, and she felt instantly more at ease. You’re doing great. The words echoed in her mind, a reminder of another time where Jamie had pulled her out of her own thoughts. Even back then, she was so good at grounding her; Jamie is, and always has been, her anchor in the deep waters of her own mind. Dani placed her hands atop of Jamie’s on her cheeks and smiled softly, in reassurance. “I’m okay. As long as you, Flora, and the others are okay, then I’m okay.” She turned her head to kiss Jamie’s palm, “thank you for looking out for me.” But Dani couldn’t resist an opportunity to tease Jamie, so she continued, “wah would I dew wivout ya?”, making sure to pull out her best (worst) accent.

Jamie felt her face flush at the feeling of Dani's lips on her hand. As she processed her words (despite being just a little distracted), she couldn't help but think about how truly selfless her girlfriend was. "We're fine, Poppins," she said, using the old nickname. "And I'll always look out for ya." She leaned in and pressed a kiss solidly to Dani's lips despite the grossed out sounds that were sure to come from Flora. "I love you. Even when you use that horrid accent." She pulled away after placing one more small peck on the end of Dani's nose. "Now didn't someone say cake?"

“Owen just said he’d make cake, Jamie. If you hadn’t been so busy making out with Dani, you would’ve noticed,” Flora said to the gardener with a wink as she was finishing up the de-tangling the lights.