All I Want For Christmas Is You. [Ryker]

Stepping from his closet Elay tossed his white button up shirt on the bed, laying out a pair of black slacks to match. Pulling open a drawer he inspected his ties closely, trying to figure out if one would be to much. Turning to the mirror he ran his fingers over his freshly shaven face, making sure his goatee lines were straight. Staring at himself Elay pressed his palms against the glass, inhaling deeply he knew he was nervous. Relax...you've gone over this plan a million times. It will be good, I've got your back. Renner commented, trying to ease the anxiety he felt.

The Delta had been waiting all month for December 24th and he made plans to spend them with Ryker. Grabbing his slacks he slid his right leg into the hole and looked to his dresser. His Iphone lit up and started to ring with a call, Elay hoped it wouldn't be Ryker. Hopping across the floor he stumbled and pulled the iphone off the dresser, swiping his finger across the screen to answer the call. Panting lightly he heard the voice on the other end, ah he was right one time. "Pierre..Bonjour my friend, I was worried you wouldn't call me. No..no I didn't mean that, just tell me you have it all set up. Wrapped and waiting for pickup? Excellent do me a favor a gentleman by the name of Ryker Dahling will be in to grab it. That is all I need you to do for me." Elay said into the phone as he put his other leg into his pants. Chuckling he smiled wide, "Pierre, we have been friends for to long you know why I can't take you up on that dinner offer. And you know I wouldn't have had you restore that gift for me if he wasn't important. Thank you again my friend and Merry Christmas."

Zipping up his pants the Delta grabbed his shirt and started to button it up, pausing to check the time. It's 5'oclock Renner, time to make the call...here it goes. Opening his contacts Elay gave Ryker a call, waiting to hear him answer. When Ryker did pick up, Elay coughed and made himself sound sick. "Ryker..Hey. I'm sorry I can't meet you for dinner tonight. I know we've had this planned but I'm really sick and I can't kick this cold. I'm going to stop by Vitani's office and have her check me over, but before you come home I need you to do me a favor. Head over to 56th and Broadway and grab my new watch from Pierre's Jewelry. Hes an old friend, but I already told him you'd grab it for me. Hes got it all wrapped up. Thank you, I promise to make it up to you. I got to go I feel like I'm going to throw-" Elay hung up the phone and chuckled. Stick to your day job..acting isn't your calling. the wolf snorted. Hoping Ryker would buy his lie, Elay finished getting dressed and walked towards his door.

Thinking ahead Elay had a large box filled with Christmas decorations sitting by the doorway. Grabbing the grocery bags from his fridge, he took all his stuff and made his way to Ryker's room. Leaning his shoulder against the wall, he held the stuff with his chin and slipped his hand into his pant pocket. Grabbing Ryker's room card he swiped it and slipped inside, setting the stuff down on the floor he peeked out of the door and closed it quickly. You've made it this far..you're almost home free. Renner mused. Elay smiled and shook his head, carrying the bags in to the kitchen. I know you're just as happy as I am. You love him just as much as I do, though your commentary isn't required. Elay retorted.

Picking up the pace, the Delta rushed around the kitchen preparing dinner. Determined to make the first dish they enjoyed together, Elay chopped up the ingredients to make Coq Au Vin. Hearing the door bell ring, Elay wiped his hands on a towel and ran to check through the peephole. Spying some hotel workers with a fresh pine tree he opened it and smiled happily. "Thank you for doing this on such short notice. Keep the change merry Christmas." he said slapping a 100 dollar bill in each of their hands and shooing them away. Grabbing the pine tree he pulled it inside and set it up in the living room. Time was of the essence and Ryker would be returning soon, kicking his butt into over drive he started to decorate. Bells, ornaments, mistletoe, a wreath, bows and whatever else he found shopping at the Christmas store a few days ago.

Standing in the middle of the living room Elay admired his work, damn he was good. You might want to change your occupation to interior decorator... Renner chuckled. Ignoring the remark Elay lifted his fingers and ran them over the beads of his necklace, he was ready. Hoping Ryker would return soon, the Delta slipped into the kitchen and poured two glasses of wine. Holding one in each hand he stood in the doorway and waited for Ryker his excitement building.

