one; a partridge in a pear tree

Mats returned to his guests after trying with no luck to contact his girlfriend. Each time he would call her number, his call was sent straight to voicemail and that worried him. No matter how angry she was at him, she always answered the phone. And then there was the fact that he heard a heart-wrenching noise coming from her end of the phone, but he had no way of getting to her. He didn't know where she was. All that was left to do was to wait and maybe she would come back home on her own.

He slipped his cellphone into his pocket and rubbed his face with his hands. He took a deep breath to steel himself before walking back to the livingroom area where the rest of his friends were waiting for him.

The first to approach him was Jude, Marco's girlfriend, who quickly became good friends with Pia when they met. Her brown eyes were full of concern when she saw the worry in his tear glazed eyes. She grabbed his hands in hers and spoke in an urgent tone, "Where's Pia? Is she coming home? You shouldn't have let her leave on her own like that. Not in the state she was in."

"Please, Jude." He implored the brunette with desperation. "Don't make me feel worse than I do already."

"You're right, I'm sorry." She sniffed, wiping away a few stray tears away from her face. "Listen, Marco and I are here for you if you need anything. You know Pia is my best friend and Marco really cares about you. We can ask everyone to go home and we can come by tomorrow to check on you." The brown eyed brunette with light tanned skin offered. "We'll take care of everything, don't worry."

He nodded slowly. "Thanks, Judy."

Mats went into the dining room of his house and sat at the table with his head in his hands while Jude and Marco asked the other guests to leave. In the loneliness and quiet of the dining room was where he let the tears fall freely. He feared the worst, and he knew he wouldn't be able to forgive himself if Pia were gone. 

Jude and Marco stayed in the livingroom area. Jude had announced that Mats wasn't in condition to continue hosting the christmas party and that he thanked everyone for coming, but asked for everyone to go home. Everyone nodded in understanding. They had all witnessed the argument between the two. It was one of the worst they had ever had, and Jude knew it better than anyone. She and Pia were close friends. When everyone was gone, they made sure to close the front door on their way out.

"I hope Pia's okay." Jude sighed as she and Marco made their way down the drive way on the way to their car. 

Marco smiled reassuringly. "I'm sure she'll be fine. She and Mats will be happy again in no time." Marco knew them the longest. They had been together for years and always found a way to make things work. Mats adored Pia, and she adored him.

They reached the sidewalk just as a police squad car parked on the curb, two officers emerged from it. The officers stopped the young couple. "Excuse me," One of them said, "Is this the home of..." He reached into his uniform pocket to produce a small card which Jude suspected was an identification. "Miss Pia Klein?"

"Yes." Jude sucked in a breath, expecting the worst.

"Are you a family member of this young woman?" The other officer asked.

Jude shook her head in response to the question. "No, I'm her bestfriend. She lives here with her boyfriend Mats. Has something happened to her?"

The officer gulped, on his face was a look of pity. "It would be best if we could talk to the three of you at the same time."

Nodding, Marco gestured towards the house. "Of course. Please come in."

Once inside the house, Jude left Marco and the officers in the livingroom while she went in search of Mats. She found him in the dining room with his head down on the table, his shoulders slumped and shakey. The only sound in the room that was heard besides her heels clanking against the tiled floor were the soft sounds of his sobs. "Mats..." Called Jude, placing her hand on his shoulder. 

She wanted to remain optimistic, but all signs pointed to bad news. It was likely that what the officers had to say wasn't good.

"What?" He asked, jumping up from his chair. He was quick to wipe his tears away and a small smile tugged at his lips. "Pia came back, right? Tell me she came back, and that she's okay." He looked past Jude's shoulder, almost expecting to find his girlfriend there, standing in the doorway, with her soft smile and sparkling eyes. But there was no one there. There was only him and Jude.

She shook her head. "The police came by. They have news of Pia for us."

"Well come on," Mats pushed past her towards the doorway that led to the next room which the living room. "She could be hurt. She could be needing us."

He trudged into the living room, all was quiet and the aura of bad news hung in the air. Even so, Mats remained optimistic that he would see his girlfriend again. The police stood up to greet him with silent handshakes, no one dared to say anything yet. 

"I'm Mats Hummels, Pia's boyfriend." He spoke up.

"It would be best if you sat down, Mr. Hummels." The officer suggested.

Mats shook his head. "I'm fine. Just tell me what's wrong with Pia."

