>Merry Christmas  von Ed Sheeran<

At 8 a.m. Karla had let her out at Matty's house and while he was initially happy to see her standing in the door so early, so that he wanted to introduce her to his parents, she quickly curbed his euphoria, and half an hour later left his apartment again as a free woman. She immediately made her way to her parents so that they could take her home with them, where they had planned to meet her siblings an hour later anyway.

She had explained everything to her parents on the way to Pontypandy and her mother was blown away that she had finally had the courage to talk to Sam. She preferred not to mention the fact that she didn't talk so much as let her actions do the talking. Nevertheless, their mother shooed her out of the house to get Sam as soon as they arrived at her house and promised to take care of the food until they got back.

On the way to Pontypandy, Penny had put her cell phone on the charger in the car. She hadn't missed the fact that it had rung this morning as soon as Karla had set off, but by the time she had taken it out of her pocket it had already gone off.

Now she was standing in front of Sam's door, waiting for him to open it, but nothing happened. She rang the bell a second time before giving up. Was he still out with the others? She went back to the car and turned on her cell phone. Confused, she saw that it had been Sam who had called her this morning. She called him back, but now his cell phone was off. She considered calling Ellie, but the many footprints in Sam's entryway told her he had to be back. In that case, he could actually only be in one place.

"Hey, Bronwyn. Is Sam with you?" she greeted his sister-in-law on the phone, as soon as she had greeted her with 'Hello, Penny'.

"Yes, he is. Charlie brought him when he checked on him earlier to wish him a Merry Christmas. He's not feeling well. Charlie said it would be better not to let him out of his sight," Bronwyn replied to her worried and Penny was scared.

"What's wrong with him?" she asked immediately alarmed, and was already buckling up her seatbelt so she could be ready to leave immediately.

"I have no idea. He doesn't talk to us. He's somehow off track and completely lethargic," Bronwyn explained to her helplessly and Penny immediately understood Bronwyn's helplessness.

"Can I come down? Maybe I can help him," Penny objected, although she didn't quite know how. He seemed so happy last night. The fact that he was feeling so bad now confused her at least as much as Bronwyn.

"Sure. If you can't cheer him up, then no one can. See you soon, Penny," Bronwyn stated and Penny just gave her a quick 'bye' before immediately making her way down to the quay.

Bronwyn was already waiting for her at the door and opened it for her as soon as she got out of the car to take her upstairs. Sam was sitting at the living room table with Charlie and the twins, playing a game with them, but his eyes were distant and there was so much sadness in them that it hurt her heart. What had just happened? Charlie looked up first and she could see the despair at his brother's condition in his eyes.

"Sam? There's someone here who wants to see you," Bronwyn said and now Sam and the twins also looked up at her.

"Penny?!" he asked confused as the children greeted her happily. Sam waited just long enough for her to say hello to the children before he said what was on his mind, but without giving her another look, instead directing his gaze back to the game board. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be with your Matty?" he murmured sarcastically and Bronwyn and Charlie exchanged a confused look before looking at Penny questioningly. She took a deep breath.

"I've already been and talked to him," she said simply, hoping it would tell Sam everything he needed to know so that he didn't have to talk about the unpleasant past in front of his family. All she wanted to do was looking forward.

"Then I hope he's shown himself to be more understanding of your mistake than he's given the impression so far," Sam replied tonelessly as he moved on to his next move at the game. Charlie and Bronwyn seemed even more confused and even the twins now looked at their uncle questioningly because they didn't know him so grumpily.

"Sam, can we talk? Alone?" she asked him awkwardly, so as not to give his brother and his family any more to think about because of Sam's statements. She didn't want to clarify this in front of Sam's family, especially when there were children listening and he was making hints like that. Who knew what else would come out of his mouth in his anger. He just shrugged his shoulders before getting up and walking past her downstairs to the coffee shop to sit at the counter. Penny, who had followed him, after sending in the direction of the others an apologetic smile, stopped in front of him and looked at him briefly. He was so mopey and avoided her gaze that it almost hurt her. His behavior didn't exactly make her want to sit down, but she did anyway on the chair next to him. "What's wrong, Sam?"

"Nothing!" he just mumbled disgruntledly and started playing with the napkin dispenser.

