Deck the halls

{He had been gone three days. Three long days. At least he was able to eat Thanksgiving dinner with Sookie before leaving. She was quite a cook and did not disappoint. Just thinking about her food made his stomach growl. He told her he'd be back, he had to travel to Houma to survey some land for someone who was building a house. It would bring in more cash flow and he was considering expanding the business. Now it seemed like a reality, if he could eventually get more staff. It was around five in the evening when he finally pulled into Bon Temps. The nights were colder and it became darker much earlier than before. Time change and all that. He smiled when he thought about Sookie and wondered what she had did with her time when he was away. It was nice living there...but also hard. Considering they had to really try to stay away from one another.}

{He pulled in and grabbed his small gym bag, closing the door to his truck he headed up the steps to her house. The door was unlocked so he opened it and was greeted with the sounds of holiday music and boxes strung about on the floor.}

"Hey, I'm...back? Sookie? Where are you?" {And what was with the boxes? Was that...cookies baking?}

"It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!" she sang quietly to herself as the music played on the stereo; she had gone down to the hardware store and picked out a tree the day before and now had all of her Gran's boxes of decorations strewn about the house. She loved decorating for Christmas and it was a tradition that they put up their tree the weekend following Thanksgiving. It was a tradition that she planned to always keep.

She didn't hear the truck pull up, and she didn't hear the door open but she definitely heard the soft timbre of his voice resonate through the house. He was home! She had missed him the past few days. She turned to where his voice came from and walked out to greet him, a smile plastered to her face. "Alcide! Welcome back!" Quickly, without thinking, she ran over and wrapped her arms around his broad waist and gave a soft squeeze, inhaling that scent that forever drove her crazy.

{He smiled when she came from the kitchen, flour on her nose and her apron on. She was baking and apparently gearing up for Christmas. The tree was still in the corner with ties around it, waiting to be decked. He hugged her back and set his bag down to the side.}

"Hey, thanks. Glad to be back. I guess you're decorating? Need some help?"

{He was greeted with the soft lilac smell mixed with her vanilla bodywash. The woman smelled damn good all the time. It was quite distracting.}

She nodded happily and took a step back, reaching down to pick up his bag and stopping when she realized how heavy it was. "What you got in there, a dead body?" she joked. She let go of the handles and looked back up at him, still smiling.

"If you wouldn't mind, I'd love some help. We always decorated the tree and the house after Thanksgiving. I'm baking the Christmas cookies she used to make. It's almost like I can feel her here around the holidays."

{He chuckled and took the bag with ease, giving her a wink} "Not exactly. Tools, clothes, the usual. I'll go put this up."

{He started for his room and turned back as she spoke.} "It does smell amazing in here and I think she'd be proud of you. Real proud." {He smiled and walked to his room to drop his bag off and shrug his jacket off. Tossing it on the bed, he walked back out to meet her. Slapping his hands together he grinned.}

"So, what first?"

"Thanks," she said quietly as he turned and headed to his room. It made her feel good that he thought Gran would be proud of her; that was all she ever really wanted, to make her Gran proud of her. A smile was playing on her lips still as he came back.

"I thought that we could get the stocking hangers put up on the mantle, and some of the other things. Then do the tree?" She grinned playfully at him, "and I will even let you put up the star." She nodded her head and said seriously, "I know, I know. It's a great honor. I just can barely reach the top of it."

{He smiled and nodded.} "You point and I do." {Smiling at her, he moved past her to the open boxes and began getting things out to hang. There was a stocking for everyone, even extras. He chuckled at some of the ornaments, obviously done by Sookie and Jason when they were kids. Hanging the stockings up as she asked, he stole a glance from her and noticed she had been looking at him too. It made him smile bigger as he moved to the tree, grabbing his pocket knife and slicing the ties on the tree. It fluffed out and some of the needles fell to the floor. He'd have to clean that up later. After setting the tree down in the tree holder, he poured some water in and nodded.}

"Nice tree, you pick it out? Smells fresh too."

She nodded. "I did. Normally we used to cut it down ourselves, but I didn't have the time or the means to be able to get it done by myself. So I went to the hardware store and picked it out there. Bobby told me that they had just gotten them in, so I got the pick of the litter, so to speak."

Turning away, she went to the table in the kitchen and came back to hold out a gift to him. She had gotten a stocking embroidered with his name and a white wolf that greatly resembled him in his furry form; she held her breath, hoping he'd like it and not think it was cheesy.

"Since you live here now, I thought it was only fitting for you to have one,too."

