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Title: Decorating
With Marie
Author:
Terri
E-mail:
xgrrl26@yahoo.com
Rating:
PG-13
Disclaimer:
I don't own any of them except Sam and Nat, but they're the cutest ;)
Archive:
WRFA, Mutual Admiration, Dolphin Haven, Peep Hut - all others, please ask
:)
Feedback:
Please? With a gingerbread cookie on top? Good, bad, and ugly welcome,
but I'll warn you - flames may be publicly mocked ;)
Summary:
Marie decorates for the holidays, and Logan gets a few moments to bask in
family life.
Comments:
This was going to be a little stand-alone holiday story, but it mutated into
a With Marie instead. Just a foofy little ficlet, really :)
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"So we're
agreed, then - this is the tree?" Please, for the love of God, let this
be the tree. You'd think any old tree would be just fine for a Christmas
tree - I mean, we're just gonna put a buncha decorations and tinsel and shit
on it anyway. You won't really even see the tree. It's not something
you'd think that'd take two hours of walkin' around in the forest behind
the house to find. But when you've got two very opinionated little
helpers.
"Yuh-huh."
Whew. Got Nat's OK.
"Sam?"
"Uh..OK.
OK, Dada." Thank goodness. There's a God after all.
"Great, so
let's just cut it down and get it back to the house, all right?" Marie's
probably all done decoratin' by now. I told her we'd be gone a half
hour. She's probably enjoyin' it, though - I know how damn much she
loves the holidays. And this Christmas'll be the first that the kids
can really get to enjoy. Last year they were way too little, only a
coupla months old. This year, they're gonna love it. "Mph.
There we go. One Christmas tree, picked out by us. Let's head
home, guys."
"Aw, Dad.."
Heh. Nat loves the snow - she's covered in it head-to-toe from frolickin'
around out here. Sam likes the outdoors too, but he's more of the walkin'
around and lookin' type.
"I know,
but maybe we can come out again and play tomorrow. Mom's waitin'.
Let's get a move on."
"Cookies?"
Ah yes, my son has figured out that mom equals cookies durin' the holiday
season. She's been spoilin' 'em rotten now that they're old enough
to actually eat Christmas cookies. She hasta have about nine dozen
already made, all different kinds, and she's still makin' more. She's
a damn good baker, I'll give her that. I've had a cookie or two or
ten myself. Those chocolate chip ones and the gingerbread ones are
tasty, I can't help it.
"I bet mom'll
have a few. Let's go, guys."
"Hey, you're
back! I was getting a little worried there for a second."
"Uh, yeah."
The house - the house looks like somethin' outta one of those home decoratin'
shows. It's all done up, there's not an un-decorated spot, but somehow
it don't look like it's too much or over-the-top. It actually looks
real tasteful. Am I in the right house? "Looks good in here,
honey."
"Thanks."
Aw. I can still make my wife blush with a little compliment.
"I thought I'd take a little different direction this year. I mean,
I don't want it to be sensory overload for the kids and I know you never
really liked a lot of decorations anyway, so I toned it down a little.
I'm glad you like it."
"Mom - cookies?"
You can trust Nat to get right to the point. That's all her and Sam
could talk about on the walk back.
"Well, that
depends. Did you help Dad get a tree?"
"Oh yeah,
they helped a lot." Excessively, in fact. "We got a real good
one - it's on the porch."
"Well, then,
that means cookies *and* hot cocoa for everyone. Get Dad to help get
you out of your snow suits, and I'll get it together."
"Some marshmallows
too, there, darlin'."
"Coming up."
Yeah, I got a good thing here. The holidays always make me a little
edgy, but I think this is gonna be a real nice one. I've got Marie,
the kids, a nice tree that meets the specifications of both of my toddlers,
cookies, and hot chocolate with marshmallows. What could possibly be
better? "Do you want chocolate chip, sugar cookies, or oatmeal?"
"Yeah!"
Sneaky little girl I got here. Look at that - Sam's laughin' at her.
You know, I've been noticin' that more and more, them gettin' along together.
Not that they didn't before, but lately it's been kinda like they're really
enjoyin' each other's company, you know?
"Here we
go." Damn, she's even got a little green tray with holly leaves on
it to bring out the stuff. Marie's really on toppa this Christmas stuff.
