❆ Mistletoe ❆

"You can't catch me!" Holly squealed as she ran through the house, surprising my mum as she raced passed her. I couldn't help the smile that spread across my face as I chased after her.

Still dressed in her snowman costume, Holly hobbled out of the backdoor and jumped down onto the snow covered grass. Sparing a second to glance back over her shoulder she squealed when she saw me hot on her trails.

As soon as I was outside I gathered a ball of snow in my hands and threw it in her direction. It missed as Holly ducked behind a tree, laughing merrily.

During the middle of the snowball fight I had just initiated, I realised how much I had missed spending time with my family. I missed playing silly games with Holly and pestering Oscar about which book he was reading. Me and Nick making fun of mum's cooking until we took it a little bit too far and we would both end up doing the dishes to make it up to her. Over the past three months I hadn't just distanced myself from Jacob, but my family too.

"What's going on here?" I looked up from gathering my next snowball to see Nick and Jacob standing by the backdoor.

"Snowball fight!" Holly shouted as she threw two snowballs towards them. One hit Nick on the shoulder and the other completely missed Jacob. I laughed at his smug expression and quickly finished making my snowball. While he was looking smug at Holly I tossed a snowball in his direction, hitting him straight on the jaw. Holly giggled in delight and rushed over to high-five me. When I looked up I saw Jacob and Nick whispering together, Jacob looked over at me and winked. The next thing I knew, he was pulling on a bobble hat and stalking towards me. I had become his pray.

Nick had dashed forwards and had begun chasing Holly around the large garden. Jacob and I on the other hand were locked on each other's movements, waiting to see who would make the first move.

Holly screamed in the distance and I went to turn my head in her direction, but Jacob pounced. He sprinted forwards and I had just enough time to stumble backwards and run. Luckily my Dad's land had plenty of trees and shrubbery to run and hide through. I ran, looking to the left as I heard Holly's laughter echo around the garden. I turned right and curved away from them, hoping to shake Jacob off my tracks. I spared a quick glance behind me and nearly stumbled when I saw that Jacob had disappeared. Slowing down my pace so that I was jogging, I looked around me confused.

Where had everyone gone?

I couldn't hear Holly's laughter anymore, or the heavy footsteps of Nick and Jacob had disappeared into thin air.

There was a snapping noise behind me and I spun around on the heel of my foot. No-one was there.

"Boo." A voice whispered from behind me. I knew it was Jacob when his arms wrapped themselves around me from behind and he buried his face in my neck. His warm breath against my cold skin electrified shivers down my spine.

"I caught you." I gasped when I felt his lips press against the sensitive skin on my neck. Lost in his arms, I closed my eyes and enjoyed the feeling of his body pressed against mine.

"Three, two, one," He pressed a delicate kiss on my skin with each number and before I could comprehend why he was counting down I was caught in the crossfire. Snowballs zoomed passed me, some hitting me in the chest and stomach. Shielding my face, I turned to face Jacob but was met with another pile of snow falling down over my head.

I glared at Jacob as he ran to join forces with Holly and Nick, who were already busy collecting their next round of ammunition.

"Oh I see how it is, bring it!" I shouted, declaring war on the three of them.

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The snowball fight had ended with me being completely defeated by the 'Three Musketeers' as they had called themselves. Frozen to the bone, we all made our way back inside to change out of our soaking wet clothes and into warm cosy ones.

I was sat in the living room sipping on a mug of green tea with Oscar sat reading next to me when Nick entered the room.

"Your mother and I are going to go into town to finish off our last bit of present shopping."

"Okay, have fun." I said giving him a wide smile, knowing that a last minute shopping trip with my mum would only end one way.

"Wish me luck." Nick laughed when both Oscar and I gave him a sarcastic thumbs up.

Taking another sip of my tea I zoned out for a few minutes thinking about the day's events. The day had started with me dodging around the house trying my best to keep my distance from Jacob. After the eventful food shop and the flood of unwanted memories resurfacing, I had found somehow found a way to momentarily block out those bad memories and enjoy the afternoon with my younger siblings and Jacob.

Jacob.

God, what a mess!

Again, one minute we're snapping at each other and the next our lips are close enough for me to tell he had recently eaten a 'freaking' mint.

I knew the kisses he had pressed against my neck in the garden had just been part of his distraction method so that they could all ambush me. But I couldn't help but think there was more behind them. We shared a history together where every kiss had meant something, maybe it still does.

"Talia?"

"Hum, yes?" I said shaking my head clear of meaningful kisses. Oscar had closed his book – yet another comic book, and was staring up at me.

"Can we make some superhero cookies?" He asked. I was quite taken aback by his question. Oscar was a quiet, independent child who liked to keep to himself most of the time. He knew how much I loved to bake but had never once asked if he could join in.

"Yeah, sure buddy. Come on then." I replied. I pushed myself up from the sofa and walked the short distance to the kitchen, with Oscar following me.

"No. You have to wear an apron otherwise Mummy will be angry at you." I heard a familiar stubborn voice say as I entered the kitchen.

Holly was kneeling on one of the island stools with an angry pout on her face. Jacob stood beside her holding his hands up in defence.