{He turned back to the tree and nodded in agreement.} "You did well. Sorry I couldn't be here to help. I guess Jason's been pretty busy with that vampire...what was her name? Oh, Violet..right." {He chuckled and shook his head thinking about Jason and his women.}

{He stood and turned to see Sookie standing there holding out a stocking. It had his name on it with a white wolf. He looked from her to the stocking and smiled.} "Sookie, that...wow, you really didn't have to do that. I don't know what to say." {He took the stocking and looked it over, then looked at her.}

"Thank you, really. I love it." {He leaned forward to kiss her cheek and looked back down at it.} "Guess I should hang it up." {He turned to the mantle by the fireplace and hung it on the hook next to Sookie's. Turning back to face her, he smiled.}

{They continued to hang things on the wall, she helped with the lights outside. It was the white icicle hanging lights she wanted just on the front of the porch. It looked really great. He laughed with her as she told him stories and he even told a few of his own that he remembered. He handed her another ornament}

"The tree is looking really good."

"That it is. Thanks for your help, Alcide. I was afraid you wouldn't be back to help, if I'm honest. I hate being alone at holidays."

She grinned at him as he looked at the tree, her heart starting to race ever so slightly. It was the holiday season; and it seemed, even though it was nearing Christmas, it was almost as though it were spring. Cause love, or lust, was definitely in the air with her.

{He smiled and looked back at her.} "And I'll do anything I can to make sure you never have to be." {He stepped closer to her and looked up when the top of his head brushed something. It was the mistletoe he had hung earlier in the doorway. He chuckled and looked back down, shrugging with a grin.}

"Well, it is tradition...after all."

{He brushed a strand of her bang from her eye and leaned down as he cupped her chin and lifted it so that her head tilted back. Pressing his lips against hers softly, he kissed her. He lingered there and deepened the kiss on instinct, not able to pull away from her.}

When their lips touched a small sigh escaped; it felt like everything had stopped. Time itself was no longer moving. It was just the two of them, and she felt.... complete.

Her hands wrapped around him slowly, gripping into his shirt and letting her fingers gently caress the soft flannel. She let her tongue gently press against his, both fighting against one another; he tasted purely of man. Heady, strong, delicious.

She pulled away slowly and looked up at him, then at the mistletoe, then back at him. "I'm all about tradition."

{He smirked when she pulled back and spoke, nodding his head.} "Good." {He kissed her again, this time crushing his lips to hers and kissing her so heatedly her knees appeared to buckle as her body went slightly slack. He lifted her and moved backwards, hitting boxes with his legs and fumbling around. Crashing was heard but he didn't care, he couldn't stop kissing her and before he knew it, he had her on her back on the floor, his hands sliding up under her shirt and across her soft skin. He lifted the hem and she raised her arms, tossing the shirt aside. He continued to kiss her as she fumbled with the buttons of his shirt, tugging and pulling. He kissed her and growled in his throat, his pants getting tight and the room getting hotter.}

{They were somehow near the tree and he heard a few balls fall to the floor with a thud. To hell with it he'd clean that later. This took priority over anything else. Gods, she tasted good, smelled good, felt good. He just wanted her, all of her...this time he was not stopping. Not until she made him. He fumbled with his own zipper and held himself up over her.}

Was this really happening? Were they actually going to go through with it this time? She didn't want to over think it, but after having wanted this and waited for this for so long she wasn't exactly sure what she was supposed to do!

So she just turned off her brain and let her body take over. She gripped his shirt tighter and kissed him back with everything she had; her teeth gently grazed his lips then moved down his neck, letting her tongue lap at his salty skin and shivering at the taste. He tasted amazing, like spring. Her legs moved so that they wrapped around his ankles and she pulled him to her, letting his erection press ever so enticingly against that growing ache between her legs.

"It's been a while, but I think I'm supposed to be undressed for this, right?" she asked quietly while meeting his gaze; she reached for his hands and brought them to the hem of her skirt, wanting him to undress her.

{He smirked and felt his way up her leg, shifting back to his knees as both hands teased her thighs. He kept eye contact with her as he gripped her underwear and slowly pulled them off her legs. He did the same with her skirt and took her hand, pulling her towards him until she was on her knees too.}

"Do the honors?"

{He placed her hands on his buckle and waited, the anticipation killing him. All she had left was her bra and he couldn't wait to tear it off with his teeth.}

"With pleasure," she purred. She let her hands fondle his belt buckle, her eyes stuck to his and her lip tugged between her teeth. Her heart was racing in her chest and she wasn't sure what to do; why was she over thinking this?!

Her hands deftly unsnapped the buckle, and she slid the belt off of his hips, tossing it over her shoulder and not even registering when the sound of ornaments falling to the floor rang out. All that was here was them. She finally managed to get the button undone and let her fingers slide into his pants, pulling them and his boxers down in one fell swoop. Her mouth went dry, and watered at the same time, as she took in the sight of him; he was even more gorgeous naked than he was clothed.

