First Snow
Title: "Santa Penguin"
Author: mlady_rebecca ( mlady_rebecca @ livejournal . com )
Beta: Celeste (Thanks!!)
Fandom: Anita Blake
Type: Ficlet
Written: 12/05/05
Disclaimer: I don't own any of LKH's wonderful characters. Just borrowing them for a few moments. For entertainment purposes only.
Rating: PG
Pairing: none
Spoilers: none
POV: first person, Anita
Archive: http://home.comcast.net/~mlady_rebecca/ab_fics.html
Authors Note: Written for the 2nd Day of Christmas at MicahNimir-Raj.
Dedication: For my Christmas Angel, Holly, who would have been 32 today (12/14/05).
I came home to a house jam-packed with wereleopards full of the Christmas spirit. There was an enormous bowl of popcorn in the living room, and at least half of it was getting strung to decorate the Christmas tree. The top of the tree was covered with colored lights. The other set of lights was trailing snake-like across the floor, as though a high spirited house cat had got a hold of it and merrily tugged. Cherry and Vivian were arranging the ornaments in a row across the coffee table, fingering each one and sharing who had contributed it to the tree.
This was a family tree. This was my family.
Nathaniel poked his head out of the kitchen and asked if I wanted to help bake sugar cookies. Last year I had been banned from actually doing any of the cooking, but Nathaniel had graciously let me pour the colored sugar on the cookies. I remembered doing that with my mother before she died. It was a precious memory.
I smiled and told him I'd be down as soon as I changed. I quickly shed my work clothes and shrugged into blue jeans and a cozy red Christmas sweater. Might as well join in the spirit of things. As I sat on the edge of the bed tying my tennis shoes, I looked over my penguin collection. Sigmund, who always sat front and center, had an old friend leaning against his side. Santa Penguin. I smiled at him fondly.
In all of the years I've decorated for Christmas, two ornaments have always held a special place in my heart. One was a beautiful porcelain angel given to me by my mother the Christmas before she died. The other was Santa Penguin.
When I was living alone in my apartment, some Christmases were elaborate, some were simple, and some were practically non-existent depending on my mood, my work schedule, and how many cases RPIT managed to throw my way in early December. But those two decorations always came out.
My mother's angel was fragile. I always wrapped it carefully and stored it away in a fancy box in the back of my closet, but for some reason I couldn't bear to put away my penguin. Why should the rest of my penguins sit out all year, when Santa Penguin was relegated to a box in the closet? So every January, Santa would be pushed to the back of the pile. He'd duck down just enough so that no one noticed his festive Christmas hat, but I knew he was still there.
I suspected that Nathaniel had noticed my ritual and had dug Santa out from his hiding place. I couldn't help but smile to see Sigmund and Santa together again. But it also made me a bit sad. The friend who had blessed me with Santa was no longer close enough to share the Christmas spirit with.
Santa was a gift from Ronnie.
It was so hard to think of forgiving Ronnie again, especially after how she had treated Nathaniel. Part of me wanted to leave the distance there, because Nathaniel meant more to me. But there is something about old friends. New friends may be there to walk the road with you, but old friends know where you've come from.
I wondered if Nathaniel knew what Santa Penguin meant to me. Was he a request to forgive Ronnie and invite her back into my life? As if by silent summons, Nathaniel wandered into the bedroom. He sat on the bed behind me and wrapped his arms and legs around me in a bear hug. We sat that way, quietly lost in our own thoughts for a few minutes before I gathered my resolve again. I leaned back against Nathaniel's shoulder and whispered "Is it too late to help with the cookies?"
Nathaniel smiled and kissed me on the forehead. "No, come on." I let myself be dragged downstairs into the warmth of my family.
*****
After dinner, I found my angel in the back of the closet. I pulled her out, and gave her a place of honor on the mantle, watching over my new family. Then I gathered Sigmund and Santa and the portable phone and curled up on the sofa.
I didn't say hello or anything, I just led in with "Guess who is keeping Sigmund company again?"
Ronnie laughed. "Is that silly Santa Penguin still around?"
"Silly? He's not silly. He's Sigmund's holiday buddy. .... Sigmund has been missing his old friend terribly."