The Gift (3 page)

Charles drained the punch from his glass and put his empty glass on Nicky's tray. He took another one. "Don't be late."

"I won't be, sir."

Nicky began to rise and then hesitated. "Merry Christmas, sir."

Charles silently nodded his dismissal.

Charles frowned as he watched Nicky walk away. He
turned his attention back to the younger version of himself.

His frown deepened. "Should have taken him home right
then," he muttered under his breath.

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The Gift

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"To celebrate Christmas with you?" the spirit asked from
behind him.

"What's Christmas got to do with anything? Nicky belongs
to me—I should have made that clear to him right then."

Although he wouldn't say the words out loud, Charles knew
looking back he should never have left Nicky without a master
for a moment longer than was absolutely necessary. Nicky
needed to belong to someone.

"You don't celebrate Christmas?" the spirit asked.

"I didn't before I met Nicky. But you can't share a house
with him and ignore the holiday," Charles said. He shrugged.

"It makes him happy and I see no harm in letting him have
the holiday the way he wants it. If this show and tell is over, I
take it I can return to my own time now?"

The spirit took hold of his arm.

The image of Charles's younger self sitting in front of the
fire in the bar faded away. Another fire place crackled into
existence. Flames flickered in and out of the either until they
settled into the blaze in the hearth of his familiar living room.

Charles stood very still until his stomach stopped turning
loops. He didn't know if this nonsense was time travel or a
hallucination or something even more bizarre, but it made
him as queasy as hell, which did little to improve his temper.

He pulled his arm out of the spirit's grasp the moment he
was sure of his balance. Charles turned towards the door
going through into the hallway leading up to the bedroom.

Before he took a step he realised something was different—

something was missing. There were no decorations.

"Where's Nicky?"

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"There are many Christmases you need to visit before you
can return to your Christmas present."

"And when is this, which year?" It had to be before Nicky.

If Nicky was in the house at Christmas time there would be
decorations following along not far behind.

"This is four years ago," the spirit said.

Charles frowned. "Christmas Day?"

"No. This is the first day of December in the year 2004."

Charles relaxed. Nicky never started spreading Christmas
through the house until December. He started for the door,
wondering where Nicky would be.

Charles almost collided with himself coming in the opposite
direction. Nicky followed a few steps behind, still only wearing
his collar. As a slightly younger version of Charles sat in his
chair by the fire place, the spirit took Charles by the arm
again and encouraged him to step back out of the scene and
observe it from a different angle.

Nicky walked across to the small bar tucked away in a corner of the living room. He carefully filled a glass with a single measure of brandy. Keeping his back to his master, he judged the moment appropriate to raise the issue which had increasingly occupied his mind as December got nearer.

"Master?"

Charles shook out his newspaper. "Yes, pet?"

Nicky stared into the brandy glass. He took a deep breath and pitched his voice very carefully. "May I know how you wish me to decorate?"

"Decorate?" Charles rustled through the crisp printed pages until he found something he wanted to read.

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"For Christmas," Nicky hinted. He took great care in putting the stopper back in the brandy decanter. Keeping his back to Charles, he willed his master to say 'yes'. There was only so much he could do to give his master a wonderful Christmas if Charles wouldn't cooperate.

"You want to decorate?" Charles asked. He still sounded unfamiliar with the concept.

"If you have no objection, master," Nicky mitigated.

There were a few moments of silence. Nicky couldn't bring himself to turn around and see the expression on his master's face, just in case it wasn't one that looked favourably on his idea.

"If it pleases you, you may do so."

Nicky closed his eyes for several brief moments. He smiled at the wall over the decanters. "Thank you, master."

Nicky took the brandy glass across to his master. Kneeling at his feet, he offered the glass to him, just as he'd offered another drink to him almost a year before. Charles took it.

"Thank you, pet. You don't want anything for yourself?"

"No, thank you, master." Nicky settled himself comfortably on the cushion at Charles's feet. Charles reached out and stroked his fingers through Nicky's hair, encouraging him to rest his head on his knee.

Half of the task he'd assigned himself for the evening completed, Nicky allowed himself to relax and enjoy the quiet contentment filling the room. He closed his eyes and let his master's gentle petting soothe him. Finally, he built up his courage and broke the silence.

"Master?"

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Charles turned over another page in his paper. "Yes?"

"About the decorations?" He cast a quick glance up, trying to gauge his master's reaction.

Charles raised an eyebrow at the reintroduction of a topic he'd evidently considered closed, but he looked down at Nicky rather than the paper, giving his pet his full attention.

Nicky took a deep breath. "I still have a little money put by from before I came under your protection. Perhaps it would be appropriate if I use that money for the decorations." The last thing he wanted was for his master to think he was asking for a present when he actually wanted to do something special for his master.

Charles put the paper aside with a smile. "Is this your way of telling me you've reached your limit on your credit card, pet?"

Nicky quickly shook his head. "I wouldn't—"

"Hush," Charles chided him. "I'm not accusing you of anything. The money is there to be spent." Charles stroked his hair back. It was longer than it had been when Charles took possession of him. It kept falling in his eyes. It was annoying as hell when he was on his own, but the way his master ran his fingers through his hair when they were together made the inconvenience more than worth it. Nicky leaned into his touch.

"But the card is for household expenses and—"

Charles put a finger tip to his lips. "Is that what I told you when I gave you the card?"

Nicky shook his head.

