Just a little musing of mine. This one goes out to Liz whose TEC chapter got me thinking I should get this out. Thanks and hope you enjoy!

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Part one: It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas

I always loved Christmas. It was the time of year for just setting back, relaxing and enjoying my family…yeah, well, family was there, don’t know if I could call it relaxing and I wouldn’t be setting back, but it was special all the same.

Traditionally, Carol and Jim would get us all up early on Christmas Eve and drive us down to Modesto for a Christmas day spent with Uncle Jake and Aunt Maureen. Well, we stopped that around when I was was living in London most of the time and Carol didn’t care to socialize with Jim’s family. So, Christmas turned into a bleary, gin stained event where we got to see our mother turn into white trash and get a phone call from our father asking what Santa didn’t bring.

The last few years were different and I was hoping this year would follow that. Rock had gone all the way out of the city for ‘the perfect tree’. He had been gone all day and the tree was beautiful. It had to be put up in Rock’s office because it was so tall, but we had all wanted toput it inthere, anyways. Well, everyone that was coming. Tell made it his duty to drag Tatton away from the office, West wouldn’t miss it and I had arranged for Jim to let Aries come and stay with us until mid-January. The only person missing this year would be Ranse. It was sad that we did so much without him these days. I didn’t even know where he was. If Rock knew, he was getting very good at fending off my puppy dog eyes and mopy whining. What? Every girl needs a way to get things out of her big brothers, all five of them.

We still had two days until it was officially Christmas, but everyone had decided to come and stay for those two days. I wondered when the fighting would start, but with out Carol and Jim it might just turn out to be peaceful. What an odd thought. Some fight or a drunken episode tarnished every family memory I possessed. I don’t know what I would do with a good one.

I sighed, watching the fluffy white flakes fall from the sky on the other side of the window. They were like little, mini, cold, wet clouds that fell down on everything too slow to get out of their way. I couldn’t think of any other way to describe them. Tatton would explain them to me, if I wanted him to. He liked being smarter than other people, so it would be right up his alley to tell me all about something I wanted to know about. It was funny how far away from earth I could get when I was thinking. If I really wanted to ask Tatton, I would have just had to call across the room.

“West, if you won’t decorate the tree properly, I won’t let you do it at all,” Tatton warned

“There’s a proper way to decorate a tree?” he asked, miffed

“Yes. You have to evenly space all of them, then drape the damn tinsel. Did you purposely try to cover the floor with it?” Tatton asked

“Yep. Just to annoy you, big brother.” West grinned

“One of these days I am going to find something to throw you in jail for,” Tatton replied

“What, for annoying the biggest Poppycock law-”

That was as far as West got before Tatton set the box of tin ornaments down and tackled him. Everyone one of my brothers had been on the football team at one point. It was funny to see how they used it. Tatton was working on poking West in the ribs while he struggled under him. West could have easily thrown him off, but it was once in a blue moon when Tatton was in a good enough mood to actually play with West. He was a big kid who just had to get attention from everyone, including ‘the great poppycock lawyer’.

“Hey, easy on the ribs now!” West laughed “John Kerr has dibs on those!”

“Not for three weeks, you knothead,” Tatton answered

“Knothead? That’s it!” West rolled the pair of them until he was sitting on top of Tatton who was smiling devilishly

“Yeah, Knothead!” Tatton was daring him to do something

“Let’s see if Law boy is still ticklish, shall we?” West grinned

“Try it, Knothead, and I’ll make you wish you were born first,” Tatton threatened

“Well, that is a good threat, but since I am younger, loved enough to be protected and definitely have a better sense of ha-ha, I’ll follow my first instincts, thanks.” West grinned

I laughed along with Tatton. West could get anyone to laugh when he tickled them. It was a talent of his. He paused to grin over at me and Tatton threw one of the ornaments. I caught it, happy I did. Rye made that one long ago, for Rock, ironically. Rye was a little afraid of him and made it as a present, hoping that Rock would like him. Well, Rye shouldn’t have worried about it. Rock thought he was a good kid.

“Hey, quit horsing around near the tree,” Rock ordered, “It took me forever and a day to find it.”

“It’s a tree,” both Tatton and West said at the same time

“Yes, it is. Very observant. Do we have a treat for these two, Joe?” Tom asked following Rock

“Nah, gave ‘em all to the dog down the street.” Joe smiled “He is the type of animal that appreciates that type of stuff.”

West looked down at Tatton who looked up at him. The both nodded and were up after Joe and Tom in an instant. All four of them ran down the hall with Rock shaking his head after them.

