Home For Christmas
Chapter I
It was Christmas Day.
Matt Hardy was alone.
The Hardy Boy lay back on the bed, clenching his eyes closed. It was hard to believe in a way. His brothers and Gilbert had flown out the night before to Connecticut to be at Krissy’s incredibly impromptu wedding to Adam. And Kalli, who had returned home so she would not impose on Jeff’s Christmas was still there too.
Yeah... He was alone.
And he hated it.
He had to admit it, this Christmas certainly met the grade as the worst of his life. His family had gone to the wedding of his ex-girlfriend to the man he had fought relentlessly for her affections for years now... And Kalli had chosen to spend Christmas elsewhere for fear she would torment Jeff by being with Matt.
It was hard.
Part of him still wanted to run back to Greenwich and stop Krissy marrying Adam, still determined that she was meant to be with him...
Part of him wanted to run to Kalli. Just to be with her, to hold her. But even that was not what he had hoped it would be.
Still guilt-ridden, things between them were uneasy at best. He could see it in her. Whenever she looked at him, her eyes would fill with her longing. She wanted to touch him, to love him, to be with him once and for all...
And he wanted that too.
But it was too soon, wasn’t it?
He still loved Krissy, and Kalli still loved Jeff. If she had even the slightest inkling that she was hurting Jeff in any way, shape or form... Then the girl would continue to sneak around with his brother, miserable in the knowledge that she was neither here nor there.
As together as Kalli and Matt tried to be, they were divided. And if they could not pull themselves together soon...
Then divided they would fall, wouldn’t they?
Rolling over on the bed, he picked up the phone from by his bedside table. He’d call her. Just hearing her voice would settle him and the day wouldn’t seem so bad. Christmas would be that bit more bearable. He dialled her cell number and after a few moments, the phone started to ring. It was only a moment more before her voice filled his ears, “Hello?”
He smiled instantly, “Hey, Kalli.”
He could hear a matching smile in her melodious voice, “Matty! Hey!” There was a slight pause and then he heard her say, “This one. Just turn here.”
Curious he asked, “Where are you?”
“In a cab,” she told him.
He scrunched his face up, confused. “Where are you going? Don’t you have a reception to be at?”
She giggled softly, “I do, but I had elsewhere to be.”
Still confused he said, “I don’t get it...”
The girl cut him off, “Matty, look out your window.”
“Why?” He asked, hints of excitement creeping into his voice, a sense of knowing touching him. He climbed from the bed, crossing the room to look out his window. A cab was pulling in his drive and there was Kalli, hanging out the window, waving toward the house.
He chuckled warmly and she asked, “Do you see me?”
“I see you,” he told her lovingly, “You’re beautiful.”
“Matty,” she cooed, sitting back down in the cab as it came to a halt. He could hear her chatting softly to the driver, and the driver’s warm thankyou, knowing full well Kalli would have well over-paid the cab driver like she usually did before she climbed out of the car, pulling her large black bag out of the car with her. “So,” she asked into the phone, “Are you gonna get your ass out here or what?”
The line went dead and the girl giggled, slipping the phone back into her pocket as the front door of the house burst open and Matt came running out. Seeing how excited he was instantly rubbed off on her and she dropped her bag, giggling as she rushed forward, leaping up into his arms, her fingers instantly tangling in his hair as their lips met in a loving kiss.
He spun her around a few times before eventually putting her down as the kiss reluctantly ended. She was laughing sweetly as he rubbed his nose against hers, “What are you doing here?” He asked happily, “I didn’t think I’d even get to see you for Christmas...”
“I couldn’t stay away,” she told him honestly, her eyes dancing.
It had been a long, traumatic day.
But somehow being there in his arms... It made it better.
“I can’t believe you’re even here,” he kissed her again, leaning his forehead against hers, “I can’t believe you left the wedding early...” Her face fell a little and he asked softly, “Kalli?”
She sighed softly, “Baby...”
“What is it?” He cupped her face gently in his hands, “What’s wrong?”
“It’s been a bad Christmas,” she told him softly.
He nodded, agreeing quietly, “You’re telling me.” He gave her a smile, “But something tells me it could still pick up.” She couldn’t help but smile at the sweet way he spoke. “Come on, baby.” He walked over to her bag, picking it up, then came back to her to take her hand and lead her inside. “Tell me about your day.”
