Chapter 1

"Remember what we said? You'd come home someday and it would be forever and we'd be a family." Eleven asked Mike on the rare occasion he had come for Thanksgiving, they were standing in a crowded airport and he was getting ready to go back to Tufts University.

"I told you it was going to be a while," Mike answered, adjusting his carry-on bag. "I want to be able to support you, to give you the kind of life you've never had. Don't you want to be the wife of Dr. Michael Wheeler?"

"I like the life we've lived just fine, thank you. You can't buy happiness and I've always been happy with you," Eleven said. "I know you've worked hard to get your degree but the letters M.D are just initials. Why don't you just stay here? We can get married and start our lives together. And if you're not really going to be happy until you're a doctor then take me with you."

"I-I still have to do my residency," Mike replied. "I haven't even graduated yet, Eleven. If you came with me, we'd never see each other."

"We never see each other now," Eleven reminded him. "I just want to be with you. I want to see your face first thing in the morning and the last thing I see before I shut out the light. I want my kids to have your freckles. "I have no idea what this life is going to look like but I know it has the both of us in it and I choose us."

"I'll be back," Mike soothed, shattering her dreams and hopes when she realized he was leaving her behind.

His flight was boarding, so he leaned in to kiss her goodbye, wishing he could convey to her why she couldn't go with him. Their life together would be far from the idyllic childhood they had led in Hawkins. He knew the reality of what she was asking him, he'd seen too many medical school relationships end badly. He couldn't imagine them splintering apart like so many of the other couples he knew.

He didn't want that to be their fate.

"We're not like other people," Eleven told him, reading his thoughts like she had the uncanny ability to do. Making one last ditch effort for him to take her along.

Mike nodded. "Of course not. But that doesn't mean we can't become like them one day," he said.

Eleven knew arguing would be pointless, he wasn't going to cave even though she usually had him wrapped around her little finger. She would have to take no for an answer this time around. There was one last call for his flight and they didn't have time to fight anymore. He kissed her one more time and then he was gone, leaving Eleven all alone with the sinking feeling that she would never see him again.

He felt it too but he did his best to ignore it. Because if he thought about it too long, he would turn around and stay forever or ask her to go with him. And it wouldn't be fair to either of them, so he walked away in spite of himself.

He walked away and he didn't look back and he pretended it was easy.

.

"Do you got any family, Dr. Wheeler?"

Mike looked up from the chart he was filling out and at his patient, a little African-American boy named Campbell. He had large brown eyes and gap-teeth and was recovering from emergency appendix surgery.

"Everybody's got family, Campbell," he answered as he jotted down a few more notes.

"Are you gonna see them for Christmas?" Campbell asked, hitting the mute button on the television and looking at him expectantly.

"Not this year buddy," Mike replied. "They're all back in Indiana. I was too busy to go and see them. Maybe next year though."

"Do you got a wife?" Campbell inquired innocently.

For a split second, Eleven flitted across his mind along with a myriad of what ifs and could have beens. But she was his past, better to leave it buried where it belonged. He'd made his choices, it was best to stick with them. No regrets.

"I'm not married," Mike said. "And before you ask, I don't have any kids either."

"Why not?"

"I was too busy to get married and have kids," Mike answered. "You'll understand one day when you're a lot older."

"Aren't you lonely?" Campbell asked. "Without a wife or kids to keep you company?"

"I'm not that lonely, I get to interact with kids like you on a daily basis."

"You don't get to go home to somebody who loves you at the end of the night," Campbell told him.

"That is true," Mike agreed, allowing himself to wonder what Eleven was doing just for a second. If she had moved on and if she had a family.

"Are you going to?"

"Going to what?" Mike asked.

"Get married and have kids?"

Mike shook his head. "I don't know, Campbell. I barely have time to take care of myself, never mind other people."

Campbell sighed. "It seems like a sad kind of life."

Mike laughed. "How did you get to be so smart?"

Campbell grinned. "God!"

"Oh, of course! Why didn't I think of that!?" Mike slapped his forehead and then put Campbell's chart back at the end of his hospital bed.

Campbell quickly switched gears. "Do you think Santa Claus will be able to find me here, Dr. Wheeler?"

"I think he'll be able to find you anywhere," Mike said, sitting down and pulling a deck of cards out of his scrubs. "How about a quick round of UNO before I clock out for the night?"

"You don't got other patients to see?"

"Nope. You were the last one on my rotation," Mike assured him. "I told your parents I would entertain you while they went to get something to eat. I think the cafeteria is having a special on Spam today."

Campbell dissolved into a fit of laughter as Mike dealt out seven cards for each of them.

Before Mike knew what was happening, an hour had flown by and Campbell's dad and mom were ushering him out of the room as they said he must have somewhere better to be than with their son, it being Christmas Eve and all.

Mike didn't have the heart to tell them that he didn't have anywhere to go. They were spending the holidays at Children's Hospital. He didn't need to make things gloomier for them by letting them know he was going to be all alone.

He wished them a Merry Christmas, gave Campbell a high-five then went to clock out before going to the men's locker room to put his boots and winter coat on.

Evelyn Thompson, one of the nurses doing her residence, was waiting for him when he got there. She'd been chasing him since the first day she had started working with him. So far, he'd been able to resist her wiles. He was sure tonight would be no exception, despite her plunging neckline and wine-stained lips.

"Hello Michael," she cooed.

"Evelyn," he acknowledged.

She smiled at him and played with the gold-plated choker she was wearing. "Do you have plans for tonight?"

"I do, in fact!" Mike replied cheerfully. "I'm going to go home and make some popcorn, pour myself a beer and watch It's A Wonderful Life on NBC."

He could hear Evelyn's breath hitch as she raised her chest slightly so he had an ample view of her cleavage.

"Do you want some company? I don't have to be at my parents' house in Rhode Island until the morning. I wouldn't mind—"

"Thanks for the offer but I'd rather be alone, if you don't mind!" Mike said quickly.

"Oh come on, nobody wants to be alone on Christmas Eve!" Evelyn protested.

"I'm sure you won't be alone," Mike replied, thinking about Brett Ratner, the other doctor who she pursued shamelessly and sometimes spent the night with.

Evelyn lowered her gaze demurely. "Of course! But I know you'd be by yourself and I hated the thought of that."

"I'll be okay," Mike promised. "I like being alone."

She frowned, her attitude doing a complete 180 when she saw her seduction tactics weren't going to work on him. "Oh knock it off! Nobody likes being alone!"

"I do!" Mike insisted. "If you haven't noticed yet, I spend a lot of my time by myself."

Evelyn gave him a cool look. "Who broke your heart, Dr. Wheeler?" she asked cruelly.

Mike slammed his locker door shut and pulled a hat over his unruly dark hair, annoyed with the blonde beauty standing in front of him. "Don't judge a book by its cover," he retorted, stalking off from her.

Evelyn watched him go, pouting at him as he left. But he would not be moved. He'd made his decisions a long time ago he was going to live with them even if it meant spending another Christmas Eve all by himself.

TBC. . .

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Author's Note:

Well, here's the first (much) anticipated chapter of my Mike & Eleven Christmas story. I hope it doesn't disappoint you! I am looking forward to your feedback and sharing this with you. Please feel free to leave comments!

Until Next Time!

Lots of Love,

Holly, 12/3/2016