“So, you just sat back and watched them make this mess?” Rock grinned

“Yep. It seemed like the only sane thing to do.” I shrugged

Rock shook his head and started picking up the tinsel. I reluctantly removed myself from the window seat I had been enjoying for the last couple of hours to help him. He smiled at me and hung the tinsel that made its way to the floor. I loved Rock the most at Christmas time. He had an air about him that made everyone else just thrilled to be in the same room with him. He was, figuratively speaking, the Christmas spirit. Who would have thought that tough Rock Lupin would enjoy Christmas as much as he did?

“Well,” Aries said coming into the room “You can tell Tatton’s in a good mood.”

I smiled at him as he came over to look at the tree. We couldn’t reach the top, not even Rock, without the stepladder we hadn’t bothered to bring up yet. Lord only knows how Rock and Will got it up the stairs without knocking all the needles off of it.

“So, what do you think Santa will bring you?” I asked, playfully

“A book,” he answered “Maybe a switchblade.”

“Keep dreaming,” Rock called from the other side of the tree

Aries grinned at me and I winked at him. It wasn’t hard to get my brother acting parental these days. There were three words that really seemed to do the trick: Switchblade, Tattoo and Condom. I thought the last one was the funniest.

“Did you buy the turkey yet?” Tell asked coming through the door with his snowy jacket on and a box under his arm

“I had enough trouble finding the tree,” Rock answered, “I thought at least one of my siblings would have the good sense to chip in and help out around here.”

“I understand.” Tell nodded “Layne should go and buy the turkey.”

I nudged my brother in the ribs and he winked at me. I was going to have to trade them all in for serious siblings, maybe a sister to replace West…

“I suppose I could send her out for a turkey,” Rock looked thoughtful

“I don’t mind. Your car drives great on the ice,” I answered

“I didn’t say you could take my car,” Rock replied

“How is she supposed to carry forty pounds of turkey?” Tell asked

“Forty Pounds?” I asked, feeling my jaw drop

“Well, yeah,” Tell answered “Have you ever seen West eat? Not to mention Rock here. Then there’s Joe and Tom and Will…”

“I get it, I get it,” I sighed “Forty pounds! I refuse to cook.”

“Well, Tell is doing the turkey cooking. You already promised me you would do up some dishes,” Rock reminded

“Yeah, dishes, after we’re done eating,” I explained

“Don’t get smart,” Rock warned, “Here’s some money. Go down to the market and buy forty pounds of turkey.”

“But-” I started

“But nothing. You have no excuses, with Tell driving you,” Rock added

Tell only smiled. I guess he had been expecting this. The turkey was his responsibility, after all.

“How come she gets the money?” Tell asked, teasing

“Because you get to drive!” I pointed out

“Layne, This is New York. It’s icy out and there are insane Christmas shoppers wandering the streets. Of course he is driving,” Rock said with finality “And she gets the money because she can count.”

Aries stifled a laugh and I glanced at Tell, waiting for the come back. It was going to be good.

“Well, us Doctors only need to know Science stuff. Once I become an accountant, they’ll teach me all the technical math stuff.” Tell waved Rock off

“Accountant?” I asked

“It used to work when I was a med student. I could tell them I’d learn all that technical math stuff when I became a doctor, but times change.” Tell shrugged

“Weren’t you two on your way out the door?” Rock asked

“Eventually,” Tell answered, looking the tree over “It’s a nice tree.”

Rock sighed and smiled. I knew he was proud of that tree. He threw Tell a set of Keys to the Ford he didn’t really drive unless he was getting a Christmas tree or needed to haul something big. I wondered if he really did fear for the Corvaire on the ice-covered roads? If that car were mine, I would.

“So, do you figure Ching has gotten on the Christmas band wagon?” I asked Rock

“I wouldn’t count on it. He’s very oriental,” Rock answered

“But he likes money,” I added “And Christmas turns a pretty good profit.”

“Well, morals over money or money over morals?” Tell pondered, wafting a hand with his words “We’ll have to go and see.”

Rock looked between the two of us and grinned a little. I knew he had no worries about the two of us on the road together, even if we were acting like two kids. If you ever spent time with Tell, you would know exactly how easy it was to get swept up in his odd mood.