“Let’s start small, shall we?” She whispered.
He chuckled a little worriedly, “That bad?”
She sighed, “Well...” She looked to him, “Lindsey found out about Paul and I back when I was 16...”
“Shit, no!” He exclaimed, blown away, “How? Did Paul tell her?” She shook her head, “Krissy?” She shook her head again and he asked, doubt in his voice, “It wouldn’t have been Jeff, would it?” Kalli still shook her head at this and he pondered a moment, “No one else knew, did they?”
“Somebody did.” She told him gravely, “Someone sent her photos. I have no fucking clue as to who... I don’t even know exactly what they were of, but evidently they were Paul and me.”
Matt threw a little sideways glance at her, “You and Paul took photos of...” Kalli blushed and he grinned at her, “You were a bad girl back in your day!”
She sighed playfully, “Matty...”
“I’m sorry,” he gave her hand a little squeeze, leading her through the bedroom door and dropping her bag down. He wrapped his arms around her, hugging her tight, “So what did Lindsey say?”
Kalli shrugged, “Nothing particularly soothing.” She pointed to her cheek, no sign remained of her sister’s attack but it seemed to still ache, “And she slapped me.”
“Uh oh,” Matt breathed. “You didn’t..?”
The McMahon Heiress shook her head, “No, I didn’t slap her back. Although I should have. I just...” She shrugged sadly, “I understand where she’s coming from I guess, but she...” She looked up into his eyes, “She told me she was going to keep Paul away from me...”
The Hardy sighed. The unwelcome kickback from Matt and Kalli’s infidelities together never seemed to stop coming, did they? “I’m so sorry, baby.” He kissed her forehead.
“Well,” she whispered, snuggling into his chest, “That wasn’t the worst of it today.”
Confused he asked, “What else happened?”
Her voice a low tone of sadness, she told him, “Adam and Krissy didn’t get married.”
“What?” He asked, dumb founded. “Why?”
Kalli took a steadying breath, but it did little to soothe the tears she could feel coming, “Because Krissy married someone else today.”
And when a stifled sob broke from the girl in his arms, Matt Hardy didn’t need to ask who it was.
~*~
Chapter II
“Jeffykins,” she cooed, completely unaware that it was the first time she had used his pet name in weeks, perhaps longer. “I don’t want her to hurt you.”
He shook his head, “She won’t.”
“Won’t she?” Kalli asked desperately. “They way she didn’t hurt Matt, the way she didn’t hurt Adam? Baby...” She whispered without thinking, “She could never give Adam up for Matt, what if she can’t give him up for you?”
Moved by the concern she still showed for him, by the gentle way she whispered the word ‘baby,’ he touched his fingertips lightly to her face, caressing her cheek. “I know that this is real, Kalli. I know that this is forever.” His certainty was in his voice, “All the Adam Copeland’s in the world won’t stop us being together in the end.”
“I don’t understand,” Matt whispered as Kalli, now laying on the bed in his arms, still crying softly, finished telling him of the scenario that had played out between she and Jeff earlier that Christmas Morning. “Jeff and Krissy...” He hugged her a little more tightly. “I don’t believe it.” He kissed Kalli’s forehead, speaking without thinking, “Poor Adam.”
Surprised, Kalli looked up at him through her bleary eyes, “Matty,” she whispered, “You never cease to amaze me.” She touched his face softly, moved.
“I just...” He shrugged, “I know what it is to love Krissy McMahon, only to lose her in the end.”
The girl nodded, “I’m so sorry, baby.” She ran her fingers gently over his lips, “I know this must be hard. You still love her...”
He cut her off, kissing her fingertips, “For you too, Kalli.” He looked deep in her eyes, “I know you still love Jeff.” Her cheeks flushed a little shamefully and he said softly, “Don’t,” he kissed her fingertips again. “I understand. It’ll take time. I know it will.” He pulled her back down into his arms, his fingers stroking through her long mousy brown hair, “For both of us.”
“I know, I just...” She whispered, “I didn’t think it would hurt like this.” She told him softly, “And what hurts most is that we... We haven’t been able to be together, Matty, not really... We’ve been so condemned, by everyone, and Krissy and Jeff...”
“Yeah, baby.” His fingers paused in her hair and he looked down at her, “I guess we don’t have to feel so bad, huh?”
