I woke up to sweet, small kisses pressed all over my face. I tried not to show that I was awake, so I turned my head to conceal my smile. I felt kisses pressed to my neck and I let out a groan, "Sleepy."

"Merry Christmas, sleeping beauty," Mike's voice came out in a happy tone. I shook my head and groaned again before pulling the blanket over my head. He pulled it down and laughed, "You have to get up and see what Santa brought you."

I opened one eye and looked at him. He did in fact have a big pink bow sitting on top of his blonde and brown hair. His big brown eyes were full of happiness and he had a goofy smile on his face. "Screw Santa I want the Sandman," I yawned and stretched my arms above my head. I looked over at the clock on my bedside table, "Mikey, it's 7:30!"

He chuckled, "And your little brother already started screaming about Santa." He grabbed my hands and sat back, pulling me up, "Get up!"

He grinned as I got out of bed and stretched. I walked over to my dresser and pulled out a pair of sweatpants. I looked at him and smiled, then walked over to him and stood on my tip toes. I pressed a soft kiss on his lips, "Merry Christmas."

"You are so not a morning person," he mumbled against my lips then leaned in and pressed a firm kiss to them.

I smiled and pulled away, looking up at him and batting my eyelashes, "Will you keep the bow on your head while we do presents?" He groaned, "Please, baby."

"Fine," he smiled and laced his hand in mine. He pulled my hand to his lips and kissed the top of it, "Go brush your teeth. I'll make you a cup of coffee and meet you downstairs."


I brushed my teeth and went to the bathroom. I then looked at myself in the mirror. I could honestly say I was teetering on being skinny… finally. I smiled at myself and brushed through my long hair, then pulled it up in a messy bun. I was going to shower after we did presents, so I wasn't too pressed on the way I looked. I washed my face real fast to rid myself of left over makeup and then headed downstairs. Mike, Frankie and my mom were all sitting on the floor by the Christmas tree. Mike handed me a cup of coffee as I sat next to him. I thanked him and kissed his cheek before taking a sip.

"Merry Christmas, sissy!" Frankie squealed. "Present time, Mommy?"

My mom nodded, "Merry Christmas, sweetie. Yes, Frankie. You can open your presents first."

I reached under the tree and grabbed a small box, "Open this one first, this is from Mike and I."

He tore into the packaging, his brows furrowing when he found nothing inside the box. He looked over at me confused, "Well where is it, sissy?"

"Look at the paper," I laughed and handed him the small piece of paper that had fallen out of the box.

"Drums?" He questioned, his brows still furrowed.

Mike laughed and grabbed the paper from his hands, "You get to pick out your drum set with Cass and I next week."

"Mine? All mine?" He squealed when I nodded. He threw his little arms around Mike's neck and then mine. "Love you so much!" He yelled as he placed a wet kiss on my cheek.

I laughed, "I love you too, little man. Now open your presents from Mommy."

Frankie finished opening his gifts. He got some toys from my mom, a few other things like drumsticks and some clothes and movies. Next my mom opened her present from Frankie, which was something that she picked out and bought herself (a new collection of candles).

Then she opened her present from me, her eyes tearing up, "Oh, Cassie." I had decided to make her something from the heart instead of buying her something. I made her a big collage that had pictures of Frankie and I from the day we were born to the most recent I could find. In the middle, there was a picture of her, my dad, Frankie and I where we were all smiling. I was twelve in the picture and Frankie was one. "This is so sweet," she smiled. "I love it so much."

I smiled, "I didn't want to go out and buy you something that would hold no value. I know we've been fighting a lot lately, and I just wanted something to make you realize that even though we argue I still love you and respect you."

She leaned over and embraced me in a huge hug, "I couldn't ask for a better person to call my daughter. I love you, Cassie."

"I love you too, Momma," I kissed her cheek then went back into my position next to Mike. He smiled and placed his hand on my thigh, giving it a small squeeze.

"Open your gifts, now," she smiled. I opened up my boxes, knowing almost everything I was getting. It was mostly clothes I picked out myself, and a pair of new boots. There was one box that I hadn't opened, and she handed it to me. "This is something I think you're finally old enough to have. I don't know if you remember it or not from when you were little, but you used to always ask me about it."

