[Fic - Original] Of Christmas & Wishes
Apr. 7th, 2011 11:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
onyxexistanceTitle: Of Christmas & Wishes
Fandom/Pairing: Original Fic
Rating: K/G
Author:![[info]](https://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif?v=2)
inrevelations . Yes, it's ridiculously late, but I FINALLY GOT IT POSTED UP! =D
He's at his sisters, again. At least this time it's for Christmas and only a small suitcase, not a trunk full of half packed boxes that his dad had so helpfully thrown in. No, last time was for a longer time (try the last two years of high school) with her and her new husband. Now, now he's here because this is where he's supposed to be. Her and her husband, those three wriggly mammals they call children running around the house, begging him to play with them as soon as he steps into the house.
He was fifteen and almost in grade eleven. Then his dad saw the tattoo he'd gotten over the summer that he'd been hiding with a t-shirt. A small ring with his sister's initials over his heart. His dad's face when white and the words had stopped on his lips, the child that had died only three months before still an aching wound in his own heart before his face turned stop light red and and thundering mad. His mother attempted to intervene on his half, but that and the shoplifting he'd dumbly tried once (and got caught at) sealed his fate and ended up with him begging a cramped room from his sister and her questioning and confused husband.
He remembers that the snow was falling as he shivered in the sweater he'd snatched from the boot room before he left. It was almost Christmas. The first Christmas without....without his sister, the bright and bubbling, laughing six year old who'd run out on the street during a game of catch with their dad. It had taken his dad years before he could face himself in the mirror again.
The house is warm, but not as warm as the hug that his sister gives him, arms thrown around his neck with her six month along belly poking him through the thick sweater, a huge red pompom for Rudolph's nose. His five year old niece comes and hugs his knees, a milk mustached mouth smiling with pearly teeth showing.
"Hi Uncle Danny! Will you come help me wrap Mommy's present? Dad said he's all thumbs, but he only has two! Did you bring me presents? Mommy said it's not polite to ask but I know you won't mind! Do you mind Uncle Danny? Do you?"
"Alexa," her mother reprimands her quietly, "Let Uncle Danny into the house first, alright?"
With that, the excited Alexa runs back into the house, "You guys! You guys! Uncle Danny's here and I think he brought presents!!" before being caught up by her smiling Grandmother.
"Daniel. You made it. How was the flight? We were worried that you wouldn't be able to land, dreadful weather they said," his mother tells him as she comes up to him, wrapping one arm around him as his sister shuts the door behind him.
"Yes mom, I made it. They delayed the other flights after me, but I got on just in time," he tells her as he sets his bag down. "Is dad here?"
The silence that's only filled with the traditional Bing Crosby singing "White Christmas" in the background answers his question before Lewis, the nine year old solemn and only boy in the family comes in, a huge smile on his face. Uncle Danny had been the first person to hold him after he was born, and then had been there for almost all of his other firsts: first steps, first tooth, first day of school. Uncle Danny had been there for them all.
"Uncle Danny! You came!" Lewis cries as he hurtles himself towards Uncle Danny, arms spread wide open.
"Of course I came, bud. When have I ever missed a Christmas with you guys, eh?" he asks as he wraps his arms around his growing weed of a nephew.
This is how Christmas has been for him for the past ten years: him, his sister, his older brother (who, no, still doesn't have a steady girlfriend and maybe doesn't feel like settling down), his younger brother (who never knew that University was going to be so hard!), his mother. Over the years they've added the kids: nine year old Lewis, seven year old Maggy, five year old Alexa, and two year old Gabby. He's watched them all, from infants, smiling and learning to crawl, teething and tottering on their feet, walking, running, and the first day of school.
Christmas has been family only. Even Evan, his older brother, doesn't bring his girl of the moment with him, he knows better than that at least, which his mother sighs and says is something to be thankful for. But no one says what they all want to: if Evan's smart enough not to bring his girl, why isn't their dad smart enough to know that they want him there. It's been ten years, ten Christmases since he's seen his dad. Oh, he's seen him in passing. Exchanged the occasional hello, waved maybe. But he hasn't seen him, hasn't spent time with him in ten years. But, that's what he wishes for every Christmas, even at the age of twenty five.
The kids are all in bed, though he bets not asleep. That won't happen for awhile yet, the excitement rolling in the pit of their stomachs as they wait for the reindeer hooves on the top of the roof, Santa's jolly footsteps, and the whoooosh as he slides his way into their house. Nope, they'll be up for awhile yet.
He makes his way outside as the rest of the family sits at the small kitchen table, playing cards and eating the candy that has accumulated over the past few days. The stars shine bright against the cold, his breathe coming out in white puffs above his head. He'll go back inside in a few minutes, but right now, the cold air pushing against his nose, his eyes, his mouth, it's waking him up from the warmth of the house.
As he's ready to head back inside, he hears a vehicle coming up behind him and turns around. There, coming down the street is the truck that he started learning how to drive in. A Ford, because that's all his dad would buy. His eyebrows jump into his hairline as it stops in front of the house, the engine dying as it's turned off. He makes his way into the house and interrupts the game, the surprised look on his face creating similar looks on his family's face.
"Why is dad's truck here?" he asks, not eloquent but it asks what he needs to know.
His mother answers, "Your father always comes for Christmas."
He shakes his had forcefully, "No he doesn't. I haven't seen him in ten years. Especially at Christmas."
"Danny, he comes every year to fill the kids' Christmas stockings. Ever since you moved in with us," she tells him gently, "We thought you knew."
He shakes his head. No, he didn't know. But he should have. His father would never have allowed himself to lose two children in a year. But didn't know how to say sorry. He should have known and he smiles. He always knew wishes weren't silly. Especially Christmas wishes.
