It was six-fifteen in the morning and CJ reached for the alarm clock, fully intending to hit the off button before it disturbed the fragile peace. As her fingers felt the cold plastic she remembered it was Christmas morning and withdrew her hand.

Danny stirred beside her, rolling from his side on to his back with a grunt.

The simple movement brought a smile to CJ’s lips and she lowered her head to his chest, lightly brushing a nipple with her lips.

Automatically his hand tangled itself in her hair and he mumbled her name.

“Merry Christmas, Nimrod,” she whispered, the sound vibrating against his skin.

“Um.” His other hand started to trail down her back, drumming against her spine. “Happy Christmas to you too.”

CJ kissed his nipple again and began to work her way across his chest, along his collar bone until she captured his mouth in a kiss. It started soft and gentle then his lips parted and his tongue darted into her mouth eliciting a low moan from deep within her.

When they broke for air, Danny’s hand was searching for her breast and his hardness was pressing against her through the cotton sheets.

Smiling to herself, CJ pulled away and climbed off the bed, her long naked limbs crossing the room in seconds.

Danny pulled a face and pumped up his pillows, watching her hips sway and her bottom clench as she reached up into the wardrobe.

“Present time,” she announced, lifting a small pile of gifts from the top shelf.

“Yours are in the bag by the door,” Danny instructed, pulling the sheets up over his chest and enjoying the show.

The gentle breeze from the ceiling fan was moving around the room causing her nipples to hardened beneath his cotton T-shirt and vivid images from the night before flew through Danny’s mind. The empty wine bottle on the bedside table and the trail of clothes from the door to the bottom of the bed confirmed he wasn’t dreaming.

CJ dropped onto the bed, tugging the t-shirt over down her thighs, and locating the remote. The television came to life with CNN. It was Christmas morning but she still needed to know what was going on in the world. Since the first time Leo had withheld information, about India and Pakistan, she had taken to watching the news round the clock on the off chance he would be stupid enough to do it again. So far he hadn’t.

“So, do you want to go first?” CJ asked, grinning and straightening the ribbon on one of his gifts.

Danny ran his fingers up her thigh and licked his lips. “I can think of other things we could be doing.”

She shook her head and removed his hand reluctantly. As much as she could happily have succumbed, it had been a family tradition since she could barely walk to open gifts before breakfast, just because she wasn’t home this year didn’t mean traditions had to be forgotten. Besides there was plenty of time later for what he had in mind.

“What if I said that the only present I wanted was you. . .naked and wanton?” he deadpanned. His hand found her calf and began to stroke the inside of her leg.

“Fishboy!” she groaned, sliding across the bed. “Here, you go first.” She handed him a package.

“Nope, you go first,” he stated, withdrawing his hand and pouting.

She didn’t need telling twice. Gleefully she took the first brightly colored package from the bag, chuckling to herself at the cellotape and roughly wrapped gift. Slowly she unravelled it and grinned. “Goldfish crackers?“

“Someone told me they were your favourites.“

CJ leaned across the bed and kissed his cheek, her fingers stroking his beard. “Thank you.”

She handed him a small neatly packaged box, tied in red ribbon and topped with a bow.

“I’m impressed,” he commented dryly.

The girl in the shop had wrapped the box in a matter of seconds, unlike CJ who would have taken thirty minutes and achieved nothing like it. Not that she was going to tell Danny that.

Danny ripped the paper and threw the ribbon on the floor before lifting the lid on the box and holding up the socks. He raised an eyebrow.

“I always seem to lose one of the pair when I do laundry. This way I don’t feel guilty.” It was the closest she would come to asking him to stay over more often. When she got around to buying him pyjamas and a toothbrush she hoped he would understand that she wanted him to move in.

Danny kissed her nose. Maybe he’d move a few of his things over at the weekend, just to keep his new socks company. “Here.”

When she finally removed the paper, CJ reached across and hit him hard on the arm.

“Ow,” he complained, rubbing his arm.

“You’re kidding me, right?”

“Well for someone who disses Notre Dame all the time, you sure borrow my sweatshirt a lot, so I thought you should have one of your own.”

CJ gave him a wry smile and handed him a lumpy looking blue present. “Great minds think alike.”

The Michigan sweatshirt fell in his lap as he discarded the paper. It was his turn to look offended. “I’m not sure that I lo. . .” he stopped abruptly and gazed up at her. They never used that word, not even after sex, especially not when they were both conscious and sober. “Your next gift,” he began, desperate to remove the sudden tension that had entered the room. “You’ll find in your office tomorrow. Donna said something about you wanting a cat.”

“Please tell me you didn’t put a kitten in my office, and leave him there, not with Gail,” CJ gasped, suddenly panicked.

Danny shook his head and his grin widened. “It’s a cyber cat, it comes with a disk and instructions. I named him Chester.”

Her eyes watered up as she started to laugh. He was an idiot but her idiot and how could she get mad at him when he was so eager to please. “I love you too, Danny,” she whispered, fishing through the remnants of wrapping paper and handing him an envelope.