She whispered, “But I still do.” After all, two wrongs wouldn’t make it right.
He smiled softly, “Kalli...” He kissed her forehead again.
And then silence settled in on the twosome where they lay as the sun slowly went down in North Carolina. Though darkness filled the room, neither one moved to switch on a light. Content just to lie there together, each pondering a past that was forever lost now.
“It’s so strange,” Matt whispered eventually, “I thought Krissy and I could be together forever, and when I lost her... I thought that... That Adam was the man I couldn’t be.” He shook his head, distracted, “I never thought it would be Jeff.”
Kalli whispered, “Yeah... I thought Jeff and I... I thought it was for keeps.” She looked up, his face awash with the gentle glow of moonlight, “I never saw you coming,” she smiled gently.
Matt chuckled softly, “Yeah. You kinda blindsided me, Kalli.” He added seriously, “But for what its worth,” his fingers crept softly over her face and she tilted her head into his hand, “I have no regrets.” He told her honestly, “When you lay here like this with me, when I’m with you... I forget everything that ever was.”
Touched, she whispered, “Do you mean that?”
“I do.” He smiled when she kissed his fingertips, returning his earlier gesture of love.
“Matty,” she told him softly, “When I’m with you,” she smiled, hoping he could see the warmth of it in the moonlight, “I just want everything to be like this forever.” She leant forward kissing him softly, breaking away when he gasped softly. “What?” She asked worriedly.
He held up a hand, chuckling, “You knelt on me.”
She giggled, “Oops.” She took his hand, kissing it softly, “I’m sorry, baby.”
“So you should be,” he told her, “You could have ended my career just then.” The girl laughed happily at this and he smiled, “I love that.”
“What?” She asked curiously, her laugh dying away.
“Your laugh,” he grinned, his insides turning to mush as he spoke, and though he hated being so overcome by the emotion, so not in control of his heart, he wouldn’t change the feeling for all the world. “It’s the sweetest sound I’ve ever heard.”
Kalli mocked him teasingly, “Wait ‘til you’ve heard me gargling after I brush my teeth...”
“I have,” he smiled, “Remember?”
“Dayum.” She said in her perfect imitation of Jeff’s gorgeous drawl. The mock impersonation of him had become somewhat a catchphrase for her over the years. “I thought I’d managed to hide my gargling habits.”
He shook his head, “No. I heard you in the hotel one morning.” He laughed, “I have never heard anything as disturbing in my life.”
“Hey!” She exclaimed, “I gargle good!”
“Is that possible?” He asked, laughing, the girl soon joining him. When the sound slowly died away he told her honestly, “I wish there was some way that it could always feel like this. Like its just us, like nothing else matters.”
She pondered a moment and then said, “Well, we could always...” She broke off, not sure how the suggestion would go over.
“We could always?” He asked.
Kalli snuggled tightly into him and said, “We could go away. We could get in your car and just drive. Just drive and drive and drive and see where we end up by New Years.”
“Just go away, just the two of us?” He asked.
“Yeah.”
“And have New Years Eve alone, together?”
“Yeah.”
There was a long pause...
And then he smiled gently, “I think I like that idea.”
She asked softly, a little nervous, “You do?”
“Definitely.”
Starting to get excited, the girl said, “Really? Like really really?”
“Yes, dayum Kalli,” he laughed.
The girl let out an excited squeal, “Yes!!!” She climbed to her knees beside him, bouncing up and down on the bed, “When can we leave, when can we leave?”
Still laughing Matt asked playfully, “First thing in the morning?” He shrugged, “I’ll just have to leave a note for Dad...” His words ended when she gave him an excited kiss. When she broke away he looked up at her, “You’re kinda nuts, baby.”
“That’s why you love me, isn’t it?”
He smiled, “I do,” he locked a hand gently in her hair, silencing her laugh with a gentle, “I love you, Kalli.”
Moved almost to tears by his words, she whispered, “Oh, Matty...” She touched his face tenderly. It was the first time he had spoken those words to her.
Kalleasto McMahon would always remember this Christmas.
She lay back down in his arms, content to lay there forever as she whispered, “I love you, Matt.”
The Hardy Boy smiled, his eyes dancing in the pale moonlight. He kissed her softly, holding her close, wanting to hold her forever.
Today had truly been the end of so many things...
But today?
It might prove to be a new beginning after all.
~ The End ~