“California Layne, you dress up warm,” Rock minded and Tell threw Rock’s jacket at me

“I have my own jacket,” I pointed out

“But I was being helpful,” Tell replied

“And we all know how often that happens,” Aries added

“Maybe we should drag the short one with us,” Tell suggested

“No, the short one is going to help me with the tree,” Rock intervened

“I ain’t that short no more,” he grumbled

“Kid, you’ll always be my little brother,” West smiled coming into the room “So, even if you get taller than me, you’ll still be shorter in my heart.”

Aries frowned at West’s reasoning and so did Tatton. He opened his mouth to say something, but Tell and Rock both threw him dirty looks. He closed his mouth and glanced over at the window and just gazed off into space for a lack of anything better to do. It was a flaw in my brother’s character that he didn’t tolerate often. It was funny that he should think it was a flaw when I thought it was a good trait to share with him. At least I had something to confirm that I was his sister.

“William is here,” he said after a bit “Joe and Tom are helping him carry things.”

I glanced out the window and smiled. Rock shrugged and went back to the tree. No one else seemed to care, but I was going to have a good laugh.

Will came up the stairs a minute later and popped his head in the door. I walked over and handed him the wad of bills I had in my hand. He smiled and Rock frowned.

“You didn’t.”

“I’m sorry…?” Will asked

“You went and got the turkey,” Tell looked a little chest fallen

“Yeah…I can take it back, if you don’t want it,” Will offered

“No, I’ll just have to do something else to spend time with my sister,” Tell sighed

“Oh.” Will nodded, complete understanding on his face “I thought…”

He looked over at Rock and I did, too. The look they shared clearly said ‘Not a word’

-/-/-/-

“Well, that was a waste of time,” Tell pointed out, “But it was fun.”

“Fun?” I asked incredulously and he shrugged

If he thought that little Asian people throwing cookies at you was fun, then he was really off his nut. I could still hear Ching yelling at us from inside the small shop. We had been looking for some Christmas crackers. You know, the ones with the hats in them. Apparently Ching didn’t keep them in stock, but we had to see for ourselves. Poor guy probably thought we were raiding him, again.

“Did you get ‘em?” West asked from the window of the truck

“Nope, none in stock,” Tell answered “Shove over.”

West slid to the middle seat as we climbed in. He draped an arm over my shoulder and smiled. I gave him a puzzled look and he shrugged. I guess sometimes you just have to smile. Well, when you’re West, anyway.

“Where to now?” Tell asked

“To a department store, Driver,” West answered in a pompous voice

Tell leaned forward to see where I had got to. West had pretty thick shoulders, but not that thick. I rolled my eyes at West and Tell smiled.

“Well, I guess we should go to a department store,” Tell decided, “I doubt we all have our shopping done.”

“Are you kidding?” West grinned “I got all of mine done in July.”

Tell shook his head and started up the truck. There was no point on sitting here and freezing our butts off when we could be moving and doing the same thing.

We didn’t exactly end up in a department store. West spotted a little shop that looked interesting and we stopped. Tell found little knickknacks he liked, but I didn’t see anything worthwhile. I was sure West found the crackers when he came over to where I was standing with a paper hat on his head. I laughed and he ruffled my hair. I was going to have to carry a brush around with me because all my brothers thought it was a term of endearment to make my hair look like crap. You just had to smile at West, though. He had one of those grins that made you smile no matter what. It made being grumpy or cross with him nearly impossible.

“Would you look at this!” West said shoving his hand under my nose

“It’s a hand,” I answered suspiciously

“Yeah, but when I put it in the cart,” he said putting his hand in the basket, “and pull on something, you see the fun thing I found, but since it’s for you, you can’t see.”

“That’s not fair!” I chided

“Who says?” he asked

“Cali, obviously,” Tell replied with his things already bought and paid for “But since it is almost Christmas and she is younger than us, you can abuse her all you like, but no hitting.”

“You spoil everything.” West grinned

“Shopping with boys should be easier than shopping with girls,” I sighed “Where’s Sevrin when you need her?”

“Don’t even ask that. She’s got a radar that’ll bring her as fast as her car will take her right to where we’re standing talking about her.” West shuddered

I rolled my eyes and West shooed me out of the store so he could buy whatever he had in his basket that was worth so much secrecy. Knowing West, it was probably the Christmas crackers we both knew he had and it was anything but a secret, but you had to smile at him. He had some interesting ideas.

We didn’t get home until about half an hour after leaving the store. We’d stopped at one or two more places, but there wasn’t really anything worth buying. I didn’t bother telling either of my brothers that I had already finished my shopping the week before, but it wouldn’t have mattered if I did. My brothers were all window shoppers by nature. Tell and West were the worst of the six; they actually went into the store and picked up the different things and asked about prices and then, finally, walked out without buying anything unless it was a great deal and they had planned on buying it already. No such luck today.