"I brought a few cookies of each kind."
"Fanks, mama."
Sam and Marie have been pretty close since the whole Sabretooth thing.
She's spent a lotta time with Nat too, but Sam's needed her a lot.
He's comin' outta that a little now, I think.
"You're welcome,
Sam." Yeah, this is good - me, Marie, the kids - it feels real
normal, just like a nice, normal family. Eatin' cookies, drinkin' cocoa,
talkin' about our day.
"Wot we
do now, mom?"
"Well, I
thought maybe we could finish our snack and then we could all put up the tree
together and hang our stockings on the fireplace. What do you think,
Nat?"
"Sounds good."
Nat likes to be consulted on everythin', she likes to feel like she's helpin'
or like she's in charge of things. She's a pretty good mix of me and
Marie. Hell, so is Sam. I think he got a little more of Marie
than me, though. He has her calmness, her peacefulness, and her emotional
side. He's a lot quieter than Nat, too. Still, I don't think
Nat's all me - she looks a helluva lot like her mom, and she's got Marie's
charm, her outgoing nature, and her mom's sense of humor too. Marie
always says both of the kids're more like me than her, though. I dunno.
Maybe I just don't see me in 'em.
"Good.
We'll be able to sit down after dinner and look at the tree when we're all
done. That'll be nice." And I'll be able to lay Marie down beside
the tree and make love to her for a few hours after the kids're in bed.
"Mama sad?"
Marie's lookin' over at me. We kinda think Sam does have some powers
kickin' in. He always seemed real connected to Marie, real aware of
her thoughts and feelin's, but now that he's talkin' more, we can really
see it. Jeannie thinks there's no way - mutant powers just don't manifest
themselves that early - but who really knows? There just ain't that
many kids that have had both mutie parents; there's not a lot to go by.
"No, honey,
just a little emotional. I was just thinking how glad I was to have
all of you in my life and how lucky we all are to be able to spend a nice
Christmas together. It means a lot to me, and it made me a little emotional
there."
"'motional?"
Look at him, he's really tryin' hard to get his little-kid mind around what's
goin' on with his mom.
"Mmm-hmm.
It means having a whole lot of feelings, all at once. Sometimes, even
if they're good feelings, they can be a little overwhelming." She does
such a good job of explainin' things to him. I don't think I coulda
said anythin' that woulda made any sense to him.
"Hmmm.OK."
As soon as he figures it out, and knows she's OK, he feels better.
He doesn't like it when Marie's sad. He'll crawl up in her lap
and hug his little body close to her and tell her to 'feel all better, mama.'
Yeah, I guess I can see where he did get some things from me.
"Mom, when
is Santa?" Now, here's a whole big thing. You know, the decisions
you hafta make as a parent - they never end. Marie and me - we didn't
know what to do 'bout this whole Santa Claus thing. When the kids were
born, we decided that we'd always be honest with 'em. You know - we're
not gonna go tellin' 'em more than they need to know or are ready to handle,
but whatever we told 'em would always be the truth. We want 'em to
trust us, and plus, we don't buy inta the whole theory of lyin' to someone
for their own good. Marie always says that if we lie to 'em, or fool
'em, then they won't feel as secure, and I wanna have my kids feel really
secure.
But the
whole Santa thing - it's this big tradition. It's everywhere.
And we wanted 'em to have a fun, kinda magical Christmas, especially for
the first one they'd really get to enjoy. So we thought about it.
We thought about doin' it just for one year, spinnin' the whole Santa story
and all, lettin' 'em believe, then tellin' 'em the truth the next year.
That didn't quite feel right to either of us, though. I didn't like
the idea of tellin' 'em one thing then sayin' - hey, we were pullin' the
wool over your eyes, kids. That just don't sit well.
Then we
thought about just not mentionin' the 'S' word at all, just ignorin' the whole
deal. That didn't seem quite right either, 'cause even if we can keep
'em pretty sheltered this year, they'll still see Santa stuff on TV and later
on all their little friends were gonna know about Santa. If we just
pretended he didn't exist, the kids would think that was weird or think me
and Marie are kinda out of it.