I nodded and took the box from her. I unwrapped it and came across a small wooden box. My heart sank at the sight of it. I opened it up to reveal a bunch of colorful coins and a gold cross on a leather necklace. I smiled softly, feeling tears form in my eyes. I looked up at my mom and spoke in almost a whisper, "This is Dad's, isn't it?"

She smiled, "Each of those coins represented a week he was sober. It's from the rehab center he was at when I was pregnant with you. He would call me every Sunday he got one, just to let me know he was one step closer to coming home to you."

I smiled to myself and leaned against Mike. I wiped the tears that were coming down my face as he rubbed my back lightly. "Thank you," I said while looking at the box. I looked back up at my mom, "This means so much to me."

Lastly, it was time for Mike and I to exchange gifts. He grinned at me as I placed a small envelope in his hands. His crooked fingers peeled open the envelope and pulled out what was inside. I had decided to get creative with his gift as well. He laughed to himself when he looked at the small booklet I made. It was tied together with pink ribbon, the front of it saying "100 Reasons Why I love you". He flipped through the pages with a smile on his face, reading each page out loud and skipping over the ones that would be inappropriate for my brother to hear. I had written them all in Sharpie on construction paper, and managed to glue some of my favorite pictures of us to some pages. When Mike got to the 100th reason his eyes nearly popped out of his head. In between the last pages of the booklet I had snuck in two tickets to go see Sublime, 311 and Pepper play.

"HOW DID YOU GET THESE!" He nearly screamed while shaking them in my face, "They were sold out within a hour!"

I smiled, "I was one of the first callers to buy them."

"They were like 300$ each! I was going to get them for us!"

I shook my head while laughing, "Well we're going!"

"I love you so much!" He yelled and tackled me in a hug, pushing my back onto the carpet and attacking my face with kisses. He then pulled me back up and placed a box in my hands. He looked at me with a smile, "Please don't hit me."

"Why would I hit you?" I asked as he backed away from me. I rolled my eyes and opened up the box. My jaw literally fell to the floor when I saw what was inside.

"It's a promise ring. I just want you to know that when the time comes, I am going to make you my wife. I love you so much, Cassie. The minute I set my eyes on this I knew I needed to get it for you," Mike said quickly, stumbling over his words.

I looked up at him astounded, "How much did you pay for this?"

"It doesn't matter," he scooted away.

"Stop moving away from me!" I whined as I picked the ring up from the box and placed it on my left ring finger. It was rose gold with two skulls holding up a giant diamond. There were smaller diamonds coming down on each side of the ring. "Michael!"

"No! You're going to hit me!" He covered his head with his hands. I rolled my eyes and scooted next to him and wrapped my arms around him. He put his arms down and intertwined his fingers with mine. I pressed a kiss to his lips and smiled at him. He smiled back at me and then I took my right hand and backhanded him. "OW!" He screamed.

"The ring you got me for our anniversary was a chunk of change and I know this one cost more!" I groaned, "Tell me how much you paid."

"No," he huffed.

"Michael."

"Cassandra." I looked at him unamused, "Okay, okay. It was twenty-five hundred."

"WHAT!" I screamed. My mom had already grabbed Frankie and brought him in the kitchen to make breakfast, so it was just us sitting out in the living room. "You paid thousands of dollars on my Christmas gift?"

He sighed, "This is why I didn't want to tell you, because you were going to freak out."

"Where the fuck did you get the money for this!"

"I've been saving money from work, and I saved all my birthday money for it for the past two years. I wanted to get you something special, Cass. You're my world; you're worth every penny."

I shook my head, "Babe, I'm flattered and I love it, but that's so much money."

"I don't care," he leaned in and kissed my nose. "I love you so much."

"I love you, too," I blushed and pecked his lips.


