Wait...What Date is it Again? (Charlotte, Vaas and Merle)

Charlotte had been living in a sort of nightmare world for the last few weeks, she had been running from safe house to safe house and she thought that there was nothing worse than having to keep running and shooting all day long while they fought for some freedom from the undead.

Now though they were all sitting in one of the safe houses, stocking up on their supplies and getting some rest.

Waking from a light sleep, Charlotte sighed happily and curled over in her warm little nook that she had made while she had been asleep. Every day she found it hard to actually leave this little nook and today was no different. Could they just stay in here for the day? It was safe, they knew this.

Running her hand across her face to wake her up, Charlotte pulled the warm blanket over her shoulders as she sat up against the wall trying to actually wake herself up. They would probably be needing to go soon, and she already saw Vaas and Merle up and pottering around.

Although they had their differences when they first met up, everyone had gelled really well and she was very happy that they were all getting along so well. No more in fighting, nothing like that at all, thank god for that. They were already fighting against the undead, there was no need to squabble amongst themselves as well.

"Good morning." she murmured softly "Did you both sleep well?"

Merle hummed a little bit as he cooked off some of the bacon that he had been saving. Annoying, it wasn't rashers or anything nice like that. It was those little bacon bits that people added to things to add flavouring. But when you were hankering for bacon lots of little bits added up to make something worth having!

Humming a little bit as he finished making the breakfast of eggs and bacon bits for the three of them, he glanced up at Vaas to see the man grinning madly and sitting on top of a cardboard box protectively. And somehow Merle would not so sure the man had peaceful intentions.

Sighing a little bit, he filled the paper plate he had prepared for Charlotte and passed it to her,

"Ter' yer go darlin'." he told her with a smirk before shaking his head, "I kno' it ain' exac'ly fiv' star cookin' bu' it's te' bes' I coul' do."

He was about to go and get his own when he noticed a calendar in the room they were hiding in. Counting down the days they'd survived since it began (the last date he remembered), he chuckled a little bit,

"Hey... fuc'in' Chris'm' day tod'y!" he smirked and gave Charlotte a wink, "Merry Chris'm's."

Charlotte smiled tiredly at the scent of cooking bacon wafting through the air, she wanted to be able to jump on the bacon and eat it all! Yet she had learnt the secret of being a team player and that meant not eating all of the food on your other partners....it meant sharing. Therefore, there would be a little bit of bacon for each of them.

Taking the plate from Merle, Charlotte took in a deep breath of the scent and sighed happily. It smelt so good it always made her want to eat the whole thing right away.

"Oh it smells amazing." she grinned happily "It looks amazing too, I always love your cooking Merle you know that. Better than what I could whip up that's for sure." Charlotte smiled softly.

It was true though, she hadn't even tried to cook something since all this started because she didn't want to waste the food that they had because then they would eat nothing and they would sure as hell be pissed at her for wasting it.

Gasping softly as the realisation it was Christmas hit her, Charlotte tucked into her meal with gusto, a truly delicious Christmas breakfast! It was a little sad they were spending their Christmas here, in a dark dank bungalow underground away from growling and hungry zombies who were trying to eat them as soon as they stepped outside.

"Merry Christmas to you all!" she grinned "I love Christmas, its...its a shame that we have to spend it stuck down here but, there are lots of people worse off. At least we're eating bacon, not people."

Vaas was excited!

And not the "I'm able to kill and loot as much as I want" excitement that had been rushing through his veins since the first zombie appeared either! No sir!

No this excitement was a lot more benign considering who he is and how insane everyone (including his team) thought he was. Smirking a little bit, he tried not to ruin the surprise as Merle made breakfast and Charlotte woke up.

He himself had been awake since the crack of dawn but since it had been his turn on watch no one had batted an eyelid at it.

But when Merle told them that it was Christmas, and after Charlotte had eaten the majority of her bacon, Vaas could contain himself no more. Leaping up from the cardboard box, he latched onto Merle with a manic grin,

"Merry Christmas Hermano!" he cried happily, "I hope you live long and finally remember to masturbate with your fleshy hand!"

He spun around until he was face to face with Charlotte. Holding up a sprig of mistletoe, he grinned before kissing her on the lips. And he didn't make it a light kiss either! He dipped her as he kissed her passionately on the lips before breaking the kiss with a massive grin,

"Merry Christmas Chica!"

Charlotte looked at Vaas, and she had to admit that he was more than a little bit hyper this morning and she wondered why. Perhaps it was because he knew that it was Christmas before Merle had figured it out and he was happy because he was going to do something special for it? She failed to see what he could do to make it special being stuck in a place like this but she was sure that whatever it was would be amazing.

Blushing softly when she heard him telling Merle to do something rather rude, or rather remember to do it correctly, Charlotte decided she wasn't going to think too long on that. At least not while the guys were around that was.

As she stood up and placed her paper plate, now empty, upon the table, Charlotte laughed softly at the random and happy antics of their fellow team member. It seemed as if the island boy had a really bad case of Christmas Fever! Who would have thought it? She didn't even think that they had Christmas on the Rook Islands.

Charlotte did not expect Vaas to hold up that spring of mistletoe and kiss her however. Never mind kissing her so passionately! Returning the kiss very shyly, Charlotte stood up, her cheeks flushed when it finally ended.