Charles raised an eyebrow.

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"You said I should spend it on whatever I wanted, but..."

he trailed off when he saw Charles's expression. Nicky looked down. He still found it hard to accept Charles's casual generosity towards him. "I'm sorry, master."

"I am not the man who used to call himself your master,"

Charles told him softly. "If you hit the limit on your card, let me know and we will discuss raising the limit, otherwise you don't have to worry about such things."

"I'm sorry, master," Nicky repeated.

Charles tapped his knee. Nicky quickly rose and sat up on his master's lap. He curled himself into Charles's body and settled immediately without any wriggling or squirming into position. Charles stroked his back. "You still find it hard, pet?"

Nicky shrugged, shifting slightly in his master's arms. "I just don't want you to think I'm wasting your money."

Charles tapped him smartly on his bottom.

"Our money," Nicky corrected automatically.

"You belong to me, pet. What we have belongs to both of us."

Nicky could practically mouth the words along with him.

During the months he'd spent with Charles he'd heard them often but they were still felt unfamiliar and uncomfortable.

With his old master, he'd known where he stood. He might not have stood there with a penny to his name, but Hastings's limitations and rules about money were simple and made sense. Charles's generosity and a credit card limit he would never need to spend more than a third of made it far easier for him to make mistakes.

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His master was still waiting for his response to the reminder. Nicky nodded. "I belong to my master," he repeated obediently.

Charles smiled. It was always easy to have his pet repeat
the things he liked to hear. It was only the things Nicky didn't
like which stuck in his throat and only ever escaped in
reluctant whispers.

He watched his younger self press a kiss to the top of
Nicky's head in praise.

The picture before him flickered.

Charles looked over his shoulder, searching for the
Christmas spirit. "The conversation wasn't finished."

"We must move quickly. There is very little time for you to
visit all the Christmases you need to remember. We have not
travelled far forward. Less than a day."

"Not to mention the fact you only seem to like the bits of
my past that make me look like a complete bastard," Charles
muttered.

The last of the image faded away. Charles continued to
stare at the empty space.

Music began to play. A new picture solidified around them.

Boxes of decorations appeared on every flat surface. Nicky
reappeared, still minus his clothes. Charles glanced across at
the spirit. He didn't like other men seeing his pet so exposed.

The spirit had no place in their private memories.

Nicky put a box of baubles on the coffee table next to the
huge tree that appeared in the bay window. Charles stepped
between him and the spirit, blocking the spirit's view.

"Bloody hell!"

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Nicky winced. Keeping his back to doorway, he closed his eyes. For several long seconds he stood stock still. Then he turned and knelt. Putting his hands behind his back and lowering his eyes, he waited to be recognised by his master.

From his position, he could see Charles standing in the living room doorway. He stayed there for a long time. Nicky longed to raise his eyes and see just how displeased his master was with his efforts, but he couldn't bring himself to break out of one of the few serious protocols Charles maintained.

When his master came home he was to kneel, just as he was, and wait to be recognised. Nicky loved the feeling of being welcomed back under his master's protection too much to risk losing the protocol by failing to obey it consistently.

Finally Charles walked across to him. He ran his hand through Nicky's hair and trailed a finger tip along the collar in a familiar greeting. Sliding a knuckle under Nicky's chin, he lifted his face and his gaze from the floor. He didn't look impressed.

"I could take some of it down," Nicky offered quickly.

Charles ran his fingers through his hair again, but Nicky knew it was only an absentminded gesture. Charles's attention was still firmly on the decorations he'd put up.

He looked around the room again. "Leave them as they are. You must have worked very hard to put all these up today?" he asked.

"Do you like them?" Nicky asked, cautiously hopeful his master was only surprised rather than displeased.

"If they please you, I am glad you put them up."

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His master couldn't see his expression from where he stood on the other side of the room. It was safe to react honestly. Nicky's expression fell. He looked back to the floor.

Charles walked across to inspect the tree.

Nicky pulled himself together. He rose to his feet and followed a few paces behind Charles. "I could take some of them back if you think it's too much," he suggested. "I kept all the receipts, and I haven't even unpacked some of them yet, so..."

Charles ran his hand through a box of baubles. "That's not necessary."

Nicky's lower lip suffered as his teeth nibbled the sensitive flesh. "I—"

Charles shook his head. "It's fine, pet." He undid his tie and looked at the holly on the fireplace. A few minutes later, he walked from the room to get changed.

Nicky looked around the room. "Stupid." He shook his head at himself, knowing he should have broken Charles into the idea more slowly. Nicky wandered back across to the tree.

He picked up a bauble from the box and hung it on the end of a branch. He frowned at the gleaming ball of glass.

"Beautiful," Charles said.

Nicky turned to see his master once more standing in the doorway, now dressed in jeans and a long sleeved T-shirt and looking infinitely more pleased with the world. Nicky's face lit up with a beaming smile. He offered Charles one of the fancy purple baubles.

Charles laughed. "Not the tree, pet, you."

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Nicky blushed, half at the compliment and half at the mistake.

Charles took the decoration anyway. He twirled the bauble around his finger, watching it catch the light from the dozens of fairy lights already on the tree. He hung it on a branch.

Nicky offered him another one from the box.

Charles took that one too.

He stepped closer to Nicky, pressing his clothed body against his bare back. Charles barely looked at the bauble before he hooked it onto an empty branch.