"Sam!" she admonished him immediately. She didn't know him like that and especially after last night she couldn't explain his behavior. On the other hand, he had just clearly shown his displeasure that she had been with Matty. Was he just jealous?

"What? Do you expect me to sit here and sing Christmas carols and be merry after you left me without a word this morning?" he grumbled grumpily in response and slammed the napkin stand on the counter so hard that she winced.

"I left you a message," she replied, confused.

"Yes, you did," he said growlingly, searching his pocket for the note and placing it on the table in front of her before continuing. "That it was a mistake and you're sorry. I hope you were able to fix everything with Matty?!" he added sarcastically and now she understood what was bothering Sam. Did he really think that she had meant him with this mistake and were gone back to Matty? Nevertheless, she read the message again and unfortunately had to agree with him that it could easily be misunderstood.

"I was in a bit of a rush this morning because Karla had already started the engine as soon as I started writing. It seems to have been written somewhat ambiguously. I'm sorry, Sam," she said after looking at the message and understanding him a little better now.

"What's not to understand about that? Especially since you had no desire to talk to me on the phone and preferred to turn it off after my first attempt," he muttered grumpily at the memory.

"I didn't turn it off. I didn't blocked you too when you called. The battery died before I could take it out of my pocket and unfortunately Karla didn't have a suitable charger with her. I didn't even know it was you calling me, until now," she immediately defended herself.

"It doesn't matter. Not after you had nothing else on your mind but to get back to your fiancé as quickly as possible, despite what we shared the night before," Sam groused offendedly and they heard someone sucking in air sharply in disbelief at what he had just heard. Confused, they both looked up at the stairs to the Jones' living area and thought they had misheard.

"What did the two of them share?" Sarah then asked quietly, followed by a 'Shush!', and they knew that they had uninvited listeners hiding behind the wall. Sam rolled his eyes in annoyance and started playing with the napkin stand again.

"Don't you want to know why I needed to do that?" Penny decided to ignore the audience and instead appease Sam.

"Of course he wants to know!" Charlie shouted from the staircase before Sam could say something that he might have regretted later. He rolled his eyes again in annoyance at his nosy brother, but couldn't help but smile when Penny laughed softly too.

"I broke up with Matty," Penny then said to Sam and his eyes snapped up to her.

"What? Why?" he asked, completely confused. Now he couldn't make sense of her message at all. "You wrote that you wanted to do the right thing."

"And that was the right thing to do. Ellie was right that Matty would always be second choice, but as long as I thought you didn't feel anything for me, it was probably the best alternative I had," she told him shrugging her shoulders. "I was afraid this morning that you would judge me for being able to..." She paused and glanced back at the stairwell before lowering her voice to a whisper for the next words, so the children wouldn't notice too much."To cheat him so easily and I felt bad. Not because of Matty, but because of you. I wanted to sort everything out as quickly as possible to clear my conscience so that you wouldn't think badly of me. I was probably too hectic and offended you. But that was never my intention. I've only ever loved you."

"Yes!", Charlie exclaimed full of euphoria that Penny had finally said what his brother had been hoping for for so long and Sam immediately lost the fluttering in his stomach that he had just felt at her words.

"Charlie!" Sam admonished his brother annoyed in his hiding place.

"Okay, okay! Come on, kids. Let's give the two of them some time alone," Charlie gave in and shooed the children up the stairs, just as Sam was already pulling Penny into his arms to kiss her, happy that everything just had been a misunderstanding.

"Are they kissing now, Dad?" they heard Sarah ask and Penny couldn't help but laugh when Sam stopped before he could actually do it.

"Is Penny going to be our aunt now?" James then asked and now it was Sam who smiled amused, a little curious to see what Charlie would say to his children.

"It's Christmas, children. At Christmas all wishes come true," he told them confidently, while their voices became quieter and quieter. "And this year, finally, your uncle's greatest wish," he then added and Penny raised teasingly an eyebrow at Sam.

"What is their uncle's greatest wish? Did you get a new rake for the garden?" she teased with a smile.

"I got the woman of my dreams," he replied happily and came closer to her, but one question was still burning in his mind. "So, what do you think? Are the children right?" he teased her with a cheeky grin and persisted, even if it cost him all his self-control.