The rest of the afternoon passed by with TV watching, decorating and the general Christmas clatter that always seemed to fill the building at this time of year. West put on some records after supper and we all sat down to listen to Buddy Holliday or Bing Crosby, but instead we got Elvis and the Beatles. It seemed to amuse Rock greatly that West could put on Christmas music in the middle of July, but two days beforehand made no sense whatsoever to him. It made me smile to see Rock smile the way he did. Thank the stars for Christmas, the only time of the year my brother frequently smiles.

-/-/-/-

“Do you think we should bring a bucket in?”

“Don’t be stupid. She’s gonna kill us as it is.”

I cracked an eye at the sound of voices in my room and smiled at Tell who had a large feather in his hand. Aries was standing on the other side of the bed looking like he was just along for the ride. Knowing him, he was.

“What are you two doing in here?” I asked

“Rock says it’s breakfast time in ten minutes and that if you slept through it you wouldn’t be a happy camper,” Tell explained

“I don’t think I will ever get that saying,” West declared flopping down on the end of the bed

“I’ll tell you later,” I sighed as West made my legs his pillow “What’s the feather for?”

“To tickle you awake,” Aries supplied

“Did you tell him I wasn’t ticklish?” I asked

“Would it have mattered?” Aries shrugged and so did I because we both knew Tell always had to see things for himself.

“Breakfast!” Tatton stuck his head through the door and yelled

“You could have done that down the hall,” West grumbled

“Yes, I could have,” Tatton agreed pulling his head from the room

“That evil bastard,” West muttered into the covers

“Well, if Cali isn’t ticklish, maybe West is,” Tell said airily

“Try it and we’ll see how many fingers you have left when you’re done.”

Tell smiled, remembering West wasn’t a morning person until he got some sugar into him. Rock could be heard humming down the hall a ways and I sighed. Breakfast was beginning to be an appealing thought.

“Hey, breakfast!” Tatton said sticking his head in the door again

“We heard you the first time, you Ass,” West cursed

“If I’m an Ass, I wonder what that makes you since you are behind me in this family,” Tatton pondered

West was up in a shot and Tatton was racing down the hall as West’s feet hit the floor. Tell laughed and pulled me out of bed so we could follow those morons down the hall. When we got to the kitchen Rock had a stack of pancakes on the table along with toast and coffee. West and Tatton were standing at opposite sides of the kitchen glaring at each other. Rock had a spatula in his hand and I was sure I knew exactly what had happened here. If you could put two and two together, then you would find it a little funny, too. I knew better than to laugh, though.

We sat down to a very quiet breakfast on the account that everyone was practically glaring at everyone. Tatton was glaring at both West and Rock, where West only had a glare for Tell who had laughed, while Tell was glaring at Rock because West was glaring at him. It was a complicated older brother thing Aries and I didn’t want to be involved with, which probably got us a few glares, so we focused on eating breakfast. Half way through it I sighed and looked over at where my brothers where still having a silent staring match. This was not only stupid, but also rather pathetic.

“Guys, it’s Christmas Eve. You shouldn’t be letting little things like this ruin it,” I said “We can’t act like Carol and Jim, not when we’re doing so well.”

They all glared at me and I wondered whether I should have just kept my big mouth shut. Rock sighed loudly and let his gaze fall to his plate then back at me, in a softer frown.

“Cali’s right. We should be trying to at least get along for the holidays,” Rock agreed “No more squabbling and bickering. Or else.”

I could tell all four of them had something to say to that ‘or else', but none of them dared to go against Rock, not when he was threatening them. West chose then to put half a thing of syrup on his pancakes and brightened up as soon as the plate he was using was licked clean. Tell was never one to let anything get to him and smiled at West’s antics. I could tell the only one that would have trouble obeying Rock would be Tatton. He had stiffened considerably at the mention of Jim and Carol, but he was also getting his jollies by pissing off West. I could tell he was debating what he wanted to do and what he should do.

“So, Christmas Eve…” Tell trailed off smiling “Popcorn fights, cooking a big meal, Christmas music, presents-”

“Presents are tomorrow,” Rock said firmly

“Fine. Peaking at our presents,” Tell corrected and Rock grinned at him “Snowball fights, pillow fights…”

“Don’t forget the marshmallows.”