So, we settled
on tellin' 'em what's pretty much the truth, the whole truth, and nothin'
but the truth. You know, in a toddler version. We said - look,
it's kinda this fun game, and it's kinda traditional, to pretend that there's
this Santa guy that brings you presents on Christmas. Everybody pretends
together around Christmas, and it's OK to have fun with it. We told
'em that some kids' moms and dads didn't wanna say that Santa was just for
pretend for a while, so if you run inta someone that really believes he's
real, not to say anythin'. We told 'em that really, all the presents
and stuff come from us and their x-men aunts and uncles and our friends,
but that if they wanted to go along and pretend about Santa, that's OK with
us. I think that was a little too complicated for them to get a handle
on. Nat asked a lotta questions 'bout why people would wanna pretend
somethin' insteada just dealin' with what's what. Yeah, OK, maybe that's
one thing she did get from me. But in the end, I think it worked out
OK. Between the two of 'em, they decided to have a little fun with
it and they wrote letters to 'Santa' - drawings of what toys and stuff
they wanted - and said they wanna leave some cookies and milk out for him,
since that was the tradition. I dunno. Me and Marie, we did what
we thought was best there, and I guess that's all you can do.
"Santa's
in three days, Nat. We're getting the tree up just in time, aren't
we?"
"Yeah.
Good cookies, mom." Yep, there's Marie's charm right there. Nat
knows that'll get her more cookies in the long run.
"Thanks,
baby." Marie knows it too, but, much like I am powerless against the
Marie-please, she's powerless against the Nat-smile. Hell, who wouldn't
be? I got a beautiful family, you know that? Every last one of
'em is just perfect.
"It looks
good, doesn't it?" Heh. Marie caught me admirin' our handiwork
on the tree. Was a helluva lotta fun puttin' it up with the kids.
They loved doin' it. So did I, to tell ya the truth. "You want
to help me clean up a little before bed?"
"Sure, darlin'.
In a minute, though, huh?" I'd like to just sit here a couple more
minutes.
"Thinking?"
She's gonna come and sit beside me. Even better. I can put an
arm around her and look at the tree.
"Yeah.
This is gonna be a great Christmas. Tree's beautiful. Our whole
house looks like somethin' outta Better Homes and Garages."
"Gardens."
Tease. Flirt. Look at her with that smirk.
"Whatever.
What I mean is you did a real good job with the decorations. I really
like how you did 'em this year a lot."
"Thanks.
I think I'm getting the hang of it."
"You sure
are. Kids had a good time today, huh?"
"They loved
going out to get the tree with you. I still can't believe you let them
pick. No wonder you were gone for two hours. You're kind of a
big softie, you know that?" Oh, now, that's serious teasin'.
She should know what that's gonna get her - lookin' all good and smellin'
all Marie-and-pine-y, teasin' me like that.
"Only when
it comes to you and my kids, darlin'. Everybody else can still go to
hell as far as I'm concerned." Just gonna scoot her over to me a little
closer here. We haven't made love since last night. It's been
a whole day.
"It's OK.
I won't tell anyone." Yeah, baby, come here. Come on, kiss me.
"Let's leave
the cleanin' up. We got better things to do." If she's not gonna
go ahead and kiss me, I'm gonna kiss her. Right now.
"Mmm."
"Like that,
didya?"
"Uh-huh."
Heh. I think she's all on board with me now. She smells so damn
good. "Logan?" Sayin' somethin'? Aw, no talkin' Marie,
not now. "I just want you to know - you're a really good man.
I don't tell you often enough, but it's true. You're a good father
to our children and a wonderful husband to me." You know, just when
I was ready to get a little irritated that she stopped the kissin', she goes
and says somethin' like that. I got a lump in my throat now.
I'm gettin' all emotional. Hell, I really am a big softie.
"You make
all that pretty easy, darlin'." Can't imagine bein' content with anyone
but her. Can't imagine wantin' to be with anyone as much as her and
our kids. Can't imagine lovin' anyone more than I do them.
"Nah.
That's all you. Now where were we?"
"We were
about to spread out this blanket on the floor so you don't get any pine needles
in your back."
"Ah."
Judgin' by her smile there I don't think she's got any problems with that
plan. "We can clean up in the morning, hmm?"
"Definitely.
C'mere, darlin'. I got a present waitin' for ya." Yeah, this
is good. This life is pretty damn good.
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