"Merry Christmas to you Vaas." she stated with a blush "How come you are so excited? I wouldn't think that you normally celebrated Christmas coming where you come from and all."

Merle very nearly reaction on instinct there and gutted Vaas with his hook/knife hand. But he had recognised the man at the last second and held off on killing him. At least until he was able to better enjoy it. Then he would gladly kill the bastard for making fun of him like this. And mentioning masturbation when Charlotte was so nearby!

Especially when he was making it about him!

Well let's just say that it was a Christmas miracle that Merle wasn't currently using the knife attachment on his hand to gut Vaas like a fish and leave him outside for the zombies! He gritted his teeth in anger,

"Ge' te fuc' off'a me righ' now or I'm gun' kic' yer ass!" he warned the islander, "I swea' te god I don' car' if it's christm's... I'll fuc'in' en' yer!"

When Vaas leapt off of him, Merle was very nearly thankful for it.

Nearly because he could see what he was now doing with Charlotte... his Charlotte! Vaas was using god-damn mistletoe to get in a massively passionate and wild kiss with Charlotte! What the fuck was going on here?! He growled a little bit and had to resist the urge to smack Vaas in the face and kick him out with the zombies.

As soon as Vaas had finished kissing Charlotte, Merle swooped in and wrapped his arm around her waist to pull her close. He looked right in her eyes for a few seconds before kissing her just as passionately but for slightly longer. Letting her up, he growled slightly,

"I din' lik' him kissin' yer..."

Charlotte knew that Merle had a very delicate state of emotion, he very easily could turn angry without much notice and she didn't like that fact. It did however mean she had gotten very good at handling him when he did explode, as Vaas almost always made him do so. It was a daily occurrence, if not more than daily.

They didn't get along too well, but there was more than often now a shaky peace because she had demanded it of them more than they came to it neutrally.

"Both of you behave." she stated with a small sigh "It's early in the morning for you to both be starting to fight...besides its Christmas, the season of goodwill."

Smiling brightly when she was released from the kiss with Vaas, Charlotte couldn't help the slightly goofy quality it might have. How often were you swept up and kissed like that? Not very often if she was honest with herself. It didn't seem as if Merle liked it much though, and she hoped that he wasn't going to start kicking off.

As soon as Merle wrapped his arm around her waist, Charlotte gasped again, especially when he looked into her eyes with his cold blue ones, before pressing his lips to hers. Shocked, yet not too shocked to stop kissing back, Charlotte closed her eyes.

"Oh well...I see." she whispered breathlessly, stepping away from the guys "Very good presents you two, I think I'll remember those kisses for a long while."

Vaas hummed and completely ignored what Merle said to him. Mainly because he had been doing that since their journey began. No reason to stop all of a sudden now right? He had a good thing going here! Merle would speak, he would ignore him and then Charlotte would explain what Merle said in about half the time and with at least a thousand times the sex appeal.

Listening to Merle was a chore but listening to Charlotte was something he enjoyed very much!

Of course when she asked him why he celebrated Christmas when he came from the Rook Islands, a chain of islands with it's own religion based on warrior codes, he smirked a little bit,

"Everyone on Rook Islands follows Christmas... is free shit!" he told her with a laugh, "And the hermanos back on the islands are always wanting free shit chica!"

Watching Merle kiss Charlotte got Vaas very annoyed. So annoyed that he decided he would get his revenge against her! But he would do it in a Christmas way seeing as it was Christmas! He would have a yule-tide revenge that was for damn sure! Smirking a little bit, he dived into the cardboard box before pulling out the tinsel he had been saving the last few days,

"MERRY CHRISTMAS!"

With that as his battle cry, Vaas immediately pounced on Merle and laughed manically as he tied the southerner up tightly with the tinsel. Before he could object or escape though, Vaas tied him up with a couple dozen strings of tinsel and then lights. Grinning, he placed Merle in the corner and turned on the battery-operated lights. He grinned at the scowling Merle,

"We have a Christmas tree!"

Charlotte couldn't help but laugh when she heard that the reason why they liked Christmas so much in the Rook Islands was because they were into getting free stuff. It was a good reason to like Christmas that was for sure. It was a big part of it over here, and pretty much everywhere they could afford to give gifts out.

"Well that makes sense I suppose, it is a big part of Christmas. I would be getting tonnes of presents if I were back home...I just hope that everyone's okay." she stated with a sigh, hugging her arms around her chest as she gaze fell on the door.

She had expected her father to come and help her, but each time the break out broke free of the boundaries the borders of magical apparition got even further away. The police wouldn't let anyone through either. So she was glad that her father was away and safe if she was honest with herself, even though she wanted his help.

As Vaas yelled so loudly Charlotte couldn't help but giggle again, shaking her head, she watched as he tackled Merle, although felt she had to intervene when he began to hog tie him in the corner and make him into a Christmas tree.

"Oh Vaas you can't do this." she sighed softly "You just make lots of trouble for yourself don't you?" Charlotte asked with a soft grin on her lips "I'm sure we can put the lights up around the tables and cupboards and such, instead of wrapping poor Merle in them."

Delicately, Charlotte began to untie Merle from the lights, her fingers deftly working to release him.