I felt myself being shook awake. I opened my eyes to be faced with 6 pairs of eyes staring at me. "Wakey wakey, IT'S CHRISTMAS" Jaime squealed jumping up and down. I rubbed my eyes and looked at them all. Vic wasn't there.

"Fine I'll get up" I groaned and sat up right. Everyone cheered and the suddenly Jaime picked me up off the bed and threw me over his shoulder. "Jaime, put me down" I laughed. He just giggled and ran out of the bedroom. Everyone followed behind us and suddenly I felt someone slap my ass. I looked to see who it was and seen Mike grinning and running away. Jaime got to the bottom of the stairs and I stumbled out of his arms. "You better hope I don't tell Vic" I said pushing Mike.

"Tell Vic what?" I heard and we all turned to the couch. Vic sat up slowly and looked over to us. I frowned and realised it was him who came home and must have slept on the couch.

"Where were you all night?" Mike spoke up. Vic looked at him all dazed and confused.

"I was at Mom and Papas all night. I told you" Vic said rubbing his eyes and yawning.

"Bull. Fucking. Shit" Mike snarled and walked over to Vic. "I called mom last night. Worried because you hadn't come home" Vics eyes widened and he shook his head. "She said she hasn't seen you since Monday, when we all went over" Vics faced turned to shame. Mike leaned in and sniffed him. "You fucking reek of alcohol bro. Don't even begin to tell your bullshit lies" Mike shook his head and walked away.

Vic looked over to me and I just looked away and walked into the kitchen. Kat followed me in and gave me a hug. "You okay?" She spoke up.

"No, actually. I have no idea what is going on with him" I said with tears filling my eyes. She rubbed my back and hugged me more.

"Listen, I don't want to be the one to say it. He disappeared all night, got drunk... who knows where he could have been or doing" Kat said quietly. "I'm sure it's nothing but I would watch out okay" She smiled.

I looked up at her and shook my head. "I should have just gone back to Nashville. This is going to be the worst Christmas ever. I lost my child only a month ago and I guess now it isn't the only thing I have lost" I said wiping a tear away. Just as I said that Vic stumbled into the kitchen. Kat looked at me and I nodded to I'd be fine.

He walked over to me and went to hug me but I pulled away. "Don't" I said sternly. He looked at me hurt and stood back.

"What is your problem with me?" He asked obnoxiously. I made a face at him and he rolled his eyes.

"You seriously asking that? After the stunt you just pulled. Yeah you're a perfect little angel Vic" I said shaking my head.

"What does it matter. I'm here now ain't I?" He muttered. "I didn't have to come back" He shook his head.

"Well you might aswell not have. I came all this way for you because I thought. 'We can try and have a normal first Christmas together' but you know what. We can't. This is supposed to be a family time. A month ago we were the perfect little family together but now, we're just broken and you don't even care. What happened to 'I'll be there every step of the way'. Since they words left your mouth you've been nothing but useless to me" I said with tears welling up in my eyes.

"Can we please just talk about this?" He begged, walking over to me. He grabbed my hands and I looked up into his eyes.

"Not now. Let's just pretend this is a good day okay. We'll talk later" I said letting his hands go and walking back into the living room

"Yay, can we open presents now?" Jaime said hopeful. I looked at them and smiled. Vic walked into the living room and we circled the Christmas tree and began to get our piles ready to hand out the presents to people.

"You first Hayley" Jaime said handing me a box. "You guys all gotta go first actually" He said handing Jeremy and Taylor a box too. We all opened them and there were matching necklace chains. They had the three panels on them and all had our names engraved. I looked at Jaime and pulled him in for a hug.

"Oh my God, this is amazing thank you" I gushed. We all put them on and were so happy with them. I hugged my boys and I remembered our friendship and promise.

"Okay here you go guys" Tony said handing us our gifts. "These are from me and Jenna who couldn't be here obviously" Tony smiled excitedly.