"Miss Klein's car went off the side of the road after a semi-truck collided with the side of her car. It seems like she was on the phone when the accident happened. There was nothing we could do to help her." The officer was handed a handbag by his colleague, to which he slipped the ID card into. As he handed the purse to Mats, he finished with, "These are the only things we could recover from her car, everything else was completely wrecked. We're very sorry."

Mats shook his head once again, this time in his refusal to accept the news. "No. This...this is just some sick joke. Pia is alive and she's going to come back home because I didn't get to tell her how much I love her. I didn't get to tell her that I wanted her to be mine always. I never told her how much I wished I could have stopped time with her eyes looking into mine. With her lips telling me how much she loved me..." He was unable to continue speaking when a strangled sob made its way out. He dropped to his knees on the ground and cried into his hands inconsolably. Jude's sobs joined his, as did the tears of Marco. But the two policemen were nearly unfazed by what they saw before them. Surely, they felt bad about it all, but it wasn't nearly as much as the pain her loved ones were feeling.

Of the three of them, Marco was the most calm, though the tears streamed down his face. He led the officers back out the door and they informed him where they could pick up her remains. Soon they were gone and Marco returned to his friend and his girlfriend Jude.

"Oh, Mats." Jude cried, "I can't believe she's gone."

For the first time since he had gotten the news, he looked up at them, his friends. "She's not dead!" He yelled at them, his eyes full of hurt. "Now leave me alone! Please leave!"

"We can't just leave you here by yourself-" Marco began.

"Get out of my house." Mats insisted. "I want to be alone."

Marco sighed, helping his girlfriend get back on her feet. He embraced her tightly and let her cry into his chest. Jude said nothing more to Mats, but Marco promised him they would return in the morning to check on him, even if he didn't want them to. Then they would all go together to get everything arranged for Pia's funeral.

They left Mats on the floor of his living room, where he cried until there were no more tears left in him. He blamed himself for her death. If only he hadn't argued with her. If only he hadn't let her leave the house, then she would still be there with him.

He didn't know how much time had passed, but nothing mattered to him. After what felt like years, he found himself drifting off to sleep.

The next morning came around and he opened his dark eyes with a heavy heart. He looked up at the ceiling, unwilling to get out of bed. Downstairs, he heard footsteps moving about in the kitchen. The sounds were joined by the sizzling of breakfast on a skillet.

Mats covered his face with the sheets and shut his eyes tight. He was sure it was Jude and Marco and he thought that if they saw him sleeping, then they would go away, deciding not to bother him.

Several minutes went by and neither of them came up to his bedroom to check on him. It was only then that he realized where he was. He pulled the covers off his face and looked around to find he was laid in his bed. He didn't know how he got there. The only theory he could think of was that Marco and Jude had come by in the morning and helped him get into bed. They would probably come wake him later to take him to the funeral home where everything would be set up for Pia's burial.

As he thought about it, he heard footsteps coming down the hallway. He was ready to tell his friends to go away, but his jaw dropped at the sight before him. 

There, standing in the doorway, was his girlfriend with a bright smile on her face and a tray of breakfast in her hands. "Rise and shine, Matsy." She said in a sing-song voice. Pia was always the happiest in the morning, she had always been a morning person, unlike Mats. Pia saw the expression on his face, he was completely drained of color. "What's wrong? You look like you just saw a ghost."

Mats heart sped up and he felt himself at a loss for words because he'd lived this same scenario just the day before, except just slightly different. "What--what day is it, Pia?" He managed to choke out through his confusion.

"Its Christmas Eve, of course. Did you already forget, liebling?" She said as if it were obvious. "You need to hurry and get up so we can get everything ready for the party."

He didn't know what was going on. 

If Pia was alive...had he been dreaming?

-

EDIT: chapter re-uploaded.

chapter one for you guys.

i really hope you enjoy reading it.

i'll try to update again as soon as i can. 

just a little question of the day: favorite christmas song? mine is 'fum! fum! fum!', it is a catalan christmas song, from the north east autonomous region of spain. 'fum' means 'smoke' in catalan. 'on december twenty-fifth sing fum! fum! fum! he was born of god's pure love, the son of god, the son of god. he was born of virgin mary in this night so cold and dreary. fum, fum, fum. fum, fum. fum-fum!'

anyway, thank you for reading.

i love you.

-clary xx