November had been a busy month for both you and Ed. He'd been working on commission pieces a gallery wanted to display for sale on New Years, and your job was getting busier and more stressful as the holidays approached.
It was December now. You were both still busy and the city around you was becoming more hectic than ever. Ed had still noticed the signs that your depression was starting to flare up again. Since you'd gotten together in February, he'd helped you through a few bouts since then, and between work and the cold, dark weather settling in, it was starting to creep up on you again.
You came back from work on Friday, dumped your things in the corner of the bedroom, climbed into bed and stayed there.
Ed had seen the tiredness in your eyes. He'd hoped that a good sleep might help, but by midday the next day you were still in bed.
He knew you well by now, you needed something different, something joyful, something to pull you out of your mind and bring you back to yourself.
As he thought of what he could do, he looked around the apartment you shared. It looked like it did every day. There were no Christmas decorations up anywhere. He knew you had a cardboard box of decorations in the back of the closet, you'd brough with you when you'd moved in.
Ed hadn't really bothered with Christmas much. He'd been out on his own for some time now and with just him he hadn't spent much energy on the holiday. But he remembered a few months ago, how you'd told him with excitement bright in your eyes, about the things you loved about Christmas and how you were looking forward to spending your first Christmas together.
Ideas now filling his mind, Ed headed out. He left some breakfast and a note on the bedside table for you, pressing a soft kiss against your temple as you slept.
It was late afternoon, almost sunset when he got back.
You'd woken up a few hours ago. After reading Ed's note that he'd gone out for a while, you'd pulled yourself up enough to drink some of the tea and juice he'd left and had a shower, flopping back into bed right after. You felt so worn out and hollow inside. You hated this feeling, being far too familiar with it.
You heard the front door open and close and Ed moving around in the main room. You jumped when you heard something clatter to the ground and Ed cursing under his breath. Concerned, you climbed out of bed to see what happened.
As you stood in the doorway of the living room, you saw it was an empty easel that had fallen. Ed was setting an armload of shopping bags down on the kitchen counter. One paper bag, you could see, was overflowing with green and red tinsel.
Ed caught sight of you and smiled, “Hi Darling, how are you feeling?”
You gave his question a noncommittal nod and headed towards him, “What’s all this?” You asked, as Ed gently pulled you into his arms and held you.
“Well, I got some more decorations.” He explained, “To put up with the box you have. The more the better, right? And I got your favourite take-out for dinner and doughnuts and the ingredients for mulled wine. Oh, and I rented some Christmas movies. I thought we could have a movie night tonight and maybe tomorrow go get a tree and start decorating the apartment. Sound alright?”
You nodded, burrowing your face against his chest as you felt tears well up in our eyes. No one had ever loved you as sweetly as Ed did. He did so many things out of care for you. Before you met, you’d always faced these slumps alone, now you had someone to catch you as you fell. You almost didn’t know what to do with such a strong feeling of love and being loved. So you just surrendered to it, cuddling into his chest and letting his warmth fill the emptiness you felt.