I opened mines and it was an orange microphone, the one that I wanted. It had a word printed on it. 'Future'. I looked up at Tony and attacked him with hugs. "Thank you so much. I love you guys" He just hugged me more and I sat back down. Tony and Jenna got Jeremy and Taylor guitar stuff. Like amusing picks and a few new pedels. They were delighted.

"Thanks so much" They both said. Tony high fived them and it was onto Mike.

"So this was incredibly hard for me" Mike laughed as he handed me a box. I opened it up and it was a journal. I smiled and opened it. In the front page there was a picture we had took together on Warped. Then it had quotes of things we had said together. Things I couldn't even remember myself. I marvelled at the amount there was. I began to well up and wiped the tears away.

"Thank you so much Mike. This is perfect" I smiled. He pulled me in for a hug and kissed the top of my head.

Mike got Taylor and Jeremy a few band shirts and records they had been talking about wanting. They were so happy with that.

"So Kat, we don't know you well enough to get something personal so we got you a pass for a spa weekend" Tony spoke up and gave her an envelop. She was really happy with that and thanked them.

So we got Jaime a new Bass. We customised the paint job to write Hime-Time and we got a sombrero on it. We had to go out to the car to get that and he flipped out for it, he loved it. We got Tony a whole set of Star Wars figures and merch for that. I got Mike a custom pair of drum sticks and some Harry Potter stuff.

Everyone was happy with their gifts until everyone realised Vic hadn't participated at all. We turned to him and he looked up. He handed everyone their gifts until he came to me. He dropped a box down on my lap.

"Your choice what you wanna do with it" He muttered then stormed off upstairs. I looked at everyone they looked away.

I picked up the box and unwrapped it. I slowly opened it and realisation hit me. It was an engagement ring. It was utterly beautiful and perfect for me, it sorta scared me how he got a ring so amazing for me. I looked up at everyone and they smiled softly. "Is this an engagement ring?" I asked with a shakey voice. Everyone nodded. I closed my eyes and breathed steadily. "I'll be right back" I said softly.

I stood up, the box in my hand and went up the stairs. I had no idea what I was going to say once I got there but I couldn't ignore this one. I finally got to his room and opened the door slowly. He was lying in his bed facing away from me. I closed the door and walked over to the bed and climbed over him and laid down. He opened his teary eyes and looked at me.

"When did you get this?" I asked motioning towards the ring. He looked at it and frowned.

"Jenna took me the day you went into the hospital. When we got back is when we had the fight" He whispered. "I was gonna ask you today. That was always the plan" He said softly, more tears spilling out of his eyes.

"Things are so messed up right now. I have no idea how to cope with this sorta stuff but all I know is if you keep doing what you're doing. I won't stick around to see what the end result is for you" I said softly.

"So this is it then. If you're done with me then fine. I'm sorry" He said rolling onto his other side. I rolled my eyes at his dramaticness.

"What are you so scared of?" I said smiling as I quoted Jennas words. He suddenly sat up and looked at me.

"This. This is what scares me. Getting back to normal. I'm losing this battle Hayley" He said quickly.

"Then win the war Vic" I said climbing off the bed. I walked over to the door but he grabbed my hand.

When I turned around he was down on one knee holding the ring up. "I don't care if we are utterly fucked up, we can't be torn apart. I love you too much for that" He said looking straight into my eyes. I took a deep breath and laughed. He looked at me funny.

"Get up you dork" I laughed. He stood up looking defeated and began to walk over to his bed again but I grabbed him and pulled him into my arms. "Of course I'll marry you" I mumbled and quickly kissed him. He smiled into the kiss and pulled back.

"You better. I'll drag you up that isle if I have to" He joked. I rolled my eyes and he took the ring out of the box. I held my hand out for him and he slipped it on my finger. "Forever?" He asked.

"Forever" I smiled back.

Notes

So whatcha think?