A Christmas Story Final Chapter

Chapter 10

December 24, 2009

Rachel woke up the next morning, to a minor disturbance. Mike isn't in bed, so she gets out and sees what's going on, and finds Charlie in Mike's face yelling and screaming at him.

"You Mother Fucker! Who the fuck do you think you are, you son of a bitch. Hey I'm talking to you" Charlie shouts as Mike is trying to leave.

"Hey Charlie!!! Stop it! What the hell is going on you two!" Rachel grumpily shouts

"Mike, why don't you tell her?" Charlie demands

"Rach, ummm I've gotta go, take care" Mike quickly replies.

"Ok, umm call me then" Rachel queries, as Mike hastily leaves.

"You cocksucker Mother Fucker!" Charlie shouts at him while he leaves,

"No, what's going on here?" Rachel demands.

Charlie sits her down, trying to console her: "Rachel, he doesn't care about you, he doesn't love you, and all that shit that you said to you about romance, was just a con to get you to sleep with him."

"No. NO! NO!" Rachel worries, grabbing for her phone to call Mike. She frantically starts calling him repeatedly, but the calls go straight to voicemail. Charlie hugs her, trying to console her, as she begins to lose control, and eventually locks herself in her room and cries her misery away.

She spends the rest of her day in there, while Charlie brings her breakfast and lunch, trying to comfort her, and then goes out for a few hours to run some last minute Christmas errands for the Christmas party that they host for their friends and family the next day.

Rachel, still heartbroken has to continue the tradition that her parents had started for her so many years ago, if nothing else, to honor their memory, although her heart was broken, and was not into skating at the moment. She got dressed, and hailed a cab down to Central Park. She got there, and sat down on a bench just outside the rink, where she strapped her blades on. Obviously not being able to take a purse with her, she pulled out her little mini girls wallet, took out the photo of her parents, kissed it, said "this is for you Mom and Dad" and went out on the rink her for annual skate.

She stepped onto the rink, and was met with a familiar face.

"What are you doing here?" Rachel asks Charlie who looks crazy awkward trying to stand up straight in his skates.

"I just wanted to give you your Christmas present a day early." he responds handing her a small package in the shape of a book.

She unwraps the present holding him up as he almost falls down: "bend you knees you klutz, you look like a fucking giraffe the way you're all upright"

"Shut up and open it" he responds playfully

She opens it and discovers it's his black book: "What the hell am I going to do with this?!" she demands.

"Open it up, it's yours, I have no need for this anymore" Charlie replies.

She opens the book up, the pages are all torn out, with a square cut open in the center of the book, containing an engagement ring. Charlie drops to one knee:

"Rachel Summers: For the past 25 years, you've been my best friend, and the only thing in my life that made any sense. You've stood by me when any other girl would have walked away, and it took the biggest douchebag in human history for me to realize how much I love you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you, and only you, because with you, I have nothing and am nothing. So...will you marry me?"

Rachel in a total state of shock: "Wait, how did you, when did you?"

"This afternoon, when I went out. These past few weeks, I've just felt differently, I've felt..."

"Human?" Rachel responded

"Yea...that's the word. I'm sick of seeing you get hurt, you deserve a happy ending, but even more than that, you're the only thing in my life that makes any sense, and well we're great together." he continued..."So, will you"


Rachel overcome with emotion, saw the little 5 year old boy who had helped rescue her snowman, and had always been there for her, finally growing up, and naturally responded: "Of course Charlie, of course". They kiss long and passionately, as Charlie slips the ring onto Rachel's ring finger.

"Now what?" Rachel asks.

"Well I heard you have this little Christmas Eve tradition, so I figured it was time I joined the fun." Charlie answers

"Now that, is the greatest Christmas gift of all" Rachel tearfully answers. Rachel and Charlie skate for the first of many times as a happy couple in the middle of Central Park, and for the first time in both of their lives, each of them was really and truly happy. While they are but only two people in a city of 8 million, no two people in the great city could have been happier than these two in response to this Christmas Eve miracle.


Closing Notes:

- If you have someone this near and dear to you, turn to them now, or call them NOW, and tell them what they mean to you. Fuck Valentine's Day, Christmas is the most romantic holiday. Yes I attack relationships all the time, but if you can make it work, and I know plenty of you who have, then just know that it's the most wonderful thing in the world, and seeing my friends make relationships work is inspiring X 432800894. To those of you who are alone this Christmas, yes you're a loser, JOIN the FUCKING CLUB and join me for some scotch.

- This was a MAJOR MAJOR MAJOR challenge for a single, horny, anti-mushy gushy guy to write. That said, it actually was kind of fun to write at times, I had my outline written from the beginning and that part of it I really liked. The execution was VERY bleh, but ehh I'm not a fucking professional or anything, so stop complaining.

- Hailing one of the suggestions that I got from the murder mystery story, I really tried to focus on character development. I intentionally never once described what the characters looked like, because it shouldn't matter. The characters look like what you the reader want them to look like, but it is their actions and their character that are important. I wanted this story to be about the journey that the characters took in the story, and how life can't be planned out neatly, but just happens.

- Mrs. Owen you told me that you didn't want Rachel to end up with Charlie, but I hope that you found the resolution satisfying. Throughout the story, I tried (but probably failed) especially through some of the flashback scenes to show that Charlie is at heart a good guy with previously fucked up priorities, who ultimately does the right thing, and Rachel as the obviously perfect heroine (she's a nurse, which auto makes her SF dreamy + awesome), have I mentioned how much I <3 nurses.

- I hope that you all enjoyed the story. Merry Christmas to you ALL! I love each and every one of you, and wish you nothing but the best. Now stop reading this fucking garbage, and go spend some time with your family and friends.