“West, what do Marshmallows have to do with Christmas?” Rock asked

“You know, it’s like that song. ‘Marshmallows roasting on an open fire…’ That one,” West added

“It’s Chestnuts, you-”

Tatton was going to go on, but Rock sent him a warning look. I guess he really did want this to be a good Christmas. And that’s how most of the morning went. Tatton was constantly being watched and Rock was working to keep the peace. I was almost looking for a way to get away from the merriment when someone pressed the buzzer on the main floor around eleven o’clock. A few minutes later Sevrin Phoenix-Donavan stuck her head through the front door and grinned at all of us.

“Merry Christmas!” She squeaked with delight

“Technically, its Merry Christmas Eve,” Tatton added from the chair he occupied by the window

“No one asked you,” Sevrin replied and turned to grin at the rest of us “I brought presents!”

“I take back every bad thing I ever said about you, if it turns out to be something I like,” West added looking for these presents in Sev’s empty arms

A moment later West was pretending to rub his arm where Sev hit him and Colt Donavan came through the door with an armload of presents. Rock gave him a hand and he shook the snow from his shoulders. He smiled at all of us in a polite manner and looked at Sevrin.

“I’ll pick you up later,” he said turning towards the door

“Drive safe,” Sev cautioned following him out into the hall to give him a goodbye kiss.

Now, we all thought Donavan was just fine and he had done us some favors in the past, but we had never been on very sociable terms with him. Sevrin wasn’t invited here, but we weren’t about to turn her out when she had come all the way across town to spend the day with us. She would be gone before supper. Joe and Will were going home for supper tonight and were coming back the next day for a feast. Tom was already in Texas I suppose and the rest of the guys had made themselves scarce. Morrosco was invited out to the waterfront to spend Christmas with a friend of his. I didn’t ask who this friend was, but I was suddenly very curious about where my friend would be for Christmas. Mike, well, let's just say he was hiding from Christmas. Every year it meant his Dad got extra drunk and Mike got beat if he didn't make himself scarce. It left a lasting impression on him, even now as an adult. I wasn't worried about him. He could take better care of himself than anyone else I knew. He was a survivor.

“Well! Who’s ready for some Christmas Eve shopping?” Sevrin asked delightedly

I think we all averted our gaze and Sev looked even more determined. West grinned evilly at me and I knew he was going to make sure I was the only one condemned to this hell. Don’t get me wrong, I loved Sev like a sister, but she got into these psychotic shopping mood swings that scared the hell out of everyone. She was, in simple terms, a shop-o-holic. I was dreading what I already knew my fate to be when West opened his big mouth.

“Layne was saying something about needing to buy some very hard to find fabric for some drapes,” West commented tactically

“Oh!” Sevrin squeaked in delight “I know just the place!”

“I hate you,” I hissed at West

“You’ll love me again tomorrow,” he answered airily

“Get your coat on and I’ll take you to the perfect little boutique where there’s this little Spanish girl who serves tea while you’re looking and then…” Sevrin just went on and on

“And who did you plan to have drive you to all these places?” Rock finally asked

“Why, Layne, of course,” she answered

“It’s Christmas Eve on the streets of New York. Do you have any idea how dangerous the roads will be?” he asked

“Well…No,” Sevrin admitted

“I think West should drive us,” I stated

“You would,” West replied

“That’s an excellent idea,” Rock agreed “Have fun and West I’ll give you the same talk I gave to Tell about scratching my truck.”

Rock put an arm around West’s shoulders and led him off towards the bedrooms. I knew he was going to get the riot act and I had no pity whatsoever for him. Sevrin was beaming and I sighed. How the hell did I get myself roped into these things?

It was five hours later when we finally convinced Sev to give it a rest due to the horrible weather. Luckily we were close enough to Donavan’s clubhouse to drop her off so she could get her wrapping done and torture Colt for a few hours longer than he had intended. West and I didn’t say much on the ride home, but I could tell that Sevrin being gone had lightened the tension in the truck tremendously. West suddenly smirked and I waited for him to say something.

“Sevrin took us all the way across town and you didn’t buy anything or try the Spanish chick wasn't bad looking, though,” he pointed out grinning widely “That's besides the point. Shopping with Sevrin is like being on a wild goose chase and she’s the goose.”

I smiled at him and was surprised to think how right he was. Sevrin was the goose, no matter how you looked at it and she was under our noses the whole time we were looking.

West and I both had something to smile at on the way home.

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Any comments at all are welcome and flames are accepted.

See ya in the funny papers!!!

Sonah