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Each and every doorway in the Sanctum had a piece of mistletoe hanging from it. An extra piece dangling from your headboard. That had been the extent of Stephen’s interest in decorating.
Ever since the first year you were together and talked him into celebrating, the mistletoe was his favorite part. Ultimately, any excuse for him to kiss on you he would have been fine with, but he could live without all the rest of the sappy hokey holiday stuff.
Well, he could have before, but that was before his Grinch heart grew far more than two sizes. Now he wanted every bit of sappy and hokey he could get. Even if it meant wearing felt reindeer antlers while you danced around him with your bouncing baby daughter on your hip.
He wanted her life to be everything his never was, even though he had created this barren world. He had done something right somewhere along the way to end up with you. He would spend the rest of his days trying to give you both and any other little ones you may be blessed with, anything and everything you could ask for.
He would be everything. A loving and devoted husband. A protective and caring father. The person he never thought he could be. Better than he ever was before. Much better than his father.
So he would happily submit to the hokey singing and dancing if it made your daughter, his daughter, smile. Her tiny little hands clapping and grabbing at the shiny baubles on the tree he had magically created. He may have added just a bit of extra sparkle and shimmer to the lights and ornaments. Just for her.
For you, he still strung the Sanctum in as much mistletoe as he could. Even after you suggested skipping it this year, since mistletoe has the potential to be poisonous to babies. He didn’t listen. It was one of your first traditions together, one of his favorites, and it’s not like he was hanging it where your baby could randomly find it.
The one she was most able to reach would be the most important, though, the one on the headboard of your shared bed. That one, there was no wiggle room on. Not after you promised him a special naughty present.
You hadn’t had much opportunity to get back into your normal sex routine. Before your daughter, hardly a day ever passed without you and Stephen making love. If there were others in the universe you would have been sickening to watch, all over each other all the time.
After giving birth, you both knew your body needed time to heal and recover after what it had gone through. The extra plus of him being a doctor was he knew, or could find, all the rules of how to take care of you post-partum.
Now, your body was physically healed. Mentally, you were nervous. So much about your body had changed. Your body had been through the wondrous yet kind of disgusting and slightly terrifying process of giving birth. He had been there for every minute of it. Hell, he had been the one to talk you through all of it. Thank god for his medical training.
Would Stephen still be turned on by you? Would he still want you like he did before? Would he still find you sexy after seeing your body go through that? Or would he be bored or disgusted by how different you looked now?
You were no longer the shiny new toy from before. No longer the sleek sports car. You knew that all of that was crap. That you were a full and complex human being. A person, not an object like a car or toy, but as you stood looking in the mirror, your mind distorted your thoughts.
The holiday inspired lingerie you had put on was subject to your enhanced scrutiny. It was a simple silky deep green backless short nightie that you topped with a Santa hat. Did it highlight the new extra pooch on your belly? Did it show too many stretch marks? Did it make your boobs look lopsided?
You had lost track of how long you had been standing in front of the mirror. So much so that you hadn’t noticed the sorcerer that had come looking for you and was watching from the doorway.
You jumped a little when you caught the set of crystal blue eyes glancing at you through the mirror. A little snort and smirk crossed his face and made the corners of his eyes crinkle.
Back when he had tried to be intimidating, when you first arrived, as much as he tried, he could never make you jump. Even though he no longer wanted to intimidate you, he found it funny that he occasionally managed it now. Only after falling head over heels and marrying you. After having a baby with you, only then could he manage to sneak up and startle you.
You rolled your eyes and reached to grab your robe to cover yourself up on reflex. Turning around to see Stephen walking towards you with a sprig of mistletoe dangling in the air above him with the help of his violet colored magic. His long, scarred fingers reaching to pull the robe from your grasp and toss it over onto the bed. Putting it out of your immediate reach.
“I think I just found my Christmas present. No point in trying to hide it now, darling.”
He looked your body up and down, studying every inch of you before pulling you to him and wrapping his arms around you. Licking his lips and winking at you flirtatiously.
“Merry Christmas to me indeed. You look gorgeous, my love.”
You tried to hide the slight grimace you made at his compliment, but you could see his brows furrow immediately at your reaction. He let one hand drag up your side, letting his fingertips skim your entire body, bringing his index finger to rest under your chin. Gently tilting your face up to look at him. He could see the insecurity in your eyes and it made his heart hurt.
“What’s wrong, my queen? Did I say something wrong? Did I forget something?”
His other hand rhythmically rubbing up and down your back trying to soothe and comfort you. His brain cycling through everything he had said and done over the last couple of days. He couldn’t stand thinking that he had done something that hurt you.
You shrugged and tried to dismiss his concern. A tight-lipped smile forming on your lips. Swallowing back your thoughts and fears.
“It’s nothing, Stephen. It’s just me. It’s something stupid. Don’t worry about it. Let’s just enjoy Christmas.”