"Okay, I'll put one on." He said as he reached behind him to retrieve an apron from the draw. He held up the material in his hand and grimaced. The apron was covered in a floral cupcake pattern. He was about to protest when he caught my eye from across the room, smiling he reluctantly put on the apron. I held back my laughter.

"What are you guys making?" I asked, leaning against the counter.

"Snowman cookies," Holly announced proudly. "What are you making Oscar?" She added, crossing her arms.

"Superhero cookies."

"Awesome!" Jacob exclaimed, walking around the island to stand near Oscar. "What are you thinking, Captain America? Iron Man?"

"No." Holly pouted clutching the back of Jacob's jumper with her small hands, "You're helping me."

Oscar gave Jacob a sympathetic shrug before turning to me.

"If you start on the mixture, I'll start planning the designs."

"Deal. Let the best team win." I said looking up at Jacob to see him wink at me before whispering in Holly's ear. She giggled mischievously.

  ❆❆❆    

"Holly, wait! You're getting black in the white icing." Jacob said as he tried to pry the black icing away from her hands.

"But Mr Snowman needs eyes and buttons!" She said wiping her sticky hands on the front of his apron.

"We've so got this." I whispered to Oscar. Our cookies had come out of the oven a perfect golden colour and we were now sat calmly decorating them. Team Jacob and Holly however were all over the place.

"We need sprinkles!" Holly shouted causing Jacob to jump and smudge the icing on the cookie he was decorating.

"Damn it!" He cursed under his breath.

"Naughty word," Holly giggled, stuffing a handful of sprinkles into her mouth.

I reached over and took the tube of sprinkles away from her before she could protest.

"That's enough Holly. You've already eaten half a packet of chocolate buttons. Mummy won't be happy with you if you're not hungry for your dinner later."

Holly spent the next ten minutes pouting with her head in her hands.

"I'm bored now." She announced, jumping down from the stool. She skipped out of the kitchen without another word.

"Well I guess that means our cookies are done." Jacob said wiping his hands on a dish cloth.

"Shall we finish ours later?" I asked Oscar. He nodded and added the final touches to his Hulk cookie.

"Do you wanna go and watch another Christmas film in the living room?" I said to no one in particular as I washed my hands in the sink.

"Quick, let's choose a good one before Holly does." Jacob said. I turned around just in time to see him and Oscar both run out of the kitchen with huge grins on their faces.

I found myself smiling to myself as I quickly washed the dishes as fast as I could so that I could join them.

Maybe having Jacob around wasn't so bad after all.

  ❆❆❆    

I awoke to the sound of talking.

"I knew it was a good idea to invite him here." A voice that sounded very much like my mother's came from the doorway. I kept my eyes closed and snuggled closer towards the warmth next to me.

"Don't go meddling, Marina. It's up to them, they're adults."

"Oh hush. They just need that extra push towards each other and they'll be back together in no time." I could hear the smugness in my mother's voice.

"Leave them be, come on." Nick ushered her away and closed the door behind them.

I opened my eyes and lifted my head up. The TV was on showing the long list of credits for the film we had watched or half watched, I must have fallen asleep halfway through it. I turned my head to see Oscar slouched down in his seat, light snores coming from his open mouth. Holly was on the other end of the sofa I was on, her head was placed onto top of the armrest and her hair covered her face.

An arm tightened around my waist and I held my breath. I slowly turned my head in the other direction, scared of what/who I was going to find next to me.

Jacob, whose head was tilted back and resting on the back of the sofa, had his eyes closed and his arms around me. The familiar raise and fall of his chest was like a soothing lullaby. I stared up at his face, relaxed and emotionless; it made my heart ache for him. Memories of the two of us spending endless nights together like this flooded my mind. So much had happened in the past which had made it feel like there was a huge wedge of ice separating us, but now in that exact moment I had never felt closer to him.

"Please don't pull away." His raspy voice, heavy with sleep made me jump. His eyes remained closed but he was awake.

My eyes inspected every part of his face as a comfortable silence fell upon us. Over the few months we had been apart I had tried to convince myself countless times that he would forget me and move on. But as I looked at his face and felt the gentle, loving touch of his arms around me, I found myself falling more and more in love with him. I couldn't let him go. I was selfish. Too selfish to even think about letting him forget me. Forget my touch.

I reached out and caressed his rough cheek. His eyelids flickered but his eyes remained closed. I was glad that he wasn't looking at me, I was sure that my cheeks were rosy and my eyes were giving away my emotions. I moved my fingers down to his lips and I felt the change in his breathing. Good, he felt it too. The connection between us was as strong as ever like nothing had ever changed, because nothing had changed. He had never stopped loving me and no matter how many times I had told myself I should stop loving him, I didn't. I couldn't. I loved him.

I allowed my finger tips to dance across his lips. I lifted them away and placed them in his hair before I pressed my lips against his and finally found myself once again.          

  ❆❆❆    

A/N - Hi everyone, sorry it's taken me so long to get this chapter out. The month of December was crazy hectic for me. I had work/Christmas/My Birthday and New Year's to deal with sooo ahhhh! But that's all over now and now we're all in that January slump :( 

I hope this chapter has cheered you up a bit, it cheered me up when I was writing it :) Are we shipping Talob/Jalia yet? (I am, I love them!) 

Until next time my lovelys! 

- H xxx

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