We ended up having Christmas breakfast with my mom and brother, and then we were able to sneak a shower together while my mom helped my brother set up his toys. Mike picked out my clothes for the day while I got ready. When I was done he proceeded to tell me how pretty I looked, and then dressed himself. We told my mom and brother goodbye, and then Mike drove me to go visit my dad. Pulling up outside of the building made my heart race. I saw my Dad on his birthday in October, but I hadn't seen him since then because I had been so busy with cheerleading. This was his second Christmas at this facility. Mike helped me out of the car and linked our hands. We walked up to the front desk and I sighed when an extremely happy woman asked me who we were coming to see.

My dad had been addicted to cocaine since he was eighteen; he was now 43 and had been in and out of rehab since he was 20. He was also an alcoholic and struggled with depression. He had been clean of both cocaine and alcohol from the time I turned 5 up until Frankie was born, then he started spiraling downward again and landed himself back into rehab. Because of this, I was the only one he really stayed in close contact with. Him and my mom didn't talk often, and she had filed for a divorce because she couldn't handle having to deal with this - she gained full custody of Frankie and I as well. Frankie didn't really know my dad, which was another one my mom's doings, so I was the one who always came to visit on birthdays and holidays.

"Michael Merjos," I said while Mike squeezed onto my hand. We followed the woman towards the living quarters and stopped right in front of my dad's door. It was open and he had a huge smile on his face. I let go of Mike's hand and wrapped my arms around my dad, feeling my eyes fill to the brim with tears. "Merry Christmas, Daddy."

"Merry Christmas, kiddo," he replied and then stepped back from me. I took the chance to look at him. He was doing so much better. The circles under his eyes were less noticeable, he was finally gaining weight, his skin was back to tan instead of pale. He smiled at Mike, "Taking care of my girl?"

Mike grinned and wrapped his arm around me, "Always."

"That's quite the rock you've got on your finger, Cass," my dad looked at me with an eyebrow raised.

"It was my Christmas present," I laughed. "You look so much better then last time."

"I've made a lot of progress lately. I can't wait to be out of here," my dad sighed. "I've spent the last 23 years in and out. I really think after this I'm done for good."

"I hope so," I smiled. "I hope that next year you'll be able to watch me perform and graduate."

"I will be out by the time you graduate. I'm hoping by next fall," he smiled. "So how are things at home?"

"Eh," I shrugged and sat down on Mike's lap. "Shitty. Mom's been dating. Frankie is annoying. All I do is eat, breathe and sleep cheer. I end up sneaking to Mike's at least three times a week."

My dad shook his head, "When your mother finds out that you sneak out of that house both of you are going to be dead. Still fighting?"

"At least once a week," I groaned. "She's just so annoying lately I can't take it. I know she's stressed over work, but then she tells me that I don't care about anyone in the house but myself and shit because I'm never home. She's the one that is usually either at work or out on a date. Like, I don't know what the fuck she's talking about."

He chuckled, "That's your mother for you. Just try not to fight with her so much, Cass. It just makes it harder on both of you, and then your brother has to listen to it. Mike, how's things with the band?"

"Good," Mike smiled and placed his hand on my thigh. "We've got a show on New Years Eve that a record label is going to be at to check us out. We're all hoping for good things."

My dad smiled, "I hope you guys get signed. Cass let me listen to some of the stuff, it sounds really good."

"Thank you," Mike smiled, his cheeks turning red. I loved that him and my dad got along so well - they reminded me so much of each other. "I hope you'll be able to come to one of our shows soon."

"Me too. I also owe you a tattoo for keeping my little shit head in line," my dad laughed.

"Hey! I am not a shit head," I whined.

"Yes you are," Mike kissed my cheek. "Do you still want to get part of your lion re-done?"

My dad nodded, "Yeah. I need to add more detail in the mane so that the only readable name is Cassie's. I see you've got some new ink on you."

Mike grinned, "Yeah. I've had this bad habit of just blowing my paychecks right at work after I get them."

"So you got the piercing job?" Mike nodded and my dad laughed, "You better not poke my daughter with anything or I'll skin you."

"Like I'd trust him anywhere near me with a needle!" I kissed Mike’s cheek.

Notes

This took me longer than anticipated to write.
Like I stated before, this story kind of molds around the way I grew up.
Therefore, I modeled Cassie's dad and their relationship after me and my father growing up.

This is the ring that Mike got her.
Cassie's Outfit

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