Your heart nearly stopped in your chest when you leaned in to try to kiss him and he pulled back. Your fears suddenly flooded back into the pit of your stomach. The hurt immediately registered on your face. As soon as he realized that you had taken his response as rejection, he quickly addressed
“If it has you upset, sweetheart, it’s not nothing. I don’t care if it’s stupid. I love you more than you will ever know. You are the reason I look forward to each minute of each day. I want you to tell me everything, anything. Now, what has you upset? Why are you trying to hide from me?”
He kissed your forehead and then nuzzled his face against yours lovingly. He truly hated to see you upset, and he wouldn’t rest until he found a way to fix whatever was wrong.
“You know how happy I am that we have Donna now, and I love her and you so much it hurts. It scares me sometimes. Things are different now that we have a baby. My body is different now. It’s not the one that you loved so much before. Things are jigglier and not as firm now. It doesn’t look like anything like it did. You’ve seen it do things that are pretty much the exact opposite of sexy… I get scared that you won’t enjoy or love me as much or get as turned on by me anymore. I don’t know what I’d do without your touch, your love.”
You wanted to look at the floor. You wanted to crawl into your bed and hide under the covers. You didn’t want to feel Stephen’s eyes on you as he was pondering what you just confessed. You tried not to think about how insane you might have just sounded. Or worse, if you made perfect sense and were right.
He silently grabbed both your hands in his and pulled you over to sit in your large shared bed. He crawled into the fluffy bedding, sitting with his back against the headboard tight near the mistletoe. Once he was settled he beckoned you over to him, pulling you to him and scooping you up into his lap. Holding you securely in his large arms and pressing a kiss to your neck once he could tell you found a comfy position.
“First of all, thank you for telling me what you’ve been worrying about. Thank you for trusting me. Second of all, do you really think I would have mistletoe placed all over this haunted house if I wasn’t as attracted to you as I was? I know your body is different now. It’s different because you grew a human in there. The only other human in this universe. You gave birth to our daughter. You, and this incredible body, gave me something I thought I would never ever have. A family to love and care for. You gave me what was impossible. You are a miracle to me. A goddess, and I will worship you for the rest of my days. I love you more every single day, and that will never change.”
He tilted your head to kiss you softly over and over. Sweet and comforting kisses meant to alleviate your fears. Your body started to relax and melt into his. Letting go of the tension and fear in your body.
“And now, as for your worry about me not being turned on by you… do you really think I would magically create and hang all this mistletoe around here if I didn’t want any and every excuse I could find to kiss and love on you? It seriously takes every ounce of strength in my body to keep my hands off of you all hours of the day. How seeing you holding our daughter makes me want to get you pregnant all over again. How I was waiting rather impatiently for my present this evening, and how badly I want to unwrap it. To unwrap you, and make love to you. My amazing sexy wife. Mother of my children. The love of my life and the best thing to happen to me. Ever ”
Before you could respond, Stephen captured your lips with his. Using every bit of energy he could to squeeze you tight and kiss you breathless. As if his kiss was the punctuation of his statement.
When he finally separated from you he pressed his forehead to yours, the fluff from your Santa hat trapped between you, letting you catch your breath. He fully intended to not let yourself get carried away in negative thoughts. Not when it was Christmas, and not when you were genuinely the most extraordinary being he had ever met.
“Now, are you going to tell me if I’m on the naughty or nice list? I want my present and I was good and hung up the decorations like you asked, but I want very much to be naughty with you. Also, I am going to throw a Grinch sized tantrum if you aren’t my present because I will always want you to be my present.”
You had to giggle at him. You had always enjoyed teasing him about being a Grinch ever since your first Christmas together. You pulled the Santa hat off of your head and placed it atop Stephen’s. Brushing his gray streaked thick brown hair behind his ears as you adjusted the hat. Somewhat surprised he was still patiently sitting still and letting you.
Once you were finished, you looped your hands around his neck and leaned back to get a better view of him. It was at that moment you realized he had sat down on the bed just shy of where the sprig of mistletoe was hanging from the headboard.
“Well, Stephen, it looks like we aren’t quite under the mistletoe directly, but I guess it’s close enough. So I guess you earned at least a kiss or two.”
He snickered at your response. An eyebrow quirked at your attempt to best him. He loved that you would always tease and poke at him. You never let him win easily. Even when it was all play. You matched him wit for wit, and that was something he knew he would only grow to love more.
A glint in his eye as he pointed upward towards the ceiling of the Sanctum. Following his gesture your eyes tracked up toward the ceiling, your mouth falling open in wonder at what you saw.
Suspended and floating amongst a field of shimmering swirling bits of amethyst hued magic were countless sprigs of mistletoe. All shades of green, some with berries, some tied with red bows, and some even looked like they were topped with snowflakes. All looked like they had been created to look picture perfect.
“I was kind of hoping that would get me more than just a couple kisses. What do you think?”
“I think this may just be the perfect Christmas, and you may be the perfect man Stephen Strange.”
That entire night, as Christmas Eve turned into the wee hours of Christmas Day, he made love to you. Granting your every wish and assuaging your every concern. Something he would happily spend the rest of his days doing.