Returned to Sender - Scarlett Johansson

Part 49

Sawyer's POV

I was woken up by Mama this morning as she lightly placed kisses all over my face and sang jingle bells softly, making me smile and pull myself into her for a hug. My ear is in a lot of pain, but I'm used to pain, and Mama was so excited about giving me my first real Christmas that I'm not going to let my pain get in the way of our fun.

 That being said, I still bury my face into Mama's neck as I hug her tightly. "Merry Christmas, Mama", I mumble into her neck as I try and wake up. Last night was a long night, after all, and I had been up for a while when Mama woke up and found me. It's so safe to say I didn't get as much sleep as I wanted to last night.

Mama just laughed, rubbing my back soothingly as she stood with me in her arms, making a move to walk out of my room.

 "Wait," I said softly before wiggling out of Mama's arms and running over to Tasha. "Can Tasha come down and lay on the sofa with us, please?" I ask with a pout, wanting to curl up on Tasha when I'm not feeling well, like in the hospital. 

Mama laughs and walks over, scooping me back into her arms, making me smile at her before she grabs Tasha's arm to drag it down behind us. As we walked down, I could slightly hear voices, although they sounded muffled as I am currently deaf in my left ear; the doctor said my hearing should come back as my ear heals. 

"Mama, are there people down here?" I ask, trying to lean over the bannister to see into the room below us, but Mama keeps a tight grip on me. "Just my elves, baby. That reminds me," she laughed before pulling something out of her hoodie pocket and passing it to me with a big smile. It was a Santa hat just like hers, which I put on with a big smile before wincing when my ear started to throb more. 

"I know baby, we'll get your medicine first, then we can see the elves and do presents," Mama said with a sad smile but tried to get cheery again towards the end, making me nod as I cuddled my bad ear into her chest hoping the warmth from her would make the pain lessen.

"Is that my tiny?" I heard Uncle Hunter yell, so he must have been super loud for me to hear as we walked into the kitchen. Mama had dropped Tasha down the stairs before us and just left her there for now. I smile and wave to him tiredly as Mama walks over to the cabernet to get my pills and some water, handing them for me to take with a sad smile as she starts talking to Uncle Hunt, their words sounding mumbled. 

Noticing I was done with my pills, Mama smiled at me. "What do you want first? Breakfast or presents?" Mama asked, making sure to speak slightly louder so I would hear. I just shrugged, my ear still hurting as I cuddled into her chest, playing lazily with the bobble on the end of her Santa hat. 

"I say we do some presents now, then take a break for breakfast before opening some more. How does that sound tiny?" Uncle Hunt asked as he walked over, rubbing my back softly as I clanged to Mama. I just nodded, not really having a preference on what order we do things; the antibiotics are making me feel a bit funny, so I'm not really hungry, and I've never had a present before, except for the comic Mummy gave me before she died.

As we walked into the living room, I saw Melanie sitting on the sofa and smiling at us. Since Mama's birthday, we have hung out quite a lot; she even helped us make Christmas cookies last week, which was fun. I had even started to call her Nanny, which seemed to make her smile. "Is my poor grandbaby sick?" She asked, holding her hands out for me as Mama walked further into the room. I nodded as I was passed from Mama to Nanny, cuddling into her instead. 

"Mama, you left Tasha at the bottom of the stairs", I pout, looking over to her as she moved some of the presents from under the tree. "I'll grab it for you, tiny; give me two seconds," Uncle Hunter said before running over to the stairs to grab her, returning quickly and setting Tasha down on the floor near the pile of presents Mama was building. After a minute, Mama turned to me with a smile, "come here, baby", she said loudly so I could hear while holding her hands out for me to run into.