Ryker was ecstatic. He had gotten a package from Italy early in the morning and had been supervising it’s delivery for most of the day. The crate, about nine feet wide, six feet tall, and fifteen feet long, had been carefully maneuvered into position in the garage and set in a slot next to his Audi. He did not want to remove the packaging without Elay present, so he reached into his pocket for his phone and quickly keyed in the code to unlock the screen. Just as he was about to select Elay’s number from the list, the phone buzzed in his hand and informed him that Elay was calling him. How fortunate.

Laughing slightly, Ryker touched the green phone symbol and held the speaker to his ear. “Good timing,” he greeted. “I was just about to call you.” However, Elay’s voice sounded a bit…odd, and Ryker frowned slightly. His enthusiasm dropped significantly as he listened to Elay report that he was sick and would have to skip their dinner date tonight. A brief flash of thought pointed out that he would have to call and cancel the reservations that he had made, but most of his thought process was dedicated to concern for Elay. Of course, werelings rarely got sick, and when they did it was never for long. But still, being sick sucked. He was about to assure Elay that it was fine and to just focus on resting and that of course he would pick up the watch when he started to say that he was going to throw up and the connection died with a faint click. Ryker cocked his head slightly, peering at the phone as it returned to the home screen. Well that didn’t sound good. Maybe he would get some hot broth from the hotel kitchen after he picked up the watch.

Fishing his keys out of his pocket, Ryker opened unlocked the Audi and slid smoothly into the driver’s seat. His package could wait a day or two. The garage did have rather incredibly tight security. The trip to 56th and Broadway was a bit longer than Ryker would have liked, but easily short enough for him to take in order to do Elay a favor. The man behind the counter was apparently expecting him, because as soon as he introduced himself, he disappeared into a backroom and brought forth a smallish box wrapped in gold paper with a fancy black bow intricately knotted on top. Back in his car, with the box secured in the passenger seat, Ryker let his mind wander a bit as he drove back to the hotel. Consequentially, he arrived back much earlier than would have been considered legal.

He paused outside of his room, smelling the rather distinct scents of chicken cooking in wine and an evergreen tree. Narrowing his eyes slightly, he twisted the knob and stepped inside. “What in the…That’s an awful lot of work for a sick person,” he pointed out, shutting the door behind himself with a bump from his hip. Taking a quick whiff of the air and studying Elay’s scent, he confirmed his suspicions that Elay was not, in fact, sick. “What I want to know, though, is how the hell you managed to get a Christmas tree in here.” As he spoke, he too-carefully ignored the two wine glasses in Elay’s hand and the Delta’s obvious romantic intentions.

The Delta smiled wide as Ryker stepped through the door giving him his obvious observations about the tree and being sick. The smile he so fondly flashed disappeared as he planted his back against the wall listening. Giving a loud grunt at Ryker's remarks, it was surprising to Elay that the Beta had little appreciation for his decorating. "No, I am not sick Ryker. We are weres...when was the last time you actually got sick? Hmm...an occasional bad human maybe? Didn't think so.." he shot back quickly. Suppressing his annoyance Elay stepped over to Ryker and took the items from his hands quickly, leaving a wine glass in their place. "So it's Christmas and I thought you would appreciate a nice dinner and some decorations. But if you don't like the tree I can toss it from the balcony. I don't think you'd mind explaining to Noctavia why we tossed a Christmas tree over the edge." he said sternly giving Ryker a full on look with his light blues.

He probably hates your tree.. Renner snickered with a chuckle. Well this was turning out to be one hell of a Christmas Eve. Giving a small grumble Elay filled their wine glasses and moved closer to Ryker. A small smirk forming on his lips as he eyed the Beta, "Are you mad at me because I faked being sick? Or do you really hate all my decorations because I thought I did a damn good job." he asked softly, his face slipping in to nuzzle at Ryker's neck. "Because our wonderful night has only just begun..." he whispered his finger pointing to the kitchen.