Fandom/Pairing: Original Fic
Rating: K/G
Author:
inrevelations . Yes, it's ridiculously late, but I FINALLY GOT IT POSTED UP! =DHe's at his sisters, again. At least this time it's for Christmas and only a small suitcase, not a trunk full of half packed boxes that his dad had so helpfully thrown in. No, last time was for a longer time (try the last two years of high school) with her and her new husband. Now, now he's here because this is where he's supposed to be. Her and her husband, those three wriggly mammals they call children running around the house, begging him to play with them as soon as he steps into the house.
He was fifteen and almost in grade eleven. Then his dad saw the tattoo he'd gotten over the summer that he'd been hiding with a t-shirt. A small ring with his sister's initials over his heart. His dad's face when white and the words had stopped on his lips, the child that had died only three months before still an aching wound in his own heart before his face turned stop light red and and thundering mad. His mother attempted to intervene on his half, but that and the shoplifting he'd dumbly tried once (and got caught at) sealed his fate and ended up with him begging a cramped room from his sister and her questioning and confused husband.
He remembers that the snow was falling as he shivered in the sweater he'd snatched from the boot room before he left. It was almost Christmas. The first Christmas without....without his sister, the bright and bubbling, laughing six year old who'd run out on the street during a game of catch with their dad. It had taken his dad years before he could face himself in the mirror again.
The house is warm, but not as warm as the hug that his sister gives him, arms thrown around his neck with her six month along belly poking him through the thick sweater, a huge red pompom for Rudolph's nose. His five year old niece comes and hugs his knees, a milk mustached mouth smiling with pearly teeth showing.
"Hi Uncle Danny! Will you come help me wrap Mommy's present? Dad said he's all thumbs, but he only has two! Did you bring me presents? Mommy said it's not polite to ask but I know you won't mind! Do you mind Uncle Danny? Do you?"
"Alexa," her mother reprimands her quietly, "Let Uncle Danny into the house first, alright?"
With that, the excited Alexa runs back into the house, "You guys! You guys! Uncle Danny's here and I think he brought presents!!" before being caught up by her smiling Grandmother.
"Daniel. You made it. How was the flight? We were worried that you wouldn't be able to land, dreadful weather they said," his mother tells him as she comes up to him, wrapping one arm around him as his sister shuts the door behind him.
"Yes mom, I made it. They delayed the other flights after me, but I got on just in time," he tells her as he sets his bag down. "Is dad here?"
The silence that's only filled with the traditional Bing Crosby singing "White Christmas" in the background answers his question before Lewis, the nine year old solemn and only boy in the family comes in, a huge smile on his face. Uncle Danny had been the first person to hold him after he was born, and then had been there for almost all of his other firsts: first steps, first tooth, first day of school. Uncle Danny had been there for them all.
"Uncle Danny! You came!" Lewis cries as he hurtles himself towards Uncle Danny, arms spread wide open.
"Of course I came, bud. When have I ever missed a Christmas with you guys, eh?" he asks as he wraps his arms around his growing weed of a nephew.
This is how Christmas has been for him for the past ten years: him, his sister, his older brother (who, no, still doesn't have a steady girlfriend and maybe doesn't feel like settling down), his younger brother (who never knew that University was going to be so hard!), his mother. Over the years they've added the kids: nine year old Lewis, seven year old Maggy, five year old Alexa, and two year old Gabby. He's watched them all, from infants, smiling and learning to crawl, teething and tottering on their feet, walking, running, and the first day of school.
Christmas has been family only. Even Evan, his older brother, doesn't bring his girl of the moment with him, he knows better than that at least, which his mother sighs and says is something to be thankful for. But no one says what they all want to: if Evan's smart enough not to bring his girl, why isn't their dad smart enough to know that they want him there. It's been ten years, ten Christmases since he's seen his dad. Oh, he's seen him in passing. Exchanged the occasional hello, waved maybe. But he hasn't seen him, hasn't spent time with him in ten years. But, that's what he wishes for every Christmas, even at the age of twenty five.
The kids are all in bed, though he bets not asleep. That won't happen for awhile yet, the excitement rolling in the pit of their stomachs as they wait for the reindeer hooves on the top of the roof, Santa's jolly footsteps, and the whoooosh as he slides his way into their house. Nope, they'll be up for awhile yet.
He makes his way outside as the rest of the family sits at the small kitchen table, playing cards and eating the candy that has accumulated over the past few days. The stars shine bright against the cold, his breathe coming out in white puffs above his head. He'll go back inside in a few minutes, but right now, the cold air pushing against his nose, his eyes, his mouth, it's waking him up from the warmth of the house.
As he's ready to head back inside, he hears a vehicle coming up behind him and turns around. There, coming down the street is the truck that he started learning how to drive in. A Ford, because that's all his dad would buy. His eyebrows jump into his hairline as it stops in front of the house, the engine dying as it's turned off. He makes his way into the house and interrupts the game, the surprised look on his face creating similar looks on his family's face.
"Why is dad's truck here?" he asks, not eloquent but it asks what he needs to know.
His mother answers, "Your father always comes for Christmas."
He shakes his had forcefully, "No he doesn't. I haven't seen him in ten years. Especially at Christmas."
"Danny, he comes every year to fill the kids' Christmas stockings. Ever since you moved in with us," she tells him gently, "We thought you knew."
He shakes his head. No, he didn't know. But he should have. His father would never have allowed himself to lose two children in a year. But didn't know how to say sorry. He should have known and he smiles. He always knew wishes weren't silly. Especially Christmas wishes.