{He stood before her and offered his hand, bringing her up to stand as he lifted her and she wrapped her legs around him. He loved when she did that. Stepping out of his pants, he turned and moved to the couch. His hands moved across her back and unsnapped her bra, letting it fall off her shoulders. Tossing it, he looked at her and moved her hair from her face. They were both completely naked, this was the farthest they had gone. His hands moved down her sides, to her hips. He lifted her slightly and guided her onto his shaft. Slowly he filled her, inch by inch. Growling as her warmth covered him. It was far better than he ever dreamed of. One hand moved back up her back to grab the back of her neck, bringing her down to kiss him hard as he bucked his hips up into her.}

"Oh!" she cried when he finally entered her; it was almost too good to be true. Everything that they had gone through had led them to this moment, this exact second. And she could truly say it was worth the wait.

Her legs tightened around him and she held him close, moving her hips in time with his; their grunts were echoing through the house. She moved her hands up so that they ran through his hair and she whispered his name hoarsely.

{He felt her squeeze around him as she moved against him. It was unbelievable and mind blowing. His inner wolf took over and he moved forward with her never leaving his lap. Her legs held tightly around his waist. He thrust into her again and again, ignoring the fact that the rug was burning his knees. He lifted her again and held his hands on her hips as he bounced her up and down on his erection. He grunted and tangled his hand in her hair, tugging on it to move her head so he could suck on her neck, her breasts every part of her exposed skin.}

She had never thought sex could be like this; yes, Eric and Bill and Warlow and John were good. But this was so much more. It was hard, and passionate, and needy. Everything that they had been trying so hard to ignore just flew out the window. She had no regrets about any of it, either. And she knew that she wouldn't.

His name slipped from her lips again as she dug her fingers into his back and pressed her face into his neck; she could feel her orgasm building, feel pressure growing low in her stomach. She tightened her legs around him and nipped at his neck as it all became too much and she couldn't hold it back anymore. She shivered as her orgasm rolled through her and let out a cry of pure pleasure when it did so.

"Don't stop," she murmured against his neck and continued meeting him thrust for thrust, wanting him to feel the same release she did. She craved his pleasure, wanted him to enjoy this just as much as she did.

{It was fast, all the built up pressure had finally done it. She tensed around him and he kept thrusting his hips as she bounced. Hearing her plead for him not to stop, he did as she said and growled as he quickened his pace. It built quicker and harder, his shaft grew tighter and he had his massive arms wrapped around her as he held her to him. Her sweaty breasts moving against his chest, the feel of her skin against his making him feel hotter. Then...it hit. His own release as he leaned forward and laid her on the ground, thrusting a few more times as he released. He grunted and his eyes glowed yellow for a second as he finished. Blowing out a breath, he moved and slid out of her, falling to his back next to her.}

"Damn..."

She shivered at the sudden cool that washed over her when he slid out of her body and rolled over onto his back; she didn't like it. So she moved her body so that her head could lay on his chest. She moved her finger slowly over his skin, smiling happily up at him.

"That was.... Just....."

She had no words for it, really. It was everything that she had wanted, had expected, had hoped for. Her eyes went over his face, to his chest, all over his body. Was he as happy with it as she was?

{He chuckled and nodded, knowing her words had failed her too. Turning his head to look at her he smiled then grimaced as he shifted and reached under him to grab an ornament that was on the floor.}

"I knew I felt something jabbing me."

{He tossed it aside and ran a hand over her bare back, blowing out a breath before looking back at her.} "No words need to be spoken..." {He pulled her closer and kissed her softly, taking his time and feeling her relax against him. When he pulled back he grinned and looked around at the living room.} "I uh...the tree didn't make it." {There it was, tipped over on its side being held up by the side table. Ornaments and decorations strewn about. They really had destroyed a few things in their quest for sex.}

She looked around and blushed at the tree that had fallen over; they had really be zealous in their rush for sex. She didn't care though. The ornaments that were special weren't broken it appeared, just the ones that she had bought at the store. And the tree? It could be replaced. She wasn't worried about it in the least.

"It's just a tree. And glass." She pressed her lips to his chest and smiled at him tiredly. "That's been a long time coming, Alcide. A really long time."

Now she just wondered where this would leave their relationship.

{He smiled and pulled her up slightly so that he could look at her.} "Well, uh...I don't know about you...but I think round two is just about due. We have a lot of catching up to do, don't we?" {he smirked and lifted himself up using his elbows, propped up as he watched her reaction. He was already beginning to rise to the occasion at the thought of making love to her again and this time he wanted to attempt to make it to a bed. Or the stairs...or even against the wall...or all three. He playfully growled at her waggled his brows. Truth was, he didn't care where it left them in their relationship. They could have that talk later....right now...he just wanted more of her.}