Ryker’s mouth hung partway open at Elay’s response to his greeting. One of two things had just happened, he realized as Elay fairly tore the wrapped watch from his hands and thrust out the wine glass, which Ryker carefully caught a hold of to prevent it from falling. Either, one, something had happened between right now and the last time Ryker had seen Elay that had completely destroyed the Delta’s sense of humor, or, two, Elay was really concerned about this and failed to realize that Ryker could possibly have just been joking. Given the fact that he had seen Elay not more than two days prior, Ryker was more inclined to believe the second option, which made him feel like just a little bit of an ass.

Carefully wrapping his free hand around Elay’s body, Ryker gave him a good, strong squeeze. “While I do imagine it would be incredibly fun explaining to the Alphess about a Christmas tree thrown from up here, I think I’ll keep it in here. It looks lovely. Of course I’m not mad at you, looney, the room looks magnificent and,” he paused to take a deep breath through his nose, “if dinner tastes half as good as it smells, it will be magnificent, too.” Twisting his head to the side, Ryker planted a kiss on Elay’s head. “Although, I’ll have ya know, I was sick a couple years ago. It sucked.”

After a moment of standing in silence, looking at the room, enjoying Elay’s scent filling his nose and his presence there at his side, Ryker unwound his arm from Elay’s waist and turned, grinning up at him with his most charming smile. “So, do I get to look forward to this every Christmas?” he asked, though he held himself ready to duck back, out of arm’s reach, if Elay decided to take a swat at him.

Leaning in to Ryker the large Delta smiled wide and chuckled, chest rumbling as he got squeezed.  "Sorry if I seem a bit frustrated, I didn't sleep much last night and I just wanted things to be nice." he muttered between heavy sighs. Lifting his gaze to catch Rykers, Elay laughed and shook his head.  "Of course you got sick I am not surprised, its all this damn snow." he added feeling calm at the Beta's presence. Even the forehead kiss made him melt and give off a happy rumble. In that moment Elay felt very grateful to have Ryker in his life at all. The chapter of his life as a loner had been closed the day he was accepted into ED, he was all excited for his future.

Lifting a brow high, Elay flashed Ryker a big grin of his own and inched closer to him once more.  "Yeah, as long as you give me some help with decorations...this took all damn day." he said lifting his glass up to meet Rykers with a clink.  "A toast to many more days like this but I promise not to fake sick."  he added with a playful pout. Moving the glass to his nose he sniffed it before taking a sip. Ah, everything was finally back on track and the Delta figured it was time to eat some dinner. Then he would pull out the present and the rest would hopefully be history by that time. Don't tell him about the rose petals that you smothered all over his bed...let him see that mess. Renner laughed. you're right..I better get an A for trying to be all romantic.

Moving away from Ryker, Elay slipped through the doorway and served up the plates. Opening his arms he displayed the nicely set up table with candle lighting. "Dinner is served." he said in a charming french accent. Once dinner is done do you give him the gift? Renner asked feeling Elay's nervousness.  Something like that...we will wing it. I can do this.. he thought as his eyes looked back up at Ryker.

Ryker could not help but chuckle slightly at the pitiful display that Elay put on. Of course he had just been concerned about dinner and the decorations. It was quite a lot for just one person to try to take care of in a single day and Ryker was duly impressed. He gently poked Elay’s ribs with the hand that was wrapped around him. “What, you don’t like the snow?” he asked, smirking. It occurred to him that Elay could probably count on one hand the number of times that he had seen snow, if ever before.

“Well,” he said, watching Elay try to scoot even closer. “So long as you don’t send me traipsing about town to fetch your jewelry, I’d be more than happy to give ya hand next year. And if ya do fake sick, I’ll just have to tie you to the bed and tend to you myself, eh?” he said, arching an eyebrow and grinning. Kicking off his shoes, Ryker followed after Elay to the kitchen, but paused when he saw the table all decked out and candle lit. At Elay’s introduction, he laughed lightly, shaking his head a little bit. “Merci beaucoup,” he replied, taking his seat and drawing in the heady scents of chicken and wine. “Everything really is wonderful, Elay. Thank you very much.”