Danny didn’t say a word, he couldn’t quite think straight. After four years of loving her she had finally said the words. He made a promise to himself to show her just how much that meant later, how much he loved her too.

His face lit up like a five-year-old when he saw the contents of the envelope. His eyes found hers and he grabbed her, kissing her firmly on the mouth. “Wow.”

“I couldn’t get off until the Saturday but we can fly up to New York, take in the game and stay overnight. You like the Knickerbockers, right?” she asked flatly, knowing full well that he had been longing to catch a game for months.

His lips pressing against hers again and his hands trailing up her legs and brushing against her centre were enough to tell her she’d done the right thing. When he finally broke away, he handed her a small rectangular gift.

The protracted way with which she undid the paper was driving him crazy. Slow, careful movements, as though she was planning to keep the paper.

“CJ!”

She grinned and slowed down even more. “Patience, Danny. You really need to learn to be more patient.”

“Yeah, well. I wasn’t the one in a hurry last night,” he grumped, watching as his boxers swung around on the fan.

The last piece of paper removed, CJ revealed the video cassette. Her face fell.

“It’s my favorite movie,” he announced.

“Atlantis?” she asked, hoping that maybe he’d picked up the wrong box. The film still gave her nightmares. She had been called into work at 6:45 in the morning because Roger Becker, the Hollywood director, was unhappy. The movie had only received two Golden Globe nominations and she had ended up getting fired. Not that she hadn’t hated the job anyway but the movie was bad, dire even.

“Yeah. I love the kid in glasses, he’s so cute. You haven’t seen it?” Danny took the tape from her hands and moved to get off the bed. “We can watch it now.”

CJ’s fingers digging into his arm stopped him. “Maybe later. I have another gift for you.” The tape she dropped onto the floor and pushed under the bed with her foot. There were still some things about Danny that most definitely needed work.

His next gift from her was a pair of Tazmanian devil suspenders and he bounced up and down on the bed.

CJ shook her head and briefly envisioned Christmases in the future with Danny and their red headed son on the bed. Her smile widened when she realized that she was thinking of more than just a year from now.

Her final gift from him was an idiot’s guide to sports.

Danny rubbed his arm where she had hit him again. He could swear the bruise was already beginning to show. When he looked up she was sliding off the bed and heading for the bathroom.

“CJ?”

“I just need to get your other gift,” she called back over her shoulder, tossing her head and smiling. “I won’t be a minute.”

“Danny?” CJ called from the bathroom door a few minutes later.

He glanced up from his place on the bed and grinned. “I thought I was getting another present.”

CJ twirled the end of the silver tinsel and slid her knee up and down the door frame, mischievously. It was all she could do not to laugh as he scrambled to sit up, knocking presents flying onto the floor. “I wasn’t sure what else you’d like.”

“I like.” He definitely liked. CJ was wearing nothing except two strategically placed strands of tinsel and they weren’t leaving much to the imagination. His mind was conjuring up all sorts of connotations and his body was responding.

The tinsel landed in a pile at her feet as CJ stepped away from the door, her lips twitching up in a smile. “I was going to wear something provocative but it would most likely get ripped,” she shrugged as she neared the bed.

His shirt was the prime example of how frantic things tended to get between them. It lay on the floor in shreds, buttons littering the carpet. Not that he minded, when CJ got passionate she got passionate.

Danny reached for her hand, lacing his fingers with hers and tugging her gently towards him. His need, he knew, was evident even beneath the deep blue sheets, and it was a need he couldn’t fight.

CJ tumbled onto the bed, landing across him, a hand either side of his head. “Happy Christmas, Daniel,” she purred, her fingers toying with his red curls, her nipples hardening against his chest as his erection pressed against her thigh.

His only thought as he rolled them over until she was below him, was that it was shaping up to be a very happy Christmas.

Slowly, almost relevantly he kissed her throat, then her collar bone before moving back up to kiss her lips. As her leg wrapped around his hip, the kisses became more passionate, more needy and her nails scraped down his back eliciting low moans from somewhere deep inside him.

Without breaking the kiss, Danny slid a hand between them and found her already damp. A sweet smile tugged at his lips as he gently parted her thighs and positioned himself at her opening. “CJ,” he whispered, wanting to be able to look in her eyes as he plunged into her.

CJ opened her eyes and smiled against his lips, moving one hand to the back of his head to toy with his curls while the other searched for his hand.

Danny slid in slowly, allowing her to adjust to his invasion. As she pushed against him, he inched in further until she was practically begging for all of him.

They moved together, CJ’s hands trying to get him closer, Danny’s fingers teasing at her nipples as he thrust into her, watching her face carefully.

The flush started at her breasts and covered her face as she released climax, crying his name and lifting her hips off the bed.

Danny held her hips up and thrust once more, shuddering as he came, whispering her name as he collapsed back on top of her.

Little did either know that he had given her one more gift, a small one that would take nine months to reach fruition. CJ was going to get her wish.