"If we kiss?" she replied with a smile and was already about to overcome the last centimeter.

"That too, but I don't doubt that," he replied against her lips and did so, losing himself completely in the moment just like she did. "And what about the aunt? Would you want to be her aunt?" he asked her then breathless as their lips parted after an uncertain time and he placed his forehead against hers to sink into her wonderful eyes.

"Hmm..." she replied seriously and had to laugh at his puzzled face before wrapping her arms around his shoulders. "First and foremost, I would much rather be your wife."

"You know it's the same thing?" he reminded her with a grin, happy to see that she agreed without a doubt and without thinking. Not like she had to think about it for so long with Matty and wasn't sure at the end though.

"It sounds much nicer," she said with a happy smile, glad that the light had returned to his eyes, much brighter than she was already used to from him.

"That's true," he replied with a smile and kissed her gently again. "I love you," he then sighed contentedly against her lips.

"And I love you. What do you have planned today? I actually thought you were lazing around at home," she then asked him, running her hands through his hair while she threatened to drown in his blue eyes.

"I was, until Charlie came over and dragged me along because he thought I would hurt myself otherwise," he simply explained to her and Penny immediately felt sorry for her question, but decided to ignore it. From now on she wouldn't cause him any more grief, no matter how unintentional it had been.

"Do you want to meet my parents? They are at my house and are waiting for us with dinner."

"Wouldn't that be a bit inappropriate since they're expecting you with Matty?" Sam said hesitantly as Penny pulled away from him and grabbed his hands to pull him off the chair.

"My mom knows and she's thrilled to finally be able to meet you."

"No worries about the lost son-in-law?" he replied skeptically.

"More like unbridled anticipation of the perfect son-in-law," Penny replied to him and put an arm around him, which he immediately did to her.

"Why perfect?" Sam questioned, pulling her all the way back into his arms because everything wasn't close enough for him.

"Because she wants me to be happy and she knows that I will only truly be happy with you."

"Good. Because I plan to make you happy. More than you ever dreamed of," Sam stated happily and kissed her gently again. He simply couldn't let go of this woman and even the fact that he could now kiss and love her for the rest of his life wasn't enough for him - not after the last few hours in which he had thought he had lost her forever.

"That's a good thing. That's exactly what I wanted to do with you too," she replied happily and her radiance melted his heart. He couldn't believe that he was actually the one who could put it on her face just because he was there, because he loved her - and how could he not do that?! It was impossible not to love this woman. Suddenly he even felt a little sorry for Matty, because there was no more perfect feeling than being loved by her just as much and knowing that it was forever.

"You already did. You can't make me much happier."

"We'll see, my heart. We'll see," she murmured against his lips, thinking back to last night, her thoughtlessness and how much Sam liked children. Maybe she would soon be able to make him a little happier than he expected?! But she didn't tell him anything. Not yet. Time would tell them soon enough in 2 or 3 weeks. First of all they would enjoy their time together - she was sure of that.

"Charlie, we're off then!" Sam called up when they had to break away from each other because Penny's cell phone rang and she showed him on the display that it was her mother calling.

"Have fun, brother. I'll see you tomorrow! You too, Penny! Mum and Dad will be thrilled to meet you," Charlie called down the stairs and something told them he was still listening, albeit from higher up.

"Let's hope they are," Penny replied nervously in a quiet voice as Sam opened the door and they left the cafe hand in hand.

"They'll love you. How could they not, when Charlie has already told them all about my true love. They're just as curious about you as your parents seem to be about me," he teased with a grin and she gave him a warning nudge with her elbow in his side before Sam pulled her close again to kiss her passionately, overjoyed that everything had turned out so well, so perfectly in the end.

"Merry Christmas, my heart," Penny sighed against his lips as he let go of her.

"Merry Christmas, my love. It's the first of countless perfect Christmases that we have ahead of us. Promise," he then said with a smile.

"Now everything can only be better than perfect," she replied with a smile as they got into the car and Sam could only agree with her, smiling wide as well.

THE END

Many thanks to MyFunSong for your encouragement and the many attempts to help me find an idea for a Christmas story. I hope everyone enjoyed this version. Merry Christmas.